At first scared by the overwhelming nothingness of this place he now grew used to it. Upon discovering how to enter the domain he spent hours in front of the broken crystal globe studying it from every angle in an attempt to find a way to fix it.

 

He discovered the meaning of this world during the battle with the thug. This globe contained his ki pool. And now that it was cracked the ki seeped right trough, unable to gather any more. As for why it was in this state, it was most likely the backlash from the creation of Paradox and Black Rose. He split a part of his ki for both of those creations, and the globe being very rigid in nature was damaged by the process.

 

This was just a theory however, there was nothing written in any of the books he read about anything remotely similar to his situation. But he felt that it made a lot of sense, especially considering how he was feeling empowered in the fight against William. It was likely the seeping caused more ki to be used in the attacks.

 

And now, again, he took his place in front of the container. The globe waited for him unchanged. No further cracks have developed at all since Arun was observing it. It was likely that the damage would only spread if he used his ki. But the status-quo could not be kept. Even Blue Flame would kick out a cripple like him.

 

Fixing something that went beyond the erudite knowledge, this was a quest that would throw most into despair, but to Arun this all felt... exciting. He was walking a path that no-one is known to have walked before, a path filled with danger but also with wonders waiting to be discovered. And now was the time to take a step further.

 

He spent most of the past weeks watching Thomas forging. Enchanted by the dance of fire and metal he leaned closer every day until he discovered something hidden within it. It was hard to spot but after a while he finally noticed the hidden actor behind the whole piece of blacksmithing. It was ki, in its raw, natural form.

 

He could not help but feel angry at the blind fools that denounced blacksmithing as 'lesser forging' because of the lack of ki used by the blacksmiths. Even he, a cripple, could observe the nuanced ki present behind every every flicker of the fire and every swing of the hammer.

 

But this energy was different, it did not come from the creator, rather, it came from the flames and blade themselves. Every item used in the creation brought their own ki into the mix, which under the direction of Thomas melded together beautifully. This ki was brought by the creation for the creation and it might just be what Arun needed to mend his ki pool.

 

Satisfied with the conclusion, Arun stood up. He would ask Thomas tomorrow to let him forge a sword so he can test his theory. Now, he had other business to attend to. Concentrating back to the outside world, the world turned white before he opens his eyes.

 

" Can't wait for tomorrow " he mumbled excited. " But now, I gotta work on this. " he grimaced as he pulled out a familiar device. It was the thug's ki sword.

 

" Sigh... I have to do this, can't let such a marvelous piece of equipment go to waste. " his arms were slowly shaking but he stopped himself by grabbing the wristwatch.

" No shaking now, I have to be meticulous with this. "

 

And so he grabbed his tools and went to work. Right now he felt like all that time toying with various devices he found around the scrapyard came to use. Of course his general knowledge was helping as well, but without all those hours spent dismantling and reassembling he would not even be able to imagine fiddling with the ki sword.

 

The sun was still up when he started but it was already starting to set when all the components of the sword were disassembled, and by the time he was finally done it was well past midnight.

 

" Fuuu, finally done " Arun wiped his sweat off his forehead while inspecting his new creation. It was almost unbelievable what the simple short shaft comparable to the lightsabres he heard about in the old movies became. In the hands of Arun rested a small monocle. Most of the components went into the area near his ear, forming an stable support. The most noticeable detail it was by far the crimson crystal implanted near the lenses. The ki sword was a cheaper model, it had a lower grade ki crystal unable to intake much energy. To make up for the deficit the lens was installed to magnify the power. This, of course, was quite lucky for Arun, as he could not complete the monocle without it.

 

" Hmm... still not complete, I need to imbue it with my ki... I have to solve the vessel issue first. " Arun yawned " I can't wait to finish this as well... it should help a lot with learning and cultivating. Yaawn. Hehe, no more fiddling with this today tho. Gotta sleep, tomorrow's a big day as well. "