Seth had said that during the forging process, soul essence acted as both fire and link for all the ingredients.
The link had been established, the fire had been lit, now it was time to add the final ingredient, the volatile metal - alvium.
Rio lifted the box that contained the liquid metal and flipped it, completely emptying it's contents into the fire. The liquid dissolved into the flames.
Now, was the moment of truth. With the addition of alvium, the fire's color began to change. This was the expected outcome.
The type of forge used for the creation of relics by House Dacre is called a soul forge. The power source being the soul essence of the forger.
Alvium possessed special characteristics that made it highly compatible with both mana and soul essence but its volatility proved troublesome. The change in colour of the soul powered flames, meant one thing, the alvium had begun to rebel.
The special mineral was a treasure the founder of the house left behind for his descendants. Alongside this metal, the founder left a message at the end of his journal explaining the metal :
***Prove your worth**.
Alvium possessed a will. A will to not be altered. A will to resist influence. A will to rebel.
The flames burned even hotter. The initial palm sized flame now engulfed the entirety of the special zone. It's former orange colour gone now replaced by a deep purple hue.
"Shouldn't you do something?", Cain asked.
"The flames are fuelled by his own soul. He'll be fine.", Seth said calmly.
"There is only one way to properly forge a soul relic with alvium.", Seth said.
"And what's that?"
"Willpower. Willpower that takes years of tempering, years of mental training. Something he currently lacks", Seth said.
"If he lacks what's need, why have him try at all?"
"To give him experience..and to set him up for failure. Failure is a good teacher. With failure, his willpower will increase exponentially", Seth explained.
Cain did not respond.
'How tiring'.
Rio grew tired as soon as he realised he was going to fail. His uncle had explained that to properly forge with alvium, one needed willpower....but what is will power in the first place?, how was it used? And why does he have to comprehend something so difficult at his age?
'Maybe that's how it's been done since our house was founded? So do I just give up?'
The success of forging changes with the color of the flames. The initial purple showed a high chance of failure. Red showes a slight domination by the alvium. Blue signified a neutral balance between forger and metal. Green indicates a dominant willpower over alvium and white meant successfully taming the metal.
Rio was currently losing....badly.
'So if I was never meant to succeed, that means I have to learn as much as I can from this', he thought.
'Learn about the nature of alvium as well as the nature of my own soul. And also learn about how materials could be integrated I to the forging process'.
'The glove!'
Rio had received a special relic from the strangely loyal shadow wraith, Alister. Although, he didn't fully understand he's motives and thus couldn't trust him, he could tell that when the wraith handed the glove to him, his sincerely wished him the best.
'Even though, I'm still a bit scared of him, I can't lose something like that. I need to focus... If I can't complete the relic, I can at least save the original glove'.
Rio still maintained his connection with the other materials in the forge. The alvium was essentially one with the flames burning away at them. On one hand, his soul essence acted as the link between all the materials and on the other hand, it acted as the fuel for the forge.
While maintaining his connection to them, Rio took a deep breath and opened the flood gates to his soul. The neutral glow of his aura was gone, replaced by a deep crimson hue, while his blue eyes glowed brightly.
"How does he have this much at his age?", Cain asked, his voice a bit panicked.
"I told you. His latent talent is the greatest our family has ever produced".
'That said, I wasn't expecting this', Seth thought to himself.
A struggle was happening in the forge as opposing wills clashed against eachother. One had a singular purpose- to remain unchanged, the other surprisingly was the same. Rio refused to let his precious materials go to waste.
The flames colour changed as the struggle went on. It shifted from purple to red to blue then back to red. Rio was fighting but struggling still..
"There's a trick to why it's willpower", Seth said.
"Ooh...and what's that?", Cain asked.
"The willpower in alvium is related to our founder.... according to my father, alvium contains the remnants of his will, mostly fragments", Seth explained.
"So you saying that Rio...is currently in a battle of willpower against your ancestor?"
"Just a fragment", Seth said casually.
"Apparently, the alvium we use now is a weakened version of our ancestor's soul relic. Only sorcerers who proof their worth can tame it", he explained.
"That doesn't explain the willpower aspect though", Cain said.
"We just have to proof ourselves worthy....we don't have to win", Seth said.
The battle of willpower raged on. The flames constantly shifted between a dark red and a mild orange hue.
'Focus on the glove. Success doesn't matter. The soul relic doesn't matter... doesn't it?'
'If success isn't something I can achieve right now, what does? What can I learn from this?', Rio thought.
'I can't always rely on raw power? Or there are somethings I can't do till I become stronger?'
"This whole situation is getting frustrating", Rio said quietly as he thought about the events of the past month.
