B01DCAV4W2 (S) Read online

  Richter was always impressed by the transformation in Krom when he started talking about his trade. As irritable and hot tempered as the dwarf could be, he certainly loved his vocation and treated it with respect.

  “Those are good points,” Richter said, “but we aren’t going to rule it out yet. Even if casters are only wearing leather or hide armor, an army of armored magicians that can cast more spells than their enemies would be a force to be reckoned with.”

  Krom didn’t argue, but it wasn’t clear if that was because he conceded the point or if he was just eager for his Lord to move on to the next metal. Richter didn’t keep him waiting. He pulled a shimmering silver ingot from his Bag.

  Know This! The metal that is used to create a Magic Core will determine the Traits given to forging offensive and defensive items. You have supplied the metal: Quicksilver.

  Offensive items: Increased attack speed

  Defensive items: Increased movement speed

  Richter told the dwarves and his chamberlain about the Traits. He had a question though, “The increased speed is obviously useful, but the question is how much? I mean if the increase in speed from quicksilver was only 0.1% but bronze gives a 50% decrease in weight, then I might actually choose the bronze.”

  Krom nodded, “I understand milord. That was frustrating for us too when we discussed it. We won’t know until we actually make the Forge. No one here in the village has any lore that could guide us specifically as to the Traits the Forge will obtain. The one thing all the old stories agree on is that as the Forge levels, the benefits from the Traits increase.”

  Richter nodded. He brought out the next ingot.

  Know This! The metal that is used to create a Magic Core will determine the Traits given to forging offensive and defensive items. You have supplied the metal: Cobalt.

  Offensive items: Increased attack against alignment of your choice (chosen at time of item creation)

  Defensive items: Increased defense against alignment of your choice (chosen at time of item creation)

  Krom finally smiled, “Well this’ll come in handy! Most goblins and orcs are negative alignment and it’ll make it much easier to crack some skulls!” The smith was looking off into the distance with a manic smile on his face. Richter could see him visualizing taking on a horde green skinned enemies single handed.

  “Hold your horses,” Richter said. Krom and Randolphus looked around confused. Richter groaned. Fucking idioms! “I mean slow down. We have one more metal to examine. I think you’re going to like this Krom!”

  The smith’s eyes widened, “You found mithril?!?”

  Richter lips pressed together in annoyance, “No! I didn’t! Way to make what I found seem not as good! Kind of a dick move, man!” Krom looked at him sheepishly. Richter shook his head in irritation. He pulled out the last ingot. It was completely clear, and looked to be made out of dark green glass.

  Know This! The metal that is used to create a Magic Core will determine the Traits given to forging offensive and defensive items. You have supplied the metal: Elementum.

  Offensive items: Increased ability to damage magical shields

  Defensive items: Increased spell resistance. Type of resistance random.

  “Game on!” Richter shouted. If there was one thing that had really grinded his gears since coming to The Land, it was fighting magic users. It was soooo irritating having to wear down a magical shield while your enemy fired back at you with impunity. He shared what he had found with the others.

  Krom begrudgingly agreed that the elementum would be the right choice. Richter took one look at his smith’s crestfallen face, and added, “I’m sure we will still be able to kill loads of orcs and goblins with this type of Forge, AND it’ll be easier to kill their magi!”

  Krom’s eyes lit up and he gave a gap toothed grin at that, “Ay milord! I hadn’t thought of that.”

  Richter smiled back and then turned to the anvil again. All of the other dwarves had stopped what they were doing, and gathered around. While Richter had been testing each metal, other villagers had been walking by and picked up that something was afoot. The number of Richter’s spectators had grown. He set both the ingot and the Core down so he could drink a Potion of Clarity. Between having given Basil a large number of vials and having shared them around with his comrades in the dungeon, his stores had taken a serious hit. Sometime in the next couple weeks he would have to make another run to his hidden glen.

  He picked up both the ingot and Core up again and held them together over the anvil. His villagers held their collective breath at the chance to see such an amazing item created. He gained the prompt again asking him if he would like to create the Magic Forge. This time he chose ‘Yes.’

  The surface of the anvil began to ripple. The movement concentrated into a circle which began to spin counterclockwise. The disc shaped portion of the anvil spun into a whirlpool that seemed to drain away into the rest of the anvil. A hole was left in the top of the anvil. The Magic Core’s clockwork mechanisms came alive. The sphere vibrated and its internal workings began to emit a thrum that could be heard by all present.

  The sphere slowly lifted up from Richter’s hand. The red and white light that normally seemed to slowly seep from the cracks in the gears that comprised the Core grew brighter. It slowly floated towards the hole in the anvil and gently settled inside. Once it had disappeared from view, the elementum ingot started to grow warm. That warmth quickly grew into a scorching heat. Richter would have dropped it, but the metal flowed into a thick and sticky green gel like substance.

  Richter began to shake his hand trying to dislodge the colloidal metal. When he began to smell cooking meat though, he abandoned all pretense and just started screaming.

  “Oh my god! What the fuck! Fuck! It’s burning me! It’s burning ME! Get this fucking Nair off of me!!!!”

