Elsewhere. Somewhere far away from Earth. So far away that the light from Earth’s star was just another blip in the sky there was a man with black horns and skin a light red in color. He was walking down a corridor made entirely out of Scarce Rarity metals with each panel having intricate runes carved into it. Each of the man's steps which should have echoed as he walked instead made no sound. The runes on the wall absorbing the noise before it was produced.
The man himself was dressed in rugged work clothes, and wore a burned leather apron. For anyone with knowledge of rare and exotic materials would be horrified to see his burned apron. The apron was made from the hide of an elder dragon, and for something to burn the hide of a creature that possessed a near immunity to fire would have to be something of immense power.
In his hand he held an unassuming hammer, but if one looked close enough they would see that the hammer was covered in runes that covered every available surface of the hammer. The runes were so small that they could not be seen by a person with less than 50 points in perception or a sufficiently powerful observation skill. The hammer hid enormous power in its unassuming exterior.
The man carried many other such items like his goggles whose lenses were forged with spatial glass pulled from the very fabric of reality. They would allow their user to see through hidden truths of the universe. Or one of his many rings, one of which was made from a fragment of an ancient and powerful dungeon core who’s influence spanned a whole galaxy. Or possibly even his boots which were made of crystallized fire from the birth of existence itself. However even with all of the evident power this man possessed he was pissed.
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Algeraz stalked down one of the many metal hallways of the Citadel Of Iron. His home and workshop. It was the size of a planet and its construction had taken many thousands of years. In fact it had originally been a planet, it had been mined out and its core had been concentrated and turned into a forge to work with all manner of materials. He had not been the one to make the planet sized forge, but now with the death of his master he was its new owner.
He thought back to that day about two months ago. That had been when his master had died and his problems had started. His Master Durgan the mad crafter had been the previous holder of ‘The Crafters Legacy.’ It was that feat that had turned him mad and eventually killed him, but out of all who had gained the feat in the last ten thousand years he had managed to keep it under control for the longest, and with the knowledge of The Crafters at his fingertips he had been able to create some true wonders during the 4,121 years he had held the legacy.
However his method at holding back the curse of ‘The Crafter Legacy’ had not been perfect, and eventually like all of the others before him it had been his doom. However he and his master had found a new way that should have theoretically been the perfect solution for the feats major flaw. Over the last several hundred years they had put their plan into motion. The hardest part of their plan was to find a way for Algeraz to gain a greater feat, but not just any random greater feat they needed a way for him to select his feat. At great expense and from personally owning a favor to the trillion eyed spider they had managed to accomplish that goal, and with all of the other pieces in place the last step was for his master to die and for him to select the feat.
Their enemies knew that his master was getting close to the end of his life, and they no doubt had plans to try and stop him or steal away the feat before he was able to select it, but the Citadel Of Iron was not just a forge, but also an almost impenetrable fortress, and their enemies would have no way to know exactly when his master died.
He had sat at his master's bedside with a ruby knife clutched in his hand. This last part had been his master's idea. As his last masterwork he would ever create he had made this knife out of the crystallized blood of a primordial dragon. A beast that was larger than some stars that flew between galaxies upon the solar winds. The knife was a one time use item that would give Algeraz 50% of the experience that his master had ever gained. A much better conversion ratio then someone would normally gain when killing a person. It was just like his master to propose such a thing; he was never one to let a valuable resource go to waste, and over Durgans long life he had reached levels that very few had ever reached, and to receive even half of that would be a great boon.
Algeraz remembered that moment vividly. His Master had nodded to him, giving him to go ahead. In that moment he had plunged the knife downward and into his master's heart. The knife had dissolved in his hand and melted into his body bringing his master very essence with it as it filled his very being.
It was then that the unaccounted for occurred. Algeraz had his feat selection screen open before he had plunged the knife into his heart, but when his master died screens flooded his vision covering up the feat selection screen. He had frantically dismissed the screens that told him about titles gained, experience earned and so many others. By the time he had returned back to the feat selection ‘The Crafters Legacy’ was no longer there. Someone else had selected it before him, and as Algeraz knew very well there could only be a single holder of the feat at a time.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The next couple of months had gone by in a blur. He had investigated the obvious culprits first. He had started with diplomacy at first, and when the other great crafting clans denied that they were the culprit he had invaded worlds: only to find that they had been telling the truth.
All paths he checked were dead ends. Even the ones with the least chance of being true like some random person selecting the feat. It was incredibly unlikely that any random person could select the feat. If they did they would almost instantly die from the very first information transfer when selecting the feat. It took resources and a lot of preparation to survive that transfer. However one of his aides that was monitoring the system shop and system auctions had called for him which could only mean a couple of thing
He arrived and saw the man who had called for him nervously wringing his hands. “My lord, I have made a discovery that needs you attention.”
