Leon’s family, retinue, and much of his household were there to greet him and Anzu upon their return to the villa. Elise, Maia, and Valeria all gave them both plenty of attention, and Alix and Alcander all but demanded a celebratory party for their success. However, Leon wasn’t that keen on holding the party, especially since the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid were still staying in his home. Fortunately, they were out on some kind of official business in Occulara, leaving Leon and Anzu to return in relative peace, but Leon fully expected they’d be paying him a visit before the day was up.

For the time being, though, Leon and Anzu contented themselves with some home-cooked food and some time spent with everyone else. During the mid-afternoon meal, they regaled everyone with their tales of the Northern Vales, with Anzu especially taking pride in describing his triumphs over hordes of ice wraiths, producing the ice wraith cores he’d managed to seize over the past couple months.

Leon, however, was a little more taciturn. He had no real qualms about telling his people what had happened, but there was one person made conspicuous by his absence—after all, even his less socially-adept retainers had come to greet him, such as Tikos, Helen, Maia, and Red, but of everyone else, Nestor was the only one who didn’t show up.

Leon wasn’t quite sure what to make of that since Nestor was just as invested in his rebuilding of the Clan as he was. Retrieving the Iron Needle was something of paramount importance, so Leon figured Nestor would’ve been at the front—or as close to it as Leon’s ladies would allow—of the line to hear how Leon had fared.

As it was, while Anzu went off to sleep in his own bed following the meal, Leon made his way down to his workshop, accompanied by Elise, Maia, and Valeria. The rest of his people all scattered to see to their own business, though not before getting some tentative agreement from Leon to consider the potential of maybe, possibly, weighing the merits of contemplating some kind of party to celebrate his return.

It would have to be small, Leon figured, if he decided upon it. ‘Can’t have the Empires knowing what it is I now have. Probably wouldn’t survive that particular storm of greed…’

As he and Anzu had flown in, Leon had noticed quite a few changes to his workshop. Most of the building, once made entirely of beautiful, polished white stone, was now coated in some kind of glossy black stone not unlike what the Iron Needle had created in its crater from the constant lightning it emitted. Even the roof tiles had been swapped out for what looked like polished obsidian.

Other than that, Leon could sense a profound change in the way that magic flowed around his villa. One of the first enchantments he’d made sure to set up in the place upon moving in so many years ago sucked in magic power from the environment to make more heavily saturate his villa in it. As a result, the air in his estate was generally about three or four times as dense with magic power as the environment around it.

Given the sheer amount of power present in the environment around the great central sea and the size of Leon’s estate, this wasn’t particularly noticeable, and thankfully not illegal, but since Leon had been eighth-tier at the time, and most of his people had been stronger than fourth-tier, such an enchantment wasn’t particularly important to their magical journeys.

What it did, however, was heavily subsidize the magic power cost that the rest of his enchantment scheme demanded, lightening the power load on the huge crystal that Leon used to power his villa’s wards. He guessed that this one enchantment likely bought him thirty or forty percent of his estate’s power requirements just by itself.

Now, however, it seemed like Nestor had reinforced that particular enchantment, raising the amount powered. By how much, Leon wasn’t sure, especially since he was certain that Nestor would’ve added quite a few other enchantments that would drink power like a man dying of dehydration finally finding water.

It was telling, though, that Leon wasn’t able to sense too much of Nestor’s alterations. They were subtle and hidden—even moreso than Leon’s enchantments had been before. That in mind, though, the black stone that his workshop had been coated with was hardly subtle.

“What is all this?” Leon asked Valeria as their group approached.

“He wouldn’t tell me,” Valeria growled, anger momentarily crossing her otherwise stoic face. “I’ve been trying to keep up with the changes he’s been making, but…” Her success, or lack thereof, was evident enough in her frustration. Fortunately, Elise had something to add.

“Nestor’s been requesting quite a bit of material in excess of what he asked for before,” she explained. “The stone he used for the workshop was quite expensive, but not… excessively so. Some of the rest of the raw materials he requested were, while not expensive, still quite bulky, and those labor golems have been hard at work making noise at all hours for weeks, now.”

“We haven’t been allowed inside in a few weeks,” Valeria said venomously as they reached the workshop’s front door.

“He’s been denying you access?” Leon asked, surprised.

