"Your mind and body should have naturally come to an understanding with your Artifacts. It's almost like a natural sense. Try to bring out your Artifacts and see."
Mina focused hard, trying to come to an understanding with her Artifacts. Finally feeling it, her eyes light up. "I can feel it! The Artifacts!" As she focused again, she prioritized summoning them out, which they did.
One of them was a dagger in dark purple. Meanwhile, the other dagger was crimson red. "W-Whoa! They really did come out, Harold! Did you see that?!" Mina was ecstatic, seeing her first Artifacts bloom into the palm of her hands. Her happiness was adorable and made Harold warm up, seeing her cuteness shine. "Nope, nope, we only came here to train, we only came here to train! She is someone I need to protect. I can't have any other thoughts about her!"
He shook his head and cleared his throat, even adding in a few slaps on his face to clear his mind. Mina was bewildered by his odd behavior. "Now, we just have to see if they're good or not. Try using your abilities."
Mina looked at her two Artifacts that had taken the form of a dagger. "Ummm, I have no clue on how to use Artifact powers..." Mina said, waving around her daggers. Harold hummed, thinking. "I'd say it's an oomph feeling. That's how I used my abilities." He sounded like a total idiot in Mina's eyes. "He can't be serious..."
"Here, let me help you!" Coming from behind, Harold suddenly smacked Mina's bottom, making her jolt in the air with a squeal. In her high-pitched squeal, her Artifacts let out two different emissions that shocked them. The purple dagger had released a purple goo that drooped on the floor, melting through the dirt. The crimson dagger had released intense flames that had caused Harold to break a sweat in an instant. "Damn, that's hot!" Harold leapt back, keeping his distance. As Mina soothed herself, the emissions had stopped, leaving both Harold and Mina speechless. Harold observed Mina, having his finger on his chin.
"Your Artifacts don't suit you at all."
"Y-You don't say?!"
Harold approached her, still watching her Artifacts carefully. "Who knew an innocent girl would have such menacing Artifacts..."
Konge fluttered to Mina's shoulder, aiming his wing at Mina's crimson dagger. "Oi, kid, can you make those flames again?"
"Oh, sure."
As she focused, her dagger released more intense flames than earlier, scaring even Mina. Konge studied it, amused at the deep crimson flames. "Incredible, your Artifact is producing Hellfire!" Konge exclaimed. Mina stared at her dagger emitting the flames.
"Hellfire? What's that?"
"It's a specific type of fire that demons can produce. You can notice these flames by their deep crimson color and the intensity of these flames. It's said that they are three times hotter than your standard fire."
Konge angrily gave a mean glare at Harold. "Not to mention, her other dagger produces very corrosive acid! Where the hell did you find these Artifacts?!"
Harold scratched his head. "Well, I usually disrupt black market trades, so I find Artifact stones sometimes. Though, by their designs, I thought these Artifacts were going to suck! I would've used one of them if I had known they were going to be this good."
"Going back on topic, we should be training her, right?" Konge asked, looking at Mina. Harold nodded. "Yeah, I'll begin by teaching her how to use a dagger. It'll be rough, but I'm sure she'll pull through!"
Moments later, both Konge and Harold were speechless. "What the hell... she's a monster." Harold and Konge both watched as Mina moved with swift grace, slashing the test dummies that Harold made. Her movements seemed as if she already had years of experience under her belt with daggers. "Not a single useless action in any of her attacks; she's not even telegraphing a single move..." Harold uttered to Konge, as he was also equally shocked. "Unbelievable, how did she even manage to get captured by slave traders?!" Konge questioned.
Harold approached Mina, saying, "Mina, let's just train Artifact abilities. You're already amazing at using daggers. Mina nodded with an adorable smile. "Okay!"
