My chance came when Aerion asked Philip a question about movement styles, and Philip launched into a lecture about how styles had to suit the person’s body type, their personality, and a slew of other factors, and how too many warriors get the process completely backward.
It sounded interesting. Just that upgrading my newly Initialized cuirass sounded better. The armor glowed dimly, and under the bright sunlight, I barely even saw it. Maybe my caution had been unwarranted—I doubt Philip would’ve noticed.
Basecrest City Guard Cuirass [Uncommon]
Finally! Something you own that isn’t common rabble. I mean, it’s literally in the rarity, and unlike those fancy clothes you bought, this thing is very much function over form.
Essence Cost: 18
Condition: 300/300
Stats:
— Vigor: 23
— Dominion: 11
Abilities:
— Hidden Dragon [F - 0]: The deadliest dragons are the ones you don’t see. Now, you can pretend you’re a dragon, too. Rawr.
I blinked a few times. Nevermind that the armor gave me way more stats than my [Uncommon]
Clothing—that on its own would’ve been cause for celebration. And nevermind that I lost a paltry handful of points swapping my old cuirass for this one. My old one gave me a combined total of 5 stats. This one gave me 34, and in two very useful categories. The thing was, its ability was in another league compared to my old cuirass’ [Minor Heat Resist]. And what was up with that description?
I had to test this out. Right now.
With Philip still animatedly lecturing Aerion, I activated the ability, and… Nothing happened.
“Weird,” I muttered, looking down at the cuirass. It didn’t seem like anything happened?
And then I noticed it.
My chest was… brighter than normal? Okay. That was a little weird. I’d assumed the name and description hinted at something to do with stealth, but I—!?
It wasn’t brighter. It was translucent. Very, very slightly, but now that I noticed it, I was sure. The sunlight was passing through my chest, making it look just a little lighter.
My heart thumped. This ability, in its current form, was useless. Even more useless than [Skunky] or [Mirrored] had been at F - 0.
Except, this was an ability attached to Emergence grade armor. Which meant it had plenty of room to grow, unlike [Common] items whose ability growth capped out at Foundation-Max.
From what I’d seen so far, abilities got better in the most logical dimension. [Skunky] grew more potent and its range increased. [Mirrored] grew brighter. And [Hidden Dragon] would get increasingly camouflaged as it leveled.
On its own, that was a novelty. But if the other armor pieces in this set gave me the same ability?
I knew it was too much to hope for—so far, the abilities had been random. But if… Then I’d have a stealth suit. A perfect build for sneaking up on enemies. Of course, I doubted my weapons would be similarly camouflaged, and I’m sure I’d still make sound, but still.
This opened up a whole slew of combat options. No longer would I have to run into battles like a front-line fighter. That was Aerion’s role, after all.
I nearly laughed in glee, but remembered my surroundings at the last minute. I needed to level up so I could clean up my inventory space and increase my max Essence. I needed the ability every piece of this armor gave me.
With my combat and forging skills on the rise, I was feeling better about this Cataclysm Dungeon already. Especially with this armor and a [Rare] tier weapon I’d hopefully select from Sinclair’s armory. And especially if I found a way to incorporate the Obsidian Dragon’s soulstone into that.
Philip finished his lecture and Aerion mouthed a ‘Thank Dominion’ when he wasn’t looking. I smiled. I’d never seen the old warrior talk so much. He truly was enjoying this. And we were getting quality instruction for free, so if he wanted to ramble, I couldn’t really complain.
The grueling session continued a while longer, and when we finished, I was so exhausted I could barely stand. Not a great situation, given the solid ten hours of forging I had coming up. Rogar wasn’t exactly a big fan of breaks.
The word Slave driver came to mind, but he did work as hard as we did, and thanks to the shutdown, his quota was absolutely insane, so I couldn’t knock him too much.
The only silver lining was that Philip was as tired as I was, and he was both much older than me, and didn’t have the benefit of a Blessing that boosted his physical stats. If he could manage to forge and recycle stuff for the full shift, then so could I.
Well, that and the slew of Vigor I’d gained from Initializing my new cuirass. My Vigor had jumped two points to 33, and without them, I wasn’t sure if I’d last the day.
Aerion went off to search for contracts at the Hunter’s Guild, while I headed to Rogar’s forge with Philip. The rewards from our weasel hunt was pretty decent, and with Aerion’s debt issues settled and the gold the Baron was sending our way, money wouldn’t be a concern for a good long while.
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Unless, of course, I bought armor and weapons. In that case, it’d last us about a day. Which was, of course, why I was learning how to forge. For now, I’d be happy with smithing and Initializing mundane weapons, but I knew that strategy would hit its limit soon.
Buying and Initializing Rare and higher weapons was an obscenely expensive proposition—especially given that the enchantments were random. That meant I’d have to try to Initialize a ton, and as levelups grew less and less frequent, I had a limited ability to reclaim that Essence.
I hadn’t yet tested whether the inventory allowed me to bypass the restriction on removing ores and materials from dungeons, but I was hopeful.
Hopeful didn’t mean naive, though, and good plans always accounted for the worst. Even if I couldn’t swing that, my smithing exploits would still serve me well. But—and admittedly, this was a big but—my inventory grew large enough to where I could stick a whole forge inside, I’d be able to take the thing into dungeons and Trials and make stuff right there.
If that wasn’t possible, I suppose I could haul one in myself once my Dominion stat was high enough… But that wasn’t exactly ideal.