Before the man laid a variety of weapons however they were all widespread trash made with the most basic of materials. “Did you call me here to see these worthless weapons?”
“Yes, my lord. I have done what you ask and I have been monitoring the shop. These were just sold to the shop a couple of hours ago. The AI flagged them for review, but when I looked at them I saw nothing of note until I saw this one.” The man pulled out a new sword from seemingly thin air and placed it before Algeraz. If Daniel had been in the room he would have recognized the sword that was laid out on the table. It was a sword of Common Rarity and Flawless in Quality. It was nothing special, also made out of steel just like the others.”
The man gestured excitedly “It took me a little while to find the connection, but I found it. Oh, I found it.”
“Well, what did you find?” Algeraz questioned a bit of irritation entering his voice.
“I believe that this sword was made by the person who gained ‘The Crafter Legacy.’ With the information you provided on the question progression of the feat I am confident in saying that this was the item he made to complete the first quest line by making an item with widespread materials and pushing it into the common rarity. I have cast several diagnostic and divination spells on the sword to gain more information on the identity of the crafter, and I was unable to gain any more information which can only mean a few things.”
“I am a Crafter Damian, not a mage, just spit it out already.”
“Yes my lord.” The man said bowing again. “It can mean one of three things based on my observations. First is that he is a person of extreme caution and purged all karma and other links from the item before selling it to the system shop. I personally find this to be unlikely since the description says that it was made by a talented, but mundane item. If a person had severed all ties to the item like I said the description would have been blank or had almost zero information on who crafted the blade. Of course they could have used some kind of falsify data on the item but that too–”
“Damian, please get back on track please. I don’t have all day.” Algeraz was well aware of Damian eccentricities, but with everything that had happened over the last couple of months it was grinding on his already frayed nerves.
“Yes of course. Now where was I… Ah yes the second option is that this person has some very advanced wards that block divination, but if that were the case I would still get back some information on how the spell had failed. Instead it brought back no information at all as if the target did not exist which of course isn't possible. In fact I have a whole book on ways divination spells can fail and–”
“Damian.” Algeraz almost growled the word.
“Yes, sorry Algeraz. The last option which I find most likely based on how the spells failed is that this person is in a newly integrated section of space that is being shielded by the system. The chosen Hero's on newly integrated worlds with sentient life are allowed to choose two greater feats which could explain why they have been able to survive ‘The Crafters Legacy’ for as long as they have with no additional support. If their feat was something like ‘Crystal Mind’ or maybe even ‘Spirit Form’ it could explain their continued survival.
Algeraz, who had been irritated with Damian continued rambling, began to smile. That was a possibility that he had never even considered. Some person from some not even integrated planet stealing what was rightfully his. A dragon or in this case a greater demon did not consider the ants that walked beneath his shadow. For the person who took HIS feat to not even be one of his great enemies hadn't even crossed his mind. “Thank you for the hard work Damian. With this information I can begin to call in some favors. Damian, is there a way to find out what part of the newly integrated space this person is in.”
“Yes, ways to bypass system information blocks are possible if difficult and expensive to perform.”
“No expense shall be spared, but I need it done the next day. Do you understand Damian?”
“Yes my lord. I can have it done in ten hours.”
Algeraz nodded and then reached over and took the Flawless Quality sword from Damian. “Do you need this sword for the ritual?”
“No, I have several other items the person has made. Any of them would be enough for my needs.”
“Good.” Algeraz said, and without another word he vanished into thin air. The sword still held in his grip. He had teleported to another part of the planet sized forge. Then a minute later he had teleported off the planet and to another part of the galaxy. With the knowledge that his enemy was on a newly integrated planet he needed to call in a favor. Once Damian provided the results of the divination he could be the sponsor of that planet's invading force. While he was too powerful to go himself. He passed tier 10 and well into his first ascension. Beings of higher realms could no longer personally interfere with lower realms, but that didn't mean he still didn't have connections with factions of the lower realms. There was no reason why he couldn't call upon “The Infernal Horde” to be the invaders of this fledgling world. As long as they followed the system's pesky rules for invading forces Algeraz would have this problem sorted out soon. They would invade this world terraforming the planet and killing all life on it in the process thus fixing his little problem.
Algeraz began to laugh an ominous laugh as he went to call in a favor that was long overdue. He was just glad invading weak newly integrated worlds had never appealed to him in the past. The weak had no right to stand in his way. In his hand he still held the Flawless Quality sword made by the bug that dared to steal what was rightfully his. With nothing, but the strength of his hands he crushed the sword to dust. As he did he imagined that it was their heart. Soon the bug would be dead, and he would be able to carry on his masters and The Crafters Legacy.