"There you are, boy," Barny's loud voice greeted Jim as he entered the smith's shop. "Just in time. I think you'll like what I've put together for you."

"Thanks again, Barny," Jim said as he followed after the Dwarf into the back room of the shop. "I've been wanting to get out of the city all day but I wasn't about to leave something I paid money for behind."

"That's the way to do things," Barny nodded, his mood much better today than it had been when Jim had spoken to him the day before. "The idea I had came out better than I thought it would, and now I'm wondering if I should try and have the King's Armys sponsor my shop so I can make more of them and replace the damned survival knives."

"I'm looking forward to what you've got for me," Jim smiled as he followed him toward a cloth-covered table.

"Behold!" the Dwarf cried with a flourish that removed the cloth and revealed his creation before chuckling. "I always wanted to do that."

On the table was an unadorned leather sheath with a simple, wire-wrapped hilt sticking from the top. By itself, it was beautiful in its simplicity but when coupled with the extra slots on the sheath that seemed to be empty, Jim was just confused.

"What exactly is it?" he asked the smith, bending closer to study the whole thing.

"I call it the Trick Knife Version 3," Barny said. "Versions 1 and 2 were no good so I melted them for scrap. This one is exactly what I was thinking of and it'll do what you wanted in the first place. Cut things."

"What's the 'trick' part of the name for then?" Jim asked as he studied an almost unnoticable carving of some sort on the dagger's cross-shaped hilt.

"Hand it here, and I'll show you," the Dwarf said extending his hand. With a shrug, Jim passed the whole thing to the smith and watched as he drew the dagger smoothly and showed it to him.

"You see this notch here?" he asked Jim pointing to a small hole in the center of the flat of the dagger's blade. "This is where the magic happens. Like I said, this beauty will do everything a dagger does for you without any problems, it's sharp and the point is sturdy, but since you asked for something that can cut through trees as well, I decided to change things up a little. If you want to saw through a bit of wood, then you slide the blade into this slot here and press the rune on the hilt."

As he spoke, the Dwarf inserted the dagger into another of the slots on the sheath and pressed the small carving on the hilt firmly. A slight click sounded from the dagger and he grinned up at Jim.

"Once the click sounds; and that's important, if you don't hear it, it didn't take and it won't work out for you; anyway, once the click sounds you can draw it again and tada! A saw-bladed dagger! Sturdy enough to take most abuse and it's teeth will stay sharp enough to go through dragon bones."

As Barny drew the dagger, Jim watched as the previously smooth, razor-sharp blade exited the sheath with a series of sharp, pointed teeth on either side. With a grin, the smith flipped the dagger from side to side and showed Jim every part of the creation proudly before sheathing it again and speaking.

"And when you're done with cutting through tree limbs and sturdy vines, you sheathe the saw and press the rune again, wait for the click, and when you draw it out, it's a dagger again!" Barny said with a wider grin. "Pretty nice if you ask me."

"That's so cool," Jim said with a matching grin. "What else can I do with it?"

"Well, at the moment, I've only got the saw blade, and a few others made up," Barny told him. "It was all I could reasonably make without going over your budget, low as it was. Otherwise, I've thought of a few things that you can have specialized blades for. Have a look."

As the Dwarf passed the knife over, Jim accepted it carefully and examined it for any other blades.

Trick Knife Ver. 3 A dagger with several specialized blades that can be exchanged by sliding the empty dagger's blade into the appropriate slot. Cannot alter between specialized blades without first removing a blade from the dagger. Available specialized blades: Saw Blade; Skinning Blade; Machete.

"Only three blades?" Jim couldn't help but ask aloud.

"That's right," Barny nodded. "I've got some other ideas and if you find yourself needing something specific, then you can come to me with it. If it can fit on the Trick Knife, I'll put it together for you. If not, then I'll let you know up front."

"This is so cool even with only three specialized blades," Jim said, his grin echoing his words.

