Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 123-124 (Patreon)

If there was one thing that Arwin was certain of, it was that it wasn’t a good idea to stick one’s hands into bubbling lava. No matter how soft and pliable it looked, lava was still lava. It was generally considered at least slightly less than advisable to fondle it.

That seemed to be exactly what [Molten Novice] was pulling him to do – although that might have been a stretch. Arwin couldn’t quite tell exactly what the skill was doing.

It was definitely active. He could feel bands of heat running through his body as well as a deep urge to plunge his hands into the molten death before him. It wasn’t magical compulsion or even guidance as much as a stray desire that had been magnified.

“Arwin?” Rodrick asked. “Did you figure something out?”

Arwin knelt by the pool, taking care not to accidentally stick a foot into one of the many rivers of lava running past him. He wasn’t going to be taking a swim in the molten rock. All he wanted was to get a closer look.

“No,” Arwin replied. “But I’m looking at something.”

“If you dropped anything into the lava, it’s gone, man,” Rodrick said. “Maybe back away from the big bubbling pit, eh?”

“I’ll be fine,” Arwin replied. He held a hand out over the lava to test the heat and immediately felt like an idiot. It was hot.

It’s fucking lava. Of course it’s hot. What did I expect? A chill breeze?

Every single scrap of logic that Arwin could muster told him that the lava was the absolute worst thing he could stick any part of his body into. Nothing seemed to imply that he’d survive taking a dip in it.

[Molten Novice] didn’t say anything about fire resistance. As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything that he had that would protect him from the heat. None of that held any weight to the powerful desire urging him to plunge a hand into pool of glowing orange.

“Arwin?” Lillia asked, edging closer to him. Concern tinged her tone. “I’m not so sure that look on your face is good. Maybe the hammer solution you had earlier is better. I’m not loving the idea of whatever it is you’re thinking.”

“It should be fine. I’ve got an ability that’s kind of pulling me toward the lava,” Arwin said. He caught the worry intensifying on Lillia’s face and quickly amended himself. “Not physically, mind you. Just… a thought.”

“That’s called being suicidal. There are healers that can help you with that,” Anna said.

“No, I’m not going to kill myself,” Arwin said irritably. “I have an ability that relies a lot on fire. Apparently, getting near lava is resonating with it somehow.”

“Are you sure it’s not just really enjoying the view?” Reya asked. “I suggest leaving it as a view.”

Arwin looked back to the lava. He was certain that [Molten Novice] was telling him he had to touch the lava. He was equally certain that touching the lava would result in him having one less hand.

There was no way the ability would just encourage him to burn himself alive. There had to be a way he could do what it wanted. If he had a glove that could resist the fire, perhaps that would have counted.

Unfortunately, he had no such thing. He also had no idea when the next time he’d find a pool of lava sitting around for him would be. Arwin bit at his inner cheek. It was too much potential to risk passing up. If he got badly burned, Anna could heal him.

He reached toward the lava slowly. A bubble popped and a tiny spec of it brushed across his hand. Pain ripped into his palm and he yanked it back, hissing and cursing as he shook it off. A wave of gentle warmth rolled over him and the pain faded.

“Thank you,” Arwin said through gritted teeth, giving Anna a nod. She returned it.

“Can you get away from that now?” Lillia asked.

Arwin looked back to the lava. He was missing something. The opportunity was right there. As to what the opportunity was, he hadn’t quite determined. It was there, though.

A thought struck him. He glanced down at his hand, then summoned his [Soul Flame]. The orb of crackling fire materialized in his palm. Arwin willed it to stretch out and spread across his fingers.

The flames rolled across his hand and molded to his skin, covering it completely up to his elbow before it refused to spread any farther. He flexed his fingers, then looked back at the lava. Anna sighed.

Ignoring her, Arwin reached back toward the lava. He moved as slowly as he had the last time. His hand drew closer to the heat rising up from the molten rock, but there was no burning. Spots of lava popped and brushed against his hand, but once more, nothing happened.

He reached a little farther down, brushing his fingers across the surface of the lava. It was surprisingly hard and not nearly as squishy as it looked. But, even more surprisingly, his hand didn’t burn.

Arwin pushed deeper. The lava bent around his fingers, then flowed over them. He squeezed his hand around it, pushing through the molten rock. It felt like really, really dense dough.

A thrill of delight ran through him. Something about playing with lava just struck a chord he’d never thought he’d had. Arwin scooped a tiny amount of the lava up and held it up, his grin growing even wider.

“Look at this!”

“Holy shit,” Reya said, her eyes wide with shock and delight. “Don’t throw that.”

