Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 155-156 (Patreon)

Waves crashed against the shore and washed over Arwin. It was a similar vision. The howling wind and churning ocean held power, but not over him. He sat, unmoving, as the water crashed against him.

“That’s not going to be enough,” Arwin said, uncrossing his legs and rising to his feet. A wave slammed into him, but it didn’t even knock him back. The arrow had a will to it. That much was clear — but its will was nothing compared to some of the items that Arwin had made before.

A six-foot tower of water crashed down on top of Arwin, trying to force him to his knees. He stood his ground once more, letting the water run down his face as he stared out into the stormy sea.

“Not enough,” Arwin repeated. “I know everything that went into you. I may not know it perfectly, but I know what your desires were. The sea that you call on is just a part of the Maristeel, and that is already tame. Your will cannot overcome mine.”

Another wave crashed into him, this one larger than the last. Arwin’s foot dug into the soaked sand, but he refused to let himself budge an inch. The vision didn’t have the advantage of surprise, and it didn’t have the advantage of a stronger will.

No matter how hard the arrow tried to struggle, Arwin gave it no quarter. He held his hands out and rain pelted down on top of him, every droplet stinging like the bite of an irate insect. Water trickled into his eyes and tried to force him to blink it away, but even that was ground that he could not be made to give.

“Accept it,” Arwin said. “Why fight? I’m giving you what you wanted. Purpose. A way to be more than what you were. You can struggle all you want, but you can’t overcome me. Make the choice. I don’t need a rebellious arrow. I’ll take you to the peak or shatter you and make a new arrow. It’s up to you.”

The rain continued to pour down, but the ocean stilled. A small smile crossed Arwin’s face. He’d already won, even if the arrow hadn’t fully acknowledged it yet. He extended a hand.

“Come on. Enough of the tantrum. Let’s get on with this.”

A few last droplets fell before the clouds overhead shifted and broke. Streams of sunlight broke through as the rain finally came to a halt. The vision shattered. It fell like shards of glass, leaving Arwin sitting in his smithy across from his anvil once again.

[Wyrm’s Tooth] has been forged. Forging a magical item has granted you energy.

Arwin stood up and looked at the finished arrow resting on the top of his anvil. Its blue metal shimmered in the light from his [Soul Flame], and the Mesh traced letters through the air as it registered the newly created item.

Wyrm’s Tooth

Wyrm’s Tooth: Rare Quality

[Sharp]: This item is abnormally sharp. Its head will cut through many things – including the hands of whoever is holding it.

[Wyrm’s Flight]: The potential of a hungry Wyrmling rests within this item. Whenever possible, it will make minor adjustments to its course to seek out the weakest spot of its target.

[Overweight]: This arrow is better meant for thrusting than shooting. This item is abnormally heavy for its purpose.

The traits were perfect. Arwin wasn’t surprised in the slightest at the detrimental [Overweight] trait. Making an arrow this size out of solid metal wasn’t going to net him anything else.

Meanwhile, [Sharp] was exactly what he’d wanted and [Wrym’s Flight] was a fantastic addition. He smiled to himself. Making items the ‘proper’ way without the Mesh telling him what to do was definitely the right way to handle things.

There was only one more step left to do.

Arwin summoned his status and turned his attention to the Achievement he’d gotten after making Prism’s Reach.

[Armed and Dangerous] – Awarded for forging a weapon whose rarity was overwritten by its own desires. Effects: You may select an item to join this weapon’s Set, regardless of its quality. This achievement will be consumed upon selecting an item.

“This one,” Arwin said, summoning Prism’s Reach to his right hand and lifting the arrow with his left. “This is the other half of the set.”

[Armed and Dangerous] has been consumed.

A shimmer of green energy leapt from the bow and into the arrow. It wormed its way into the metal, stretching throughout it like dull verdant veins. The words floating above the arrow shimmered as they changed and reformed.

Prism’s Vengeance: Rare Quality

[Sharp]: This item is abnormally sharp. Its head will cut through many things – including the hands of whoever is holding it.

[Wyrm’s Flight]: The potential of a hungry Wyrmling rests within this item. Whenever possible, it will make minor adjustments to its course to seek out the weakest spot of its target.

[Overweight]: This arrow is better meant for thrusting than shooting. This item is abnormally heavy for its purpose.

[Crystal Vessel]: This arrow has been infested with the hunger of the Prism, allowing it to draw in attributes of whatever is applied to it for a short period of time. The stored attribute will be released upon impact.

