Approximately half an hour after receiving Allen's instructions, Tello and Thomas arrived together carrying 40 kg of sand, 40 kg of animal bones, and 20 kg of sea-creature shells. As soon as they unloaded the materials, they saw Riva, Bekky, Ilina, Rebeca, and Yuri ....all five of them working together to melt a large copper ingot, but they were clearly struggling with the task.
Work in Lucifer's forge had already started about an hour and a half before he arrived. Thomas's five wives were working with the copper ingot. Riva and Ilina were heating the ingot over the fire, while Bekky and Yuri were trying to pull it into thin wire. Rebeca was organizing the tools and metal pieces on the side. Despite trying for a long time, the copper wasn't taking the right form. Sometimes it would sag too much, sometimes it would break when pulled, and sometimes the shape just wouldn't form properly. Because of this, not even a single usable wire or fuse was being produced.
About half an hour later, Thomas entered the forge along with Tello. They had brought the materials ....40 kg sand, 40 kg animal bones, and 20 kg sea-creature shells. Thomas assessed the situation and immediately understood that making copper wire was not possible yet. He assigned his wives and Tello the task of crushing, cleaning, and refining the sand, bones, and shells, while he himself stood by the copper ingot. Thomas heated the ingot, tried to judge its color, and hammered it, but every time the copper either became uneven or broke. He kept trying to shape the ingot continuously for an entire hour, but he couldn't succeed. Meanwhile, his wives and Tello continued working on the materials, though they were still at a very rough stage.
During this time, the noon bell rang outside the forge. As soon as the bell sounded, Lucifer immediately came to the forge and stepped inside. Everyone greeted him properly. Lucifer closed the forge door from the inside and said directly that he didn't have much time, so they should leave the difficult work to him and let the others handle the remaining tasks. At his instruction, Thomas, Tello, and his wives focused on the material preparation, while Lucifer himself went straight to the copper ingot.
Lucifer placed the ingot in the fire and brought it to exactly the right temperature. Then, with controlled strikes, he first flattened the copper and slowly drew it out into a thin, smooth, and uniform wire. Along with it, he also prepared the fuse. Not once did the copper fail during the entire process. After the wire and fuse were ready, Lucifer turned his attention to the glass work.
He added the refined sand, animal bones, and sea-creature shells into the furnace in the correct ratio. He gradually increased the heat so that impurities separated and the material fully melted. When the molten glass became completely smooth and clear, Lucifer picked up a hollow glass-blowing pipe. He gathered molten glass on the end of the pipe and began gently blowing while rotating it. The glass expanded and started taking the shape of a bulb. With every blow, Lucifer controlled the pressure and rotation so that the glass thickness remained even everywhere. Once the shape was formed, he allowed the glass to cool in a controlled manner to prevent any cracks or distortion. In this way, a stable glass bulb body was created.
After the glass was ready, Lucifer carefully positioned the copper wire and fuse inside each bulb. Then he inscribed power-transfer runes inside the bulb, which would control and regulate the energy coming from the sunstone. The sunstone was evenly broken into small, uniform pieces, which were then polished thoroughly. These polished sunstone pieces were carefully fitted into each bulb. In the final step, a small switch was attached to each bulb, allowing the sunstone's power supply to be turned on or off as needed.
When the first bulb of the day was completely finished, Lucifer picked it up and pressed the switch. The bulb instantly emitted stable light. Seeing this, Tello was completely stunned. For a few moments he stood speechless, as if he couldn't comprehend what he had just witnessed. Thomas immediately grabbed his shoulder and steadied him, because Thomas and his wives had already seen this entire process the previous day — Lucifer had taught them everything then.
After that, work continued without pause. Everyone coordinated perfectly under Lucifer's control and precision. In just 6 hours, without a single failure, accident, or mistake, they completed 160 sunstone bulbs.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A short while after Lucifer arrived at Thomas's forge, Mia and Ruby also reached the forge area, only to find the forge gate completely shut and tightly closed. From inside came the sounds of grinding, smithing, and clanking metal.