"Just keep one thing in mind for me," the smith said seriously as he looked at Jim. "Just because it's called a Trick Knife, doesn't mean that the blades have to be special knife blades. You understand me?"

"So if I wanted a little garden shovel added to this, you'd make it?" Jim asked.

"I can keep it within the size restrictions, I can make it a blade for your knife," Barny nodded. "Just keep that in mind before you go and buy someone else's shitty work for a job you'll be doing forever."

"I will," Jim nodded seriously. "Just one question, maybe two actually, and please don't be mad."

"What is it?" the smith waved him on.

"Why did you make a skinning blade for it?" Jim asked. "I already have a skinning knife, and I thought you said that it would work for the whole thing."

"The blade I made has a hook at the end and it's longer than the average skinning knife's blade," Barny told him matter-of-factly. "The hook makes it easier to remove the hide and flesh from each other and you can go around bones and joints easier. Plus, the specialized blades are all sturdier if you use them for what they're meant for instead of the base blade. The skinning blade can hold a sharper edge and won't dull easily compared to the base blade, but the base blade will cut rope as easily as it will flesh, where the skinning blade will dull much faster on rope."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Okay, and does the sheath do something to reshape the knife?" Jim asked.

"Nope," the Dwarf shook his head firmly. "The specialized blades are solid and physical, draw one and press the rune, it'll fall right off and you'll see what I mean."

Taking the Dwarf's invitation, Jim carefully inserted the six inch blade into the slot for the machete blade and pressed the rune. Once the click sounded, he drew the six inch dagger turned ten inch single-edge machete and pressed the rune again. With a slightly louder click, the machete blade slid off the dagger as though he was drawing the dagger from its sheath, revealing the shorter blade and allowing him to examine the hole that appeared in the spine of the machete.

"Without the base blade, the specialized blades aren't as strong and they can shatter," Barny told him as Jim played with the two blades. "The base blade acts as an interior spine for them and that offers better shock absorption and reduces stress on the whole thing. That was the problem with the first version, I couldn't get the damn bades to stop shattering."

"Last question," Jim said turning to look at the Dwarf with a grin on his face. "Are you sure I don't owe you anything else for this?"

"I told you five Iron and I meant five Iron," the smith nodded. "This was as much for me as it was for you. That's the thing about trying to make it as an Artisan, sometimes you got to follow an idea no matter how mad it seems to everyone else. Now get out of here. I'm ready for my supper and I'm not in a mood to share with you."

"Thanks for this, Barny," Jim said to the Dwarf as he stepped past him and toward the doorway. "This Trick Knife is better than I thought it would be."

"I just hope I didn't ruin my name," the Dwarf said quietly as the Half-Elf shut the door. "Good ideas for some turn out to destroy them down the road."

James opened his eyes and took a deep breath as the felt the Pod's slurry recede around him. Dimly, through the Pod's walls and door, he could hear Mark rising from his own Pod and groaning. With a slight grunt, he opened the top of his Pod and rose from the molded rest.

"Hey," Mark greeted him. James couldn't help but feel that he hadn't seen his friend for multiple days even if it was only a few hours since they'd seen one another. "You get the message from Pear?"

"That his dad is pulling the grill out early this year and making enough steaks for all of us?" Jim asked with a grin after he'd removed his mask. "Of course I got that message."

"Cool," Mark returned his grin tiredly. "I'm wiped and I need to wake up some more before we get there. Didn't get to let my character sleep and unlike you and Pear, I didn't get to take a break for lunch."

"That sucks," James said pulling himself out of the slurry and standing on the catch-tray.

"Yeah, I'm telling you all that so you know it's nothing personal when I say 'Dibs on the first shower' and 'You're driving'" Mark said as stepped toward the bathroom.

"Oh that is not fair, Mark," James called good-naturedly after his friend. "You always use all the hot water."

