Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 127-128 (Patreon)

Arwin’s hammer rang so much that it might as well have been an entire chorus of bells. He worked the metal relentlessly. Steadily, it grew closer and closer into the shape that he wanted.

The armor he’d made for Lillia had given him a number of ideas. He didn’t want to copy the exact same structure – he got hit far too often to want to rely on something that fragile, but using multiple segmented plates for moving sections felt like a good hinge mechanism.

He used the horn of the anvil to make several small, curved plates that would become the coverings for his knees. He then formed the front top half of the greaves out of a single piece of metal, repeating the process for the front of the other leg. He quenched and cleaned every piece as he made it, making sure that it was properly prepared for later assembly before moving on to the next step.

The lower parts of the greaves followed a similar pattern, and he finished by making the plates that would make up their back. Arwin extended the metal coming out of the bottom halves of his greaves to form cups that would be positioned over the segmented knee joints to protect them from direct blows.

He laid everything out, testing to make sure it fit together as well as possible. The Mesh had guided a fair amount of his work through the process but he hadn’t followed it completely. His armor was a mixture of his own desires and the Mesh’s suggestions.

That seemed to be the best way to make anything, but it came with an increased risk of making an amateur mistake. Arwin spent around an hour working out the smaller mistakes in the metal and making sure everything fit together properly.

He then set about making the clasps and connecting the pieces together with pins. Every piece in the joints was checked to ensure it wouldn’t lock up or catch on anything before he moved on.

The armor was starting to truly take shape. With every new piece that Arwin validated, it grew closer to becoming a completed set of greaves. The Mesh started to swirl within the metal as he worked, but there was still more to do before it could be considered complete.

Arwin took the leather that he still had remaining from his previous work and cut it apart, inserting it into the insides of the greaves and pinning it in place. Smoke hissed as he used [Soul Flame] and [Scourge] to heat and pinch off the ends of the metal right at the edge of the leather, squishing them into smooth disks to ensure they wouldn’t dig into his skin.

The day crawled on and night swallowed the sky, and still Arwin worked. He slid straps through the clasps and added designs into the greaves – not so much as to draw attention, but enough to make them both look and feel complete.

And then, finally, his work was done. He lifted his hand from the glistening metal. His eyes traced the swirls of ivory running through the silvery metal like tendrils of pale flame. It glistened in the light of the hearth.

The Mesh erupted forth.

[Ivory Executioner Greaves: Rare Quality] has been forged. Forging a magical item has granted you energy.

Your Tier has raised by 1 rank.

Arwin grinned. He’d finally reached Apprentice 5 – which meant it was time to select a skill to specialize in. With all the Achievements he’d gathered that upgraded the quality of his next skills, he was greatly looking forward to seeing the options that he had to choose from.

But, before he could get around to that he turned his gaze to the greaves that he’d just finished to see what rewards his efforts had sown.

[Ivory Executioner Greaves: Rare Quality]

[Dread Momentum]: Forged in the image of the Ivory Executioner, this item hungers for blood. After this item’s wielder kills an opponent, it will draw a portion of their magical energy into itself and convert it into movement speed for its wearer that lasts until their next blow or natural dissipation. Energy gained increases with consecutive kills within a short period of time.

[Forged For One]: This item was forged specifically for Arwin Tyrr. Its abilities will not function for any other users.

[Armor of the Executioner]: This is a set item of [?] pieces. When the entire set is worn, a concealed property will be unlocked.

Arwin’s grin grew as he saw the last two lines. The Mesh had recognized the greaves as part of his set. They functioned very similarly to the helm in that their ability only activated after he got a kill. He wasn’t sure if that counted as a detrimental trait or not, but he suspected that it did. Having equipment that only started working after defeating someone else was a bit of a risk.

The reward was more than worth it. The greaves were simple, but they seemed incredibly effective. He got faster with every kill for the duration of one blow. It was an item meant for dealing with large groups of relatively weak enemies.

If he approached battles strategically, it would let him ramp up aggressively throughout the fight. Taking out opponents in order of weakest to strongest would let him – at least in theory – steamroll through the stronger enemies before they could properly defend themselves. It was an item entirely focused on momentum, just as the description noted.

Arwin nodded to himself as he slipped the greaves on to ensure they sat properly on his body. He was unsurprised to find that the fit was perfect. The mesh had helped him make them specifically for himself, so it would have been odd if they were uncomfortable.

