Master Of None

As Walker and Fleur worked together to slowly bleed out the elemental mana from the moldable crystal ball, they noticed the pressure on the crystal increasing. The removal of the mana was leaving the entire thing unbalanced since it was created with the mana at the center to keep it all together. Removing the main component was asking for it to break. 

"We need to start to add the other elemental manas too. Let's start to fuse the crystals with the crystal ball." It was a dangerous move but one that they had to do. Walker had the crystal crafting skill and he had to put it to use causing the moldable crystal ball to change and latched on to all of the elemental crystals around it. 

The crystals were pulled in to the moldable crystal ball and the feedback from this was heavier than Walker had ever felt. If Remey had punched him in the face, Walker was sure he would survive, but this? He was questioning if his brains were melting out of his ears. 

Walkers' teeth were grinding together as he used his grand elemental manipulation to force the elemental manas from pushing against each other at such an extreme. The natural mana around them was turbulent since Fleur was pulling on them with such a harsh grasp. 

'The world has felt your will.' 

The system responding to him was nothing at the moment. He could not focus on it. Walker could not focus on anything. All that he needed was the bond with Fleur and the control of elemental mana and natural mana. They needed to come together and balance to create the core of the moldable crystal ball. All of the materials needed to come together and fuse perfectly.

In this battle of will and mana, Walker felt closer and closer to Fleur every breath he took. It only seemed to increase when the wandering blacksmith had begun to lay the diamond shaped plate on to the moldable crystal ball. Not that Walker could notice this happening with his eyes forced shut to focus more. If he could he would see that they had all been rounded so they fit around the moldable crystal ball and balanced around the entire sphere. 

The runes glowed and connected the mana flowing in the moldable crystal ball causing it to ever so slightly. The immortal birch branch that they had received in the dwarven vault started to break piece but piece and get pulled toward the moldable crystal ball and metal rune plates. This was good because it was a material that Walker had wanted to be part of it all. However, the strange part was that more pieces broke and joined the others, it never fused with it. 

Instead of fusing with the item being forged, the immortal birch branch was changing shape and becoming intertwined vines in the shape of a rotating ring around the entire creation. A small piece of it also formed a vine ring that wrapped around Walker's finger. The slight prick that Walker felt was completely ignored as it drew a slight amount of blood when it latched on. 

There were over a hundred of the rune carved diamond plates. The wandering blacksmith was very efficient and had sped through the completion not to slow the final combination of the item. He purposefully had everything prepared for this speed to be possible. The runes themselves he had practiced in his mind and on scrap metal more times than he could count in his life, therefore, being able to carve them together at a much faster speed than many others could hope for in the world. 

Without warning the elemental mana began to surge around the entire forge. The flames that had been on the furnace were snuffed out as cold descended. The next moment there was wind and shadows dancing about them. The ground trembled and they were blinded by the light before they all felt the heat return and the fire burn hotter in the forge furnace than it had before. The wandering blacksmith and Midnight were on the edges of their seat as they watched Fleur and Walker work together. 

The immense pressure that Walker felt threatened to crust him even though it was not a physical force. He knew that if he wavered even for a moment he would lose all progress and the material would be ruined. Fleur was also feeling the strain. She was still a young nature spirit and had not been able to attract a great deal of natural mana yet. Therefore, she was pulling more to the changing crystal ball than to herself. 

Walker knew that his mana would run out and there was no way for him to stop and drink a mana potion. Even someone pouring down his throat would be too much of a distraction and would stop him from completing his new item. That being the case, He summoned all the remaining mana he had and used it in a move of force to change and balance the elemental manas that were raging within the moldable crystal ball.

There was only deafening silence. No one dared to breathe out or even twitch. Fleur was slowly drifting toward the ground before the last of Walker's energy propelled him to reach out his hands and catch her. There was no way he would allow for her to fall. Luckily, Midnight and the wandering blacksmith were there to catch him. His mana was rock bottom and he needed to rest. Knowing if they succeeded or failed would come later. Now, the pair would recover. 

The wandering blacksmith wanted more than anything to look at the new item before him but knew that Walker's safety and well being was first on the list. He and Midnight were the only two that could carry him in to the mansion to rest. He promised himself that he would not set a foot in to the forge until Walker was able to come with and see the result.

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