Watching this happen, Shiro felt a little pity for Vulcan but that was about it. War was not good for anyone.
Death surrounds everyone and it's part of the risks you take by participating in a war. However, even if you don't participate in a war, there is still a chance for your family to be harmed.
It was a cruel cycle.
Shaking her head, she wondered where the vision would take her now.
Looking around, she saw her vision flicker as countless battles appeared before her.
Each time Vulcan would be close to death but his will powered on. Slaughtering god after god until all he knew was to kill gods. Gone was the pushover he originally was and all that remained was a killing machine.
[Skill Extraction Complete.]
[Skill: Mortal Blade (Enchantment)]
The sword of man designed to go against the gods. Regardless of who they are, demon or divine, your sword shall cut them down.
When activated, a swirl of black mist will wrap around your blade, granting it the following properties.
+200% Attack Damage against entities tier 7 or higher
+100% Life Steal against (God) type beings
All damage dealt to tier 7 beings or above are dealt as True Damage to their divine source.
Passive Effect: Mortal Will
Every time you kill a god, you will now siphon parts of their Divine Source to fuel your own soul.
Reading the skill, Shiro raised her eyebrow. This wasn't what she had expected but this was also good. The fact that all of her damage will be converted to True Damage against a god means that she doesn't have to worry about whether or not they will truly die. Not only that, but every time she kills a god, parts of their power will be siphoned to her. Thought, the skill was rather useless on anything else that wasn't a god.
With this, she now had two siphoning abilities which take from the dead. Her Athera and now Mortal Blade.
So far with Athera, she had obtained some points in all the stats thanks to Athera but having Mortal Blade obtain stats of a god will be helpful.
Not only that, she had also obtained a second notification.
[Tier 7 Achievement (1)]
"Oh my, that's rather interesting now isn't it?" She muttered in surprise but it was to be expected in the end. After all, she had essentially just killed the god slayer.
Just as she finished musing about her new skill and achievement, her vision faded once more.
This time, she was looking at a woman standing in the middle of a large hall. The walls were decorated with fine detail and modes of light danced around her.
Her hair was white as a black dress fluttered behind her.
Turning around, the woman looked at Shiro with a soft smile before mouthing four words.
[Good luck young one.]
###
Snapping her eyes open, Shiro wondered what was the last scene that she had seen. Furrowing her brows, she placed her hand against her head and sighed.
"I really need to stop knocking myself out." She muttered before standing up.
{You think?} Nimue rolled her eyes.
Chuckling at her retort, Shiro looked around her and saw Yin resting by the side with Estrella.
"You're awake my empress." Estrella bowed.
"Mn, where am I?"
"We're in Helion's guest room. He's in the other room forging new equipment."
"I see… what happened with Akram?" She asked curiously.
"It was shattered into pieces. However, Helion is currently using the broken pieces to forge something new. Apparently, he said that the material has evolved after being tempered by the souls of gods." Estrella replied.
"Oh? That's rather interesting isn't it?" Shiro smiled.
"He said that it was called Divine Soul Steel or something I didn't hear him properly."
"Hm… well since I'm awake, I might as well get up." Getting out of the bed, Shiro looked at Yin with curiosity.
After she started to collect the artefacts, she seemed to become more and more tired everyday. Unless it was to look for food, Yin would just sit by doing nothing or just sleeping.
'Could this be because of what Fei Ling left behind? I suppose when Yin first obtained her human form, she did stay as an egg for quite a bit. Perhaps this is the same situation.' Shiro thought to herself before carrying in onto the bed and covering a part of her body with the blanket.
"Look after Yin, I'll be going to Helion." Shiro said as she left the room.
Closing the door behind her, Shiro could hear the rhythmic sounds of a hammer in the far end of the warehouse.
Making her way to where Helion was working, she saw the amber glow of fire in the forge and sparks of light flying into the air with every hammer strike.
"You're up." Helion smiled while striking down with his hammer once more.
"Mn, Estella told me that you found some rather interesting material to work with." Shiro nodded.
"Yes I did but it's not exactly cooperative. I don't think I can melt it down and recycle it since my fire is a little weak for it." Helion smiled bitterly. Despite being able to obtain such an amazing material, he was not able to put it to use.
"That's rather unfortunate then. Can I take a look at it?" Shiro asked as Helion nodded.
"Of course, it was technically yours to begin with." He laughed while handing her a piece of the metal.
[Divine Soul Steel – Black]
A metal that was drenched with the soul of gods, refined and reformed, the metal holds many mysterious properties. Should it be made into a weapon, will it retain the power the gods held in life?
Just as she picked up the meta, she saw another counter go up on her class up requirements.
[Tier 7 Class Relevant Material (1)]
"Oh my, this is quite handy for my class up." Shiro raised her eyebrow. Thinking about it for a moment, she understood that it was probably used for her Nanomancer class since it was the only one that used metal.
"Oh? In that case then do you want to take the rest?" Helion asked. It doesn't matter if he didn't get to use this material since Shiro could class up.
"No it's fine. Just one piece will do." Shiro smiled as she stored the metal into her inventory.
With the metal obtained and Vulcan slain, she had completed a few more of her class up requirements. All that remained was now to get a tier 5 Awakening type material, a tier 5 catalyst, and 5 tier 5 Class relevant materials if you exclude the Divine Soul Steel.
"So what are you planning now?" Helion asked curiously while setting his hammer aside.
"Hmm… I'm going to go meet up with the rest of the party before going back to my family I suppose. I have been separated from them for quite a while. After that, we're going to Greece to take the trials on Mount Olympus, you want to join? Because you're Hephaestus' chosen." Shiro asked.
"Oh? Sure. That sounds pretty interesting. Plus, I can probably do some work on the armour for the rest of the party." Helion nodded with a smile.
"Great. Also, before I forget, remember how I asked you if you wanted to join our party? It's the same question but this time with a different context." Shiro smiled.
"What do you mean?"
"Helion, do you want to become a member of my royal court? If you don't know, I am one of the 'Queens' that have appeared in our world and one of my privileges is that I can give you a role in my court. However, do note that this is permanent so think carefully." Shiro narrowed her eyes.
Staying silent for a bit, Helion smiled.
"Sure. After all, I haven't really been using my blacksmithing skills for anyone else."
"Helion, on my authority as the Celestial Sylph Empress, do you accept a role in my court. Do note that once this is done, the role cannot be revoked." Shiro asked with a soft chuckle. Pushing out her hand, she summoned a golden staff as magic circles encased the two of them.
"I accept." Helion nodded.
Nodding her head, Shiro slammed the pommel of her staff down.
[Acknowledgement Received, Generating Role… Celestial Court Blacksmith.]
[Celestial Court Blacksmith.]
+30% of Empress' STR stat
+20% Mana/Health Regeneration
+20% Armour/Magic Penetration
+20% Efficiency when creating equipment
When forging a weapon, the fire used will receive a small bonus to its strength. Current source of the bonuses includes Fire of Life, Dark Celestial Phoenix Fire and Mystic Life fire Spirit (Atesh).