The weight of silence hung for a moment longer, the chamber still resonating faintly from the earlier conversation. Luthar turned slightly, eyes narrowing as he regarded Liliruca with detached curiosity.
"How was the gun?" he asked without preamble.
Liliruca glanced down at her side, where the weapon rested in its lock-rig. Her fingers brushed the grip out of habit.
"It was much better than my previous gun," she replied. "If I had had that during the monster rampage, I wouldn't have gotten stuck inside the dungeon with those two idiots."
Luthar gave a short nod—approval, though as flat and subdued as ever.
"Well, the past is past. Now you can practice with this gun—it should handle 99% of your problems," he said. "As for the remaining one percent… I've prepared something."
He turned without elaborating further and began walking toward the corridor at the side of the chamber. Liliruca followed silently, her boots tapping against the stone with precise rhythm.
They entered the lift and descended in silence, deeper into the undercroft—into the sanctum of Luthar's personal work. He gave no commentary, and she didn't ask for any.
When the lift stopped, he led her forward. At the center of the room stood a platform—and upon it, mounted on a vertical frame, was the armor.
At a glance, it mirrored something familiar—holy wargear, reminiscent of the revered Battle Sisters. But where theirs was imposing and heavy, this was refined. Sleek. Built for precision and motion. The armor's surface is gleamed with matte steel, runed at the edges with data-etching. The pauldrons stood prominently, lined with embedded coil nodes that pulsed faintly with stored energy.
The armor exhaled quiet power.
"New armor for you," Luthar said. "Light variant. Designed for speed and flexibility."
He stepped beside her, gesturing toward the frame.
"It has built-in shield generators embedded in the shoulder plates. Directional energy fields—enough to block short-range impact and low-tier magic."
She stepped closer, eyes scanning the interior with quiet interest.
"Won't this be too heavy for me?"
"No. It has integrated gravity regulators. They won't let you fly, but you can adjust the weight ratio manually. You could also use it for training purposes—simulate high-gravity resistance."
Her eyes drifted to the spine interface at the lower back. A frown pulled at her lips.
"Teleportation system," Luthar confirmed. "Mid-range. But I wouldn't advise using it carelessly. It drains a minimum of twenty percent of total power. Use it once or twice, and you'll compromise the suit's combat efficiency."
Liliruca raised an eyebrow. "When did you build this?"
She looked at him, half amused.
"Bit of a waste of your time, isn't it? My current armor held just fine—even on the seventeenth floor. Not a single monster managed to crack it."
"That armor was good for your past. Not your future. As my first follower, you deserve something more." His tone remained flat, but his intent was clear.
She clicked her tongue softly and returned her gaze to the armor. There was a moment of silence—one not filled with awe, but quiet understanding. She reached forward and touched the bracer. The material was cool and dense but refined.
"Is this your new way of flirting? Crafting armor instead of saying something direct?"
"You know what kind of person you are," Luthar replied. "If I had come to you openly with words and asked for time, you would have simply run away."
She didn't deny it. She was, after all, someone who didn't offer trust easily, so if the scenario was that Luther simply asked her to join him, she would have run away.
Minutes passed. Under Luthar's silent guidance, she stepped into the rig. The armor sealed itself with a series of magnetic clasps and servo-clicks, aligning precisely to her form. She flexed, testing limb range and weight distribution. Heavier than she liked—but it moved like a second skin. Her HUD came alive in her left eye, displaying shield capacity, energy diagnostics, and telemetry.
Luthar returned to the terminal nearby, watching the internal readouts. No errors. No recalibration needed. It wasn't overengineered—it was precisely what it needed to be. Perhaps not at the full level of a Sister of Battle's sanctified plate, but the teleportation module and shield system made up for any difference.
Eventually, the rig hissed open, and Liliruca stepped out. Sweat clung to her back, but her posture was composed.
"Fine work," she admitted, almost reluctantly.
Luthar gave no response. He merely archived the data and prepared to fine-tune the armor.
As the hours passed while Luthar was working, the night settled over Orario.
The workshop lights dimmed as the larger machines entered standby. Liliruca had retired upstairs. The chamber remained lit only by the soft flicker of rune-stamps and core-circuit glows.
For a while, there was only silence.
Then the sound of footsteps echoed through the lower level—measured, deliberate.
She stepped from the shadows: a striking woman with crimson hair tied back, her eye patch gleaming under the forge's residual glow. The scent of hot metal followed her like a cloak.
Hephaestus had arrived.
Her single eye swept across the lab. She noted the differences—missing machines, new layout. This lab was larger, yes—but not yet as full as the one he had left behind.
"You just arrived back today, and you're already working again?" she said, her voice gentle but sharp beneath the concern.
She had already heard about what had happened on the eighteenth floor—from Liliruca, no less. But seeing Luthar throw himself immediately into work again… it unsettled her.
There were limits—even to bodies like his. He was not a machine.
"I plan to seek resources in another world," Luthar answered simply. "There isn't much time to rest."
Hephaestus stepped closer, placing a firm hand over his terminal and stopping his fingers from typing.
"You do have time," she said. "We have time. And don't forget—you're not alone in this. You still have me and other people who are ready to help you."
She leaned in slightly, her voice quieter now.
"The world won't stop if you take one day to breathe."
She tugged his coat sleeve, gesturing toward the lift.
"Come on. Time to go upstairs. You're going to sit down, drink something warm, and not look at another console tonight."
[[Thoughts of confused author: which you can ignore as they are not important .. Today I wrote 3 chapters instead of 1 so it was a good day. And the previous week I uploaded extra chapter but I do not see any improvement i really wants to know why my views are dropping instead of increasing and the plan of reaching $50 this month on have also failed basically I am around $30 so my mind is telling me I should divide my attention on a second the novel to get more money my conscious thing focus on tpm as focusing on multiple novels might degrade the quality ]]