No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

He reached toward a massive greatsword, its black blade etched with golden runes that shifted subtly in the light. It pulsed with both darkness and earth energy, its weight humming with barely-contained pressure.

"The Celestial Fang," the forge master said, nodding approvingly. "A sentient blade forged from a fallen star and the bones of a time-locked dragon. It adjusts its weight and edge based on the wielder's combat rhythm. Very few can control it."

Fluffy held it effortlessly with one hand and swung it once, cleaving through three enchanted boulders stacked for testing across the shop without even breaking stance.

"I like it," he said simply.

Blackie selected her weapon with quiet grace: a pair of black-diamond daggers, each shaped like twin crescent moons, with faint traces of frost mist trailing their edges.

"Those are the Twin Fangs of Winter," the forge master said, bowing respectfully. "Capable of freezing everything within a limited radius for three seconds upon contact. Forged by the Second Frost Matriarch herself, lost for centuries. They respond only to those with royal frostline mana."

Blackie nodded once, accepting the blades as they curved gently into her palms. "They'll do."

Then all eyes turned to Damien.

He hadn't moved.

He stood near the corner, eyes half-lidded, watching them with calm patience.

The forge master hesitated, uncertain. "And… for the young lord?"

Zhenlong opened his mouth to say something dismissive, but Blackie shot him a look sharp enough to silence a dragon. Damien finally stepped forward.

"I don't need anything flashy," he said. "Just something quiet. And deadly."

The forge master frowned, then motioned carefully. "There is… one piece we've never displayed before. It was meant as a prototype for the Matriarch's personal guard, but the enchantment proved too… volatile."

With a gesture, a section of the wall peeled open, revealing a small pedestal draped in shadow. Resting upon it was an unassuming, thin scabbard. Beside it, nothing.

Until Damien approached.

As he neared, the air distorted. An invisible force hummed faintly, like wind through crystal. And then, like fog clearing, a sleek, obsidian-black sword shimmered into visibility. Its edge was impossibly thin, and its presence hard to sense even when seen directly.

"Invisible Edge," the forge master explained. "Its enchantment renders the blade completely undetectable when sheathed or moving. Sight, sound, mana—nothing reveals it. Forged with anti-divination spells and spatial-phase glasssteel. Only those with precise control over their energy can wield it properly. Otherwise, it tends to… vanish."

Damien reached out and drew the blade. The sound was… nothing. Just silence.

He tested it with one swing. The blade cut through the air without resistance. A distant anvil split cleanly in two without a hint of force applied.

He nodded once. "This will do."

But the forge master wasn't finished. "There's more. One final piece, my lord. If you'd permit."

He brought forward a small, silver-black cube, no larger than a fist. With a tap of his mana, it expanded, unfolding in the air and wrapping around Damien's body in a seamless ripple of energy.

It settled on him like a second skin, thin, invisible, utterly weightless.

"Inferashroud," the forge master said reverently. "Crafted from compressed spatial fabric and woven with shadow thread harvested from dimensional rifts. It's our rarest creation. The armor shifts with your body and is completely undetectable. Attacks will pass through you unless you permit contact. It reacts only to the will of its host."

Rage Monkey blinked. "Wait… you mean… he's literally wearing armor we can't see or touch?"

Fluffy whistled. "Now that's majestic."

Zhenlong tried to speak, but couldn't. His jaw simply hung open.

Blackie, sensing Damien's approval, turned toward Zhenlong again, her smile faint but devastating.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Zhenlong's face turned a shade redder than dragonfire. "A-anything… for you, Yuxia."

Damien turned, sword now vanished again, the shroud cloaking his body in silent protection. He looked completely unarmed and yet, now, he was more dangerous than ever.

This had indeed been a productive visit.

The forge master, his expression carefully neutral, approached with a long golden scroll tucked under one arm. With a ceremonious flick of his wrist, he unfurled it before Zhenlong with a flourish.

The parchment glowed faintly with embedded runes tallying the transaction with merciless precision. At the bottom, a gleaming number pulsed in gold, an obscene sum, enough to fund a small army for a decade.

Zhenlong accepted the bill with a smug smile. "Of course, of course. For Lady Yuxia, price is no obstacle."

Blackie, ever graceful, looked slightly troubled.

She might have detested Zhenlong, but she still felt extremely uncomfortable taking anything from him, especially taking such a huge amount of treasure so directly from his personal accumulations.

"Zhenlong… this is too much. I can contribute—"

"No!" Zhenlong barked suddenly, puffing out his chest. "Yuxia will never—never—pay even a single copper coin as long as I stand beneath the heavens!"

And then he looked at the bill.

His eyes widened.

His breath stopped.

The scroll slipped from his hands.

And he fainted on the spot.

With an unceremonious thud, the proud noble hit the ground like a felled tree, limbs splayed, a dreamy "uuurgh" escaping his lips.

The entire forge went silent.

Rage Monkey leaned over him, poking his cheek. "Did he really just pass out from reading the total?"

Fluffy folded his arms. "Weaklings. I've battled lightning beasts in collapsing timelines and never flinched at the bill for snacks."

Damien exhaled, deadpan. "Blackie. Kick him."

Blackie tilted her head. "Is that really necessary?"

"He's blocking the receipt."

Rage Monkey rolled up his sleeve. "I'll do it!"

With great enthusiasm, Rage Monkey wound back his leg and slammed it into Zhenlong's side with a THUNK. The noble didn't even twitch.

"Still out cold," Rage Monkey said, shaking his foot. "Maybe he broke on the inside."

Fluffy growled. "Pathetic." He cracked his knuckles, raised one leg slowly, then drove it into Zhenlong's side with enough force to launch him across the forge like a cannonball.

CRASH!

Zhenlong flew in a perfect arc, hit a reinforced window with a loud CLANG, bounced once, and landed in a heap of enchanted toolboxes.