Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 216: Recompense

After returning to my room, I decided to try my hand at the armor for Diane. I had already confirmed that I could use Shadow King with Shadow Forge to create materials like fabric or leather. I didn’t have any tailoring knowledge, so I was tempted to visit the Sanctum again to study.

However, I didn’t really have the time to do that at the moment. So, I gave up on the idea of creating a cloak for her like the one she had now. Instead, I opted for a more traditional suit of light armor. The blacksmithing books I read before had mentioned creating armored plates, so I was confident that I could at least do that.

I quickly created one of my Diane puppets, using it as a model to size the armor. Then, with the puppet standing there as a reference, I began hammering away at the material, shaping it into small metal plates and straps.

Each of these plates was made with the ‘enchantment’ to transform with the user, so I hoped that they would be at least slightly useful. I doubted that I would be able to make anything great on the first try, but it was still good practice.

However, I was ultimately unable to complete the work. Just as I was beginning to put the various plates together, my door suddenly opened up, snapping my focus. The half-finished armor disintegrated and the puppet collapsed to the floor.

Outside my room, Diane stood, her brand now properly lit. She looked at the puppet with a raised brow, and then at me. “I was told that you were finished with the glaive?” she asked, not asking what I was previously doing.

“Right, is he online?” I asked, shaking my head. I would have plenty of time to experiment with new creations after delivering the current work.

“He just got on,” Diane answered. “We should be able to go out and meet him now. Though, have you thought about what you wanted to do next?”

I hesitated, turning to face Diane. My mind had been singularly focused on getting this glaive done, I forgot to consider what would come next. Thinking back, it hadn’t really been that long since I took the commission to make the weapon in the first place. “Is that one explorer still waiting for a response? If so, we can help them out. We need to learn more about Chimeris anyway.”

Diane agreed, leading me out of the house and into the street, where the black-haired foxfolk was already waiting for us. It seemed like he rushed over after hearing that the weapon was ready. There was an eager smile on his face, so I went ahead and pulled the glaive out of my inventory for him. “This should be what you’re looking for.”

The man accepted the glaive, weighing it in his hands. It probably wasn’t as good as a base weapon as what you could get from Hammerhead, but it was the extra feature that was really important here.

I watched as black scales began to form along his body, bringing him into the familiar half-dragon form. However, his shadow dragon appearance was different from Diane’s, taller and more muscular. This only further enforced the idea that the caster’s stats influenced the form’s appearance.

Once he was fully transformed, he held the glaive in both hands. The shaft suddenly extended, stretching upwards more than a dozen meters before retracting back to the size of a short sword. “Thanks, this works great,” he said in a pleased tone, pulling out the skill book to hand to Diane.

Diane eagerly accepted the book, learning it without the slightest hesitation. Once she had done so, she confirmed its effects and nodded at me to show that it was what she was looking for. With that, I turned back to the foxfolk with a smile. “I did my best to strengthen that glaive, but as I’ve said, this isn’t my area of expertise. If you want another one in the future, I’d suggest visiting Hammerhead. I can supply the necessary materials if I have to.”

“”I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” he said, before turning and leaving. It seemed that he wanted to try out the new weapon as soon as he could.

With that taken care of, I turned to look at Diane. “Do you want to take a little bit to practice that skill, or do you want to get moving to the next request? Also, where is Bella?”

“Bella should still be inside,” Diane said, looking back towards the house. “When she heard that you had passed out in my room from exhaustion, she rushed back to make sure that you were alright.”

I felt a small pang of guilt at that, following her gaze. Just in time, the door opened, and the tired elven girl stepped out. “Mornin’...” she muttered, looking at me. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah, sorry for worrying you,” I sincerely apologized. “I just handed the weapon over to the client…” After saying that, I realized that I had never gotten the name of the foxfolk, too preoccupied with the actual task.

Bella slowly blinked, the sleep clearing from her eyes. “Well, that’s good. So, what are we up to next? Staying in the city a bit longer, or what?”

Diane stepped forward to interject. “Drake just said that he wants to take on another job. This one will have the three of us going out and doing some serious exploration. We’ll be joining a professional explorer, so there are a few things that we need to be aware of.”

Bella looked over at Diane curious, before her eyes widened at the halfling’s next words. “As a professional explorer, she is used to picking up on even the smallest of clues to sniff out hidden lore.”

