Months had passed since Lucas returned from Rome. The city of Elysian had grown during that time, cabins were getting filled as a new wave of eligible demigods arrived, and more nature spirits followed along, with an even more surprising increase in Dryads. Although he didn't know how they could come here, he had learnt through Tekto's constant praise that it was related to Hestia.
However, Lucas' attention wasn't on Elysian during this time; instead, his days consisted of working under Tekto in the forge and nights in his dreams studying under his Mother, alongside his sibling Alabaster. It was a simple cycle, one that consumed all his energy, tiring him out, but he threw himself into it and kept to the schedule, driven by the unease left by the fragments of his prophetic dream.
During the day, Tekto finally allowed Lucas free rein over his tasks, deeming him at least able to handle the basics of blacksmithing. While that little praise may seem worthless given the effort Lucas put in, this is from the perspective of a cyclops who once forged in the fires of Atlantis. For a demigod who wasn't a child of Hephaestus, Lucas was a very talented blacksmith.
Currently, Lucas was working on crafting new throwing knives, shaped to resemble scalpels, consisting of two distinct pieces: the blade and the handle. The handles were already finished, crafted by Tekto himself using blackthorn wood, with no additional carvings, making them look very plain. Meanwhile, the blades were soon to be completed by Lucas himself, created from a unique mixture of celestial bronze, silver, and steel.
While it may sound like he was simply adding extra knives to his equipment, Hecate was full of praise for the knives after hearing what Lucas planned for them. The blades, crafted from a combination of three different metals, were designed to kill the divine, mortals, and werewolves. Additionally, Lucas chose blackthorn wood for the handles, as it was the most effective material for handling curses. He intended to apply various curses he had learned from Hecate to half of the blades.
For the knives without curses on the blades, they will have curses on the handles, so a variety of curses may take effect in the body by piercing them. When they realize this and attempt to remove the knife, they will inadvertently touch the handles of those that were cursed, allowing various curses to take effect. Lucas didn't worry about mixing these two types up, for his perfect recall and personal holster will allow him to know which knife to throw from the blade and which to throw from the handle.
...
At night, Lucas entered his dream, finding himself in the darkness with his Hecate and Alabaster. After a slight nod of acknowledgment, Alabaster went into study under Hecate, while Lucas used the freedom within this dream to start finalising his latest magical attempts.
Mistform cards.
They were designed by Alabaster, and upon learning of their intended effects, Lucas became intrigued and assisted in their creation. This is why he was currently laying out a deck of blank cards on his table. While Alabaster stuck with using paper as the core material, as they were consumables and only intended to be temporarily summoned from the mist, Lucas wanted something throwable, so he could strike from the shadows and remain undetected. Even if the card only made it slightly stronger, they were strengthened by hidden sigils, making the card strike like metal.
He spent the night testing a variety of different magic, seeing what could be inscribed onto the cards.
His most recent success involved using magic to simulate ultrasonic sound waves, allowing Lucas the opportunity to attack and disrupt his opponents by destroying one of their senses. However, he had to be careful not to fall for the sound himself.
This was Lucas' rhythm, crafting in Tektos' forge, and applying the magic under Hecate's gaze.
...
With his abilities, it only took a few weeks to finalize his collection of tools.
First was the piano wire, gifted from Selena and long forgotten. He had intended to strengthen it himself, but Tekto claimed he would ruin the wire if he attempted it, as it was already at the level of competing with the cyclops in Atlantis. Knowing this, he resorted to using magic to permanently strengthen and sharpen the wire.
Next was a bronze sphere, its surface etched with twisting patterns. A simple twist would set it ticking, as though primed to explode, but instead it was just a dud, meant to embarrass the enemy and lower their guard, the true killer was the the poison gas that was released soon after priming, he had sacrificed its strength to allow it to be odorless, tasteless and invisible to detect, but that was acceptable.
A simple ring gleamed on his finger. A new addition to his gear, he understood it was unwise to stop fighting during battle in order to heal dangerous wounds, so he worked together with Hecate to craft a spell that was inscribed upon the ring, allowing for his wounds to be forcefully closed at the cost of stamina. Although it didn't truly heal, the closing of wounds stopped excessive bleeding, and that was enough.
And lastly, a pair of cufflinks that shimmered faintly blue. With them, he could swim like a fish and breathe underwater, allowing him to fight in a wider variety of terrain.
He leaned back, staring at the table.
He knew that to become the Fool was to be a controller. A manipulator. A planner, a master of variables. He sensed all this after digesting part of his potion, so he was attempting to shift his perspective, changing from the warrior he had inadvertently become back to the trickster he was when he captured Harold.
And while that may not truly embrace the concept of the fool, he understood it was a step in the right direction, and that was what was important.