NOVPUB“Eat it!” Wallace urged.
Arwin looked up from the lump of metal sitting on the anvil between him, Wallace, and Koyu. It had been a little more than an hour since their conversation had started. After everyone had gotten on the same page, Arwin had spent the rest of the time up until now demonstrating everything about his abilities that he could think of.
Well, demonstrating what he could.
It was surprisingly frustrating to realize that a fair amount of his magic wasn’t actually visible to anyone else. Arwin couldn’t show them what magic smelled like to him. They couldn’t see the glow the Mesh gave items to act as a tutorial.
He couldn’t show them the Visions he got from powerful items or the way he could communicate with materials. But he could walk through and describe everything he felt — which was exactly what he’d done.
It wasn’t a perfect solution by any means, but it did give Koyu and Wallace a better understanding of Arwin’s capabilities, which would hopefully let them get a better idea of how they could help him and where he came up short.
“I think you should eat it,” Koyu agreed.
Arwin suppressed a sigh.
Unfortunately, both of his mentors-to-be had gotten a bit too fixated on the fact that he could eat magical items. They’d been trying to stuff him full of them ever since they’d found out, like a pair of children given access to a trash compactor and a mountain of garbage.
“It’s not magical. I can’t,” Arwin said. “Biting that would just be like biting into a normal piece of metal. Trust me. I’ve tried it before.”
Koyu frowned. “So metal becomes edible because of the magic in it? Does that imply that the Mesh is physically changing the properties of materials that possess magical power?”
Arwin went to respond, then paused. His brow furrowed. Koyu actually brought up an interesting question. He didn’t have the answer to that one.
“When was the last time you tried it?” Wallace asked. “Maybe you didn’t do it right.”
If there’s anyone who can say what the right way of eating metal is, it’s me. But why would I even bother trying to eat a normal piece? What would the point be? I only get power from the magical stuff. Eating normal metal is just chomping down on materials for the love of the game.
Wallace caught the look on Arwin’s face immediately. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Arwin sighed. Then he grabbed the bar of Brightsteel from the anvil. “Yes. But we have to focus after this. I’m going to need to make some other stuff to keep the crowds happy, so I don’t want to waste time we could be using on research.”
“This is research,” Wallace insisted. “It’s invaluable.”
Arwin gingerly bit down on the metal ingot. He didn’t want to shatter all his teeth — but to his surprise, he found that the metal bent beneath his jaw like a piece of taffy. It didn’t taste like much at all. Really, it was like chewing on something between rubber and a particularly stiff and flavorless steak.
“Ha!” Wallace exclaimed. “You can eat it!”
Well. That’s odd. I couldn’t eat it last time around. What changed?
Arwin swallowed. He looked down at the bar, then back to the dwarf. “I suppose I can. I didn’t expect that. Couldn’t do it before. How did you know it would be different this time around?”
“Oh, I didn’t have the faintest idea,” Wallace replied, a triumphant look on his face. “I just wanted to see you eat metal. But it’s fascinating, don’t you think? You’re literally a forge. The Mesh is having a blast with you. Say, do metal shavings come out your—”
Arwin’s eyes narrowed. Wallace chose not to finish asking that particular question. The dwarf cleared his throat into a closed fist, then shook his head.
“Are all kinds of material equally easy to consume?” Koyu asked.
“I’ve never really felt much of a difference between them,” Arwin replied.
The Lich grunted. “I see. Interesting. What if you were to try and take a bite out of someone’s weapon while you were fighting them?”
“I’m not immune to getting stabbed. But… I’ve done that. It worked.”
Koyu raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t press the matter farther. “I see. Given the information you’ve given us today, I think I have a good understanding of what should work. You need to practice Soulmancy on some more agreeable materials before you upgrade to making your armor. Your unique take on the skill introduces a problem that normal Soulmancers don’t have.”
Arwin nodded. He knew what Koyu was getting at before the Lich had finished. “It’s because I’m basically making a deal with the materials, right? The more powerful pieces I’ve got, the more parties I’ll have to ensure are happy.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Wallace joined in on the nodding. “You should take some commissions. Find adventurers deserving of your work, but don’t tell them what you’re making. They won’t know the difference if nobody says it. This can just be a very unique form of Dwarven Smithing. In the meantime, I’m going to compile a list of some things I want you to work on.”
“As will I,” Koyu said. “I believe I can think of some suggestions after I see you at work. Watching you handle some commissions should be a good way to do that. It will also give time for more people to bring materials to us.”
“And then we can slowly figure out what materials work best together and start piecing together how we can make the armor for the Infernal Armory,” Arwin said with a nod, a smile spreading across his lips. Things were finally coming together. “I’ve actually got a few things I should wrap up now. Unless either of you are busy…”
“If we stick around, will Lillia make room for us at the tavern?” Wallace asked.
“I can probably arrange for that.”
“Then I’m planting my ass here,” Wallace said. “And the Lich is dead. Not like he’s got anything better to do.”
“I would take offense to that if you were not correct,” Koyu said. “Let’s see what you’re capable of, Arwin.”
