Liuthkrav has so far changed his mind.

  Before, he had considered Jacob Cloud a complete fool, someone reckless and arrogant who, with but a crumble of power between his teeth, thought he could rule the world.

  Now, however, Liuthkrav sees more in the boy.

  He’s not a fool. And he’s not helpless.

  He thought that Jacob Cloud’s actions were mostly random. Yet, from the moment he saw him solve the first Trial, something in his Mithril-made viscera shifted. Something deep told him that he was in front of a rising star.

  After Master Rafnov’s soul fragment told him to avoid being cruel, Liuthkrav had intended to treat Jacob Cloud with the bare minimum respect.

  Then, Jacob Cloud passed the test.

  Few things have bothered Liuthkrav more than seeing what Jacob Cloud was able to do. He has seen greed for resources and power destroy some of the best man he had met during his long, long life. He has accompanied Master Rafnov from the very inception of his journey among the powerful—his first magnus opus.

  Liuthkrav had therefore been able to see courts of men and women ruined by power—it didn’t matter the age, the race, or even the character. Once his Master, who was a wielder of means that would allow anyone to excavate enormous riches from their lands, arrived in their little, petty Kingdoms, everyone started fighting over him. Sometimes, they would fight him.

  And here, after having dinner with a nemesis that wants to kill him, sits the boy who didn’t think for a single moment about growing his power through greed. Knowing that his two friends needed power more than him, he didn’t let them make choice. He stepped away. He fought them in order to gift them power.

  If Jacob Cloud had not had Baalrek as his previous Master, Liuthkrav would have believed that he simply didn’t grasp just how powerful Star Metal was. Even his Master was only ever able to mine a limited amount of it.

  Knowing that it was the only reliable way to assimilate the power his now-deceased Master left him, it should have been a braindead decision for a petty Human to walk over the dead bodies of his friends. Or to show hesitation. Even some of the best people Liuthkrav has ever met would have, at the very least, discussed it with his friends. Sometimes, indecision and greed show in very little things. And of course, there are amounts of greed that are totally non-pathological and acceptable. He would have been surprised if that had been Jacob Cloud’s decision: if he had simply had a little conversation before, somewhat reluctantly, gifting the power to the two out of trying to do the right thing.

  But Jacob Cloud did not, in fact, wait at all.

  Seeing the smile on his face while eating with a sworn enemy reminds me of…

  Liuthkrav feels a tightness in his chest.

  My Master trusted the wrong people. And I didn’t know any better. I didn’t know how to help.

  The truth is that Liuthkrav, when first created, was always given free will by his master. And he had hated the man for a long stretch of time, fighting him at every possible occasion, trying to sabotage him, and always, always opposing him, considering him an inferior life form.

  Yet, time after time, Master Rafnov put Liuthkrav before himself.

  He even saved his life risking his own.

  Just for a Golem he created.

  “Of course I would do that, why would you even ask?”

  It had never been even remotely a choice for Master Rafnov to abandon him, to leave him behind. As his creation, he felt responsible and ready for anything. Even to give his own life.

  That’s why Liuthkrav, named after his Master’s dead brother, an honor he feels too great to this very day, has decided to take one step further in order to help Jacob Cloud.

  He has a way for Jacob Cloud to integrate Star Metal in such a way that it will be fully absorbed. It’s hard to absorb at its maximum efficiency. Yet, the process through which one would need to absorb Star Metal is extremely taxing in terms of resources and body. If it had been anyone else, Liuthkrav would have instantly banished the thought. To spend some of the priceless resources his Master left him behind? Even though Master Rafnov did it for this very purpose, Liuthkrav would have considered no one worth of it. Yet, not only Jacob Cloud deserves it, but he most definitely needs it.

  “Didn’t you say you had a surprise for me, Senior Brother?” Jacob asks, stretching his arms and shoulder.

  “Star Metal should not be directly absorbed like your friends did,” Liuthkrav explains. “Junior Brother Cloud, if you trust me, I shall show you something.”

  The Mithril Golem extends a hand to Jacob, who nods and takes it without hesitation.