Bella quickly caught onto Diane’s meaning. In other words, if Bella wasn’t careful, there was a very real chance that this explorer would be able to unravel her facade as a Player. That would be horrible for Bella, who would then be at risk of being hunted down by every powerful Fallen.

Even worse, since her trait has a much lower rarity than my own, it is that much easier for it to drop. And once it does drop, it would be almost impossible to recover it without hunting down whoever took it and repeatedly killing them.

“Got it,” Bella answered with a serious expression. “Anything else that I should be aware of?”

Just as Diane was thinking how to answer, I noticed a message pop up from Hammerhead, asking me to go to his shop. Blinking, I called out to the two girls. “I’ve got to go for a few. Hammerhead wants to see me. Once you set up the meeting with the explorer, let me know.”

After saying that, I teleported to Hammerhead’s shop, seeing the tired dwarf sitting behind his counter, a frustrated expression on his face. “Is everything alright?”

“Not in the slightest,” he shook his head. “I tried out those materials that you left me yesterday, and my Chosen even worked on them while I was offline.”

“Are they too hard to work with?” I asked, worried that the materials might not be usable after being solidified.

“Quite the opposite! They’re too malleable!” he complained, clenching his fists. “There’s no need to heat the metal, and you can just hammer it into shape. But, that also means that it can be bent out of shape easily, too. Because it doesn’t work with heating and cooling, I can’t quench it to make it harden.”

“When I tried to heat it in my forge, the material started evaporating, so that was no good either. As for the fabric, it’s not as bad. A fabric being malleable isn’t anything new, so I was able to make some working items out of that.”

“But the metal was no good?” I asked, somewhat disappointed. I had hoped that the material could lead to some innovative weapons being created. If it was Hammerhead, he could have even made the gun for Bella that I couldn’t.

“Don’t go giving me that look yet, kid. I never said that I was giving up. That’s why I called you here.” After he said that, Hammerhead pulled himself to his feet. “I just need more material to work with. All the stuff you gave me before got wasted trying to figure out how to use it.”

I couldn’t help but blink at that. “Sure, but how much do you need?”

Hammerhead reached into his inventory, pulling out a crate as large as he was. “About that much. The denser it is, the better. I’ve got some ideas on how to get it working, but I’ll need plenty of research samples. Whatever other types of materials you can throw in will help, too.”

My eyes widened at this. Part of me was surprised that he had been able to burn through all of the material that I had left him overnight, while the rest was surprised how much he wanted now. Still, I began to condense more metal for him to fill the crate, along with some shadow ‘wood’ and more cloth.

“By the way, Hammerhead,” I said while working. “I got a blueprint for a larger workshop for omnicrafters. There are a few rare materials that I need, but once I’ve got everything, I plan to set it up for you.”

Hammerhead looked over in surprise. “Oh? Looks like you got something good, then. In that case, I’ll whip you up something special once I figure out how to get these materials working.” A small grin spread over his face, and I could practically see the ideas flashing by behind his eyes.

With a shake of my head, I soon finished filling the crate. By the time I was done, the floorboards were creaking under the weight of its contents. Still, Hammerhead stored the entire crate back in his inventory. “I’ll let you know once I’ve gotten everything worked out. With any luck, it should only be a few days. Like I said, I’ve already got a few ideas on what might work.”

I shrugged my shoulders, trusting the expert to do his work. Meanwhile, I turned and left, making my way back towards the other two. Diane had yet to contact me, so there was no real rush in heading back.

At least, not until I felt Kelly’s gaze on me again. This time, she wasn’t watching me from a nearby building. She had appeared directly behind me, her hand landing on my shoulder. “Welcome back, my king,” she said in a sweet voice that sent chills down my spine. “I know you’ve been so busy. Why don’t we take a few moments to brush up on your training?”

Immediately, I wanted to teleport away. However, Kelly was far more skilled with World Walker than I was. Instead of teleporting back to my house, I arrived in Kelly’s dojo, the bearfolk woman standing in front of me and cracking her knuckles. There was a smile on her face that utterly failed to reach her eyes. “Good, you’re so eager to begin training. I hope you have kept improving while you were away.”

“...This is where I apologize for leaving you to issue all of the dragon skill quests, you accept the apology, and then I go home thinking that this was a bad dream?” I spoke up hopefully.

“Apology accepted,” Kelly responded, though the darkness in her gaze didn’t recede a single bit. “Now, shall we have you reflect on your actions?”