"Potions with a metal base?" Xenia asked with surprise, and Eisen immediately nodded his head. "Yes, I'm sure it should be possible to an extent. I want to experiment a bit with that at some point, maybe make metallic items that can help your regeneration just by holding them. But for now, I want to enhance Steel to the maximum that it can be for a sword." The old man explained, and Xenia swiftly thought about it and scratched her chin.
"Hmm… Well, I do have a few ideas for that. There's a bunch of potions that help with Combat capabilities, and I think I know a few that specialize in swordplay from the top of my head… What kind of sword are we talking about?" She asked, and Eisen swiftly handed Xenia one of the lenses that he wanted to use to make 'Monocles' that other people could see his Visualization through.
"HereHere, take a look." The old man said, before activating the transformation to his eyes together with the carved enchantment, before activating his truth seeing eyes. Then, in the middle of the air, a giant greatsword about three meters in length appeared. There wasn't much decoration, but that was because Eisen just wanted to show Xenia the rough size and type of the sword.
"Something like that? You said Kiron uses these kind of giant swords, right?" The high-elf asked, looking the blade up and down before closing her eyes in thought, "Hmm… I think I know a good potion for that, and we should have all the materials for it." She explained, before Eisen smiled brightly.
"Is that so? What kind of potion is it?" He inquired, and Xenia just grinned, incredibly curious about this new type of magical creation as well. "It's a potion that increases strength, while also increasing swordsmanship abilities. Here, I'll write the recipe down for you." The High-Elf explained before grabbing a blank piece of paper and swiftly starting to write a few ingredients and ratios onto it.
"I do suggest you attempt making 'Metallic Potions' with base ingredients, like a simple Low-Grade Health or Mana Potion. That should give us a good bit of insight into how metal changes the effects of the potions." She told the old man, who swiftly nodded his head and took the recipe quite gratefully. "Thank you. I'm going to be working on it in the morning, so just come over there if you want to watch a bit." Eisen said with a smile, and Xenia slowly nodded her head.
"Alright, I will. Thanks." Xenia responded, before sitting down where she usually logged off, and prepared to do just that. But just before she did, Eisen stopped her.
"Wait, don't log off yet." He said, before Xenia looked at him with a bit of surprise and confusion, before the old man explained his reasons. "There's something you really need to talk about, isn't there?" Eisen asked, and immediately, Xenia looked at him with a blank expression, unsure what she should say or do at this moment.
"What do you mean? I'm fine?" Xenia asked in a questioning tone, before Eisen frowned a slight bit. "Xenia, it's fine. I'm aware that something is up. It started back when you wanted to gift me the homunculus… Did I hurt you that much then?" He inquired, but Xenia immediately stood up and shook her head.
"No, no! It's not like that!" She yelled, worried out of her mind and trying to rush to fix the misunderstanding. But noticing that she was being a bit too loud for the two small monster girls, she continued while trying not to be as noisy. "Yeah, sure, I felt a bit hurt at the time, but in the end you were right. And just because of you, Fafnir came to live, so it turned out much better than I ever could have h oped. It probably wouldn't have properly worked out with the figurehead anyway." Xenia explained, and Eisen just looked at her with a frown that was paired with a confused expression.
"Then what is it? Did something outside the game happen?" Eisen asked once more, and slowly, Xenia nodded her head, looking away nervously. Now even more worried, as he most likely wouldn't be able to help much with issues happening in the real world. There, he had his own problems to think about at the moment.
"I… I don't really feel safe where I am right now…" Xenia explained, and Eisen looked at her with a light smile, trying to somehow comfort her. "Want to tell me why you don't feel safe?" He asked, and after a few seconds, Xenia nodded her head again.
"I guess…" She answered, and then she began to explain what had been going on. "A few years ago, I was going out with this guy I met in high school… We had a date then, but after finishing high school, we didn't see each other again until Senior year in college, because he transferred to where I was studying. We seemed to hit it off pretty well, and when we were dating for a few months, he slowly began to change. He became more controlling, o-obsessive, and… vi-violent..." Xenia explained, slowly starting to shake at the sheer thought of it, but she managed to calm down when Eisen gave her a reassuring smile.
"I wasn't allowed to go out anymore, which ruined the little bit of a social life that I had. After I finished college, he got angry at me whenever I went to work because I was leaving him alone at our place… And then, when I came home, he was drunk m-most of the time and often h-hit me… But when he b-burned the books my father wr-wrote in front of me, I managed to finally get away from him… For a few weeks…" Xenia said, her voice becoming more quiet over time as her nervosity and fear grew again.
"…He began to follow me, and I wo-would end up seeing him everywhere I looked… And then, when I finally managed to bu-build a relationship again, he… attacked my boyfriend at the time…" Xenia said with a wry smile, and Eisen continued to listen.