  Richter was hopping from one foot to the other at this point, while waving his hand wildly up and down at this point. If any other Chaos Seeds had been present they might have thought he was a reenacting the signature dance from Criss Cross’s “Jump Around.” They would have been wrong though.

  As quickly as the heat built, it vanished. The malleable elementum became even more fluid and flowed off of Richter’s hand. It didn’t drop and pool on the floor though, like everyone expected. Instead it seemed almost alive. The stream of clear green metal flowed around the anvil, sometimes stopping in front of a villager and coalescing for a moment before moving on. Everyone present watched the dancing metal in silence until it gathered in the shape of a sphere over the anvil.

  It spun in silence for several seconds and Richter took the time to cast Slow Heal on himself. The worst of the pain abated, but didn’t vanish completely. It probably had something to do with the “Seared” status icon that appeared in the corner of his vision. The villagers had just started looking around wondering what would happen next when the sphere lost cohesion and the liquid metal dropped in a loud splash upon the anvil.

  The black iron began to vibrate. Before everyone’s eyes, it increased horizontally in size. It kept growing until it was twice its original width and length. Luckily it remained the same height, otherwise working metal upon it would have been logistically difficult. It ultimately was uniformly the clear dark green of elementum. The changes did not stop there however. The vibrations that were shaking the anvil spread. Like a drop of wine onto white cloth, the alterations leeched into the floor around the anvil. Before anyone could react, the transformation spread beneath the feet of everyone present and extended to the walls, climbing up in an expanding wave until the edges met again on the ceiling.

  Everyone looked around in surprise and wonder. The smithy had changed completely. After Richter’s pained antics, no one had spoken, and except for some ambient noise it was quiet as they took in the grandeur around them.

  The basic slate floor had changed to a gleaming black stone that shone like obsidian. The walls had been replaced by columns of marble quartz
, the beautiful and sturdy rock that comprised some of the cliffs around the village. The columns were spaced regularly around the edge of the Forge that Richter now realized had at least doubled in size. Judging by the exclamations of wonder coming from the villagers they registered the change in scale at the same time as Richter.

  It wasn’t only the basic structure and anvil that had changed. Every facet of the rudimentary smithy had been upgraded and seemed to be constructed with the materials common in the area. The smelter was no longer simple stone, but was now made of marbled quartz just like the columns. The other anvils had become smaller versions of the main one containing the Magic Core. Each was now composed of the same clear green metal as the first. Even the tools that had been hanging from the walls were no longer black iron, but instead had handles of burnished high steel and elementum heads. Multiple sets were stacked on stands made of quartz.

  The entire Magic Forge was a balance of utility and beauty. Before anyone could touch anything, a pulse of light drew everyone’s gaze upward.

  The roof had become a flat black surface. From looking around, Richter could see that the roof extended out past the pillars several feet in every direction. The floor of the Forge was now well protected from the elements. The pulse of golden light had come from near the center of the ceiling. As Richter watched tiny motes of light appeared randomly as well. More and more appeared, and he realized that he was staring at a starlit sky. As the ceiling became filled with more celestial bodies, Richter’s eyes kept being pulled back to the one large yellow circle that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the ceiling. It wasn’t until he saw two pale circles, one red and the other white, that it clicked.

  “The sun,” Richter exclaimed delighted. Everyone looked at him confused. Shaking his head in disbelief at what he was seeing, he continued, “We are looking at the heavens above us! As if it were night!” An excited whispering picked up around him. He clapped his hands together in awe of what he was seeing. Of course that brought another round of vile cursing to his throat. The changes around him had pushed the fact that his hand had been badly burned right out of his head. He looked around embarrassed, and curtailed his profanity when he saw one of the high elves holding her hands over her son’s ears. Besides, he was being bombarded with prompts.

  Congratulations! You have created: The Forge of Heavens! Each Magic Forge will have a specific character based upon the location where it has been created. The movement of heavenly bodies are now clearly seen by you, even in the light of day. Based upon which cosmic alignments are present above, there is a small chance of the weapon or armor obtaining certain powers.

  Know This! Your Magic Forge has been built with elementum. Any weapons and armor made within the confines of the Magic Forge will have increased spell penetration and spell resistance respectively. Your Magic Forge is currently: level 1. At this level, weapons have +10% damage against spell barriers. At this level, each piece of armor has a +1% resistance to a specific type of magic determined by the properties of your Forge.

  Congratulations! You have crafted a Legendary Object: The Forge of Heavens. You have learned two new skills.

  Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Crafting. It is not only weapons and armor that will serve you well in The Land. Rings, belts, bracelets and other items have their own value. If enchanted, these items can easily be the difference between life and death. You now have the ability to take base components and create something greater than the sum of its parts.

  Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Smithing. You may now take raw materials and unlock their potential to help or harm. It may be shining silver or gleaming gold that capture a woman’s eye, but it is sharp steel and mighty mithril that can cut out a man’s heart!

