In Loki's Honor

"Between three [Goddess Tears] and a kilogram of Truesilver, which is the most expensive?" She wondered.

"For a Goddess of Creation, your mother surely likes to leave destruction behind. A pit of necrotic blood that festered into a Dungeon, the lake near the capital, the Maelstrom, a hole where the ancient Auvani palace once stood, what else?"

"Right. I fear one day she'll destroy this world."

"Of course, she would," Barbara affirmed with absolute conviction.

I could farm about thirty to thirty-two corners every minute. At this rate, it would take me fifty-four hours to harvest a hundred thousand.

"Does it hurt?" She asked after a while.

"Okay. If you say so."

She just glared at me.

*

*

Unraveling the mysteries of the divine was not something mortals could do so easily or not at all, who could guess. We spent half a year in that lab, my pile of Truesilver shavings growing taller and taller, to the point I stopped cutting my corners to process and refine the Truesilver away from the leather and cardboard. I decided to do that with an electrolytic bath.

I carved a Lightning-attuned common monster Core with runes to stabilize and create a steady electrical current. People in Yznarian had known of electricity for centuries but with magic and the System, it wasn't as convenient as it was back in mom's homeworld. It still had its uses, especially when one didn't want to mix magic with whatever they were working with that required electricity, like what I was attempting to do.

This Core was connected to an electrical circuit and would produce non-magical electricity at a constant rate. I prepared a lot of zinc nitrate solution and set it apart. It would be consumed and then retrieved to purify the Truesilver.

To expose the Truesilver to the electrolytes, I hung all the corners on a gold wire. It had to be gold because any other metal would dissolve instead of the Truesilver. I dip the wire in the zinc salt solution and then have the zinc deposit on the other electrode while the Truesilver dissolved into the solvent.

After that, I just needed to remove the leather and cardboard refuse, and wash it with an electrolyte solution to get the Truesilver solution out to get all the Truesilver in the vat. I replaced the gold wire with one of pure silver and then short circuit the electrodes. The Truesilver ions reduced around the silver wire and became solid again.

I ended up with a lot of Truesilver rods with just a thin amount of ordinary silver in the middle. I cut the wire into roughly one-kilogram cylinders and stored them. They were a thing of beauty. The Truesilver didn't oxidize and remained forever untarnished. It had a shimmer that was brighter than polished silver. The Truesilver was also very good at conducting magic.

That was the primary use of Truesilver I knew of. Making the core of magical implements like wands and staves. Barbara's staff had a core of [Living Silk] which after a few levels surpassed the conductivity of Truesilver and also shared its regenerative and evolutive properties with the whole staff. The best spellcasting wands had a molecular-thin wire of Truesilver inside them. I could make thousands of wands with a single one-kilogram Truesilver cylinder.

Boring.

While Barbara studied how the [Goddess Tears] reacted with various types of crystals including broken monster Core slivers, I tried to alloy the Truesilver with various metals. The first attempt was to make Sterling silver. I smelt 37 parts silver to 3 parts copper or 92.5% to 7.5% by weight. The resulting ally was harder and stronger than soft pure silver but didn't have any magical properties. That reminded me of the blue iron refined from demon carapace. It had a slew of elements but with Carbonium instead of mundane carbon. The super-heavy isotope was what gave Adamantite its magical properties. Perhaps I needed to add only trace amounts of Truesilver to the alloy, along with other metals to make something that could be forged into weapons and armor.

I next tried making electrum, an alloy of gold and silver. The results were disappointing again. No improved magical properties, not even those of pure Truesilver. The third was to mix Truesilver and platinum, or Kingmetal as people called it in this world. The alloy had worse magical conductivity than pure Truesilver but saved a lot of the magical silver. The performance was comparable with pure Truesilver and it could make cheaper high-quality wands by just making the core wire a bit thicker while still saving Truesilver.

