Master Of None

In just a blink of an eye after Gil had opened the cage and Walker had given an appreciative smile, the earth elemental mana has surged. The release of the earth elemental spirit had been like a dam being broken. All the natural mana that had been pulled toward the spirit was finally under its' control and waiting to be used. 

"Free!!! I can touch the ground!" The spirit was overjoyed to be out of its confinement and free to touch the earth it was made of yet again. And elemental spirit being separated from the element it was made from would be the same as someone not being able to feel their arms and legs. 

"Are you sure you want to help? I won't force you." Walker did not want to force the earth elemental spirit to do anything. It had already been held in a cage after being found and that was already unfair. Asking more was cruel in its own way. 

"Yes! Water spirit is sleeping. I will help!" The earth spirit stopped moving around the ground in joy to focus on what it was about to do. Walker was sure to give the elder a hard look to make sure that nothing untoward would happen to the spirit now that it was acting of its' own will. 

All the earth elemental mana converged toward the folding metal and hammer in the elders' hand. There was a slight pause as the density became nearly tangible and the brown glow of earth elemental mana was blinding. "Go! Forge now!" The spirit sounded weak but it was able to move in to position to watch the elder forge. 

The earth elemental mana had an instant and obvious effect on the metals and hammer. The mithril hammer was covered in the glowing runes. With each swing the mana that was sent in to the metal caused the shape to alter and the shield to take from faster. The shield itself was soaking up earth elemental mana as if it was a desert getting rain for the first time. The process could shake any person whether they were sensitive to mana or not. 

The elder had stopped appearing pale and even looked to be more energetic than before. He was moving much faster in the process and wasn't appearing to stop. The large hexagonal shield was shaped to perfection in the matter of minutes. Walker had not expected the insane speed of a dwarf crafting compared to the humans they had seen. The elves were even slower in comparison. 

Since the elder had arms made of mechanical metal he did not hesitate to take the shield and directly start to carve runed and details in to it. He pulled at some small monster spikes and began to attach them to the front of the shield causing the elemental manas to absorb even faster. "Ha! I knew that stone mantis needles would be perfect for this." The elder couldn't help but show his enthusiasm and talk out loud to himself. 

The earth elemtnal spirit perked up a little having pulled more earth elemtnal mana to itself to replenish what it had used. "Faster! It will lose my touch!" The spirit knew that the effect of its skills would fade soon and that the elder needed to move faster or else the shield he was making would not be able to reach the proper absorbed elemental mana to be finished. 

"The earth spirit says you need to move faster before the skill it used ends," Walker repeated the word of the spirit as fast as he could. The elder didn't even flinch as he started to pick up the pace. 

The amount of earth elemental mana around the shield just grew and grew with the elder worked. The mana gem on a nearby work bench was fixed in to the back of the shield along with multiple earth elemental mana crystals. They would all complete the rune formations that would fuel the shield's skill and assist in its' strength. 

Walker began to notice that there were slight cracks in the elders' mechanical arms and that the sounds of grinding gears were ever increasing. The massive pressure that they were under from the high earth elemental mana density was too much and even a normal dwarf's hands would be unable to handle it properly. Yet, the elder did not stop, he sped up. 

After fixing arm holds on to the shield there was a moment where all the mana in the room felt to freeze. The elder and the earth spirit locked eyes. "This would be the time I would have to force the spirit to bond to it. I don't know what to do now. But I feel like I don't need to force anything." 

"Right! I don't need to become one. I can feel it!" The earth elemental spirit body of clay crumbled to the ground in a small pile. Walker could sense that its' earth elemental body was reaching up and touching the shield. 

There was a pulse of earth elemental mana that shook the room. The elder looked pale yet again and one of his arms fell to his side limply. The forging process had wrecked one of his arms. The earth elemental spirit was still without solid form but Walker could sense that it was around the shield if not also inside it. 

The look of worry and fear in his face gave him away. Walker thought the spirit had just went and bonded with the shield anyways. He felt he had let the spirit down and done exactly what he did not wish it to. He had created another forcefully bound weapon with a trapped spirit. 

"Walker, look at the mana gem. There's something different about it. Actually, can you see the runed and elemental mana crystals? They are all different." Gil had a hand on Walkers' shoulder while  pointing to the hexagonal spiked shield. It was indeed very different now. So much so that Walker instantly used his all around appraisal skill. 

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