"Dibs on the first shower!" Mark called over his shoulder, laughing. "You're driving us to Pear's house!"

"Whatever man," James sighed as he let himself continue dripping slurry into the catch-tray. "I should get a towel or something that I keep closeby so I can dry my hands from the get-go. Then I could use my phone while I wait."

"Huh, Axel beat us here," Mark said as he and James pulled into the Pearson's driveway.

"Probably been driving his sister nuts with pictures of his Rockwolf," James said as he stepped out of the car. "Think Aunt Marie is making drinks tonight?"

"If she is, I'll drive us home," Mark told him. "I know how you are with her margaritas."

"I don't know how she makes them and doesn't let the tequila taste show." James said wistfully. "And how can she make them taste exactly like lemonade? That's talent."

"No, that's practice," Mark said as they stepped to the door to Pear's garage room and knocked. "Pear! You there, man? Open up!"

"Maybe don't scream like a lunatic at your friend's door?" James suggested as they listened to someone approach the door and play with the knob before opening it.

"Why?" Axel asked them as he opened the door and waved them into their friend's room. "It works."

"Axel!" Mark greeted their other friend with a high five. "What's this about you having a Rockwolf now?"

As Axel and Mark began to discuss what they'd been doing in the game with each other, James approached their smaller friend as he hunched over a desk and examined a sheet of paper in front of him carefully.

"What's up, Pear?" he asked as he sat in the chair Axel had clearly vacated to open the door.

"I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my character right now," Pear said distractedly as he examined the paper and tapped a pencil on his desk. "I told you about Ripspell, right?"

"Yeah you did," James nodded. "Congrats about that by the way."

"I'm not so sure it's a good thing," Pear said. "He threw me into a dungeon with a bunch of new spells and a new perk and I don't know how to use any of them. It wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't also made it impossible for me to use anything but those spells and blinded me unless I use the perk."

"If it's a vision perk, isn't it passive?" James asked.

"If this one is, then it's the kind you need to actively learn to use," Pear grumped. "I'm sitting there in the safe room, blind, and I've got no idea what to do to move forward. I can't get the spells he gave me to work and I can't work out the vision perk he gave me."

"What're the spells?" James asked.

"All the elemental manipulation spells," Axel said as he and Mark joined the two of them over the desk. "I've got something similar but Pear's has a different description and name, even if it does the same thing."

"And you can't get them to work?" Mark asked as he examined what was written on the paper and read through the spells' descriptions. "Have you tried using more than one at a time?"

"No, I can't and yes, I have," Pear said. "I tried to start with the Dark Manipulation and that was a bust, so I went with Light Manipulation. When that didn't work, I tried going down the list and none of them worked."

"Which ones did you try to combine?" James asked.

"You said it was Water and Earth right?" Axel said, prompting a nod from Pear.

"I thought it would make mud or something and all it did was nothing," he said. "This whole thing sucks, cause I can't remove the restrictions he gave me without completing the dungeon and I can't complete the dungeon without following the rules he slapped me with."

"Well, you said that he told you he can't stop other people from entering the dungeon right?" Axel said. "Problem solved right there. We'll show up and hop in with you and help you out."

"What's the dungeon called?" James asked, on board with the basic plan.

"I can't ask you guys to help me out of this mess," Pear said with a sigh. "I'll work it out somehow."

"I hope you do," Mark said. "C99 said that they won't allow second characters to compete for the AI's attention."

"Why did they say that?" Axel asked.

"Something to do with making the most of any situation your first character is thrown into," Pear told him. "If you make two characters and you screw up the first to learn all the pitfalls, then the second one has an easy road and that's something that they don't really want the winner to showcase. Anyone can follow a plan and avoid the tripped traps, but not everyone can react to a fluid and changing situation and make it work for them."

"Well, say the word, and I'll be there to help you out of this," James told Pear. "It's not a competition if one of us gets knocked out of the running right at the start."

"That's the truth," Axel agreed.