Here we are. Calibri's in the Dueling Hut, which at this point might as well be a Crafting Hut for me personally, and he's ready to do some crafting for somebody. Just one ever so minor problem...

"Let's face it. I don't actually know what to craft. Still. Figure I should do... something. Anything."

There's a long pause. Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming. Inspiration strikes.

"Actually, you know what...? If nothing else, I can see what came before. Might as well check that."

He closes his eyes. What's relevant to her...? A few things flash to mind. A scarf. A scope. A sword. Actually, that might just be a Basic Item sword, so not much use there. An... embarrassing event... his concentration breaks as he ends up recalling the event that game him Nia's Blessing as an accomplishment, his face flaring up in a bright shade of cyan, then he hurriedly brushes that memory aside. After that, he can't quite remember what he was thinking about anymore.

"...Hm. Oh well. Starting points. Better use one of the baseline ones, too. Could use some related materials..."

He promptly just deconstructs the Bloody Scarf and Nill Scope, converting them into something more resembling a raw craftform essence, then concentrates fairly hard to put that raw craftform essence together with some Titanium Ingots and Gold Ingots to assemble some sort of weird structure of sorts. He then combines that and a Heroine's Charm to upgrade it with the power of, uh... it being slightly more relevant to Chloe? Yeah, sure, let's go with that. It's really hard to tell what might work here.

Input:
1x Heroine's Charm
1x Bloody Scarf
1x Nill Scope
Some Titanium Ingots
Some Gold Ingots

Output:
1x True Heroine's Charm

(T6) True Heroine's Charm
They're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT.
(+1 SKI), (Determinate), (Give It My All!), (-3 MHP)
Slashing (10%), Fire (20%), Air (-10%)

Determinate: If you take a blow that would Down you, survive with 1 HP. Note the lack of %HP threshold. Can only trigger once per battle.
Give It My All!: Once per battle, you may use your action to obtain Empowered3 and Enlightened3 for four rounds, then restore (11-12) HP. If Determinate has triggered, it is refreshed, and the HP restoration is doubled.

Just holding onto this.

With the dust settled over the Hybridization Lab, The Author suddenly feels like he’s not done something that he should have. This feeling is quickly answered by the foxgirl directly behind him.

Hoshi: Hey, partner!
Auth: Oh! Hoshi! We were going to have a chat, weren’t we? Hello.

Auth turns around to face his friend, and smiles. It has been a while since they saw each other, after all.

Hoshi: So, how are you doing? It’s been a while since we last met, so I figure we need to try and catch up a little…

Auth: We definitely do - you never came to visit! Did I forget to explain the key? But beyond that… I’ve been pretty good. How about you?
Hoshi: Oh yeah, that thing. I gave that to Angel in case she needed to go grab some stat-increasers - it kinda slipped my mind because of other stuff, though. And presumably hers.
Auth: Ah, fair enough. You’d better come and visit at some point, though. I’m glad you’re here, we can use the help. I mean, you saw how much trouble we had.
Hoshi: Right, Monika. I was considering coming down myself again, but at that point, Angel had the feeling something was off and I made sure to drag myself with her.
Hoshi: I didn’t want her to get hurt or anything, you know?
Auth: I’m sure she appreciated. You were a big help.
Hoshi: It’s nothing, really. You go in and stop one powerful entity, you help stop the other.
Auth: I can’t really argue with that.
Hoshi: Yeah. So, how about you? You do anything interesting?
Auth: I had an interesting discovery recently that’s pretty major, I think… and there’s been all sorts of adventures here I could tell you about. I have a girlfriend now - never thought that would happen.
Hoshi: Oh, really? You’ve got to tell me who the lucky girl is, then.
Auth: She came to the battle with me, I’ll introduce you at some point. Her name’s Nana, she’s a Charian.
Hoshi: Ah. I guess that joke about love blooming on the battlefield isn’t totally joking.
Hoshi: Considering the initial point of this is that the Chairians kinda want to kill you for ruining what they think is their solution to their annoying neighbors.
Auth: That’s true, but we’re trying to protect a bigger piece of the universe than just the annoying neighbors.
Auth: I ought to mention, though… that discovery? (That I thought you’d ask about). Found out, like… yesterday that I had the power to shapeshift.
Hoshi: ...Ah. So that’s what this is about.
Hoshi: Well, the first question I have is: How’s it work?
Auth: I appreciate the help. You were the first person I thought to ask about it.
Auth: As for how it works? I’m not entirely sure yet. I have some ideas, but… I think it’s an extension of my vampirism.
Hoshi: Hmm… so, like, blood magic kind of stuff? Just need to make sure - every version of vampires is so different, I’m surprised they share the same name.
Hoshi: For example, Dracula himself could turn into a wolf, which is definitely an interesting quirk…
Auth: From the one example I’ve had so far, I think I need to consume DNA of a different species to transform into it. Blood, hair work. I think. That’s what I mean.
Hoshi: I get it. So, you think that if I just let you take a little blood, like this…

Hoshi then cuts a small hole open in the palm of her hand with a sharp fingernail.

