After a few more pretty simple attempts at creating different types of Ego-Items, Eisen managed to already Rank this new Skill up to 1, which he was pretty excited about. It seemed like he would only be able to make Ego-Items that could actually properly grow in a similar form as the Guardians, who were technically Ego-Golems, once he was around Rank 3 or maybe even 4, although he hoped the former to be the case.
For now, Eisen did a few different things so that he could properly test out the rules of Ego-Item growth, and in the end not only turned all of the different Souls that he had given a shape to into Ego-Items, but also created a few different items made with Blank Souls.
And the items that he made were made multiple different times, each time exactly the same. For example, Eisen made some rings, some necklaces, as well as things like more daggers or small shields. And the reason for this was that Eisen wanted to hand them out to Stahl and Alnico's group, as well as the other Originals to see if there was any difference in the growth. When the skill ranked up to 1, it gained the 'Ability' to let the physical shape of the item slightly change the more it 'Grew', although it didn't seem to be anything at the level of evolution, but rather a small optical change befitting the way that the item grew.
It probably wasn't anything major, but it seemed like the kind of thing where it would change its size and shape just so slightly to fit the user's body, movement, and combat type better. Eisen could only really look at the first of those three things properly for most people, except when it came to those that he was traveling with.
It wasn't like Eisen would just waste precious souls on any person that came along and ordered an item form him, but at some point, once his Ego-Item Creation skill was a bit higher, Eisen would most likely be able to make it so that items actively change their shape depending on the person currently using it, similar to how clothes changed their size.
But that would probably take a little while, and first Eisen had to look at the extent of the physical change as well. Of course, for that purpose, Eisen also made items like that for himself, Bree, and Sky, just so that he could already get a rough idea for these things through them.
They weren't necessarily a combat-focused party, but considering the low, although Eisen wasn't sure if it really was low or not, amount of growth possible, he was sure that they would be able to get it to the peak pretty quickly.
Either way, for now, Eisen was really jus trying to 'grind' as much proficiency as he possibly could. Although, he did already try to figure out if he was somehow able to work with a little bit of a trick... For one, that would be by using clusters to combine different items.
The main reason why Eisen wanted to do that was to try and get some souls ready that had the shape of the different tools that the old man needed for the Multitool, just to then combine the soul together like an 'ordered cluster', so that he would be able to create the multitool just like Eisen wanted to, to the best of his ability.
Of course, he would have to cheat a little and make the shapes of the different souls a bit awkward, but Eisen figured it should work out somehow.
But for now, Eisen should just continue to try and create more ego-items to level his skill up. However, at some point, the souls that Eisen had already given a form to ran out, so he had to make new ones, and right now he was storing the souls in clusters of five, so he pulled one soul out from the one cluster that had only three souls to begin with, and then got started.
In the end, the vibe that Eisen got for this form was that of a small Kitchen Knife. And Eisen wasn't sure why, but the mental image that he instinctively got for this was a Knife, made to looks slightly like a small Katana in its shape, with a handle that had grooves to place your fingers onto, as if you squeezed some clay with one hand. And the handle itself was made out of metal as well. That wasn't so weird in itself, it just seemed off for this kind of item.
At first, Eisen thought that maybe he got it wrong, but not at all! The soul seemed to really like the soul it was given right now. So, Eisen just shrugged and continued, taking the next soul of the now two-piece Cluster to give a shape to it as well.
The vibe that he got from this one was that of a weapon, a Katana, although the shape itself was larger, and the shape seemed similar to that of a kitchen knife. And the handle should have the same grooves as the knife that Eisen formed just now. It was basically the same thing as that Knife, just larger and more specified to be a weapon instead of a tool, at least that's the Vibe that Eisen got.
Once more, the old man thought that something was wrong, but when he made this item and 'offered' it to the soul, and it accepted it without any issue.
Confused at what was going on, Eisen made the last of the three souls, and this one here turned out to be something like Brass Knuckles, with small blades running out the two sides, as well as sharp edges at the front.
Eisen wasn't exactly sure why, but he was pretty sure that the blade parts were supposed to be similar to that to a Katana or Kitchen blade. That's the vibe he got, at least.
It was kind of like that weird knowledge you had while dreaming. You could see a pumpkin with a wig, and you would instantly know that it's your grandmother and wouldn't even find the fact that she wore a wig weird, even if you noticed it. That's the level of instinctive knowledge. It was just there in his head, really.
