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Vol1 Chapter 7
The Hardlight Blacksmith
It had been four weeks, four in game months since Don and Bob started traveling together. Now they had finally reached the Veneir mountain ranges. Bob stopped the wagon and a crossroads and said, “Well, we made it. I suppose this is where we part.”
Don said, “You never told me what you were here for. Can I come with for now? I’m not exactly on a deadline for my goal.”
Bob raised an eyebrow and said, “And what is your goal exactly?” Up to this point neither Don nor Bob asked each other what their purpose in going to the Veneir mountain range was, but if Don went with Bob he would know, so it was only fair Bob should know why Don was there.
Don said, “Simple, I was told there is an old blade dancer at the top of Mt. Ketsdale, I wanted to get more information about this class.”
Bob said, “Is that so? Such a great distance just for information? Very well. I heard rumors of a blacksmith who can forge weapons and armor out of light. If this is true I will attempt to acquire some for research.”
Don chuckled while shaking his head in disbelief. “So we both traveled all this way base on rumors just for information...”
The pair burst out laughing at the absurdity of it. Don said, “I would love to see if those rumors are true.” So for now at least the pair stayed together. The wagon traveled down the road for another two hours before the path up the mountain became too narrow for a horse drawn wagon. Bob looked up to the roof of the wagon and said, “Oric, stay here and defend the wagon and horses.” The large metal wolf detached itself from the roof, jumped off and gave an affirmative bark. Oric’s defend mode entailed him staying close to the wagon, barking at anything that attempted to approach, and attacking anything that got too close after it barked.
Bob and Don walked up the mountain for another hour before finding a stone structure. It looked a little like stonehenge, a round stone ring with many openings and no roof the block out the sky in the center. Attached to the side of the circle was something resembling a stone shack, possibly a recent addition. Don followed Bob to the stack where Bob knocked on a wooden door that was there.
After a moment a young man, only a little older looking than Don himself opened the door and looked at the short gnome and handsome elf with slight disbelief. He said, “Umm, what are you doing here?”
Bob said, “I heard rumors of a unique blacksmith who lives here. Are you him?”
The young man shook his head, not in a negative manner, more of a ‘I can’t believe they found me’ disbelief. He said, “How exactly did you hear about me? I haven’t left this place so there is no way anyone can know about me.”
Bob thought for a moment and said, “Well, certain accomplishments are so great, when achieved them a system is in place that spreads the info to NPCs who spread it to users. Did you do something impressive a few months back?”
The man looked up for a moment in thought then smacked his forehead. “I hit advanced in Blacksmith mastery.” He didn’t seem happy about it. He said it like Don once heard a woman say, “I dropped my capsule a month back, that’s probably why its broken now.”
Bob seemed to catch onto the man’s mood and simply said, “That may be it. Anyways, do you have a problem with letting us in?”
The man said, “I guess not. My name’s Smith. Keep the puns to a minimum.”
Bob refrained from cracking a smile and Don made a serious attempt to do the same, though failed miserably. After composing himself, Don introduced himself as did Bob.
Smith sat down on a chair and told the pair to sit on his bed since he didn’t have any other chairs. Then he said, “So you came all the way to this remote place for me. What do you want?”
Bob said, “Straight to the point? Ok. I research strange and unique things. I heard there was a blacksmith that could make equipment out of light and came to acquire some. I have many goods with me, I can buy or trade for them.”
Smith simply said, “No thanks. I have everything I need and anything I don’t have I can make. You can go.”
Bob sighed and said, “May I ask why you won’t consider?”
Smith said, “Because it doesn’t benefit me. I came all the way out here to master my skill in secret, now you come here wanting to spread that secret?”
Bob immediately said, “I can swear to absolute secrecy about you. Several of the unique items currently in my possession come from sources who expressed similar views. But because I travel to so many places I assured them their wares would never be traced back to them. if you desire I can do the same for you. No one would have to know where I acquired them.”
