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Arwin pushed himself upright. He only remembered halfway up that the warm weight on top of him was Lillia. His hand shot out before his eyes were even fully open, grabbing Lillia and pulling her back against himself before he could accidentally dump her onto the ground.

She jerked in his arms as she woke with a surprised breath. “Huh? What? What’s going on?”

“Sorry,” Reya said from beside them, her cheeks coloring slightly. “I wanted to let you sleep longer, but it’s been a while. Rodrick thinks those assassins might try to come back again pretty soon. The week is nearly up. If we’re going to give Melissa anything or send her off, we need to do it sooner rather than later.”

“How long were we asleep?” Arwin asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his free hand.

“Through the rest of yesterday and all night. Something around fourteen or fifteen hours I think,” Reya replied with an impressed shake of her head. “I’m not surprised. It’s a miracle you stayed awake that long in the first place. Should we just give the armor to Melissa? You could keep sleeping then.”

“No, it’s fine,” Arwin said through a yawn as he shook off the last of his weariness and rose to his feet, lifting Lillia along with him. Her hair was frizzy and more than a few strands were stuck in her clothes or her mouth.

He set her down beside him and looked at himself. His clothes were stained with soot. Holes had been burnt into several spots on his shirt and pants.

He tried brushing himself off for exactly a second before realizing just how fruitless the endeavor would be and giving up. He had more sets back in the tavern. These were done for and probably weren’t even worth using as fuel for a fireplace.

“Where’s the armor?” Arwin asked, glancing at the spot where he’d left it in a pile before falling asleep. “Did Rodrick move it? I think I remember him coming in a bit before falling asleep.”

“Yeah. It’s in his room in the tavern. Easier to keep watch over and we didn’t want to disturb you,” Reya replied.

“Smart,” Lillia said. Her face paled as a thought struck her. “Hold on. Did anyone come to the tavern while I was passed out? I slept through a whole night!”

“You did miss a few customers,” Reya said with a wince. “We told them the tavern was closed since you were preparing some new stuff. Everyone understood. They’ll probably be back tonight or tomorrow.”

Lillia’s nose scrunched in distaste but she nodded her understanding. “At least they weren’t left wondering what had happened. Thanks, Reya. I don’t want people thinking the Devil’s Den isn’t reliable. I’ll have to make sure not to miss any more days in the near future.”

“Is Melissa waiting in the tavern, then?” Arwin asked.

“Yeah. Anna and Olive are with her. Madiv and Esmerelda were there as well, but Anna sent them off because they got into an argument over the price of pickles.”

“Pickles?” Arwin blinked. “Why pickles?”

“Madiv apparently likes salty things. He wanted to buy some, but Esmerelda only had magical ones. I don’t recommend asking. You’ll regret it,” Reya said, her eyes glazing over as a shudder racked her body. “And Esmerelda is in a pretty bad mood as well. She hasn’t even tried selling me anything weird in the last few days.”

“Is… that what she normally does?” Lillia asked with a frown. “I fully expected her to give up on that once she saw we weren’t interested.”

“It’s basically how she says hello at this point,” Reya replied. “I kind of feel bad for her. We need to find someone for her to sell something to soon. I’d probably buy something if she ever actually had any of it. She keeps asking us to go back to her store in town, but we’re all too busy to head over to it.”

“Just keep humoring her. She’s a nice old lady, and she’s definitely got some connections since she was able to get the Rosium for the armor set. She’s just a bit odd.” Arwin stretched his arms over his head and shook himself off. “Okay. Is Rodrick around as well?”

“No. He’s off in town right now. I think he’s been keeping tabs on the assassin’s guilds and for any word of the Falling Blade arriving in town.”

Good man.

“Sounds good. We’ll be right over,” Arwin said. “Thanks, Reya.”

She grinned and nodded in response before turning to stride back out of the tavern. Arwin watched her leave, his head tilting slightly to the side. Reya moved with more confidence than she had just a few days ago.

Not just confidence, either. That’s more than just an attitude improvement. She’s stronger. All the dungeon delving she did with Rodrick must have gone pretty well for her. I bet she’s catching up to me in level.

That thought gave him a second of pause. He hadn’t kept exact track of how many magic items he’d made over the past week, but he’d definitely earned a lot of power amidst all the achievements.

Arwin adjusted his stance. Even through the weariness, his body felt stronger. Even stronger than it had at the start of the week. He dug through his memories as he summoned his status screen before him. It had been quite some time since he’d taken a proper look at it.

Did I —

Name: Arwin Tyrr

Class: Living Forge (Unique)(Tier: Apprentice 8)

Skills:

[Awaken] (Passive) – All items forged by your hand have the potential to take on a trait, determined by [Unknown]. The potential for the trait to be detrimental is [72%]. Materials with a higher chance to awaken will fight with you to exert their influence on the piece they are being made into.

