(A/N Genuinely have no idea where my mind was while writing this, it's kind of filler kind of not. My writer's block was strong during this chapter in that I had no idea how to introduce this new plot development other than to just go for it, normally it'd be a bit more thought out. I apologize. Also, I'm taking liberties with how certain skills work from Danmachi, and the Blessing is pseudo-sentient. Enjoy!?)

Néos Aíma

So attempting to explain something to Mei Hatsume you can't tell her something is impossible. Especially as she heard pretty much everything I mumbled. My question is how, or rather, when exactly did she learn how?

"Well, I learned cause I figured you had so many great ideas in your head and I wanted to hear them?" Oh, I was mumbling. "Yep!" Damn. I let out a sigh, Artemis looking at me with amusement, Mom was slightly panicking, and Dad was oblivious, working on his swiss army knife.

"Okay, Artemis, why aren't you panicking?" I asked. She just let out a small laugh.

"Well, a Familia isn't much of a Familia if it only has one member. I fully intended to try to expand it a little. I- I miss having a large Familia." Her voice choked up slightly and I winced. I still don't know what she went through before arriving here, but I can gather the gist of it. I think she lost her last Familia, and her lover(?) when she came here. Or maybe they were already dead. I attempted to just avoid the subject, I realized it caused her pain.

"So… what's a Familia anyways, lady?" I sighed once again, Mom stopped panicking slightly and placed some breakfast in front of us, and Goddess Artemis just smiled.

"Well, do you believe in the Greek Pantheon? Or rather, any pantheon?" Hatsume paused for a second, tapping a finger against her chin.

"Nope! Is that important?"

"It is, Hatsume. You see, I am the Goddess Artemis of the Greek Pantheon. The Blessing that you overheard is something I can bestow upon people for them to gain the ability to 'level up,' and advance themselves through experience. Or excellia."

"Goddess Artemis, are you…"

"Yes, Izuku, I am. Mei Hatsume, I would like to give you this blessing."

"Wait! You barely have met her, are you sure you want to give her a blessing so soon? Or at all?" Mom exclaimed.

"My wife is right, if you give her the Blessing, that only increases the likelihood that someone is bound to find out about you. In this world, that could be very dangerous. Especially if he finds out." Dad and Mom shared a meaningful glance. I wondered who Dad could be referring to but jumped my attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Izuku, do you trust Hatsume?" I pondered that question for a moment. Hatsume and I have only known each other for a short while, but in that time I believe we have become quite good friends. I have learned that she is a smart, off-setting assertive girl who often makes people uncomfortable. But she is also very opportunistic when talking about her babies and doesn't seem to fear failure. She is probably just as motivated, if not more so, to improve herself. She is very kind, too.

"Yes… I do. Goddess Artemis, I leave the decision to you and Hatsume."

"Um… I feel a little left out here." Hatsume complained. I snorted. That's Hatsume for you.

"Well, Hatsume, my Familia needs a smith, and I would like to offer the Blessing to you."

"Okay! Let's do it, what do I have to do?"

"That was quick…" Hatsume's normal, boisterous and excitable attitude seemed to still for a moment, her constant smile dulling.

"Well, I strive to always improve myself, and from what I've heard, this is a way for me to do that. Maybe I'll be able to make even better babies, maybe not. But I don't see a downside to this. I get to improve myself either way, right?" I was speechless. Hatsume doesn't show this side of her often, the side of an ostracized girl not used to people just… accepting her, quirks and all. Personality quirks. I have also learned that Hatsume is a bit lonely. I guess that's why I'm so ready to accept her into the Familia. I can only assume Goddess Artemis can feel the same thing. She has a knack for that. Must be a goddess thing.

"Okay, follow me then. Izuku, you may want to avoid watching." What is Goddess talking about- oh. Oh right. Yeah, I'm going to my room to give them some privacy. Now that I think about it, Dad should too.

"Come on, Dad, explain to me how the force field plasma thing works." I dragged him off.

After Hatsume received her blessing, we were called back in. Hatsume was sitting on the edge of the couch dangling her feet as she read over a piece of paper, which I assumed was her status. I walked over and peered over her shoulder to look at it myself.

Mei Hatsume

LV 1

STR I 0 → I 77

VIT I 0 → I 64

DEX I 0 → I 67

AGI I 10 → I 34

MAG I 0 → I

MAGIC:

SKILL: Blacksmith I

"Goddess Artemis, didn't you say it was unusual for people to have skills at level one? That I was a unique case?" I asked, curious. Artemis nodded, looking unusually concerned.

"You'd be correct, it is unusual. I… I believe that the blessing has changed somehow. I think it has to do with the fact that we are the only familia left on this planet, and so the blessing is reacting in kind. Blacksmith is a developmental skill that is only supposed to appear in level two blacksmiths. Hatsume, you said you're an inventor, right?" Hatsume nodded, looking over at Artemis curiously. "Blacksmith is an ability that allows the user to add special abilities to their creations. So… your inventions will be unique in that sense. Unlike normal skills, Hatsume, developmental skills can be leveled up similar to your stats, but they take much longer to and don't reset upon level up." Hatsume nodded, before grinning widely.

"Does that mean my babies will be even better?" Artemis laughed and nodded. Hatsume did a happy little wiggle in her spot, hopping up, and going to get her stuff, a wild look in her eyes.

"Hatsume? Where are you going?" I stood up to follow her. She turned to me, giggling madly, and I stepped back, sweat building on my forehead.