Smith looked slightly reassured but a moment later he shook his head and said, “There is still no benefit to me. For now I am dedicating myself to mastering this skill. Only when I have reached the apex of Hardlight Blacksmithing will I start selling my wares.”
At this point Don interrupted, “Hardlight? What’s that?”
Smith answered, “Solid light. I’m a hardlight blacksmith. I make equipment from sunlight, moonlight, starlight, and several variations of each. I don’t need ores or metal. That is why I can practice independent of mines or the need for materials.”
Smith took out a knife that with a soft glowing handle. It was a dim glow but it was beautiful.
Don somehow recognized the light, he unconsciously muttered, “Starlight.”
Smith looked impressed, “Yes, I forged this one from starlight.”
Don only realized he said it after Smith answered, he then asked, “If it is made of light, can it be repaired?”
Smith shook his head. “Not exactly. If it breaks, the light disappears. But it doesn't really need repairs. When my equipment is exposed to the light of the same source it was created, it slowly repairs itself, and in the same light it is stronger. A blade made of sunlight is 10% stronger during the day. But only if it is outside and sunny.”
Bob said, “That’s incredible. Are you sure you want nothing? I have many things.”
Smith said, “No, the only thing I want is to master my skill. After that we might talk. But that won’t be for a long time.”
Bob looked distraught. Don asked, “Can we see you forge something? Please?”
Smith said, “That’s fine.”
The pair followed Smith out to the back where Smith got out his equipment. He said, “Weapons made from the same light are stronger. Its evening now so.. “ Smith got out a bright bladed, half finished sword that Don recognized as daylight and what looked like a glass hammer. Without anything else he brought the hammer down. The moment he did the sunlight became dim for an instant. He hammered again and the sunlight again got dimmer for an instant. After several more strikes Don and Bob noticed the half finished blade was getting slightly longer, maybe a millimeter. It was as if the light from the sun had been taken in with each hammer strike and was being forged into the sword. However the amount gained each time was minute. At this rate they could tell that a full sword would take many hours to complete. But still the pair watched, they watched until the sun was almost to the horizon. Then it passed behind the stone pillar ring that was held up in place by the few stone columns
At that point Smith stopped and said, “You two still here?” He put the still incomplete sword in a barrel and pulled out another incomplete sword. This one did not have the blinding intensity of the daylight blade, it was a smooth light with shimmers of red, orange and yellow light that were all together yet separate.
Smith stared at Don for a moment before Don said, “Sunset.” Don then looked astonished and said, “You said you can make different blades using different varieties of light? You mean you can use any shade of the same light? Like the light of dawn, or twilight? Can you make stronger blades if you make them during only one phase of the moon like waxing crescent as opposed to making them throughout the lunar cycle?”
Smith didn’t hid the fact that he was impressed that Don could tell what kind of light it was as well as understand the principle so easily. Don didn’t really understand how he knew either. He thought maybe it had something to do with the fact that lunar elves have a strong connection to the heavens.
Smith said, “The weaker and less frequent the light source I use to make a blade, the stronger and more beautiful the weapon. Daylight is overly abundant, swords made from it are overly bright and the weakest variety I can make. The strongest is starlight with twilight a close second.”
Don said, “But starlight comes out every night, it isn’t less frequent than twilight.”
Smith replied, “But it can only be used to make a blade during a new moon. The skill Hardlight forging creates equipment from the strongest light source when it is used. During any other night the moon is the strongest, ever when a thin crescent. And twilight may come out for only twenty minutes at a time but it comes every single day.”
The light of the sunset appeared from beneath the stone circle and the Smith started hammering and said, “The higher my mastery the more light I can forge into equipment with each hammer strike, so until I master it I won’t be able to produce them fast enough, and until then I won’t send a single one to the market.”