“He’s… been insistent that we stay out of his hair,” Valeria clarified. “Not exactly ‘banned’ from the workshop, but discouraged from coming inside. We decided to wait for you before trying to force our way in and seeing what was what.”

I was looking forward to doing just that, Maia drily stated. I will miss having the excuse to remind that man that he’s dead. I shall have to find something else to torture him with.

“Were you really torturing him like that?” Leon asked.

Maia shrugged, but Leon caught the ghost of a smile playing at her lips.

“Thanks, everyone,” he said. “I’ll try and reign him in, then. I’m not thrilled about the aesthetic changes, but if I know him, then there’s a go—there’s likely a good reason for what he’s been doing.”

“Crack his skull for me, if you would,” Valeria said as she smiled at him.

“And for me,” Elise said as she kissed him on the cheek.

Maia didn’t say anything, but Leon could feel her agreement with the sentiment as she imitated Elise. With that, Elise took the other two ladies’ arms and steered them back toward the main villa, though not before throwing Leon one last intense look that promised great things would come later, if he wasn’t too preoccupied with Nestor.

Leon smiled back, letting his hunger for his lovers show itself on his face for just long enough for all three to smile back in anticipation, and with varying levels of embarrassment.

“By the way!” Elise called back over her shoulder. “He has his cat!”

Leon’s eyebrows shot up, and he quickly entered the workshop. Fortunately, the security wards he’d crafted were still there, unmodified, so he had no trouble entering even though it was locked. Immediately, he realized that his workshop had been completely changed.

The most obvious change was that almost all of his old tools were gone, replaced with shiny new ones that looked sleeker, sturdier, and shinier. Most of all, they took up less space, which was good because there was now less space to go around, what with the massive number of new things that had completely taken over one-quarter of his workshop. As far as he could tell, they were more advanced tools for golem assembly, though since there weren’t any frames under construction, it was hard for him to tell for sure. Next to these tools, desks, and stations were the two labor golems that he’d left with Nestor, neither looking active.

As far as he could tell, his blacksmithing apparatus was still intact, as was his enchanting kit, but he’d have to reacquaint himself with all the new tools. They certainly looked good, all shiny and polished and clean, but appearances could be deceiving, and by Nestor’s admission, he didn’t know that much about blacksmithing, so Leon wasn’t sure how good the new tools that were here now would fare.

In another corner, Leon noticed a large animal cage, a roughly-used scratching post almost twice as tall as he was, several large stuffed and rope toys, and a big cat about the size and shape of a tiger, but with claws as black as night and a coat the color of bright tropical wood, striped heavily with oranges and reds.

Most eye-catching of all, however, was a rune made of light hovering in the very center of the workshop, pulsing with collected power, the power it had gathered being channeled into the workshop’s enchantments with every pulse. Leon recognized it as the same rune that Nestor had used to steal all of the power in his soul realm during his brief attempt to possess his body.

“What have you done to this place?” Leon called out, his outrage only about half-serious.

Nestor poked his head out from behind a shelf stacked with paper and ink, his golem frame looking different compared to when Leon had seen it last—the man had obviously done more than just upgrade the workshop but had apparently taken to upgrading his chassis as well.

First of all, his featureless head was gone, replaced with one that had actual eyes: a pair of sapphires burning blue with arcane light set into the face of his metallic head. The rest of his frame had been completely plated in armor, leaving the rest of its internal components unable to be inspected, though it was about half a foot taller than before, so Leon knew something was up.

“Leon!” Nestor called out. “Welcome back! Did you get the Iron Needle?”

“Yes, but first, what have you done to my workshop?” Leon repeated. “My home, my quiet place, you’ve changed everything!”

“As I said I would,” Nestor dismissively replied as he strode out fully from behind the shelf. “I told you that this place needed a complete renovation, and renovate is what I did. You’ll find that everything has seen an upgrade from the garbage that you left here, and I’m not even done yet!”

“What’s this?” Leon demanded, pointing to the hovering light rune.

“That’s powering the enchantments in the workshop,” Nestor responded, his tone a little condescending as if he thought it beneath him to answer that particular question, or he thought it obvious.

“I leave for just a couple months and find that you’ve been playing around with ancient runes? Dead man, you have to know how that looks…”

“How does that look?” Nestor asked, his tone challenging Leon to do something about his changes.

