Roth stared helplessly at the pile of items discarded by the dwarf lords off to a corner, leaving them for Roth to pick up later. The only items they cared about were neatly organized on the table. There was the [Affinity Orb], the [Possibilator], and the [Crown of the Molian King].

“What are you going to do with those?” Roth asked for the 10th time.

“We told you. Wait. and. see.”

It was useless. The dwarf lords weren’t answering any of his questions. Sighing, Roth knelt by the pile of items and loot and started stuffing it all back into his bag. He was beginning to question whether this makeover item was worth it. The ticket said nothing about being robbed and stripped of his treasures.

As he finished packing the rest of the items, he found Grimnir staring down at him with burning intensity.

“Uh? Yes? Can I help you with anything?” Roth asked.

“Call your pets.”

After seeing what they had done with his bag, Roth hesitated. “Why?”

“For them to help you.”

“Are you going to do anything to them?”

Grimnir chuckled and put his arm around Roth’s shoulders. “Haha. What are you talking about, son? We’re here to help you!” he said with a smile.

Roth gulped. There was something strange about the dwarf lord's smile.

Still, he obeyed. He had a reputation with dwarves, and he knew they were incapable of betrayal. He had to give this opportunity his all. He called Lua.

Summon!

Lua galloped in from around the corner, neighing. Her usual loftiness was remarkably subdued by the overwhelming power coming from the dwarf magistrates.

“Did you call Her Majesty?” she asked Roth while glancing at the dwarves.

“Yes. The magistrates said they want you to help me with something,” Roth said, shrugging.

Grimnir interrupted his reunion with the princess of the Moonlight Herd. “Good. Now, the ants. Call them.”

Roth took the golden acorns from his pocket and showed them to Grimnir. “I don’t think I can summon all of them; there are tens of thousands of my treeants. I have some of them here with me, though.”

“That’s alright,” he said, taking the acorns from him.

Grimnir stared at the acorn, and Roth could feel the brainwaves in the air being stirred.

“What construction materials do you have?” he heard the dwarf ask telepathically.

“Chitin. Silk,” came the response from the troop of soldiers in the acorns.

“Have your kin bring us silk to help your master. A few more of these acorns, too.”

The dwarf lord didn’t return the acorns to Roth, but instead, he put them in his pocket. He went over to Lua and petted the horse. “As expected of the princess of the moonlight herd. She’s glorious.”

Roth was pleased with the compliment, and Lua even more so.

“Look at your hair. It’s so shiny.”

“Her Majesty likes this dwarf,” she neighed to Roth.

There was an electric buzz and a nervous neigh, and before Roth could figure out what was going on, Grimnir was holding a hair-cutting machine, and Lua’s whole hair was missing. She stared horrified at the dwarf and looked at her stripped tail and mane. The dwarf had butchered her hair. “You can go now, horsey,” the dwarf lord said while picking up the hair piles.

“Lua, what did he do to you?!” Roth asked, shocked.

The mare took off running, crying and leaving a befuddled Roth behind. These dwarfs were heartless! A little dust fell from the ceiling, making Roth look up. Leafies were emerging from the hole, using their powerful drilling equipment to dig a hole from the garden to here. After a few moments, a silk thread descended from the ceiling onto the hands of Brunna, who patiently tied it all in a neat spool.

“Why are you doing all of this?” Roth asked again. These dwarves were picking all the bits of his life apart in front of his eyes without explaining anything!

The dwarves ignored him, "Very well. I think we have everything we need. Please give us the equipment."

Roth complied, unequipping all the pieces of his armor. He stood in beginner's garb, with expensive jewelry and two flags on his back. The dwarves took his gear away and laid it neatly on the table.

He went over to sit with Jack and Godsfried to watch the lords work. “Hey, where are you going, Martyr?” Rurik asked.

“Uh? To watch you work,” he said.

“No. You’re going to join us.”

“M-me? But I’m nothing compared to you. You will do whatever you want better than I can.”

Brunna went over to Roth, took him by the hand, and dragged him over to the workstation. “You’re powerful, but your power is too spread out. It’s divided between different animals, different talents, affinities, and even pets. To make a piece of equipment that suits you, the challenge is to make it all harmonize. You must be part of this set, just as your pets do. Otherwise, this is not going to work.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“So what do I do?”

“For now. Stand here. We’ll let you know when the time comes for you to assist.”

Roth stood by the workstation like a student about to be mentored by a master.

“Are you ready?” Grimnir asked his colleagues.

BOOOOM!

The dwarf lords looked up in alarm. "What’s happening?" one of the dwarf lords demanded. A dwarf approached, riding a coyote.

"The slavers are trying to break in through the door!”

“We’re trying to work here, and they’re making a ruckus," Brunna complained. "Deploy the citadel’s guards to come here."

Boom! Boom!

“No, Brunna. That will take too long. Here.” Grimnir went over to Roth, stuffed his hand into his bag again, and pulled out the two [Hydrogen Grenades]. He threw them casually to the dwarf. “Just tweak the alpha waves, and it should do the trick. Give them to Limoin. He’s good with explosives.”

Roth watched in horror as these wealthy, powerful NPCs decided to use his stuff instead of their soldiers or their powers to fend off the attack. Why did they have to use his stuff? At the same time, he felt a weight leave his shoulders. He had kept the grenades in his inventory for so long but refrained from using them. Maybe it was for the best that someone else took them off his hands.

But who would be crazy enough to attack a place with three level 99 magistrates? Shrugging, Roth decided to focus on the dwarves’ craftsmanship.

*

Thousands of Pegasus troops rained their attacks down on the line of defending dwarves. “Focus on the coyotes! They’re lower-leveled than the riders!” Loki shouted.

