Much like when Rory had been modeling the Living Rune usage in their model of his new prosthetic hand, those nearby were forced to retreat a safe distance as he worked. While just seeing the Living Rune wouldn't cause significant harm outside of a headache, trying to understand what you were seeing, especially while it was a component of a greater mechanism, could potentially cause severe damage.

Thus, Rory spent nearly two hours working on inscribing the single rune. It was far faster when all he had to do was mentally will it to appear on a projection or a model from his mind. However, every little etch had to be perfect when done on an actual physical medium. In truth, it had been a miracle that everything had gone as well as it had when he'd first made the Living Rune and grafted it to Eia.

But also, in fairness, it wasn't yet concrete. Mistakes weren't mistakes if there was no precedent against which to judge them.

Diligently working, after two hours, Rory finally wiped the beads of sweat that had formed from his perfect concentration.

"Is it safe now?" Mariah called as she approached.

"Yeah," Rory answered before looking around with a furrowed brow. "Where did Viviann go?"

"She said, and I quote, "As much as I like staring at his back, I've got my own work and apprentices to handle." And then she left."

"Can't blame her," Rory said with a sigh. "I'm surprised you're still sticking around."

"Ehh, I only have two apprentices, unlike Viviann's three, and I'm not a great boss anyway. Plus, I have a vested interest in seeing the end result and how it performs. Alchemy, as you know, isn't just brewing and transmutation. It's concepts, biology, chemistry, and-"

"Yes, we've had this conversation before." Rory cut her off before the girl could get herself worked up. "Also, where did Gil go?"

"Oh, Irene called him over to handle a broken, uh, something. I tune him out, so I can't recall the details."

"Of course," Rory suppressed a chuckle. Because of how much things had picked up in Ehkorrus, the original found family of the first-generation citizens, Irene and her ilk, often didn't have time to gather as they once had. Outside of team MVM, the exception to that rule was Mariah and Gil, whose vocations forced them into cooperation far more than the others like Irene, who was essentially the shadow-leader of Ehkorrus or Greg, who spent his time all day cooking, or even John who was often working on blueprinting new buildings and planning for the future. With Gil and Mariah interacting as frequently as they did, they clashed like dogs and cats, or more accurately, like two siblings who loved to annoy each other.

Not that I can't understand. Ribbing Apostolos is one of my joys in life.

With only one audience member present, Rory picked up the completed prosthetic and examined it for any flaws that had somehow escaped notice.

Nope… Everything looks good.

With a shrug and a severe lack of ceremony, Rory sent a spark of Pneuma into the fake hand. For a moment, nothing happened until suddenly it began to warm up, and Rory had a sense that within the hand, the faux blood had started to circulate like an engine rolling over. Seconds later, the entire hand seemed to vibrate as the metals composing the hand didn't so much soften as they became capable of flexing like a real hand. Finally, with a sudden spasm, the hand clenched and unclenched.

"Looks like it worked," Rory said, beaming at their success.

"Fascinating," Mariah whispered. "Honestly, I wasn't sure it would work. This… this opens up so much potential for alchemy."

"You think so?"

"Oh, most definitely. Imagine it. If we can make a living hand, what's to say we can't increase the scale? Could we make an entire living thing from scratch, not just a mere transmutation or corruption of an existing thing?"

"Slow your roll, Dr. Frankenstein." Rory lifted a hand, forcing her to pause. I won't deny that it sounds interesting, but perhaps hold off on something of such massive scope for a while. Maybe a long time. An entire living being from scratch sounds like the exact step up in scope, magnitude, and danger that Eon would draw a hard line at. You're not even tier-five. Just conceiving a Living Rune should have killed me, and I specifically have an iteration of Inscription that blatantly attempts to stop that from happening. Try that prematurely, and there may not even be a chance to recover; it may just be instant death."

Mariah's eye twitched, but she sighed in defeat. "Yeah, you're right. Anyway, you're the one who has the necessary Inscription skills. I doubt Viviann could do this on her own."

