Chapter: 6

Len opened the door to the Coiled Serpent smithy and stood to the side as a man walked out with a crate full of nails. He gave a grunt of thanks as Len threaded past him.

The front of the Smithy was large windows that opened for people to see the walls covered in goods. A counter ran across the front, nails, horseshoes, tools, hammers, general items covered it. Banding for cart wheels Copper pipe and various other building materials were hung up.

Behind the counter were more exclusive goods a set of armor on a mannequin, a few spears and swords against the wall.

The working guts of the shop lay through a door behind the counter. The smell of metal and coal was thick in the air, heat blasting through the door as it was jostled by a worker passing through it.

“Can I help you?” the man at the counter asked.

Dunno what hammer he wants but can start with the rest.

“What do you have in the way of armor and weapons?” Len asked. “Preferably swords for weapons.”

The man looked him over.

“You a guard?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think you looked like one, why you looking for weapons and armor?” The man crossed his arms with a frown.

Not normal to be armed and armored yet.

“I’m heading into the forest and was told to get gear to deal with beasts,” Len said.

The man paused, looking him over, evaluating him in some way. He sighed and unlooped his arms.

“I sense that me telling you that that’s a terrible idea isn’t going to sway you much.” He looked into Len’s eyes as he shook his head.

“Right, okay well our gear is pretty basic. This here is more for show,” He pointed to the armor on the mannequin. He reached under the counter with both hands and lifted up two thick steel plates with leather straps that would go over one’s shoulder’s and threads that would but the sides closed.

He rested it on the table with a thump. “Steel and leather, keep your vital bits inside your body. Cost you fifteen silver though.”

Damn its worth it just for the steel alone. Everything is so cheap.

“You got two of those, any kind of protection for the head, arm and legs?”

“No, just this and I do have a second set.”

“What’s your thickest pipe?” Len asked.

“Uhh, well,” The man laid the armor on the counter and pointed at the wall. “Bottom right is the biggest and thickest.”

Len followed his finger, walking over to the pipe, picking it up. Heavy, though everything is right now.

“About a quarter as thick as the main armor, though it is just for the limbs, don’t want it too heavy to slow down a punch or a kick.” Len nodded to himself. “Alright I’ll go for some pipe, do you have any padding?”

“No,” The man shook his head.

“Anyone sell gambesons around here?”

“What are those?” The man frowned.

“Padded jackets?”

“Can’t think of anyone that would have that, there’s normal jackets though.”

“That’s fine,” Len put the pipe back against the wall before looking around. They have buckets but they’re so thin they wouldn’t offer any protection at all.

“How much piping do you want?”

“Do you have a measuring tape?”

“Sure,” The man moved to the register, taking out a long roll that had markings.

Len took it, measuring his forearm, then his lower leg, then folded the tape together and pinched where the end of the tape folded back against itself.

“Double this length,” Len said. “I’m going to need a tool that allowed you to put a hole through the steel breastplate and some of the leather that you used to bind it.”

“What are you making?”

“Going to cut the pipe in half, hammer it closer into shape of my forearms and legs, makes simple bracers,” Len said. “Now, weapons?”

“Just a moment I’ll note down the pipe length.” The man took out a piece of paper and colored pencil, checking the measuring tape before writing something out.

He pushed them to the side and started pulling out weapons. “We’ve got a few kinds of revolvers and a few hunting rifles, then ceremonial spears.” He waved to those that were propped against the wall, “The swords look good but they’re made to be used and we’ve got batons too.”

The batons were lengths of steel with a handle, weapons built to break bones with blunt damage.

Len’s eyes passed over the firearms. Usele—maybe not right now?

“How easy is it to get ammunition right now?”

“Pretty easy, you can get it at most general stores, we work with another business to make whatever rounds you might need,” The man said.

That takes out the problem of supply.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“And these will kill a beast?”

“The revolvers will take out something like a fox, really you want to use a rifle to kill anything bigger like deer,” The man said.

Len picked up a rifle, pointing in a safe direction and worked the action, checking the breech. “Moves smoothly.” He ran his thumb over the working parts. Takes me back to my training. “Hasn’t been work down, no burrs. Good quality and craftsmanship.”

Len pushed the bolt forward and locked it into place, dry firing it at the floor. It would make it easier to level up.

“How much?” He asked.

“Rifle will be fifty silvers.”

“Ammunition?”

“Box of fifty rounds will cost you a silver.”

Can kill people with a rifle and they have a base body stat of at least five, so can kill an unarmored level five pretty easily.

“Do you have spare bullets and carrying slings?” Len asked.

“Of course, the slings are included. Do you want casings as well with the bullets?”

“No, just the bullets, say two hundred of them?”

“Okay that will be a silver then.”

The door opened as Rick walked into the store with two map tubes over his shoulder and a paper bag he was handling carefully.

“So you run out of coin already?” Rick asked.

“Got us armor, torso, legs and arms, no helmets. Thinking Rifles to start and swords.”

“Rifles?” Rick frowned as he walked up to the counter, putting down his paper bag carefully, looking over the weapons.

“Ammo is cheap and they should be able to put down level tens without too many problems.”

Rick shrugged and picked up the rifle Len had inspected. “Fair enough, need to level up fast as possible. Saw a restaurant on my way here.”

Len turned his attention back to the weapons.

Swords are professionally made and cared for. Len picked up one, testing the weight and balance. Just half a meter long with the first half a one-sided blade, the second double-sided. Perfect for smaller places like a dungeon.

Rick worked the action on his rifle and dry fired doing it again and moving faster.

Len continued to inspect the sword, it was crude with only the top of a basket to cover the user’s hand. Though the steel had been compressed and worked into a fine edge.

He turned it over in his hand. The weight was good.