Hoshi: Then you can try to turn into me? It’s worth a shot.
Auth: I don’t think I can turn into you, per se, but I think I can turn into a kitsune?

Auth shrugs. He’s not got much in the way of understanding of how this works, after all.

Hoshi: Yeah, I would guess so. Not sure what sucking my blood’s going to do, but it should still at least somewhat work.
Auth: That’s the idea, yes.
Hoshi: Well, I already made the hole, so you should be able to do it whenever. Just take it as slow as you want, okay?
Auth: Ah, yeah, I noticed. It shouldn’t take all that long…

Since Hoshi is bleeding slightly, Auth can catch a drop of blood that drips off her hand. He winces after consuming it.

Auth: This might sound kind of pathetic, but I don’t like the taste of blood. Never have.
Hoshi: Hey, fair enough. I wouldn’t judge you for it.

Auth nods, and closes one eye. Fox ears can be seen starting to spring out of his head - seems like this transformation is much faster.

Hoshi: Well, looks like it’s already working. I wonder what the end result will be~
Auth: I’ll be kitsune, I think…

The transformation is relatively quick, over the course of about five minutes. Auth’s blood-red hair gives its colour to the ears and tail that sprout, and his nails grow out into proper claws. Similar to Hoshi’s, in fact.

Hoshi: Ah, looks like you have all of the big details sorted. That’s good. It suits ya well.

Hoshi quickly procures a mirror so that Author can actually see himself. Auth looks quietly in the mirror, taking note of the changes he felt.

Auth: Well, it’s flattering. I think we can say that was a success.
Hoshi: Yep, it definitely worked. You look a little cute, too, I have to admit…
Auth: Hoshiiiii…

Auth chuckles. He thinks quietly, a bit further.

Auth: I wonder if I can change smaller increments… like, this is probably the biggest thing a person can do, and I wonder if I can change the way my body looks and stuff…
Hoshi: I’d say so, but it’d probably take a while to figure it out and get used to it. But hey, we’ve both got time, if not while we’re out here, then back at your library!
Auth: Exactly right! It’s been good to catch up! Thanks so much for your help, I appreciate it.
Auth: Now I’ve just got to figure out how to transform back… but it can’t be that much harder than before…
Hoshi: If there’s anyone who knows what you normally look like, it’s definitely you. I’m sure it’ll be easy!

Auth laughs again. He takes a deep breath, and in a few minutes, is back to normal. Seems like it takes quite a bit of focus the first couple of times.

Auth: It’s been good to see you, Hoshi. I’m glad you’re doing well. Let me know if you need anything, I’ll be happy to help.

Hoshi nods.

Hoshi: Alright then. Knowing how this place deals with battles, I’m guessing I’ll see you in about five minutes, but it’s been nice to talk with you.
Auth: It has, let’s do it again at some point soon. See ya in… what, three minutes? Hah.

A flare that emanates antilight when lit, calling down a darkness-infused barrage from a tiny shadow-steel airship.

Essentially a dark-element Airstrike Flare, but strengthened a bunch. Maybe it targets more random tiles (thanks to having two Airstrike Flares in the recipe) or deals more damage, thanks to having a bunch of dark-element items in it. I used a Crystal Bomb Shell in it, but I don't intend it to apply Teneblight -- just used that as another dark-aspect item, and also a cool way to flavor the airship's bombs as being crystal-powered bombs.

Thanks to the Megu Patch, Shackling Blast has +1 Upper Range on the corpse destruction radis. That makes for 23 "corpses", despite most of them actually being alive. Of course, none of them are destroyed, thanks to one of the modifiers of Shackling Blast.

Knowledgeable means that Nettle presently has 33 INT. This means that each corpses grants 70% damage. So, that's a modifier of (1+0.7*23)= 17.1, or 1710%.