Bob thanked Smith for his time and moved to leave. He had given up, Smith wanted nothing but time, and gave nothing but words. Don thought about everything that had been said and stopped Bob. He asked the gnome, “Do you have any lenses? Or ways to make lenses?”
Bob looked confused for a moment before a look of comprehension came over him. He then looked pensive for a long moment and said, “I have nothing large enough in the wagon, but I can make some. I can even tint the glass to block different types of light.”
Don smiled, he hadn’t thought of that. Bob turned to Smith and said, “I have nothing that you want now, but if I come back with something you want, will you trade for a set of weapons of different types of light?”
Smith continued hammering and said, “What would you bring that you think I would want?”
Bob smiled and said, “Time.”
Smith didn’t reply. Don and Bob returned to the wagon to find Oric still guarding it. Bob said, “I need sand. lots of it. There is a desert about 100 miles southwest of here that has the right kind of sand we need. You can get it while I made the molds”
Don looked skeptically at Bob. The gnome had not once asked Don to do something that would take so much effort. Not just the 100 mile trek there but carrying the sand 100 miles back was unreasonable to say the least. Bob got out several bags and handed them to Don who hesitated to take them. Bob said, “Don’t worry, you won’t be walking there.” Bob set the bags down and walked to Oric, the automaton wolf that was larger than a motorcycle and Bob seemed to be opening some panels on it. Then a hatch on its back opened up revealing a cushioned seat.
Don said, “No way.”
Bob smiled, “Oric should be able to run quite fast though I have yet to test it out. Would you like to test it?”
Don took the bags from Bob and jumped on Oric’s back. Bob said, “Hold on, this may get rough.” before pointing southwest.
Oric launched off the face of the mountain trail into the air. Don gripped the seat with all the strength his fingers could muster as he fell weightless to the bottom of the valley, a drop which took a few seconds. The spot Don saw they would land was slanted, all of Don’s instincts told him that the wolf’s legs would buckle on impact and they would slide and roll and tumble painfully to the bottom. However upon landing Oric made the sound of steam escaping and landed without buckling, though Don’s butt still felt like he jumped off a building and landed on his tailbone. Oric immediately used the rest of the momentum from landing and propelled itself down the rest of the mountain face.
The rest of the journey wasn’t so much thrilling as it was painful. The seat barely fit Don, it was likely built for the bum of a gnome with some room to spare. Sitting on an improper seat for hours isn’t nice. The worst part was the terrain. The mountains changed from hills of grass and trees to barren rocky peaks with jagged edges. It likely would’ve been a two hour trip had it been straight and smooth but over mountain after mountain, it took five hours to reach the plains of endless rock and sand. The full moon illuminated the desert in pale light.
Don looked around for piles of sand without rocks or impurities. He could’ve just taken the first grains he saw but that would be the easy way, not the manly way. Don and Oric went further into the desert, to the point where the rocks disappeared and all that was left was sand. Don filled up the bags with pure white sand and set them on small hooks on Oric.
The sand rumbled, Oric started barking, something was coming. From the sand emerged a monster Don had never seen before. He didn’t recognise it either. It was ten meters tall and twenty meters long, it looked like a cross between an armadillo, a lizard, and a dragon with demon horns. Don barely was able to mutter, “scan.”
Armored Behemoth lvl 400~
Health 600,000~
Don yelled to Oric, “Run! Return to Bob!” The automaton didn’t move, it wasn’t that it wanted to fight, Don could tell it was too scared to move. Don once estimated Oric’s level between two and three hundred, but this was far beyond anything that it had ever come across.
Don launched himself at the monster yelling, “ORIC! GET YOU METAL BUTT OUT OF HERE!” Don didn’t look back as he yelled “Light of the Heavens!”
Lunar Buff
+50% Ice Affinity
+25% Agility
The behemoth’s large forearm swiped at Don but with his heightened speed he was able to dodge and strike the beast’s hand’s, but the swords bounced off. “Fiery Dance!”
