I stared at the array of benches laid out before me in the training. Well, by this point, it was more of a makeshift workshop than anything else since I wasn't going to be doing much in the way of training today. I had other plans. Spread out across the tables was every single forged soul core I had gathered that hadn't already been expended on something else. The collection of orbs was… extensive. It covered nearly every inch of available space across the half dozen workbenches I had assembled to arrange everything.

  The cores were mostly identifiable by sight, if not by feel. The massive pile of cores that gave off a feeling of earth and frost, swirled black and white in a way that could only bring the Akhlut to mind. Sat amongst them was a single core, one that was nearly twice the size of the other cores. The feeling it gave off to my senses had more depth to it than the other cores surrounding it. It wasn't just a measurement of power the core had available, there was a qualitative difference between them that I could feel, sense, but not quantify into anything meaningful.

  I had all of this loot, but it was more like currency than anything else. I still had to decide what exactly I wanted to spend it on, so to speak. Thanks to [Spirit Forge], I wasn't lacking in options. As far as I could tell, there was very little I couldn't make with these cores. It just rapidly became an issue of how expensive the project would be. The higher quality cores I had were not a resource that was easily replaced, so it wouldn't do to spend them frivolously. That, of course, left the question of what to actually do with them. Reaching out, I took one of the cores in my hand. I could feel the mana the core contained tingling against my skin. It was dense and powerful.

  [Forged Soul Core (Yeti)]

  I glanced at the screen for only a moment, which only confirmed what I already knew I held in my hand. The question was what to do with the core of one of the most powerful enemies I had faced to date? I was certain I could learn a new Spell based on the energy contained in the core, perhaps more than one; it might even be enough to force a Skill acquisition of some sort. It certainly would be if I expended other cores alongside it. Either option could be good, if expensive.

  Vipera's coils draped around my shoulders; she had taken to remaining physically manifest much more often when there weren't other people around these days. As if she relished the ability to 'Stretch out' as she often put it, hanging off me the way a constrictor might hang from a tree. I snorted briefly at her before turning my attention back to the cores. I set the Yeti Core back down on the bench. There was another option, gear. I could make new arms and armour from my supply of cores, it wasn't nearly as exciting as getting new Spells or a new Skill to me. I couldn't escape the reminder that no matter what I made, I would eventually outgrow it. Much like the [Sentinel-Root Blade]. The familiar weapon I had wielded since beginning the journey into insanity that was my experience with the Soul-Sheer, the System and magic. The weapon was rapidly coming to the end of its usefulness; the materials it was formed from simply weren't strong enough anymore. One day soon, either it would simply be too weak to penetrate in a moment I desperately needed it to work, or it would fail entirely and shatter in my hands.

  My thoughts turned to my more recent battles and struggles. The problems, the consequences, the failures and the successes. One of the largest problems I faced was how vulnerable I was as a human. I lacked the stats of my Spider form, the hard chitin armour, the reflexes, and the increased visual field. The list of advantages went on and on. The battles where I was trapped in my human form for one reason or another had been the most desperate, the most dangerous. I didn't need to think back any farther than to the moment my Chitin Cuirass had been destroyed, facing Matt's impostor. If I hadn't been able to escape the tunnel to the open space of the chamber, that battle might have gone very differently.

  We might not be only human anymore, but Rankers were still similarly vulnerable. It wouldn't matter how high your Endurance was if your head was torn from your shoulders, or your heart was carved out. Though the heart was debatable, if one was able to regenerate fast enough. Critical injuries to vital areas, as well as debilitating ones, remained deadly threats in battle. No matter how strong I became, I still needed my lungs to function, still needed blood pumped through my body. Without those, or the time to repair them, I would die, just like anything else.

  "It doesn't matter how high the Endurance is, a blade through the heart or a critical loss of head, kills just the same," I muttered to myself as my eyes roved over the benches, cataloguing my options in the light of my rapidly forming decision.

  Balance. Offence and defence, neither is as useful without the other. Vipera counselled me silently from within my mind, and I had to agree with her. All defence, no offence, and you became a turtle tucked into your shell waiting to be cracked open. All offence, and you were a paper tiger, ferocious and deadly, also blown over by a stiff wind.

  Neither option appealed.

