(1 day later)
"Diablo is still not back, Rimuru?" Artoria asked Rimuru as they were in the training grounds. Artoria was overseeing some training while Rimuru was only there because of Artoria's request.
"No, he's not." Rimuru said as he shook his head. He was a bit confused. Why was Diablo taking so long? He doubted a demon like him could be held back by anything.
"Well, just hope he doesn't come back while I'm away."
"Is it that important?"
"Yeah. If he does come back and I'm not here, just spam Gluttony."
"What?"
"See ya." Artoria left, planning to meet up with Hinata after making one little stop.
/\\//\\//\
Artoria approached a large field, 3 acres big. From there, she could see Dun Stallion just grazing and occasionally running. Artoria nodded. It's good to see him so energetic. Though perhaps he looked a bit too energetic.
Artoria whistled out loud to get his attention. Dun Stallion looked up from grazing, but instead of running to her, he disappeared into particles of light and reformed back in front of Artoria on the other side of the fence. Artoria raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"When did you learn that, Dun Stallion?"
'I learned it a while ago. It made no sense to me that I couldn't be there when you called for me at any moment.'
"I guess that desire turned into a skill."
'It did. So, master, what do you need me for? Is it time to ride me into battle again?'
"Something like that, Dun Stallion. By the way, you seem to have a bit more pep in your step than usual. What happened?"
'You see, during the festival, there was some pegasuses that got put into this field with me. And there was this one female that-'
"Alright. I don't need to hear the rest. I can piece it together from that." Artoria was going to stop, but she looked back and forth and made sure no one was nearby to hear her. "Which pegasus was it?"
'It was a big and strong one. Even among the males, she stood out. If it helps, when she left, there was this guy who got on her and some other knight-looking people only flew after him once he flew.'
Artoria was trying to guess. A stronger-than-average pegasus that stood out among the males and a very important rider that had an escort. Her gossiping and curious mood slowly went away as realization slowly crept in. Her smile slowly went away.
"Uh, Dun Stallion, can you describe this person more? How did the knights around him act?"
'They were very respectful. They looked at him in very high regard. Almost like how everyone here sees you. Looking at you with reverence and having an awestruck expression.'
Artoria put her hands on her head in shock and panic. "Aw, Sh-... sorry. Damn. Of all the pegasi, you got with that one? How? Aw, man, Gazel is gonna have a surprise waiting for him in a few months."
'Did I do something bad?'
"No, you didn't, Dun Stallion. It's just…I didn't know you had it in you to get with a pegasus of that caliber. I should've been more familiar with your game." Artoria's initial panic and surprise went away and was instead replaced with a feeling of being proud as she nodded to herself in slight disbelief and at the audacity of Dun Stallion's actions. She had to give credit where credit was due.
She shook her head before she came here for what she wanted originally. "I came here cause I wanted to practice some things and finally test out a theory I have." She hopped over the fence and went to the stable to get a saddle before putting it on Dun Stallion. She put her foot on the stirrup of the saddle and got on top Dun Stallion.
'What kind of training are you going to do?' Dun Stallion asked as he moved to the center of the field. From atop Dun Stallion, Artoria could see some hay bales that would be perfect for target practice. She summoned Excalibur and Rhongomyniad before placing them on a special platform on the saddle made to set aside swords and lances.
"I'm going to test out a theory that I've had on my mind for a long time. I think my Ultimate Skills and weapons are separate. Meaning, my Ultimate Skills don't apply only to my weapons, and I can use them with whatever. For example, my weapon transformation skill from Rhongomyniad should work with whatever weapon. It doesn't have to be Rhongomyniad." Artoria said as she pulled Excalibur from the saddle and looked at it. She could feel it. If she was right, then the skills that she saw from her Ultimate Skills were nowhere near the entire picture. Those were skills, these were the actual weapons.
She put it to the test. She held Excalibur in her hand and used her weapon transformation ability from her Rhongymyniad skill on it. In her hands, Excalibur glowed in a white light before growing slim and maneuverable like a rope, which is what she transformed it into.
"It seems it doesn't have to transform into a weapon. Makes sense, it's weapon transformation. Doesn't mean it has to transform into antoher weapon. This also confirms what I thought. It's not the whole picture. These are Ultimate Skills and God-Grade equipment, but only because it's the highest available. And my skills and the sub-skills are like a grasp to try to put it into this worlds system. It's like a translator trying their best, but some things get lost in translation. But in this case, even if lost, it's still there, part of it." Artoria tied the rope into a lasso before swinging it around in the air.
With a small move on the reins, Dun Stallion moved in a fast sprint, going around in a circular shape around the field. As Dun Stallion sprinted, Arotria swung the Excalibur-turned-lasso and threw it to one of the hay bales. Right when the hay bale was in the middle of the lasso, Artoria pulled the lasso. The lasso tightened around the hay bale, but it went through effortlessly and exploded the hay bale, sending hay all over the field in a spot.
Dun Stallion stopped as he saw this. Artoria transformed the lasso back into Excalibur and put it in a sheath in the saddle. "Well, this has certain implications. Even if I lost my skills due to, I don't know, another skill, it wouldn't matter. This is good, very good.
'Master, you destroyed my food! The hay is the most delicious! Way better than grass!' Artoria looked down at Dun Stallion in surprise. More surprise than Dun Stallion getting with Gazel's pegasus.
