Cole stepped back through the portal, and thought that he had made a good deal.

He got better forging materials and a more vague improvement. Plus, if his magic was really that strange he would rather have a professional opinion on potential side-effects. Entropy was something that the smith held a modicum of interest for. The slow decline into disorder and chaos, across the whole of the universe. Rot, decay, black holes, all of it just added to the slow inevitable end of all that was. Cole could understand the concept, because he contributed to it quite a bit. He spent hours making weapons, creating, but all those creations held the purpose of hundreds of hours of destruction. An investment, almost.

And the God he made the deal with was surprisingly alright. Immediately when walking in, the smith had known it was different from the last deity he met. There was a presence to both of them, similar but with one difference. The difference between arrogance and pride. One was earned. The Star God had felt... tainted, like he reveled in his own power so much that he no longer deserved it. Based on how zealous the God had seemed, his power might even have just been given to him.

The Void God had been pure. Their conversation had been short, but words were not the only way they took the other's measure. They had each seen and recognized the same thing in each other. A master of his craft. One of smithing, one of Entropy. But kindred souls nonetheless. There was an immediate respect between them. Despite the... tentacle thing technically being a customer, Cole thought he might even like the God. He raised his and checked the silvery tattoo to ensure the deal had gone through.

[Name: Cole Vance]

[Class: The Chosen Creator]

[Rank: Mortal-2]

[Sponsor: Entropy God, R̵̞͓̼̜̮͍̩̺͉̗͑̓͠e̴̬͛̾̆̐͋̽̈́̉̓̈́͐̑̒̍̕͠͝v̶͉̦̠͎͈̮̯͖̠̳̏̈́̆̿͛͑͗̃̈́͛̚å̶̧͕̩̯̪̬̲̋͆̽͒͘͠͝ļ̸̳̦̞̘̤̝̥͕̤̦͕͒͐̿̒̿̅͠͠o̸̢̨̮͇̞̬̠͎̱̳̦̮̬̬̜͈͒̐̍̾̏̍͂͒̀̈́͛̚͠ṙ̵̹̅̆͑̾̐̓͊͑̃́͘͘͜͝-̸̧̛̘̤̟͇̥̗̭̬͓̟̬̲̗̰̆̽̆͐̔̿Ả̷͈͉̼̳̘͈͖̥͕̪̜̞̌̊̉̋͆͋͌͠ḻ̵̢̢̛̛̛̞͈̩̤̭̩͓͕̲͚̜͇̠̣̊̊͊̿̆͒̈̚̚͠g̸̡̘̠̥͑͂́̃͗̍́͝a̴̝̱͓̳͇͕̖͍̠̍͆̿̆̄̒̌̄̒̿̈́̅͘͠r̷̡̛͖̬̙̱͓͙̂͌͠i̵͙̟͍͊͋͆͗̉̑͠͝ü̶̡̠̻̠͇̜̭̬͈̻̲ḿ̵̢̢̛̤͔͔̙̰̞͇̰͋̀̆̈́̐̑̓̍̋͜͝͠-̸̧̨͖̮̲̣̮̝̙̮̠͙̙̬͔͉̤̑͆̋͊̿̈̑̑͂̇͗͘O̴̡̡̹͚͕͚̹̰͔̺͍̦̲͕̭͒̉̒̑̌̅̂͐͘x̵̺͖̬̣̽̀̌̿͗̏̀͗̐͊̊͘̕͝î̷̡̦̹͎̤̝̻s̶̢̡̡͓̲̳̝̩̙̺̹̙͉̫̭̈̒̓ͅ]

[Affinity: Fire, Metal, Kinetic, Conjuration, Enchantment]

[Signiture Ability: Pocket Forge]

Still couldn't quite figure out the name. Well, he'd get plenty of practice comprehending the incomprehensible with runes.

The difference in his own power was subtle, but there. It didn't add yet another affinity, or even make a change big enough to be reflected by the words of his status. But he felt it, the disparity. It was mainly present in the 'attitude' of his forcefire. It had always been just slightly straining at his grasp, wanting to rush out in all directions. It wanted to be free. But now it felt hungry, like it wanted to hunt and chase and kill. It wanted to consume.

But it still obeyed him. The mana flowing through him followed the same paths it always did, and he felt no pain from its cycling. Cole was exempt from its hunger, thankfully. The new forcefire would be invaluable. Even ignoring that the fire was now perfected for and longed for causing harm, he worked with runes. Runes were based on intent. If his fire itself had a strong enough intent, he could use runes to a devastating new level.

And the changes hadn't just affected him. A quick glance around the Pocket Forge revealed that it too was improved.

The library had a new section. A hollow was carved into the wall adjacent to the shelves, large enough to double the amount of books in the Forge. It held only one. 'Secrets of the Void'. A peek inside showed that all the text had the same eldritch gibberish qualities as his Sponsor's name. That was a book for later, it seemed. Well, nothing like an ominous tome of secrets that probably has the instructions for at least three blood rituals to brighten up the decor.