“Why would I throw it?” Arwin asked, letting the lava slough off his hand. It fell into the pool with a plop. “I’m not an idiot.”

“I totally would have thrown it to see what would happen,” Rodrick said. Anna glared at him and he cleared his throat. “Not at anyone, mind you. Just… in general.”

“Is that what your ability was trying to show you?”

“I don’t know,” Arwin said with a frown. The ability seemed to be pulling back now. It had gotten what it wanted. Evidently, the dwarves had used lava to some degree in their forging process.

I would absolutely love to see a dwarven forge. I bet it would be incredible. Or imagine… an actual dwarven smith. If this ability is just the start of what they do, I can’t even begin to imagine what I’d be cable of doing with their talent. I’ll have to seek one out as soon as the Wyrm business is done.

“You know, is it maybe worth Arwin just… bringing some of the lava over to the chest?” Reya asked. “All the grooves that should have lava in them run over to the same point at its base. If you just stick some lava on that, do you think it might open?”

Nobody had a reason as to why Arwin shouldn’t try that, so he shrugged and scooped up another handful of lava. Everyone moved to give him space as he rose. He walked carefully, keeping the lava as far away from his body as possible. The [Soul Flame] didn’t extend far enough to protect him if he dropped something on his leg.

He made his way over to the chest and knelt by the circular groove right at its base. With a tilt of his hand, Arwin let the lava slide off onto the stone. He let the [Soul Flame] that had been protecting him fade as he stood back up.

They were all silent for a few seconds. Reya’s idea had been a long shot, but the puzzle was probably slightly more complex than –

A loud click echoed through the room. It was followed by a clunk and a deep whoosh. The lava in the pool at the center of the room started to drain away. Within just a few seconds, it had completely sunk away to reveal a dense metal base where it had once been.

Thick holes ran along the metal, presumably just opened by Arwin’s lava-delivery. The glow of the lava shone beneath them as it sank deeper into the earth. Embossed in the pool, in the gaps between the holes, was a sword, a shield, and a full set of armor.

A few seconds later, one last click echoed out. Stone ground as the top of the chest cracked open.

They all turned to look at Reya.

“What?” She asked. “It was a good guess!”

“A really good one,” Arwin said. He nodded to the drawings on the ground in the pool where the lava had been. “Looks like we know where they lost the other guys belongings as well. I think the lava might have been the second part of the puzzle, not the first.”

“The first was to… stick stuff at the bottom of the pool to get melted?” Reya asked doubtfully.

Arwin shrugged in response. “I don’t know. We seem to have missed the puzzle, but it’s also solved now. Lucky us.”

“I’m certainly not going to complain,” Lillia said. “My shadows aren’t strong enough to pull that lid open, though. You’ll have to do it. Just be careful.”

He nodded and approached the chest. It was large, but not as big as the one in the last dungeon. Its lip was only at his shoulder level and it didn’t seem too heavy. Arwin walked in a circle around it to make sure that there weren’t any obvious traps waiting before wedging Verdant Blaze’s hilt into the gap and using it to lever the chest open.

The head rocked back before clicking into place and staying still. Arwin waited for a second, then crept forward and peered into the chest while making sure no part of him actually entered it – who knew when the lid would decide to snap shut.

A long, thin blade rested in the center of the chest above a ratty old tarp bag, suspended up by two y-shaped stands. It was made of a scarlet metal with ripples running through it in a mesmerizing pattern. The sword had a jagged black hilt and a matching handle.

Energy gathered before Arwin’s eyes as the Mesh identified the weapon before him as magical.

Crimson Fang: Average Quality

[Firefolded Steel]: Flames have been worked into this weapons blade, causing it to ignite upon striking any surface.

“Huh,” Arwin said, his eyes moving past the blade to look at the bag beneath it. “Nice sword.”

If anything, he was more interested in how someone had folded flames into the metal than he was of the weapon’s actual construction. It was a decent looking magical item, but nothing particularly interesting to him.

“Show us!” Reya exclaimed. “I want to see!”

Arwin wedged his hammer against the chest to make sure it wouldn’t close on him and picked the blade up, pulling it free so the others could look at it.

“Oh,” Reya said. She caught herself midway through a word and cleared her throat, changing the sentence before it could exit her mouth. “Well, it’s pretty.”

Nobody else said much. A wave of smug satisfaction passed through Arwin. They all preferred his own work, as amateurish as it was. He reached into the box and grabbed the tarp bag, pulling it out as well before dismissing Verdant Blaze and turning back to the others.