Nettle has 19 Protoenergy (19), Loaded Spellbook (2), Enlightened17 (8), Inspiration from The Sleuth (2), Megu Patch (5), Manafuelled (2), Protoaura (10), and Ordo (2) giving her Buff Levels.
19+2+17+2+5+2+10+2 = 59 Buff Levels.
This means that Shackling Blast has a buff level bonus modifier of (1+49*0.1) = 6.9, or 690% (nice)

Thanks to Nettle's last turn, the Protemitor has Teneblight12. This means it has a Dark Weakness of 320%. This is a damage modifier of (1+2+1.2) = 4.2, or 420% (nice).

There's also an ubercrit modifier of 2.5, or 250%.
So, now all that's left is to determine the damage.

33 INT grants the spell +11 damage, so (21-23).

If she rolls 21, then the damage is...
21*17.1*6.9*4.2*2.5 = 26016.795, rounded up to 26017.
If she rolls 22, then the damage is...
22*17.1*6.9*4.2*2.5 = 27255.69, rounded up to 27256.
If she rolls 23, then the damage is...
23*17.1*6.9*4.2*2.5 = 28494.585, rounded up to 28495.

This doesn't include AC though.

And we're back in the dueling hut again. Calibri inspects some random inventory things.

"...Damnit, who used all the silver..."

There's a pause.

"...The colour blue. That might work. Hmm... More thought... Maybe an elemental effect..."

After a while, he gathers some materials. Namely, some Plasteel, some Gold just because it's pretty and stuff, and the last Sapphire. He also retrieves a couple of Ashen Clusters and some Incendiary Scraps.

"Better get more silver and gems at some point, huh."

After that, he quickly clears some space and sets down a fireproof material to use as a work surface, connecting up the scraps into a circuit and sticking the Ashen Clusters in the middle-ish region of the incendiary circuit, then compresses the creation down while also encasing it in Plasteel to hold it in. The Plasteel in question is further compressed, and he carefully eyes the Sapphire for a moment, before bringing the two objects together. The world turns dark as flashes of blue light streak out from the Sapphire and compressed Plasteel sphere...

There's a quiet tink as something solid drops to the ground. It appears he's conceptually merged the two pieces together? And now the Sapphire is glowing softly, as well as strangely warm to the touch. Which is pretty neat. Calibri proceeds to carefully stretch some gold around to wrap that in a nice and fairly simple wireframe container made of gold, then quickly uses the power of laser eyeballs and some questionable craft energy manipulation to form a more solid... thingymajiggy. Sort of like a diamond shape with the corners smoothed off, and with enough of a hollow space in the center to fit something in. That something is, of course, the Warm Sapphire. And thus, in it goes. It's visible on both sides of the diamond-shaped container, guaranteeing that if worn properly amulet-style, one side would be visible to all while the other side would be pressing the surface of the warm sapphire against one's chest.

From there, it's simply a matter of assembling a lightweight Plasteel chain so that it can be worn properly in an amulet style, which is easier said than done with goddamn plastic-based substances, but it's still manageable. And with that, it's a completed thingymajiggy.

Resources used:
?x Plasteel Ingots
?x Gold Ingots
?x Ashen Clusters
?x Incendiary Scraps
1x Sapphire

Output:
1x Warm Sapphire Amulet (cosmetic)

Here we are.

"Alrighty! What could I make..."

Verdana fishes through the inventory for a while, then pulls out a Rage Catalyst, which he stares at for a while.

"You'll do."

He places it gently on the ground, soon pulling out some miscellaneous hardware tools and manually disassembling the catalyst in any way necessary. After that, he performs some quick visual measurements, then pulls out some Electrum ingots from the inventory, along with a pair of Rubies and some Sanctified Bricks. With the power of firey fire on his hands, he melds the Electrum into a shape that would help contain some materials while also being wearable in the same way as the original catalyst, then observes the bricks for a moment.

"Logic dictates I just write down the inscriptions. But maybe it'll be neater if I include these too?"

He writes the inscriptions down on the Electrum as expected, but after that, he proceeds to take hold of the bricks and pump pure Light into them until they break down into dust, which he's quick to infuse into the catalyst and the Electrum. After that, he grabs a ruby in each hand, pressing them against the disassembled catalyst and pushes them together hard, flames soaring around him and a bright red light shining off of his body. Then, in one of the flashes of light, he slips for a moment, and the catalyst is shattered... but immediately, the power surges into the rubies, along with most of the bulk, and so he's left with something that works quite perfectly for his idea.

"Not quite the original intent, but... hehe."

