Kuno entered the Iron Maiden church cautiously. Meanwhile, Fudge strolled in very confidently, greeting the people and Vampires that were either praying on the pews or simply just socializing normally.
"Hey, Guillermo! What’s up!" Fudge greeted.
Guillermo shifted his focus away from a mural being painted and greeted Fudge back.
"Ah honorable Fudge! It is great to see you. The construction of the church is going very smoothly. It won’t be long until this masterpiece of ours will be available to the general public."
For now, the only ones visiting the Iron Maiden were those already loyal to it like the Vampires and some humans. However, if they wanted to spread the Iron Maiden far out into the world, then they had to increase the number of believers they had.
Now, Fudge’s motivations for doing this may not be as pure as one might think.
But for the Vampires, this goal couldn’t be more honorable. Finishing the church meant that they would be one step closer to achieving their goal of reconstructing the ancient religion for Gaia and hopefully trigger her revival.
That was why they were working on the church day and night with complete and utter devotion. They meticulously curated the decorations, the furniture, and everything else in accordance with what they knew of Gaia, or who was now known as the Iron Maiden in hopes of it being enough to satisfy her on her arrival.
"Looking good, looking good," Fudge compliments. "Oh, hey. I want you to meet someone. Kuno, come on"
Kuno shyly approached Guillermo, who took a second of pause to look at her.
This girl looked familiar. However, no matter how much he tried to think about it, he couldn’t quite place where he’d seen her before.
Surely, he’d remember someone looking like her, yet her mind was coming up blank.
"Have we met before?" Guillermo asked her.
Kuno shook her head. "I’m... not sure."
Fudge then leaned in to Guillermo and whispered, "She lost her memory."
Guillermo nodded his head, finally understanding the context.
In truth, he wanted to ask more about who she was. There was something inside his body that was trying to tell him that he knew her, and he couldn’t get it out of his mind.
But after hearing about her story, Guillermo chose to not ask any more questions as it could cause her undue mental distress.
"Oh, is Michael back home yet?" asked Guillermo. "I wanted to talk to him about the Royal Vampires."
"I’ll tell him that you’re trying to find him."
While Fuge and Guillermo were having a conversation, Kuno pulled ahead and walked over to the giant statue in the altar.
She looked up and saw the Iron Maiden as she was seen when she manifested above Michael’s head.
There was something about the Iron Maiden that fascinated her. It made her want to stay here and stare at her figure for months on end.
"I see you’ve taken a liking to our Deity," said Guillermo, smiling. "This is the Iron Maiden, or also known as Gaia. She created the very earth you’re standing on today. She created the air you breathe. She is the mother of creation!"
The other Vampires inside the church murmured their own praise of the Iron Maiden, letting them all echo through the precisely engineered walls and domed ceilings, which all led towards the altar, where the statue of the Iron Maiden could hear their prayers.
Kuno looked around, hearing the sounds of hope and desire all converging towards her location.
"You like it?" Fudge asked.
Kuno nodded. "It’s dark in here. No sunlight. But it’s still very windy. I’d like to spend a lot of time here."
She really appreciated the fact that she didn’t have to wear twenty layers of clothes just so that her skin wouldn’t constantly burn.
No one was more happy than Guillermo. "Well, I for one am glad that we have another member for our community. By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?"
"I already told you her name! Fudge exclaimed.
"No, I mean, who is she in terms of her connections? Is she just a friend, a new ally of Michael, or is she his sister?"
That blonde hair was very striking, almost as striking as that of Michael’s, which made him think that the two were related to each other.
"Uhhh... sure! She’s Master’s sister."
...
...
...
Meanwhile, back in his room, Michael had just returned after purchasing the four drops of Soo that he needed.
" Hachoo!", he sneezed. Is someone talking about me? Why do I have the feeling that Fudge is up to no good?
With his instincts riling up, he knew that he had to finish up his tasks and check up on how Fudge and Kuno were faring on their little tour.
He quickly uncapped each vial and poured them directly onto his Main Drone.
Immediately, the transparent droplets got absorbed into the Mithril, with the change reflecting into the Upgrade Shop window in his mind.
[Spirit of Old: 4 drops]
Using two drops, he quickly purchased the [Drone Hive] upgrade, finally allowing him to buy as much Mini Drones as he wanted for the low, low price of only 1 drop per drone.
He purchased one extra Mini Drone and a pop-up window immediately appeared in his vision.
[New Mini Drone detected. Would you like to pair this new Drone to (Sheina)?]]
He immediately said yes, spending his last drop to finally add Sheina to the official list of Rebornian Maugnetics.
Nanoparticles, similar to the phenomenon of his Diva growing its limbs, started to cover the Drone’s very top frame where the Mini Drone was supposed to dock.
It was now constructing the new Mini Drone from the bottom to the top.
It only took a total of thirty minutes before the new upgrade was finally ready to be used.
"Sheina," he called out to the shadow underneath his feet. "Can you come here for a second please?"
Not even a few seconds later, a large shadow emerged in his room as Sheina and a Shadow Orcupine teleported directly in front of him.
With his job done, the Shadow Orc bowed to him before disappearing back into the shadows.
Sheina, on the other hand, quickly tidied up her slightly messy clothes—scuff marks from her sparring sessions with her siblings—and greeted Michael with a bow.
"You called, Lord Michael?"
"Can I see your bow?" he asked her.
She immediately took out her Mithril Artifact bow and presented it to him proudly.
"The Darkwood is showing to be a game changer for archery, Lord Michael. This is the most perfect bow I’ve ever used," she said.
Michael smiled at her. "Well, it’s about to get even better."
He then took out his Drone and saw the new MIni Drone docked perfectly on top of the Main Drone.
Since he’d already purchased the [Link] upgrade, this new Mini Drone was already automatically connected to Sheina, taking on a new appearance that was perfectly suited to her tastes.
The Drone’s frame was white, just like her scales, with its camera being the biggest emphasis. After all, perception was an archer’s biggest weapon.