[The Right Arm]: This is a set item of [2] pieces.

Arwin blew out a breath as he read over the arrow’s updated stats. The Mesh had done right by him once again. The new arrow was more than worth the effort he’d put into it. It really did look more like a fancy spear than anything someone should be shooting out of a bow, but he’d already seen firsthand what a relatively normal arrow could do when fired from Prism’s Reach. With this one, he didn’t even want to think about the damage he’d be able to cause.

Okay, maybe I’m lying to myself a bit. I very much want to know exactly what will happen when I shoot this thing, but I can contain myself. I’m not shooting it in the city like an idiot.

Arwin dismissed Prism’s Reach and wrapped the arrow in a bundle of leather. He couldn’t bind to it quite yet. He’d have to hit the next level in his tier in order to be able to do that, but he wasn’t too concerned about it.

There was a whole lot of work he had coming up, and something told Arwin that it wouldn’t be long before he advanced once more. If anything, it would probably be a good idea to head out one more time and try to get another Achievement or two before he moved on.

I’d like to revisit that room in Olive’s dungeon. I’ve still got the key to it, and I’m pretty sure I can try to get something out of [Molten Novice] if I’m left alone with a pool of lava for long enough.

But, before that, I want money. If Reya and the others are back already, then my Brightsteel should be waiting for me somewhere.

Arwin headed out into the main room of the smithy. His eyes landed on a pile of six Brightsteel bars and his bag of gold, now considerably lightened. He grinned. Reya had pulled through as usual.

He gathered everything, tucking the money back into his main pouch, and brought it back to the smithy. Arwin looked over all the new metal, then rubbed his hands together. This was the perfect time to make some sets to sell. That would let him capitalize on the interest he’d already generated for his business and hopefully bring some people back to their street.

Arwin got to work.

***

Hours passed as they tended to do. Bars of Brighsteel were heated and forged, separated and queried, and then made into whatever they desired to be. Arwin made mostly chestpieces, helms, and greaves, as Brightsteel wasn’t the best weapon for swords or daggers in most circumstances barring Olive.

It would work well as the core of the weapon, but he wasn’t willing to use any of his Maristeel for their edges and working with Roughsteel would probably just result in low quality weapons. His goal was to set himself apart in quality and price, so he couldn’t have that.

Piles of armor slowly started to take form behind him. He made them the highest quality that they could be without being guided by the Mesh. He didn’t let any magical energy into the metal, and so everything he made remained solidly inanimate.

Arwin ended up running out of leather before he ran out of Brightsteel. He finally stepped back from the anvil, exhaustion setting into his limbs like heavy chains, as he took a moment to study the fruits of his labor.

Ten sets of chestpieces, helms, and greaves laid before him, the Ifrit logo branded onto each of them. He’d sold the chestpieces and the helms for 180 gold before without any difficulty, so he was pretty sure he could realistically charge somewhere around 250 for the three items together.

That means I’m sitting on around 2500 gold here, assuming I can sell all of it. That much money would be incredible. We could do so many renovations to the basic issues the tavern has and really get everything running, not to mention spiffing up the smithy and getting me more materials to work with.

Arwin nodded to himself. He summoned his [Soul Flame] from the hearth and scooped his bundled arrow up, then headed out of the smithy and locked the doors behind him. Night already held the street in its grasp. Judging by the position of the moon high in the sky above him, he suspect it had been dark for quite some time.

I hope I’m not so late that Lillia went to bed. I promised to wake her up if I did show up after she’s asleep, but I’d still feel pretty bad about it.

He made his way back into the tavern and, after a detour to clean up for the night, headed toward the kitchen. To his relief, the lantern near the entrance to it was still flickering with light. He stepped under it and Lillia glanced over at him from beside the counter. She wiped her hands off on her apron and picked up a covered bowl that sat on the wood before her.

“Look who showed up,” Lillia observed, bringing the bowl over to a metal chest wedged into beneath her counter. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Just got caught up crafting,” Arwin replied. “I made ten sets of gear to sell as well as an arrow for my bow. It was a good day. What about you?”

“A good day? Try two.”

Arwin’s eyes widened. “I spent two days in there?”

Now that she mentioned it, it certainly made a lot of sense. He’d made ten sets of armor entirely without the Mesh’s guidance in addition to his arrow. That was quite a bit of work, and he didn’t know how much time he’d lost to the vision either.