  I moved around the benches slowly, collecting various cores as the idea of what I wanted began to settle more fully in my mind. I needed armour, armour that would keep up with me. It had to be light, flexible, and non-restrictive. It would also need hard points to protect my vitals; otherwise, what was the point? I needed something to help protect my hands as well. My main source of offence in my human form was whatever weapon I wielded, thus I needed to protect my ability to wield a weapon. Certainly, I still had access to my ocular Spells as a human, but I needed to account for scenarios where I might need to conserve my resources. Of course, the next thought that followed was an obvious consideration. I needed a helmet, one that wouldn't impede my vision at all. The final consideration to be made was a new weapon; the opponents I was facing were getting stronger and stronger. Sentimentality aside, I needed a tool that would do the job, not fail when I needed it most.

  I was ready to begin.

  Taking up the core of the Everfrost Yeti, I fed it into [Spirit Forge]. It felt fitting that the most potent enemy I had faced so far would become part of the most critical piece of defensive gear I was crafting, the body armour. Endless possibilities opened up before me as the Skill took hold of the core, whispering of the endless ways that it could be shaped and formed, moulded to what I wished. I dismissed them in multitudes as my hands came up towards the free floating, golden energy of the core. Running on instinct, my hands moved, shifting the energy around as it was released from the core. The energy felt strangely warm for something that should have been aligned with ice and earth. Possibilities fell away as I worked, like doors closing down an endless hallway, until finally, the destination came into sight.

  In my mind's eye, I stared critically at the form of the half breastplate and the brigandine beneath it. A breastplate that would cover my upper chest and the armoured coat that would be underneath, leaving me with a good amount of mobility in my torso. I couldn't see the physical piece; it was still obscured by the glowing energy of the core as it began to solidify into what the final product of my work would be. It had been work indeed, I felt more than a little drained as I set aside the still forming armor piece on a bench. Checking my internal reserves, I was surprised to find it had taken around a third of my mana reserves to finish working on the body armour. Then again, the work I was doing now was the single most intensive use of my [Spirit Forge] I had ever attempted. Hopefully, it would also be the best result so far.

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  I flexed my hands, feeling the residual vibration from the crafting process thrum up my bones. The air still tingled with the reverberation, like the echo of a tuning fork after it was struck. Vipera shifted her bulk against my shoulders, the comforting weight of her presence dragging me a little more solidly into the moment. I was almost giddy. The armour, even half-formed and shrouded behind shifting waves of golden energy, called to something primal in me—the promise of a better fight, of survival wrenched from the jaws of the world's bullshit. I had made this. It would keep me whole, if only for a little longer. Suddenly, I felt like I could understand the pride of a craftsman, grasp the barest edge of it. I would never be one of them, not really, but I felt I could understand the sense of pride they had in their best works. A mote of pride I could share now, across ages and eons.

  I rolled my shoulders; the beginnings of a headache made itself known behind my eyes. I could feel Vipera's amusement at my sudden lack of stamina, though she relented to a gentle squeeze of her coils, as if in apology for her earlier grinning. With a shake of my head, I moved on to the next project.

  I snatched up the core of the Akhlut Alpha with unerring accuracy. I had plans for it. As soon as my hand closed around the core, its golden energy began to leak out from deep within, while [Spirit Forge] held the core in its grip. This project would take a more delicate touch than the last. The body armour had only needed to fit a few physical principles, like hard points to cover my organs and overall flexibility.

  Working on my helmet would require a very specific design; it needed to fit my head and restrict my vision as little as possible. I had spent some time doing research in case I ended up going down the path of making my own gear. What my limited knowledge presented to me as the solution to my needs was something eerily similar to a barbute helmet. A conical helmet with a wide Y-shaped slit on the front face, the slits were wide enough that I wasn't sure it would impede my vision much, if at all.

  I worked almost on autopilot, guiding and shaping the energy as it moved and shifted to my will. Minutes or hours later, I couldn't tell, there was another item hidden by the golden glow resting on one of the benches, and I was sagged in Vipera's coils.

  You’re pushing yourself, Dear. There was a hint of concern in Vipera’s tone while I leaned back on her coils.

  "I mean a bit, yeah," I grunted, "I can't grow if I don't push myself. This is probably the Skill I have the least practice with overall, and the ability to continuously re-arm and armour myself is too valuable to be ignored."

  I could practically feel the sigh coming off of my familiar in waves, the smirk too. Fine, I’ll catch you if you pass out from the mana drain. I squinted at my familiar. It annoyed me that she put on the indulgent partner act so well. Acting as if she were the reasonable one in this relationship.

