Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

I knew those Deepiron mechanical scorpion pincers I got from the Temple of the Handlers would be useful, Archie smirked.

Archie continued to hammer the Deepiron plate in front of him, each strike sending a dull clang echoing throughout the valley where he took cover behind to hide where he was planning on living for the next month and a half.

He remained unfazed and indifferent to the howls, snarls, and grunts echoing from the valley he hammered beside. Creatures hidden within the darkness - but Archie kept working.

Vital Sight remained active at 10% opacity, glowing faintly behind his embered eyes, tinging the flames of Gaze of the Forgefather a slightly darker red, as he focused on channeling mana through each hammer strike.

Each of his strikes remained steady as he focused on channeling a steady stream of mana into the molten Deeprion bar, enhancing its physical durability.

He hadn't really found the time to look through the properties of Deepiron in 'Rocks 'N Shit' book he purchased from the System Bazaar. So, for the past three hours or so, he was flying in blind, hammering away at the Deepiron bars and adjusting the mana output purely by feel.

Every so often, he'd glance up, eyes narrowing at the faint silhouettes of beasts creeping too close, cloaked in the night and further obscured by the shimmering heat that warped the air around the Basic Workshop - Blacksmith, cast by his Forgesmith's Flames within the Inchoate Titansteel Forge

He didn't care. With Vital Sight active, even at 10% opacity, the hidden beasts - and that one cabbage-looking thing slowly trying to burrow itself deeper into the dirt - stood out like blood on snow.

Their neon red vital energy outlines made it impossible for him to be caught off guard and unaware of where they were and what they looked like.

The beasts that looked like wolves, probably coyotes, Archie mused, crouched low, muscles tense as though waiting for a signal. A pack of porcupines, judging by the neon red spikes that were attached to their bodies, draped themselves over a stone ledge. And the cabbage-thing? Whatever it was, it shivered ever so often, inching lower with every clang of his hammer.

Maybe some of the creatures were drawn by curiosity or perhaps by the lingering scent of the smoked lizard kebabs he'd eaten earlier with Aoife and Tim before they split up. Most, though, were probably just pissed that the constant clang of hammer on metal was ruining both their sleep and their attempt at hunting anything within the valley.

But that was a them problem, not an Archie one.

If they had an issue with it, well, he'd be more than happy to remind them why it was a bad idea to bother a smith hammering away in the middle of the night. Because you never know whether or not that smith toiling away at their forge has a Mana Revolver tucked away in their spatial storage.

A pack of Veltriks had tried to lure him away from the forge by mimicking the sound of two kids crying and shouting for help, in the woods to his left. The voices sounded realistic enough to him: the panic in their tone, the desperation, everything really.

But Archie didn't even flinch at their cries and continued to hammer away.

Like - bro, if you hear random voices screaming for help in the middle of the night, alone from a pitch-dark forest and your first thought is, "Oh no, I should check that out and help them," then congrats, you're a fucking dumbass.

You fell for the most classic horror movie death of all time.

Archie smiled as his Forgesmith's Flame within the Inchoate Titansteel Forge let out a hiss as though it agreed with his thoughts.

He kept ignoring their cries and kept hammering away until one of them had the bright idea to try to throw a rock at him, which bounced off the side of his Inchoate Titansteel Forge.

To which he responded by unloading his Mana Revolver multiple times into their spindly and contorted bodies before returning to hammering away at the Deepiron Tire wheels that were now cooling down atop one of the larger rocks, a couple of feet away from where he stood.

Picking up the Deepiron sheet that resembled a half bracer from off his Obsidiansteel Anvil, he walked over to his desk where he then soldered it onto the front of the Fortified Bear Hide Boots, attached in between the shin guards and the front toe guards.

Hunching over his desk with his Runic Scriber now in hand, Archie began to etch on the top of both boots a couple runes and runic scripts; Soul-Bound (Lesser - Lesser), Self-Repair (Lesser - Lesser), Physical Reinforcement (High - Moderate), and Rune of Dispersion (High - Low).

Thanks to the recent upgrade of his skill, Identify (Common), Archie was finally able to confirm what had been nagging at the edge of his thoughts ever since he began to study their runes; specifically, Soul-Bound and Self-Repair weren't functioning the way he understood them to.

By definition, Soul-Bound items are tethered directly to the user's soul, meaning that even if the object was obliterated - turned to ash or scattered to atoms - it should still, in theory, be connected to you as per it being bound to your soul.

That's where Self-Repair came into play. Using that connection between the Soul Bounder and the Soul Bounded, if a Self-Repair rune was placed onto the item, then using the connection between the two, the item should be able to reconstruct itself, like reverting to a backup file, a metaphysical "restore point."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

If it was functioning correctly, his old mask - Mask of the Jungle - should have been able to reform itself, even after it was repeatedly melted, shattered, and eventually broken down.

That was the whole point of Soul-Bound: it created a tether between him and the item, a sort of spiritual blueprint that his mana could use to reconstruct the piece through Self-Repair.

And it seemed the System agreed with him, by stating that both Soul-Bound and Self-Repair were Lesser - Lesser meaning they were Common - Common quality versions of what those runes could truly be.

I guess that means I need to dabble in a bit of soul and time magic to figure out how to improve them both, Archie thought to himself. But that's for future Archie to deal with.

Swiping away a stray beard hair that had fallen onto the boot, Archie grabbed the crucible containing two activated Thornback Render Beastcores - each infused with the emotion of resilience from an E-Grade human and empowered by spirits.