Yillian’s black elephant, Powder, charged into the fray, creating kinetic constructs. Blue floating sledgehammers swept through the dwarves, but their shields glowed orange, deflecting the attacks. Loki clenched his teeth. Dwarf craftsmanship was impressive; their gear was anything but ordinary.

Xerxes hurled rock fists at the dwarves while Yillian, mounted on her giant snake, unleashed clouds of acid and poison on the defenders. Despite their efforts, the sheer number of dwarves was overwhelming.

Loki glanced at the rankings list. The Slayer was in 14th place. How had the brute advanced so quickly? He couldn't let him leave the prison he'd made for him! Even if it meant everyone here would lose a level, Loki vowed to reach the Slayer. He had to pay for everything he put him through and make up for the billions of gold he had stolen.

As the battle intensified, a chubby dwarf approached the frontlines. Loki's eyes widened in alarm. “What is that dwarf doing?” he demanded, watching as the dwarf assembled a strange device. “Stop him!” Loki commanded, unleashing lightning and black flames toward the dwarf. But the dwarf was well-protected, and a dwarven knight blocked the attack with a gleaming shield.

The dwarf completed the device—a simple tripod with two spheres at the top. Loki had never seen anything like it. The spheres began to glow, and before he could react, a bolt of energy as thick as a river surged through his troops.

You’ve been killed.

You have lost a level.

You’ve lost three dexterity.

You’ll need physiotherapy.

All the Pegasus players reappeared, dumbfounded, in the cemetery of Sapphira. “What was that weapon?” Loki demanded, frustration evident in his voice.

*

As Roth watched the three dwarf lords dismantle his precious [Lacertian Set], he felt each moment stretch endlessly. Brunna removed the lining from inside the armor, Rurik severed the connections holding the pieces together, and Grimnir pried off the iron rivets. The dwarves worked with unflinching precision.

Once the armor was disassembled, the trio split into their respective tasks. Brunna reached into her pouch and pulled out an assortment of needles. Rurik moved to a workstation, and Grimnir went to an anvil. Roth watched Grimnir with curiosity as he grabbed the [Possibilator].

Grimnir set the item on the anvil. Roth frowned. “Wait. What are you—?”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The [Possibilator] was being smashed mercilessly by Grimnir’s hammer. Roth felt as if he were the one being hammered. Before he could react, a mechanical sound, like a chainsaw, caught his attention. He glanced over at Rurik, who had clamped the [Affinity Orb] and was attacking it with an electric saw, sending sparks and dust flying.

Panic gripped Roth. Did these dwarves realize the value of those items? He was about to rush over when he saw Grimnir break through the Possibilator’s outer shell to reveal a cluster of shiny chips. Grimnir inspected each chip with care, then moved to a workstation where he began working on them with a soldering iron. Meanwhile, Rurik sliced the Affinity Orb into perfectly thin pieces, as if slicing cheese.

There was more to their work than met the eye. They knew the value of these items and handled them with expertise. Roth took a deep breath and forced himself to stay calm. These were dwarf lords; he had to trust them.

Brunna called him over. “Martyr, come here. It’s time for you to lend a hand.”

Roth gulped and approached. The cut tufts of Lua’s mane were neatly laid out on the table. Brunna picked up one of the small bundles. “First, we need to prepare these tufts. They’ll be attached to the shoulders of the thorax and the collar of the cape.”

Roth’s eyes widened. “That sounds amazing!”

“Let me show you the technique.” Brunna demonstrated, gently untangling a tuft of hair and arranging it into a neat, fluffy bundle. She then tied it with thread and trimmed it to a uniform length. “Your turn,” she said, handing Roth a tuft of Lua’s hair and a small pair of shears. “Gently brush and shape the hair. We want each tuft to be perfect.”

With slightly trembling hands, Roth took the tuft and began brushing through it, carefully untangling knots and shaping it into a neat bundle.

“Be gentle,” Brunna advised. “The hair is delicate. Trim the ends evenly so the tuft looks uniform.”

Once Roth had shaped several tufts to Brunna’s satisfaction, she led him to the pieces of leather that had once been the padded shoulders of the [Lacertian Thorax]. “Now, we’ll attach these to the armor,” she instructed. “Apply a thin layer of adhesive to the shoulder sections, then place the tufts on the adhesive.”

Brunna demonstrated this by spreading adhesive over the shoulder padding and arranging the tufts. Roth followed, applying the adhesive and carefully positioning each tuft.

“Press firmly but gently,” Brunna said. “This ensures the tufts adhere securely without losing their shape. We’ll sew them down to reinforce their attachment.”

Roth took a needle and thread, stitching around the base of each tuft to secure them in place.

The moment he finished, notifications flashed before him:

You’ve worked at the feet of a dwarven tailor grandmaster!

+3 million ecotailor XP.

[Ecotailor Level Up!]

[Ecotailor Level Up!]

You’ve learned a new tailoring technique: [Hairwork].

Roth was astonished at how a small task could yield such significant rewards. As Brunna turned to work on the silk next, adding spools of treeant silk to a loom and weaving cloth, Roth pouted, realizing he was nearing level 40 as a tailor but still needed to learn to operate a loom.

Someone tugged at his shirt. He turned to find Grimnir holding a handful of [Golden Acorns]. “Martyr, I need you to create the best light traps you can for these acorns.”

Roth frowned. “On acorns? Can I really do that?”

“Of course,” Grimnir replied. “Once you’ve made the traps, you’ll fit them into the armor. Whenever you break through a new threshold in your craft, you can use new golden acorns. You see?”

Roth stared, impressed by the simplicity and elegance of the solution. “Of course! I’ll get right to it.”

He moved to a free table, set up his vacuuming machine, and clamped a golden acorn in place. As he began carving a laser trap on the acorn, his excitement for his legendary set grew.