The Rise Of A Porter

A couple of days passed since Nathaniel's funeral, Arnold decided it was for the best that Nina stayed there for a while. Right now, the family needed to stay together. Arnold left a few of his summons to protect Nina and the rest of the family although it wasn't necessary. After all, he had planted one of the saplings there so it should be safe for the family. Now he only had one sapling left and he had decided it wasn't the right time to use it.

He was strong, but he was definitely not the strongest in the universe. Who knows when he might need to protect himself too. Thus it was better to keep the last sapling in his inventory for now. After ensuring the safety of the family, Arnold decided to head back into his domain. He had a lot of weapons to forge and thus, another session of hammering began in the forge.

Just like celestial silver, celestial gold was a highly volatile material to work with. Just one mistake was more than enough to blow the domain to smithereens. Not like Arnold cared about that, he would just expand his domain even more to minimize the loss.. His summons would resurrect over time and he would repair the automaton by himself too. As for him, his abilities were more than enough to protect him. 

Still, doing all that would be a hassle so he had left the precision work for Dani to do. While she was working on the gold, Arnold decided to use the leftover titanium as well. Tiamut and he, both already had armours that could take enough beating from a god. But Talos didn't. Even though the armour he currently had was pretty sturdy and might be enough to take a beating, Arnold decided it was for the best to reinforce it as well. Thus, while Dani worked on the weapons, Arnold decided to work on Talos' new armour.

Arnold also chose Dani to work, because he wanted to test her skills first hand and see if she was really that special or the Adamantine golem was just a lucky invention. Arnold shaped Talos' new armour and was waiting for it to cool down now so that he could begin another hammering session. Arnold was finished with his work but Dani wasn't. It was given since her task was more delicate than Arnold's. 

"Hmm... I can't so much before Dani is finished doing her part." Arnold mumbled as he walked out of the forge, "If she could create anything as amazing as the golem, then she would be one of my most important summons, but if she couldn't... well, even then she could help me with other things. Hm... but what should I do in the meantime?" 

While he was thinking this, he heard an uproar from the outside. As usual, he rushed over to see a familiar sight. His summons were once again indulged in sparring just like the old times. It was the same scenario, yet a lot of things were different. His summons were stronger, faster and could take down entire armies of gods. 

Grock and Tiamut were the most explosive ones. In fact, no one was around them, the way they were exchanging blows after blows, sounded like thunder in the skies. But they weren't alone. Talos was taking on Asterios and Dread by himself. While the rest of them patiently waited for their turn. 

It appeared that everyone wanted to test Tiamut's and Talos' strengths after they cleared the Dwarven dungeon. So far, despite the odds, Talos and Tiamut were handling themselves pretty well. It didn't look like the relentless strikes of his summons could even make them sweat. 

"Ahem, you people mind if I join in?" Arnold smiled before walking up to Talos and Tiamut, "As fun as it is to see the two of you kick, their as.sess over and over, I thought it might be more fun if you were on the receiving end of it as well. What do you people think?"

"Can't say it wouldn't be fun," Asterios spoke in his hoarse voice.

The others agreed as well. Talos and Tiamut had beaten the hell out of them and it would be fun to see them receive the same treatment for once as well. Arnold gave them all a smile and told them to back up a bit before turning towards his opponents.

"I won't be using my armour so that you two could land a couple of hits on me as well." Arnold pointed his hand towards them, provoking them, "But I would be going all out so you might try not to get destroyed soon."

Talos and Tiamut did not waste any time and immediately charged in. As Tiamut approached Arnold, she began to grow bigger and bigger till she became thrice as big as Arnold. It seemed she had learned a new skill from one of the scrolls Arnold had given to her. It was a nice surprise. 

Talos on the other hand had gotten more agile. Even Arnold had to seriously focus to be aware of his movements. He started the sparring session because he had nothing else to do, but now, his boredom had led to something very satisfying. 

Tiamut raised her arms over the head, perhaps intending to use momentum to her advantage. Just as she slammed her hands on Arnold, he raised his arm cleanly blocking her strike. He might have blocked her attack, but the others weren't so lucky. The shockwave released from the attack sent the summons around them rolling away. 

Till now they thought Tiamut and Talos were fighting with their true strength, however, it was far from true. Had they used their full strength, the rest of the summons wouldn't have stood a chance against them and probably would have ended up getting destroyed. Maybe that was the reason the two of them were holding back against the others.

But while facing Arnold, they didn't need to do anything like that. If it was him, they could test their true strength without any fear of harming anyone. However, it was the same for Arnold as well. He no longer had to keep his strength in check before wrecking them. 

He grabbed Tiamut's arm and slammed her on top of Talos who was about to kick Arnold from behind. They were sent flying to the other side of the domain as the rest of the summons watched them fight in awe. The rest of his elite summons had never been as jealous of anyone as they were now. Even though Talos and Tiamut were being thrashed, it still looked fun to them.

"Looks like you two are not being serious enough." Arnold shook his head and smiled, "Maybe I should tone it down a bit after all. How about I use only one arm to fight you guys?"

"No need, master." Talos replied before getting back up, "We will get serious now. Won't we, Tiamut?"

"Absolutely!" Tiamut grabbed his hand to lift herself up before transforming into her three-headed dragon form, "Let's see if you feel the need to hold back now, master."

Even her dragon form looked bigger than the last time Arnold remembered. Meanwhile, Talos brought out the Vindicators, to show he too was being serious now. Seeing the two of them all fired up, made Arnold even more excited. 

"Let's Have Some Fun, Shall we?"