"Smart kid," Rory almost wanted to pat her on the shoulder, but decided against it when he figured it would come across as condescending. "Plus, for all we know, the second I try to make use of this bad boy, I could instantly die, or explode, or die then explode."

"I've been covered in monster guts enough times that human guts can't be much different," Mariah said offhandedly. "But I suppose you have a point."

I am not going to question that.

Taking a deep breath, Rory prepared himself as he let the conjured hand that had temporarily replaced his old hand vanish. Then, conjuring a knife, Rory proceeded to slash downward, re-wounding himself as he sliced a thin layer of his nub off.

"Ow," Rory muttered as he ignored the blood flowing freely. Taking the prosthetic, he positioned the 'wrist' of the hand to his bleeding nub. Several blade-like fishhooks at the prosthetic's wrist would hook the new hand to his body, securing it in place.

Now for the actual painful part.

Slamming the fake hand against his nub, the hooks buried into his arm. Threads made of Pneuma began to weave around the union of metal hand and normal human flesh, quickly wrapping around and sealing it off.

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"That looked painful," Mariah pointed out.

"Yeah, a bit," Rory grunted. With his good hand, he fetched an Ossified Gem from his pocket. He quickly tossed it into his mouth a moment later, swallowing it like an oversized vitamin pill. He could feel, in real-time, as the veins within his arm began to stretch outward, like reaching fungal tendrils, into the new hand as they tentatively began to ensnare the thin tubes filled with alchemical blood. It was a testament to the sturdiness of a tier seven body that his veins proceeded to burrow through the tubes, forming the second connection to the prosthetic hand.

"Physical connection made, and my veins have plugged in," Rory said, wincing at how unnatural it felt. "Over time, my bones and the faux bones should also fuse together."

"How does it feel?" Mariah asked.

"Really damn weird. Itchy and painful at the same time, like a worm crawling through my arm. Oh, wait, I can feel my hand again."

"That was fast." Mariah pointed out.

"Magic," Rory explained, with an accompaniment of jazz hands, even if only one hand responded.

As the alchemic blood began to pump through his body, Rory felt heat rush through him. It was uncomfortably warm, but nothing that Rory couldn't handle. Just filling the prosthetic with his own blood wouldn't have done anything other than give him a transfusion he didn't need. Instead, the alchemic blood, keyed into his essence while also conceptually attuned to the alchemic nature of what they were doing, bridged the gap, making the integration far more seamless. While there was a solid chance it would have worked even without it, they had no way of knowing just how long it would take or if there would be rejections, much like a transplant on Earth could cause the body to reject the new body part.

Minutes passed as Rory popped in another ossified blood gem, and another rush of vital energy flowed through his body.

With the two independent circulatory systems fused, Rory felt the flesh and steel flesh begin to fuse slowly as well. If he were to describe the feeling, it would be that of putting on a new shirt that fit well but was made of a fabric you weren't accustomed to, a gentle annoyance that he felt the need to pick at but didn't outright suffer under.

Clearly bored, Mariah made a point of huffing loudly as she pulled a chair closer, sat, and rested her chin on her closed fists.

"Sorry if it's not more exciting," Rory said without sincerity.

"Discovery isn't always exciting," Mariah sighed. "How about now?"

"Well, the flesh is knitting together. It still feels weird. Oh, wait, I think the bone is also starting to move."

While the sensation of his veins and flesh knitting and fusing had felt strange, it was nothing compared to the sensation when his bone began to inch along and fuse with the pyroxene ceramic bones of the prosthetic. It felt downright disturbing, like a small rat or mouse shimmying through his body.

The sensation lasted for nearly an hour straight until, at last, there were no longer any odd feelings from his arm or hand. With only one last major test, Rory lifted his arm as the odd-looking hand began to flex, fingers moving and responding in time to his command.

"How does it feel?"

"Normal, sort of." Rory continued flexing his new hand at increasingly odd angles and ways as he tested it. "It responds like I'd imagine, but there is this sense of static clinging to my hand."

"You think it has to do with how pneumically conductive the materials involved are?"