That didn’t stop him from doing a few test moves, just to make sure nothing felt amiss. Everything felt great. More than pleased with the results of his work, he activated [Arsenal] and bound himself to the greaves before dismissing them.

[Arsenal] is great. It would have been such a pain to bring these around while concealing their properties. I’d have had to wear pants on top of them every time I took them anywhere.

Arwin couldn’t help but notice that the Ivory Executioner set hadn’t been completed. That wasn’t really a surprise. At the bare minimum, he was going to need to fix the chest piece. It had been the set’s namesake, after all. He’d find out if he needed gauntlets or boots after that.

Full body sets were pretty rare, so I’d be willing to bet this is a 3-piece set. I certainly hope it is. I want to see what benefits I get from completing it as well as the full strength of the helmet.

That can come later. I need to get magical greaves for Rodrick. Maybe a magical weapon as well. I need our other frontliner able to stand beside me without getting taken out in the first blow or two.

That can come later, though. I’ve done enough smithing for tonight. The work is done. It’s time for the fun part. Let’s see what you’ve got waiting for me, Mesh.

Arwin summoned his status with a thought. Golden letters swirled forth eagerly, as if the Mesh had been waiting for the moment to show itself.

Name: Arwin Tyrr

Class: Living Forge (Unique) (Tier: Apprentice 5)

New Skill Specialization Available.

Arwin selected the final glowing message with a thought. Words shifted and faded away as new ones took their place.

Choose a Skill to specialize in.

[Awaken]

[Molten Novice]

[Soul Flame]

[Arsenal]

[The Hungering Maw]

Arwin’s eyes traced over the options. The first few were exactly as he’d expected, but the last one came from the Challenge that he’d earned. A frown crawled across his lips. [The Hungering Maw] wasn’t a skill.

It was a title. Titles couldn’t be upgraded. They were flat boons – or curses – that stuck around and remained unchanging. He hadn’t been certain how the option would show up, but the Mesh was treating as if it were just any other skill.

That made for an interesting dilemma. There were a number of skills that Arwin would have liked to specialize in already. [Arsenal] was functionally the only skill he wouldn’t have wanted to choose.

[Molten Novice] seemed like it would have a lot of potential once he got it working, but it was such a big question that he didn’t want to risk specializing into it – not to mention that it didn’t actually give him any benefits yet. It was just too much of a risk.

[Soul Flame], on the other hand, was an incredible option. He already used it extensively for just about all of his work. Specializing in it would give him more combat and crafting options alike.

His other good option was [Awaken]. It would have been his first choice if not for the unsettling potential drawbacks of advancing it too quickly. But, even with the risk it posed, it was still immensely tempting.

But… upgrading a Title – that was new. The upgrade came from a Challenge called Curb the Hunger, which implied it would be related to controlling [The Hungering Maw]. If upgrading it gave him more insight or control over the ability, it would be invaluable.

Then again, there was the chance that upgrading it would just result in a more powerful maw that demanded even stronger items to let him survive in exchange for some other boon. In that case, choosing it would be the same as signing his own death warrant.

Arwin crossed his arms and stared at the glowing letters before him. They shimmered innocently, lying in wait so he could determine his future.

Which one do I choose?

Chapter 128

It wasn’t an easy decision. [Soul Flame], [Awaken], and [The Hungering Maw] were all equally viable. Arwin eventually managed to cross off [Soul Flame] if only just barely, deciding that chances were he’d be able to find other ways to continue to improve the skill.

While it was powerful, completely specializing into it felt like a minor overcorrection. He was a smith, not a fire mage. That left the two skills that basically made up the core of his class. Creation and consumption.

Life and death – except Arwin wasn’t sure which was which. Both of them had the potential to completely screw him over if they grew strong enough. He drummed his fingers against his upper thigh and sucked on his cheeks as he thought.

Finally, he heaved a sigh. The Mesh had given him a challenge to learn how to use [The Hungering Maw]. Sure, it had given him a direct upgrade offer to the ability, but that didn’t mean it was a good choice. He’d learned that following exactly what the Mesh wanted resulted in Unique weapons, not necessarily good ones or the ones he wanted.

That didn’t seem to be the case this time. [The Hungering Maw] was already ruling his life. It was time to try and take back some of that control. Even if it came at a big risk of requiring him to make even stronger items to survive, it was a risk he had to take.

He selected it. The Mesh’s golden words shimmered and changed. Something twisted in the center of Arwin’s chest. A tendril of pain wove into his stomach and stretched out through his body. It faded as quickly as it had come, bringing with it a new message from the Mesh.

