Milo watched as Eva did push-ups in the training area. They had just finished their sparring routine, and she was improving a considerable amount. As for why she didn't know how to fight?
'A homeschooled nepo legacy, you ought to think they would've just shunned her for a much better candidate to rise the ranks.' Milo questioned the logic, he felt suspicious of Eva. There was no a legacy would be babied that hard, in fact they had it rougher then most. Just like always, his suspicion was stomped thanks to that Innate Ability of his.
He had also discovered something that was terrible. His Innate Ability didn't allow pain to last long. Isn't that a good thing? Sure it might've been a good thing at the surface level. No pain means no hinderance in a fight right? But what about after the fact? What if he had gained an injury he had no idea of?
'Then I'm dead.'
He had only discovered thanks to Eva. He had brought her up to speed on the basics, and she had finally landed a hit on him during their sparring sessions. She had bashed his shoulder away with the pommel of her sword.
Milo didn't discover the injury until later when he was showering. His shoulder had a dark purple mark on it. Milo moved around his shoulder, and he didn't feel the adverse effects, so he assumed it was just a really bad bruise and moved on.
The next day it had grown significantly worse, and he had to go towards the healer to get it fixed. Long story short there was a fracture in his shoulder that he simply never noticed thanks to the lack of pain there.
This meant that he would need to spend ample time after each battle or after anything that could result in injury to check his body and see if anything had been injured.
'At least I'm going to be more thorough now?'
Milo couldn't really find the positive in it but his flaw required it anyway.
Milo looked down and fiddled with the bracelet in his hand. It was made up of translucent pearls, each one seemed to show a shimmering light from within.
Memory: [Dreamer's Hope]
Memory Rank: [Dormant]
Memory Tier: IV
Memory Type: [Charm]
Memory Description: [An excited master smith found himself searching through a vast cave in search for a rare ore. He was captured by a fickle devil and was put through years of torture in order to turn into the tastiest of meals. Escaping with only his hope, the master smith implanted it into a bracelet to never lose his way again.]
Memory Enchantments: [Enlighten] [Unyielding Life]
Milo wasn't too surprised that he could see the enchantments. He was a forger after all, supposedly a fanatic one at that. Yet he never felt an itch to craft something. Maybe it was adverse side effect of his Innate Ability?
Regardless, Milo found the enchantments to be pretty useful for a Dormant memory, it seemed he really had hit the jackpot here.
Enchantment: [Enlighten]
Enchantment Description: [Light up the wearers surroundings to show the way forward in the darkest of times. Not even True Darkness can resist this hope.]
Enchantment: [Unyielding Life]
Enchantment Description: [Provide the wearer with a small amount of vitality so long as they do not lose hope.]
'I'm essentially immortal.' Milo thought cheerfully to himself, though he didn't exactly know what vitality counted as. For all he knew, this thing could only keep his body alive with the bare minimum leaving him in a comatose state.
"I'll just believe that isn't the case. Even if it is, better then dying right?"
Milo couldn't help but think of the state of Hollows, those who had lost their souls and were only alive in body. Would he suffer something similar until his full vitality was brought back?
He was quickly brought back to the present as Eva called out.
"I'm ready for another match."
Milo grabbed his short sword and sighed, this girl would do anything but give up. Eva made the first move this time, she dashed forward with a downwards slash. Milo quickly blocked and redirected it, using the momentum he created to thrust at her.
Eva dodged the thrust and pushed the flat of the blade away. She then threw a kick at his leg, Milo couldn't step back in time. Eva pressed the advantage before Milo could regain his balance, she threw a thrust.
'Shit.'
Milo barely managed to hit Eva's sword away, it left her hand and slid against the ground. Coming to a stop a few feet away. Milo thought that meant the fight was over, or at least a pause so Eva could grab her sword.
Milo instead was met with a flurry of fists. Milo kicked Eva away and caught his breath. Eva didn't seem the slightest bit tired.
'She's as stubborn as rock.'
Eva pressed forward once again. She didn't throw any attacks, the reach difference was far too much to do that, she wanted Milo to do so. Her foresight would help greatly. This was the perfect situation for her.