Don ran to behind the monster using illusionary step to make himself appear to be going left, right, and back. The after images distracted the beast allowing Don to get to its back where he gave several fiery slashes to the underside of its tail. Don felt the blades bite into the skin this time. The behemoth jumped up and twisted away, trying to find what attacked it but Don had latched himself to the tail so he could keep attacking it.
Don had no delusions about winning. He wanted to distract the monster while Oric got away. Unlike Don, Oric would not revive if he was crushed to pieces between this monster’s enormous teeth. Don looked back to where Oric had been, and to his dismay he saw the automaton was still there. Still too scared to move? No, Don saw something in front of Oric’s mouth, he didn’t recognize it at first because of the dim moonlight, but a moment later he realized what it was. A magic circle was forming, Oric was using one of the artifacts Bob gave him. Inwardly Don thought, ‘No! You Idiot! There’s nothing you can do, run away!’ But the spell wasn’t being fired yet.
The behemoth seemed to realize that Don was on the underside of its tail so it burrowed into the sand, Don had to release the tail or he would’ve been dragged into the sand. He looked back to Oric, magic circle still forming, ‘Still not ready? Does it cast slowly?’ Then Don remembered that Bob said the stronger the spell, the longer the casting time. ‘Did Bob give him a spell that powerful?’
The behemoth rose from beneath Don who dived away half a second before being swallowed up by the creature. His right leg was not so lucky.
You have been crippled
Agility reduced by 90%
Movement speed reduced by 80%
You are bleeding severely.
Health will decline
Don’s leg wasn’t bitten off completely, it was still attached and within the behemoth’s mouth, who was swinging Don around wildly. It was everything Don could do to keep from shouting out in pain.
Then a loud whirring sound came from Oric. The armored behemoth noticed the shining metal wolf and tossed Don aside. Don thought, ‘No, come back here.’
Light started to gather in front of Oric’s mouth to the magic circle, the behemoth looked like it was taking in a large breath. The light around Oric condensed to a single point, the behemoth took in a mouth full of sand. The light from Oric’s magic circle then disappeared, and the behemoth roared, a torrent of sand erupted from its mouth and blasted Oric away, all the way back to the mountain where Don lost sight of it. ‘No..’
The behemoth turned back to Don and approached him, Don could barely move, much less stand up and run away. Suddenly the behemoth started glowing white light. Don thought, ‘Now what?’ The light got brighter and brighter, it soon outshone the full moon. Then it vanished, and the behemoth vanished with it.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Don had no idea what had happened. He crawled over to the last foot print the behemoth left. There, in the sand, he saw a small glowing sphere, the same glow that the behemoth had. Don carefully picked up the sphere. Nothing happened. “Identify.”
Sphere of sealing
Durability 5/5
Created with the use of the spell, Eternal Seal, the monster within will stay trapped inside as long as the seal remains intact.
Contains:
1 Armored Behemoth.
Don couldn’t believe it, but nor could he afford to stick around in case another one showed up. He pocketed the sphere and slowly moved back to the rock area away from the sand. When he thought he was far enough he got some bandages he had made with the scrap cloth from his tailoring and wrapped his leg up tight. It stopped the bleeding but didn’t provide much recovery, his bandaging skill wasn’t high enough to reverse crippling status effects. Don slowly made his way to the rocky mountain side and began searching for Oric, or whatever was left of him. Some part of Don hoped that Oric was fine after being sand blasted into a mountain and went back to Bob on his own, safe and sound. But that hope was dashed when he started finding pieces of orichalcum scattered about. Don collected the pieces and after a bit more searching found Oric. It wasn’t completely broken, that is to say, it was trying to move, but it couldn’t get up. When it tried to stand it’s legs buckled beneath its weight. From the way Don found the scattered parts, Oric likely smacked into the peak of the mountain, then rolled and bounced and slammed his way down.