“There was also this. I–”

Arwin trailed off as he saw Olive sending the sword a wide-eyed stare, the desire etched into her features as her hand twitched at her side.

Ah. Right. Magical weapon and she’s a swordswoman. She probably wants this pretty damn badly. I doubt she’d show her true colors now if she was going to try to steal it, but it’ll be interesting to see how she responds to this.

Olive hadn’t even asked to join the guild yet, but this is as good a spot as any to test her to see what she’s really like. Everyone changes when something really valuable comes onto the line, even if it isn’t all that useful to us.

Let’s have a pre-application test, shall we?

Chapter 124

“That’s… a really nice sword,” Olive said, swallowing heavily.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Arwin agreed noncommittally, watching her carefully. There was a very, very small chance that she would be stupid enough to try and take someone captive to claim the sword for herself.

“If Rodrick doesn’t want that… would you be willing to sell it?” Olive asked.

Arwin blinked. “What?”

“I know I can’t afford it now,” Olive said hurriedly. “But an elemental weapon… that would let me fight so much more effectively. If it’s less than a thousand gold, I’d give you all the money I earn from the dungeons until I pay it off. If nobody else wants it, that is.”

Arwin tilted his head to the side. There was some significant desperation in Olive’s tone. She wanted it for more than just because it was a fancy sword.

Are magical items actually that ridiculously rare? A thousand gold? That’s…

“I know a thousand is cheap. I could maybe try for higher,” Olive offered weakly.

“We’ll discuss loot later, once we’ve seen the rest of it,” Arwin said – half just to see how she would handle the rejection.

Olive bit the insides of her cheeks and nodded. “Okay.”

She wants it, but she’s handling it pretty respectably. Not too pushy. Good sign for her possibly joining the group in the long run.

Arwin set the sword down by his side and pulled the bag open to peer inside it. He was expecting gold or another weapon but got neither. Instead, he found a sheath for the blade at his feet, a bundle of black herbs, and a small stone vial covered with craggy orange lines that glowed with faint light.

The Mesh activated once more – not for the sheath, but for the dry plants and the vial.

[Smolderweed] – A magic-infused herb that grows exclusively within volcanos. Considered a delicacy by many earth dwelling races, this plant requires immense temperatures to ignite. But, when it does, it burns hotter than most can handle.

[Portable Molt] – A vial stuffed full of magma and sealed with magic… but not very well.

Something told Arwin that the Mesh’s idea of burning may have been more than just spicy. As for the vial – that sounded like something he wasn’t going to touch until he was absolutely sure he wanted to.

Having a way to get some lava sounded like it could be pretty useful for his [Molten Novice] skill.

Great stuff. Now all I need to do is lug some of this metal back and I’ll be the happiest bloke alive.

He left the plant and the vial in the bag as he pulled the sheath of the sword out and slid it over the blade. As soon as it was covered, the information about it vanished.

The herbs go to Lillia. I’m sure she can do something fun with them. I might keep one or two for myself in case there’s any use for them in forging. I’m keeping the vial myself. As for the sword… well, let’s see.

“Okay,” Arwin said with a grin. “Now we can talk about loot. I don’t personally use a sword, so I don’t need this. It’s between Rodrick, Reya, Lillia, and Olive.”

“You use a sword?” Olive asked, looking at Lillia in surprise.

“Not as much as I used to, but I know how to,” Lillia said with a small shrug. She sent a glance at Arwin, then shook her head. “I don’t think I need this one. I wouldn’t get nearly as much use out of it as anyone else here would.”

“I want my dagger,” Reya said firmly. She paused for a moment, then cleared her throat. “Well, if we can get it back. If we can’t I’ll take a different weapon. I don’t think a sword would be that great for me though. I don’t know how to use anything but a dagger, so giving me a magic sword is a waste.”

“I could use it,” Rodrick said, scratching the side of his neck in thought. “Haven’t ever had a chance to get my hands on anything other than a plain sword.”

Olive bit her lower lip keeping herself from saying anything more. She seemed resigned to accept any decision that they came to. It was certainly a nice sword, but Arwin wasn’t all that impressed.

I’ve made considerably better magical weapons myself. Granted, this one has no detrimental traits and its buff is actually quite interesting, but is fire on a blade really going to do that much? The magical damage will be good against monsters that are immune to normal weapons, but aside from that… a fiery sword isn’t all that useful if it’s just normal fire.

At some point, I want to make everyone in the guild a powerful set of equipment. If I make Rodrick something any time soon, that sword is almost certain to get invalidated.

