Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 182: Drive the Nail

The Mesh’s words hovered before Arwin’s face as if to taunt him.

“Godspit,” Lillia said, breaking the moment of still silence. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The Mesh was not kidding. Before she’d even finished speaking, more sentences swirled out before Arwin.

Achievement: [From the Cradle] has been earned.

[From the Cradle] – Awarded for clearing a Journeyman Ranked Dungeon within ten minutes of its establishment. Talk about efficiency. Effects: One skill in your next Skill Selection has been upgraded. This achievement will be consumed upon choosing your next skill.

“How did this get qualified as a properly ranked dungeon?” Rodrick demanded, waving invisible words away from his face. “It was just a normal Journeyman tier dungeon when we went in!”

“What exactly does this mean? I thought it was already Journeyman ranked,” Reya said with a confused frown. “Why is the Mesh suddenly telling people that we completed it?”

“It was probably Journeyman tier, but it wasn’t officially recognized as that by the Mesh,” Anna explained. “There are different kinds of dungeons. The most common ones are just the ones that we’ve cleared before. They just… exist, I guess. They come in and out of existence and can have almost any kind of monster in them. Ranked dungeons are ones that have been recognized by the Mesh. They tend to be rarer and often have powerful monsters that don’t stay dead, even after you kill them.”

They all cast their gazes down to the flesh golem.

“You mean the Mesh is going to bring this thing back to life?” Reya asked.

“I think it took Jessen’s monster and ran with it,” Arwin said grimly. “So most likely, yes. Ranked dungeons are what the Secret Eye uses to gauge guilds and their individual members. Clear enough of them and you can get an official guild ranking. And the people to clear the dungeon first—”

“Get their name on an obelisk outside the dungeon,” Rodrick finished. “Well, that’s one way to make our name known. With all the people the Secret Eye had gathered up, it’s going to be really damn hard to miss that we somehow snagged the first clear.”

“Where was the reward for that? I’ve always heard the Mesh gives bonuses to the first group that clears out a ranked dungeon, but I’ve never managed to do it myself,” Olive said. She paused for a moment, then joined everyone else in looking down at Arwin’s bag, where the heart within still thumped away.

“You can’t be serious,” Anna muttered. “That?”

“We can worry about it later,” Arwin said. He pulled his thoughts under control and strode over to the corner of the room and started sifting through the strewn limbs. “We need to see if there’s anything else in here and leave as soon as possible.”

That snapped everyone back to the present. They spread out and quickly picked the room apart in search of anything that the Mesh — or Jessen — had left behind for them. A few minutes later, they all gathered back at the front of the room.

Arwin activated [Dragon’s Greed] as he searched, but the only magical connection that appeared within the small range he was scanning ran over to Olive, who had just scooped something off the ground. He dismissed the skill and scanned for more ordinary items, but his efforts turned out fruitless. He’d found a whole lot of monster limbs and bones, but absolutely nothing that would be useful to him or any of the others. The rest of his guild looked to have been a little more successful.

Olive held a silver bracer with a dark red ruby embedded at its center in her hands. It was covered with gore and blood, but the Mesh activated with just a single look that Arwin sent in its direction.

Sacrificial Bracer: Rare Quality

[Bloodwell]: Creatures killed while this item is worn will have their energy drained into the gem in its center until it is full. This item cannot contain the energy of any creature higher than Journeyman tier.

[Sacrifice]: Activating this item releases the power stored in the Bloodwell, causing it to defend the wielder from physical strikes until the power is stored up. Activating [Sacrifice] will render [Bloodwell] inert until all the power within the gemstone has been spent.

“Nice find,” Arwin said with a nod. “It looks pretty damn good for you, actually. I’d say you or Rodrick could get the most out of it since it needs to be used while you’re fighting. Reya too, maybe.”

“I’m good,” Reya said with a shake of her head. “Olive kills more things in a fight than I do. I’m more of a support that can fight.”

“I’ve already got protection of my own,” Rodrick added. “Olive can have it.”

“Are you all sure?” Olive asked, blinking heavily. “This is still a magical item, you know.”

“And it’s going to the one who can use it best.” Arwin clapped Olive on the shoulder. “Take it.”

