Vol. 7 - Power - Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Thomas read over the description of the hammer and smiled. It didn't have any specific details like bonus damage or anything but that was to be expected. It wasn't meant to be used as a weapon after all. As far as the hammer coming out as an epic rarity, it was interesting but he wasn't really all that surprised. The handle alone was made from an epic material while the hammerhead was made out of Ancient Lead and purified Mithril. If something made with such quality materials wasn't epic rarity then what would be?

He hefted the hammer in his hand and gave it a few gentle swings through the air. It felt wonderful. It weighed more than a standard hammer would. If he had to guess, he would estimate it weighed somewhere around twenty kilograms. Considering a large heavy sledgehammer, back in reality, would weigh less than half of that while being significantly bigger, it just went to show how heavy the Ancient Lead really was. Once he had a good feeling for the hammer, he stored it inside of his inventory and began to clean up his materials.

Once everything was stored away he left the room with Snowlily walking behind him. He returned to the reception area of the guild and was served by a different receptionist. A nice-looking middle-aged man. When he got to the counter Thomas held up the key and asked, "Would it be alright for me to rent this room all day tomorrow as well? I could pay for twelve hours right now."

The receptionist nodded, "That's not a problem. It's not uncommon for the same room to be rented for multiple days in a row."

Thomas let out a mental sigh of relief. He hadn't replaced the damaged tongs yet and while he didn't mind having to pay to replace them, he didn't want to risk losing the option to rent a room. Damaging guild property probably wasn't looked upon kindly. Now that he could reserve the room, he fetched the twelve hundred gold for the rental fee and set it on the counter, "Thanks."

Once the receptionist counted the money and used Thomas's guild card to reserve the room, Thomas left the guild. On their way to the inn, he grabbed some street food from some vendors to either share with Snowlily or store inside of his inventory for snacks later. He also stopped inside of a smithy to purchase a slightly used pair of tongs. Why should he make a brand new pair of tongs when he could just purchase a pair for twenty gold and swap them?

When they arrived at the inn there was no sign of Lexiana or Selena. Either they weren't back yet or they were already in their rooms. Either way, it didn't matter to him at all. He enjoyed a private dinner with Snowlily. He made sure to order her extra vegetables. Something she didn't seem to appreciate.

The following morning he spotted two familiar faces in the dining room eating breakfast. Lexiana looked slightly haggard yet somehow happy. He had no idea what was going on with her and didn't plan to ask. Selena, on the other hand, looked as prim and proper as ever in her adventuring outfit as she delicately ate her breakfast. Seeing no reason not to, Thomas and Snowlily joined them for breakfast. This caused both women to smile, though for different reasons. Selena looked at him inquisitively as she asked, "So, how did your work go yesterday?"

Thomas smiled as he thought about the hammer sitting inside of his inventory, "It went rather well. I spent the first half of the day shopping around for materials so I didn't get much work done. But today I'll spend most of the day inside of the workshop making stuff."

His plans for today were to finish making his new set of hammers and tongs. If he got them done fast enough he planned to start work on his new pieces of armor. After that would come his new weapons. Before the weapons, he would need to log out of the game and do some research to make sure he didn't fuck up what he wanted to make.

Selena nodded along but before she could say anything Thomas couldn't help asking, "By the way. I heard about a material while I was shopping around and wondered if you knew anything about it? Do you know anything about logs made from a sapling grown from a World Tree seed?"

Selena's eyes widened visibly, "Something like that would be exceedingly precious and valuable! Wood from a World Tree of any age is just about the best you can get in this realm. The older, the better. It can be used to make just about anything and that item will reach at least Epic rarity! With proper materials and techniques, it wouldn't be impossible for the item in question to reach Legendary rarity!"

She leaned close to him and whispered harshly, "Don't tell me you got your hands on some!"

Thomas didn't hesitate to shake his head. He knew he didn't want to tell anyone about the wood he'd managed to snake away from the store. He had thought it would cause issues before but seeing Selena's reaction, he knew it would be as bad as publicly purifying a mana crystal. Selena seemed to relax a bit as he shook his head and even more when he added on, "I was just curious when I heard about it. I love working with rare and high-quality materials."

As she leaned back in her chair and seemed to relax, he asked, "So what is a world tree?"

Selena crossed her arms under his voluminous chest and made it seem even larger as she replied, "World Tree's are rarely found outside of the Elven capital of Boskar. The elven royal home is built inside of the oldest World Tree that towers almost five hundred meters into the air and is believed to be several thousand years old. Sometimes a seed will sprout near the top of the ancient World Tree and be caught in winds to land in random areas. The saplings are highly sought after and worth large fortunes. The older they grow to be, the more they're worth. Wood from the Ancient World Tree, no matter how small a piece, is worth the entire fortune of many noble families combined."

Thomas did his best to keep his surprise in check. He'd expected it to be a good material but not that good. He felt really happy that he'd found the logs just sitting around with oak logs that looked similar. His eyes had become such a goddamn cheat! He could find the best of anything and everything inside of the various stores and take advantage of them to find the best deals. He smiled softly at Selena, "Thanks for the info. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to work with such materials."

