Golden light filled Russell's eyes as the Golden Battle Armor completely melted, floating in midair as liquid.
Under Hephaestus's pained gaze, the dark red liquid danced without wind, swirling into a vortex.
Then, three streams of liquid metal flew out from the underground lava and poured into the vortex, quickly blending into one.
The vortex spun faster and faster, its temperature terrifyingly high, and the surrounding mountains showed faint signs of melting.
Hephaestus possessed the authority of the God of Forging. His name itself carried the meanings of furnace and burning, so he feared neither high temperatures nor heat waves as he carefully observed Russell's forging process.
When an expert made a move, another expert could immediately tell whether it was the real deal.
At first, Hephaestus had thought Russell was wasting a precious treasure and ruining a masterpiece.
But as he watched him dissolve the materials and mix them into an alloy, he suddenly realized that was not the case. Even if he did it himself, he might not do any better.
"Strange... had I taught him this?"
Hephaestus was deeply puzzled. When he saw the red vortex fling out droplets unsuitable for forging armor, he abruptly nodded.
That was right, he had taught him!
The vortex slowly came to a stop. A large mass of molten alloy floated in the air, reflecting the brilliant golden-red glow in Russell's eyes. He tapped with both hands, dividing the molten liquid into spheres of varying sizes.
Once the temperature dropped slightly, those materials were molded into components of different shapes. Shoulder armor, chest armor, a helmet, a battle skirt, and more gradually took form.
There even seemed to be wings...
The newly formed armor had only an outline, its finer details still blurred. Aside from scattered points of light, there was