Valentina Wykes ran her hands along the straps of her apron, pulling them tight to fit her chest as she moved away from the smoking forge. Her breasts were very large and drew attention.
Around her, fragments of enchanted metal fluttered in the air like dancing butterflies - each one emanating a different warmth, each one with a distinct sound, as if they were notes from a magical symphony in the making.
She turned and walked over to him, stopping in front of him.
She looked at him like someone examining a rough piece of ore - not with contempt, but with wild and dangerous curiosity. She walked around him slowly, her heavy boots clicking on the metal floor of the forge, the heat of the flames dancing in the reflections of her metallic hair.
"You look like trouble..." she commented, running a gloved finger along his chin with a cheeky grin. "The kind that attracts curses, confusion and... good stories."
Seth arched an eyebrow, without flinching. "You look like the kind who survives trouble. And you forge weapons for it."
"Fufufu" Valentina gave a hoarse, almost feline laugh and stopped in front of him, her hands on her waist and her chest heaving under her tight leather apron - clearly worn out of necessity, but which molded dangerously well to the blacksmith's strong, curvaceous body.
"This one can talk. I like that." She then turned on her back and walked over to a metal bench where embers crackled in blue and gold. As she passed through a draft, the heat from the furnace made her hair stand up briefly, and her apron stuck to her sweaty back, revealing a muscular, statuesque figure.
Seth turned his face slightly, muttering to Kaguya: "You said she was dangerous. You didn't say she was dangerous like that."
Kaguya replied in a dry but slightly amused tone: "Pull yourself together. She's already killed suitors with a hammer just for looking too hard."
"Good. I guess I'll use the ceiling as a focal point, then."
Valentina returned holding a pair of flaming gloves, with runic symbols pulsing in bright red. She tossed one to Seth, who caught it with a quick reflex.
"You're going to help me," she said, pushing a table with her hip - the movement was precise and intentionally sensual, as if she were on a stage rather than in a forge.
Seth put on his glove with a raised eyebrow. "What are we going to do? Don't tell me you're going to curse me with a strange weapon or whatever."
"Don't trip," she replied with a mischievous glare. "Let's make your signature weapon. But first..." She moved closer again, her eyes fixed on his. "I need to know what you are."
Seth tilted his head slightly. "Is that a philosophical question?"
"It's a magical question." Valentina snapped her fingers and suddenly golden runic circles began to float in the air around them. The ground beneath their feet glowed with arcane energy, and the room seemed to hold its breath.
Bastet, still in the shadows, let out an irritated meow. 'Here comes trouble with fire and an inflated ego...'
Kaguya crossed her arms, watching intently.
Seth looked around, feeling the heat and magic enveloping his skin. He felt all his mana being touched, it felt like he was being embraced by an almost familiar warmth.
Valentina's eyes widened in delight. "Now you're interesting."
She looked at him with a smile that mixed lust with creative obsession. The energy she felt made her face glow from end to end.
"Your energy is quite unusual, I feel many things. Desert energy, electric energy, chaotic mana. You're not a Rank-E." She smiled, "The association's energy detectors will probably explode if you get close." She spoke and turned to the table, sitting on it and crossing her legs.
"I can make you a gun," said Valentina with a smile that looked like it was about to boil metal. "But it'll take at least a year."
Seth arched an eyebrow. "A year?"
"That's right." She twirled the hammer in her fingers like a pen. "I'm not going to miss the chance to create a new kind of weapon. One that breaks rules. One that screams."
She snapped her fingers in the air, and a series of glowing runes lit up on the forge wall, revealing a row of weapons attached to reinforced brackets. Each one seemed more dangerous than the last. Swords, axes, spears - some pulsed, others breathed.
Valentina walked up to one of the weapons with determined steps, like someone about to perform an explosive play.
"This one," she said, grabbing a heavy, massive-looking sword, "is Vaali."
She unceremoniously tossed the weapon to Seth.
He picked it up with a dry impact on his arm - the sword was dense, cold and... alive? The handle was shaped like a skull with hollow eyes that seemed to whisper in a forgotten language.
"Beautiful," he said, turning the hilt to feel the balance. "And strange.
"Strange is an understatement." Valentina laughed, her golden eyes glowing like embers. "Now here's what you do: hit that wall over there." She pointed to a corner of the lab where a thick black stone wall - probably reinforced with dozens of layers of magical protection - was waiting like a volunteer for disaster.
Seth hesitated for a moment and glanced at Kaguya.
She just crossed her arms, nodding slightly. "If you die, I'll let Connie know."
"Great," muttered Seth, turning to the wall.
He had never been a swordsman. His experience with weapons was limited to improvisation, instinct and the occasional surge of insane power. But something about the sword seemed to... demand movement.
He took a deep breath, swiveled his hips and used all the strength in his body in a single diagonal blow.