"By the way, Konge will be teaching us on this lesson as I'm not experienced with Artifacts myself." he told her as Konge fluttered onto his shoulder. "So let me tell you about using your Artifact abilities. Your body has reserves of Rysen next to your heart. In these reserves, it stores all of the Rysen your body naturally produces and intakes. Your Artifact uses the Rysen from this core to use its abilities. You also consume Rysen whenever you summon out your Artifact."
"Sounds simple enough." Harold stated, summoning out his Artifact, Grand Radiance. In focus, he imagined hard on producing Divine Light, in which his Artifact produced. "A longsword with a cool light, sick."
"But be careful about using too much Rysen." Konge warned. "Your Rysen reserves can run out, and if they do, your Artifact would start using your life force to compensate for the lack of Rysen."
Mina raised her hand to ask a question. "Is there any way to make it so we can get more Rysen?"
Konge aimed his feathers at Mina. "Indeed! There are training methods to make your Rysen reserves take and store more Rysen! People are even able to evolve them as well!"
"Then l want to start training my Rysen reserves!" Mina exclaimed.
"Nope, we're going to be practicing using your skills with your abilities first. Both of you, start training!" Konge replied.
On orders, both of them began attacking random objects in the junkyard to hone their skills. Harold summoned forth a collage of divine light, only to slam it down into a tree log. As clear destruction is unfolded, dust scattered everywhere. After waiting for the dust to settle, both Harold and Konge observed the log. "Incredible... I managed to shatter that log into mere fragments. Not to mention, I managed to destroy the surrounding terrain."
"That's because of it being divine light. Not only it takes in the speed of light-based abilities, it also carries immense destructive capabilities. There's a reason why the person who used it was the ruler of a great kingdom."
"How about King's Will? If I were to tap into that state, would I be able to use it effectively?"
"King's Will requires much Rysen to even activate in the first place. Not to mention, there are different stages that will depend on how powerful your Rysen reserves are. Right now, you can't even activate stage one of King's Will."
Harold was flabbergasted upon hearing the information. "What?!"
"That also shows how much life force you and I had to sacrifice in order to save your life!" Konge exclaimed, pecking at his forehead. Covering himself up with his arms, Harold pointed at Mina in a panic. "Lets look at Mina training!"
Splashing purple acid in one direction, while slinging hellfire in another direction. Lifting both of her daggers, she dashed into a pile of scrap metal, slashing it with a downward cut. Using both of her Artifact abilities, the scrap metal immediately disintegrates into dust. "How was that, Harold?"
"I-It's pretty good..." he gave off a shaken thumbs up, surprised at how efficient she had gotten with her Artifact. "What the hell... she has way more mastery at using Artifacts than me at this point!"
As Mina continued swinging her daggers around, they heard a voice. It was the voice of a woman, a mature one, to be exact. "Wow, you're pretty good at this." Without delay, Harold positioned himself near Mina. He called out in the barren scrapyard. "Who's there? Show yourself." Mina quivered behind Harold, scared of what was to come.
"Whoa, calm down. I'm down here." They both looked down at the ground, surveying for the source of the voice. "You idiots, I'm being held by the girl right now!" it frustratingly screamed. Mina looked at her dagger Artifacts, hearing the voice pop out from the purple one. "Look, you finally found me." Mina cried, dropping the dagger. "Hey, don't just drop me like that!" As Mina recomposed herself, she slowly picked up the dagger. "S-Sorry, you startled me."
Harold leaned in to look at her dagger and observed it. "Stop staring at me. I won't allow a pervert to feast his eyes on a beautiful lady like me!" the dagger yelled. Poking it, Mina's dagger rattled. "Don't touch me, you ape!"
Seeing the reactions of it, Konge had concluded. "It seems your Artifact had developed an ego." Konge says.
"An ego? What's that?" Mina replied.
"Pretty much in simple terms, your Artifact has come to life. This happens on rare occasions though, only if your soul and your Artifact are a perfect match in the merging process."
Hopelessly gazing at her dagger, her eyes averted to Konge's; despair creeping in. "D-Does that mean this thing will be with me for the rest of my life? Staring at everything I do!?"
