Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 136: The Challenge

The look on Rodrick’s face told Arwin that he more than just liked the armor, but the former paladin settled for giving him a firm nod and wiping the embarrassment from his features.

“I’ll put it to good use. Thank you.”

“I expect that you will,” Arwin said with a nod.

“And, speaking of putting it to use, I do think we should take a look at the forest,” Rodrick said. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, a pensive frown crossing his features. “We don’t know what caused it to be so much colder than it should have been today, but any changing variables are bad news when it’s this close to executing a plan.”

“I’ll go with you,” Reya said. “If only because it gives me something to do other than freeze.”

“I can as well, if you need a third body,” Olive offered. “If I don’t, I might end up staying in bed all day.”

“Three is a good number. We aren’t going to be doing any fighting if we can avoid it, but a bigger group will make it safer nonetheless. No time to waste, then. Let’s go.”

Olive unrolled herself and shuddered at the cold before nodding. “Lead the way.”

They hurried out of the tavern, moving at a brisk pace in an attempt to keep the cold at bay. Lillia pushed the door shut behind them with a shadow before any more of the chill could seep into the common room.

“I’m going to finish up my own work as well. Still have a lot to do,” Arwin said, following after the others. “There’s no chance I finish everything I want to before we have to leave, but every hour counts.”

He raised a hand, then pulled the door back open. A cold wind buffeted his face and he grimaced, stepping out and making sure the door was shut behind him before striding down the street.

Ridley, as usual, was still working on the smithy. The mason had donned a heavy fur coat and was hard at work on top of the stone brick building. He nodded to Arwin, who returned the gesture as he passed.

His rickety temporary workspace somehow felt colder than the rest of the street when he arrived. Cursing under his breath, Arwin summoned a ball of [Soul Flame] and tossed it into the hearth.

The heat pushed the chill back by just enough for him to think properly. He had to focus the biggest potential boosts that he – or any of his allies – could get in the shortest amount of time.

As far as he could tell, that boiled down to gauntlets to protect his arms from the bow, an arrow for the bow to shoot, boots, and then anything else that he could fit into his schedule with the time he had remaining.

Both the gauntlets and the boots would take considerably more time and effort to make than the other options since he’d yet to make any himself yet. The bow arrow – he was pretty sure that would probably be pretty easy as long as he wasn’t too concerned about the traits that the Mesh gave it.

It’s not like I’ve made an arrow before – and that means the chances of getting a shitty detrimental trait are a lot higher than normal. But, even if that happens, I can just make another item and stick the detrimental traits onto that so I’m left with a normal arrow and a snack for later.

Making an arrow that was just a long metal rod with some fletching and a head to make sure it flew relatively straight would probably be doable enough, especially with the Mesh’s guidance.

He already knew it probably wouldn’t be the best, but he didn’t need it to last multiple shots. Arwin didn’t have any open slots to bond to it with [Arsenal], so he wasn’t going to be getting it back. Once he reached the next level in his tier, making an arrow he could bind to would drastically increase his power and it would become a priority - but for the time being, a one-time use arrow would do just fine.

But he had something to take care of before he could make anything else. He was running a low on metal. Fortunately, he still had a fair amount of gold. Arwin called his [Soul Flame] back and hurried out and across the city to Taylor’s shop, dragging the wagon along with him.

The trip felt like it took three times as long as it normally did. Freezing cold buffeted him every step of the way, but he soon returned to the smithy, his pockets one hundred gold lighter. He’d purchased 3 bars of Brightsteel and 10 bars of Roughsteel.

The Roughsteel probably wouldn’t be great for any armor, but it would be good for experimenting and making some arrows. Arwin lugged everything into his smithy, then returned his [Soul Flame] to the hearth and set a bar of the Roughsteel into the flames to heat.

A short while later, he set it out onto the anvil and set about hammering it out. The Roughsteel was considerably easier to work with than the other metal he’d used, but it was also clearly of lower quality. It took him almost twice as long to work the impurities out of it with Verdant Blaze.

The Mesh didn’t seem to guide him nearly as much as he’d expected. It offered up vague suggestions while he worked, but not nearly as much as it had earlier on. That didn’t prove to be much of a drawback. He was making a glorified spear, which wasn’t exactly the most complex weapon to make a rough version of.

He sectioned the metal off, then chose a piece that felt amiable to becoming an arrow. Arwin worked that piece into a long cylinder, turning it over and striking it repeatedly. It was a little amusing to think of the piece as an arrow.

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It resembled the haft of short spear more than anything that was meant to be shot from a bow. As long as it flew in a mostly straight line, Arwin couldn’t complain.

Arwin took the guidance that the Mesh offered whenever the inviting shimmers arrived. They were few and far in between. He spent the next few hours forming the rest of the huge arrow. He made its head out of a separate piece that he then attached to the haft with his hands inside the flames of the hearth, then put on large triangular fletching at the bottom of what still strongly resembled a small spear.

Arwin quenched the head of the arrow and studied the results of his work. It was far from perfect and he doubted it would shoot all that straight, but with the power that he’d be launching it from the bow with, he suspected it would suit his purposes as long as he didn’t aim at anything too far.