[Molten Novice] (Passive) – You have spent enough time working immersed in fire that you have begun to understand it. Unlock your potential to prepare for the first steps in the path of Dwarven forging.

[Soul Flame] – Passion burns within you with such intensity that it become manifest. You may draw out your Soul Flame, empowering the fire of your forge, but be wary – any magical damage done to the Soul Flame will transfer onto your soul. Increasing the amount of magical energy you use to form the Soul Flame will increase its intensity. Your Soul Flame can pull all the traits from a magical item and allow you to transfer them onto other items without pre-existing magic.

[Arsenal] – You live and die on your equipment, so you might as well make it part of yourself. Bind yourself to [8] pieces of equipment, summoning and dismissing it at will. The number of equipment you can bind to scales with your Tier, up to a total of 10. Unbinding a piece of Equipment will make this skill inactive for 1 day. You may temporarily bind yourself to 1 extra piece of equipment after holding it for an amount of time scaling with the difference between your current Tier and the Tier of the item’s holder. Breaking this bond will not deactivate [Arsenal].

[Dragon’s Greed] – Your hunger for magical power has begun to manifest itself in the physical world. Extend your senses to search the area around you for magical items at the cost of significant magical energy. The range of this effect scales with the amount of magical energy used. At the cost of extra magical energy, the focus of this ability can be targeted to a specific type of magical item or material.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Titles:

[Scourge] – You have faced an entire army in combat and emerged victorious. Your physical strength can be significantly intensified at the cost of magical energy.

[Indomitable Bulwark] – You have withstood a blow that would have leveled a city. Damage from all attacks is reduced significantly.

[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.

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

[Stonesinger] – You crafted an Awoken item with a magical component that was beyond your comprehension, and your efforts have attuned you to the whispers of the world. If you listen close enough, you can speak with magical materials – though they may not wish to reply.

[Indomitable] – Your body has been beaten, and yet it carried on. Your mind has teetered on the precipice of oblivion, yet it refused to give in. Forged in the ghosts of the past and tempered in the present, your mental fortitude has been honed to a point beyond what most can comprehend.

[Inevitable End] – Awarded for killing an overloading monster a full Tier above you from a location where it could do nothing but wait for death. Try not to make it a habit. Perceptive opponents will be able to pick up the promise of death that seems to find those who place themselves in your way.

Achievements:

[Smart Set] – Awarded for forging a set made entirely of [Awoken] items. Effects: Gain guidance on a single class-related choice. This achievement will be consumed upon usage.

[Full Hand] – Awarded for forging a full 5-piece set. Effects: One skill in your next Skill Selection has been upgraded. This achievement will be consumed upon choosing your next skill.

[Couple of Crafters II] – Awarded for forging a set by linking your desires together with your partner. Get a room. Effects: The dissonance between you and your partner’s intent has been reduced for this set. Repeated instances of this Achievement are possible and rewards scale with its tier.

[Sleepless Set - I] – Awarded for re-forging an entire set with less than 1 hour of sleep in the past day. Effects: One skill in your next Skill Selection has been upgraded. This achievement will be consumed upon choosing your next skill. Repeated instances of this Achievement are possible and rewards scale with its tier. See what happens if you get another level of this one. It’ll be fun.

[Overly Generous] – Awarded for stepping back and letting an ally take the challenge of killing an Overloaded Monster out of desire to see their growth. Power is often found whilst guiding others to it. Effects: A single delivery. This achievement will be consumed upon your mental request.

Challenges:

[Curb the Hunger] – You’ve unveiled a hidden aspect of your Class. All that lives must consume to persist, but some hunger more than others. Unfortunately for you, your hunger is far greater than what your body can sustain. Find a way to bring it under control before you consume yourself. Rewards: range on completion. Failure to complete a sufficient amount of the Challenge will result in your death.

Milestone 1: Discover your lack of knowledge and initiate the Challenge.

Reward 1: [The Hungering Maw] will have an extra variant to choose from upon your next Class Specialization. This achievement will be consumed upon your next Class Specialization

Milestone 2: Shed your training aids and take your first step onto the path of true smithing.

Reward 2: 1 bar of purified Albunium, 1 bar of purified Steel, 1 Palestone, 1 Ripperfish tooth, and 1 chip of Rockspider Carapace.

Bonus Reward 2: Achievement: [Yes you did.]

Milestone 3: Unknown Title

“Holy shit,” Arwin said, blinking in pain as golden letters flew at his head like miniature arrows. He’d never tried to view his fully expanded information before, and now he had a damned good reason to not do it again.

I’m not trying to read a novel every single time I take a look at my abilities. Let’s keep that condensed in the future.

