Once I was back in my big beefy God of War body, I headed back and found Firaga still hammering away on the blade.
"Do you mind if I take a swing at it? I have some rough knowledge of smithing, but I think with what your System can do, I should be okay?" I suggested, and Firaga nodded, setting her hammer down as I switched back into my body that was still standing in the middle of the shop.
I walked over to grab the metal blade, but I couldn't close my hand around it. My hand would close, but it hovered an inch from the metal.
"Huh? Omega! Come here for a minute!" I called out, and Brad Pitt walked out of the nearest wall.
"You act like I am not doing anything else, and I can just come at your beck and call!" Omega complained, and I narrowed my eyes.
"You weren't doing anything, so I didn't interrupt you. Now, why can't I grab this?" I asked, and Omega groaned.
"It is mutainium, the opposite of systeminium, and you are the heart of Tiamat. Consider yourself the central figure for all systeminium, and mutainium is the opposite. Until you acquire the heart of Alpha, the metal will repel you," Omega explained, and I narrowed my eyes.
"Why can the others touch it?"
"They are not you, and they are not Darkar. If you had one of the male Dracos here, you would see that it is the same for them," Omega explained, and I sighed.
"Well, I guess I can't do anything to help you out with this Firaga, sorry," I said, turning to her, but she wasn't where I had last seen her.
I turned around, and she was pulling the Chimera Blade off Kratos's back.
"That is fine; let's work on this. I want to see what will happen," Firaga said as she brought the dragon-scaled green over to a large open table that had nothing on it.
"Do you need me for anything else?" Omega asked, and I turned back to him.
"Yes, for you to actually work! I can tell when you are sitting around, lost in thought. You can do that when we are out of this solar system! I shouldn't have to tell you this, of all people," I growled, and Omega put up his hands.
"Yes, Yes. I have just been thinking about the last seven million years and what it really meant," Omega said defensively.
"Plenty of time to think when the work is done. You all put the world in this state, so you had damn well help get it back to something that resembles what it was. I may seem relaxed, but I still hold all of you responsible for this mess, even if this was all part of some bigger plan, got it?" I said, and Omega nodded and backed into the wall and disappeared.
"Don't you think you are being harsh?" Firaga asked as I turned back around.
"Not at all. He was your leader, and this is where he brought you all. He does not get the option to sit around and consider past mistakes while everyone else is out working. You are in here trying to do the impossible; the other generals are training, and the rest that can are out helping to collect people. What is your leader doing? Reminiscing about past mistakes? Not on my watch," I said, and Firaga nodded.
"I guess when you put it that way, I can see why you acted the way you did with him. Omega is probably filled with regrets, but like you said, we don't have time for that," Firaga said, and I nodded.
"Okay, what Systems are you cannibalizing?" I asked, and Firaga opened her menu and then passed it over to me.
[System Rune: Targeting: Chimera Blade.]
[System consumed:
Cinder System
Mango System
Pimple System
Best
Flatulation System
Critic System
Y/N?]
"Well, I can see why these were picked, but that fart System might be a pretty funny one! I really hope that the System we are consuming doesn't affect the outcome," I laughed as I passed the screen back.
"Not from what I understand about it, but it is hard to say. Maybe we should try it on the other normal blade first?" Firaga suggested, and I nodded.
"That is probably a safer idea since all we can do is assume what it will do," I said as I walked over to Kratos and pulled the large curved great blade, bringing it back to sit on the table.
Firaga moved beside the weapon and dragged her finger down the center of the blade's flat side, and strange symbols appeared. I had never seen anything like them before, but I knew what they said.
"Wretched," I said, and Firaga looked up at me and nodded.
"Seems that the Systems do have an effect on runes," Firaga said, and I picked up the weapon.
The moment my hand touched it, all the information about it was in my mind. Wretched added a withering effect to the sword, causing anything it hit to gain wear and tear much faster.
"Interesting. This blade can not make whatever it hits weaker and lessen durability. Pretty cool effect, but the effects are very minimal in its current state. I am not sure if it will level up on this blade, but I will try it out tomorrow. Let's take a couple of higher-level Systems for this next one, and try to pick one that has transformations, even if you have to pick one or two lower-level ones," I explained, and Firaga nodded as she walked around the table to the Chimera blade.
Firaga paused for a moment and then brought up the same screen, but there were different Systems this time.
[System Rune: Targeting: Chimera Blade.]
[System consumed:
Orc System
Mouse System
Horse System
Demogorgon System
Platypus System
Y/N?]
"Nice, there are some good ones, but Demogorgon?! That has to be a pretty high-level system, right? That is the two-headed prince of Demons from Dnd. It can absorb others to gain more power and knowledge or even split a person's personality! Pretty cool as long as it's on your side," I said with a laugh, passing the screen back over.
"Do you not want me to use it then? I can find another, but I thought it might be good to get rid of this one, considering what it is and does, right?" Firaga asked, but I shook my head.
"No, go ahead and use it. That is a bit too scary to have anyone use it. I am sure there is some kind of bad side effect from using the System, so this is safer," I said, and Firaga nodded.
"Yes, this is a specific Villain system, but the Host always goes mad before it can become effective, and that is why Lenta is asleep now. She was forced to use it the entire time, and Omega couldn't change the Systems like you can. The new Systems he gave to the captured spirits were random, as you can see with some of them, but they all change slightly depending on the planet. If there is still a spirit on the planet, or Annokale as you call us, the Systems change to match the environment," Firaga explained.
"Are there a lot of Systems like that? I mean, specifically for Villains or Heroes?" I asked, but Firaga shook her head.
"No, I can only think of a handful, and I have most of them. There are no Hero Systems, but there were before we came to this world. All of them became Villain Systems," Firaga explained, and I sighed.
"Well, that sucks, but it just means I will have to make some. I was really hoping that we might have a few, but that is asking for too much!" I laughed and then looked back to the Chimera Blade. "Let's see what happens with this one."
Firaga nodded and dragged her finger down the blade. As she did, five sets of runes appeared, each of them saying the names of the Systems.
"Hey! Now that is interesting!" Exclaimed with excitement as I picked the scaled, curved blade up.
Immediately, the info came to me, and each of the five creatures had been added to the transformation list. Some of them would be more useful than others, but I was curious about one of them.
"I am going to switch over and try out the weapon. Do you mind coming with me outside? I don't know what is going to happen when I try the Demogorgon," I explained, and Firaga nodded.
"I think that is a good idea. The last thing we need is for you to go crazy," Firaga laughed, and I nodded, closing my eyes.
I opened them again, and I walked over and took the massive green blade out of my hand. There was nothing that felt evil about the weapon, but it was always better to be safe than sorry when testing out new things.