Don ran over to it and tried to calm it, telling to stop trying to get up, Don heard it whimper slightly. The hatch in the chest plate was broken and crumpled, it didn’t stay closed. Don looked inside to see that the soul gear was unharmed, but that seemed to be the only good news. Don opened his friend list and whispered to Bob.
-Bob, you know that desert you sent us to?
After a moment came the reply.
-Yes, what about it?
-Why didn’t you mention the strength of the monsters here?
-...... You encountered one? Oh my, I didn’t think... The chances of you encountering anything there was so low I didn’t think it worth mentioning. I mean, it wasn’t like you were going into the desert, just to its edge... Did you.. Is everything alright?
-No.. My leg is torn, it will take a while for me to recover from the crippled status. And Oric.. Well, Oric was blasted half a little over a mile into the face of a rocky mountain where he got pretty banged up. The soul gear is intact, but he can’t get up.
It took some time for a reply to come back.
- If, if I guided you through the tricky parts, do you, do you think you could repair him?
Don thought about it for a moment. He did have the repair skill so the individual broken parts could be mended, not to full durability, but whole again. If Don could get a good look inside, a real good look. He could see, he could learn how everything worked. It wouldn’t be easy. He didn’t have a blueprint nor had he seen the inner workings of the bot while in full working order. Without either he couldn’t know how a broken part worked when looking at it in its broken state. But Oric was symmetrically built, if the left leg was broken and the right leg worked, Don could look at the right leg to understand how to fix the left. But there was still a problem.
- I can’t open the hatches to remove the bent armor plating to fix what’s underneath.
-That’s not a problem, set your hand on his forehead and use repair. When an artificer does so, automatons are programed to release the locks keeping their outer shell in place.
Don placed his hand on Oric’s forehead and said, “Repair.”
He heard several tiny clicks come from beneath Oric’s armor. Don lifted them and they came off, one by one. Don saw each and every one of the inner workings of Oric. He sent Bob a whisper.
- This will take some time. I’ll call if I need anything.
The first thing Don did was look. He examined every inch putting his mind into extreme concentration. He inspected every part, every angle of every gear, pulley, piston and lever.
New stat: Concentration
The message barely registered to Don as he meticulously went over each part again and again. Four hours had passed. In the real world it would be 2am by now, the usual time Don logged off and went to sleep. But not this time. Even if it meant staying up all night Don would not rest until Oric was by Bob’s side. Four more hours passed, then four more. Then Don had it. With the occasional question to Bob about a feature he couldn’t recognize Don had learned every inch of Bob’s automaton, he felt he could repair it from scrap or draw the blueprint blindfolded.
Don got up and went back to searching around the mountain. He had previously collected the parts he found, but now he knew some essential parts were still missing, and although he could repair, he couldn’t replace.
After an hour of searching, Don found the missing essential components and a few more that were scattered about. Don went about using repair on each part of Oric, not just the obviously broken parts, but the parts he now recognized were damaged from the impact. Don then went about assembling the broken parts within Oric one piece at a time. After two hours he had placed the last of the armor back on the automaton. It wasn’t perfect, some of the smaller delicate parts like those used in the artifact equipping chambers were broken beyond repair, but that just meant Oric wouldn't be able to use artifacts until those parts were replaced.
“Oric, you alright?”
Oric got up and walked around a bit, testing the repairs, then it barked in affirmation. As Don was getting ready to leave he noticed that the sand bags that were once hooked on Oric’s sides were gone. Not wanting to leave a job unfinished, Don sewed together some scrap cloth into bags.
“Stay Oric.” Don went to collect the sand alone, he very slowly went to the edge of the sand, filled the bags, then slowly left. After returning safely to the rocky mountain on whispered to Bob.
-Oric’s fixed, not 100% but as close as i can get him. i got the sand too. We’ll take it slow on the way back to you. Probably be back in six or seven hours.
-... Thankyou.