It took him a moment of sifting through all the words floating before him to realize that he actually had leveled up again. He’d missed the notification from the Mesh while he was in his work-induced haze.

That meant he hadn’t gotten a new skill with the advancement, but that really wasn’t a surprise. New skills became less frequent the stronger one got. He was fairly certain he’d probably get one at Apprentice 9, but the real important advancement would be right after that, when he moved from Apprentice into Journeyman.

“Look at your information,” Arwin said, his eyes still scanning over everything to make sure he hadn’t missed any other changes in himself. He summoned Verdant Blaze to his hand and a thrum of energy met his palm.

The weapon was brimming with power. It wasn’t fully Awoken yet, but it was a soft breeze away from it. Arwin wasn’t sure how he could tell that — he just knew it from the touch alone.

It would become sentient with the next one or two pieces of magical equipment he made. What that meant, he didn’t know.

“Whoa,” Lillia said, her eyes widening in shock as she finished reading her status screen. “I reached Apprentice 7. I’ve got a new skill to select as well. When did that happen? I didn’t realize I’d cooked that much. I was so focused on improving the quality and magical effects of the food that I wasn’t even paying attention to the Mesh. ”

“You zoned out even harder than I did,” Arwin said with a laugh. He gently brushed some of the hair scattered around her face away. “Good options?”

Lillia nodded absently. She stared past him, studying the words visible only to her for several quiet seconds. A grin formed on her face after a few seconds. She blinked and her eyes refocused. “I got an ability that lets me take on attributes of things I eat. Anything I eat.”

“Anything?” Arwin asked. “Does it have to be cooked?”

“Not technically, no,” Lillia said. She scratched the side of her neck and snickered. “I could technically just try to take bites out of monsters mid fight like you.”

“You stole my trick?” Arwin demanded. “That’s just lame.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got higher standards than you do,” Lillia said, trying to keep herself from laughing any more. “I only eat properly prepared food now. I’ll have to get more into jerky. Carrying around preserved parts of powerful monsters we’ve fought will let me get some pretty strong power boosts mid-fight. I don’t have a lot of combat abilities that aren’t related to my tavern, so this’ll come in handy.”

“Can you eat inanimate objects?”

“No. It’s got to be food. Meat, vegetables, the like. I’m not taking a bite out of anything other than normal monsters unless we randomly run into something made out of bread.”

“Then my trick is safe with me,” Arwin said with an overexaggerated sigh of relief. “You are forgiven. Shall we go give Melissa her armor and figure out what else we missed over the past week?”

“If only so we can finally do something else, yes,” Lillia said. She glanced over to the heart in the corner of their room. It was still beating, but it had slowed even further. They’d kept vague tabs on it over the course of the last week to make sure their efforts didn’t end up getting wasted, but time was definitely running out to make something of it. “We should really finish what we started here.”

“Yeah. We’ll get it after Melissa is sent off today,” Arwin said. He noticed a few strands of hair somehow poking straight out of the top of Lillia’s head and reached out to flatten them. With all the soot covering both of them, it looked like they’d been caught in an explosion.

Lillia pushed up into his hand as he ran it over her head.

He paused.

She paused.

“What?” Lillia asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Nothing,” Arwin replied, finishing the motion with a laugh.

“Good,” Lillia strutted past him and somehow managed to look elegant in the process of it — and also revealing the back of her clothing, which was somehow just as messed up as Arwin’s were. She paused at the door at looked over her shoulder at him, arching an eyebrow. “What are you staring at?”

“You.”

We both really need a change of clothes before we see Melissa or she’s going to think we just ran in after losing a fight against a soot monster.

Lillia’s cheeks went bright red and she quickly turned away in attempt to hide it. It struck Arwin that his words may have been misinterpreted, but rectifying that mistake was something he had absolutely no plans of doing.

He walked up beside Lillia and nudged her with his shoulder before pulling the door open. “Shall we? I thought we were heading over to give Melissa her armor.”

She cleared her throat and combed her hair back. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Together, they stepped out of the Infernal Armory and headed for Lillia’s tavern. Every step they took brought them closer to the future. Once word got out about the magical armor, Arwin had no delusion that anything would ever be the same again.

The steps he’d taken were to make sure nobody realized quite how powerful the armor truly was, but magical gear was magical gear. There was no taking this back — but this was the way forward.

No more making random armor. It’s magical from here on out. That’s the way to grow more powerful… but more than that.

By choosing the people I make equipment for, I’m making allies and equipping them with a way to grow even more powerful. This is about more than just equipment. I need to lay the foundations for us to grow. We need powerful connections and access to more and more material.

Melissa’s survival can open a path into the future if we play our cards correctly. We’ve got an opportunity here to begin making a presence on a larger scale, and I’m not going to let that go to waste.