Olive swallowed and slid the bracelet into her bag, giving them a deep nod. “Thank you.”

“Anyone else get anything?” Arwin asked.

“Yeah,” Anna said. She stepped forward, but instead of taking out an item, she held out a bent-up piece of what had once been embossed metal. Arwin took it from her with a small frown. The metal disk was a bit smaller than the palm of his hand.

He could just barely make out what seemed to be an overflowing chalice depicted on it, but it was so damaged that any minute detail had been lost.

“This looks like a guild insignia,” Arwin said. “Where was it? Do you think it belonged to someone that wronged Jessen?”

“I’m not so sure. I found something that looks like it used to be a desk,” Anna said with a shake of her head. “The dungeon warped it and absorbed a solid half. I had to pry this out of the wall. I think it was a stamp or some other way for someone to identify themselves.”

“A guild Jessen was working with, perhaps?” Rodrick guessed. “Maybe suppliers or something.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“It’s a good find.” Arwin handed it back to Anna. “Keep that close. Anything related to Jessen is worth keeping an eye on in case they end up showing up later to figure out what happened to their investment or business partner. I think I’ve got a badge from him as well, so that’s two potential different guilds that could be related to this. Anyone else?”

“I found some things that tasted edible,” Lillia said. “Nothing worth mentioning now.”

That felt mildly suspicious, but given that they were rather pressed for time, it wasn’t the time to dig deeper. The silence that followed Lillia’s words showed that nobody else had found anything.

Their work complete, everyone headed back over to the exit of the room. Arwin pulled the badge from his bag and held it up to the slot, sliding it in. It popped out a second later with a click and the entrance rumbled open.

He poked his head out to glance around and see if there was anyone lying in wait, but the outside of the dungeon was barren of other adventurers. He stepped out and the rest of the Menagerie followed him.

The Secret Eye probably stopped letting people in once the Ardent guildmembers ran out and told them what happened — or after the dungeon upgraded to an official Journeyman rank. One way or another, that works for us.

“Let’s get out of here,” Arwin said. “Reya, make sure your hood is up. We don’t want someone recognizing you.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” Reya said, hurrying to obscure her face once more. The darkness around Lillia intensified and she walked beside Reya, partially obscuring the other girl. Then they were off, heading back for the exit and the crowd of Adventurers likely waiting for them at the outside of the dungeon.

***

The not-so-dull roar of a crowd greeted the Menagerie as they emerged from the dungeon. Arwin winced at the bright daylight pouring through the entrance of the cave and exchanged glances with the rest of his team.

It didn’t look like people had dispersed much since they’d entered. They’d made good time through the dungeon, fortunately avoiding any other adventurers or monsters that remained within it, but it looked like that luck could only stretch so far.

There was nothing to do but head out. Arwin took the lead, dismissing Verdant Blaze and stepping out into the daylight to see what awaited them. He blinked the bright sun away, squinting as he took in his bearings. Almost instantly, his gaze was drawn to a tall black pillar rising up a foot above him at the entrance of the dungeon. A name glowed at its top, written in familiar flowing golden script.

The Menagerie

It wasn’t even slightly subtle. Anyone who ever went into the dungeon from this point onward would be faced with their name and would know immediately who had managed the first clear of the dungeon.

He could feel the heart in his bag still thumping away, but it was impossible to actually hear over the crowd. There were a lot of adventurers staring at them as it became abundantly clear just who the Menagerie were.

Rodrick was definitely right. This is one way to make a name for ourselves. Can’t take back the past, so I might as well lean into it.

“Ifrit. Of all the things I was expecting to result from allowing you into the dungeon, I can honestly say that this wasn’t one of them.”

Arwin looked to the side as Selen, the Secret Eye representative, pushed herself away from where she’d been leaning by the cave entrance and walked toward him.

“And of all the things I was expecting to find in there, an imminent Dungeon Break wasn’t one of them,” Arwin replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Why didn’t you call for an evacuation of the city? If it went off—”

“It didn’t,” Selen said. “The Secret Eye had things under control.”

“That’s a lie and we both know it. We personally stopped several adventurers from dying. If we hadn’t, everyone here and a good chunk of Milten could have been swallowed.”

