Chapter 95: He’s Back

Brunhild’s father and her brother had finally returned, bringing along a large amount of wood and stones that they and their pets had carried back together. The group looked tired but satisfied after their successful gathering trip.

“I should’ve gone with them to carry stuff inside my inventory,” Brunhild thought for a moment, watching the heavy loads. “Well, I’ll do that later.”

She received her father and her brother with open arms and a bright smile. “Dad, big bro, let’s build a few things right away. I want to experiment a little with Sylvanus.”

“Huh?”

Both of them looked confused at first, but once they saw Brunhild taking the wood and stones they had gathered and beginning to construct an Old Forge, they quickly understood what she meant. They stepped closer to watch the process unfold.

At Brunhild’s clear orders, Sylvanus extended long wooden roots that stretched across the ground. The roots began to fuse with the dead wood of the Old Forge after Brunhild revitalized the structure using her Verdant Manifestation Divine Skill. Green energy flowed steadily from her hands into the materials, bringing a faint sense of life back into the timber.

The results proved more shocking than she had imagined.

“It’s working?” Brunhild whispered, eyes wide with growing anticipation.

The Old Forge’s wood, now alive and responsive, began to intertwine tightly with Sylvanus’ roots. The two forces melded together through a natural symbiotic relationship that felt almost organic. Moments later, a soft green light emerged from Sylvanus’ body and completely covered the Old Forge. The light gently pulled the entire building toward the main wooden trunk of the great spirit tree.

CRASH!

A loud sound echoed through the area as the structure almost smashed into the trunk. Wood and even stone began to meld and reshape themselves as if Sylvanus were carefully devouring the whole building into its living form.

And then...

FLASH!

A brief red flame-like aura surged outward from Sylvanus for a short moment before it receded and settled as if nothing unusual had occurred. Yet everyone present knew that something important had definitely happened.

“I-It worked...!” Brunhild exclaimed, her voice filled with pure amazement.

Ding!

[Your Familiar: [Living Spirit Tree House Guardian: Sylvanus – Tier 4] has absorbed the Building [Old Forge (D+ Grade)] through its [Living House] Ability!]

[The Living House grows larger! Your Familiar: [Living Spirit Tree House Guardian: Sylvanus – Tier 4] has gained its own internal furnace and forge, producing hot spirit flames capable of processing materials at much higher quality and temperatures than normal.]

[Do you wish to feed it more Old Forges? Enough can trigger a special Ability to appear.]

“A-Ah...” Brunhild murmured in surprise.

She quickly tapped the Old Forge interface and created two more identical structures. Sylvanus absorbed them without hesitation. The internal Old Forge section within the tree body expanded into a massive chamber that blazed brightly with pure spirit flames.

Ding!

[Your Familiar: [Living Spirit Tree House Guardian: Sylvanus – Tier 4] has absorbed the Building [Old Forge (D+ Grade)] x2 through its [Living House] Ability!]

[Sylvanus has learned the Ability: [Internal Spirit Furnace]!]

[You can now use the Internal Spirit Furnace to process materials, melt metals, and more as you would in an Old Forge, with added bonuses.]

[Processed materials will share some of its leftover essence with Sylvanus instead of just disappearing into the air.]

[As a result, Sylvanus has also attained the ability to conjure Spirit Flames through its Internal Spirit Furnace Ability.]

[Feed more Buildings to your Living House to strengthen it!]

“W-Wow... It worked!!!” Brunhild almost screamed with excitement, her heart racing from the successful experiment.

“It sure did!” Magnus said with a proud grin.

“Incredible,” her father muttered while massaging his face. “I sometimes feel like my face hurts from all the moments I am left dumbfounded.”

“Nice! There’s a forge inside!” Sigrid said, her eyes lighting up. “We can start making that lance then! Let’s use that metal that the vampire left behind!”

“Right, yeah!” Brunhild nodded eagerly. “Let’s go!”

Everyone ran inside Sylvanus and headed straight into the newly formed Old Forge section. The space had grown enormous, at least three times the original size, with combined walls of living wood and solid stone that blended seamlessly. The Furnace’s Spirit Flames danced with visible eagerness, clearly fueled by Sylvanus’ own rich Spirit Energy and casting a warm reddish glow across the chamber.

Brunhild walked inside with her family and immediately started working on the project. First they poured all the red metal left behind by Alistair into the furnace. The material had once composed his armor and later formed his exoskeleton when he transformed into that spider-like aberration. The metal melted steadily into a bright red metallic liquid. They carefully added the dust of several monster cores along with some blood core dust, mixing the molten red metal through combined Alchemy and Forging techniques.

Later, with Sigrid’s precise ice magic, they cooled the metal once it filled the mold that came with every Old Forge. The result was a long red lance that overflowed with residual blood energy and pulsed faintly with dark power.

“Wow, that spear’s nice,” Brunhild’s father said with clear approval. “Hey, why not make it a Polearm? Add an axe blade at the end?”

“What do you suggest?” his wife wondered, looking between them.

“I could use that!” Ragnar said quickly. “Spears and axes come together as something like Polearms, right? I could use my Axe techniques through them, and also whatever that vampire has to offer.”

The family looked back at Ragnar with surprise at his sudden interest.

“Or you could give it to someone else, yeah,” he added with a slightly desperate nod.

“No, no, this is perfect,” Brunhild said with a decisive smile. “You’re a Vampire Hunter! Maybe you can also keep the Soul of Alistair in check...! Sure! Let’s do that!”

Thus they began the final modifications with focused energy.

CLANK!

CLANK!

CLANK!

The long spear received a sharp axe blade carefully attached at the tip while its original spear blade remained intact and functional. Once the weapon was almost complete, Brunhild conjured the power of her talent. Soul Flames manifested from her hands in soft crimson waves.

She then placed the Soul Crystal into a small crevice that her sister had prepared beforehand.

FLAASH!

The crimson spear gained a living soul as it rapidly absorbed the energy within the Soul Crystal and began to pulse with new, restless power. As the process continued, the spear glowed with a menacing dark energy. A pair of crimson eyes stared back at them for a brief moment from within the weapon’s surface.

“Who dares... Awaken me from my slumber...?!”

The roughly made yet finished and perfectly usable Crimson Polearm gained black and red decorations across its surface as the soul of Alistair pulsed through it. At the same time his voice echoed clearly from within the weapon.

“Is that the Vampire?!” Frigga asked with rising concern. “Is this fine?!”

“YOU...!”

Alistair’s voice rang out furiously from inside the spear. His ghostly red eyes emerged more clearly from the weapon’s dark, cursed aura.

“YOU’RE...! THAT WOMAN...!”

The weapon began to tremble furiously and floated upward in midair as Alistair struggled to control the form that now contained him.

“A-A body...! A body made of my own blood metal? Where is my blood and flesh?! What...! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MEEEEE?!”

As Alistair screamed in pure anger and confusion, Brunhild quickly seized the floating polearm and forced the restless soul to calm down through her firm grip and steady will.

“You’ll be working for me from now on, Alistair,” she said with a confident smirk. “I’ve turned your soul into a crystal and fused it into this weapon made from the metal you produced. Be glad I’ve given you a second chance rather than eating your soul entirely.”

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