Yes, Truesilver was so ridiculously expensive that platinum was a cheap alternative. This was the first partial success of this experiment. A cheaper method to make wands. I tried my hand at crafting some and finally found the perfect wire thickness to keep the enchantment capacity of the wand the same as with pure Truesilver. It was about forty percent cheaper than the original.

The reason nobody found this yet was that nobody would waste Truesilver making these experiments. Only someone as crazy as me.

*

*

Another couple of months later.

I had wasted a hundred kilograms of Truesilver already, with little to show for my efforts. I had cheaper wands and a way to give spellcasters more reach on their touch spells. A staff made of Truesilver Sterling, as I called the platinum-Truesilver alloy. It was hollow and had [Living Silk] on the inside, along with a smooth spherical monster Core on the top. Magic could permeate from the caster into the staff and then anything touching the metal would count as if the caster was touching it too. It had enormous enchanting potential, especially if I engraved the Core with my special technique.

But the other Truesilver alloys all were a failure. I tried several alloys from mom's memories of Earth and none had any improved magical properties.

Meanwhile, it was Barbara's research that was showing some progress. She called me to show her discovery.

I stopped the current on the several electrolytic baths I had going and went to check it.

She had a Goddess' tear set like a jewel in the middle of a carved block of World Tree wood. A product that could only be found in Fulgen or in mom's [Tree Sanctuary], it was the most magical wood one could think of. The block had a groove and several glyphs inlaid with crystal dust and molten Truesilver. She'd borrowed some from me. The polished metallic glyphs were flush with the wood and had some shiny flakes on them.

I asked.

"It gathers ambient Mana and funnels it to the [Goddess Tear]. Then, if I touch a shard of crystal to the pearl, this happens."

She took a sliver of emerald with some jeweler's tongs and touched it to the [Goddess Tear]. I felt a large amount of magic rushing to the crystal and the block of wood started sucking the ambient dry, fueling the process and replenishing its internal storage of Mana. The sliver, however, suffered a dramatic change. It started to grow in all directions, materializing more emerald as it went. In a single minute, the tiny sliver had become a sizeable gemstone worth a couple dozen carats.

"It works with any crystal. From common kitchen salt to diamond!" She exulted.

"Yes, but the growth is not instantaneous. It takes a ton of Mana to make core shards grow, unfortunately."

"Yes, it does."

I laughed inside her head. Telepathy was weird like that.

It was worth suspending the curse. I took Haru's shape and triggered it.

*

*

Nethe was right. This was worth suspending the curse. I searched my item box and found it. A sliver of a monster core, one I encountered only once.

But first, I hugged the cute Halfling. We hadn't yet talked about what happened at the Auvani cathedral.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, her self-confidence wavering.

"With some expertise in mana manipulation, we can supply our own MP to your device, Barbara. But this is awesome. We can revivify lost monsters if we have a shard of their Cores lying around."

I produced the shard.

"What creature is this?"

"The most fearsome and useful monster I've ever met. It's called a Kythaurpódi."

"And why exactly do you want to revive them? Why does this name sound familiar?"

"To add it to my summon list again. I had it but then lost it when I was born as a scavenger gnome."

I studied the block of wood and then found the optimal place to put my hand. I started feeding it with my MP and then touched the Kythaurpódi Core sliver to the tear. I took a box of the Kythaurpódi tentacle blades out. With a shapable Force barrier, I guided its growth to match the structure of the complete Core. it took a few hours and most of my MP but I managed to get it.

Yeah, the curse came back but it didn't matter. I just needed to get the core sliver out of storage.

> Kythaurpódi Core

I broke a sliver and used the Tear again to fix the Core. Reviving the monster from the Core was a bit more complicated than I made Barbara believe but not impossible. With access to Divinity, almost nothing was impossible, just too expensive for my tiny demigod pool.

But the core allowed me to add the Kythaurpódi back to my list of summons.

"Hey, summon one of these," Barbara pleaded. "I want to see how it looks."

I pointed at the box of blades. "Imagine a tentacle covered in these razors. Now, a monster that is made of tentacles, full of blades, and is very grabby."