The Mesh swirled around the weapon, sending faint streams of power through his hands and into the metal as it registered – if only barely – the creation of the arrow-spear.

[Metal Arrow: Average Quality] has been forged. Forging a magical item has granted you energy.

Arwin wasn’t so certain about the last part. Considering that Verdant Blaze had barely even responded to the creation of the arrow, he suspected that any energy he’d gotten from its creation was almost negligible.

He scanned the arrow to see if its traits were going to be of any use.

Metal Arrow: Average Quality

[Brittle]: This item has a chance of shattering on every usage. Upon shattering, the magical power stored within the weapon will be released in an instant, causing a minor magical explosion.

[Hasty]: This item was forged hastily and with inferior material that wasn’t brought to its full potential. Its end will resemble its beginning. This item can strike faster at the cost of magical energy, but the chances of it breaking will increase with the amount of energy used.

Arwin’s brow furrowed. He was definitely removing the traits from the arrow. There was no doubt about that. He wasn’t even surprised about the poor traits – he’d fully expected them. There was no need to make a masterwork arrow if it was going to get lost the first time he used it.

Why is it that it turned out so poorly, though? For that matter, why is it that the items I make with the Mesh’s guidance seemed to be capped at Unique or Average? The less I listen to it, the better they become.

The traits might have been salvageable if he wasn’t worried the arrow would explode on him from the force it would be under when it was launched. The chances of that were probably small, but it was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

Arwin set about forming a bracelet with Roughsteel while he thought, heating it in the fire and sectioning off a piece to start bending into a circle.

I know that the Mesh demands challenge. It’s logical that I wouldn’t be getting the best possible results if I wasn’t pushing myself. But why would it give me the guidance in the first place?

Arwin’s thoughts ground to a halt along with his hands. The hot Roughsteel glistened a molten orange. Even if the Mesh had given him guidance initially, it wouldn’t just leave that guidance around.

It gave people a fighting chance. It didn’t baby them. And, with the amount of time he’d been relying on it to even a small degree, it was definitely helping. Even the bracelets he was making were slightly aided.

But that’s how it has to work. The Mesh is the reason that the items become magic, so I have to use at least a little bit of it if I want to –

Son of a bitch. I’m an idiot. When have I ever heard of a class that needs the Mesh to literally hand everything to them? I’m holding onto a crutch.

Arwin tossed the half-finished bracelet to the ground and grabbed another piece of Roughtsteel. He placed it into the flame, then got to work forming a bracelet again once it was hot enough.

He drew power – not from the Mesh, but from within himself. The magical energy coursed down his hands and into the bracelet as he worked it into shape. It was second nature at this point. And, most importantly, there wasn’t so much as a single shimmer or suggestion from the Mesh.

Arwin finished making the bracelet. Energy sparked at his palms and pulsed through the metal.

[Metal Bracelet: Rare Quality] has been forged. Forging a magical item has granted you energy.

Metal Bracelet: Rare Quality

[Potential]: This item contains magic with no guidance. It is pure potential that will never be manifest, but the magic remains all the same.

A laugh slipped out of Arwin’s mouth. He sat down on his anvil, staring at the bracelet in his hands. A quick sniff rewarded him with a fresh, clean scent. It was faint and distant, but it was good.

That’s what I was doing wrong. The guidance isn’t meant for me to use for every single damn item I make. It’s a crutch to figure out the basics – I need to put in the intention and magic myself. That’s how I make higher quality items.

But… how do I control the traits they get? The Mesh is implying I can. There’s so much to learn about this class.

Arwin shook his head in mute disbelief. He’d barely even so much as scratched the surface of the depth the Mesh expected him to go to in order to craft gear. And, even with the limited time he had remaining and the threat looming ahead of them, he couldn’t keep the excitement from building in his stomach.

If I can control the traits my weapons get instead of just randomly guessing, the gear I have now wouldn’t even be comparable to what I’ll be able to make. The Mesh doesn’t expect me to just follow its suggestions. It wants me to create completely unique items.

Energy crackled through the air before Arwin, nearly making him jump as golden letters manifested before his eyes.

Milestone 2 of [Curb the Hunger] has been completed.

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

Arwin studied the glowing letters in the air before him. At least he’d gotten confirmation that his theory was correct. He’d been crippling himself by relying on the mesh this entire time. But, almost more importantly, he was pretty sure the reward for finishing the 2nd Milestone was some form of item.

He looked around expectantly. The Mesh’s golden letters remained in place in the air, but nothing else emerged. His eyes narrowed.

“Hey. Forget something? I was promised an item.”

The letters, as if spurred by his words, changed.

Would you like to up the Challenge?

That was it. No items. Just another line of words shimmering in the air. Arwin’s brow furrowed as a sinking pit formed in his stomach. He was barely even thinking about the Challenge itself.

The Challenge – and its rewards – were useful, but this was an entirely different matter. There was no more denying it. The Mesh was talking directly to him.