“Shit,” Arwin said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine. I remember how you were when you just got to the street. It’s just how things go. I’ll live. And, as for what I’ve been up to — I’ve been marinating a bunch of meat,” Lillia said, setting the bowl into the chest and closing the lid over it. “Ten sets does sound like quite a lot.”

“It is,” Arwin said, letting out a relieved sigh when it became clear that Lillia wasn’t angry with him. “If I can sell all of it, I think we can really get this street started in proper. We’ll be able to really start drawing some attention to ourselves.”

“That would be nice. Do you have an actual name for your smithy yet?”

Arwin’s smile faltered and he coughed into a fist. “Ah… not yet.”

Lillia rolled her eyes, though he only just barely managed to pick it up in the dim lighting.

“Figures. You’re really going to need something before you start getting to popular, or people will name it for you. And trust me, that won’t go well.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Arwin said reluctantly. “I’m just not the best at naming. I’ll try to think something up tomorrow and get a sign made before I head out to the market. I’ll probably drag Reya along with me. Will you have room to handle some people passing through if I do manage to get them?”

Lillia nodded. “Yes. My imps are trained and I’ve been preparing food all day. I’ve got a total of six rooms to rent out as well, assuming you move out of yours. Reya has one, Olive has another, and Rodrick and Anna are sharing a third. That leaves me with three for people passing through.”

“Did you want to try to get more? Three doesn’t seem like a lot.”

“No. If I bring in too many random people, my satisfaction rating might drop really sharply,” Lillia said. “I need to make sure growth is measured or I could end up getting too big and permanently crippling myself — or worse.”

Just like advancing [Awaken], huh?

“Makes sense,” Arwin said. “Sounds like we’re ready for tomorrow.”

“Mostly ready. I haven’t had a chance to make dinner yet,” Lillia said sheepishly. “I’ve been focused on advancing my class by making the most difficult dishes I could. Most of them weren’t edible or are still waiting to be ready tomorrow.”

Arwin tilted his head to the side. “When you say meat…”

“Wyrm is on the menu.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. I’m going to look forward to trying that,” Arwin said with a laugh. “And that’s fine. I don’t need dinner. Getting some rest is more than enough.”

“Good.” Lillia grinned. “I’m exhausted, so I don’t really want to do anything else today. Just give me a second to wash my hands off.”

She slipped past him, making it a point to brush against his chest as she walked. Arwin watched her head out of the kitchen, and it struck him that he wasn’t sure if he was more excited for the night or the day that would come after it.

Both, I think. Both is good.

Chapter 156

Arwin woke the following morning to Lillia lying on top of him, her tail curled around his leg and her head rested on his chest. She was as warm as ever. It only took him a flicker of an instant to decide that this was probably his favorite way to wake up.

That decision was impacted about a millisecond later when he realized that he had a considerable amount of hair in his mouth that didn’t belong to him. He tried to pull his head to the side to free himself, but Lillia’s hair was just long enough to keep its grip on him.

“What are you doing?” Lillia asked through a yawn as Arwin tried to maneuver his head without moving the rest of his body.

“Trying to get hair out of my mouth without waking you up.”

“Oh.” Lillia sat back, freeing Arwin from his unintended snack, and snickered. “Get hungry?”

“I can assure you that there are a lot of other things I’d choose to eat over hair,” Arwin said, sitting up beside her. “I think your hair just wanted to get eaten. It stuck itself into my mouth on its own.”

Lillia yawned. From the small creak that came from the straw mattress, Arwin suspected that she was stretching as well. He almost jumped in surprise when she leaned forward and rested against Arwin’s chest.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Lillia said a moment later. She pulled away from him and her hand found his, pulling him to his feet. “You’re just comfortable. Does something in your class make you a better pillow?”

“Nothing that I’m aware of,” Arwin said dryly. “Maybe all the magic I eat makes me softer.”

Lillia squeezed his arm and let out a snort. “No. I don’t think that’s it.”

“Don’t flatter me too much. I remember what I used to look like.”

She made a gagging noise. “Yeah. I remember that too. Let’s stick to the current look, shall we? You were more muscle than brain. Having a balance is nice.”

“Says the one that had literal wings,” Arwin grumbled. “How come I just got bigger with my advancements? I would have liked wings.”

“You can use mine. They’re just made out of shadows now, so I can stick them on you whenever you want.”

It was a relatively tame promise, but Arwin’s cheeks colored, nonetheless. When they stepped into the light cast by the lantern hanging near the entrance of the kitchen, he noted that Lillia’s cheeks were a shade brighter than normal as well.

