endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 155

Vahn awoke after four hours of rest and turned to see that Evangeline was still at her desk and translating books. After stretching a bit, Vahn asked with a yawn, "Do you not sleep?" Evangeline's pen stopped moving as she looked over at him with cold eyes and said, "What, did you expect me to sleep in the same bed that you occupy? I'm not one of your little girlfriends in the outside world."

Rubbing his head to alleviate the awkwardness, Vahn couldn't help but frown a bit as he said, "I wasn't asking you to sleep at the same time, I was just curious since it's been almost an entire day and you're still awake." Evangeline's brows furrowed a bit as she turned away and continued writing in her journal without responding to his question. Vahn just shook his head before leaving the bed and continuing his work in processing the materials.

Unlike the prior day, when Evangeline would constantly interrupt to ask him questions, she seemed to be keeping to herself which allowed Vahn to make steady progress. This was now the beginning of the fifth day since he started processing materials, and he had been intended to begin forging equipment soon. Every time he named an item after forging, he would gain marginally more OP than the requisite materials used in its construction. Vahn was excited by the prospect of creating an infinite loop which allowed him to gain experience, OP, and Valis when he sold the items later. Unlike equipment purchased from the system, he could give away the items he forged without relying on the 'gift' function in the system.

Since he had been naming so many items, Vahn had inspected his [Keeper of the Akashic Tome] through the system and learned a very pleasant fact. Even though the system time showed the passage of time in the real world, the cooldowns on his abilities seemed to be tied to the passage of time within the orb. His original 60-day cooldown was already less than 39 days, even though only around two weeks had passed in the real world. At this rate, he could reduce the cooldown on his abilities by around 7 days per actual day that passed in the real world. (A/N: 6 days in the space, 1 day in the real world.)

With all this new information, Vahn forged in high spirits and wanted to improve his skills as much as he could before the cooldown finally came to an end. He planned to use part of the time till then to create the framework for an item which he intended to name using the power of his Innate skill, instead of the traditional naming method. He already had a few ideas in mind and was trying to decide which of them would be the most optimal for his future progress. Though it wouldn't have the same power as the original, if Vahn decided to forge a sword and name it Excalibur, he knew that it would possess a fragment of the power of the original. If he put effort into it, it would even be able to grow and exceed the original in the future.

Right now, Vahn didn't have much need for equipment, since his [Rakshasa Body] gave him incredible fighting potential. He also had [Enkidu] as well as his [Will of the Emperor] which would give him an edge over almost anyone. However, this didn't mean he had no interest in equipment at all since the idea of wielding cool looking armor and weapons made him feel excited. Even if he didn't use them much, just being able to wear them would be awesome.

Vahn knew these were all matters for the future, so he didn't spend too much time thinking about it. Once he got out of the space, he would have a lot of recreational time to consider things, so, for now, he continued to forge the large weapon he started earlier. After seeing the 'Urga' of Tiona, Vahn had wanted to try creating a similar weapon. Even with his powerful physical strength, he still had trouble handling the metal after realizing how difficult it was to work with a heavy and long object.

It took him nearly twelve hours to shape the 140kg piece of metal into the correct shape while ensuring it had proper balance. Without the support of his domain and control over fire, Vahn would have been unable to complete the weapon, since it was far more difficult than he had expected. After consideration, he mocked himself for making it all as one part instead of creating a mold for the individual blades and then linking them together later. However, since it was all one piece during its construction, the mana circuits were linked properly and the entirety of the blade was far more durable. He had used a triple layer composite of adamantine for the core, mithril to act as a cushion and conduit around that with reinforced magisteel lining the edges.