"Hold on. You prefer hay over fresh grass?" This was a shock to Artoria. Every horse she knew at the ranch in her old life loved grass. Way more than hay. They only ate hay when fresh pasture wasn't available or if it was winter.
'Yeah.'
"Huh. I knew you were different, but I think that's the most shocking thing I've learned about you."
'Really? That's the most surprising thing? Not me being able to appear before you in a literal flash of light?'
"Well, when you put it like that."
'So, what else are you going to do, master?'
She looked at Excalibur and Rhongomyniad and took them in both her hands. She decided to have some fun. As Excalibur and Rhongomyniad started their transformation, she responded to Dun Stallion, "Well, I'm going to have a bit of fun, Dun Stallion." Once the transformation finished, in her hands were revolvers. Not just any revolvers, but the most powerful revolvers she knew. The Smith and Wesson Model 500. Her eyes gleamed like a kid on Christmas morning as she looked at them with the appropriate color scheme on them.
"Each round fired costs around 5 dollars. A box of ammo for these can cost 60 to 120 dollars. These can put a hole in an engine block if you want it to. And that's just the normal gun, but these?" Artoria couldn't hold back a smile. "I have no idea what these could do, especially since they're transformed from Excalibur and Rhongomyniad. Let's try it out."
With one hand, she cocked the hammer back and pointed one of the revolvers at another hay bale. She aimed the revolver to make sure the bullet struck the ground, so it wouldn't penetrate and hit something, or worse, someone.
Slowly, she pulled the trigger. As if in slow motion, the hammer moved forward, and the cylinder rotated. But in an instant, a massive, but very brief flash of light, almost blinding, appeared, followed by an almost thundering sound. Artoria's arm moved slightly upward from the recoil of the shot. It even moved Dun Stallion to the side a little bit.
The bullet flew and exploded the hay bale. When it hit the ground, a small crater appeared with cracks surrounding it spreading around the ground. Artoria was sure that the recoil could've broken the arms of a regular human. At best. And with both arms holding it instead of one, like she did.
"Is that really as strong as it can go? Well, I was trying to be safe with it, so maybe I unconsciously held back the power. But still, if it was nighttime, that muzzle flash could've lit up this entire field at the minimum."
'That's your concern?'
"Yes, Dun Stallion. Say, do you think the 13 seals could work on this?" Dun Stallion thought that she might've lost it for a second, but answered her as best he could.
'If I understood anything from your experiment and testing, then yes, it should.'
"Interesting. Well, I've seen enough." Artoria got down from Dun Stallion and unsummoned Excalibur and Rhongomyniad. As she took the saddle off Dun Stallion, she told him, "I'll meet you tomorrow to take you on a mission. It's a little stealthy, but I'll need you to transport some cargo back."
'I look forward to it, master.'
"See ya tomorrow."
/\\//\\//\
Now that Arotria's little fun had ended, she went to go look for Hinata. She was carrying a large crate filled with equipment. It looked almost funny seeing her carry such a large crate that was disproportionate to her size, but it carried important items. Artoria carried the crate to the briefing room, where Hinata was, along with Soeui.
"Howdy, you two." Artoria said as she entered.
"Did you say 'howdy'?" Hinata asked.
"Don't dwell too much on it. It was just a little slip. The last thing I want is for Rimuru to hear me say 'howdy'. Anyway, I come bearing gifts from my wife. Equipment that will be literal lifesavers." Artoria said as she dragged the crate into the room. She grabbed the edge of the crate and easily ripped it open.
"What's all this?" Hinata asked.
"Equipment derived from my own stuff. Small trinkets and accessories that have similar power to my equipment. And when I say 'similar', I mean it's still nowhere near what my equipment is capable of. But it doesn't mean it's useless. My wife's genius is unparalleled."
"That's a pretty bold claim."
"Not as pretty as her."
"That's not what I was trying to say."
"Anyway, most of this stuff will go to your team, Hinata. Followed by Souei and the rest. The powers range from almost instant regeneration and healing, life-saving powers that, as long as the person has their astral body, will recover with no problem and can rejoin the fight, instant recovery of stamina, endurance, and magicules, personal barriers that can withstand a lot of damage, weapon enchancers, magicule enchancers, and a whole bunch of other stuff."
"You're serious? Stuff like this would command an eye-popping amount of gold."
"Yup. I guess you can consider stuff like this one of Tempest's specialties, along with our potions. And it can only be made here, because it's derived from my equipment, and the only person I know who can make this stuff is my wife."
"Is there anything to know about this?" Soeui asked. He needed to know more. Could it be used multiple times? Though from his perspective, given the fact that there are so many, it's probably meant to be disposable or one-time use. It would make sense considering what they knew of Vega's abilities.
"Yeah, they're one-time use. Use it, and when the effect is over, it's gone. That means after it's used, it becomes junk that no one can salvage unless they want some pretty trinkets and accessories. Anyway, you two split these amongst yourselves. They're sorted by power and how many there are. And be quick, we're moving tomorrow, and we're moving fast." Artoria said as she left the room. She was going to whip Gobta, Masayuki, and Suhpia into shape. More than they already were. They were the ones who had a higher probability of making a mistake. More so, Suphia. Masayuki had his Chosen One skill, and Gobta received adequate training from Hakurou.