Chapter 361 - Serio
While getting a few more explanations about the town and its populace from Constant, Eisen finally finished attaching new limbs to its body, which Constant seemed to be able to use without any issue. All that was left to do then was to cover the right half of its face with new metal plates, and it would be fully repaired. That process didn't take a long time either, and since the Core Helper wasn't able to talk during that time, for obvious reasons, nothing much was spoken about then in general.
"Alright, now… Constant, show me how we can enter the Storage." Eisen told the Helper, who immediately jumped up in response, first properly trying out its new arm and leg. "You got it, Master Eisen!" Constant exclaimed and saluted with a chuckle, before disappearing in a cloud of mist, similar to what Sigurd did whenever it teleported through the Dungeon.
And a few moments later, the stone-floor slowly began to crumble away and turned into a stairway, which Constant slowly stepped up back into the room through. "Here we go." Constant smiled with its hands behinds its back before the old man raised his eyebrows with a surprised smile on his lips before following him down to the other area, telling Bree to wait there in case someone else was coming, while Sigurd and Fafnir came down with them.
"So, this is the Material Storage?" Eisen asked with a smile, and Constant slowly nodded its head. "Yes, it is! A few of the materials here seem unusable at this point, though. I'm sorry that I didn't take better care of everything." Constant apologized, but Eisen shook his head.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. Now, where is your guys' blood stored?" Eisen asked, and Constant pointed into the corner of the room.
"Over there." The Helper pointed out, so Eisen swiftly made his way over there, seeing perfectly sealed metal-barrels as well as glass bottles filled with the dark red liquid. "Alright, perfect. This should be enough for you…" Eisen muttered quietly and grabbed one of the smaller bottles, before squatting down in front of the Core Helper, grabbing it by the wrist before pullings its arm out forward, slightly tapping along the inside of the elbow before a small plate popped off, which the old man quickly removed and then placed the tip of the special-made bottle against the little latch that has been created specifically for this reason.
"Is this all of the Blood that I made for you guys? I figured I'd have stored more than that just in case." The old man said with a frown, and Constant swiftly nodded its head. "It may be all that you have created for us, but these barrels can hold much more than you may think." Constant pointed out, and with a slight frown, Eisen ran his fingers over the surface of the metal before raising his eyebrows surprised.
"Oh? A Metal-Crystal Alloy?" Eisen asked, surprised, and Constant immediately nodded again. "Yes, as far as I remember, these barrels are an Alloy of Steel and Spatial Gems, and the inside has been enchanted with even more Spatial Gems, while there is also a layer of specially-made Gold-Paint on the inside to stop the metal from decaying due to the Potion-Blood."
"Spatial Gems?" Eisen asked, surprised, before moving his fingers through his beard. "How much more than usual can these barrels hold, if that's the case?" Eisen asked, and without much thinking, Constant swiftly replied.
"These particular Barrels about 25 Times more than the original volume. But that is only so because the quality of the material was subpar. You have once created an item the size of a simple Stein, which could hold more liquid than all of the liquid-storage barrels here combined." Constant explained with a smile, and Eisen smirked lightly in response.
"That item is not coincidentally here in this Storage, right?" Eisen asked, but sadly, Constant shook its head.
"I'm afraid not. But there seem to be about five more of these metallic Barrels, ten more of wooden barrels capable of holding ten times their original volume, a large number of regular barrels as well as numerous bottles or other sorts of liquid containers that are still usable. There used to be a lot more, but time did not seem to be very kind to them. Once my blood has been filled up, I will immediately start cleaning up and collecting the re-usable materials." Constant told the old man, who nodded with a light smile.
"Alright, that makes things a fair bit easier… Are there any Spatial Gems around in here?" Eisen asked, and Constant swiftly replied, "Yes, they should be in Area 2C." The Helper pointed out, looking toward the other side of the room, so the old man just began to grin.
"Perfect. Anyway, you should be filled up now. Go ahead and clean, and in the meantime, I'll fill the Guardian back up." Eisen said with a smile as he grabbed some of the larger bottles filled with the Core Guardians' blood and swiftly brought them back into the central area of the workshop with the help of Sigurd, who could quickly deposit whatever it wanted within the dungeon.
"Now then… Let's do this…" The old man muttered to himself and quickly picked the Town Guardian's body up from the ground, placing him down on one of the seemingly marble, work surfaces, simply because it was the closest. But when he did so, Constant appeared directly next to him.
"Master Eisen, if you wish to fill Serio's Body with more blood, then I recommend you use the simple rock surface. The White Marble one was meant for Enchanting, wasn't it?" Constant asked with a light smile on his face, and Eisen looked back at him, surprised.
"Wait, in what way is this meant for enchanting?" Eisen inquired, confused, and in response, Constant tilted his head to the side.