He took another few moments to think, more to continue observing Olive’s expression than anything else. The sword really didn’t matter to him – or anyone in the guild, for that matter. It was much more useful as a way to judge the one-armed swordswoman’s character.

And, as far as Arwin could tell, she’d handled everything better than most would. He could have given the sword to Rodrick anyway to really test her reaction, but that felt like it was going too far.

She hadn’t even asked to join the guild. Putting her through a bunch of tests beyond this one would have been ridiculous.

“How much did you say you’d be willing to pay for this?” Arwin asked, turning the blade over in his hand and looking to Olive.

A flicker of hope passed through her features before she quashed it. “I could try to do twelve hundred and fifty gold over the course of a few months, depending on how dungeons went. It would take me a while, but I’d make the money. You already know I’m good for it.”

“Is there a reason you want this sword so badly?” Arwin asked. “It’s not the strongest magical weapon I’ve ever heard of.”

Olive snorted. “Yeah. Legends are great, but you can’t kill things with them. I’ve seen a few magical weapons before, but it all boils down to the fact that it’s an advantage. I need every single one of those that I can get. It’s a rolling stone, you know? A little bit of power leads to a bit more, and then that leads to more. It’s always worth trading money for it.”

“It’s not just money,” Arwin pointed out. “It’s time. You’re offering to dedicate months of your time to us.”

“It gets me stronger, doesn’t it? That’s my only goal. I’d be paying just as much if not more if I was trying to buy a magical item from another adventurer or merchant but I’d have to earn all the money beforehand and then carry it around with me. That’s basically asking for something to go wrong.”

Olive made a good argument. It was a bit invalid for Arwin, but it did give him even more of an idea as to just how rare magic items were. Olive really wanted this sword. He could tell from her voice that she completely meant every word she said. It wasn’t that the blade was secretly the key to something stronger or it was more than it seemed to be in any way.

It was just a slight edge. A tiny step forward. And, to Olive, that was enough to trade away months. Power begot power. A logical decision – for anyone that didn’t know about what he could do.

Arwin spun the sword around so that he was holding it by the sheath and held it out to Olive, hilt first.

“I’ll make you a sword later,” Arwin told Rodrick. The former paladin shrugged in response. He didn’t seem all that torn up about the loss of the weapon. Arwin got the feeling he was probably already envisioning the weapon he’d ask for.

Olive swallowed. Her eyes were transfixed on the sword like it were made out of pure gold. “I can really have it?”

“Two months of running dungeons or whatever else it is we need you to do. Not gold, just the time. We’ll split shares equally as we have been.”

Olive tore her gaze away from the sword as a suspicious frown crossed her lips. “What? No gold? Even shares? What are you aiming for here? Those terms don’t make sense at all.”

If I’m actually going to recruit Olive into our guild at some point, I can’t scam her out of a thousand gold when I’ll be making weapons for the others for either free or the cost of materials. I don’t exactly have much choice without giving away more than I want to.

“Those are the terms. Take them or leave them.”

“What kind of things would you be making me do?”

“Nothing that a normal adventurer wouldn’t,” Arwin said with a dry laugh. “There isn’t anything hidden in the deal. We’re not going to try to turn you into an indentured servant or some shit like that. I won’t say it’ll be safe, but it’s going to be more of what we were doing today. Just… probably bigger enemies.”

That proved too much for Olive to resist. She reached out and took the sword from Arwin. Her thumb ran along the plain sheath and she stared at it for a second before shaking herself out of the stupor and attaching the sheath to her belt just above the other one.

“Done,” Olive said. “Looking forward to working with you. That might have been the cheapest magical weapon ever sold. Now that I’m trapped, was there really no trick? Was the sword damaged or something in a way that only a smith could see?”

“Trapped?” Arwin raised an eyebrow. “Not that I disagree, but nobody’s forcing you to carry through the deal. It isn’t magically enforced.”

“I gave my word. As long as you act according to what you promised, then I’ll do the same.”

Arwin inclined his head in respect. It was looking more and more like he’d made the right choice in looking to recruit her. “There’s nothing wrong with the sword as far as I can tell.”

“Then why…” The befuddlement on Olive’s face was so thick that Arwin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Does it matter? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Arwin jerked his chin over his shoulder. “Now, let’s get going. I have things to craft, and I’ve been sitting around in this dungeon for long enough. And Olive, needless to say, keep that sword sheathed.”

“Logically,” Olive said with a nod.

“Great. Then let’s get out of here.”

Between his bow, learning how to make gauntlets and boots, and figuring out the secrets of [Molten Novice], he had a lot ahead of him – and he wanted to get as much of it as possible done in the next few days.