"Eww!"

"Exactly. There's an illustration of it in mom's Encyclopedia."

I summoned the book and showed it to her.

"Double Eww!"

"I don't think you want to see the real writhing thing. They are some of the toughest bastards mom had ever fought. The tentacles are extremely fragile and easily break. When you cut them, they multiply."

"Okay. So, what do you think of my invention?"

"Ten out of ten."

Her smile was so bright. Barbara squealed happily, then explained her plan.

"I'm thinking of using this to create a self-healing crystal golem," Barbara said. "But the Mana siphon is too weak to sustain the crystal replication and power the golem."

"We need more surface area. Also, what size do you want this golem?"

"Needs to be big to have enough mass to strike properly. A spellcasting one is out of the question too. Too complex."

I rubbed my chin and let my tails wander freely in the lab while I thought.

"What if we carve the tear like a Core move the framework from the wood block to those carvings, add some gathering extensions to the framework so it has more surface area to collect Mana, and make a small proof-of-concept golem?"

"You'd waste a [Goddess] tear on a proof-of-concept?"

"Yeah. It's not like it's impossible getting more in the future. Just too hard. There's a dozen of them at the bottom of the ocean."

"In the middle of the Maelstrom! Only a couple of people sailed there and returned alive in two thousand years."

"That we know of. But [Goddess Tears] were found and brought back to the surface. And we have Adamantite-clad airships. If we put an Adamantite roof on them to stop the lightning from destroying the deck, we can visit the Maelstrom. The worst that can happen is to leave the airship behind and escape. We should take Arista with us, she's our underwater operations expert."

"Since when?"

"Three seconds ago! But first, let's waste the pearls we have and see if we'll need more."

*

*

Another bunch of weeks in the lab, designing, thinking, and preparing to do something amazing. We wouldn't make a blocky golem but something that could be considered a work of art. The golem would be small, just a foot tall and I immediately thought of a fairy.

Every time I released mom, most of her thoughts went to the fairy up in the sky doing the insurmountable task of fixing a broken moon.

I cast two gossamer butterfly wings of Truesilver Sterling, the metallic mesh resembling a fairy's wings. It was a mesh to keep the wind from pushing the wings to and fro. At this weight, granting the golem the power to fly was easy. The wings were light as a plume, quite literally. The mesh was a tiny fraction of a millimeter thick and very delicate. But once enchanted, it would be hard to bend and self-healing. A single strand of Living Silk ran around the edge of the wing frame, binding to the metal and granting its properties to the wings. The base of the wings had a semi-spherical basket that would house the engraved [Goddess Tear].

I had to use Melody's form to carve the Goddess Tear. The tools had to be crafted specifically for this and were thinner than a sewing needle. I engraved each rune with the utmost care and precision I could muster, inside a sealed glass jar with an inert atmosphere to make sure not even the wind could damage the precious material.

The ultimate ability of my [Enchanter] Proficiency was put to good use.

Engrave Core (U): You can engrave complex enchantment sequences into Cores, creating a variety of utilities.

Sentient Items: You can imbue intellect into your enchanted items, up to (P/10) points of mental Attributes.

Growth Items: For a cost of (200 - P/10) points, items you enchant grow and gain (10 + P/50) extra points every (100-P/15) years.

With all the [Shadow Workshop] bonuses and specialized tools, my score soared to a bit more than 1,200. The golem would have a starting score of 50 Mind, 50 Willpower, and 20 Charisma at level 0. We also granted it the growth option for 80 points, a pittance compared to how many Enchanting points we had using materials such as those. The golem would grow and gain 34 Enchantment points every 20 years. The 80 points were an investment, not a cost. It also benefited from my Fabled Crafter Perk. The wings in particular were already 400% stronger than they should be just from being crafted by mom.

