PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

150 Chapter 150 Accident in the laboratory

(15 minutes before Desmond arrives at the cabin, Third-person POV)

′′ It seems that the fusion agent works as expected, it is time to move to the armor. . . Hmm, I wonder if I should just do it and go. . . Now that I think about it maybe I can do something with the scales of the steel emperor snake, they are extremely resistant and flexible; if I put them on the armor before the metallization process they should melt to some extent with the armor. . . yes, let’s do that. ′′ A sweet and excited voice could be heard coming from the alchemy laboratory in the cabin; Needless to say, this voice couldn’t belong to anyone but Sasha.

After Desmond’s departure to the forest, Sasha had spent the last hours experimenting with the fusion fluid that she had left distilling before their departure to the city of Kalmerá; so far she had seen promising results when used in conjunction with the liquid metal of the steel emperor serpent.

Being an alchemist at heart, Sasha was eager to try her new alchemical enhancement solution named by herself as Guardian of Steel.

But she also believed that there were some specific improvements she could make to Desmond’s armor, so as soon as she came up with a new idea Sasha got down to business.

Sasha was not a skilled blacksmith or craftsman so there was little she could do to the armor, but she came up with using a temporary fixer to place the emperor serpent’s scales reinforcing the most vital areas of the armor; Sasha hoped that these scales would partially melt into the armor when using the reinforcement solution thus raising the armor’s defensive capabilities by a few more levels.

As soon as Sasha finished her work with the scales she heard Desmond come home, moments later Sasha could hear Desmond preparing dinner in the kitchen so she just smiled fondly for a moment before getting down to business.

Having the armor ready to undergo the partial metallization process, Sasha first applied a thin layer of the fusion solution over the armor making sure to cover every corner of the armor.

Having finished the first phase, Sasha used a special device similar to an atomizer to spray the armor with the reinforcement solution, each time she sprayed the armor an area of ??it would turn a dull gray color for a few moments before it began to emit smoke as long as an unpleasant sound came out of the application site.

.....

Hearing that familiar sound of acid corroding something Sasha seemed indifferent as if this was part of the process and it was, it was the sound of the melting solution reacting to the reinforcing compound causing a clearly visible thermal reaction.

Sasha sprayed all the armor before starting over and repeating the cycle at least two more times, by the time the second phase was over, almost two hours had passed and the sound of Desmond cooking had already stopped.

Still, Sasha had decided that she might as well finish the third phase and have the armor ready for when she sat down to dinner with Desmond, so, using special tongs, Sasha took the armor whose weight had increased significantly and plunged it into a glass vat filled with the same melting solution that he had used during phase one and two.

Just a few seconds after the armor was submerged it began to change color, quickly turning to look like a piece of steel about to melt, but since this was what she expected, Sasha did not react to the phenomenon.

Everything was going according to plan and Sasha could not be happier, the armor absorbed 10% of the liquid in the glass tube before it began to return little by little to its original colors; Sasha knew that the process was about to end so she was somewhat impatient to see the results.

But as observant as Sasha was, it did not take long before she noticed a problem, there was a part of the armor that kept reacting and it seemed to get worse little by little; Taking a closer look Sasha noticed that it was the runic carvings on the armor that seemed to be having trouble.

Only now did Sasha realize that she had overlooked this particular detail, Sasha knew little about the methods of smithing and creating magical artifacts, she only knew that runic engravings were a type of language used to infuse mana and specific effects in an element; it’s just that she never consider that they could be a factor that could affect the reinforcement process.

Now seeing the runes glow as they began to melt giving Sasha a bad feeling, but when she tried to get closer and remove the armor there was an explosion that destroyed the container containing the armor.

Sasha was dumbfounded at the sudden phenomenon as she looked at her precious shattered fortified alchemical crystal container; she could only comfort herself while she thought that at least the container contained the blast long enough for her not to get hurt.

Soon hurried footsteps were coming from upstairs in her direction and Desmond’s worried voice asking for her.

′′ I’m fine, there was a little. . . trouble. ′′

Hearing Desmond’s worried voice Sasha felt a little pampered and happy with herself before she remembered that she had just destroyed Desmond’s armor, then the smile on her face faded as she ran to check out the remains of The explosion.

It didn’t take her long to find the armor, strange enough the armor was actually basically intact, the only thing that had changed about it was that the runes had disappeared from its surface and it was emitting a strong magical presence.

If Sasha had to guess, she would say that the runes probably contained some kind of defensive enchantment or similar and when stimulated by the alchemical process she subjected the armor to it caused the runes to melt while infusing part of the enchantment permanently in armor.

Sasha relied on the fact that in theory, the process she put through the armor should only have enhanced its physical but non-magical qualities, but for some reason that didn’t seem to be the case.

′′ Are you sure everything is alright? ′′ Desmond’s voice sounded right behind Sasha, taking the poor alchemist by surprise and giving her a great scare.

′′ You scared me, yes everything is well, actually, something unexpected happened during the armor upgrade but I do not know the exact details so I am not sure to what extent I actually improved the armor. . Oh right, you can use that thing, the hunter’s notebook to analyze the armor and find out what happened; right? ′′

Unable to suppress her innate curiosity Sasha immediately asked Desmond to help her figure out what had happened to the armor, but Desmond was actually not in such a rush to observe the results and just wanted to have a quiet moment while having dinner with a beauty of vermilion hair.

′′ Come on Desmond, I really want to know, please; if you do then. . . then. . . Then I’ll do something for you, whatever you want. ′′ Sasha really wanted to know what happened during her experiment so much that she ended up making a rather tempting proposal.

Hearing Sasha’s words, Desmond directly pulled the notebook out of his holster and pointed it at the armor while he used analysis.

′′ You better keep your word. ′′ Desmond said as his eyes fell on Sasha’s rich and exquisite breasts.

Sasha blushed furiously before nodding submissively, truth be told, as shy as Sasha was, she really enjoyed her moments of intimacy with Desmond, and a little expectation formed in her heart at the thought of having Desmond fiddling around a little with her body.

Seeing Sasha so flushed, Desmond only smiled seven parts kindness and three parts mischievous as he turned his gaze to the notebook’s analysis screen.