  When Jacob does, the world spins for a moment, and the next he’s standing in complete darkness.

  “Huh, what’s this?” Jacob asks, confused.

  “I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I visited. Let me turn the lights up.”

  A sharp, rhythmic clack echoes through the darkness, followed by the deep, resonant groan of machinery waking from a millennia-long slumber.

  At first, there is only a low vibration that Jacob feels in the soles of his boots. Then, the light bled from the ground.

  Veins of pale, cerulean luminescence ignite across the floor tiles, racing outward in complex geometric patterns like liquid mercury catching fire. The light climbs the walls, illuminating a cavernous circular chamber that smelled intensely of ozone, cold stone, and the dry, metallic tang of stagnant air.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  To Jacob’s left, rows of obsidian workbenches stretch into the gloom. They are cluttered with the ghosts of progress: glass alembics that have long since shattered into glittering dust, crystallized spills of unknown reagents that shimmer like dried blood, and stacks of parchment that looked brittle enough to disintegrate at the whisper of a breath.

  The silence here was heavy. It wasn't just the absence of noise; it was a physical weight, pressing against Jacob's eardrums, broken only by the faint, static hiss of the mana conduits charging up in the walls.

  “Master Rafnov first conducted his research on Star Metal here—this is his very first laboratory,” Liuthkrav whispers in a deep, twisted tone. His metallic voice is softened compared to the usual harsh edge.

  Jacob steps forward, his eyes adjusting to the strange, shadowless illumination. The air feels colder here, sterile and sharp in his lungs. Unlike the damp caves above, this place is preserved in a magical stasis.

  In the center of the room, dominating the space, stands the source of the low humming sound.

  It is a massive cylindrical apparatus, formed from a dark, matte metal. Thick cables, resembling the arteries of a giant beast, run from the ceiling into the top of the cylinder. Through a thick pane of reinforced crystal on its front, Jacob can see a viscous, translucent fluid slowly beginning to churn, bubbling as if anticipating a guest.

  The sensory pressure of the machine is intense; just looking at it makes the hair on Jacob's arms stand up

  “This,” Liuthkrav says, “is the Star Forge Crucible. My Master used it whenever he needed to assimilate Star Metal in his body.”

  Jacob walks forward and sees that the large cylinder has a large tube attached to its front. At the end of it, there’s a giant needle.

  “Wait, what’s that?”

  “We’ll dilute the Star Metal. Absorbing three drops in a short span of time means you’d lose at least seventy percent of its potency, Jacob Cloud. The loss is negligible for someone already talented—which you are not. You have great dreams, but you have no natural talent. This,” the Mithril Golem walks and knocks his knuckles on the giant cylinder, “is how we change that.”

  “Are you going to stab me with that?” Jacob asks, feeling his skin crawl.

  “I have ways to read your Skills, Junior Brother Cloud,” the Mithril Golem says. “Your Devil’s Engine is currently very weak because of your body. It’s your strongest Skill, yet, it’s capped because of your body’s natural talent.”

  Liuthkrav turns to the machine with a complex expression and speaks in a solemn voice, “in the Star Forge Crucible, you will be remade. Not only you’ll be able to use the three gifts that you want to assimilate, but you’ll also be remade. The very marrow of your existence will change, Junior Brother Cloud.”

  Jacob looks at the machine and the needle.

  “Alright, I need that Skill to defeat Nimirea during the tournament. As long as the needle doesn’t go straight into my heart, it’s fine.”

  Liuthkra makes a ‘I’m so sorry expression.’

  “You must be kidding me.”

  “Your blood pumps life and mana throughout your body. Your heart moves your blood. It’s the easiest way. It’s the way Master Rafnov meant it to be used.”

  Jacob sighs and nods, “alright, alright.”

  The Mithril Golem, then, stops for a moment, making another face.

  “What now?” Jacob asks.

  “You won’t be as strong as the Leader of the Dark Champions. Even with this. Her talent… whatever designation she has from Asmodeus, she has talent, power, and Evil Divinity in her. Even without Asmodeus, however, she would be much stronger than you.”