Milo took two steps, bracing himself for the tussle about to occur. He took a deep breath and focused, his sword flashed through the air in a diagonal slash. Eva weaved the slash and practically jumped at Milo.
Milo was screwed, right? There was no way to win in a hand to hand fight since he lacked an arm.
'Well, not anymore at least.'
Milo summoned his prosthetic and punched Eva right in the gut. It didn't help that the momentum she had from jumping at him propelled her body further into his knuckle.
Eva let out a gasp, and stumbled back. She seemed furious... ah she seemed furious.
"My bad, my bad." Milo repeated apologetically as he stepped forward to help her, but she raised a hand.
"I'm... fine." She murmured through a strained throat. "Enough for today."
Milo nodded, he put away the short sword and walked away with hastened steps.
'Not my problem anymore right?'
Milo decided to ignore the loud angry ramblings as well. No good would come from deciding to listening from those.
Milo quickly dismissed his prosthetic. Walking through the large building that made up the Sleepers part of the Academy was always a nice thing, a good way to end the day.
'I'll take a different route this time.'
Milo walked through a new part of the Academy, it was leisurely walk where he took in the surroundings of... the same grey walls and such. There wasn't really much of a reason for this except to make sure Eva didn't follow him.
'Still nice to see some new rooms at the very least.'
Milo then heard a clang, that sound of metal hitting against metal.
CLANG
"They have a smithing area here?"
Milo moved towards the sound.
CLANG
It was oddly satisfying, Milo felt memories come back to him. Memories from his time in that cabin.
CLANG BA-BUMP
The everlasting chase to finish that prosthetic in the limited time he had. The thousands of methods that would've worked if he just had an extra minute, or even an extra minute.
CLANG BA-BUMP BA-BUMP
CLANG... BA-BUMP BA-BUMP BA-BUMP BA-BUMP
'I can... finish it'
Milo put his hand to his heart. It was pumping with purpose.
'It's not going away... this feeling. It's a good thing.' Milo felt a smile creep onto his face. His Innate Ability was not getting rid of this... Euphoria?
Milo didn't quite know what it was, but it must've been good. His Innate Ability said so. His flaw amplified it.
Milo walked with purpose, he had enough self control not to break into a sprint, but who knew how long that would last.
Milo reached the room. He saw another Sleeper working on something in there, whatever it was really wasn't a concern to Milo. Milo quickly summoned his prosthetic, he was going to try and fix this damn thing in away he could.
The view of the room, the tools, the smell, the sight. All of it brought back memories. All his surroundings blended into a single point. It was time to get to work. The first part was identifying the problem which Milo had already since he was in the cabin. It was just incomplete, it wasn't tempered enough or built with proper materials to become a "perfect" prosthetic.
But there was also another problem that occurred, the fact that it had been turned into an Aspect Ability and the limited duration it had of being summoned likely meant something was wrong with the actual composition of the prosthetic that went beyond physical means, completely unrelated to what Milo had figured out in the First Nightmare when it was only an actual prosthetic.
Milo grabbed some prongs and a hammer. He laid down his prosthetic on the nearest anvil. He lined up the prongs with a small seam in the prosthetic. He struck the tip of the prong's handle with the hammer.
The seam gave way, and Milo pried his way through to the prosthetic. A small flame had was living within the center of the prosthetic, it was unstable and erratic, slightly shaking and becoming warmer. Why? Why was it so unstable?
"I'll have to come back to this later... no I'll get it done now. Trial and error."
Milo started off by trying to see what it reacted to. Milo tapped with the hammer which only seemed to make it more erratic. It also led to a strange feeling in his chest... or rather deeper then that. Like his soul had been shaken...
'Don't tell me...'
Milo looked over at the other Sleeper there.
"Hey, do you mind coming over here for a second?"
The Sleeper obliged, and Milo handed him the hammer.
"In about five seconds, I need you to tap this for me lightly with the hammer. Can you do that?"
The Sleeper nodded. "I got you."
Milo entered his Soul Sea, and counted.
"Five, four, three, two, one."
