Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 170: The prize

It was a slight surprise to get another skill so quickly after reaching Apprentice 5, but Arwin wasn’t about to complain. He didn’t miss the fact that he’d also been offered four skills instead of three this time around.

One of them, Quench, was an upgraded skill he’d seen in a previous round of offerings from the Mesh. It was, as it had been before, a rather tempting offer. However, all the new skills up for grabs were just as interesting — if not more.

He scanned over the skills, reviewing his options. Dragon’s Greed was completely useless in a fight. However, a way to detect magical items from afar was absolutely nothing to scoff at, especially with his raging need for both food and crafting materials. It wasn’t the ability to detect magic weapons that interested him nearly as much as the ability to detect magical items. Most people would have used the ability purely for utility and figuring out the strength of their opponents, but if properly applied, he could use it to find crafting materials.

Then there was Groundshaker. The times when the skill would actually be applicable would probably be a bit limited if he wanted to avoid destroying his environment every time he fought, but that very issue was what made it a good option in other scenarios.

Anything that can disrupt people’s movement or cause them to stumble or otherwise trip up is an effective skill. Changing the battlefield is almost always going to go in my favor when I’m the one that knows when it’s coming.

The final skill offer was Shieldwall. Movement based skills were, as always, a really good option. The added benefit of raising his defenses even further made it quite a powerful ability.

Anything that lets me keep my allies alive is an incredible option.

Pretty much every skill had its uses. Quench, Shieldwall, and Groundshaker all had combat applications. Quench and Dragon’s Greed were both useful out of combat. However, when Arwin looked to the future, there was one skill that stood above all the others in how worthwhile it would be in the long run.

[Scourge] already let him move fast, and Groundshaker wasn’t powerful enough in its niche situation to justify picking it. Quench was useful, but it also didn’t do all that much more than an oil barrel — though it was definitely more convenient and had some combat applications, so he wasn’t about to dismiss it entirely either.

But, of all the abilities, there was one that felt like it would be useful at every single point from now and into the future.

[Dragon’s Greed] was the only ability that would be useful all the way up until Emperor Rank and beyond. Detecting magic would never not be useful.

He didn’t know if it would actually identify the things he was sensing, but just knowing what pieces they had were magical would be instrumental. At the very least, it would let him know what he could take a bite out of mid-fight.

Huh. I guess that means [Dragon’s Greed] is technically useful in battle as well. That settles it.

Arwin selected [Dragon’s Greed]. The golden letters faded away and Lillia sent him a questioning look, tilting her head slightly to the side.

“Well?”

“Got a new skill,” Arwin said. “A pretty useful one. It’ll let me detect magical items at a range. Hold on. I’m going to test it out. I’m going to close my eyes. Could you stand somewhere else so I can see if I can figure out where you are?”

Lillia nodded. Arwin closed his eyes and waited for a few moments for her to move. He didn’t hear a thing, but Lillia did have a way of sneaking around. She’d had more than enough time to reposition.

He drew on his magical energy and activated [Dragon’s Greed], keeping his eyes shut. Energy tingled across his skin and several lines tugged at his chest with just enough force for him to be aware of it. One ran in the direction of the anvil, while the other moved off to his left side.

The anvil is going to be Anna’s armor, so the other one should be Lillia. It looks like the skill doesn’t identify my own magical items, which is probably for the best.

Arwin pointed in the direction that he suspected Lillia was.

“You found me,” Lillia said.

The line pulled to Arwin’s side and he moved his finger to keep pointing in the direction the pull was coming from. “Looks like it remains active,” Arwin observed. “At least, that’s what I assume. You’re moving, right?”

“Yeah,” Lillia said. “Can you tell how far I am from you?”

Arwin thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. Just a direction. I can tell you’re there, but there’s just a vague pulling sensation from where you are.”

He opened his eyes. Lillia stood about five feet away from him, her back to the wall of the smithy. Faint white energy shimmered around her armor, but there was no visible line leading to it. The armor on the anvil shimmered with the same energy.

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Arwin squinted at Lillia’s armor, but he couldn’t make out any information about it. He wasn’t sure if that was because its stats were always going to be hidden from him due to being a completed set or if it was because he wasn’t using enough magic for Dragon’s Greed to overwhelm the armor’s resistance.

He released his hold on the magical energy and the lines of force faded away. They were going to be heading out to a dungeon soon. There was no reason to waste all of his magical energy now when there would be more than enough opportunities to test the ability out later.

It’s worth keeping in mind that [Dragon’s Greed] requires an active flow of power. It isn’t too aggressive when I’m not really pushing it, but I definitely just can’t keep it permanently running. I’ll need to do some testing to see just how far the range can get and optimize everything to waste as little power as possible.

“Can you see anything?” Lillia asked, looking down at her armor.

“No,” Arwin said. “I can just tell it’s magical. I might be able to if I put a lot more power into the spell, but I don’t want to waste magical energy right before we head over to a dungeon.”

