Lucius did some light stretching to test the new armor covering his upper body. He swung his arms forward and back to ensure he wasn’t restricted and could still move with his full range of motion. Only when he folded his arms across his chest did he notice the scales pressing against each other slightly, creating a tight feeling under his armpits. Other than that, the chest piece felt nearly perfect and didn't hamper his maneuvering or sword-fighting ability in any way.

Standing with his legs shoulder-width apart, Lucius bent slightly to stabilize his posture as he looked over at Jack, clenching his fists tightly as he put on a sly grin.

"Hit me. Give me your best shot, right in the middle of my chest."

Jack’s eyebrows rose, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You sure about that? You know how high my Strength is..."

When he saw Lucius nodding he quickly agreed to the request, after all he was quite curious about the armors defense himself. Without another word, Jack walked in front of Lucius, pulling back his clenched fist and twisting his entire upper body like a pitcher. He launched his fist forward with all his power, his knuckles slamming dead center into the black scales covering Lucius' chest.

A sound like a heavy object falling off the back of a truck echoed through the forge as Jack’s Endless Grit enhanced fist struck the flowing layers of black scales on Lucius’ chest.

The impact sent Lucius sliding backwards for three meters across the floor at rapid speed before two ropes of shadow jumped up from the ground, wrapping around his waist and preventing him from slamming into the wall.

The armor did its job masterfully, dispersing the force of the impact across his entire upper body and greatly minimizing the damage of the blow. Even so, if he hadn’t exhaled and prepared himself before the hit, he probably would have had the wind knocked out of him.

"Damn... That’s hard!"

Jack shook his hand in the air, grimacing in pain as he glanced from his red knuckles over toward his friend. Lucius looked down at his chest closely, rubbing the spot where Jack's punch had landed. He noticed a barely visible, hair-thin crack spreading across a single scale at the center of the impact zone. Even as he observed it, the edges of the crack slowly receded as the armor’s self-repair mechanism activated. When Jack saw the pristine condition of the armor he couldn't help but sigh in approval as he rested his hands on his hips.

"Okay, bud, I’m impressed. I was sure I could knock you on your ass with a full-strength punch, but that hit barely fazed you."

Lucius waved his hand dismissively at Jack’s compliment as the shadowy ropes dissipated back into the floor.

"I just got lucky."

Jack shook his head, raising one eyebrow skeptically as he heard his young friend’s shameless lie.

"Yeah, right. Don’t bullshit me. I know you could kill us all without breaking a sweat if you wanted to."

Lucius smiled but stayed silent when Jack called him out, quickly changing the subject. He pulled off the old pair of belts around his waist that Patrick had inscribed for him to use as a sheath. Now that he had a storage ring, the belts had become redundant.

"Here, I don’t need this anymore. If you don’t have a use for it, give it away for me."

Jack nodded and tossed the belt onto a pile of finished items he was preparing to distribute. As Lucius prepared to leave, Jack casually asked one more question while returning to his workbench.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Once Tiber returns with those materials, I’ll be swamped for quite a while, so if there’s anything else you need, you better ask for it now."

Lucius rubbed his chin, staring at the floor as he stood in front of the exit for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, you’re better off focusing on getting everyone else well-equipped. I’m one of the few people who can earn my own equipment through the system. I plan to close as many anomalies as I can over the next week before the big move while I'm out trying to track down Maryanne’s parents. I’ll be able to acquire all the equipment I need from that."

Jack gave a quick nod, waving one hand as Lucius departed. Once the door closed and he was alone again, Jack gave his new companion under the workbench a long look. After considering it for a few moments he turned and walked over to the couch where he usually slept at the back of the forge and retrieved the thick blanket laying there, after returning to the workbench he bent down and carefully draped the blanket over the sleeping creature’s small body.

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After Lucius stepped out of the forge, he stood outside the door for a short while, deciding on his next course of action. As he stood there thinking he casually glanced around, watching the different people as they moved around the farm focused on their various tasks. He happened to spot Maryanne, James, and Sarah carrying a bin full of food scraps toward the fenced-in area that contained the pig-like creatures. Lucius decided to check up on Maryanne to see how she was fitting in, and ask James about the new creatures while he was at it.

When Maryanne saw Lucius approaching, she quickly set her bin of scraps down near the fence and ran up to him, grabbing his arm with both hands as she pulled him over excitedly.

"Lucius! Come and feed the animals with me. James let me help, but it's hard for me to reach over the fence."

Maryanne picked up the bin of scraps and handed it to Lucius, pointing at the food trough on the opposite side of the fence where the mother pig and her many children waited eagerly for their meal, snorting and kicking at the wooden trough excitedly. If Lucius had been here when James first tamed the creatures he would be shocked at how rapidly they had grown. The smallest of the new creatures had more than tripled in size over this short period of time. He hoisted the bin up over the top of the fence, dumping the contents into the trough as James and Sarah had done. Lucius turned to ask James about the new creatures as he handed over the bin.

James wore a proud smile, collecting the empty bins as he began to joyfully explain the details of his favorite topic.

"I call them hedge-pigs. They grow super fast. They’re the second type of creature I’ve been able to tame. Mom said we can only afford to keep them if they can pull their own weight, but I found out that they can dig really good. I’ve been using them to make the holes for the new wall. Dad said we need to make a big trench around the outside once the wall is done, that will be my responsibility!"

Lucius nodded along to the boy's explanation, patting James on the shoulder in approval.

"Well done, James. You’re more capable than most of the grown men around here. Take good care of Miss Maryanne for me while I’m away. If anything goes wrong when I’m not around, I’m depending on you to protect her, okay?"

James couldn’t help but stand a bit taller at Lucius’ praise, nodding firmly as he glanced at Maryanne.

"You can count on me, I promise to keep her safe!"

"Thank you, James. If I don’t see you three before I head back out, then this will be goodbye."

Maryanne grew visibly anxious as she listened to Lucius’ words, shifting her weight from foot to foot while clenching her hands together across her chest.

"You’re leaving!?"

Lucius gently pushed Maryanne’s freshly brushed hair back with one hand as he patted her on the head, noticing that Nana had taken good care of the child so far. Her clothes and skin were clean for the first time since Lucius had met her.

"Yes, Maryanne. The longer I wait, the harder it will be to track down your parents. I made a promise that I’d do everything I could to find them, remember?"

Maryanne nodded her small head slowly, looking down at the ground. Her voice broke slightly from the emotions building up in her chest as she responded.

"Does W-Whisper have to go?"

Lucius let out a quiet sigh. He felt guilty taking the child's best friend away from her, but he needed Whisper's strength.

"Yes, I’m sorry. I know you and Whisper are friends, but I need Whisper’s help in case I run into something I can't handle on my own."

That was the final straw, and Maryanne couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Lucius gave the distraught child a hug, waiting a few moments for her to calm down before continuing.

"I know you've had bad experiences with people leaving, but you’re not alone this time, right? You have Nana, James, Sarah and lots of other people here to keep you company while Whisper and I are away."

Maryanne rubbed her eyes, taking deep breaths to calm her fear. She asked Lucius one last question as he stood back up.

"D-do you promise to come back?"

"I promise."