MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

“…[Ephemeral Bodies of the First Blacksmith].”

Wanting to see if the idea he had in mind regarding the skill was correct, Valyr went ahead and used the skill without hesitation, imbuing it with the thought of forming a body that looked similar to him.

Fwoosh!

In response, the young man soon felt a massive drain on his energy reserves, causing him to briefly stumble as he felt this energy start to congregate somewhere.

Swoosh!

Noticing that the energy consumed by the skill had congregated just a couple meters from where he stood, Valyr began to look at it in detail, only to take a step back after the agglomeration of energy decided to expand all of a sudden.

Whoosh!

With the thought he put into the skill fueling its manifestation, the agglomeration of energy first formed the legs that held the figure up before gradually making its way upwards.

In the end, it took around a minute and a half for a lifelike copy of Valyr to appear before him, though with the exception that the copy had a tinge of dark blue all throughout.

“…Woah.”

Giving the excitement he felt all the time it needed to subside, the young man soon moved closer towards the body the skill created, slightly surprised by the fact that it captured almost every imperfection on his body.

Sensing no additional drain of energy from the skill after the body was created, Valyr decided to bring up its description in his mind in hopes of clarifying the slight confusion he felt because of it.

Fortunately, it did not take long for him to clear it up.

“…I see. So, there’s basically two modes to the skill now that it’s evolved.”

“Of course, the previous version of the skill I know is still there,” murmured the young man with a faint nod. “I can still conjure as many arms as I want to help me during the forging process.”

“Though, thanks to the evolution, I can now conjure any part other than the arms if I plan on using the skill in a similar manner.”

“As for the other mode the evolution added, the skill now allows me to create entire copies of my body, which comes with a fixed cost,” he continued, glancing at the copy before him.

“However, if I want it to move according to my thoughts, only then will there be a constant drain on my energy.”

“…Isn’t that just the same as the original version, though?” As these words left his mouth, Valyr went ahead and inputted a few movements to the copy he made, immediately feeling the drain on his energy a few seconds later.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Watching the copy perfectly execute the movements he wanted it to do, the young man decided to input more and more actions into it, slightly curious to see how far the skill could be pushed.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

However, rather than obtain an answer to the question he had in mind, Valyr instead found out what made the second mode different from the first, prompting him to return to the first thought he had when he read through the skill’s description.

“So I was right.” He slightly chuckled, continuing to watch the copy move according to his thoughts.

“Although it’s made from pure energy, it’s pretty much a fully automated robot in essence.”

Though the second mode of [Ephemeral Bodies] didn’t actually allow him to create a fully automated robot, the skill basically allowed Valyr to program a set of actions his copy had follow from start to finish.

In theory, he could input an infinite number of actions into a copy, allowing it to reach a level where it would act like a normal human being.

However, with each action costing a certain amount of energy from him, the young man knew that he still had a long way to go before that would happen.

Plus, even if he did reach that point in his path where he could make it possible, he felt like he would only do it once. After all, what’s the point in conjuring a copy through a skill if you could conjure avatars after ascending to the Divine level?

Nevertheless, Valyr immediately saw the benefits to this change, considering that it would basically free up most of his mental faculties from having to juggle various tasks at the same time.

Though he’d still have to find out how effective the evolved skill was in action, as well as how many copies he could keep active at once, he knew that he had basically entered a new realm of blacksmithing because of it.

“I’ll have to experiment a lot with it once the tournament is over,” said Valyr, dispelling the copy he had just conjured.

After that, he went ahead and took a look at the remaining notifications he received from the evolution, which discussed how his comprehension aptitude regarding concepts related to forging had been improved.

Briefly checking to see how effective the improvement was, Valyr then gave Julian a heads-up that he was back at the workshop, storing all of the materials he took out back into his spatial bracelet after that.

Once that was done, he then enhanced the newly upgraded pauldrons to its max level, only to then equip it alongside the other armor pieces he had yet to upgrade.

Whoosh!

Feeling a bit regretful at the fact that he could not use the skills from the upgraded armor during the tournament, the young man made a note in his mind to make upgrading the remaining parts of the armor after the tournament, heading to the amphitheater with Ataraxia after that.

…

“So, how were the past three days for you two?”

Sitting on the opposite side of the table, Valyr and Ataraxia looked at the woman that asked the question with a slight smile.

“I’d say pretty productive,” replied Valyr, with Ataraxia nodding in agreement.

“I could tell.” Lunarossa nodded in return, sensing the changes to the young man’s aura.

“…Now that I think about it, what happened to Erika after we gave you the recording?” After discussing a bit more about the third round, Ataraxia decided to ask the director the results of their effort.

After all, they had basically risked their lives in obtaining that evidence.

“Although she’ll still be seated alongside the three other arbiters for the final round, we’ve made sure to arrange a couple military squads to keep an eye on her,” Lunarossa replied, letting out a slight sigh once she was done.

“Of course, it would’ve been better if we sent her directly to a holding cell… but I’m sure you can fill in the blanks why I’ve decided it to do it this way.”

“…In any case, I shouldn’t keep you guys staying here any further, lest people begin to think the tournament’s organizers are giving you two preferential treatment.”

Taking that as their cue to leave the room, Valyr and Ataraxia bid farewell to her for the meantime.

Though, before truly leaving for the amphitheater’s underground town, Ataraxia asked a question that popped up in response to her final words.

“Aren’t you giving us preferential treatment in a way?”

Lunarossa merely smiled in response.

“Perhaps.”

“You’ll see.”