All that's left to do from there is for him to slot the catalyst-charged rubies into the arrangement of inscribed Electrum, and... boom. It's complete. He waits for a moment with it in his hands, securing a few pieces of metal in place with some very careful welding via fire in his hands, then nods in satisfaction at what he has created.

Ingredients used:
1x Rage Catalyst
?x Electrum Ingot
2x Rubies
?x Sanctified Bricks

Result:
(T6) Valor Catalyst
Show them what makes you Special.
(+1 MHP), (+1 STR), (Unrestrained Power)
Physical (20%), Glitch (10%)

Unrestrained Power: Upon using at least 100 SP from your special in a single round, you obtain Lucky7, Empowered5, Enlightened5, and Focused5 for three rounds. These bonuses are applied before your special activates.

Venia figured that Gibbet could use a big meal, being a growing death bird and all. Getting such was not a problem; Venia casually pulled out... Less a steak dinner and more half of a cow, which looked terribly much like a dozen chefs had ensured its absolute perfection before Venia even touched it, complete with silver platter. Of course, given what Gibbet was, this wouldn't do.

Venia proceeds to spray an ample amount of Mental Cluster dust over the half-of-a-cow, about five units worth of the stuff to start. It would be useful for his psychic abilities. As for his glitch-related ones, Venia answered with an ingot of Sanctified metal, which she proceeds to put into a grinder. An incredibly, incredibly fine grinder, and then forcibly infused with meat. The result could be safely digested by a child with no ill effect, but in Gibbet's case would hopefully infuse some of the power into him. She spreads these meat-chunks over the half-of-a-cow.

She then proceeds to deliver the result directly to Gibbet, being too bird to understand Christmas.

---

(T5) A really good bloody dinner for a bird
Birds can't award cockades....

"... I was expecting to only be doing this far later, but it appears that I can at least make a head start on the device itself, with all that I've obtained," Venia muses to herself in the basement. She has cleaned off Workstation Prime and sorted everything into labeled bins-a bit of a task, but this particular trick would require such forethought as a completely clean bench. She also needed extra space for the Cryotube they had, which she'd be re-purposing. Not too much, but just enough.

She'd start with the easy things. Modified spellbooks of Elveil, for siphoning off an element into the target, packed within an Adaptive Shielding Unit to better siphon off the power. Ember Cores-with thin, hollow metal bars plugged into them to prevent their proper reanimation, but something close to it, enouhg to hold the elemental energy but not actively attack. Liars Flesh along the Ember Cores-their stretchy nature and easy manipulation enabled Venia to warp them around the Ember Cores, manage the elemental energy well, and trade it off into the Blade Strain. To her not-so-modest terror, the Blade Strain was simply the best item for the task, being an injected strand of mutagen from an Iti-which could rapidly attune itself to the proper elemental energy in excess. Half of tdhe Chamber's function was preserving the Iti items in cold storage to prevent their reanimation while keeping them stable. The other half was to accept the excessive elemental power.

The elemental power receptors were.. Familiar to her. Usual procedure at this point. Set up the leylines and impart them into the machine. Except, the sheer power meant that her previous tactic of crushing up elemental crystals and painting on the result wasn't going to work; she'd need something... Relatively exotic. She brought out the Silverwood and the Joltwire. Gaiameld wouldn't do; it was too attuned to Earth Magic. She'd needed something more elementally neutral, which Silverwood fell under, but it wasn't metal, nor as conductive as necessary, which is where the Joltwire comes in-but that too isn't receptive to magical infusion like Silverwood is. The solution is to meld them together, a process that would have been utter hell for a normal mage, and merely a pain for Venia and her concept-manipulating technologies. She casually pulls out a cubical container, edges rounded, and opens it up by the top-hinge, revealing a device suspiciously akin to three Alchemiters side-by-side, with two green spirographs on the left and right flanks. Venia places approximately twenty units of both Joltwire and Silverwood, and then attaches to a battery. And then, she waits for the merging machine to work its magic.

Back to the Iti-relevant parts of the structure, Venia knows she's missing a few things, and figures the time between getting the merged items sorted out could be spent wrapping up the last little bit of problem, but it was arguably the most sensitive. The Iti flesh was receptive to elemental infusion, but by no means easily manipulated to attain one in a short timeframe, much less switch between them. The sheer volume would probably melt average flesh (unless it was Ice magic, but then you'd have every liquid in your body freeze up instantly instead). The strain and other such would barely contain it.

