Chapter 192: Mo Na’s Skill (1/2)

“Mama, can this be Mo Na’s toy?” As she said that, Mo Na pointed at the corpse of the Fire Devouring Fish, clearly excited by the potential she saw. “The pointy things can be daggers and the pretty shinies can be little shields.”

“So you’re saying you want to turn its teeth into weapons and its scales into shields?”

“Mhm, mhm.” Mo Na gave me an excited nod before continuing: “Mo Na’s head is just packed full of things to try out right now.”

“In that case, give them a try then.” Given how the grimoire was when it was with me, it most likely taught her Dark Alchemy as well. With that in mind, I neatly laid out the scales, bones and teeth of that fish in front of Mo Na and said in a voice brimming with expectation: “Sweetie, how about starting off with some daggers and shields for now?”

“Got it, Mo Na will get right on it.” A little proud of herself, she stuck her nose into the air and summoned forth a black mirror of mana with a wave of her right hand; the classic start to any Dark Alchemy, as shown by the grimoire.

With that settled, the rest of the process was basically grunt work and mana channeling. Naturally, I wouldn’t allow my little sweetie to handle such heavy lifting so I had No.3 help her toss the materials into the mirror instead.

“Toys, toys, toys, toys…” Mo Na nodded her adorable little noggin as she continued chanting –was it even accurate to call them toys?

Not too long after that, the black mirror disappeared and was replaced by an extraordinarily diminutive dagger lying on the ground. For the most part, it was an ordinary looking dagger that kind of reminded of a kunai from those ninja movies. At just 10 cm long, thanks to the lack of materials put in, it was the perfect size for a little devil like Mo Na.

“Look Mama, Mo Na made this herself!” As if she was making an offering to me, she handed over the dagger with both of her hands before excitedly hopping back onto my shoulders, legs apart and arms wrapped tightly around my head: “Mama, look at what Mo Na made!”

“Alright alright, Papa will have a look.” As I lowered my not-so-willing daughter onto the ground, I asked, out of curiosity: “Other than a dagger, what else can you make, Mo Na?”

“A shield!” Eager to prove her point, she summoned another black mirror of mana and had No.3 toss the bones of the Fire Devouring Fish into it. Mere moments later, a little buckler, roughly 20 cm in diameter, took shape and was offered up to just like before with two hands and a wide grin. “Look Mama, this is the shield Mo Na made!”

‘I wonder…’

Buckler in my left hand and dagger in my right, I ran the tiny blade across the surface of the shield. The moment they hit each other however, a resounding clang echoed in the air. ‘Don’t tell me those bones and teeth were made from metal?’

“Big 4, come test out the strength of these weapons.” I handed over the items in question for a quick experiment.

Receiving them, Big 4 started off by raking his claws across the shield –he managed to leave a scar along its shiny surface. Next, he gave the dagger a few test waves but soon discovered it wasn’t too suited to him so he just decided to munch on it. *Clink* The dagger snapped…

Big 4 ,slightly red in embarrassment, awkwardly reported the results: “Master, I think it…broke…”

‘What do you mean you think it broke, it clearly snapped in half, with a resounding *clink* no less!’

“Mo…Mo Na’s toys…waaah…bad man…Mo Na’s toys…” Seeing her handcrafted toys destroyed and damaged like that, Mo Na immediately turned on the waterworks and hugged me even tighter: “Pay up, Mo Na wants you to pay…WAAAHHH…”

“Master…” Big 4 groaned, throwing me a look that seemed to say that he had been wronged. To be fair, he was,in fact, wronged. It was me who told him to experiment on those weapons after all; although I didn’t expect them to snap like that either… ‘nice set of choppers by the way.’

Honestly, it would be remiss of me to have my little followers take the blame for me, but if they don’t, who will?

Like a wise man once said, “I’m fine with all my teammates dying as long as there’s still one person carrying the team.” ‘Rest in peace, Big 4, I’ll remember you on this day every year and even burn three sticks of incense for you, I hope you don’t mind this little bit of sincerity from me…’

Naturally, the matter ended amicably with Big 4 promising to find materials for Mo Na to craft more toys.

Having signed that unfair pact, Mo Na immediately broke into a radiant but clearly devious grin, as she went back to hugging me once more: “Mama, Big 4 is going to serve me from now on.”

“…”

‘That little scamp, where did she learn to scam her old man like that?!’

At the end of the day, Mo Na’s little bit of mischief was nothing but a short interlude in our journey. After that experiment with Big 4, I managed to confirm that the weapons crafted by Mo Na possessed a strength rating higher than the materials themselves. Although the boost wasn’t actually much, it was noticeable enough for Big 4.