Don opened the cushioned seat and hopped on Oric who started running back northeast. It wasn’t the same sprinting pace as before but it was fast enough, and now that they knew the terrain they knew what to avoid.
Six hours later Don and Oric made it back. Bob went to look at Oric as Don said, “Sorry but I got to get to sleep, see you later.”
Don got out of the capsule. It was 7.30 am and Don had leave for work in four hours. He hit his bed exhausted and was out before his head touched the pillow.
Ten hours later after one of the most tiring days of work ever, Don got back into his capsule to check on Bob and Oric.
He logged back in next to the wagon where he saw Oric in high spirits on the top, looking out over everything. Bob noticed he logged in and said, “Don, welcome back. First thing I have to ask. What did you encounter and how did you escape? Judging by the reduced durability in Oric’s parts, he took an impossibly strong hit.”
Don took out the sphere of sealing Oric made and handed it to Bob who examined it for a moment before using Identify. After reading the description and contents his face went almost white with shock. “An Armored Behemoth? Oric sealed an armored behemoth?”
Don said, “Yea, it was pretty impressive, I didn’t know there were spells that could do that, much less that Oric had an artifact that can use that spell.”
Bob shook his head and said, “I equipped him with that a while ago on the off chance we ran into something interesting. Sealing magic requires weakening the target, then one of the longest casting times of any magic. How much did you damage it?”
Don said, “Barely any. My first strike bounced off, only after engulfing my blades in flames and attacking the most vulnerable point did I get through its armor.”
Bob said, “The success rate of sealing magic is determined by the difference between the health and maximum health of the target. Its a miracle it worked, the chances of it working was likely less than the chance you’d have of shooting a bullet into the air in a random city and having it hit the big toe of the descendent of King Arthur!”
The comparison was colorful but the point was clear, it shouldn’t have happened but it did. Bob handed the sphere to Don and said, “Keep this. The chance would’ve been zero if you didn’t damage it and keep it occupied long enough for Oric to cast Eternal Seal. Just be careful with it, when it breaks that beast will come out, and it will destroy anything and everything between it and the desert, its home.”
Don took the sphere and placed it in his inventory. He then asked, Did you finished it? Was there enough sand?”
Bob got up and smiled, “Oh yes.”
Bob and Don took the contraption to Smith, where they found him hammering dawnlight into the head of a spear. They waited until dawn sun rose to behind the stone circle, signaling a change in light type.
“We’re back.”
Smith looked over to see the pair. They had a large cabinet on wheels with several steel rods on top that could be adjusted.
Smith said, “Didn’t you say you would bring me time? What is this?”
Don and Bob pushed it over to the table Smith was hammering and opened the cabinet. There they pulled out a large lense of glass wrapped in a steel band. The lense attached to the steel rod. They put the lense over the table and adjusted it. Bob said, “With this you will be able to focus the sun to your hammer. I have a feeling that will allow you to forge the light faster.”
Smith walked over to the station switched out the dawnlight blade for a sunlight blade. When the sun rose over the stone circle Smith adjusted the lense to focus the brightness on the edge of the unfinished sword. He then brought the glass looking hammer down and hammered, then again. The length had visibly increased. It didn’t take much math to figure that using this during the span between dawn and sunset he could forge several whole blades instead of most of one each day. The rate he made dawn, sunset, and twilight blades would increase as well, shortening the amount of time it would take to master the skill.
Bob said, “But wait, there’s more,” before taking out a different lense. It was slightly tinted darker. Bob said, “This one completely blocks out moonlight.”
Smith raised his eyebrows skeptically, he then brought out a short sword that glowed of moonlight and held it in his hand beneath the lense. Those looking through it saw only smith’s hand. “Woah.” Bob explained the use of each lense. Most of them were for different phases of the moon, focusing all the light from a crescent moon into one spot required a different lense than the focusing of a quarter or gibbous moon.