Leon just smiled. “A bold move, then. I wouldn’t have left you here if I didn’t trust you. The fact that you’re still here proves me right. But instinctive outrage and condemnation of any and all change aside, I’m going to need a tour. What have you done to my workshop?” Leon’s final question was much softer than his previous ones, and though Nestor was only made of steel, his posture still relaxed as if he were human, and he pulled Leon into a quick and rather awkward hug.

“Good to see you back, Leon,” Nestor said with some warmth. That warmth was immediately lost when he rigidly added, “The Clan is resting upon your shoulders, and your shoulders alone. I could die and nothing would change. Everyone else here could die, and nothing could change. But you are the last hope of our Clan, and I would hope that you do your duty in the coming years.”

“What are you getting at, dead man?”

“I’m saying have kids. It’s time. And did you get the Iron Needle, or did you return home with your tail tucked between your legs?”

“I’m glad I didn’t miss you,” Leon sarcastically replied. “I will have kids on my own time, thank you very much.”

“Ensuring the continuing of the dynasty is of paramount importance,” Nestor replied, though he didn’t look like he was going to press the issue. “Regardless, let me show you around.”

Leon, still frowning, followed Nestor to a large desk set up near the back of the room.

“This is hardly a substitute for the kind of tools I would’ve had access to, but I think you’ll find these are far superior at measuring and inscribing enchantments than what you’ve been using so far.” Nestor scoffed and added, “You’ve been drawing your enchantments by hand, using hand tools for far too long. It’s time to start adding some actual sophistication to your work!”

As Nestor went through each and every one of the tools that he’d added to Leon’s workshop, Leon couldn’t help but stare in wonder at each one they passed. Generally speaking, almost all enchantment work done on Aeterna could only really be done by hand. There were some attempts made to create finer and more precise tools, but they were, more often than not, too fragile to use for higher-tier mages, who needed to use their enhanced strength and speed to make most enchantments within any kind of acceptable timeframe.

But what Nestor had built for Leon were instruments like light projectors that he could use to make incredibly precise measurements, mark off areas that needed certain runic glyphs, and even project perfect grids onto spell paper. Also added were a number of metallic arms and inscribing tools that Leon could utilize through a control console, ensuring that work could be machine-precise, cutting down on physical effort and the number of mistakes he might make. There were even settings Nestor added for the various inscribing tools to automatically write down runes where Leon needed them to be.

What truly caught Leon’s eye, however, was a mirror that Nestor enchanted that could turn into something like a light screen, its surface turning from a reflective surface into one that was opaque black. Then, Leon could use an accompanying tool to automatically inscribe various enchantments onto its surface, allowing him to visualize enchantments without going through the more labor-intensive sketching phase first. It was as simple as selecting the proper rune on the mirror’s control console, using the tool to mark where it needed to be, and it would appear on the mirror’s surface. Then, if any lines needed to be drawn, the mirror could also create them mathematically perfect.

Leon started to practically salivate, the urge to start playing with his new toys already so strong that he’d almost lost sight of the more important things that needed to be addressed.

After showing him around the enchantment area, Nestor walked him over to the blacksmithing area of the workshop. Since Nestor had little knowledge of the art of smithing, most of Leon’s tools hadn’t been meaningfully changed. However, he did at least refine Leon’s furnace and crucibles to be much smaller than they used to be, without losing any functionality.

The second-to-last section of the workshop was the new golem assembler. There weren’t any magical machines there that would allow Nestor to mass-produce golems, but he did have all the tools that he needed to build any golems he wanted by hand.

The last and final section of the workshop was the smallest, consisting of only a single large station. It was a large golden tube stretching from the floor to just a few inches shy of the workshop’s ceiling. Its diameter was just slightly smaller than Leon’s shoulder-width, and all along the tube in various places were glass panels, showing intricate metalwork and complex enchantments running up and down the tube just below the golden surface. In the very center of the tube was a glass panel that had nothing behind it, only an empty container of decent size.

“This is where the Iron Needle can be safely stored and studied,” Nestor explained. “Even something as powerful as a Universe Fragment, so long as it’s not being consciously used by the one to whom it has submitted itself to destroy the container, won’t break through. So complete will its magical isolation be that even if I hadn’t completely restructured this entire workshop, those tenth-tier mages who seem to think they live here and constantly sniff about this place won’t be able to sense it.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll get back to this and the changes you’ve made to my workshop in a moment, but the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid have been ‘sniffing around’ this building?”

