Chapter 1164: Chapter 1163: Testing, Testing
Chapter 1164: Chapter 1163: Testing, Testing
A yawn tore past my lips as I stared down at the page, blinking away the mental exhaustion as I finally set down my pen and allowed myself to stand up from the bedrolls and blankets for the first time in... quite a long time, if the way the shadows were being cast were anything to go by.
The bliss that came with standing up and stretching was borderline orgasmic, my bones popping as I cracked the joints while the muscles were basking in the rush of blood as I moved once more, the tissues reaching for their full length as I just wiggled around in the center of our tent.
Each movement was accompanied by a crack as my joints thanked me, creating a chorus of rather welcoming pops as I made sure each part of my body was loosened and ready for the next part of the day; training.
Since we weren't doing anything today as the Sultana continued preparations even further for the upcoming siege I decided that I would go ahead and give these various scribbles I had come up with a fair shake outside.
Nothing too crazy and definitely not to the full effect just in case the enemy was watching our encampments closely from a myriad of angles, but still enough to get an understanding of what I was doing and figure out if I could control these spells.
To start though I needed to get hydrated again with something that wasn't liquor, though the empty bottle beside me wasn't going to be magically filled now that I was in need of something for my parched tongue.
Once that was done I found myself somewhere open and unoccupied so that I could begin, and the process of beginning to trace out the runes for the Ritual Circle was a relatively long one; not because I wasn't able to complete the spells, but instead because I just... was trying to cast a spell that simply didn't work.
One time a beam of light shot out of the Ritual Circle, wiggled around in the air before slamming into the sand and sending up a cloud of it before burrowing down below and exploding; another time a glob of golden mana simply appeared in front of me before dropping to the ground and sitting there, doing nothing at all even as I tried to control it.
Running down the list different variations of the same spell I had made, I eventually found the right combination of runes that would create the thing that I wanted; a Ritual Circle that I could control which summoned a 'limb' of Light Mana.
I could even go ahead and give the Ritual Circle a static location to remain in while controlling it, though I couldn't be far away from it nor could I be in an area where the mana between me and it was going to be disrupted or outright blacked.
Not that I wanted to throw the Ritual Circle somewhere else; I just wanted to have it attached to either my shoulder or my back so that I could have an additional arm to play around with, and specifically it would help me if I had an extra weapon to utilize alongside my great sword and the new tower shield.
Being able to hit someone with both at the same time while blocking with that giant shield would be quite something, especially once I get them enchanted with some premium spells hand tailored for dealing an incredible amount of damage.
Until I could get to the point of controlling the limb though, I wasn't going to be dealing any damage at all...n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Anput Pov
"Gods be damned..."
I dropped the hammer onto the anvil and dragged in a deep breath of hot, stuffy air as I finally finished shaping this piece of armor, that action not doing much at all to help me as the sweat continued to pour off of my skin and soak my clothing.
The forge needed to be indoors for the best possible temperatures and to give me the focus I needed for everything, but damn did it keep all the heat inside of its walls while only getting hotter thanks to the sun beating down on us from above.
It was absolutely abhorrent and I knew for a fact that Kat would be melting inside of here, though I guess she would've increased the airflow, created giant blocks of ice to cool everything down, and otherwise made this a bearable situation, but she wasn't here... sadly. I wanted to get another measurement of her...
Well, until then I had a more pressing thing than what I wanted to do to my mate in this room, and that was to go ahead and finish up this piece of armor already, which was by using some of the leather and weaker - yet still strong - metals to further strengthen this giant, glorified bowl I had made.
It was Jahi's pauldron, which I thought I could get away with making first before going into the rest of the pieces of armor I needed to make, so I began to open up the forge to give myself some airflow and enjoy living while I worked.
The idea was to make it an optional piece of armor that she could use if she so pleased, but I also wanted it to be almost like another shield for her to rely on should she need it, which meant I needed to test a few things right now.
Primarily I wanted the inside to be cushioned - that was already the plan anyways - but I also wanted a way to use the strap that would connect it to her cuirass as a strap to wrap around her arm, and doing that was a bit more complicated than it sounded, especially since the pauldron was pretty gigantic... to me, anyways.
The size difference between the Demoness and I was never more apparent then when I was making her armor, and I could practically use this as a helmet if I wanted without needing to worry about much, so...
There were a few things I needed to do, but a new challenge being placed in front of me while I waited for the next sheet of metal to heat up was definitely something I needed right now, especially before a big battle.
What better place to test anything than in a hard fought battle against some worthy opponents?
I needed the data to make better armor, and I also needed the experience in fighting to make better armor too since I was slowly becoming accustomed to what was a more lethal approach to fighting compared to normal.