Bob said, “I will trade this to you for a one weapon made out of each type of light and a pair of matching swords made for my friend here. I could not have made this without him.”
Smith looked over the lense shelf for a moment and then back to Don. “What kind of swords would you like?”
Don didn’t have to think about it much. “Swords made from the light of a full moon.”
Smith said, “I can do it, but even with this it will take time, a few in game months perhaps. And the level requirements will be high.”
Don said, “Not a problem. I have business in the area with a sword dancer on Mt. Ketsdale. I’ll hang there for a while and come back when you’re finished, can I add you to my friend list?”
You have sent Smith a friend request.
He smiled, “Sure.”
Smith has accepted your friend request.
Smith has been added to your friend list.
After saying their goodbyes the pair left down the mountain. Bob hadn’t requested custom works so Smith only had to gather one of each type of blade he already had made and gave them to Bob.
At the crossroads that led north to civilization and east to Mt. Ketsdale Bob stopped the wagon and got off. He went to the back of his wagon and Don followed him. Before opening the back Bob said, “Our agreement when we met was for you to escort me and I teach you one or two skills and give you an item from my wagon. However you went beyond that agreement when you choose your second skill to be artificing just so you could help me by filling the soul gear. You went beyond it when you came with me to get the light weapons and give me the idea for the lense shelf. You went beyond it when you went to the desert, repaired Oric and brought him back to me safe and sound. Don, I couldn’t ask for a better friend, so please accept these.”
Bob went into the back for a minute and returned with a large box, a necklace, and a large tome. He started with the book, “Though you have learned artificing, you do not have what you really need to use it, for helping me with the creation of Oric, I want you to have this. This book is one of my most treasured possessions, given to me by my artificing teacher. It will teach you all the basics of the skill. Use it wisely.” After Don put the book in his inventory Bob handed him the necklace. Don recognized it as the one Bob lent him before saying Oric would obey his commands when he wore it, though afterwards he didn’t need it because Oric knew Don as a friend of its master. Bob said, “For learning to repair Oric and doing so with the skill of a master artificer, I want you to keep this. This necklace is the symbol of an accomplished artificer. Automatons will obey the orders of its wearer unless its master says otherwise. It marks one as an ally to gnomes, you will be able to see and enter the secret passages that lead to the hidden cities of gnomes within the distant mountains.” And last he handed Don the box, It large than a grapefruit and had intricate wavy markings on it as well as quite a few scratches. The wood that made up the top seemed to be a different kind than the wood that made up the bottom. “And last, as per our original agreement. I give you one item from my wagon. Know that this is likely the most valuable thing in my possession, more so even than Oric.”
Don took the box and after a moment of looking at the markings opened it, or at least tried. It didn’t budge an inch.
“How do you open this? Does it need a key?”
Bob said, “Well, I don’t know.I don’t know how to open it or even what is inside it.”
Don said, “If you don’t know what is in it, then why do you think it is more valuable than Oric?”
Bob said, “Some repeat customers of mine gave it to me in trade for a good sum of artifacts I made. They said they found it at the end of an ancient dungeon during an A rank quest. When they could not open it they traded it to me, since i trade on value, regardless of what it is. I don’t doubt what they said was true. But I don’t know how to open it either, though I haven’t tried everything. Still, I have a feeling you will have more luck. The same luck perhaps that sealed that behemoth.”
Don said, “Thankyou very much. I do hope we meet again.”
“Of course we will. Do tell me what is in there when you open it, and if you ever find a unique item, I’ll come running to trade you for it.”
After a handshake and another round of goodbyes, Bob headed north. Oric looked back at Don getting further away and howled. Don waved back and after some time, turned to leave for Mt. Ketsdale.
Chapter 8 The Master of Mt. Ketsdale viewtopic.php?f=185&t=1672
Chapter 6 Wolves and Clockwork viewtopic.php?f=185&t=1624
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