Blacksmith vs. the System

Rosie wanted to talk.

Saying that the prospect of talking with her made me feel some complicated feelings would have been a gross understatement even without counting the complications of the siege.

The first part of that relationship was easy to discount. Our relationship through Broken Tankard had been interesting, but ultimately, even if that resulted in my presence here, it was inconsequential.

Even if she had thrown me into a troubling situation knowingly.

If true, it would be a very invasive case of manipulation, but not something I couldn't accept. In a way, it would be similar to what I did to Maria. Deliberate manipulation was not exactly a good feeling, but it was far easier to accept when it came with rewards rather than losses. And, ultimately, even as I risked my life, I couldn't say I was unhappy with the situation.

Especially since I could have easily run away once I had upgraded my class rather than staying here. For good or ill, ultimately, I was the engineer of my own situation.

The second part of her ploy, with her small but surprisingly helpful guild operating here, was not as inconsequential, especially since she was here. I had already examined similar communication crystals in action, and I had a good sense of their limitations. She was likely near enough for the crystal to work, meaning she was about to join the game, regardless of whatever plan she had in mind.

It was scary, because I had no true idea about her other than her being a small business owner that somehow managed to make it work in a new town. Not her class, not her objectives…

Not even why she was in that tiny town in the first place.

That brought me to the third, and the most complicated point. Why was she there in the first place, and what did she want? The memories of her trailing me for a long time back when I was a professor were clear in my mind thanks to Wisdom, based on her role as some kind of undercover agent, which added a lot of questions.

Especially since she refrained from even mentioning it for years, but still lived in the same town as me, interacting constantly without truly assisting or hindering me one way or another.

Talk about complicated…

I once again created a metal dome around me to prevent eavesdropping as I activated the crystal. "Hi, Rosie," I said.

"Devon," replied a familiar voice, though it wasn't particularly clear. "Or should I call you Arthur?"

Despite everything, her teasing tone managed to extract a chuckle out of me. "Whatever you want," I replied. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to give her a teasing answer, the situation would not allow me to disappear for a long time. "I'm assuming that you're near?"

"Yes, just twenty miles away," she replied. "Nice fireworks. You have been busy since we last met."

"I did alright," I responded. "Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"I was here to help, but unfortunately, the situation is a bit too complicated for that," she said. "I was expecting an ordinary beast wave. Not … this."

"Are you alone?" I asked.

"Yes," she admitted readily. That was telling. After the memories, I had started to suspect that she was much stronger than she let on. Considering the size of the army we were dealing with, her inability to help didn't disprove it.

The fact that she came here, expecting to help against an ordinary beast wave indicated a good deal of strength. Maybe not enough to match Maria, but enough to rival Eleanor at a minimum.

"Alright," I said. "First, I'm going to ask a few questions, just as a precaution. What was the first business deal we made to collect data…" I started, asking several questions to validate I was talking to her just in case.

She answered them quickly, not wasting any time. Several questions later, I was reasonably confident that I was actually talking to her, and not someone that was faking her voice through the crystal. It was still not a guarantee, but nothing truly was on a battlefield.

"Now, is there a way you can cut through the beast wave to arrive at the base, if we assist you," I said.

"No," she said.

"And, what if you only had to deal with the lizards," I asked.

She paused for a moment. "That's doable," she said.

"Alright. One last question. Do you know a way to block External Skills from being used?"

"I … I have heard rumors," she admitted, whether as a lie or not was a different question.

"Fine," I said. "Be ready to approach from the West side, and wait for my signal, alright?" I asked.

"And, what will be your signal?" she asked.

"I don't exactly know, but it'll certainly be flashy," I replied. "Be ready."

"Deal. Over," she said, and the crystal stopped glowing. I removed the metal curtain and once again started repeating the pattern of killing beasts and replenishing dungeon mana. I didn't have a concrete plan on how to create an opportunity, but I had several ideas, and each of them relied on the same simple pattern.

I needed my External Skills back.

The decision to help her cut through the defenses to reach her was quick, but not hasty. I was very well aware of the situation I was dealing with, and sooner or later, Thomas would catch on to the uselessness of his current tactic, and attack with everything he had.

In such conditions, victory was possible, but it would be a bloody one. Things would be different if I had a true elite warrior helping me, especially if her equipment was only as good as what Eleanor had before I intervened.

As I continued that, I visited the observation tower twice more, locating the warriors that might block my skills once more, as I didn't want to lose access to them immediately. I had ways to return back quickly, but that would be best left a secret.

I also used it as an opportunity to visit the steam cannons, using the excuse of checking them to modify two of our anti-air weapons into something that would work better against larger lizards, with better range, with strict instructions not to use it before the flying lizard squad was practically on top of them.

Once that was done, I visited Harold. "I have a mission for you," I said.

"Yes, sir," he said proudly.

"I need you to be ready. Somewhere in the next five minutes, I'm going to attack and kill at least two boss monsters. I need you to defend the base against the harassment force. Not for long. Just for a minute," I answered.

I planned it to be even less, as even if my skills were blocked, I could always use the portal to return. Not ideal, as it would potentially reveal a card I wanted to keep hidden, but it was better than letting people die.

After discussing a few more quick details with Harold, I once again returned to my task, killing the lizards and dealing with the enemies. I didn't neglect occasionally making fake attacks forward to add even more conduction plates.

Regardless of the circumstances, gathering more mana was never a bad idea.

It also gave me a chance to observe the current layout of the wave, allowing me to map the boss monsters I would target. They would be at the West, both to open a path for Rosie, and to make sure the flying squad would position themselves the other way. Together, it would be a good way to attack.

With that, the pieces were in place, and all that remained was to wait for the return of my full faculties.

[Level 61 -> 62]

[+5 Vitality, +4 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +5 Essence, +3 Wisdom]

Another notification, another tightening … but this time, something snapped. Once again, the change was sublime, but all I needed was to try using one of my External Skills to confirm it was working.

Whatever that was blocking me from using those skills, was gone.

It was time to act.