"What plan do you have in mind?"
Instead of answering, Leonel walked over to Rum's station. The massive man towered over Leonel, but he seemed to be the quiet type. In fact, aside from Litia and Kaela, excluding Radlis, it seemed as though every member of Polished Glass was quiet.
"I'm just going to borrow your station for a little bit." Leonel smiled.
Rum hesitated but bowed out of the way eventually. None of them knew how skilled Leonel was, but at least in this station, even if there was an explosion, it would be manageable. If Leonel insisted on starting at Kaela's station, then maybe even Kaela herself wouldn't have been able to allow it.
However, what stunned Rum was that instead of going under the hood like he had, Leonel removed the coverings entirely, revealing the existence of a special violet light and numerous unprocessed Ores.
Without a spirit, Rum could only use the most primitive method of purification. But, that didn't necessarily mean that it was an inferior method. There were many Force Crafters who swore by their blacksmithing methods. Leonel had even read about a famous Crafter who wielded 16 hammers at once during all his crafts.
Though, he obviously used a special telekinetic ability, or else it would be too ridiculous.
Rum, however, used just two hammers. But in his hunched position, one could imagine the limited range and control he had. It took a lot of discipline to work at his station, for sure.
Unfortunately, he had no choice but to do so. The Polished Glass faction could only afford a single open space like this. So, in order to maximize the special light he used to pick out impurities, he had to use such a posture.
Leonel picked up a piece of ore under the horrified gazes of everyone present.
Rum couldn't help but take a few steps back. Even Radlis scrambled away, pressing his hands together in prayer. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.
But what happened next left them all stunned.
A regular wrist band that had been wrapped around Leonel's arm with not a single hint of movement suddenly made its presence known, enveloping the ores completely.
"Metal Spirit!" Kaela screamed out, her breathing hurried.
Her face flushed read, her body trembling as though it couldn't grasp what it was seeing.
A familiar, of any kind, was rare beyond compare. Kaela's hair scrunchy seemed to be a Fire Spirit, but this couldn't have been further from the truth. It was nothing more than a manifestation of her ability.
Kaela's ability was somewhat like Monet's except it emphasized control over both flames and their heat.
She could make flames as fluid as gas in one instant and as solid as iron in the next. She could also make her flames as flexible and soft as a scrunchy…
The only downside of her ability was that her output of flames wasn't very powerful. So, usually, she went out of her way to find sources of good flames then stored them on her body in various ways. Her scrunchy was just one aspect.
This was all to say that Kaela… Had never even seen a Spirit in her life before, let alone the Metal Spirit.
The Metal Spirit was widely accepted as one of if not the best Familiar for Crafters to have. But, they were notoriously impossible to control and there were very few with the ability to do so.
Yet, even those people would never casually leave a Metal Spirit on their wrist as though it was any other accessory. That was ridiculous and asking for death.
But… That was exactly what was happening before her.
Leonel overturned the piece of ore in his hands, his eyes flashing. His aura became stifling, a heavy air hanging over the lab.
'Dream Sculpt.'
In the blink of an eye, the ore, its every imperfection, its every crevice and peak, was perfectly reflected in Leonel's mind.
Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, what took Rum hours of hammering to accomplish was completed by Leonel in just 10 minutes. No… This couldn't be said. Compared to Rum's unfinished product… Leonel's was perfect.
*Bloop* *Bloop*
Little Tolly hopped around Leonel's palms happily.
In one of Leonel's palms, there was a rock that looked no different from any other. It had a plain greyish appearance and sat silently.
On his other palm, there was a perfect glass ball. Not a single imperfection could be picked out of it.
Kaela didn't need to ask Leonel to understand. That perfect ball… It was exactly the product she slaved over continuously… But this was the first time she was actually seeing it.
"This…"
Kaela's eyes brightened.
"With this, we could actually make those Tier 3 weapons!"
Leonel smiled. "We could. Or… We could make a better version of your grenades.
"But… In that state, the Polished Glass is completely inert."
Kaela could tell this easily. In fact, anyone could.
The way was simple. The black light the Polished Glass usually gave off had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a shallow, barely perceptible grey light. This was how one knew you had reached perfection.
"True. But this still exists."
Leonel tossed the pile of impurities up and let it land on his palm again.
"You… What?" Kaela was confused.
She didn't understand. The impurities were exactly that… impure. They weren't even unique to Polished Glass Ore.
Impurities were just anything that happened to be in the environment the Ore was birthed in. Ore Veins had to grow around a lot of rock and sediment and often times these impurities would seep in and disrupt its growth. These would have to be taken out during the refinement process.
Though some Ores could only be grown in special environments and thus usually had impurities in common across their Ores, Polished Glass Ore had too many potential growing spots to have anything so convenient attached to its lore.
This was all to say that… The impurities in Leonel's hand could be from anywhere. In fact, it was no different from a rock one could pick up on the roadside. If one tried to sell it, you'd get beaten to death for being a fraudulent merchant.
Leonel's actions were simply too baffling.
However, he only smiled and his hands began to move again.