Hermes of course ended up leaving in a bad mood after I flat out ripped off the mask he was wearing to cover his true nature and thoughts. I didn't care however as the god was little better than a snake that was waiting to sink it's poisoned fangs into you. Perhaps his intentions were good in general but he was far too willing to cross lines he shouldn't to achieve his end goals. The less such a person knew about my abilities the better in my opinion.-
The best part though was that I knew for a fact Freya was breathing down the messager gods neck to keep him in check and from making plays involving my familia in the shadows. How did I know this? Because I had asked her to do so once it became clear Hermes wasn't going to leave it well enough alone. Despite technically being a mere delivery familia on the surface the Hermes familia was easily one of the most influential familia's in Orario and the wider world as well with more than a little blackmail on many powerful people.-
I wasn't stupid enough to antagonize such an entity without having the backing needed to keep it from crushing me like a bug. Freya was more than happy to take that position which even if it wasn't explicitly stated also made my familia something to keep a healthy relationship with for even the Hermes familia out of caution. Anyways Hephaestus's visit was pleasant enough even if a little awkward as she tried and failed miserably at flirting. I mean like E for effort but clearly romance was NOT her strong suit. I admit I also probably frustrated her to no end as despite having an army of people wanting to hook up with her she had to choose one person who wasn't really interested.-
Like I get WHY she was trying to hook up with me since it was sorta public knowledge but basically she had decided that she would only hook up with a craftsman that managed to impress her. My cursed technique DEFINITELY qualified and that was pretty much the whole reason she was trying to snag me for herself. It was a weird fucking way to decide a partner in my opinion but who am I to judge?-
It also wasn't like I was TOTALLY averse to the idea either as she was so my type. She was hot, easy to understand for me and smart, the whole package. My reluctance however came in the form of her not wanting to play by catch and release rules but rather for keeps. If she was going to get me she wanted to make sure I knew that that was it, I was spoken for afterwards. I wasn't really interested in that level of commitment at this point unfortunately. I might be okay with it later when my leveling slowed to a crawl due to the amount of power I had making it difficult to find a challenge but for now I wasn't going to give in to her attempts at attraction.-
Anyways once my body finished it's refinement I started messing around with my flames that were now a whole ass cursed technique. After the upgrade from extension to full technique the flames had changed in a few interesting ways. The first was of course the spark of true hellflame that winked out of existence almost the instant it appeared but was devastating to whatever it touched in that time span. I'm talking now you see it, now you don't type devastating.-
The second change was that the flames became more "real" I suppose was a good description. Before there was no force behind my flames, just heat and death. Now however sending out a burst of flames actually caused some pressure to be pushed back onto me like a normal flame would. If I concentrated my flames to burn brighter but in a smaller area like a rocket thruster I could even create enough reverse force to push myself back. This gave me the idea that if I used them right it might be possible for me to fly in a similar fashion to ironman.-
Naturally I attempted exactly that and well it didn't go so great. I could certainly get off the ground but the issue is that humans aren't built in a fashion to fly . My arms and feet that were the sources I used to try and fly from twitched and moved which in turn messed with the angles and direction of the thrust put on me. I spun out of control and dragged my face across the grass or into a wall more times than I liked to count.-
Turns out that whole scene from the first Ironman movie where Tony blasted himself into the ceiling and walls was not just for shits and giggles. I was durable as shit thanks to my stats but that didn't mean faceplanting at like twenty miles an hour didn't hurt like a fucking bitch. Everyone else in the familia laughed their asses off at my failures over that whole three day period before I got the hang of it and actually hovered for the first time. They certainly weren't laughing then but were jealous as shit instead.-
Anyways once I had proof of concept for flame propelled flight I set that aside to continue messing with my flames to figure out what else had changed about them. I did eventually discover that the "Alive" factor of the flames had further developed as I could now create fire clones. These weren't real clones but rather merely my flames formed into a humanoid shape that could move and fight like me somewhat. They were still just flames though and thus didn't actually have much substance to them but if you didn't know that they were very good distractions.-
"Your magics are so unfair." Daphne complained after seeing my new clones.
"All magic is unfair, some are just more so then others." I said sagely.
"Said the man that spent three days eating dirt just to hover a foot off the ground." she said with rolled eyes.
"Not my best moment I admit but to be fair I can't be blamed. I mean come on don't tell me that you wouldn't try to fly if you thought you could." I said and she reluctantly nodded.
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