Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 940: Artificial Focusing Circle

Stepping through the portal, Alice arrived at the smithy underground. The people were a little surprised to see her but seeing as how she was controlling the portals, they decided to stay silent.

With everyone rushing to complete their tasks, they didn’t have the leisure to question why a small girl had just appeared in the smithy.

Compared to the surface, the temperature sure was much higher. Stuffy even as some of the air began to warp in the distance.

There were cooling vents and so on but it’s clear that this heat was needed in order to work with some of the materials.

She could see the giant industrial hammers slamming down. Each strike causing sparks to fly. Hunks of metal that required two to three people to carry.

The furnace blasting at full power in order to melt down the materials and heat up certain crystals.

The creation of alloys and carvings being applied onto red hot pieces of metal.

No one was standing around idly, not even the machines.

Suyin stood in the centre, giving out commands of what she requires and even testing if some of the pieces were good enough.

She had brought in her own machines and connected it to the main body of the factory, teaching the people how to use it in order to manufacture some of the parts she would need.

Noticing Alice’s arrival, Suyin glanced over.

"That was fast, finished scouting already? So what’s the verdict, think you can nuke them before they arrive?"

"It’s a coin toss. I could certainly try but I don’t know what kind of consequences there are to doing so." Alice shrugged.

Hearing this, Suyin could already guess that Alice noticed a bad reaction between her powers and the Nightmare energy.

They’re gathering their army slowly so no doubt they’ll have some form of defence in place.

And that defence is warding off Alice from blindly attacking.

"How are the modifications coming along? Still need me to forge stuff?" Alice asked curiously.

Suyin nodded her head.

"Some of the crystals are too tough for the fire here to melt down. Even some of the blacksmiths are struggling. We need enough output and control to heat the crystals gradually before forging the crystals into a core." She handed Alice the blueprint of her weapon.

Raising an eyebrow, Alice scanned the blueprint before turning to Suyin.

"A little ambitious don’t you think? Isn’t this a little early to be putting a prototype to the test?"

Suyin grinned.

"Ah~ I knew you’d get it. I’ve already finished the calculations and when else am I going to get material as good as this? As long as the cores are finished, the weapon should function just fine." Suyin chuckled.

She didn’t write down what the cores are used for, their purpose.

Yet by looking at the full blueprint, Alice already figured out their use.

They were artificial focusing circles.

When Alice prepares a large attack, natural amplification circles manifest to focus her attack at one target. They redirect and enhance the flow of energy.

What Suyin sought to create was an artificial replica of that in order to boost her power into the next threshold.

She had seen how durable the Sentinels were. If she succeeds in creating these cores, she might have a weapon that can stand toe to toe with them.

In this moment, Suyin felt like she was in a flow state. The ideas burning through her mind, the blueprints she could bring to reality so long as this core was created.

One theory turns into reality, the doors of possibility are swung wide open!

Seeing the excitement in Suyin’s eyes, Alice couldn’t help but chuckle.

Even as a doll right now, her eyes were as expressive as always.

Handing the blueprint back, Alice created a hair tie and pulled her hair into a pony tail.

She clipped her bangs back so they didn’t get in her eyes.

With a snap of her finger, a blood curtain surrounded her as she quickly changed into a sleeveless tank top.

Her outfit wouldn’t be suitable for forging after all, the material might get caught on fire.

"Are you forging or are you trying to steal someone’s heart?" Suyin whistled seeing Alice in this outfit.

"Oh haha, very funny. Now where are the crystals? I’ll need a bit of space if they’re tough to melt down." Alice chuckled while giving her arms a slight stretch.

"Over here." Suyin jumped down from her table.

Leading Alice towards the centre of the forge, she gestured to a pile of crystal ores piled together.

They could see a few men trying to melt it in the furnace but to no avail.

No matter how much the fires roared, the crystal refused to heat up.

Alice folded her arms and activated Cayla.

She could see the streams of energy surrounding the forge.

How the blacksmiths tried to enhance the flames with their own Sigils but the crystal warded it off.

Then she saw the properties of the crystal.

"Where did they even find this stuff?" Alice asked curiously.

"Don’t ask me, apparently they had it in their storage for a while. They traded for it in the past due to its high conductivity when it comes to energy but couldn’t melt it down at all. But if we can make use of it, it’ll be perfect."

