PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

657 Chapter 657 A Man Loves His Toys.

Contrary to what Desmond expected, Aisha’s workshop was not filled with all sorts of high-tech gadgets. Instead, it just looked like a larger version of the portable workshop she used, with a few additional tools and equipment.

The first thing that jumped out at Desmond was that there were no things like swords, spears, or any other type of bladed weapon in sight; neither were there things like armor or shields. Instead, there were objects like accessories or intricate tools, many with a strong mechanical flavor.

Aisha had mentioned in the past that she was an expert in alloys, one of the best in her world, but she wasn’t very good at traditional weapon forging, it seemed like she leaned towards more complex things where her alloys could be put to good use.

It’s not like there weren’t any weapons in the place, but these weren’t traditional. For example, there was a pair of gloves that Aisha had made for Desmond.

As soon as they entered the workshop, Aisha went straight to a cabinet at the back where she took out a small metal box. Smiling with pride and expectation, Aisha opened the box to show Desmond how she had used those gems they found together.

The gloves themselves seemed to be made of dark silk, with gray embroidery that seemed to follow some kind of pattern. Besides the metallic sheen, there was nothing special about the gloves, but Desmond’s attention was not on these, but on the two blue gems inlaid on the back of the hands. The two beautiful navy-blue magatamas appeared to have been polished and treated, further enhancing their shine.

Seeing the way Desmond admired her work, Aisha couldn’t help but show off a bit. “Beautiful, don’t you think? I am quite proud of this particular creation. The gloves were knitted using a special thread made from an alloy of my own design. In addition to using eight different types of metals and minerals, the alloy contains bone dust from at least three types of three-star-class aquatic creatures; however, that is still not the best part. For the finishing touch on the alloy, use a pinch of Flood Dragon Scale Dust, a five-star class pseudo-dragon. It took me some effort to get such a high-level material to harmonize with the rest of the alloy but it was worth it.” 𝐟𝙧ee𝔀e𝐛𝓃𝐨𝚟𝑒𝗹.c𝗼𝚖

Lowering her voice a bit, Aisha added. “To be honest, the flood dragon material I stole from mom’s store, but she won’t know if you don’t mention it.”

As if she hadn’t just confessed a theft, Aisha continued. “Anyway, the gloves have two layers of cloth, I placed the formations and runes on the inner layer, and reinforced the outer layer with a second type of thread designed exclusively with durability in mind.”

.....

Pointing to the gems set in the gloves, Aisha finished. “The magatama, as you called them, have some pretty cool features, so I left their functions intact, and used the gloves only as a means of amplification, as well as a way to carry the gems practically. Unfortunately, my element is highly incompatible with gems so I haven’t been able to test the gloves, but I’m pretty sure of my creation, are you interested in testing it out?”

Not having any reason to refuse, Desmond took the gloves from the container and put them on. Even before mobilizing his mana or doing anything else, the magatama on the gloves pulsed with something akin to joy, a phenomenon quite similar to the one that had occurred when Desmond found them. This time, however, the resonance between Desmond and the gems was much deeper, though just as calm as before.

Without needing to listen to an explanation from Aisha or analyze the gloves with the hunter’s book, Desmond immediately knew exactly what they did. Pouring just a bit of his mana into the gloves, the gray patterns on them lit up, giving off a navy blue glow identical to that of the gems.

Desmond’s aquatic mana underwent a subtle change as soon as it came into contact with the formations and gems, becoming not only denser and purer, but also more dangerous due to the almost indistinguishable frequency at which it vibrated.

With an expectant smile, Desmond clasped his palms together, slapping what little mana he had in each hand against each other. As soon as the aquatic mana in his hands came into contact, it burst out with a faint wave of blue light that was accompanied by the sound of bells.

Just from the general feeling he got, Desmond had a vague idea of how dangerous that wave emitted from the crash was. Although he had used a minimal amount of mana, the generated wave was still more than capable of killing a person in the one-star class.

The lethality came precisely from the clash of frequencies at which Desmond’s mana vibrated once it passed through both gloves, something that made the gloves quite a powerful tool. Once Desmond uses the gloves as a means to channel and control all of his aquatic mana-based abilities, they would not only be greatly strengthened due to the amplification effects of the gloves but also carry these hidden vibrations that could turn lethal once anything summoned with one gauntlet collided with something summoned by the other.

However, the gloves still concealed another function, or rather, the magatama had another function. Following Desmond’s will, the gems on the gloves channeled an enormous amount of his mana and summoned a sphere of water that covered Desmond.