There was just no way that he was going to let her know that he had three three-meter long logs from a World Tree sapling sitting inside of his inventory. He was definitely not going to let her know that he was using some of that wood to make things as simple as hammers! She would probably lose her shit if she knew. He smiled to himself and finished his breakfast. Once everyone was done eating they went their separate ways. Thomas and Snowlily made their way to the adventurer's guild so he could, hopefully, finish his tools today.

After Thomas and Snowlily left, Lexiana finished her breakfast and left as well. She moved through the streets heading to the western side of the city where the dungeon was located. As she walked she pulled items out of her inventory and began to equip herself with them. A thick long belt filled to the brim with well-balanced throwing knives was strapped around her waist. Two long-bladed knives hung from the belt within easy reach of her hands. From the tips of the knife sheaths, long leather thongs hung. Without breaking her stride she tied the thongs around her thighs. This strapped the sheaths to her legs and kept them from bouncing around when she moved quickly.

The next item she wore was a pair of leather pauldrons. The handles of throwing knives could be seen sticking up from the backside of the pauldrons. Three on each side, all within easy reach. She was forced to stop to strap on her next set of sheaths. These were strapped to her calves, simple hosters holding another three knives each. All told she strapped twenty throwing knives and two fighting knives to herself. These were her primary weapons since she preferred to use her speed to rapidly deal damage to critical parts of her target's body in melee with the large knives and distract with the throwing knives.

When she arrived at the dungeon there was a line for entering, the same as there had been the day before. She waited patiently for her turn and when it came she presented her identification to the bureaucrat sitting at a table so he could record her entry. When the procedure was done she took the teleportation circle down to the eleventh floor of the dungeon. Yesterday she had pushed through and moved as fast as she could to get to the deepest floor she could. If dungeons weren't so maze-like she could have gotten deeper. Backtracking and having to kill groups of weak monsters to move on had eaten up a lot of her time.

After completing the teleportation, she immediately moved through once of the tunnels leading out of the room. Dungeons changed constantly, maps were worthless after a week. The best, and pretty much only, option was to move around randomly until you found the stairs leading down to the next floor. She moved through the pathway at a slow jog, not wanting to waste her stamina by going at full speed all the time. At the same time, she didn't want to move too slowly as well. She had multiple reasons for being down here. The first was to get stronger. She didn't have any solid proof but she could instinctually tell that Thomas had grown stronger since they last met. His growth felt massive, nearly monstrous. If she didn't work hard he would soon surpass her and leave her far behind. She didn't want to be useless.

She also wanted to be able to help guide Thomas and Snowlily through the first few floors of the dungeon as quickly as possible. The monsters they contained weren't even worth killing with their strength and would only be a waste of time and energy. Even now the monsters weren't worth the effort. If she could help them get deeper into the dungeon faster, they could all grow stronger together. She secretly hoped that fighting side by side would bring them closer together.

At the end of the tunnel, she found the first group of monsters she needed to do battle with. Like all monsters in this dungeon, they were humanoid with two arms, two legs, and a head. After that, the variety was vast and seemingly random. This floor seemed to host Hobgoblins. They were stronger and more evolved variants of goblins. Smarter, faster, stronger, more vicious, and more driven to interbreed with human women. This last aspect was clearly displayed when the Hobgoblins spotted Lexiana and immediately gave out warcries in an attempt to intimidate her. Their thoughts were clear as they started to move to surround and subdue her.

Of course, Lexiana had no intention of bearing the spawn of these monsters. She was much faster and stronger than them and they posed no threat to her. This was made abundantly clear just a few moments later. Lexiana bent foreword and placed her hands on the handles of her long knives. As soon as she grabbed them her body became a flickering blur as she moved through the room at her maximum speed. Seconds later she came to a stop near one of the exits of the room with her arms crossed and green blood dripping from the blades of her knives. She flicked the blood off of the blades before sheathing them and continuing to walk out of the room.

As she crossed the threshold into the tunnel leading to the next room, the still bodies of the hobgoblins began to slowly disintegrate into dust. They hadn't even had time to realize they had died. Their mana crystals dropped to the ground and were ignored by her as she left. She wasn't rich but to her, the mana crystals of the Hobgoblins weren't worth collecting. She hadn't bothered to collect the mana crystals from the variety of monsters she'd killed yesterday either. Some lucky newbies had probably stumbled upon the free loot and had the best day of their beginning careers.

Lexiana was focused, precise, and deadly as she sliced her way through the eleventh through the sixteenth floors of the dungeon. The monsters only managed to catch a glimpse of a red-headed blur before their vision darkened for good. When she arrived at the safe room on the seventeenth floor she decided to exit the dungeon. She was tired, worn out, and hungry. Her desire to push deeper and become a better guide had clouded her judgment and caused her to skip her lunch yet again. However, nothing could stop her from getting back to the inn before Thomas and Snowlily so that she could enjoy having dinner together with them. They might not talk much but she felt comfortable when she was near Snowlily. It just made everything better for her.

She had a smile on her dirty face as she stepped into the inn to get ready for their arrival. She swore that by the time Thomas was done with whatever he was doing, she would be able to guide him and Snowlily down to at least the first big boss on the thirtieth floor!