Rise of the Living Forge

Arwin wiped the sweat from his brow and looked over the armor strewn about all around him. Four complete sets, from boots to head, made from Brightsteel. A smile crossed over his face.

It had been a week since they’d killed Twelve, and these sets were the fruits of his labor. He’d taken the rare moment of silence to focus in on practicing his craft, pushing himself and the Infernal Armory to the limits of what they could accomplish without letting magic handle too much of the work for them.

He couldn’t have been more satisfied with the results of his work. The armor before him served more than one purpose. The first was as practice. Arwin wanted to make sure that, when he remade the chestpiece of the Ivory Executioner Set, it was the best it could possibly be, and that meant ensuring his skills were polished as much as they possibly could be. The same went for his boots.

The second purpose of the sets before him was to push the limits of what he could do without revealing his powers.

He dared to say that he’d succeeded. Externally, the sets just looked like normal, nonmagical pieces of equipment.

They were anything but. They’d been made with Dwarven Smithing, the materials within them purified beyond the level that any normal method could ever reach, and magical power was packed within the armor; woven into its very being and concealed from even the most prying eyes.

The magical effects were subtle. They made they armor stronger, harder to cut, and lighter to wear. Just enough to make his armor feel vastly superior to any competitor, but not enough to reveal that it was obviously magical.

He’d already had them tested out. Olive and Reya bore his latest versions when they went on excursions to the dungeons. Their old equipment had started to get a little dated. Both of them had reported that the equipment was a resounding success.

Even though Arwin had no plans of selling too many pieces to mass market, he had a number of people that were interested in purchasing from him and a little extra cash flow went a long way. These were the perfect product for that.

Red mist twisted beside him as the invisible presence personifying the Infernal Armory shifted.

“They will earn us money so that we can continue to expand. These are necessary projects to ensure our continued improvement, but I desire more.”

“You always desire more,” Arwin said through a bark of laughter. He made his way over to the side of the room, where a stack of Ivorin and Brightsteel bars he’d already purified through Dwarven Smithing sat in wait. “Don’t you worry. You’ll be getting that more soon enough.”

“Will you be finishing the Ivory Executioner set?” A note of excitement entered the Armory’s tone.

Arwin nodded. “Yes, and things have been going well with Elias and Maeve as well. They seem to be getting on with Olive decently enough, though I haven’t seen any of them speaking much. They’ve just done a bunch of dungeons.”

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“I do not care. Just make the armor.”

“Gods, you make for miserable conversation,” Arwin said with a roll of his eyes. He reached out and activated [Arsenal], summoning the Ivory Executioner Chestplate to his hand. “I’m planning to be back in time for dinner, so let’s get this done in a timely manner, shall we?”

“With pleasure,” the Infernal Armory responded. The black veins running through the ground pulsed with dull orange light as they activated, drawing lava in from Wallace’s workshop. The dwarf still wasn’t too happy about that, but Lillia had kept him placated with a supply of strong spirits.

Black strands slammed into Arwin’s back, connecting him to the building, and energy thrummed through him and the stone at his feet. A hearth rumbled up from the ground at his side. He placed his hand within it, drawing forth [Soul Flame].

The hearth sucked his energy in and the flames turned pitch black as the Infernal Armory poured its own energy in along with Arwin’s.

For a long moment, Arwin stood still. He held his trusty chestpiece before him. It had taken him through a number of battles. The equipment had served him well — but he wasn’t abandoning it. He was just upgrading it.

His features set and he set the piece within the crackling fire. It was only right to remake the chestpiece from the materials that had made the original one… just with a few extra upgrades and modifications.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Let’s get to it,” Arwin said, and the forge hummed in response.

***

As was common, the song of metal on metal rang through the Infernal Armory. Verdant Inferno rose and fell in accordance to the song audible only to Arwin and the pieces of the chestpiece steadily taking shape beneath his hands. Coils of [Soul Flame] twisted around the head of the hammer as it swung.

Every single part of his being was completely focused. He had a far better idea of what he wanted this time around than he did the last time he’d made the armor, and he didn’t plan to let the Mesh control where the magic went.