"That was my assumption," Rory said in agreement. "But it will take some time to form a concrete hypothesis. I just need more time with the hand."

"Can I…?" Mariah gestured toward his hand, curiosity keenly on her face.

"Fine," Rory sighed as the young woman excitedly poked and prodded at his hand.

"Weird," Mariah said. "It still has a solid metal feel, but it's definitely more fleshy than when we put it together. Is that because of the Living Rune or from fusing with your body?"

"Both?" Rory said, uncertain. "Let me chop off my other hand quickly so we can test it again."

"Really?" Mariah asked, looking far too excited.

Rory simply gave her a withering stare in response.

"Right, joking, right," Mariah muttered. "Always the jokester, that's our founder for you."

Another twenty minutes of poking, prodding, and a vast menagerie of questions were fielded his way before, at last, Mariah seemed— if not content —at least someone satisfied.

"You know, I wish you weren't leaving so soon. I'd love to examine changes in your hand over the next months and maybe years."

"Just the way the cookie crumbles," Rory responded with a shrug. "If Viviann really does grasp enough understanding of the Living Rune to work with it soon, perhaps she will help you out."

"Maybe, but we're still just so busy." Mariah groaned. "The only thing that takes priority over our general duties to the city and progressing our skills is any time you make a direct request. Once you're gone, it will be all hands on deck for a few years, maybe at least until our population has grown more."

"Yeah, well… that's rough." Rory shrugged, far less concerned than was perhaps proper. As Ehkorrus's founder, he ought to have been more personally invested. Still, he'd spent the better part of twenty years glued to their tiny slice of a vast world, never further than twenty miles in any direction; he was tired of it.

"You know, I think it's a good thing you basically handed everything off to Irene and Apostolos." Mariah snorted with amusement. "Our brave leader, so ready to run away. Imagine if more people understood."

"I do what interests me," Rory said nonchalantly. Did he care for Ehkorrus and its people? Yes. Did he wish to be enslaved to them? Hell no.

And really, when you think about it, the more I push myself and the more I see and grow, the more it will benefit Ehkorrus, so aren't I, in truth, being rather selfless?

Rory didn't even bother testing the logic with Mariah. He already knew the response he'd likely get.

"Well, I guess if there isn't much else for us," Mariah drifted off, his words dying on her lips.

"You're dismissed," Rory snorted, trying not to laugh at the young woman and her attempt at leaving without seeming too excited to attend to her temporarily delayed responsibilities and projects.

Rather than say anything, she simply waved as she quickly left the forge, only Rory and a young man whose name he didn't know remaining.

Gonathon? Gondor? Gary? Something with a G. One of Gil's understudies.

Holding his hand in front of his face, Rory flexed his fingers as he thought out loud.

"Small, unexpected delay finally dealt with, time to get back on track. Void Shell, Inventory, and dealing with the Tyrant of Earth and Scales."

For the time being, Rory decided the Tyrant would take a back seat to the other two projects, partially to let the Tyrant lull itself back into a sense of complacency.

"Leaving me with the decision to focus on the Spatial Carriage and the Void Shell -still not sure I like those terms- or my Inventory project."

Between the two, the less critical project in the short term was the inventory project. It was far less likely to result in significant delays if things went wrong, so Rory decided to focus on it first.

Now…. What's the best way to go about this?

Over the years, he had gathered considerable knowledge and insight into the intricacies of space and how to bend, break, warp, or sidestep it.

As for his plan to make the 'inventory' real? First, he would isolate a small portion of space, cutting it off from the rest of the world around it, before folding it inward —a trick he knew was possible thanks to their first encounter with the Khan of Blue Lightning. Once it had been folded inward, he would then remove the segment of folded space into a 'null space,' a space that functioned similarly to his Mind Palace, an imaginary space of sorts. Once that was done, he would only need to establish a spatial 'bridge' between the imaginary null space and a 'doorway' into their physical reality, and tadah, he'd have created the first ever functional 'inventory' pulled straight from a video game.

There was only one question.

"How the hell do I know where to start?"

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