***
Arwin got to work. It had been a while since he’d last felt quite so… vulnerable while crafting. He wasn’t used to having people watching him while he worked. That was doubly true for people that actually knew anything about what he was doing.
It wasn’t long before Wallace started calling out suggestions. Many of them were fairly minor; shifts to his stance to let him swing Caldera more effectively, adjustments to his grip and tips on hearing the songs of multiple different materials at once.
Koyu joined in as well. His thoughts were far more directed at the management of Arwin’s magic. He could somehow sense all the excess magic that leaked out of Arwin while he worked. And, as it turned out, there was a lot of it.
The Lich provided Arwin with mental techniques to keep his magic from being wasted and methods to establish soul connections with materials easier. Some of what he said drew surprise from even Wallace — and Arwin actually found that the two of them were taken aback by some of his own observations.
Not every single suggestion that rose was a useful one. Arwin’s path wasn’t the same as Koyu or Wallace’s. All three of them had followed a strikingly different way. But their ways overlapped.
And, between the three of them all sharing their thoughts and knowledge, it wasn’t long before excitement had started to burn just as hot as the flames of the forge.
Arwin created several swords and pieces of armor throughout the day. The Infernal Armory still had more than enough scrap and relatively inexpensive materials for him to work with. Nothing was powerful enough to justify a Vision, but that suited them all just fine.
He focused on creating more basic boons, combining everything he knew from smithing to Soulmancy in his pursuit of them. While Arwin made sure the weapons didn’t have any ridiculous properties that would garner unwanted attention or make them impossible to sell to random adventurers, he did make a point to try and make those basic properties as good as possible.
The swords might not have been calling lightning down from the heavens with every strike, but they would stay sharper for longer than their wielders lived. They might not have been flashy, but they were so magically enforced that even going to town on an anvil would be unlikely to chip them.
And Arwin improved. It would have been hard not to. Wallace and Koyu were as invaluable as he had hoped. By the end of the day, he could already see significant improvements in his work from where they had caught him making mistakes that had come with being largely self-taught.
And this is just the start. Now that everyone has a good understanding of what I can do at a basic level, we can accelerate. The more new materials I get to work with, the more I can try and the closer we all get to our goals.
Not one of them left the core room of the smithy throughout that day. The only other person who even entered the smithy was Reya, who confirmed the items they’d made were for sale before liberating them and heading back out to the adventurers filling the street.
Only when night had completely taken Milten into its arms did their work stop. Arwin was even more delighted to find that, despite the intensive work of the day, he was only a normal amount of tired.
He’d also managed to garner enough magical energy to advance in level to Adept 2. His body grew stronger — tougher. Magical power infused itself into his muscles, but the advancement didn’t come with a new skill or upgrade. That didn’t surprise him much after the enormous boost he’d gotten at Adept 1.
Chances are, my next advancement in that department will be at Adept 3, followed by a larger one at Adept 5.
He was just fine with that. It gave him time to avoid worrying about farming Achievements and focus on improving his skills.
“This is incredible. I’m normally about to pass out right about now,” Arwin said as the three of them prepared to head back to the Tavern.
“It is a common issue with mages that have access to magic beyond what they are used to dealing with,” Koyu said with a knowing nod. “I was there myself. I’ve always thought of casting magic as pouring water from a lake into a bucket. Sure, you can fill the bucket by splashing water in its direction, but it’s much more efficient to dip the bucket into the lake.”
“I still have no idea what that’s meant to mean,” Wallace grumbled. “Smithing shouldn’t need fancy magic. It’s just a song.”
“That is magic,” Arwin pointed out. “I think I’ve still got room to improve, but it’s about letting the goal you want take the power it needs, rather than grabbing a bunch of power and trying to shove it into the goal. It’s a mental thing, but so is magic.”
“Good,” Koyu said. “It takes many mages a long time to understand that. They — we — are a part of the Mesh. There is no reason to force your will over things when you can simply allow them to flow and achieve the same result.”
“That’s all fine and dandy, but you know what I’d really like to know myself?” Wallace asked as they stepped out of the back of the armory and into its main room. “I’ve gotten bits and pieces of Arwin’s story, but never the whole thing. I shouldn’t be more curious about him than I am a Lich — but here I am.”
Arwin blew out a small breath. “It’s a long one.”
“I find myself curious as well. How is it you ended up on my street?” Koyu asked. “I never really did press too deep.”
“I’m a dwarf,” Wallace said. He jerked a finger at Koyu. “He’s a Lich. We’re used to things taking long.”
I suppose now’s as good a time as any, isn’t it? Not just for them, but for the Menagerie as a whole.
“Let’s go to the Devil’s Den. Lillia should be wrapping up serving customers for the night,” Arwin said. “You aren’t the only ones that might be interested in hearing this, and if I’m going to start from the beginning, then I’m only going to do it once. Just make sure you’re ready for it.”
“Ready for it? Are you implying there’s even more important information that you haven’t revealed about yourself?” Wallace asked, aghast. “How is that even possible?”
Arwin just smiled.