"I have to test this out! Babies must be made!" Then she ran out the door. The house was silent for a moment before I quickly ran out after her.

"Wait for me!" It looks like we'll be spending the day elsewhere. Likely at her workshop, where she often drags me to help. Welp, sorry Mom! It was a good breakfast though. I quickly caught up to Hatsume and we continued on our way to the beach, where she grabbed some junk she had set aside yesterday and we continued on her way. Hatsume didn't live far from the beach, or rather her workshop wasn't far from it.

I felt kind of bad for ditching my family, but Hatsume must want to test out her new Blacksmith skill. Not that I thought about it, I haven't looked into any of my skills either… How am I supposed to test those? According to Artemis, Argonaut only appears in the face of adversity, so I can't test that one. Elios Passion is a passive ability most of the time, only giving me Escape if I'm being chased… oh. Well, now I know how I got that specific skill.

Hatsume and I eventually arrived at her workshop, and she turned towards me with a glint in her eye, one that I recognized. She's fired up and ready to get to inventing. The junk she pulled from the beach was laid out on the workbench, and she went to her furnace and started to heat it. Immediately, the flames burst to life and Hatsume grabbed a smock, putting the metal she grabbed from the beach into a crucible and putting it into the furnace. I could faintly hear her mumbling to herself… it's spreading.

"Okay, a steel alloy with 11% chromium, iron, nickel, molybdenum, and carbon. A combination of Blue Super and 8670 steel alloys, honestly the quality that beach has in metal always surprises me. Heating up to 1500 Celsius, thank you Mom for the new furnace…" I honestly barely understood any of what she was talking about, but I just sat back and let her do her thing.

As the metal was heating, Hatsume's eyes seemed to glaze over and she walked over to her steel cabinet where she had other materials and pulled out… something. I walked over and peered over her shoulder. Is that a gem? Emerald? I shrugged as Hatsume pulled the heated metal out of the furnace, carefully balancing the crucible with experienced precision and she poured it into a cast that shaped the metal from its twisted and bent bar that it used to be into a solid steel bar about 20 centimeters long and half a centimeter thick.

The emerald Hatsume had grabbed earlier was placed under a hydraulic press, where she promptly crushed it into dust. Honestly, that must've been expensive, but at this point, I've learned to just go with it. Hatsume scooped the gem dust into her hand and set it aside. The metal was cool enough that it was only a reddish-orange instead of the fiery yellow it was a minute ago.

Hatsume pulled the metal out of the cast and began to hammer away at it, heating it occasionally. Soon, it began to take on the shape of a dagger, and honestly I kind of just zoned out as I watched her work. Honestly, she's very impressive. When she gets into the zone like this, it's like she is completely different. Nothing else matters except what she is working on at that moment, and it's kind of mesmerizing. I've seen my Dad do the same thing sometimes, and it always impresses me.

Eventually, the dagger was shaped the way Hatsume wished, and she began to grind it down. I would wonder why she knows how to make a dagger-like some sort of old blacksmith, but I remembered that there are quite a few heroes who request custom blades and other types of weapons, so I'm not that surprised. The dagger's spine curved inwards before it curved back out back to where it's evened out, giving it a sort of elvish appearance. It was a steel gray, and after Hatsume polished it, it shined. Finally, it seemed down.

Then Hatsume grabbed a tool I didn't recognize, and I only realized its purpose once she began to engrave into the side of the blade, whatever she carved was mirrored on the other side, giving it a perfectly symmetrical appearance. It looked like a cool design, and it matched up with the rest of the blade perfectly. Hatsume grabbed the emerald dust, and I heard her mumble under her breath once again.

"Emerald, eternity." She then poured the emerald onto the blade, and it seemed to glow green for a split second. The steel gray color was now tinted green, and the glow of the blade faded, though the designs she carved into it were now a solid green color, just like the emerald had been. If I didn't know better, I would've said emerald was built into the blade. She took a breath and stepped back.

"Wow. That was… different." She said breathily.

"What do you mean? I mean, I noticed the whole glowy thing- but what happened?"

"I dunno, I just felt compelled into doing that." Hatsume's eyebrows furrowed, and she picked up the dagger and wrapped the tang in some strips of leather before holding it out to me. "It's going to need a proper handle made, but I'll just have it 3D printed out. I made that for you, by the way." She gestured for me to take it, holding it by the blade with the handle towards me. I smiled and grabbed it from her. It was wonderfully weighted in my hand. At least, it felt like it was. I knew nothing about daggers.

"I'm going to need to learn to use this, huh?" I mumbled. The inscribed designs on the side glowed a bit with it in my hand, and I felt a rush go through me.

"I don't know how I know this, I think the skill gave me some specific knowledge around the whole unique features to things I create, but the emerald I infused into the blade increases the blades sharpness, it will never rust, and if it ever chips it will repair itself. Eternal. It matches your hair!" I let out a snort.

"Thanks, Hatsume. I appreciate it… though I'm going to need to get this registered, I can't use it for the exam otherwise." Hatsume shrugged and skipped over to me, much calmer now that she's tested out her new skill. Sometimes I think she's similar to a junkie, she's wired until she has her fix. In this case, her fix is inventing. Or apparently, weapon forging? Whatever.

"So, now that I know it works… I have so many babies to make!" she giggled and promptly went back to scrambling around her workshop. I sighed. Never mind, she's not done yet. Occasionally I'd be recruited to help her, either by handing her a tool or getting her some water. Or rather, I'd choose to get her water. Hatsume forgets to take breaks and take care of herself when she's like this.

I guess I'm babysitting?