"I ended up mo-moving across the country to the east coast, rented some cheap apartment in a small town, and tr-tried to just get away from him… But over the past fe-few days, life's been horr-horrible. I ran into some rel-religious freak insulting me for what I was wearing, but he was talk-talking to some guy that was obviously carrying a gun… And then, I found a letter in the mail, without any-anything on it on the envelo-lope… it…it was from my ex…" She explained, getting incredibly scared again. Eisen ran his hand over her arm, because that always calmed his kids down when they were freaking out about something back in the day. He really wanted her to stop talking about this, because parts of what she said seemed too familiar to him. But even then, it was probably nothing, so he continued trying to calm her down and distract her.
"Xenia… How about you just tell me about the town you live in now? Smalltowns are usually filled with pretty nice people, right?" Eisen asked, and Xenia nodded her head, trying to engage the topic-change.
"Y-Yeah, it's sup-super nice there… There's th-this market every Sunday morning, and there's this stand with su-super nice Quesadillas, so th-that's nice… But there's only like o-one hairdresser ar-around, and it's a men's b-barbershop… So that's n-not so nice… But my apartment is r-right next to this nice bag-bagel shop that sells all kinds of w-weird v-versions called 'Astro Bagels', and-" Xenia began to explain, but suddenly stopped and looked into the air, before starting to shake immensely and nearly collapse out of fear.
"S-Someone's in my ap-" She started saying with fear in her voice, before her body changed into her log-off form. And a second later, Eisen's did as well.
---
"Benji! Tony! Come over here!" Benjamin yelled immediately, standing up out of the capsule. His whole right arm and shoulder felt as if they were burning up, but he really didn't care about that right now. He was feeling in peak condition anywhere else in his body as well, so there wasn't too big of an issue with moving around.
Immediately, a shirtless Tony ran through the door, as he was in bed before now, followed by Benji and Sophia right behind him. "Dad, are you okay?" Tony asked with clear worry in his voice, but was quite surprised to see his father moving around like normal, except that he just wasn't using his right arm at all.
"Yes, I'm alright. But get dressed, and come to the car with me. Benji, you come too just in case. We need to get to Astro's right now. Sophia, you take care of Sean and Katy while we're gone." Benjamin told them as he put on his jacket, while everyone was looking at him confused.
"You want to go for a bagel run at 11pm? Dad, they're closed right now. Don't scare me like that…" Tony complained, but Benjamin immediately shook his head.
"I don't mean Astro's itself, I mean the Apartment complex next to it." The old man said with a frown, immediately making his way over to the door, while Benji and Tony were looking at him confused, although they were still following him.
"What's going on?" Benji asked with clear worry in his voice, before Benjamin opened the front door and immediately made his way to Tony's car. "I'll explain on the way there, but we need to go now." The old man commanded, and Benji and Tony swiftly put on their shoes and ran to the car, although Tony still had the time to get dressed at the very least.
Immediately, Tony started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, and Benji started to ask about what was happening. "So, will you tell us now what's going on?" Benji asked, and immediately, Benjamin started to explain.
"We need to go there to help someone who I think is in danger right now." He explained, and there wasn't that much more time to explain much more, as Tony already pulled onto the parking lot of the apartment complex that Benjamin was talking about.
"Is this the right place?"
"Yes, we're right. Benji, keep 911 dialed, and when I tell you to, call them. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, or if I'm even right with this, but if I am, she's really in trouble." Benjamin said and jumped out the car door before Tony could even properly park the car. Benji immediately followed behind, and Tony did the same once he actually parked.
And it didn't take long for Benjamin to figure out that he really was right with his thoughts, as he heard some yells coming from one of the ground-floor apartments. "St-Stop th-this, p-p-please… I don't- I don't know why you-you're do-doing th-"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" A man's voice replied immediately to the pleading screams of a young woman, and Benjamin quietly looked at Benji and nodded his head, before Benji sprinted out the building and held the phone against his ear, while Benjamin slowly stepped into the slightly open front door of the small apartment.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Tony asked, trying to pull him back again before the old man turned around and shook his head at his son with a calm expression. And Tony knew what that expression meant, so he immediately let go of Benjamin and just let him go.
On his way in, Benjamin took a look around to try and find where the voices were coming from, before he noticed the light at the end of the small hallway. He stood next to the door to the lit-up room, trying to figure out if there was any direct danger. Benjamin wanted to wait like this for the police to arrive, and only do something if things escalated.
Sadly, things escalated pretty quickly when the man spoke up. "What can a little cripple like you do, huh? I did everything for you! I cared for you, I drove you places, and I always got you whatever you wanted and needed! But then you fucking left me, so this is your own fault!"