[The Hungering Maw] – An enormous burst of energy has permanently infused you with magic, but not without cost. You must consume objects or items with Magical Energy equivalent to your current Magical Power every week to survive. Consuming an item temporarily grants you some of its properties. The Hungering Maw’s palate has advanced and it has a significant chance to ignore detrimental effects of items that it has eaten.

Title: [Magical Olfactory] has been earned due to [The Hungering Maw]’s advancement.

Arwin let out a breath of relief. Nothing about the upgrade had indicated that the Hungering Maw would require stronger items from here on out. It had just been a pure upgrade – and an interesting one at that.

Potentially ignoring the detrimental effects of items he ate was quite the boon. It wasn’t completely reliable, but it was a huge buff to the effectiveness eating items mid fight.

Even if I should still try to avoid items with Brittle or the like while fighting, if I’ve got something with a powerful benefit and a mediocre drawback, it’s now a lot more viable. I can even use the ones with worse drawbacks in really bad scenarios.

With this upgrade, I should significantly increase the importance I put on making small pieces to have around, both to keep the Maw at bay as well as to use while fighting. But… what was the title I got?

Arwin summoned it with a thought.

[Magical Olfactory] – The Maw’s influence spreads. With sufficient concentration, you can smell the scents and quality of magic within items.

That was it. Arwin’s brow furrowed as he re-read the title to see if he’d missed something, but there was no more information. It was as simple as that. He summoned [Verdant Blaze] to his hands and raised it to his nose.

Arwin did his best not to feel like a complete idiot as he took a sniff of the hammer. It just smelled like metal. But, even as he started to lower it, Arwin realized he’d missed a note. He lifted the hammer again and sniffed at it once more.

The note was distant and faded, but it came forth the longer Arwin concentrated on it. It didn’t smell anything like what a hammer should have smelled like. His eyebrows knit together as he tried to place the scent.

It was something between honey and burnt sugar, with notes of earth scattered throughout. And, while he wasn’t sure exactly what the scent was, Arwin knew one thing for certain. It smelled delicious.

He lowered the hammer before he could even think about taking a bite out of it. Verdant Blaze was too powerful to waste as a snack – and given how hard it had been to eat Tix’s sword, he suspected he wouldn’t be able to eat it easily anyway.

Why would smelling the magic in something be useful enough for The Hungering Maw to give me a whole title for it? It’s got to have something to do with the main title, but I have no idea what. I suppose I’ll find out soon enough. I’m going to have to sniff every magic item I get for a while until I figure out what this Title’s actual use is.

As odd as it was, Arwin still couldn’t complain. Specializing in [The Hungering Maw] had gone very well. He hadn’t made his situation any worse and had a new way to use the ability in a fight.

And, if his suspicious were correct and the Mesh wasn’t playing with him, smelling magic would somehow be useful to finding a way to get the Title under control. It wouldn’t have come from a Challenge specifically to rein [The Hungering Maw] in otherwise.

Arwin yawned. He rubbed at his eyes with a finger, then shook his head. It was pretty dark out and the night was well underway. As tempting as it was to keep working, his body wasn’t invincible. He needed sleep.

He summoned the [Soul Flame] out of the hearth and dismissed Verdant Blaze before heading over to the tavern.

Lillia had fortunately left the door unlocked for him. He stepped through it and closed it quietly behind him. It looked like he hadn’t been the only one that was hard at work. Lillia had added several new tables to the tavern and an imp clad in its maid outfit was rubbing at one of the tables with a rag.

This place is really starting to look like a tavern. I wonder what she’ll specialize in at Apprentice 5. Maybe we should try to see if we can activate a Challenge for her to get the inn under control or something like that. If they exist for me, they have to exist for everyone.

It was something they could look into once the Wyrm horde was dealt with. The more pressing matter would be making himself some bracelets or other magical items to use during the upcoming fight in addition to re-outfitting Rodrick and anyone else that he could slot in before they left.

We’re on good schedule right now. Tomorrow I should be able to get some greaves and maybe a sword for Rodrick. I’ll try to get my bow strung and see if it holds up with the spider silk string. After that I’ll make some bracelets – that should be quick. Some gauntlets and boots will follow since they’ll take the most time. If there’s any room to keep working afterward, I can look into making more gear for Olive, Reya, and Lillia. Maybe even some for Anna as well if I can figure out something I can make for a healer that doesn’t weigh her down.