Mia pressed her ear against the forge gate to listen. She could hear voices ..... both men's and women's ....addressing someone as "Master" and "Young Master." Seeing this, Ruby asked her,
"Sister Mia… what are we doing here?"
Mia replied while still listening, "Nothing… just waiting for Lucifer."
Ruby asked, "What is Luci doing inside?"
Mia said, "He's making bulbs."
Ruby didn't know what a bulb was.
Ruby asked again, "What is a bulb?"
Mia explained, "I don't really know… but he was making the same thing yesterday too. I saw something like that for the first time in my entire life. It's like a ball, and light comes out of it without any fire… and not just any light — it's so bright that if he turns on even one bulb, the entire ducal home's courtroom gets filled with light. If you turn it on at night, it feels like morning has arrived."
At this, Ruby looked at Mia and asked, "Sister… when did Lucifer learn forging?"
Mia scratched her hair in embarrassment and said, "Ruby… I don't even know that as I never shared my own story with anyone,but today I'm going to tell you all of it.
Actually… we weren't that close before. I didn't meet him or interact with him that much. Yes, he was always my son… but I was never the kind of mother I am now… or the kind I should have been. There was even a time when I didn't realize how sad and hurt Lucifer would feel whenever he saw my pain or my troubles…"
Mia closed her eyes in shame again and continued, "Ruby… until two or three months ago, I never truly understood Lucifer… or rather, I never even tried to understand him. There was a time when he came and lay beside me and asked, 'Mom… am I just a machine for you too? A tool? Just a means for impregnation? Have you ever truly loved me as your son… or have you only seen me as a boy who exists just to become a vessel for your sexual needs?'"
While Mia was telling Ruby all this, tears were streaming from her eyes. The speaker was crying, and so was the listener.
Mia continued, "Ruby… when he asked me that question, I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell him, 'Yes, you are my son, not a tool.' I wanted to say it… but at that moment, not a single comforting word came out of my mouth."
"Ruby…" As Mia spoke, she began sobbing uncontrollably. "When I couldn't say anything comforting to Lucifer… Westeria became his support. At every step. She even told me once that if I had any problem with Lucifer, or if he was just a tool for me, Amelia, or her, then I should hand Lucifer over to her and i also thinks that...this is the reason lucifer is head over heals for her".
Here Mia used "her" to refer to Sarah, because both the name and the person were extremely distasteful to Lucifer.
Mia went on, "Ruby… you know, all Lucifer ever wanted from me was love… and he still only wants love. But back then, I didn't even realize it."
"Then that day in Evorywood, when you hugged him and Lucifer said he wanted to sleep with his head in your lap for just one day… my heart cried so much that day… so much… wondering why Lucifer didn't consider me worthy of that."
"But even there, it was my fault. Lucifer gave me countless opportunities… countless times… but I never understood the love he had for me."
"Then in the open field… I found out that Derek's son was behind Lucifer's unconsciousness. And that Derek hid it from me… and while giving me the full health potion, he bartered for sex. Ruby, you know… when I was having sex with Derek, I had no idea about any of this. And right next to Lucifer, I did it with Derek. The expression on Lucifer's face at that moment… it was as if someone had stabbed a thousand knives into his heart over and over."
"After that, when Derek forcibly called me his sow… called himself my owner… and made me moan in front of Lucifer against my will… I saw Lucifer's heart bleeding right in front of me. And then… and then… after all this, I learned that the reason Lucifer remained unconscious for two full days was because of that wretched Derek's son. I was furious… extremely furious."
"But I didn't know what I could do. Then Derek told Jacob that when they were killing Lucifer, they should have finished him properly… so that Lucifer wouldn't be alive today. When i heard this, something inside me changed. Then when Derek called Lucifer an abomination… it felt like I should end the game of that father and son with my own hands. But even then, I didn't understand what to do… or how to do it."
