Chapter 22 - Strength of the Wind
Lilly stared nervously at Mia, who was busy putting on the finished cuirass. It had taken her a lot of effort to finish, even requiring the violet crystal in the end.
Lilly felt her nerves needed at least a few hours of rest before she could work on the last two enchantments, and she was looking forward to lying on a couch somewhere for a while.
Mia’s eyes turned wide as she finished putting on the piece of armor, looking down at her hands as she dexterously moved them around. “It’s so easy to move now! I feel like I can twist my arm into a pretzel if I want.”
“That’s probably just the sea emperor enchantment playing some tricks on your mind, and I wouldn’t try it. How does it feel?” Lilly asked, studying Mia’s movements with interest.
“I don’t know how to describe it. My body feels like steel and jelly at the same time. I can move more freely than normal, but nothing jiggles if I move quickly. If metal were moving this quickly, it would generate a ton of heat, but I feel fine.”
Lilly looked at Eolande. “How would we test strength properly? Arm-wrestling?”
Eolande put her hands in the air. “Not with me, I hope. You could try crushing some metal or something, perhaps?” she suggested, not sounding too sure.
“I was thinking with me since I’m extremely strong as well if I use the flame. I can adjust my strength to measure it properly, and then we can see how strong it makes you, Mia.”
Mia grinned. “Oh, you think you’ll beat me? This is an incredible enchantment, you know.”
Lilly grinned back. “I can’t say for sure, but I know I can use the entire power of the flame to strengthen my muscles. If an enchantment with less strength than others can beat me, I’ll have to complain to the Divine Phoenix.”
‘Please don’t bring my father into this. You’ll be able to win, but take care not to burn her,’ Myndia suddenly said from the amulet.
Lilly suddenly felt the urge to ask Myndia about her father, but she decided it wasn’t the time.
Mia had walked over to the anvil and put her hand on one side, ready for the test. “I figure anything else will break if we use it, so let’s do it here.”
Lilly nodded and stood on the other side, taking Mia’s hand in hers. She noticed it felt extremely firm, like a warm and smooth gauntlet. “That feels weird… I’ll start it at 20%. You can just stop me from bending your arm backward, and we’ll see when I start beating you.”
Mia nodded and braced herself, supporting her body with her other hand holding the anvil.
The flame started stirring through Lilly’s body, filling her with power. She could feel Mia’s hand start getting more malleable, but it still felt strange. “Let me know if I’m getting too hot.”
Mia only had time to nod briefly before Lilly started pushing, forcing her to strain her muscles. Her arm started shaking, which sent reverberations down through the anvil and into the ground, making the entire room vibrate lightly. “Ohh, that’s only 20%? Damn, I’m not winning, then.”
“Okay, I don’t really know how much strength that is, but it should be an incredible amount. Full power would be me spending as much of the flame as I possibly can at once, and with how pure my body is… that would crush anything. So I think 20% is more than respectable. You can probably lift giant boulders with relative ease.”
“I can still keep going a bit. Try 30%,” Mia responded, looking like she was having fun.
Lilly nodded and sent some more of her flame from her core, trying not to overheat. “Here I go.”
Mia was ready, but her face turned red from exertion once the wrestling started again. She managed to hold it even for a few seconds, but it soon tipped in Lilly’s favor. The cuirass was greedily sucking in mana from the surroundings, trying to support Mia’s fight, but it wasn’t enough.
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“Aaargh, damn, that’s a lot of power! Phew.” Mia sat down on the ground next to the anvil, looking up at Lilly with an exhausted smile. “I think I spent a bit of my own mana as well there, but it probably didn’t matter much. Still, I’d like to test it in some other ways later.”
Lilly smiled back at Mia, sitting there graciously in defeat. “Sure, you can play around with it all you want now.”
She walked over to one of the chairs and sat down heavily, feeling the exhaustion tearing at her. “We still need to test the warding enchantment, though. Elly, can you throw the dagger at her?”
Eolande looked excited as she grabbed her dagger again, holding it by the blade. “Start slowly or full power?”
