My Soul card is a Reaper

A serene evening light filtered into the steel-and-glass laboratory tucked away in a pocket dimension.

At the center of it all stood Dr. Mac, sleeves rolled up, her usually sharp, pale face now alight with curiosity and fervor.

Beside her was Leiza, focused and immersed in work. The two women stood before an orb, pulsating with energy.

Dr. Mac sat in the chair and rolled to the control system. She typed keys at inhuman speeds for a minute, turning her attention back to the orb on the display, then to Leiza. "Okay, I'm activating its attribute. 3, 2, 1…"

As soon as she pressed Enter, sparks of electricity erupted from the glowing orb.

Leiza's face just lit up, watching the orb. "We did it, Dr. Mac. This artificial arcana spirit will be his partner. And once begin constructing the bow, we… Hmm?"

Suddenly, the sparks became bigger and bigger, the orb started floating and vibrating heavily.

"Wha… what's happening?" Leiza asked.

"It's going out of control. I'm going to shut it down." Dr. Mac hurriedly typed the commands and pulled out the power source, the elemental crystals, a substitution of one's attribute energy.

*Thud*

The orb fell to the desk, and smoke emitted through its gaps.

"Ugh… It's a failure." Leiza's face dimmed, and she leaned to the desk as if her entire energy was drained.

Just then, the lab door opened without a sound.

Azzy entered, calm and composed, his crimson eyes briefly scanning the scene before settling on Leiza. "Uhh… hon, what happened?"

"Rael? I didn't expect you to be here," she said, slightly startled.

"I came to pick you up," he replied, his voice gentle. But then his gaze moved to the design in the control system that had a bow, and then the orb. "You're giving this to Orion?"

Leiza nodded. "He needs something. With no Arcana spirit, he's vulnerable. So, we were working on an artificial spirit concept."

Azzy stared at the orb, the artificial spirit pulsing faintly within the crystalline core.

For a moment, he said nothing.

However, it did take him to a memory. Back at school, there was this kid named Adam who had an artificial Arcana spirit of a guitar.

Coming back to his senses, Azzy shook his head. "No."

Leiza frowned. "You're saying we shouldn't give this to him?"

Azzy turned to her, gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "What do you think will happen if he wins? Do you think he will think he won the tournament on his own? Or will he think that his mother made him win because she doesn't believe him? You know his temper more than anyone. Do you still think this is the right way?"

Leiza hesitated, but slowly nodded. "I understand."

Dr. Mac looked between them, then sighed. "We'll hold off this project, then."

Azzy reached out, summoning a faint white light in his palm. The glow twisted, condensed, and finally solidified into a flawless bar of Mithril, shining silver-blue, of standard size brick. Then, 1 doubled into 2, 2 into 4, and 4 into 16 bars, which were seen floating above his head. He neatly stacked them one after another on the floor.

"Use this instead," he said, handing the last brick over to her. "Craft him a bow. A normal one that can not only hold his divine energy. Since you have Berith at your disposal, you can try with the dark matter, but make sure to finish crafting the bow atleast a week before the competition.

Leiza took it, running her fingers across the rare metal, and tapped her fingers on it. "Hmm… this is as light as titanium but more durable."

"That's Pure mythril, S+grade." Dr Mac replied, scanning the bar of mythril. The computer displayed its details in a second.

Material: MY-465T12

Name: Mythril

Grade: S+ (>99.98%)

Density: ~4.5g/cm3

Tensile Strength: ~2900 MPa

Hardness: ~13.6 Mohs

Malleability: Very High

Corrosion Resistance: Absolute

Melting Point: ~3842 C

*

"3840 Celsius? Even the hottest ultraviolet flames wouldn't melt that. How are we ever going to melt this?" Leiza almost had her jaw drop, looking at the details.

Dr. Mac replied. "Relax, there are a number of ways to do it. We can go with plasma arc, laser ablation, or even an electric arc furnace. We have everything in this lab."

"Okay, let's talk about it later."

"Okay, Bye Dr. Mac." "Bye, Azrael." "See you later, Leiza."

As Leiza left the room with Azzy, Dr. Mac dragged her chair to the table and picked up the orb, pressed a button, and took out what looked like a vial with golden liquid inside. "Hmm… this golden blood of hers, extracted from the lady's marrow, seemed quite potent. Even my latest conversion orb couldn't create an Arcana spirit out of it. Perhaps, I need a stronger medium." Something clicked in her head, and her eyes lit up. "Yup, I have Berith with me. I can use his bones and crush them into fine powder. Then, I use the powder as an inner coating by mixing it with collagen-based hydrogel."

*

Next day, Violet Training Pavilion;

High above, on one of the stone terraces, Evelyn Crescent Haze stood straight, her hands gently resting on her swollen belly. Her gaze was on Orion, who was half-naked as usual, although he was being beaten up by a club while he was trying his best to meditate.

"Try to concentrate." She was shouting at the top of her lungs, her face almost reddened, not due to the anger but due to physical exertion. "That's just physical pain. Your consciousness should have nothing to do with that. Only when you separate your consciousness from your physical self can you proceed with the next step of this technique. Concentrate, Orion. Concentrate. Try to go into an imaginary world. Hey, you… Why are you becoming slow? Swinging a club a thousand times a day already tired you out? Use more force…"

While she was busy doing some mentoring, Azzy appeared not far away from her and walked over to her.

"You shouldn't be out here like this, especially in this place with such high gravity," he said softly, stepping beside her. "It's too much strain. Why don't you go and stay at the clan compound, Aunt?"

Evelyn smiled faintly, though her eyes remained on Orion, who was meditating near the training field. "I'm not that fragile, Azrael."

Azzy sighed and spoke as if he were complaining. "Still, you're carrying a life now. Stressing yourself emotionally or physically… is foolish."

Evelyn meaningfully looked at him and smiled. "Your boy is talented, Azzy. He picks up everything with ease and is also less troublesome than you."

Azzy didn't reply immediately. He simply stood there, watching Orion, who was trying his best to ignore the beatings from the club on his back. "I do hope he causes fewer troubles compared to me."

Evelyn smiled again, but then her facial expression turned a tad bit serious as she reached for his hand and placed it gently over her stomach. "Tell me the growth of my baby, Azzy.

Azzy looked surprised, but then nodded and concentrated, unleashing his aura sensing combined with his divine senses. He smiled as he said. "Yup, he already looked robust. He has not even been born, but I can see his bone strength is almost comparable to that of a 2-star Arcana Master."

Evelyn smiled in delight. "That's a good thing."

"Yes, it is good, but you will have a difficult birth because of that."