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Calvin spread the fake Acnologia's hide across a flat rock and studied it with the methodical attention he gave everything that interested him.
The material was remarkable. Not true dragon scales—his life sense confirmed it was synthetic, probably grown from a template using the essence stored in that massive lacrima. But synthetic didn't mean inferior.
The scales overlapped in patterns that distributed impact force across a wide surface area. The hide underneath showed flexibility despite its apparent toughness. And faint magical circuits ran through the entire structure, designed to channel energy.
He had approximately thirty square feet of usable material. Enough for armor, if he designed it efficiently.
Calvin retrieved the bull's remaining antler fragments and his collection of vines. The shards of thebred lacrima crystals he'd salvaged from the blast zone sat in a neat row— smaller and shattered but each still holding traces of absorbed life force.
Design patterns formed in his mind:
Primary function: Defense against physical attacks that bypassed his life sense.
Secondary function: Storage, since he had no bag and needed to carry the large chimera lacrima with the Tiger's soul.
Tertiary function: Self-repair, because maintaining equipment manually was inefficient.
He got to work.
The process took six hours. Using a sharp dagger made from the Dragon's fangs, Calvin cut the dragon hide into panels, then arranged them in an overlapping pattern similar to scale mail.
The vines wove through the panels as reinforcement and binding, their living nature allowing the coat to flex naturally.
He embedded the seven red lacrima shards along the interior lining—chest, shoulders, back—where they could absorb ambient life force and channel it into regeneration protocols.
For the spatial storage, Calvin applied principles he'd observed in the bull's antlers. Those had contained condensed magical energy in a stable loop. If he could replicate that pattern but invert it—create a space that folded inward rather than storing energy—he might achieve dimensional pockets.
The theory was sound. The execution took three failed attempts before he got it right.
When he finally pulled the coat on, it settled across his shoulders with surprising comfort. The scales had natural give, moving with him rather than restricting movement.
He focused on one of the pockets he'd created along the inner lining and pushed the massive chimera lacrima inside.
The crystal, easily the size of his head, slipped into a pocket that should have only fit his fist. The weight disappeared completely once stored.
Calvin allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction.
He tested the coat's defensive properties by having vines strike it at controlled force. The scales absorbed impacts that would have broken ribs, distributing energy across the entire surface. The lacrima crystals pulsed faintly each time, absorbing kinetic energy.
Three abilities total: dragon-scale defense, spatial storage, and regeneration fueled by embedded lacrima. Far superior to his temporary bone constructs.
Defense addressed. Now for offense.
The bull's antlers had one useful property Calvin hadn't fully exploited yet: energy condensation. They could take diffused magical power and compress it into concentrated beams. If he could weaponize that...
Calvin retrieved the last antler fragments and the chimera zombie's remains. Significant remnant life force remained in the body—not enough for resurrection, but plenty for a single powerful creation.
He'd been thinking about this design for two days. Something ranged, since close combat with his current skillset was suicide. Something that could pierce defenses his vines couldn't penetrate. Something with enough raw power to threaten creatures that didn't register to his life sense.
Most importantly, something that would last longer than his crossbows.
A gun seemed appropriate.
Not a firearm exactly—he didn't have gunpowder or the metallurgy knowledge to forge proper mechanisms. But he could create something that functioned similarly using magical principles.
Calvin shaped the antler fragments into a barrel and grip, using bones to fill gaps. The weapon took form slowly: sleek, ivory-white, about sixteen inches long. He carved magical circuits along the barrel using the patterns he'd observed in the dragon hide, then embedded his last red lacrima shard in the grip.
The mechanism was elegant in its simplicity. The lacrima would absorb life force from defeated enemies or ambient sources. When activated, it would channel that stored energy through the antler barrel, which would condense and convert it into a concentrated beam of pure ethernano.
Calvin held the finished weapon and focused his intent into naming it. Names had power in magic systems—he'd learned that from countless stories in his first life. A proper name would help the weapon develop its own pattern.
"Ivory," he said. Simple. Clean. Appropriate for the color.
The gun pulsed once in acknowledgment. Not alive, not yet, but containing the potential for will.
Calvin stood and walked to the river. His reflection showed a tall, broad-shouldered figure in a black scaled trench coat that caught light like oil, white hair wild from days without grooming, blue eyes shadowed by exhaustion. Ivory hung from his right hand, pale against the dark coat.
He looked like a discount Dante from Devil May Cry.
