“Hey, Mik.” I greet as I barge into the smithy.
The velnar in the corner of the room groans, and the heat inside rises. Doing his best to ignore me, he takes a piece of metal he’s been hammering and throws it back into the forge, and the heat rises even more.
So silly. He’s long since learned that won’t work on me.
As I absorb the heat, I move closer and observe the axe he’s just thrown into the forge. He already carved pathways into it using his golden-hued tools. I know either he’ll alter it for one of his disciples or sell the weapon to some inscription master.
“I’m busy,” he complains.
(He doesn’t seem very busy,) Sophie says in my mind.
“You don’t seem very busy,” I say out loud.
Once again, the temperature rises, but I absorb it all, to his growing annoyance. This poor big fella is used to using heat as a wall and an excuse to get rid of people who annoy him.
He’s a smart man. I would totally do something like that.
“Are you annoyed because the items I made sold well?”
With a movement like an attacking viper, he turns to me. Seeing such a huge body move so fast is quite scary, but I’m brave, so I face him.
(Why did you want me to watch this?) Sophie asks.
“What is someone like you doing in the Primordial Knights? Those lunatics don’t usually gather crafters,” the velnar asks instead of answering.
“Please, Mik, I may be new, but I’m also a member of the Primordial Knights. You can’t be so rude about them in front of me,” I answer Mik.
(It’s more fun when I talk with you, too. It keeps my mind busy.) I say to mini Sophie.
(Nat, are you using me as a second monitor content because of your terrible attention span??)
(No.)
I defend myself.Meanwhile, I take a few more steps and come to a stop in front of Mik. “So? Just say it. Did my items sell?”
“Only a lunatic from the Primordial Knights could make items like that. Why were they so ugly? And why were so many of them prone to hurting their users if they got careless or exploding when misused?”
“Just use them correctly, it is easy. And I left notes and precautions for each item in case someone who was exceptionally cowardly got them. But the performance should still be pretty good. Since you’re twisting like this, I guess you were wrong when you said no one would want to buy them?”
Finally, he lowers his head in defeat. “They all sold at auction a day ago.”
Somewhere deep inside, this velnar seems to be hurt. He is someone who holds a great deal of respect for his craft, but he might have just forgotten how insane most Beyonders really are.
(I estimate your cut to be 100,000 shards.) I hear that voice in my head.
(Only? Some of those items were pretty fancy.)
(You mean the Antomic Bomb 2.0 and Sparrow Obliterator 9999? Both of those things could’ve killed the user far more easily than whatever they were meant to fight.)
(I miss them both. And I think you’re underestimating Beyonders. I’m sure they loved them and fought over the opportunity to buy them.)
(Whatever helps you sleep at night.)
“Your cut, as per our deal, is 155,000 shards,” Mik says.
I feel Sophie immediately disconnects from our call, and I decide not to push it, being the gracious winner I am.
While I gather my prize from Mik, I start to wonder if this is really the best way to make shards. So far, I’ve held off on buying an upper arcane passive because I don’t really need it. Something that powerful would just sit inactive most of the time to avoid making things too easy. There’s already too much for me to experiment with. Even so, I’m not dumb. I realize the value of a passive that grade represents, and I already know what I’ll buy if I ever truly need it.
Sure, it’ll take some time to fully apply, but at some point in the future, I’ll probably be kicking myself anyway.
One of the reasons I’ve kept over two million shards is to make more shards. With a huge sum like that, it should be possible. The problem is that I still haven’t found a proper way to do it.
Yes, getting a few hundred thousand shards here and there is nice, but it’s far from optimal, even though I'm using guild facilities and buying the materials from the guild, by way of my contract. I think they’ve underestimated how many materials I might be buying.
"I’ll see you later, Mik."
"Please don't return."
The next crafter I visit is someone I’ve lovingly come to call Dave.
Dave is a lumoran, and like all his people, he has black skin with transparent blue crystals covering patches here and there. Compared to most of the Lumorans I’ve met on the 7th floor, he has more of these crystals than most. That either means he's either very old or very high level. In his case, I’m guessing it’s age since he doesn’t really seem to be all that strong.
But Dave is very experienced, intelligent, knowledgeable, and talented when it comes to inscribing.
Dave also doesn’t talk. I don’t think he’s mute, it seems more like a decision on his part. Maybe it's like in that story I heard? The old man pretending for decades to be mute just so he wouldn't have to talk to his wife? Like many things, even this internet story is probably just a legend, but a part of me hopes it's true, if only for how ridiculous it is.
As with the many times before, when Dave sees me enter his shop, he smiles, waves, and gestures for me to come closer.
Used to this behavior, I follow him to one of the backrooms where he shows me three items he’s bought since the last time I visited three days ago. We spend a few hours examining these items and going over their structures. One of them is a broken shield, another is an inscribed dagger, and the last one is a pendant. None of them can be called anything impressive, but I’ve learned just how much this man admires craftwork.
Even if it might be rough, amateurish, there's a lot you can learn about a person from the lines they’ve made.