  “Well, since we’re on the topic,” Jacob smiles and wiggles his eyebrows. “I have a plan.”

  “Let’s hear it, Junior Brother.”

  Jacob hesitates for a moment and then nods.

  “The Dark Champions are coming to humiliate us. I’ll manipulate her into a two on two challenge—she knows how much stronger than me she is, it will be easy to do that. And she doesn’t know how strong Vyrrak is.”

  “Your friend won’t win.”

  “Not Vyrrak,” Jacob smiles. “I’ll do it. Vyrrak, however, is probably the only one who’s strong enough to take down a Dark Champion.”

  The Mithril Golem raises an eyebrow. “You intend to do what, then? As I said, with this or without this, you have no shot. If she were to use her real power, not even the Star Metal would be enough.”

  “The Devil’s Engine is not something you only need during a fight. My plan is simple. The rest of the Champions will be hidden. There will be a trap set up with the help of a Professor and his star pupil—both owe me—and it will trigger an array imbued with my own Afflictions. I’ve already worked out the details of that with them. By using Afflictions on my friends, my power will grow manyfold. At that point, I’ll take Nimirea on. It will be a very brief, temporary spike of power. But, with the help of the Grimoire in wielding it, I’m confident I can take her.”

  Liuthkrav had been listening with the intent of telling Jacob that his plan would surely fail. Yet, as he hears the details, he frowns and does some mental math.

  “I do not know the extent of that girl’s power, Jacob Cloud. But I can tell you that as of now and without the full help of the Star Forge Crucible, you would lose.”

  Jacob raises an eyebrow.

  “Are you sure? I’ve seen how powerful Nimirea is. But I’m confident I can enter True Diamond temporarily and—”

  “You would most likely touch the very beginning of a True Diamond expert in power with such a trick—which is pretty ingenious, let me say. But it wouldn’t be enough.”

  “Ok,” Jacob frowns. “And with the Star Forge Crucible?”

  The Mithril Golem looks around and narrows his eyes.

  “The Star Forge Crucible will make you fully integrate the Star Metal. But what you’re after is something even more dangerous. With three drops of Star Metal, you could trigger a resonance. You would need your Skill’s true level to be unlocked as soon as possible. Slowly, thanks to the increase in natural talent from the Star Forge Crucible, it would be possible. But it would take about a year. Isn’t the tournament in two weeks?”

  “Yeah,” Jacob says.

  The Mithril Golem walks around this laboratory forge, thinking.

  There is a way to create a resonance that would create enough power to unlock the Skill.

  At that point, Jacob Cloud’s ingenious plan would be much, much easier to put in place.

  I have to give it to him. If his Skill was actually at full power, he would be able to perhaps stand toe to toe with the girl. The idea to use a trap as a proxy for his own Afflictions so that his friends would lend him power… what an incredibly complicated, yet sharp plan.

  But the Mithril Golem knows that without enough power, it would be nothing.

  To create the right resonance through this process, he would first need to train wait for Jacob Cloud to level up his Skills. That’s another process that normally would take much longer than two weeks.

  Or, before going ahead with this, he could bring him to the Third Trial of Master Rafnov since he has discretionary choice on when to put a potential inheritor through it.

  The Iron Monsters’ Peak needs the trial taker to analyze the flaws of each monster and defeat them accordingly. It would be essentially impossible for anyone at his level… but with the Grimoire…

  “Junior Brother, how much do you trust me?”

  “Enough to go through with whatever you have in mind.”

  “Do you mind skipping a few lessons, waiting before you use the Star Forge Cylinder, and going through the kind of Trial that could very well kill you?”

  “Are you telling me we came all the way here just for you to ask me to go through another potentially deadly Trial?”

  “If you pass this one, I can guarantee you’ll have enough power to stand face to face with the girl you like when the time comes—like thanks to your plan and this special training.”

  “Then, let’s go—wait, did you say ‘the girl I like?’”

  “Onward we go,” Liuthkrav says, activating his dimensional magic. “The Iron Monsters’ Peak awaits us.”