Rise of the Living Forge

It had been a long time since Arwin had last thought about dungeons, but he was surprised to find that the word brought up warm memories. He’d spent the majority of his earlier years in this world within the dungeons together with the men and women that had once been his friends.

As far as Arwin had learned, dungeons were areas where the Mesh got caught up and layered over itself, growing unstable. Monsters were lured to the location and the Mesh fed them, letting them grow in strength and turning their flesh and bodies valuable.

Most times, dungeons vanished forever once someone went through and killed everything within them. The Mesh would unravel, returning to its proper form, and whoever had cleared the dungeon would be the only one to benefit from it.

But, in some situations, the bundled Mesh was so tight that it could become permanent. Anything that spent extended periods of time within these areas grew warped with power, and there was enough magic present that the dungeons would reform themselves and the monsters within them over periods of time.

Dungeons such as those were incredibly valuable and highly monopolized by both the Mesh and people alike. Many of them had limited entrances to keep the dungeons from being over-cleared and risking the dungeon unraveling. Some of those entrances were man-made, and some of them seemed to be placed there by the Mesh itself.

Arwin had never properly understood the Mesh’s purpose. At times, it seemed to be to force people to grow and pursue their goals. At other times, it seemed as if it rejoiced in causing chaos and preventing peace from ever cementing itself. Nobody had ever given him a straight answer for what the Mesh truly was, but he knew one thing for certain – it granted power.

A Journeyman dungeon wouldn’t have been of any interest to me when I was still the Hero. It’s only one Tier up from Apprentice. Things are different now, though. This is an incredible find. And, if there’s actually only a single entrance, it’s an incredible training ground and way to generate both money and materials. Granted, I’d actually have to be able to survive it. As things stand, I can wipe the floor with some nameless goons, but I’d get slaughtered if I tried to solo a dungeon twice my Tier.

Arwin realized that he’d drifted off in thought, and Reya was staring at him, growing progressively more and more worried by his lack of reaction.

“I know I should have told you earlier, but I was worried–” Reya started.

“This is a huge opportunity,” Arwin said, cutting her off. “I don’t blame you for not sharing your secrets. I’ve hardly shared mine, but if you’re willing to share that dungeon, there could be a lot we could get from it. Have you checked the dungeon out yourself?”

Reya blinked at Arwin’s excitement, but it wasn’t long until her frown returned. “I – no, I haven’t. The thieves’ guild is watching the entrance, so I haven’t had a chance. But… do you mind if I ask a question?”

“You can ask, but I may not answer.”

“I know you’re pretty strong, but are you able to do a dungeon at Journeyman Tier? I don’t doubt you or anything, but aren’t you some sort of smith?”

“I am a smith, yes. What of it?”

“Well… a smith doesn’t have any battle skills. No matter how strong you are, a Journeyman dungeon might be too much. I don’t even have a class, so there’s no way I’d be able to do anything. I suppose we could try to earn enough money to hire someone, but then they might just take all the good stuff themselves.”

I don’t have any mere crafting class, though. I’ve got a Unique one. I guess that may or may not be a good thing. The Unique modifier doesn’t necessarily imply something is better or worse – just that it’s different from the standard. Only time will tell, but I’m pretty sure Living Forge has more benefits than drawbacks.

Either way, I still have some of my titles. With a little preparation, I think we could handle the dungeon. When I was still the Hero, training would have handled that. But now… no. Training wouldn’t hurt, but it’s not what I need. If I want to become strong again, I need to build myself a set of equipment so strong that it can let me keep up with the combat classes.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Arwin said. “I’m confident we’ll be able to handle the dungeon at some point, but you were right to keep this secret. I trust you’ve got the key stashed somewhere safe, where nobody can find it?”

Reya cleared her throat loudly. Arwin’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not asking you to tell me where it is. I’m not going to rob you. Just make sure someone doesn’t nick it while we’re getting ready.”

Reaching up to her chest, Reya pulled the top of her shirt back and pulled out a key dangling on a thin necklace. “I, uh, kind of just have it here. I didn’t think about stashing it anywhere.”

“Put that away,” Arwin said hurriedly. He glanced at the entrance of the smithy to make sure nobody was there, not relaxing until the key was hidden once more. “Holding onto it is fine. Just don’t lose it. We can get a lot out of it.”

“So it’s definitely a we thing now?” Reya asked, giving him a cheeky smile.

“Don’t get too big for your britches. You’re the one that dragged me into this,” Arwin pointed out, but he couldn’t keep a small smile from passing over his own features. “And I’ve dealt with worse than you. I’m not opposed to a partnership so long as you don’t go stabbing me in the back or doing anything overly stupid.”

“You aren’t going to make me share more about myself?”

Arwin let out a burst of laughter. “No, Reya. Why would I do that? If I asked you to spill your secrets, then I would have to do the same. I don’t care about your secrets, so long as they don’t affect us.”