He placed one core atop each boot and watched as they liquefied, seeping into the bear hide boots and the Deepiron plating soldered atop them, wrapping themselves around both the boots and the shin and calf guards he'd affixed to them. The entire set darkened to a deep, steely gray.

Reinforced Deepiron Thornback Boots (Rare):
Dark brown boots crafted from the hide of a Stoneback Ursa, plated Deepiron, and Thornback Render Beastcores. Created by Vess Grak'th, a D-Grade Expert Seamweaver of Neo-Eden, and Archie Gracefield, an E-Grade Novice Forgesmith. Due to the innate properties of Stoneback Ursa hide that have been brought out by Vess Grak'th and further enhanced by Archie Gracefield, the durability of the boots have been moderately enhanced. Additionally, the Kinetic Enhancement runic script enhances all kicks made when wearing the Reinforced Deepiron Thornback Boots. Effects: Soul-Bound (Lesser - Lesser), Self-Repair (Lesser - Lesser), Physical Reinforcement (High - Moderate), and Kinetic Enhancement (High - Low). Provides: +90 End, + 70 Agi & + 40 Str. Status: Perfect. Requirement: Lv 85+ & Humanoid Race.

Nice, Archie nodded before turning around and leaning against the table to take off his barely hanging together Steel Plated Shadowstalker Boots and toss them into his spatial storage before putting on his newly made Reinforced Deepiron Thornback Boots.

It's a lot comfier than how it looks, Archie noted as he tapped the tip of his boot onto the stone ground the Basic Workshop - Blacksmith created whenever he deployed it.

Now that his new boots were completed, Archie checked his notifications that he'd ignored all day.

*[Thornback Render Lv 88] has been slain – XP has been given.*
***
*[Thornback Render Lv 91] has been slain – XP has been given.*

*Your Class has reached Lv 91 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Race has reached Lv 87 – Points allocated, +3 Free Points*

*[Veltrik Lv 85] has been slain – XP has been given.*
***
*[Veltrik Lv 87] has been slain – XP has been given.*

*Your Class has reached Lv 92 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Profession has reached Lv 85 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Profession has reached Lv 86 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Race has reached Lv 88 – Points allocated, +3 Free Points*

Nice, Archie smiled once more before opening his status page. Archie quickly allocated 11 points into both Wisdom and Willpower.

Ever since I took that Vial of Fatigue Relief, I've never felt better. Killing those oversized badgers for their Beastcores, forging with a clear head for once - it's like I'm finally functioning like a proper person again.

Honestly, I don't even understand how I managed to get as far as I did while being that exhausted. Fatigue is no joke - even with 1215 Endurance, Archie thought. Before the curse, with a lot less Endurance, I could handle not sleeping for at most a week, so using that logic, I should be able to stay awake for two weeks straight.

Aoife normally sleeps twice a week or so, and I know for a fact she has a higher Endurance stat than me, Archie considered, scratching the top of his head. Is it just to stop the build-up of fatigue?… Or is Hollow Slumber just fucking with me and making me think not sleeping is good?

Releasing a soft exhale, Archie got up from leaning against the table and went to go grab his two tire wheels he had let out to cool off after tempering them. I can't wait till I evolve and get rid of this quadra-curse.

Placing them atop the table, Archie took out his Mana Bike and flipped it so that the sawblade wheels faced the night sky.

Just as he did so, his eyes narrowed slightly before he quickly took out his Mana Revolver and fired three Nature-Attuned manabolts into the head of a panther-shaped creature that attempted to creep its way toward him.

*[Lurker Lv 84] has been slain – XP has been given.*

I should have set up the Obscuring Stakes before I started forging, Archie sighed, tucking away his Mana Revolver back into his spatial storage and turning back to face his Mana Bike.

Twisting the last lug nut with his fingers, Archie deactivated Adrenaline Rush at 25% and let out a long, weighted exhale. The tension that had coiled tight around his limbs slowly eased as he leaned back from where he sat on the cool stone flooring and lay down, arms spread, eyes tracing the star-streaked sky above.

It's definitely Hollow Slumber that's screwing me over. And probably Echoing Pain, too, he thought, rubbing the heel of his palm into his eye socket. No way, just Adrenaline Rush would leave me this wrecked after barely doing anything physically taxing. I tightened a few lug nuts and hammered at some Deepiron, not ran a god damn marathon.

Archie blinked slowly, catching the faint trail of a shooting star as it blazed across the stars above.

I could sleep out here...

Then, with a quiet grunt, Nah. Something'll probably try to eat me.

Pushing himself off the ground with a grunt, Archie rolled his shoulders until they popped, followed by a satisfying crack from his spine. He grabbed his chestpiece from where it rested against the back of his chair and strapped it back on.

Grabbing his newly acquired satchel - large enough to hold the Spirit Nucleus and currently doing just that - Archie slung it over his back. The elongated straps shifted on their own, two winding over his shoulders and another securing itself around his midsection like an oversized backpack that came with a rollercoaster support belt.

Walking over to his Mana Bike, he grabbed the handlebars and flipped it upright in one clean motion. Activating the engine, Archie rolled it off the stone flooring of the Basic Workshop - Blacksmith.

It already moves like a dream, Archie smirked to himself as the Mana Bike purred beneath him, the low thrum of the Nature-Attuned Runic Mana Engine syncing with his heartbeat.

Whelp, he thought, tossing the now gray Basic Workshop - Blacksmith orb back into his spatial storage, shifting his weight, and gently holding his finger above the throttle, time to head to the place I told them I'd be staying at for the next month and a half.