"That’s my issue though. You know what my fire does, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll accidently wipe away its properties during the forging process." Alice smiled helplessly.

Since this crystal was super conductive, using her flames might erase that aspect entirely and turn it into normal crystal.

If that was to happen...

It’ll be a complete waste of material.

"Why don’t you take a small chunk and test it out for now?" Suyin suggested, tossing over a small crystal the size of a palm.

Catching the crystal, Alice held it up against the light and smiled.

"Alright, watch carefully then. I’ll show you what I learned from watching the Lord of the Forge."

Nodding her head, Suyin had the blacksmiths make way for Alice as she approached the forge.

With a snap of her finger, the flames were snuffed out. She didn’t need fire that couldn’t reach her desired temperature.

Suspending the crystal in the air, Alice snapped her finger.

A blinding white spark flickered to life in front of her, drowning out the colour within the workshop.

As the spark came into contact with the furnace...

*BANG!!!

A roaring fire burst forth, violet flickers that thrashed against space itself as fractures began to appear across the air.

One spark was all it took for Alice to shatter the boundary and prepare her ’forge’.

Alice’s Sigils lit up. She traced her own memory of Sigurd, the movements he made. The reasoning behind his movements.

His objective.

Clenching her fist, Alice controlled the fire to coil around the crystal. Her eyes observed the shifting of energy.

She needed to repurpose it, to change its form. What she didn’t want was for the properties to be wiped out.

Control power, that’s what she needed.

Within the flames, the silhouette of a dragon appeared as Tiamat’s Sigil was overlayed onto her violet flames.

Colours drained and a stream of pure white fire was concentrated onto the crystal.

A swirling vortex of fire and energy.

Alice was beginning to see the flow of the material. How to best shape it, where she should strike.

Flicking her wrist, Alice transformed Void Fang into a large hammer and lunged at the crystal.

Twisting her body, she slammed the hammer into it!

*BANG!!!

The collision caused a wave of energy to erupted outwards as people who weren’t prepared were knocked down.

But Alice wasn’t done.

She followed up with a second strike as a waterfall of sparks erupted. Energy that should be invisible to the eye took form through the flames, weaving through the air and into the crystal.

Rather than a forging process, it looked more like a painting.

Sweat dripped down Alice’s head as she didn’t expect this kind of resistance from the material.

Even with this much firepower, she was struggling to melt it down.

However, with this challenge, a grin appeared on her face.

’Let’s see who breaks first! You or me!’

With each hammer strike, the world around Alice seemed to shatter. Fractures continued to spread as Void energy leaked into the realm.

Then finally, the crystal started to melt.

Little by little, it was being transformed into a liquid as the edges drooped down!

Dismissing the hammer, Alice framed the crystal between her fingers as she began to condense everything into a small area.

A vacuum sucked in all the energy within the surrounding area, focusing, condensing, amplifying her flames.

*RUMBLE!!!

The ground started to tremble as Alice clasped her hands together.

A blinking spark that even forced Suyin to look away.

By the time the light faded, a single lens now floated in front of Alice.

She succeeded.

With the disappearance of the fire, the crystal lens cooled own rapidly on its own without the need of outside interference.

Holding it with her fingers, Alice let out a small laugh and tossed it over to Suyin.

"Take a look. I think this should be perfect for you."

Suyin caught the lens as her eyes shifted to better observe the crystal.

Her fingers trembled.

Now only was the properties preserved...

Aspects of it was even heightened!

The lens that Alice had created could withstand and even amplify attacks greater than what she had initially calculated.

And this was just a small piece! What about the bigger chunks?!

"It’s going to be exhausting though and I won’t be able to help with the other stuff." Alice could already tell what Suyin was going to ask.

"That’s fine! Just focus on the crystals, we’ll sort out the other stuff!" Suyin nodded as she immediately ran over to draft a prototype with the small lens.

Shaking her head, Alice wiped away her sweat and glanced at the pile of crystals.

With this much at their disposal... perhaps she could create something for Ria.

Or better yet, she could even ask for a few chunks so that the real Lord of the Forge can make some equipment for them.

She was just a newbie at this after all.

Without any delay, Alice began the forging process for the next piece.