'From meeting Alister, to Destiny of the endless, then there was that dream with that strange messenger and the Summit of Dreams.
Why do all these strange beings call me Your Grace?
Who is Solomon?
And why can't I remember anything apart from the last few years?'
'What does all this stuff have to do with a fourteen year old?'
There was another question among others that bothered Rio even more than the rest. Since the dungeon expedition, he had undergone combat and experimental training to get accustomed to his unlocked powers.
The seal placed on him had restricted his soul essence and majority of his mana. The aftereffects of the seal was similar to cases of damaged or defective mana cores.
He's wager with the patriarch of his house, involved him finding his own way of fixing his core. It was an unreasonable wager that should have never been entertained but to his suprise, he was granted permission. That event was three years ago...his earliest memory. Fast forward to the present time, he not only had a mana cores but also a soul core. His tier had risen by one since his training began and he was naturally blessed with not only runic arts but also spatial and lightning magic.
He also learnt a little about ice magic.
According to Seth, the Tier system was flawed and inadequate. It accounted for only quantity of mana or soul essence and did not consider skill of mages or sorcerers.
Rio was currently at tier-4 and the young age of fourteen. The average age of mages in that tier was twenty-five.
He was essentially a one in a billion talent with seemingly limitless potential.
'But that is all you are currently.... potential. You have power...a bit too much power, but no skill. The beasts of the the real world would devour you whole', Rio remembered his uncle's words with dread.
'Why is it chaos?', he thought with a frown.
He was scared because his soul element was something unknown. The lack of information on even most of the black market did not to alleviate his fear. From experience, he knew people feared what they didn't know the most.
That was one reason why he refused to use his soul element during his training and stuck to mostly using mana or neutral soul essence. But not anymore....
Rio invoked chaos....then everything went dark.
[A minute earlier]
Seth and Cain remained oblivious to the mental monologue happening. They chatted about several things including the movements of the churches, activities of the united forces and the Council in general as the watched Rio contend with the alvium.
"He's doing surprisingly well but it's only a matter of time bef-"
Seth never completed his sentence because suddenly, a crack appeared on the boundary of the forge space. He spoke as he stepped up to join the eight black-clad warriors,
"Five of you will stay here to reinforce the barrier. The other three are to create a secondary barrier around the building itself."
"Should the barrier have any special attributes, Sir?", a warrior asked.
"Entry and exit of individuals above tier-4 is barred", Seth said.
"As you command, War Bishop".
The crack on the barrier grew and more appeared on other areas around it. As Seth placed his hand on the barrier, a wave of energy flowed our from it mending the cracks. Following his lead, the rest of the warriors did the same...the forge space was restored.
Looking back to Cain, he said,"The forge space can no longer handle the amount of energy he's releasing. We'll have to maintain a steady flow of essence until the process is over".
"Is it really the quantity of his soul essence or the nature?", Cain asked.
He never got a response because just then everyone present felt something...and the forge space explode.
The basement door opened as both Reina and Selina stepped in cautiously. They had rushed down after hearing the explosion fearing what might have happened to Rio.
What they saw however, was darkness all over the basement.
The darkness receded revealing the figures within. Five warriors dressed in black all on their knees, two men standing side by side one's shirt was in pieces while the other was the source of receding darkness. There was a someone lying in the centre of the room as well.
Seth looked at Rio then thought,' he's alive but unconscious'. Then he looked past him towards the flames that still burned despite the absence of both the forger and the forge space...the light from the flames dyed the surrounding area green.
"Looks like this generation has another monster", Cain said with a smile.
The two ladies moved to help Rio. On the way out, he stirred and mumbled something.
"Don't speak until you get checked at the infirmary", Selina said as both her and Reina led him out.
"You heard that, didn't you?", Cain asked.
"It's a bit dramatic but the forger has the right to name his weapon", Seth said then he opened his palm and the new forged relic fell into it.
Name: Rio Lyrien Darce
Tier: 4
Bloodline class: Weapons mage
Bloodline skill: Creation
Crafted relics: Reaver
Magical affinity: (Dual)- Spatial(innate), Lightning(innate), ice(earned)
Abilities
Blink(spatial)
Ghost(spatial)
Runic Arts( Innate)
Proficiency: Intermediate
Runes acquired- Paralysis rune, reinforcement rune, concealment rune, binding rune, ice rune(lightning)
Class: Triple natured
-Scholar
-Berserker
-Warrior
Soul affinity: Chaos(Primordial)
Innate soul skill: Synthesis
Relics:
Domain(s): Summit of dreams, Ruins of Aries
[End of Volume One: Genesis]