Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 155: On the menu

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.

Completing the arrow should have meant that the set was done as well. Arwin turned his gaze to Prism’s Reach, looking to see if anything had changed.

Prism’s Reach: Unique Quality

[Awoken]: This item has taken on life of its own. With every death it causes, it will grow slightly more powerful. Upon reaching [Unknown] threshold, it will be able to bond with its wielder.

[Power for Power]: Prism’s Reach can only be drawn when infused with magical energy from its Wielder. A portion of the spent energy will be transferred into its shots.

[Corrupted Shot]: Arrows fired by Prism’s Reach will infest their target with crystal upon impact, consuming any uncontested magic whenever possible.

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[Immense Hunger]: Prism’s Reach can absorb magical energy from its wielder in exchange for empowering its next shot. The amount of magical energy it draws will increase exponentially with the amount of time it spends drawn. Overfeeding Prism’s Reach may modify its attributes temporarily.

[The Arms]: Prism's Reach, armed with its Vengeance, may shift its form when it has been fed sufficient amounts of energy from a single target.

[Unique]: This item has formed a treaty with Arwin Tyrr. It has not acknowledged him as owner, but it will obey his commands until deciding if he is worthy of its service or not. Information about this item may be hidden from others.

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

It can change its form? What does that mean? Does it turn into a sword? Getting sufficient amounts of energy from a single target is a little vague. Given how the Prism was weakened, I don’t think it will be able to draw a ridiculous amount of magic out of anyone with one shot. That probably means I’ll have to shoot something multiple times. That’s a pretty big ask unless I’m up against something so huge that a bow this big doesn’t kill it quickly. Still, there are a whole lot of really big monsters. If I run into a situation where something massive is just sitting around, this could be really useful.

Arwin dismissed Prism’s Reach and picked up the finished arrow. He couldn’t bind to it quite yet with one of his permanent binding slots, but he didn’t need to keep Jessen’s armor bound with his temporary opening.

He summoned the black armor, depositing it in the corner of the smithy before rebinding to his arrow and dismissing it. Even though he had room for all his current equipment, it was on the edge. Once he made sabatons and gauntlets, he’d have two items in need of binding.

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. I should make sure I’ve got food in case I need it, though.

He grabbed some scrap Brightsteel and, after a moment of thought, snapped off a piece of chitin from the centipede’s plates. Arwin then spent around thirty minutes working everything together into a bracelet, following the same strategy he’d used when making the [Steelskin] trait.

Before long, his work was rewarded with some magical energy for crafting a new magical item as well as a new bracelet.

Chitinous Band: Rare Quality

[Chitinskin]: Activating this item will turn its wearer’s body to chitin and greatly reduce their range of movement at the continuous cost of magical energy.

[Chittering]: While this item is active, its wearer’s movements will make loud clicking noises.

That’ll do just great.

Arwin tucked the braclet into his pocket and headed out into the main room of the smithy. His eyes landed on a pile of 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 Brightsteel 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 material 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, but while they were completely mundane, the desires of the metal still came through. The metal didn’t particularly care if it was magical or not. He chose pieces that wanted to be armor, and that was what they became.

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, 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 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 too 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.

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