Just like Dave, I also take some time to point out the parts I find interesting, and they’re always very different from the sorts of things Dave admires. Our inscribing styles are pretty different, too, yet Dave, having seen my work, has never tried to correct me. Instead, he seemed curious about where my style might take me and found joy in comparing it to his own.
To put it simply, Dave is a pretty chill guy.
As I’ve done many times before, I take out a small ring I found in one of the Primordial Knights’ treasuries I was able to sneak into. Its rarity is only mid epic, but it was created in a style so different from mine and Dave’s that I’m sure he’ll find it interesting.
And he truly does, with his smile growing even wider.
He takes it and puts it away, probably so he can examine it more later when he’s alone, and I let him. I don’t even ask for any shards in return. I know for sure he’ll add its value to my share of the money from selling the items I gave him.
He gives me thirty thousand shards and a thankful shake of hands.
As I leave, Dave already rushes back into the backroom to examine the ring while setting up an alarm in case a customer comes in.
The last crafter I visit is a vile, tiny creature. A woman called Sutri. A vyssari.
When I enter her shop, she shouts, "Welcome back, you frigging lunatic!"
"Please don’t call me that."
"No way, anyone from Primordial Knights is and always will be a frigging lunatic by me!" she shouts again and jumps down from the normal-sized chair, which she always manages to make look ridiculously oversized. "Did you come for your shards?"
"I'm the most normal member of Primordial Knights you will ever meet, and yes, I would like my shards."
"Bullshit! I’m already hearing rumors spreading about you in Black Tower."
I halt my steps and look down at her as she stops near me. "Talon?"
"Talon," she nods. "I swear I never met someone who can talk and bullshit as much as him. But you know what's the problem? The guy is charming and seems to know just how far he can push things, and somehow you can't even get mad at him."
"What did he say this time?"
"Obviously, nothing too secretive. Some might not notice, but I did. Even when he seems drunk, he never lets anything important slip. Everything he says either boosts his own reputation, promotes your guild, or helps him get on someone’s good side. Frigging lunatic. That blabbering fool’s gonna end up as vice guild master of the Primordial Knights before any of you even realize it."
"As you said, he’s a blabbering fool. So, what are the rumors this time?"
Sutri smiles widely. "Apparently, you're scarier than the Doc and literally forced the poor lynthari to cut into you. Rumor has it the Primordial Knights are still crying over the contract they signed with you, weeping as they discover all the addendums you slipped in. You took over their defensive arrays in a matter of days. Your salary is two million shards a year as a newbie. You talk to yourself at times. Something seems to be possessing you and burning you out from the inside. You have an insanely powerful item that sometimes causes intense mana radiation that hurts people even stronger than you. You might be Nyssa’s lover."
"What the fuck was the last one?"
"...rumor has it you’re missing your left arm more often than not. Your eyes glow when you're hungry. They made Weslin your babysitter for some reason. And then there are the ones about the guild, Talon, and Weslin."
"I’ll have to have a talk with him again."
"Yeah, talk," Sutri smirks. "I think he’s just decided to stick with you for some reason. Just use him, he’s probably counting on it."
"Sure, sure, how much?"
"Twenty thousand this time. And I had a few B-ranks ask me who made the projectiles."
"They can keep asking," I answer while I accept the transfer of shards.
"You know I won’t say anything. I take the privacy of my clients seriously. But I’ve had a few people make projectiles for me before. From metal, stone, wood, and all kinds of stuff, but yours are really special. I don’t think there’s any other C-rank who can make projectiles from mana and make them so durable and long-lasting. I’ve got some saved in my storage because I'm curious, I’m sure it’ll take years before they start to lose their shape."
"Glad you like them."
"You bet I did! You made me some nice shards. So many projectiles, so quickly and in so many shapes. Hell, the better ones you made were even resistant to low grade mana disruption, and you made some neutral so they could be charged with mana."
"What about the armor I made?"
"Nah, no luck there."
"Oh, they prefer items with different effects? I know the chest plates I made didn’t have any, and..."
"They’re ugly as fuck."
"...I see."
"Yup," Sutri nods. "It’s different if you just want to throw something, arrows, javelins, throwing knives, orbs, that’s fine. But a suit of armor you're wearing at all times? But don’t worry, if you make that armor just a bit stronger, they’ll ignore the design. By the way, are you making them ugly on purpose?"
"I have to go. See you later, Sutri."
I open the door and exit while she calls something from behind me. Then I head back to the Primordial Knights.
The schedule is clear. Weslin used a one day beyond-stay token, so he’s already back in his tutorial, but it’s been decided that he’ll be returning once I return from my tutorial. Yes, somehow it seems that I will be sticking with the guy a bit longer.
My 30-day stay token ends soon, so I’ll be going back to the 9th floor for a day or two, to check on the others and deliver mini Sophie to her body. After that, it’s another 30-day stay. But before my 30-day stay token ends, I get to spend more time with the Doc.
And who knows, maybe I’ll get to learn a bit more about the Ruler of Kindness.