Inside the sphere of water, in addition to being able to breathe, Desmond felt that the entire place was under his absolute control, there he could summon his abilities from any point within the sphere, where they would be strengthened by a considerable margin.

The ability basically summons a domain where Desmond became much stronger and his enemies were heavily suppressed, the only downside was that the range was not very wide and he had to be summoned on himself.

Despite being incredibly satisfied with the gloves, Desmond couldn’t help but have the same feeling he had when he used the sword, <Sky’s End>, he couldn’t squeeze the full potential of these gloves and the gems.

Asking Aisha about it, she replied as if she had been expecting that kind of doubt. “It’s natural, these gloves are a three-star class artifact, maximum level, just a minuscule step away from ascending to four-star class, it’s normal that you can’t use them at full power. To tell the truth, I could have leveled it up to the fourth star if I had just used a little more Flood Dragon Scale Powder, but I decided against it to avoid possible rejection or incompatibility due to the level gap.”

Satisfied with both the answer and the gloves, Desmond hugged Aisha and placed a kiss on her forehead to express his thanks. “I see, you have my sincere thanks, Aisha, I never would have imagined that you would do something so special and magnificent.”

Typical of her, Aisha enjoyed the kiss on her forehead but quickly demanded a kiss on her lips that turned a little too passionate in an instant. As soon as she left Desmond’s lips and tongue at peace, Aisha commented. “Like I said, it’s one of my best works, now all it’s missing is a name. I would name them myself, but I’m not really good at that, usually I just randomly assign numbers and letters to my jobs until someone names them.”

Taking the hint, Desmond smiled helplessly, the truth is that his talent for naming things was quite famous, but not in a good way. There were times when even he was embarrassed by the things that came to mind when he tried to name abilities or items. Hence, Desmond decided to stick firmly to the mythological references, those things at least sounded pretty cool and less embarrassing to yell out loud during the fight.

True to his reputation for naming, Desmond quickly chose the first thing that came to mind. Since the original name for the magatama had the word Gemini in it, Desmond combined that with the sound the different mana frequencies made when colliding, and quickly named the gloves. “I thought I’ll call them, <Gemini Bells>”

“Gemini bells, huh? I can’t say I understand it but it sounds good.” Aisha commented, knowing nothing about the constellations on earth and the origin of the name. A second later, Aisha seemed to have remembered something as she turned around and pulled out a large trunk from under a work table.

“Almost forgot, mom said she owed you one for saving my life, so she gave me permission to use some materials to do something to you on her behalf. It is far from being as sophisticated and spectacular as the gloves since this is not my specialty, but I made you a small set of light armor, it will cover your vital organs and help you stay alive.” Aisha explained as she opened the trunk to reveal a pair of shin guards, a pair of arm guards, and a chest armor plate, as well as some additional pieces like shoulder pads.

Just like Aisha said, armors weren’t her thing, but this one covered all the important parts and was discreet and light enough. Finding the dark gray color and its simple design quite to his liking, Desmond smiled. “Thank you very much, I really needed something like this.”

In response, Aisha puffed out her full chest with pride. “It might look simple, but I used quite a durable alloy, nothing below four-star class will break these babies, you still have to be careful with the force of impact though.”

Out of nowhere, in the middle of her moment of glory, Aisha seemed less animated. “Unfortunately, with the time at hand, I only managed to make the gloves and armor, and completely forgot about the alchemy furnace you gave me that flower gem for. The truth is that it will take time for me to learn how to make alchemy furnaces from my aunt, and the final product will take even longer, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come another time for that one.”

Desmond was frankly speechless because of how sad Aisha seemed about the subject, the truth is that even he had forgotten about the oven. Besides, with the gloves and armor, Aisha had already done more than enough for him, it seemed that she took her promises too seriously.

Desmond was about to calm the girl down when all his attention was drawn to an object he wouldn’t have seen if it wasn’t right behind Aisha who was now bowing apologetically. Immediately, the little gun fanatic inside Desmond ignited with passion. “Aisha, what is that?”

Seeing the object Desmond was pointing at, Aisha replied. “Oh, that, I don’t know how the original works, but this one was made by me, it’s an imitation of those silver weapons that you used when I first met you. The final product was that. It’s a powerful weapon, although I got too excited designing the alloy used in the ammunition. To be honest, even I find using such a thing too wasteful; each magazine is worth a fortune.”

Directly leaking the setbacks mentioned by Aisha, Desmond responded. “I want that.”