The blade cut through the air...
And then the world exploded.
KABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
An orange flash expanded like a miniature supernova. A shockwave reverberated throughout the forge, rattling hanging chains, blowing out arcane candles and making magical shields activate by instinct. Runes ignited in panic on the walls. Bastet, who was sleeping in a corner, leapt into the air like an angry cat.
Seth was thrown backwards brutally, crashing into a pile of tanned dragon skins. The sword? It disintegrated in an ethereal explosion of flames, lightning and fragments of unstable magic.
The air was still shaking. A two-meter crack had opened in the black wall.
From the ground, with soot on his face and smoke coming out of his hair, Seth blinked a few times, spitting out some ash.
"...fuck."
Valentina clapped her hands, laughing like a maniac.
"HAHAHAHA! EXCELLENT! You survived! That's already 50% more than the last idiot who tested Vaali!"
Kaguya approached slowly, her expression absolutely impassive, but the slight raise of her eyebrow showed that even she hadn't expected so much destruction
"Was that your idea of a test?"
Valentina just shrugged, amused like a child with a new toy. "This sword channels the bearer's latent energy and converts it into raw discharge... if you don't have absolute control, it explodes. Simple!"
"Simple for whom?" Seth coughed up another cloud of smoke. "For a dragon?"
"For a resistant idiot," she retorted, helping him up with surprising strength. "And you've just given me a new idea. You're a natural conductor of magic - but without form. Chaotic. Raw. That... that's perfect."
She turned, her eyes sparking. "I'm going to create something with you as a base. A living weapon. One that feeds off your chaos. A fusion of unstable magical conduction, adaptive runes and... hmm, perhaps a semi-sentient core."
Kaguya said dryly: "You're going to create an unstable weapon?"
Valentina smiled. "Haven't you ever learned math? Less with less gives more! Instability + Instability = Stability."
Seth was silent for a moment, still recovering his senses, then he gave a half-insane, half-amused smile.
"You're completely crazy."
"And you're more useful than you look." She winked. "You'll give me a hard time, Rank-E... but you've just won the most expensive forge on the continent... Besides, take this one for now, it's the only weapon that will serve you in my forge."
Seth looked at the sword...
[Sword "Vaali", Rank-A]
[Description: A sword forged by an eccentrically hot Ferreira. Beauty and madness go hand in hand with her creativity. Her knowledge has created the perfect, irregular weapon for those who have the power to supply it].
[Passive Skill - JackPot! (Rank A): Vaali is an unstable and unpredictable weapon. Each blow infused with magical energy activates a random and explosive reaction. It can cause anything from devastating shockwaves to explosions based on its affinities, such as thunder or lightning strikes. The more power channeled, the more chaotic (and lethal) the effect. A single slash can be enough to obliterate monsters - or open a crater in the ground. It's literally a game of chance with each attack].
Seth looked at it in silence, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 'Perfect for me...'
While Seth was still examining the details of the Vaali sword, Valentina suddenly turned and disappeared behind a pile of tools. The metallic sound of chains clinking and drawers being opened echoed for a few seconds. When she returned, she was holding something between her fingers: a long needle, forged from enchanted silver, with tiny inscriptions that pulsed red.
Before he could react, she jabbed the tip of the needle into his arm - a dry snap followed by a burning sensation. He took a step back, surprised.
"Hey! What the hell was that?!"
Valentina tilted her head, watching with fascination as tiny drops of blood dripped from the puncture. Her smile widened. Her eyes, once golden and full of embers, became two deep, black slits - abysses glowing with creative madness.
"I need blood to give birth to my creations," she said in a slurred, almost melodic voice. A whisper that sounded like a forbidden prayer.
Kaguya frowned slightly, but remained silent. Bastet let out a low grumble, clearly annoyed.
Valentina licked the drop of blood from the tip of the needle as if tasting a rare wine, then snapped her fingers.
"Now... out, both of you. I have work to do." She turned, her aura oscillating between genius and dementia, and pointed at the door with the hammer.
Seth raised his hands, taking a few steps back. "All right, all right... I get the message."
"Come back in a year!" she shouted, already walking towards the center of the forge, where runic circles were starting to light up in sequence. "Or maybe less... if I don't die in the process."
As soon as the door closed behind Seth and Kaguya, silence fell over the forge - but not for long.
Valentina sat down at the metal table where she had just been, her legs spread apart without any shame, and took a deep breath. She ran her hand over her soot-covered crotch, her eyes slowly closing. A wide, almost insane smile took over his face.
"...I got all wet." She laughed alone, the sound reverberating like bells of madness in the forge chamber. Seth's blood still glistened on her needle. And on the walls, the runes began to spin faster, as if they shared their master's creative ecstasy.
"You're going to be my masterpiece..."