“Probably a good idea,” Lillia said with a nod. “Shall we rejoin the others, then? Anna was doing a pretty good job of not showing it, but she’s dying waiting to see her new armor. I think she’s trying not to hold out too much hope.”

“Well far be it from me to keep her waiting longer,” Arwin said. He wrapped Anna’s chestpiece in leather and hoisted it under his arm. “Let’s go.”

They left the smithy and stepped into the morning light. The sun had only just clawed its way past the skyline and had poked out from behind the thin layer of clouds on the horizon, casting the city in dull orange light.

Lillia led Arwin back over to the Devil’s Den and they stepped inside. Four expectant gazes met them from the counter. Anna’s eyes went from Arwin to the bundle in his hands and then back to him.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you’d actually be able to finish in time,” Rodrick said with a whistle of admiration. “Did you actually manage to get it optimized for Anna?”

“It’s fine if you didn’t,” Anna said hurriedly, glaring at Rodrick. “I can’t imagine making such a specific enchantment would be easy. I’ve made it this far without armor, so I can survive another few dungeons perfectly fine.”

“Take a look for yourself,” Arwin said. He couldn’t have hidden his smug grin if he’d wanted to as he unwrapped the chestpiece and held it out so the rest of the Menagerie could feast their eyes upon it.

A wave of silence passed over all of them. Olive’s mouth formed into an o and Rodrick let out a whistle, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Godspit,” Reya muttered. “Did you make that out of Jessen’s old armor? Talk about an upgrade. That’s beautiful.”

“Look at the abilities.” Olive rubbed her eyes and squinted at the armor as if it might disappear right before her. “The set bonus is ridiculous… but for an Epic piece, I suppose it makes sense. Even the non-set abilities are incredible. Just how light is the armor?”

“I don’t know,” Arwin said. “I haven’t put it on. It won’t work for anyone other than Anna. She’s also the only one it’s been sized for. I doubt I’d fit even if I wanted to.”

Anna swallowed heavily. “Are you really sure I can have that? I don’t know if I’ve done anything nearly worth enough to earn such a powerful piece of armor. It feels like it would be better suited on someone else.”

“Who else is going to use it?” Lillia asked. “You can see its traits yourself. Nobody in the world other than you can use this. If it’s not you, it’s nobody.”

“Lillia is right. Humility isn’t going to help any of us.” Arwin held the armor out to Anna and nodded for her to take it. “I made this for you because we need our healer safe. You can pay it back by staying alive and doing your job while we’re in the dungeon.”

Anna’s features set and she inclined her head, taking the armor from his hands. “When you put it that way, then I can’t say no. Thank you. I’ll put this to good use.”

She pulled it over her head and Rodrick helped her tie it on. As soon as he finished, all the information from the Mesh vanished and the chestpiece hid its stats from view. Anna’s eyes sparkled with disbelief as she walked around the room.

“It’s so light. I can barely feel it,” Anna said. She hopped from one foot to the other, then let out a laugh. “Can you see this? I can move! In armor!”

“Maybe you’re stronger than you think, honey,” Rodrick offered.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I nearly dropped a pan on my foot the last time I tried cooking because I was surprised at how much it weighed.” Anna laughed and shook her head. “I’m not ashamed to admit I’m good at a whole lot of things, but lifting heavy crap isn’t one of them.”

“Unless you’re dragging me to safety,” Rodrick said proudly.

Anna let out an amused huff. “Unless I’m doing that. That really isn’t something you should be happy about, though. How does the armor look?”

“Anything looks good on you,” Rodrick said. “I shudder to think what the full set will be when it’s done, though. You might be the most intimidating looking one out of the lot of us.”

“How much is it for a commission, again?” Olive asked with a sidelong look at Arwin. “Rodrick is right, though. When people see your brand on that armor, you’re going to start getting a whole lot more people knocking on your door for commissions.”

“They’ll have to get in line.” Reya said with a snicker. “But that’s a good point. This is a perfect advertisement for the Infernal Armory.”

“Only if people have any reason to see it,” Arwin pointed out. “Nobody will know about its magical properties.”

“That’s true,” Lillia said. “But it’s still a very beautiful piece of armor. It’s going to draw some eyes when we head out to the dungeon. Even if it doesn’t get the entire town raving, it only takes a few people talking to keep pushing the rumors further.”

“True enough,” Arwin allowed. “In that case, we might as well start moving. I believe I may have gotten the key to the section of the dungeon that everyone is currently trying to unlock, so I think we might have something interesting lying in wait.”

“I was wondering if they’d ever find that,” Rodrick said, rubbing his chin and laughing. “I should have guessed that it would have just been on his body. You better keep the key hidden until we get there so nobody tries to take it from us.”

“That’s the plan,” Arwin said with a nod. “Is everyone ready to head out to the dungeon?” He received a round of nods in response. Everyone rose to their feet and Arwin turned to the door. “Then let’s get to it. If the dungeon had something interesting enough to keep even Jessen’s attention, then I think we might have quite the prize lying in wait for us.”