So even if Eisen wanted to think that something had to be going on, the third soul accepted the item Eisen made in the image he had in his mind as well, with a pretty high acceptance, even.
And then, Eisen came to a single conclusion.
Because the souls were clustered together, they ended up influencing each other somehow and partially mixed together.
It was pretty weird, but it opened up a few possibilities as well. He didn't necessarily have to make the shape for the soul right away, he could just take his time. So if he looked at some souls to find a good image and clustered it with ones that seemed compatible, he might be able to more easily control exactly what kind of high-growth ego-items he could create.
Eisen was hoping that he would be able to give shape to whole clusters at once, but in the end, that was a rather lost hope.
With a slight sigh, Eisen placed the third soul he just made to the side to the other two, before grabbing the third cluster with a slight frown. "Now let's hope that these are compatible enough with each other..." Eisen muttered to himself quietly, and then started to work on the forms for these souls.
And sadly, three of the five souls were practically randomized items that didn't seem like they would have any use at all. For example, a chain-sword with a crystal-blade and a golden handle that could create flames around itself, or a hot ball of golden chains with sharp edges, with the core being a crystal. They were all rather useless, but in the end, Eisen figured that two of them seemed good enough.
One was a golden chain-necklace, a small crystal decoration in the front in the shape of a sword, which had the blade replaced with flames. And the other was basically just that crystal decoration in the front, except that its handle was made of gold and had more golden chains wrapped around it.
The second one wasn't much larger than the first one's decorative piece either, so Eisen figured that maybe these two could somehow be combined with each other in one way or another. Or rather, that these two could be perfectly combined, as long as he was able to 'layer' the ego-item creation somehow.
And so, Eisen swiftly got to work with this, and swiftly created the small decorative piece on its own as an Ego-Item. It seemed to act like something like a charm that would count as active as long as it was held, so the old man figured it should be simple enough to level up.
And then, Eisen tried to combine it with the necklace-shaped soul, and although it seemed to try and grip onto the charm, it ended up failing to do so multiple times, although it seemed like it did so just barely.
Deep in thought, Eisen started to move his fingers through his beard, humming to himself for a few moments, "Maybe there's some condition for it?" The old man asked himself before remembering how he had to bring the soul to the maximum Soul Strength a rank 0 soul could have in order for him to be able to use it for the Core Guardians. In the end, Eisen might need to bring the growth of this small charm to the max, and then he could try again.
It might not work even then, but that was the best idea Eisen had at the moment, so maybe he should just try and hunt some underwater monsters for experience while on his way to the mainland. There wasn't much else to do than that and craft, after all, and this was an important part of his research for finding out as much about Ego-Items as he could.
"Hmm..." Eisen muttered to himself and quickly stood up, making his way to the Dungeon Entrance so that he could try this out, if in any way possible.
Or rather, as long as he made some wooden, disposable arrows for Ranger that were made to specially push through water more easily, it shouldn't be too hard to get some experience that way.
If he remembered the position they were supposed to be at right around now correctly, then the monsters in the area should be around Rank 3 as well, so they will probably not really stand a chance against Ranger.
For now, however, Eisen just had to take a look outside to see if there were any monsters even around, and held the charm in his hand as he was doing so.
While walking to the edge of the ship, he grabbed Ranger's storage-box and swiftly 'summoned' him like that, before asking Sigurd to grab some wood so that the old man could quickly carve some arrows like that. Or rather, so that he could carve harpoons like that, because that really was what he was making. They were supposed to fit in Ranger's large-bow setting, so that they would have the most power possible, and in the end, the only enchantment Eisen placed on it was a 'Pierce' enchantment specialized for water and flesh, and one after another, handed the harpoons to Ranger so that he could shoot them into the water at the nearby monsters.
Eisen didn't get enough experience to level up through any of this, but he was glad to see that the Charm was growing like... a charm.
It made sense, though, considering that it was technically only a Rank 1 item. The stat-bonus effects weren't that great either, but at the very least, Eisen managed to get it through the fifteen growth-levels pretty swiftly, and was even able to watch the physical change of the charm through this a little.
Nothing much changed, just that the flames seemed a bit more vivid. Either way, now, Eisen could try to add this to the other soul again.