Fabled Crafter: +20 to all Technical proficiencies above 50. [...] (Luck/2 +20)% less chance of mishap. You can collect, manipulate, and use impossible materials. Each fabled material adds 20% to the item's power. The first-ever of any item receives a mystery quality. Metallic items have 100% more durability and hardness. 50% more enchantment points. Delicate or moving parts are 100% tougher. [...]

I had to finish the enchantment with the curse lifted because that was a Perk still locked to poor Netherbane.

Barbara cut a block of grown diamond in the shape of the body, with a spherical hole in the back of the chest for the Tear and small holes to attach the wings. The Truesilver Sterling needed to touch the pearly Core. She mixed traditional gemcutting techniques with her rather unique [Crystallomancer] magic to make a perfect replica of a fairy body out of the flawless diamond. She added small unicorn horn slates to the fingertips to work as nails, and pegasi feather barbs for the hair. Two spherical rubies four millimeters in diameter became her eyes. It was a "she" because of the hourglass body.

I drilled tiny holes in the limbs, head, and body for transparent strands of Living Silk. I made them with a refractive index equal to that of a diamond so they would be invisible inside the body. Finally, we polished the whole body with fairy dust.

After months of work, we finally did the final step. With mom unleashed, we placed the engraved Tear between the two baskets, bringing them together and latching them together with a slight rotation to lock the built-in hooks. A few strands of Living Silk were poking from the sides, to connect the Silk in the wings to the silk in the body. Living Silk items could combine and become a single item if the intention was to keep them together. It was something we discovered with Alloralla's clothes back in her day.

*

*

The crystal fairy golem was lying inert in her stomach. It resembled Nenandil and I couldn't help but feel the pain of her absence. Barbara used a spell to make the diamond malleable so I could push the Truesilver-wrapped Core and wings in place. I was almost making another [Goddess Tear] but I had to focus on completing the enchantment. Most of the points went into Intelligence, autonomy, MP generation, storage, and resilience. Unless cut with an Adamantite weapon, this fairy golem would be indestructible.

But I really wished it was a real fairy.

The Pearl made into a Core settled in place and I commanded the Living Silk to connect. The wings started to gather ambient Mana but I supplied it with my MP. The magic flooded the Core which ignited and went live.

I barely noticed I had activated my Anima Incarnator Perk. The feeling was not unfamiliar. I'd done that thousands of times before. The Divinity flowed along with a huge chunk of MP from Kel'Caldor's Phylactery. My pool had been sucked dry.

The crystal fairy flapped her wings. She moved her arms and braced herself against the worktable countertop.

"We did it!" Barbara cheered.

She moved on her feet, using her wings for balance. Her white hair waved with her movements. She looked at her transparent arms, hands, and then down at the metal-clad orb inside her chest. Barbara didn't carve nipples or anything of the sort. The fairy had that Barbie doll featureless figure save for the facets of her diamond body, which caught the glow of the Goddess Tear powering her and shone in particular spots. She cast a kaleidoscopic "shadow" of rainbow light on the workbench. Then she looked behind her and at her metallic butterfly wings, which reflected the light cast by her body and appeared to be made of a liquid rainbow.

After examining her body, she looked at us. The fairy smiled and floated for the first time. She flew toward Barbara and hugged the halfling's cheeks, planting a kiss on her nose. Then she flew toward me and did the same. From there, she floated to hover above the workbench.

"I'm so happy!" She gushed and flew in a figure-8 pattern. "Thank you, mom and mom, for bringing me to life."

She said what?

I checked my [Anima Incarnator] Perk list of species I created. It now listed "Crystal Fairies" as one of the entries. I shot the fairy an {Appraise}.

> Level 0 Female Crystal Fairy

"She's alive!" I mumbled.

That must be the "mystery quality" of the first ever golem combined with my life-giving Perk.

"Yup!" She cheerfully chirped. "I'm alive, mom!"

Barbara must have {Appraised} the fairy too. She gasped. "I'm a real mother now?"

I guess we were mothers now, the both of us. She would be Netherbane's sister then, I decided.