  "Aww, I care too, Dear," I smirked at Vipera, tossing her usual nickname for me back at her, before I rose from her coils, letting out a groan as I did. There was still more work to be done. Hopefully, the next few pieces would be less intensive.

  I picked up the core of the Frost scaled Naga when I returned to the benches. For a long moment, I considered using it as the base for my gauntlets, then I set the core back down. I had other plans for it. Moving around the benches, I snatched up a handful of cores, mostly belonging to the Akhlut, since I had more of their cores than anything else. I rapidly formed the pieces of armour I wanted from the lesser cores; they didn't have anywhere near as many possibilities to sort through or as much energy, so it went much faster. It was also much less of a drain on my resources. In a matter of minutes, there were gauntlets, vambraces, and greaves still glowing with energy, set with the other pieces that were now starting to dim. If I had to make a guess, I would say that the time it took each piece to coalesce was directly related to the power of the materials and the finished product. Even a casual glance was enough to tell me the newer pieces made with lesser cores were dimming far faster than my helmet or body armour had.

  I stared briefly at the pile of armour as I had a thought, one that concerned energy. Mana. I snatched up a Frost wraith core in my excitement, along with several Akhlut cores. [Spirit Forge] seized hold of the cores at the same time, and rather than draining the energy out of them to work with, I ripped the energy out of them directly with sheer force of will and smashed the disparate energies together. In much the same way, I had once smashed Skill nodes together in my inner node space. I smashed the energies together over and over again, swirling and blending them until they were one whole. Strands of energy twisted over and over, over and under, to the side and back as the energy braided, weaving itself to my will. Giddy with the flash of inspiration, I paid no attention to my rapidly emptying mana reserves; my focus was only on what was before me. The single-minded pursuit of the goal in front of me that had served me well and kept me alive at times throughout my life.

  I snatched up more cores, tearing out their energy and feeding it to [Spirit Forge]. I set aside the finished piece I had been working on, my mind flickered, moving onto the next, not wanting to give up the rush I was living in. I tore my ring from my finger and slammed core energy into it. I had no idea if I could upgrade an existing item this way, but I was sure as hell going to try. I could already feel that it would resist my effort to change it directly, so instead I went the other way. There was no finesse or control this time around, just stuffing the ring as full of as much energy as it would accept and hoping for the best. I tossed it on the table beside the last piece as well when I felt it would accept no more.

  Finally, my gaze fell on the core of the Frost scaled Naga once more. I hesitated for a moment. Just a moment. Then I snatched it up off the bench once again. If I didn't have enough resources and failed partway through, then so be it, but I would be damned if I wasn't going to try. I could feel the headache that had been steadily growing, pounding away behind my eyes, the precursor to mana exhaustion. My vision tunnelled as I bent my will to finishing this last task before my body and mana reserves gave out.

  I needed a weapon.

  A fang, to pierce any enemy.

  Golden energy surged around me from the core. I stared at it with a half-mad grin as the possibilities spooled out in my mind like an endlessly branching hallway. Physically, I compressed and compacted the energy, pounding it into shape with my will. All the while, my mind rushed through the corridors of possibility at the speed of thought. I knew what I wanted; the image was set in my mind, I just had to find the right doors, metaphorically speaking, before I ran out of time. Once my mana reserves were empty, that was it; there would be no more attempts. The core would be spent, and I would be left with the results. Whatever they were.

  Moment by moment, I could feel my reserves draining, running closer to empty as I drew closer and closer to my goal.

  Then I ran empty.

  My mind seized, shrieked in frustration. So close I was so damn close. I could feel it, taste it. The threads of energy were slipping out of my grasp without the mana to fuel [Spirit Forge].

  An exasperated sigh whispered through the back of my mind. Such a child, too impatient to wait or ask for help. Go on, finish it, I'll catch you when you fall.

  I grinned as mana surged into me from Vipera's reserves. It was easy to forget that while we were joined at the soul level, we were still separate in some ways. Like separate resource pools.

  Moments stretched to seconds, to minutes, as I worked doggedly in pursuit of my goal. The black of unconsciousness wavered around the doges of my vision, calling me to rest. I refused to give in.

  Not until I was done.

  The end came not with a bang, but with a simple exhalation. Breath in, breath out. I set the glowing piece down on the bench among my other creations with hands shaking from exhaustion.

  Then the black covered my sight, claimed me, and I toppled over.

  As promised, I never made it to the ground.

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