"White Marble allows for Ability Enchantments, does it not? This version may take a slight bit longer than the small balls you made, but the enchantment's strength is usually much stronger and more stable than that." Constant pointed out, and immediately, Eisen rubbed the bridge of his nose annoyedly.
"Of course, why didn't I think of that yet..? Obviously, it was white marble, how didn't I make that connection yet? It was the material that allowed for enchanting; it never was a special item." Eisen muttered to himself with a frown, before sighing out deeply and turning back toward Constant. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll move… Serio somewhere else." Eisen said with a smile, picking the body of the Guardian back up before bringing him over toward a different surface that didn't seem to have anything special about it, before slowly starting to patch the hole in the back of Serio's neck up, and then swiftly opened the small latch in the inside of the Guardian's elbow up before starting to fill it with blood.
And a little while later, it seemed like Serio began moving again, slowly opening its eyes in response. But the very moment that Serio saw the old man, it tried sitting up. "E-Eisen!" It exclaimed, but the old man himself pushed the Guardian's upper body back against the table.
"Good morning, Serio." Eisen told it with a smile and continued to fill it up with more of the blood, while Serio seemed to get somewhat sentimental.
"You have returned!" It exclaimed, and Eisen just smiled at the Guardian. "I have, yes. But without my memories. I'm sorry, but from my perspective, this is the first time you and I are speaking with each other." The old man said, and Serio smiled brightly in response, a reaction that Eisen did not expect in the slightest.
"That means it worked?!" Serio asked, and immediately, Eisen just frowned and pulled the empty bottle of potion-blood away from the Guardian's arms.
"Sigurd, another bottle. It needs some more." He said and then turned back toward Serio, confused. He already realized that the lack of blood made them a little delirious, so Eisen wanted to make sure that Serio was in the right state of mind for everything. However, before then, Serio seemed to take offense to something else.
"'It'? Eisen, it has been thousands of years since you have last spoken about me using that word… I am a man, so please talk to me like that from now on, please." Serio asked with a frown before Eisen looked at him surprised. "Oh, sorry about that. Until now, the only Guardian I spoke to was Sigurd… Do you take issue with me calling you 'It' as well?" Eisen asked, but Sigurd just shrugged its shoulders in response.
"Not really. I don't care, really." Sigurd replied so Eisen turned back to Serio.
"Well, I'm sorry anyway." Eisen told Serio, but he just smiled in response. "I know it wasn't your intent to be hurtful." Serio answered, so the old man just nodded his head and smiled.
"Yeah, it wasn't. Well, anyway, you should be filled up pretty well now. Have any issues moving your body?" Eisen asked the Guardian in front of him, but he shook his head.
"Of course not. This body you have given me is in perfect condition." Serio explained with a smile, and Eisen just nodded. "I see, good to know. You have a little rust around your joints, though, so we'll have to treat that later. But it doesn't seem to be that big of an issue then. Come on, let's speak a little more on our way to the Treasury." Eisen suggested, and with a smile, Serio nodded his head.
"Of course. Although the way will surely not be as long as you think it is." Serio exclaimed and just grinned, waving his hand to the side, before… nothing happened.
"Hm?" Serio asked, confused, the way he was acting, not really fitting his butler-like exterior. "Oh, it seems like the Town Core reverted to a Rank 0 state. As such, I seem to be unable to create gates." The Town Core Guardian apologized, but Eisen just shook his head with a smile on his face.
"Don't worry about that. We can just walk, can't we?" Eisen told him and then turned to the side. "Constant, why aren't you up here yet?" The old man asked with a sigh before the figure of the Core Helper appeared next to him, and Serio's expression became elated.
"Constant! It is you, old chum!" Serio exclaimed as he extended his arms forward before Constant quickly jumped into them. "Sir Serio!" Constant replied just as elatedly, before the two of them hugged, although their metallic skin caused a few clunking-sounds in response.
"Sorry for not coming earlier, Sir! I was feeling nervous about facing you after my failure as a garden-keeper!" The Helper replied, but Serio shook his head. "Do not worry about such unimportant matters, my friend!" Serio answered immediately, and the two of them started speaking about 'Old Times' for a little while until Constant returned back to the Storage to continue cleaning up, and Serio was now ready to leave as well.
"Now then, shall we go and meet Jard? Was his blood also stolen from him like mine was?" Serio inquired after a little while, and Eisen nodded his head. "In the exact same way, actually. But let's talk about that later when all of your Helpers are functioning again properly. And before then… Can you tell me why you look different from your Helpers?" Eisen asked, and Serio swiftly nodded his head.
"Of course. Quite simply, you constructed me with an Elf's body in mind. Many of the First-Generation's bodies in town are inspired by numerous races, you see?" Serio explained swiftly, and Eisen slowly moved his fingers through his beard with a frown.
"And then why did the Helpers and the final blueprints end up being inspired by the Halti?"