“Too exhausted to chat, eh?” Philip asked on our way over to Rogar’s. “Can’t say I blame you. You did well today. Surprisingly well, actually. Better than most first-timers.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We do have some real-world experience. Just not a whole lot of formal education. At least, I don’t. Aerion has some training in daggers.”
“I can see that. Decent training, too,” he said. “Rough, though. She just knows the basics, nothing more. Both of you have ample room to grow.”
“Only hope we have enough time before the Cataclysm,” I muttered.
“Why worry? Whether it does or it doesn’t, it is out of our hands.”
“True enough.”
----------------------------------------
“Grug! Ah, and Philip, too!” Rogar said, giving them a smile and a wave. “Good! You came at a good time. The forge is finally open and there is much work to be done.”
Philip and I exchanged looks. I’d never seen Rogar this happy, and by his look of suspicion, I guessed he hadn’t either. That he didn’t chew Philip out for being gone so long was the biggest red flag I’d ever seen.
“Never thought I’d say this,” Philip muttered, too softly for Rogar to hear. “But I think I like him better when he’s angry.”
“I know what you mean,” I replied. “This can’t be good.”
“Philip, you’ll be forging today. No recycling for you.”
“Come again? You’ve never allowed me onto the forge, Rogar,” Philip said. “What’s changed?”
“The Cataclysm, that’s what!” Rogar said, nearly vibrating with excitement. “Forget recycling. Forget nails. We’ve got impossible orders for weapons and armor, so that’s what we’ll make. As many as you can. Don’t worry about quality. They just need numbers.”
“That’s, er, somewhat disconcerting,” I said. “You sure it’s okay to—”
“Fine, fine! Now, let’s get to work. Grug, start heating up some blanks. We’ll all work together on this. There’s much money to be made.”
I nearly rolled my eyes. No wonder he was in such a good mood. He’d make a killing, no doubt. Philip would get paid his regular pittance, and I earned nothing.
Still, I did as I was told. If Rogar was going to have me work on actual swords, I wasn’t going to complain. As he said, they’d almost definitely come out sub-par, but if he was fine with that…
I got the metal up to temperature, and then we all took turns hammering away. Except, this time was a little different.
I saw no reason to waste this opportunity, and since Rogar had given us each a hammer, I bit the bullet and took the risk. Both of them were concentrated on the hammering, so neither noticed the tool glow dimly.
Blacksmith Hammer [Common]
An average midweight hammer. Good for shaping swords and knives. Absolutely nothing interesting about it at all. Sturdy!
Essence Cost: 4
Condition: 50/50
Stats: None
Abilities
— Heavyweight [Foundation - 0]: Makes the hammer just a bit heavier.
I really didn’t care about the ability, and Initializing a weapon that didn’t belong to me had significant downsides. But it was only 4 Essence, and right now, leveling up was so much more important.
Congratulations! [Blacksmith Hammer]’s ability [Heavyweight] has leveled up to Foundation — 1.
Congratulations! [Blacksmith Hammer]’s ability [Heavyweight] has leveled up to Foundation — 2.
A steady stream of notifications came rolling in as the hours passed. Not only that, but my Dominion ticked up from 29 to 30, then to 31.
We made steady progress, hammering out the sword blade according to Rogar’s instructions. He alternated between holding the blade and hammering depending on what part we were working on.
The moment the blade was in a decent shape, Rogar dipped it in oil, making it hiss and sizzle. Quenching, it was called. It made the blade a lot stronger.
These really were basic swords, though. No cross guard, and just a leather wrap for the handle. Which meant that by the time half the shift was over and we took one of our few breaks, we’d already forged a half-dozen.
“That’s not the end, of course,” Rogar said, wiping sweat off his brow. “I’ll grind them on my wheel. I’d normally polish, too, but not these. They’ll be strong and serviceable. Just lacking in extras, is all.”
It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than us, but I kept that to myself. Instead, I asked a question I’d been dying to know for some time.
“Rogar, about soul crystals. How do you use them? I’ve heard they can be broken down to imbue weapons with powers, but how exactly does that work?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Rogar grunted. “It’ll be years before you can afford anything like that. Besides, you’re not a fighter, and you’re nowhere near experienced enough to make something like that.”
“Are you?” I asked, which earned me a scowl. “I genuinely want to know,” I quickly added. “I thought only an elite few blacksmiths could do that sort of thing.”
Rogar grunted again. “True enough. I’ve made a few in my time. Hard to come by clients who want ‘em, though.”
“I’ll bet,” I said. What he really meant was that there was no one who’d buy an enchanted blade made by him. “Are there rules about who can make them?”
Rogar shrugged. “Blacksmith Guild policy. Idiotic, if you ask me. It’s a crime to forge and sell magical weaponry without their approval.”
“Without paying their tax, more like,” Philip said. “I’ve heard a bit about this. The Guild artificially regulates the prices. Keeps them high. They claim it’s to maintain their reputation, which I admit has some merit, but it’s mostly to line their pockets.”
“Truth,” Rogar spat. “Not my place to question the Guild. Nothing good ever comes of that. Now, get back to work.”
“Just one last thing,” I said. “Can weapons that have already been forged get magical properties? Can you reforge them with soul crystals?”
Rogar stroked his beard. “Mighty interesting questions you’re asking, Grug. Yes, you can, but it’s complicated. I can’t share the details, but you’d essentially have to melt down the blade.”
“I see,” I said, the gears in my head already turning. I see.
An idea started to form in the back of my head. One that involved the weapon I was supposed to get from Sinclair’s armory.