Because aside from the usual sparring training to push them to their limits, which included beating them to almost death a lot of times almost every day, and their basic cultivation and meditation, Surtr and Emerald had a lot of free time. Naturally, I quickly brought them with me to Rakasha's Smithy once the big feast was done. My children were left completely bloated after eating a lot, so the two girls and their little brother took a nap in my bedroom, their mothers decided to chat and clean things up after everyone else left to continue their training.
"Oh, Drake, Surtr, Emerald. You're here. I've already been notified about the whole Scale thing from one of your Slimes, Drake." Said Rakasha, greeting us on his gigantic smithy.
Because we needed him to have the best smithy to offer him, we ended moving it outside of my Ice Castle, all the way to the nearby Volcanic Lands where the Spatial Volcanic Salamander once lived. Part of the Ancient Treasure Lands connected to the Ancient Primordial God Orbs from Yggdrasil's Dream Dungeon. This entire Dream Dungeon, which was only but a copy of these Ancient Lands, had been fully assimilated into my Divine Realm, naturally becoming "real" and "physical".
Even if they were not the same as the real deal, they were still overflowing with Divine Power and Elemental Particles of Fire and Space, perfect for any crafter. Apparently Rakasha had an innate talent with Space magic he used to craft all this time, but he only discovered it here once he began working in the smithy we contrasted for him in the largest volcano with Fuyu's help.
"Yeah, Emerald's here too because he got a lot of crafting talent." I explained. "You'll see what he can do later. Anyways, is there an open area here?"
"Yes, come inside. Follow me." Rakasha invited us to his huge castle-like smithy. There were dozens of apprentices here as well. From humans, ice giants, fire giants, ice elves, beast people, and even lizardmen. Anybody that showed barely a speck of a talent for blacksmithing was quickly taken under Rakasha's wing. We needed as many workers as possible to arm up my troops.
We walked into a large clear and open area behind the smithy, covered by many pools of lava and huge stone spears sprouting from the ground. Well, I mean, it is clear like this, right?
"Here." I waved my hand, opening my inventory and placing the titanic scale over.
BAAAM!
It made the entire mountain tremble slightly once it fell. A few stones fell from the summit, but I stopped them with a thought. My friends were left staring at the scale in silence, it was over a hundred meters tall, but less than two hundred meters.
"A-And this is a scale from Tiamat? Just how… how big was she?" Surtr muttered in awe, glancing at the black scale, which constantly reflected the light, changing into bright rainbow colors. It emanated not just a Divine Essence, but a Primordial Essence, a special type of energy I had not even, ever seen before. Apparently, this was the power the Ancients wielded. There was barely any in this scale, but it was enough to create a strong, pressuring aura.
"If this was just one of her scales, I would assume she was… dozens of kilometers big, or more." Said Rakasha. "Hundreds…? Is that even possible? Wouldn't such a large being just destroy the world as it walks?"
"We have no idea how the Ancient Yggdrasil even was to begin with." I said. "It used to be separated into Realms, not a whole world like now. Tiamat apparently lived outside of all Realms, below the roots of Yggdrasil and above the endless void. Ymir, in the other case, lived above the roots, as a guardian of the tree, watching over the Realms from below them."
"And the Realms, like fruits, hanged from the tree's branches, isn't it?" Surtr gasped. "How amazing it would have been to see such a fantastic sight. I mean, this world's already so amazing, but in the past, it was even more incredible."
"And all of that was almost all lost in that war…" Rakasha sighed. "It is a miracle the world is still alive, that we are even here, witnessing but just a fragment of a being that was once the pinnacle of strength, a being so big and powerful, it governed it all, Tiamat, the First Dragon, and the Primordial, Ancient Progenitor of them all."
"C-Can we even process this?" Asked Emerald. "I think it's impossible. Aside from the Divine Power and Draconic Energy, I feel another power in there, so strong it makes my entire body tremble. If we ever touch this scale we're all going to burn from the power alone. And I don't mean burn like the Demonic Energy does! Burn quite literally into ashes!"
"Heh, don't be so scaredy cat, kid." Rakasha smiled. "As a blacksmith, my hands have been burned thousands of times already. There is no fire that intimidates, and no heat that poses a challenge to me."
"Spoken like a true Blacksmith God." I nodded. "I was thinking on first giving it a test of endurance. Let's smack it a bit and see if we can't break it into smaller pieces."
"Good idea. Who's doing this?" Asked Rakasha, looking at us.
"Me! Let me do it first!" Surtr was our first volunteer. "I can just use my Revival Rune if I ever get burned ashes anyways!"
By Revival Rune he meant his Unique Skill: [Origin Flame Rebirth], it is much weaker than my Immortal Body, but it allows him to revive once a day by connecting his Soul and Divine Powers with a Revival Rune he can place anywhere, quite literally helping him respawn.
But he can only do it once, if he already used it once a day, he could get killed for real later. I haven't seen him use it at all yet, but he just placed one where we were. The rune's structure was incredibly complex, but I copied it using my memory, I might get something out of that if I analyze it later.
"Alright Surtr, do your worst!" I roared, Surtr rushing into the scale.
CRAAASH!