“Not in person,” Nestor answered, “but the wards pick up their magic senses probing the workshop at least once per day. Them, along with a couple other magical signatures, too.”

“How many, precisely?”

“Two.”

Leon frowned. “Tenth-tier as well?”

Nestor’s golem body nodded.

“Probably the Keeper and Sunlit Emperors, then,” Leon speculated, but a moment later he thought of Tusk. “They’re not the only tenth-tier beings on this plane, but I think they’re a safe assumption.”

“What’s without doubt, is that you and I are under close scrutiny,” Nestor said.

“We knew that already,” Leon responded. “If they’re not making a big deal out of the workshop’s changes, then we won’t either. I’m the Chief of Magical Research and Development, we can explain anything away. And they don’t need to know.”

Despite this, Leon still scowled, not wanting any of the Empires poking their noses into his business, especially not when his business was so sensitive as to include Nestor, golems, the Iron Needle, and, per the Thunderbird’s tutoring in the few days it took Leon and Anzu to come back south from the Crater Tribe, sky forging Adamant.

“Let’s get the Iron Needle into the containment unit, then,” Leon said, and Nestor dutifully opened the glass panel. Leon then conjured the Iron Needle and placed it in the empty chamber, after which Nestor not only closed the glass panel but activated a hidden enchantment that caused the panel to completely disappear, making it seem like it wasn’t there at all and keeping the Iron Needle hidden from view. He then showed Leon how to activate and dispel the illusion and how to open the containment unit.

“Now, this thing has to do more than just contain the Iron Needle, right?” Leon asked.

Nestor nodded again. “Within it are almost all the sensors that we might need to study the Iron Needle’s lightning. Well, to a certain extent, the sensors aren’t as sensitive as they could be if I had the resources I had back in our Clan’s glory days at hand, but I’ve done what I could.”

“It’s appreciated, Nestor,” Leon said with genuine warmth. He clapped Nestor on the shoulder and asked, “So, what did you do to the outside of my workshop? That’s, I’m sure, what’s gotten everyone’s attention and why they’re so keen on watching this place and probing its defenses…”

“Right,” Nestor replied.

In short, he explained that he’d fortified the workshop so completely that not even a tenth-tier mage would be able to force their way in. Leon was able to follow most of what Nestor explained, but some of it went over his head a bit. The bottom line, however, was that his workshop was now practically a fortress, and there wouldn’t be any way for anyone to enter it without his express approval—at least, not without significant stores of Nexus-grade tools or weaponry, which even with the legacies of his Clan at their disposal, none of the Empires had. The Iron Needle would be safe in the workshop and the gold containment unit.

All of that thrilled Leon. What thrilled him significantly less, however, was the bill Nestor presented him with. All of it had been paid for, Leon noted, but the price tag was in the billions. Not even his personal wealth was enough for that, and Talal had to step in after a word from Elise to get most of the workshop’s renovations funded through Heaven’s Eye. Leon and his family had still paid several hundred million silvers which, while still a staggering sum, didn’t put too big of a dent in their coffers.

During that explanation, Leon also brought up Nestor’s new body, and the dead man admitted that he needed some upgrades. Since he could now work using his own golem-making tools, he’d been able to give himself an even newer body than what Leon had been able to construct from his direction, with superhuman strength and motor control.

Leon wasn’t too thrilled at that, but he supposed he’d trusted Nestor this far, and he didn’t think his last ‘living’ kinsman would act against their now-shared interests.

“I like all of this,” Leon eventually said as he wandered over to where Nestor’s new cat was now sleeping. “Well, having this guy here might be a bit distracting, but otherwise I’m quite happy with these changes.”

“I hoped you would be,” Nestor replied.

“It’s good it’s all been done because our Ancestor has been telling me things all the way home. She’s said that it’s time I made my own weapon instead of relying upon the weapon I inherited from my House and Clan.”

“That makes sense,” Nestor said. “The Clan’s ancestral weapon is powerful, but having a weapon of your own, made by and for your own hand, will likely be a better fit for you. And only you. Has she something in mind for you? Some secret to impart that will help you in this endeavor?”

Leon grinned. “Tell me, Nestor, all you know about sky forging?”