"Then that same night, when Lucifer came to sleep with his head in your lap… I felt so much jealousy and envy toward you. Ruby, you know… that day Lucifer said something to me that pierced my heart so deeply… the pain still lingers today. But he didn't say it to hurt me. He was just telling the truth as he saw it."
"Ruby… that day, before he went to kill Asher's soldiers and mages, he had called both me and Amelia to Westeria's room. It was quite late .....around dawn-meets-midnight time. Amelia and I were sleeping together. Westeria came and told us Lucifer had called for us. We didn't know why. Amelia told Westeria that she didn't want to have sex with Lucifer right now, maybe in the morning. I nodded in agreement too. Then Westeria told us both, 'You two have already given Master so much pain… at least don't give him more.' After that we went to Westeria's room where Lucifer was. He told us that Asher's knights and mages had arrived, and then he went to face them. When everything was over, Lucifer returned to his room. I started following him… someone stopped me and even called Lucifer a 'monster in human husk.' At that moment I was angry at the person, and slapped him hard...… but even more angry at myself for having thought that way about Lucifer, when he was fighting for me and Amelia."
"Then I went to Lucifer….....and he asked me the same question again ....whether I saw him only as a tool or truly as my blood, my son, not a machine. I said yes, Lucifer, you are my son… not a tool. But hearing that, Lucifer laughed with even more pain and said, 'Mom… God gave me the power to read hearts… and to hear from far away. That's how I also heard someone call me a devil in human husk… that's why I heard their approach from so far away. Do you think these walls can stop me from hearing?'"
"Lucifer told me, 'Mom, you're lying. I even heard you talking to Westeria… about how my calling you both probably meant I wanted to have sex with you and Amelia. If I wasn't just a tool for sex and impregnation to you, you would never have thought that way.'"
"When Lucifer said that… my mind went completely blank."
"Ruby… you know… the whole day, until night, my heart kept crying. I felt so restless. It felt like some priceless part of me had been torn away. After that, my heart, mind, and soul all asked me questions at once: What would life be like without Lucifer? If Lucifer were gone from your life forever? If sex was everything in your life, would it even matter if Lucifer stayed or left? You just want to get pregnant again… you could get pregnant with anyone… so what's the need for Lucifer? … So many questions raced through my heart and mind. But they all led to one answer ...my heart, mind, and soul all said: To hell with this whole world, to hell with sex, to hell with my desire to get pregnant again… if my Lucifer, my son, isn't in my life, then nothing is acceptable, everything is meaningless."
"That's when I truly understood that Lucifer never wanted to have sex with me or Amelia… he just wanted love from us. Only love… the kind a mother and sister can give their son and brother."
"After that, when Lucifer stayed with you and fell seriously ill… when even the priests gave up… when his whole body turned red… it felt like time had suddenly stopped. Slowly, Lucifer's entire body turned to ash right in front of me. Then a voice came from somewhere… 'Mia… here, your biggest problem Lucifer is gone now. You're free. Live however you want. From now on, Lucifer will never make you cry again. You're free.'"
"That voice felt eternal… as if the world itself was speaking to me. But I didn't want to be free. I didn't want to be separated from my Luci. I didn't want to live in any world where Lucifer didn't exist…"
"Ruby… Lucifer's selfless love and devotion completely changed me."
While saying this, Mia hugged Ruby tightly and cried, "Ruby, even now I don't want any world where my Luci isn't there. I'm fine living my whole life without sex, without getting pregnant again… but not without my Lucifer."
Then Mia continued to the main point: "Ruby, I really don't know everything Lucifer is capable of… but whatever he knows, he learned it himself, and I'm proud of him."
On one side Ruby was giving moral support to Mia, while on the other side Lucifer was so immersed in making sunstone bulbs that he didn't even acknowledge hearing Mia and Ruby's conversation ...even though with his enhanced hearing he could have heard everything, but he didn't. He didn't stop making bulbs until all 160 sunstone bulbs were perfectly completed.