A pyramid of dark blue ingots sat on top of the anvil. Six in total, all of a decent enough size. Much like the deep steel had, the metal had a presence to the smith's metal affinity, seeming heavy and dense. Far, far heavier than even deep steel. Grand steel. His books had talked about it as a mana metal that, unlike deep steel, had absorbed mana with an affinity. It was just that the amount of affinity was so small or that there were too many competing affinities, making a metal that was still neutral but stronger than steel infused with just ambient mana.

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But better than even that, was the anvil it was sitting on. And the hammer, and the tongs, and the grindstone, and the chisel, and all the other artic iron tools. Because they were no longer artic iron. A metal that looked completely devoid of any surface or depth had replaced the material. The metal seemed more like a silhouette than a thing, but there it was. Not true Void steel. Even being near that stuff would probably kill him. But it was something Void related.

Cole picked up the hammer and immediately understood. In its base form, the material had almost the same properties as mundane steel. Very weak, compared to mana metals, and lacking in magical conductivity. But there was something like a menu in the back of his head, full of either sliders or switches. And they each seemed to be aligned with a property.

If he wanted the hammer to weigh less, he could Void the weight. It would temporarily no longer exist, and the hammer would be as light as a feather. If he wanted it heavier he could, somehow despite all logic, Void the absence of weight. The same concepts applied to other properties of the material. Density, mana conductivity, mana capacity, friction, heat, and consistency could all be made Void, or the absence of them could be erased. It was definitely strange, but undeniably useful.

He wouldn't be able to bring any of it outside of the Forge, just like how Mary and Jace were prevented from touching any of the equipment. He could open a book for them and let them look through it, and he had helped Mary skim through a few basic rune books, but they couldn't directly interact with the Forge themselves.

Speaking of the two of them, he should try and find them sooner rather than later. Even with the wolf and its minions dead, there was still the massive bear and the tree elementals he had seen while pulled along by the wolf.

Elementals in general, along with golems and constructs, were strange. They were made purely out of one affinity of mana and the corresponding physical material or materials. A water elemental was made of water mana and water, maybe with some ice added depending on the strength of the Monster. A fire elemental was made of fire mana and fire, maybe lava if the region was right. The life elementals in the forest were made of life mana and various plant life.

What separated the three categories was something known as an ego. An ego was the nexus of a manifestation's power, containing their 'soul' and the foundation of their mind.

In elementals, it remained purely in the magical realm until they were defeated, when all the mana that made them up would collapse in on itself and be used to conjure a physical housing for the ego. A golem was an artificial elemental that was powered by the ego of a dead actual elemental. They were focused on the same affinity as the ego they were fueled by and were very simplistic in nature. Essentially, just a controllable artificial elemental. A construct was similar, but runes were used to enhance its intellect and grant it a wider range of magical power. An artificial intelligence housed in an ego, and ran through runes.

Cole could likely even make a golem soon enough if he didn't overcomplicate it. They only had a few runes instead of an actual complicated phrase. While constructs could have entire paragraphs detailing the desired personality and habits, a golem's enchantment could usually be boiled down to 'obey creator' or 'follow orders'.

But crafting, even for a new weapon, would have to wait. The smith needed to find the Merchant and the Overseer. Even if something tried to attack him while he was weaponless, he doubted anything but the bear would be able to stand up to the new forcefire's hunger. It wanted to hunt, and would not refuse if prey tossed itself in Cole's path.

He left the Pocket Forge, and entered an area that had been torn to shreds. The wolf's corpse had been picked almost down to the bone, and only some of the damage looked small enough to have been done by birds. The bear had been here. The skeleton still had a few patches of flesh and hide, along with the bone crown connected to its skull, but besides for that the Monster had been devoured.

The surrounding area hadn't come out unscathed either. The mundane trees were absolutely torn apart, and ever the nascent elementals caused by the crystal looked worse for wear. Had the bear been so excited that it just torn down a massive swath of the forest in... celebration? Had it needed to fight off other scavengers? Did it go into a rage that someone had killed the wolf before it did?

The crystal itself had a few long but shallow scratches in the shape of claws. Not got even a third as deep as the hole where Cole's conjured marble was still stuck, pressed down to the size and shape of a coin. He removed it with some metal mana and put it on the shelves in the Pocket Forge, right next to the first sphere of metal he ever conjured.

He grabbed a few more shards and conjured a cloth pack to keep them in. The mana inside the Forge was heavily regulated and attuned to Cole, who didn't possess the life affinity. They would maintain their charge and, if he had to use them, regain their charge far better outside. With that, and making a mental note to lead Mary back to the skeleton so she could sell it, the smith was finished here.

He set off back into the forest, to find his companions and hopefully avoid a potential raging bear.