“What makes you believe that you were not acting on the Secret Eye’s behalf?” Selen tilted her head to the side. “We did allow you in after all.”

Arwin didn’t even bother sighing. The Secret Eye only had one goal, and the safety of a random city in the middle of nowhere wasn’t it. She probably did actually believe things had been handled, as she definitely wouldn’t have been standing within range of the dungeon if she’d believed a Dungeon Break was going to occur.

The Ardent Guild definitely didn’t let her know just how close they came to getting killed, then. No way for us to prove anything in that regard, as it would just be a bunch of finger pointing. Getting caught up in that would just make us look petty.

“How’d you do it?” Selen asked bluntly. “The only way you could have cleared the dungeon would be passing through the locked door.”

“Did anyone ever try actually making a key?” Arwin asked, tilting his head to the side to gauge Selen’s response.

She blinked. “…making a key? You didn’t have it?”

That tells me all I need to know.

“How would I? I’m a smith. Why would I have some magical key that lets me into a dungeon this important? I just made a key and opened the door myself,” Arwin said with a shrug. The clamor from the crowd grew louder.

“What did you get out of it?” A man yelled. “What was in the fifth room?”

“A giant flesh golem,” Arwin called back, taking advantage of the distraction to let himself slip out of the conversation with Selen. He didn’t want to outright snub the Secret Eye, but the less he had to talk to them, the better. “Of the Overloading variety.”

“Aren’t you a smith?” a female adventurer near the front of the crowd asked. “How did your group manage to clear the dungeon when nobody else could? Did you really just make a key on the spot? I find that hard to believe.”

Before Arwin could respond, another person pushed to the front of the crowd. Arwin recognized them. It was Leon, Ted’s brother and one of the earliest people he’d sold his armor to.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Leon said. “My guild has bought a ton of stuff from him, and everything he’s sold us has been great quality. If anyone could make a key in the middle of a dungeon, it’s Ifrit.”

“Do you have any gear for sale?” another adventurer asked.

“What about the loot from the dungeon?” asked yet another. “What did you get? Are you going to be auctioning any of it?”

The crowd grew louder and louder. Leon sent Arwin a wink, showing that he hadn’t made himself known purely out of chance. He’d spoken to lend more credence to Arwin’s story. Arwin inclined his head slightly in appreciation.

“We aren’t selling anything at this time, but I’ve got some gear in my smithy, the Infernal Armory,” Arwin called. “We got a fair amount of material from this dungeon and I’ll be making new sets of gear quite soon. If you’re interested in purchasing anything from us, please come by the Devil’s Den or my smithy tomorrow. Someone will be able to help you then.”

Selen could do nothing but watch from the side as he and the rest of the Menagerie started off, pushing through the crowd. There was just too much attention on them for her to get the details she wanted.

Adventurers parted, still pelting Arwin and the others with questions as they pressed back toward Milten. He didn’t even bother answering any more of them — he’d said what he wanted to and it wasn’t like anyone would have been able to hear him now anyway.

They finally broke free of the crowd and accelerated, heading back toward Milten as fast as they could. A few adventurers trailed after them, but the vast majority of the others remained at the entrance of the dungeon.

A new Ranked Dungeon right beside the town was absolutely nothing to leave sitting around. It would refill with new monsters faster than other dungeons, and even if the first clear had been claimed, finishing second and third was still better than finishing fiftieth.

Milten is about to get a whole lot of attention from traveling adventurers. There aren’t that many towns with a ranked dungeon that close to it. It might just be a town on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Lian right now, but it won’t stay that way for much longer.

A small smile crossed Arwin’s lips beneath his helm. The dungeon had turned out better than he could have hoped. It looked like the Infernal Armory was going to need to kick up production.

It wasn’t all sunshine, though. More customers meant more attention on them, and that meant more guilds that were going to want him off the board. The Ardent guild were already stepping on their toes, and they wouldn’t be the last.

Maybe it’s just about time I start looking into selling some basic magical items to select people. I’ve already shown people I’m more than just a smith. Now I’ll drive the nail home and make sure they never forget it.

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