The comparison made him huff—not quite a laugh, but close. He was getting better at this. Understanding his powers. Learning the patterns that governed life, death, and magic in this world.
But before leaving the forest entirely, he needed more resources. Specifically, more lacrima crystals. The seven embedded in his coat wouldn't last forever, and Ivory needed constant recharging.
Calvin had noticed a pattern: the lacrima shards became more common the closer he traveled to the mountains upstream. Following patterns was what he did best.
He headed toward the mountains.
(Elsewhere – East Forest, Lower Region)
"I'm telling you, Happy, Macao's trail leads this way!" Natsu Dragneel pushed through underbrush with the confidence of someone who'd never met a problem he couldn't punch.
"Aye, sir!" The blue cat flew overhead, scanning the forest canopy.
Lucy Heartfilia followed behind them, already regretting her decision to join Fairy Tail if this was what quests entailed. "Are we sure he came this far into the forest? The request said he was looking for Vulcans near the edge..."
"His scent goes deeper," Natsu said, sniffing the air. "Something's weird though. There's this other smell mixed in. Like... burnt stuff and something sweet?"
"That's oddly specific," Lucy muttered.
"Natsu's nose is really good!" Happy chirped. "He can track anyone!"
They pressed deeper into the forest, following a trail only Natsu could detect. None of them noticed the destroyed campsite three miles north, or the crater where an impossible battle had taken place two days prior.
Their path angled steadily upstream, toward the mountains.
Toward where Calvin had gone to hunt for lacrima crystals.
(One Day Later – Mountain Waterfall)
Calvin sat beside a cooking fire, slowly rotating a chunk of crocodile meat over the flames. The smell was decent—gamey but edible. Around him, stacked in a pile, lay seventeen crocodile corpses in various states of dismemberment.
All of them were missing chunks of flesh. All showed cauterized wounds where Ivory's beams had struck.
The crystals in this region were abundant. Calvin had collected forty-three lacrima unrefined crystals in the past day, ranging from pebble-sized to fist-sized. Most held ambient magical energy. A few contained remnant life force from creatures that had died nearby. All were useful.
He'd also discovered that the crocodiles in this river were supernaturally large and aggressive. The smallest had been twelve feet long. The largest...
Water exploded upward from the river pool beneath the waterfall.
Calvin's eyes had half a second to register the massive shape before a crocodile the size of a bus launched itself at him, jaws open wide enough to swallow him whole.
Having already sensed it's life force, he calmly raised Ivory and fired.
The blue beam of concentrated ethernano caught the crocodile in the chest, punching a hole the size of a barrel clean through its torso. The creature's momentum carried it forward anyway, crashing into the rocks where Calvin had been sitting a moment before.
Calvin landed in a crouch ten feet away, frowning at his weapon.
"I was aiming for the head," he said to nobody. "Need to practice accuracy."
The crocodile thrashed weakly, its life signature guttering out. Calvin approached and placed one hand on its scales, feeling the remnant life force beginning to leak from the corpse.
At least Ivory and the coat could still absorb it.
He focused his intent, and the gun pulsed. Threads of golden light flowed from the crocodile's body into the lacrima crystal embedded in Ivory's grip. The weapon's charge indicator—a faint glow along the barrel—increased from sixty percent to eighty-five percent.
Good. One more full charge and he'd have enough stored power for sustained combat if needed.
Calvin noticed more lacrima shards glinting in the shallow water near the waterfall's base. The pattern held—concentration increased with altitude. If he followed the river to its source in the mountains, he'd probably find larger deposits.
He was just gathering his gear when the coat shivered.
Not movement. Communication. The sensation was unmistakable—hunger transmitted through their connection. The coat wanted to feed.
Calvin cocked his head, considering. He'd designed the coat with regeneration capabilities fueled by absorbed life force, but he'd expected that to be a passive process. Ambient absorption, not active feeding.
Apparently, his creation had other ideas.
"You want the corpses?" he asked aloud.
The coat shivered again. Affirmative.
Calvin made a decision. "Go ahead."
Black vines erupted from the coat's lining—not the green living vines he'd woven into its structure, but something new. Dark tendrils that moved with predatory intent, extending across the ground toward the pile of crocodile corpses.
They struck like snakes. Wrapped around dead flesh. And began consuming.
The process was disturbingly efficient. The vines broke down organic matter at an accelerated rate, absorbing mass and converting it directly into usable life force. Within thirty seconds, all seventeen corpses had been reduced to scattered bones and trace minerals.