Rick put down his rifle and held out his hand. Len passed it over. Rick’s eyebrow rose as he moved the sword around in lazy arcs.

“How much for the sword?” Len asked.

“That will be seventeen silvers comes with a scabbard and maintenance tools, sharpening stone, oils.”

So cheap!

“Go for two blades and their sheathes. The two rifles, four boxes of ammunition, armor the pipe—actually could you cut the pipe in half, put holes down both sides like you did with the armor plates and thread them with leather?”

“Odd job but we could.”

“How long would it take?”

The man glanced outside the shop, then moved to the door, pushing it out, the noise of hammer presses, hisses of steam, the smell of coal, metal and heat spreading. He looked for something, raising a hand to his mouth. “Jer! You got space today for a project?”

“Sure!”

He let the door closed. “Can get it in now and should have it ready by shop opening tomorrow morning.”

“When’s that?” Len asked.

“Dawn.”

“That’ll work, grab it before we head for the train. Do you have hammers and chisels?”

“Yes, made of hammered steel.”

“Add in a good hardy utility knife.”

"Okay, that will be an additional two silver, five copper.”

“Also,” Len pulled around his pack and pulled out empty cans. “Could you fill these with scrap metal?”

“Steel, iron?”

“Just whatever slag you have, scoop them up and that’ll be fine.”

“Uhh, that’ll be two coppers?”

“Sure.” Len turned to Rick and pointed a thumb at the salesman. “Pay the man.”

Rick took off his sword. “Don’t need two swords, what would you offer on this?”

“Its real pretty but its more of a show piece than something useful. I’ll trade it one for one with our swords?”

“Done!” Rick put down the sword and pulled out a coin purse, then rummaged and found another, taking pieces from both. He pulled out a third pulling more silver from it.

The hell did you do now?

The man counted through the silver as Len and Rick looped their sword belts and shouldered their rifles. Len donned his armor while Rick put his forearm through the straps.

“All here,” the man at the counter said. “What is a skill? In trading?”

Len stepped back as he looked at Rick.

The mana in the area thickened, converting into experience. It crashed into Rick, light bloomed above.

“Apprentice,” Rick yelled, before experience tore through his body, bringing his mana into level with his body and then pushing both higher.

Len jumped out of the window as twin bolts of silent lightning dropped through the ceiling and struck Rick and the attendant.

Len got back up and looked in the room. Rick was picking himself up off the ground, looking slightly charred and smelling bad from the impurities pushed out of his body. He put in too much strength and stumbled, adjusting to the increased stats.

The attendant grabbed onto the counter and threw himself into the ceiling and lay on the ground groaning.

“Watch out you just got a lot stronger, take your time getting up,” Rick said.

“See you tomorrow morning.” Len walked back into the building.

They collected up everything and headed out of the store quickly. Already a crowd was growing and moving closer to the smithy.

Someone burst through the door into the smithy itself. “The hell you doing down there Ralph?”

It was three streets later that Len turned to Rick.

“What were you able to get?” Len asked.

“Some health and stamina potions, then a healing cream. I got an idea while I was there and put down every Realm, Dungeon and Tear I could remember. What do you know about dungeons?” Rick asked.

Len raised an eyebrow, Rick gave him a ‘go on’ gesture.

Len humored him. “Dungeons are formed from storage devices from other worlds. They can be as large as a closet or as big as village. They draw a ton of mana that creates mana fiends based on the dungeon’s attributes." Len rested his hands on his hips, looking into the sky.

"Realms are places where space has been folded, either intentionally or not, holding a large area inside. Sometimes they have a high concentration of mana, though usually these places have rules of some kind. Like the Codex, where you defeat enchanted traps to gain knowledge. The higher the grade of traps you can bypass, the more knowledge is opened up to you."

“And tears?” Rick waved him on.

“Tears are connections between our world and others.”

"Well, see, the thing is, none of them have been found yet," Rick said, giving Len a meaningful look.

Len's face went through a myriad of emotions as he took in that little tidbit. It was well known whoever opened a dungeon realm or tear first gained the greatest rewards.

If you could open a dungeon, you got first pick of everything inside. Usually, after the first couple of times a dungeon had been cleared, there was no more loot.

Only the mana fiends, they dropped mana-generated materials, cores and life-mana. A prize to be sure, but ancillary to the gear of some other being.

With the realms, some naturally regenerated, but others, once they were used up, they were no better than a wasteland without much use left to them. Len looked at Rick. They’d heard all the stories, people loved to talk about their successful dungeon dives.

A tear...Well, a tear allowed you to connect to other planets. If you could get the right tear, you'd not only gain access to another planet, but you could also access other cities, peoples, technology, and materials that weren't yet available on Earth.

It was just as easy to get a tear in the wrong place, which could serve as a spawning point for demons or hostile races and creatures.

Still, even these could prove profitable and valuable. If you could hold back the tide of creatures, you could farm them for materials and gear.

Dungeons, realms and tears had been crucial to humanity learning how to craft, how to survive the apocalypse. Arming them with gear and knowledge.

Some called them the golden gates.

“Lets see that map,” Len said.

Rick pulled them out. “Added in all that I remembered.”

They poured over the map, Len and Rick going over locations, modifying and adding in more.

“With their locations and knowing what to expect in each of them we can quickly level up and gather everything inside,” Len said.

“And no guild to take a fee from us. Feels like we’re cheating a bit, love it.” Rick laughed.

So damn surreal.

“We could modify that pipe into bracers easy. Why did you have them do it for us instead?” Rick asked.

“We could, but we have more important things. Leveling up and tempering our bodies. There’s no telling what we’re going to run into. If we’re stronger we’ll be able to deal with what may come. First lets drop off the gear.”