Arwin nodded to himself. Having a plan took a lot of the weight off his shoulders, even if it was entirely just in his head. It gave him something to focus on. He was still nodding when he realized that Lillia was watching him from the kitchen.

“Oh. You’re still awake?” Arwin asked, catching his head mid-nod and freezing in place.

“Naturally,” Lillia replied. “You look pretty happy with yourself. Find a way to finish the bow?”

“Not the bow. I did want to, but if something went wrong while I was putting it together, I know I’d get stuck trying to fix it instead of doing something more pressing. I made myself some new greaves and reached Apprentice 5 instead.” Arwin summoned his greaves onto himself so Lillia could take a look.

She read over them, her eyebrows lifting, before raising her gaze back to meet his and giving him an impressed nod. “I can’t wait to see that in a fight against a bunch of little runts. Rare item as well. Guess you figured it out?”

“Kind of. It’s not perfect yet, but it works a lot better. I think I’ll have even more luck once I find a proper smith to learn a few things from, but I can’t ask Taylor. I think that would be a bit much.”

“Considering we’re going to be directly competing with him pretty soon? Almost certainly,” Lillia said with a small laugh. “You’re just lucky he doesn’t know that you’re Ifrit.”

“Yeah,” Arwin agreed. “I definitely need to look into getting a supplier. I need to do a lot of things.”

“They never seem to end, do they?” Lillia gave him a knowing look. “I feel the same. Did you know there are suppliers for inns? That’s great for normal food, but if I want to work with materials from monsters, everything suddenly gets way harder. It’s so expensive that I might as well just get everything myself. Which is, granted, what we’ve been doing thus far.”

“Are you worried about supply shortages or something?”

“Maybe at some point in the future,” Lillia said. “Mostly just trying to make sure I’m completely ready to handle new people when they start showing up. Do you like the new tables?”

“I was just thinking this place is starting to look like a real tavern,” Arwin said. “Are the rooms upstairs doing just as well?”

“They’re on their way to it.”

“Then all we need is names. We’ve been pushing that off for a while, haven’t we?” Arwin asked with a laugh. “For both the tavern and the guild.”

“And your smithy.”

“That too,” Arwin said with a grimace. “Problems that can wait for the sunlight.”

“Yeah.” Lillia nodded. She looked over her shoulder into the kitchen, then back to him. “Hungry? I made sandwiches.”

“You already know the answer to that. Just give me a bit to get ready,” Arwin said. He dismissed his armor and headed over to take a bath.

When he came out, Lillia was already waiting for him. They wordlessly headed over to her room and sat down on the bed to eat. Arwin tried sniffing at the sandwich to see if it had any magic in it, but it was just a sandwich. A very, very tasty sandwich.

They both finished their meals, not speaking a word until they were done.

“Thanks for the food,” Arwin said as he polished the last of it off. “It was fantastic. As always.”

“Thank you,” Lillia said from her spot leaning against his side. “I saw someone walking by the street today, by the way. Just an adventurer. He didn’t actually head in, but I think he was considering it.”

“Sounds like we might have some customers soon.”

“Maybe,” Lillia agreed, a note of hope entering her voice. “That would be nice.”

She yawned, and Arwin heard her shift beside him. “I’m probably going to try to get up early tomorrow. I’ve got a carpenter coming in to help with some basic decoration for the rooms.”

“Probably a good idea. I’ve got a lot of work tomorrow as well. Going to try and get Rodrick some more armor made. Do you want anything yourself?”

Lillia let out a soft laugh. “The armor you made me is more than enough for someone who fights on the backline. Don’t worry about me right now. All I need is rest and the dark – or the closest I can get to it, at least.”

I remember she said a while back that she didn’t get the benefit of pure dark that I do when I sit in her room. Never would have thought that such good darkvision would actually be a detriment.

“Do you mind if I try something?” Arwin asked.

“Try what?”

“For your vision problem – or rather, lack thereof.”

“I suppose not. It’s not really an issue that can be fixed. I can even see through my eyelids because of how thin they are, you know. Great for fighting when someone’s throwing dust at your face. Not so good for sleep.”

Arwin lifted his hands, taking a figurative and literal shot in the dark to guess where her face was. Lillia stiffened against him as his hands traced up her face until they found her eyes and covered them.

“There,” Arwin said. “You can’t see now, can you?”

He felt her face move ever so slightly as a small smile pulled across her lips. “No. I can’t. Not at all. It’s… nice.”

Arwin nodded in agreement, and neither of them said anything more. They remained there in silence, enjoying the darkness together as the night continued its march toward the morning.