"Oh, not to mention, since your souls are connected, they can also read your thoughts, too!" Konge inserted.
Mina dropped to her knees and screamed. "GYAAAHHHHHHH! I don't want this Artifact anymore! Harold, please take it off from me!" Mina said, suddenly clutching onto Harold's legs.
"Y-You idiot, if you were to take it away, you would die!" Harold said, trying to peel Mina off of his legs.
"No! I don't want this thing anymore!" Mina then toppled Harold over, still clinging to his legs. Even if Harold was nearly double Mina's size, she could overpower him in many situations. "Damn, how are you so strong?!"
"Excuse me, Mina. I am not just a thing! Call me by my name!" Her Artifact rattled with anger in its tone. She raised her Artifact to her face, asking it the question it demanded. "A name? You have a name?" Mina asked, as she still holds onto Harold's legs. Begrudgingly, Harold answered Mina while Mina's actions still annoyed him. "All Artifacts have names. Later on, you'll subconsciously learn their names; it just takes time."
"So I guess it was rude not to ask your name first. I'm sorry." Mina said, apologizing to her Artifact. Her Artifact let out an amused laugh, a tone full of acceptance. "It's okay, dear. I'm glad you're quick to understand how you've hurt my precious feelings! My name is Sorrow; it'll be nice working with you, Mina." Mina nodded with a smile. "Yeah, likewise as well, Sorrow."
"An ego, huh? She's quite lucky if she managed to snag an Artifact that is perfectly matched with her." Konge stated. "Yeah, the chances of that happening are extremely low." Harold added, watching both Mina and her Artifact converse with each other.
Amidst their conversation, Mina had brought a unique question to Sorrow. "Sorrow, can you turn into an animal like Konge over there? If so, can you turn into a cute kitten for me!" Sorrow rattled at the question, feeling almost insulted by it. "You dare ask a beautiful woman like me to stoop low as a disgusting creature? How ignorant can you be?!"
"S-So, you won't do it?" Mina said, with pleading eyes.
"No! And either way, Artifacts with egos can't transform into whatever animal you want! That's not possible!" Sorrow replied. "If so, how can Harold's Artifact turn into a bird?" Mina asked, pointing at Konge. Looking at Konge, Sorrow was struck with confusion. "You fool, that's not an ego at all. That's simply a pet." Sorrow told her.
"E-Eh, really?!"
Harold inputted himself into the mix, bringing out his Artifact. "Hold up, he's not a pet at all. Konge can freely enter and exit my Artifact, not to mention, he can control it too. A normal pet cannot do this." Harold said, showcasing how Konge can flutter into the blade of his Artifact. By swinging his sword forward, Harold sends Konge flying out of his Artifact. "See," Harold said as Konge immediately swooped back onto his shoulder after Harold sent him flying.
Sorrow had a puzzled hum to her, trying to think of what Konge's existence was. "That's strange; I've never learned anything of this. I don't know if that's an ego or something entirely new. Does that bird know anything about itself?"
Konge shook his head. "Nope, my memories are all chopped up. I can barely remember anything from my past. I only know the reasoning on why I'm here." He aimed his wing at Harold. "It's so I can guide this young man to save the world from doom! That's why I reawakened from my slumber!"
Sorrow riled up, increasing her volume on Konge. "You moron, that gives us nothing about you!" Konge fluttered in Mina's wrist, pecking at Sorrow. Sorrow vibrated, making noises of pain. "Ow, stop that, you dumb bird, stop it!" Konge furiously kept pecking at her, feeling a sense of power in doing so.
"That's right, who's a moron now?!" Konge said with a cocky tone.
"It's still you! O-Ow! Mina, get this bird out of here!"
Harold and Mina stared in awe at the bickering of the two.
* * * * *
At midnight, Harold had stopped the training. "Okay Mina, let's go to the city and clean ourselves up." Mina nodded, excited about what was going to come. "Okay!"