Whispers of a Dead Empire - Chapter 141

Calixa Pov:

“Now, little Nyx, I recommend that you narrow your goals from world domination.” I told her with a smile as I ran my fingers through her hair. I couldn’t say that I was surprised by what she said. But, it was my job as her mother to guide her on the right path.

“But mother. I’m a dragon; I can do it.” She puffed her cheeks up at me.

“I know you can, which is why I don’t want you to. Trying to take over the world with just strength can be tedious. There is more to it than just how strong you are. Besides, that’s a dangerous proposition by yourself.”

“Mother, does that mean you desire to take over the world?” Her face deflated a little as she regarded me with her emerald eyes. Curiosity flashed through them, along with wonder as thoughts danced through her mind.

Did I desire to take over the world? Not exactly, as this domain was my home. I could stretch it to any size I wanted and would be happy. “Not in the way you think. There are more ways to take over the world than just strength. You can do it by influence or by money. For me at least, I will keep expanding Asteria’s influence and power, and if taking over the world is a by-product of that, so be it.” My reservations about what I was doing had pretty much faded at this point. All that mattered to me now was the undead that lived here, and above that my family, and if what I did eventually led to me taking over the world, then I wouldn’t argue it.

“I think I understand, mother. I will assist you in your endeavors then.” She nodded curtly as if she were doing me a favor, causing me to roll my eyes. That damn child.

I felt my smile grow softly as I pulled away from her. I was so happy, and it felt like such a relief to feel it for once. “Well, I appreciate it.” I chuckled as I spun around and looked back at the table, there was still some metal here that I was looking at, and I shouldn’t keep getting sidetracked.

“Nyx, are you familiar with metals by chance? I’m not much of a metallurgist myself.” I told her as I reached out to the slate gray metal known as sky iron. It felt dense and a little heavy, but I couldn’t discern any different traits.

“I’m not sure what a ‘metallurgist’ is. But I can only glean superficial information from the metal. I am a dragon, after all.” She told me with a huff as she walked over to me and reached out her hand.

I stared at her for a second as I deposited the small sky iron ingot in her hand. She took it and stared at it for a moment, with her face scrunched in thought. “Mother, this metal is good. It’s dense and would be difficult to break. But it’s heavy.” She placed the metal back on the table and reached out towards the very faint green ingot that seemed to glimmer faintly in the light. “Mother, can you make my weapons with this?” She asked as her eyes widened in awe.

“Why? What do you see?” I asked as I leaned down and looked at it. To me, it was just a faint green metal no larger than my fist.

“This metal is unparalleled. It’s heavy, but it’s nearly unbreakable. Mother, please, can you do it?” She spun around and shot me the best set of puppy eyes to date.

Thankfully, however, I’ve grown accustomed to dealing with them. “I can consider it. I don’t have a lot on hand, so if anything, I could make a partial blade out of it. Probably just the edges..” I told her as I took the metal from her hand. The first thing that I noticed was how heavy it was with such a small amount. It felt like small bowling balls resting in the palms of my head. I didn’t have much on hand, so I would use it sparingly for now, but I would craft Nyx her weapons.

“Okay, mother.” She flashed me a radiant smile that melted my heart.

“Do you want to keep working on some of your training now that you’ve had your breakthrough?” I asked her as I set the green ore back down on the table.

“Oh yes, I should work on that. I had a few ideas that I wanted to tamper with.” She murmured as she spun around. Her attention now shifted back to whatever was going on in her mind.

I stood there and tried to sort through my thoughts now that I could. I would send Octavian a large quantity of every metal I had at my disposal and some small amounts of the more exotic stuff. At least what I could spare. With that in mind, I summoned it all in the stronghold’s interior and dismissed my screen.

With that out of the way, I looked within once more. My training has been going along relatively smoothly, but all I needed to progress was my weapon. I turned away from the table and walked over to my notebook. Perhaps it was time that I crafted everything.

I sat down on the seat and gazed at the drawings. Everything was pretty much set for Nyx’s weapons, so I could craft them. For the handles, I can use the sky iron, so it would be sturdy. It would be heavy, but considering Nyx’s strength, it should be alright. Then, I can craft the blade with the orichalcum so it would have a keen edge that would remain near unbreakable. At least, hopefully so. It would be a good stress test considering how Nyx could be.

With my mind made up, I quickly touched up the twin battle axes I would make for her. I cut the size down of each to roughly a meter in length and tampered with the edge of the blades, ensuring they kept their fang-like appearance while maintaining the outer edge. It was a bit difficult, but I made a great effort to make sure it looked like a large dragon fang converted into an ax. Once I was happy with the overall design, I confirmed it and watched as my precious metal dwindled rapidly. The hilts alone took almost all my sky iron and all but two units of orichalcum.So, now all that was left was my weapon. But I still haven’t settled on a specific design just yet. Perhaps having a blade attached to it would be a little over the top. So I would chop it off. I just thought it would be cool to have a sword that ran the length of the gauntlet that I could flick out as needed. But I would settle with just carrying one around for now until I could figure something out.

I scraped the previous design and leaned into a heavier mithril design since it was a light metal and would be incredibly durable. But near the knuckles, I would add the remainder of the orichalcum, so I would have something near unbreakable. I grinned as I stared at my new design. It was much like my medium, but it would stretch further up my arm and end near my elbow.

I tinkered with it for a bit to make it thinner and more elegant and inscribed various shapes on its surface, imitating my mask. The lines sprawled across it were designed to be limitless, constantly repeating, yet have no true pattern. A reflection of eternity and all of its beauty. Perhaps just a touch of chaos as well. As for the color scheme, I stuck with what I have always done. A deep vibrant violet, with a few touches of orange to reflect my ki usage.

I had to go back a few times to ensure that the fingers would be flexible, allowing me to keep the protection I needed. That small change also extended towards the wrist so that I could still move my hand around the best that I could.

Once I was happy with what I had, I nodded and closed my eyes. Good, it was time to design it and give it a test run. Perhaps a small skirmish session with Nyx was a reliable way to gauge my abilities and hers. I opened my eyes and made a quick gesture and completed the creation of my new weapon, and hopefully my last one for a while.

It took a bit of time, but all the weapons I created were finally done. Excitement coursed through my veins as I stared at my new gauntlet. “Nyx, come over here and get your new weapons,” I called out as I took mine. The area around the knuckles of my gauntlet was a little bulkier than I had hoped, but it would do for now.

They were incredibly light, outside of knuckles, and I was happy with them. Carefully I slid my hand into them and marveled at how snugly it fit. I flexed my fingers and nodded as I quickly analyzed everything about them. The fingers felt a little stiff, but I’m sure I could iron out the kinks and whatnot.

Nyx’s squeal of excitement tore me from my thoughts, and I shot a glance her way. She held both of the battle axes in her hands and gave them a test swing, and they both seemed to hum as they cut through the air with liquid ease. “Mother, I love them.” She squealed once more as she rushed over to me.

“I’m glad you do,” I replied to her as I stood up. “But don’t run with weapons.”

“Sorry, mother.” She slowed down, but the grin plastered on her face grew. “Can I use them?”

At least she was doing her best to contain her excitement. “Sure. How about we have a little duel?” It was a small suggestion, but how her eyes lit up, it was like I just made her whole world.