Milo looked as his Soul Core, and it shook slightly. The tranquil water in his Soul Sea seemed to stir.
"What crazy bastard made this thing." Milo mused to himself. With the problem identified, Milo exited his Soul Sea.
"Thanks for the help, I'm all good now."
"No problem, let me know if you need anything else."
The Sleeper returned to his own anvil and to whatever he was working on. Milo had figured out the problem.
'This thing is powering itself with apart of my Soul Core.'
That was already a huge problem. His Soul Core had just been given a physical form that can be damaged. Meaning that his soul could be damaged if his prosthetic could be. Which the prosthetic could very much be damaged.
It was essentially a death trap waiting to happen. If Milo didn't fix this, he would either have to skip on ever using his prosthetic outside of mundane means, or run the risk of soul damage every fight.
Not only that, the prosthetic itself was nowhere near powerful enough to house a part of his Soul Core, it was like putting a nuclear reactor in a phone, this thing needed more functions and power in order to utilize everything perfectly. It was a miracle this shell lasted more then five minutes at all without burning up.
There was really only one choice left. 'I have to fix this.'
He had five weeks, five weeks to fix this prosthetic, and craft whatever he could. Milo had the knowledge, he had the tools available to him, all he had to do was make it a reality.
"I can do that much." Milo muttered as he began to make a mold for the new prosthetic he would forge.
***
Sleeper Robin hastily walked through the building's halls. He needed to get to the infirmary and get a healer as fast as possible before the insane kid hurt himself.
Robin was practicing forging a weapon, when all of a sudden he smelt burning flesh. Knowing there was another person in the room, he thought an accident had happened. Instead, the other person there was just burning their own flesh. That prosthetic on their arm had began to glow orange in the center. The prosthetic itself had seared itself onto his shoulder stump.
When Robin had tried to convince him to stop, he simply dismissed him by saying. "I cant feel it anyway, let me finish this up."
When Robin tried to pull his right hand away from the prosthetic, it refused to budge. His grip was like nothing Robin had seen.
Not wanting to be there any longer, Robin went to go grab an instructor and healer. That would be his best option, just leave it up to the adults to solve that shit show.
***
Milo poured the molten metal he had gotten into the mold for the new prosthetic. Milo smelt the flesh, there was no doubt his shoulder suffered at best second degree burns, yet Milo didn't feel the pain so he continued.
In fact, Milo felt good, ecstatic, he felt like he had found purpose once again. He was creating something, creating something. It was his, and he had made it, he wouldn't stop for good or great or perfect, he needed more.
He needed more. It would never be enough, he might settle for a bit, but he would continue to improve his prosthetic, he would create the armor he wore, the weapon he killed with, the tools he used, the charm that protected him.
All of it would his creation, his to improve, his to perfect, his to make better then perfection.
It must be, after all, his Innate Ability was not getting rid of this feeling, this obsession... no it could not be called obsession. It was passion! This feeling could never be something as meager as obsession, obsession was disgusting and ugly. Passion was valiant and beautiful!
Milo carefully kept the part of his Soul Core in his old prosthetic, at the very least it was doing a good job of making sure the Soul Core wasn't being tampered with. Once the molten metal had cooled, Milo began to iron out the imperfections.
He sanded out little bumps and hitches within the upper arm and forearm. He sharpened the fingers, added etchings and engravings. Even signed his own name in.
Milo heard footsteps fast approaching, but he wasn't done yet. He just needed to do one more thing. Milo took the piece of his Soul Core out of the old prosthetic, with its removal, the prosthetic itself became lifeless, crumpling to his side, only attached thanks to being seared to his skin. Milo grabbed the small piece of his core with his right hand. He heard the immediate scorch it inflicted on his hands skin, another wave of newly burned flesh filled the room. He stuck the Soul Core into the slot he created for it.
The prosthetic accepted it gladly, powering up, and scattering into countless sparks.
[Your Aspect Ability has evolved.]
Milo smiled wide. His creation was complete. He would test it out later, for now, he had to let whoever had grabbed his shoulder do what they like, lest he lose out on access to the forge forever.