“If you think you might harm her, start slowly. But I’m guessing a throw is weaker than a direct stab,” Lilly responded, folding her arms.
“Full power it is, then! I’ll avoid your face in any case, Mia, don't worry.”
Mia stood up and positioned herself in front of the wall, spreading her arms. “I feel invulnerable, so don’t hold back!”
The dagger flew through the air right after the last word was said, making Mia recoil in surprise. A gust of wind swiped in from the side and slapped the dagger out of the air, making it stick deeply into the floor.
“Whoa, I wasn’t even close! I wonder what would happen if I tried stabbing you in person again. Would it try swiping me away as well?” Eolande wondered aloud.
“I feel like it’s safe to try it out, so go ahead, Elly,” Mia responded, easily pulling the dagger out of the ground and handing it back to her.
Eolande took it with narrowed eyes. She might not enjoy being so neutralized by a piece of equipment, but it only meant the value would be higher than assumed. “I’ll go as fast as I did last time, get ready.”
Mia spread her arms again with a confident look. “Good luck!”
Eolande disappeared once again, and a massive gust of wind swept through the workshop, blowing objects off of the tables and revealing just how much fabric Lilly had lost during her enchantment. Eolande reappeared again, far away from Mia, trying to slow herself down as she nearly crashed into a wall.
She seemed torn between frustration and awe as she spoke. “Whoa, that’s scary. How does the enchantment figure out what is a threat and what isn’t?”
Lilly considered the question while trying to hold her skirt down, but didn’t find a good answer. “I guess the wind elemental has developed an automatic system for stopping approaching objects, but I don’t know exactly how it works. Did it stop you completely?”
“Yeah, I had no chance to get any closer,” Eolande said and turned to Mia. “Let me try approaching you by just walking with my dagger out, just to see what happens.”
“Sure, approach me all you want!”
Eolande walked casually towards Mia, holding her dagger with the tip pointing towards her. The ward did nothing before she got very close, but then it acted and flung another gust of wind out of Mia’s body, sending Eolande tumbling towards the wall again.
“What the hell? That thing is conscious, right? No way it was able to figure out you would be hurt when I was moving that slowly!” Eolande complained, now looking mostly frustrated.
Lilly moved over to her and started patting her shoulder. “Elly, don’t be sad. I’m sure you’re actually good at hurting people if you want! This is just a silly test, right?” she consoled jokingly, feeling proud of her enchantments.
“Don’t try consoling me like a little girl! I could kill anyone if I really try!”
“I’m sure you could, Elly. Especially with a strengthening enchantment to help your speed even more, right?” Lilly replied, trying to cheer her up with the next enchantment.
“Yeah! Especially then!” Eolande smiled proudly, joining in on the joke. “Now I’m really looking forward to my belt, though. Let’s get to it!”
Lilly frowned skeptically. “I have to rest for a while first. This is taking more out of me than I thought. Let me just lie on the couch—no, there is no couch in the office anymore… Hmm.”
She considered what couches would be the closest while also considering whether she could lie on top of Mia to rest somehow. Asking her to lie on the floor seemed a bit rude.
“Nah, let’s just head home for now. I think I’ll need some time to get properly back in shape. We can do the last two in the evening; it shouldn’t have any effect on the enchantments,” Lilly declared, deciding to end the session here.
Mia looked a bit worried as she looked at Lilly. “Are you sure you can continue later? You look a bit pale, honestly.”
Eolande turned to look at Lilly as well and nodded. “Yeah, you might need some proper rest, Lilly. I don’t mind if the belt doesn’t get the perfect enchantment, so you can hold it for a few days if you want. And the staff will still be here next month, right?”
Lilly felt hesitant. “But I’ve done so many enchantments in one day before! Why am I so exhausted after only three?”
Eolande walked over to her and started gently stroking her hair. “You’re comparing apples to extremely huge apples, Lilly. These enchantments are massive, and each one is harder than any you’ve tried before. Is it any wonder you’re exhausted?”
“... I guess. We’ll see later then. Let’s go home, I need my bed.”