Unless, of course, one added Flux. The Hybridized Matter would serve as an excellent intermediary, not for the presence of Chairian blood but the presence of Flux within the Thyme Matter instead. Mix in more Fluxblood directly, and presto-Thyme Matter of incredible reception to further mutative elements, like excessive magic, without exploding in the process. This, of course, came with another, more severe complication, namely the sheer fact you would be inducing elemental flux directly into your system. Even the Anomalous Perk didn't actually do that. Venia needed a stabilizing unit to ensure the person inside the pod wouldn't get afflicted.

Venia had been working on the plan on how to do it since she got inspired, properly inspired, since the start of the day. It felt like fortune was blowing head-on in her face the instant she started working towards it, though; the things she'd need fell into her lap endlessly. Ember Cores and Liar's Flesh. Fluxblood, and a mixture between it and Thyme Matter (and Chairian sap, but shhhhh). The Blade Strain itself, when you thought about it. Nia's kindness ensured she had a sufficient quantity of elemental crystal, as well. And now, a final solution; an Order Singularity, raw Pulchritude and ordered power in a simple sphere. Most would find it impossible to work with, but Venia found she could mold the orb with somewhat less difficulty than usual. She laced its power along the interior of the cryotube in leylines, as well as in a simple metal cylinder; the metal cylinder she'd insert a hand into to obtain the power. It was, at that point, a process of tedium rather than difficulty.

She had mostly wrapped up the Ordo painting when the merging machine ding'd, and produced for her twenty units of Silverwire-the exact amount she'd need to wire up the whole pod for its new purpose. Charming. The wiring winds up uneventful-just hook up everything to each other to make sure it works, and leave room for receptacles so the energy could be inserted into the system. A bit of Amphi Extract is added into the mixture to ensure energy flows through the system when it starts-only the most trace of amounts would be needed, but she filled the tank with approximately two units full, just in case.

The cryotube readied, Venia inserted the modified casket of Iti flesh into the interior and kickstarted the cooling chambers, inserting everything in with a satisfying click. She then replaced the mangled shell of the Cyrotube, restoring it to its original shape, bar specific indents she had left for the insertion of relics. Six slots total-each would drain the magical power from the items in question and pump them into the system. And, wouldn't you know it? She had just the things.

The Tsunami Regalia slot into five of the six slots with satisfying 'chu-chinks', but the sixth slot required something else; even with the full power of five regalia at once, it required something more. Venia opted to pull out the Chairleg Trident for the occasion, a simple enough tool to withdraw power from.

A test, first, to ensure systems are in order. She prepares a quick spell of localized temporal reversal in case the machine blows up in her face from sheer input. And then, she activates phase one-the draining of the energy.

The machine whirs to life! The internal machinery hums and whirs to life; the Regalia dim and hollow into worthless quartz, while the Chairleg Trident simply shatters from the loss of internal mana structures; the machine whirs. Smoke visibly erupts from the interior-drat! Even for this system, strong as it is, some of the internal components got fried! However, lights turn on-the energy had been transferred one-hundred percent to the flesh. Noise could be heard from within, if one strained to listen, as the flesh writhed from the power it had received. A blue glow comes from the interior of the chamber, briefly, and then subsides.

Everything appears to be working as intended.

"... All systems nominal. I'd best make sure people are watching before I do anything... Drastic. Thankfully I have the time reversal spell set up..."

---

Materials Expended: 1 Blade Strain Crafting Charge, 1 Cryotube, 1 Chairleg Trident Crafting Charge, 1 Adaptive Shielding Unit Crafting Charge, 5 Tsunami Regalia, 5 Liar's Flesh, 20 Silverwood Logs, 10 Hybridized Matter, 20 Joltwire, 2 Amphi Extract, 10 Ember Cores, 50 Thyme Matter units, 10 Fluxblood, 1 Order Singularity.

(T6 Key Item) Transcendent Chamber
A special sort of chamber for use in the house. Incredibly high maintenance and requires multiple expensive items per use.
If used, may turn you into a Transcendent... Or horrifically murder you. No telling, yet.
(First use free, but that's because Venia already inserted all the required materials).

Requires a laundry list of items to activate:
-5 Regalia OR 1 (T7 Crystal)
-10 Joltwire
-10 Silverwood Logs
-50 Thyme Matter
-10 Hybridized Matter
-10 Fluxblood
-1 T4 or better item with ties to (Element)
-5 Ember Cores
-5 Liars Flesh

This "Item" is placed in the basement of Zone 0, ready for use.