“I’m going to finish preparations for the morning,” Lillia said, stopping at the edge of the kitchen. “You’re heading out to the market today, right?”

“Yep. I’ll probably aim to sell about half of them there, then bring people back with the other half. Nothing too fancy. I figure it’ll just be a quick trip in and out.”

“Bring Reya,” Lillia said. “Otherwise you’ll get scammed.”

“What? I will not.”

Lillia tilted her head to the side. “You don’t know the value of money.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I don’t either,” Lillia said with a grin. “And she definitely does. Good luck with the sales. Bring enough people back for me to feed, would you?”

Ah, crud. She’s got a point.

“I’ll do that,” Arwin said with a laugh. “Could you keep an eye on the bundle I left in your room? It’s my arrow, but my level isn’t high enough to bind to it yet.”

“Sure thing,” Lillia said. “Nobody will go in there. And, even if they do, they won’t be able to see where anything is.”

Arwin nodded his appreciation, then headed out the door. He closed it behind him and turned to his smithy. Reya leaned against its wall, drumming her fingers on the hilt of her dagger. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and she straightened as he walked over.

“Is it time to sell stuff?” Reya asked.

“So it is,” Arwin said. “How long have you been waiting out here and how’d you figure out I was ready?”

“I heard you come home yesterday because the door creaked really late, and it only does that when you’re coming back. And I’ve only been out for a little while. I’ve been trying to get up earlier recently.”

“Why? For your morning runs to stave off the cold?”

“Yep.” Reya’s answer came out just a bit too fast and drew a sidelong glance from Arwin, but he didn’t press the matter.

Arwin made his way over to the cart and dragged it out from behind the tavern. He then unlocked the smithy’s doors and set about taking everything he’d made out and loading it up.

“Have you figured out a name for the smithy yet?” Reya asked.

“No,” Arwin said with a grimace. “Lillia asked me that last night. Is it really that important?”

“Yes,” Reya said. “And good.”

“Good?” Arwin set the chestpiece he’d been carrying down on the cart and tilted his head to the side. “Why is it good?”

“Give me a second and I’ll show you.” Reya jogged off before Arwin could respond, disappearing through the tavern door.

Arwin craned his neck to follow her, then shook his head and went back to loading the cart up. There was quite a bit he wanted to sell today, and having all the inventory with him would help lure people back to their street when it was time to return.

“That’s a whole lot of shiny shit.”

He nearly jumped out of his skin as a dry voice that most certainly didn’t belong to Reya scraped across his ears. The drunkard stood just a few feet behind Arwin, a half-empty mug hanging from loose fingers.

“You.” Arwin blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I swear I’ve asked you to stop doing that. Can’t you just announce your presence like a normal person?”

“No. What’s all this shit for?”

“It’s armor,” Arwin said. “And it’s for selling.”

“Why?”

“What kind of question is that?” Arwin’s brow furrowed. “I need money. We need to fix the tavern up. The street too, at some point — and that isn’t even accounting for the expenses of materials. That all takes a lot of gold. I’m going to sell about half of it and bring the rest back to drum up some business. Why do you care?”

The drunkard grunted. “You’re bringing people back?”

“That’s the goal. Is there a problem with it?”

“You’re going to make the street loud,” the drunkard said wearily. He took a drink from his tankard and curled his lip in distaste. “It’s already been too loud as of late.”

“There are different kinds of noise.” Arwin’s features hardened. He was all too aware of what noise the drunkard referred to, considering the man had been the one to deliver Zeke’s warped sword to him. “We’re aiming for the noise of life. Not the alternative.”

The door to the tavern swung open and Arwin’s gaze flicked to Reya as she emerged, a rectangular bundle tucked under her arm. When his eyes moved back to the drunkard, the man was gone. Arwin repressed a curse.

That can’t be normal. How stealthy is that guy?

“Here.” Reya held the bundle out to Arwin with an eager grin. “Take a look!”

Arwin shook the thoughts of the strange drunkard off and took the offered bundle from Reya, unwrapping it. There were two planks of wood within, one slightly smaller than the other. He nearly asked what the purpose of them was before spotted the metal rings at their tops and realized they were upside down. Arwin pulled the rest of the wrapping to the side and flipped the planks over.

“Infernal Armory?” Arwin read, his eyebrows lifting as he looked back to Reya.