  In light of this amazing achievement, you may choose to drastically increase your skill level in either of your two new skills or your existing skill of enchanting. Which do you choose? Smithing skill, Enchanting skill or Crafting skill?

  Richter blinked and minimized the prompts. He took in his surroundings. Everyone around him was walking around entranced by their surroundings. The creation of the Forge of Heavens had attracted many more villagers and they were all walking through it amazed. Even the dwarves were walking around with expressions of quiet glee, and sometimes they weren’t even that quiet. Richter didn’t know how long the detente between the territorial smiths and the other villagers would last, but he planned to take advantage of the peace and silence as long as he could.

  Crafting, Smithing or Enchanting, he asked himself. When he had planted the Seed Core, he hadn’t been given an option. His Herb Lore skill had just skyrocketed. He hadn’t been able to make too much use of that yet, but he was sure it would come in handy in the future. So now Richter had a decision to make. With his Limitless ability, it wasn’t really a question of which skill he should learn. Given enough time, he should theoretically be able to learn everything. The real question was, what would give him the best bonus right now? It would be great to make his own weapons. He could just see himself wielding his own katana, fighting off ninjas and then moving his mouth dramatically to form Japanese words while waiting for English words to come out on a delay. Shogun Assassin style!

  On the other hand, it probably took a good while to make a good sword, let alone a great one. It also meant that he could only level his Smithing skill when he was physically at a forge. He had A LOT to do, and couldn’t waste time just leveling up his Smithing skill when there were bugbears and eaters to kill.

  Another thing to consider was that he had a second Magic Core. Hopefully he would get another skill boost to either Crafting or Enchanting once he used it. Since he wasn’t planning on making another Magic Forge, he probably wouldn’t get to jump levels in Smithing. He knocked swinging a hammer out of the running. After that is just came down to Enchanting or Crafting. Unlike smithing, rings and bracelets could probably be made on the go.

  His musings were interrupted by a shout. The dwarves were starting to get annoyed at the men and women wandering around their domain, so Richter knew he only had a bit of time left before total pandemonium broke out. It ultimately wasn’t a hard choice. Even if he maxed his Crafting skill, without being a solid enchanter he would just be making baubles to sell. He chose Enchanting.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 2 in Enchanting. All enchantments 1% more effective and increased chance of enchantments taking hold.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 3 in Enchanting. All enchantments 1% more effective and increased chance of enchantment taking hold.

  …

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 29 in Enchanting. All enchantments 1% more effective and increased chance of enchantment taking hold.

  You have received 2,500 (base 2,000) bonus experience for reaching level 10 in the skill: Enchanting.

  You have received 5,000 (base 4,000) bonus experience for reaching level 20 in the skill: Enchanting.

  Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Enchanting. You now will gain more charges when recharging with a soul stone. Items you enchant now have their enchantment potential increased by +2. For each new rank in Enchanting that you achieve, enchantment potential will increase by another two points. You can now add enchantments to already created items, albeit with an 80% penalty to effectiveness.

  Congratulations! You have advanced from Initiate to Apprentice in: Enchanting. You can now enchant scrolls based on spells that you already know. Items that you enchant with a finite number of charges will now have +10 charges. For each new rank you obtain in Enchanting, you will get another +10 charges. You can now add enchantments to already created items, albeit with an 60% penalty to effectiveness.

  Know This! Every enchantment has an assigned enchant cost. The quality of an item determines its maximum enchantment potential. The breakdown based on quality is as follows:

  Average Quality = 1 point, 10 charges

  Above Average Qu
ality = 5 points, 50 charges

  Superb Quality = 10 points, 100 charges

  Exquisite Quality = 15 points, 150 charges

  Masterwork Quality = 20 points, 200 charges

  You have completed the Quest: The Right Tool for the Right Job. You have created a Magic Forge created with elementum. You may now enjoy the weapons and armor created in the Forge of Heavens.

  Reward: 12,500 (base 10,000) experience points.

  Bonus Reward: Increased relationship with all smiths in the village.

  Bonus Reward: Your people are impressed by the creation of a Legendary Object. Morale increased by +50.

  Bonus Reward: Your relationship with Krom has improved from trusted to loyal.

  Congratulations! You have won +1,000 fame points! You have created a Legendary Object!

  Know This! You have built a fully functional forge. Your settlement will now enjoy the Building Bonus of increased chance of higher quality weapons and armor.

  Know This! As you have built a Magic Forge, you have maxed out the Building Bonus of having a forge. +10% chance of an item of a given quality being automatically upgraded a higher quality once completed.

  Know This! You are intrinsically linked to your Place of Power. By creating a Legendary Object within its boundaries, you have been Marked. Your choice to use elementum to create the Forge of Heavens will manifest in your own abilities. Your attacks will have +10% damage to spell barriers. This bonus will increase as the level of your Forge increases.

  You have received a Mark: Forge of Heavens.

  Richter was delighted at the cascade of prompts. The experience took him a fair way to level 19! It reminded him that he still had to allocate the characteristic points and skill percentage points from reaching level 17 and 18. He couldn’t spare the brain power to deal with that right now, though. He had a new toy to play with!