The more focused he was on the materials that went into the armor and what he wanted out of them, the less variance there was and the stronger the effects would be.

He could smell the heat in the air, mixed with the growing scent of deep earth. Magic permeated the air and twisted into the metal with every strike, strengthened by both the blows and by Arwin’s intent.

Strike by strike, the armor came together. The Infernal Armory provided him everything he needed, streamlining every process so Arwin could focus entirely on his work and avoid having to split his attention.

He folded the green gemstones back into metal, quenched the pieces of the armor that were finished. His design this time around wasn’t exactly as it had been before. It was still meant to be a heavy piece that could absorb a high number of blows, but Arwin took elements from Lillia’s armor design to give himself a moving joint that would let him twist and move without trapping himself in a coffin of metal.

He left spiked gemstones jutting out from the pauldrons of the armor in neat lines and used [Scourge] to carve a flowing design across the front of the armor. The flowing waves in the metal were similar to what adorned Lillia’s equipment — not a direct copy, but close enough to make it clear that they were meant to stand side by side upon the battlefield.

Arwin moved with practiced ease. This was far from the first chestpiece he’d made, and he knew this metal’s desires more than most other materials he worked with. His self-set time limit of a few hours drew closer.

He finished the final pieces of the work, quenching the metal and polishing it clean; adding the padding to the inside of the armor and pinning it in place.

And then he was done.

He held a glistening Ivorin chestpiece in the air before him. Flowing designs curved up its sides and twisted around the gemstones that jutted from its shoulders. Arwin had removed the purple gem in its center — it had been too intent on its own desires and didn’t fit with the rest of the design.

Arwin replaced it with another of the scorched green crystals, leaving only a small portion of it visible from outside the armor.

Magical energy tingled at his fingertips as the Mesh waited impatiently to be let in. He did a final check over his work, continuing to pour intent into the piece and solidifying his desires for the final result.

The Infernal Armory supplied the majority of the magical energy he needed. Fortunately, the chestpiece wasn’t so difficult to make that it could get near draining the both of them, and Arwin had more than enough magic left to work with.

His check found nothing wrong. There was nothing left to do. A satisfied expression passed over Arwin’s features and he nodded, finally releasing his mental hold on the item.

The tingling energy at his fingertips exploded forth as the Mesh surged. Golden energy swirled around the chestpiece as words traced through the air above it.

[Ivory Executioner Armor: Epic Quality] has been forged. Forging a magical item has granted you energy.

Ivory Executioner Armor: Epic Quality

[True Resonance]: The crystals buried within this armor sing with every attack it takes, absorbing a small amount of the strike’s energy and storing it throughout the armor. The resonance will reduce the strength of both physical and magical strikes that collide with this item. This effect will draw increasing amounts of magical energy while it is active.

[Shockwave]: After sufficient resonant energy has been gathered within this item, the wielder of this item can choose to release it offensively, sending a magical attack that seeks out weapons that were used to damage the armor. Any weapons that are struck by this magic are filled with a powerful vibration.

[Forged For One]: This item was forged specifically for Arwin Tyrr. Its abilities will not function for any other users.

[Armor of the Executioner]: This is a set item of [5] pieces. When the entire set is worn, a concealed property will be unlocked.

A grin stretched across Arwin’s features. This was exactly what he’d been going for. The theme of the armor was far more focused now, and it had grown far stronger than what it had offered before. He didn’t know just how far its defensive capabilities would stretch, but the description implied it would only be limited by the magical energy he had.

His magical reserves would continue to grow as he got stronger, which meant the armor had incredible scaling potential.

But even as Arwin looked over his new chestpiece, more words from the mesh bubbled forth and twisted through the air before him.

Your Tier has raised by 1 rank.

New Skill Choice Available.

Arwin’s eyes widened, and a grin stretched over his lips. He’d finally reached Journeyman 3 — and if he recalled correctly, he had an Achievement that guaranteed one of his skills would be Cursed.

If cursed functions for skills anything like how it works for items, then it’ll be a skill that gives me a huge benefit at the cost of increased risk. That could be a very powerful skill indeed. I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

Let’s see what the Mesh is going to offer me this time around.