She gave him an expectant look. “What do you think? I had them made for you yesterday. Your smith name is Ifrit and you’re with Lillia, so it felt like you kind of had a theme running. I can get them redone if—”

“No, this is perfect.” A smile crossed Arwin’s lips. “Thank you, Reya. It’s lovely. I guess that means we got names for everything, didn’t we? Quite the theme as well. The Devil’s Den Tavern, The Infernal Armory, and the Menagerie guild. We’re definitely going to draw a specific audience.”

“It’s awesome,” Reya said. She lowered her voice. “Nobody will ever actually think it’s serious because of how on the nose it is. Can you think of a better disguise?”

“No,” Arwin said. He glanced around to see if the drunkard was anywhere nearby to have overheard them, but there was no sight of him and Reya hadn’t been speaking loudly. “It’s perfect.”

He took the smaller of the signs and glanced around. His eyes caught on two metal pegs jutting out of the front of the wagon. They hadn’t been there before.

“Your work?”

“Yeah. I got everything set up so we wouldn’t have to wait long.”

Arwin hung the smaller of the signs and took a moment to appreciate it. He smiled and gave Reya a nod, then summoned his armor around himself. It wasn’t Arwin that had to head out to the market, after all. It was Ifrit. “Thank you again, Reya. This is perfect. Now we’re really ready to head out. Shall we go make some money?”

***

They arrived at the market a short while later and quickly set about preparing everything. Arwin hung the greaves and chestpieces from the hooks along the wagon and set the helms down on the counter along its edge.

It was still early in the morning, but the market was already in full swing. The crowds were relatively small but growing steadily with every passing minute. People milled through the streets from merchant to merchant, and the smell of baked goods floated into the air.

There were more than a few adventurers in the crowd, but all of them seemed to be headed somewhere in particular rather than milling about. Arwin glanced up at the sign hanging above his head.

The last time they’d come to the market, people had shown up to his cart pretty quickly. It hadn’t been that long since then, but they weren’t getting any attention at all. For that matter, the adventurers didn’t seem to have the slightest interest in any of the stores.

“Huh. This is odd,” Arwin said. “There’s no way people forgot about me this fast, is there?”

“I don’t think so,” Reya said. “That would be weird. It’s only been a few days. It looks like people are kind of busy, though. Look at all the adventurers.”

“Yeah,” Arwin said with a frown. “Doesn’t it look like they’re headed somewhere?”

Reya nodded. “It does.”

Arwin hopped down from the cart and strode toward the crowd. He raised a hand, cutting off a middle-aged man in leather gear with a sword strapped to his side.

“Excuse me,” Arwin said.

The man’s lips thinned as he came to a halt. “Not interested in buying whatever you’re selling. I have places to be.”

He stepped to the side, but Arwin matched him. “I’m not trying to sell you anything. I just had a quick question. Where’s everyone headed? Is something going on?”

“Have you not heard? There’s a new dungeon near Milten,” the adventurer said, sending Arwin a disbelieving look. “After the Iron Hounds collapsed a few days ago, the Secret Eye found maps in their missing guild leader’s office. They revealed the entrance to the dungeon a little while ago and they’ve been offering great rewards for anyone that can get deep enough into it and report on what the monsters are inside.”

Arwin blinked in surprise. “Oh, seriously? Why run to the middle of town, then? Aren’t you heading in the wrong direction?”

“Because they’re going to be announcing if they’ve found a way into the lower levels of the dungeon,” the adventurer replied irritably. “There’s a key they’re still missing. If you want to hear more, just go listen to them yourself. I’m not a town crier.”

With that, he stepped around Arwin and headed off with the crowd. A small frown creased Arwin’s face and he walked over to rejoin Reya.

“What was that about?” Reya asked.

“Something that might be important. The Secret Eye found something out about a new dungeon near the town,” Arwin said. “Do you think you could watch over the cart for a little?”

“Sure. Who are the Secret Eye, though?”

Arwin almost laughed before he caught himself. It was easy to forget how little Reya actually knew about just about everything guild related.

“They’re basically a group of observers that rank guilds and dungeons. They’re also information brokers,” Arwin said. “And this might be important. I’m going to go hear what it is they’re talking about — and then I’ll see just how many people I can drag back over here once they realize they’re going to need some new armor to handle whatever crap is in that dungeon.”

Reya nodded and Arwin strode off, entering the stream of people heading through the market. As he walked, he couldn’t help but keep his thoughts from drifting to the black badge that Jessen had been carrying in his coin pouch.

Jessen didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to leave something really valuable out of sight. If they’re missing a key that they’re putting this much importance on… I think I might know where it is.