Shifting uncomfortably, Reya glanced to the side. Arwin’s eyes narrowed. “What else have you done?”

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“You might have to be more specific.”

“How many enemies do you have that are actively looking for you?”

Reya raised a hand, ticking fingers off on it. She quickly ran out of fingers and swapped to the other hand. Finding that one also lacking, she started pulling a shoe off. The other shoe soon followed after it, and Reya finally raised her gaze back to Arwin’s, biting her lip.

“Arwin?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t get mad, but I lost count.”

Arwin heaved a sigh. “Figures. Maybe we’re more alike than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind,” Arwin said. He waved at her shoes. “Put those back on before you step on something sharp on accident, would you? Do any of your enemies other than the thieves guild know where you are?”

“No, they shouldn’t. I’m sorry. I should have told–”

“Good. Keep it that way. I’ve already spent enough time on this. I’m going back to work. Could you get dinner?”

Reya froze midway through pulling her socks back on, looking up at Arwin in shock. “You’re not kicking me out?”

“Of everyone I’ve run into in the past few days, you’ve been the most reliable. So long as things stay that way, I don’t care who your enemies are. Just… try to give me a little forewarning the next time, would you?”

“Yes sir!” Reya saluted him, then scrambled to her feet and gave him another salute.

“Arwin.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Reya slipped out the door and Arwin shook his head, a small smile on his face. Blake would have loved her. He’d been excited about just about everything, and he could barely remember a time when Blake hadn’t been smiling. Even his last breath had passed with a grin sprawling across his lips.

“Could have used your help right about now,” Arwin muttered into the air. “But maybe this is your way of sending it, eh?”

There was no response, but Arwin wasn’t so sure he hadn’t already gotten one. Still wearing a small smile, he turned back to his forge and cracked his neck. There was a lot of work he had to get done, and the thieves’ guild wasn’t going to sit around forever.

***

Days flitted by, and the thieves’ guild still had yet to return. That was perfectly fine with Arwin. He barely left his forge, and Reya proved to be capable in more ways than one. She didn’t just bring him food – she also woke him up in the mornings and made sure he went to sleep early enough to avoid passing out for another few days at once.

Beyond that, she also continued to procure a steady supply of metal scrap. It wasn’t the highest quality material, but it was a lot better than the other trash that Arwin had to work with – and it was free.

Arwin didn’t ask where Reya had gotten the materials, and she didn’t offer an answer. He was going through supplies far too quickly to be picky, but his efforts were to great effect. Two piles of swords, daggers, nails, and other assorted objects started to form beside Arwin.

The first – and largest – of them was full of garbage that was completely worthless and had no magical properties. The second was considerably smaller, but it had several swords mixed in with the daggers that Arwin wasn’t completely disgusted with. None of them had been magic, but they looked like real weapons. The rate he was improving at was, at least to his eyes, incredible.

He’d been successful in making only a single magical item in his three days’ work, and that had been a Garbage Quality magic dagger that he’d promptly eaten upon feeling the pangs in his stomach.

It looks like I need to eat an item about once every four or five days. That should be sustainable, but I need to build up a bigger backlog of things to eat in case something goes wrong.

Arwin’s hammer rung against steel as he thought, putting the final touches on the blade he’d been working on that morning. This particular piece had been singing him a song that was reaching its final notes, and Arwin was particularly optimistic about its chances.

But, if he was going to make a sword that he could actually be proud of, he needed to do the full process, not just the first half. Arwin held the glowing hot blade before him and glanced around in search of liquid.

There wasn’t anything in the smithy that he could use – which was probably a problem he should have rectified before starting his work. Arwin headed outside, walking around the back of the smithy and down the road.

Luck must have been smiling upon him. After just a minute or two of walking, he spotted a deep puddle near the ditch at the side of the road. It was only a little longer than his body and barely as wide as his arm, but there was a quarter foot of water in it.

Better than nothing.

Arwin plunged the blade into it. Steam erupted forth and the water bubbled furiously as it cooled the blade. He held it beneath the water, enjoying the faint massage of roiling water against this hand. Only once the bubbles resided did Arwin lift the blade free.

It looked like a blade. He wasn’t sure what else to say. If he’d known more about smithing he probably would have shuddered at the weapon before him, but in this particular instance, ignorance would be a blessing. Arwin headed back to the smithy, partially finished sword in hand.

He took a slightly curved metal tube that he’d formed the previous night and slid it over the tang of the blade before taking the whole thing over to the hearth and sticking it into the flames.

After letting them heat, Arwin brought the sword back to his anvil. He grabbed some nails and drew on [Scourge] to hammer them straight through the metal, holding the hilt in place beneath the crossguard. He then lumbered over to a small roll of leather that Reya had procured and wrapped the hilt with the leather.

As soon as Arwin’s hands lifted off the sword, he felt the tingle of the Mesh race across his skin. A grin split his lips as magic swirled before his eyes.

[Short Sword: Average Quality] has been forged. Forging a magical item has granted you energy.

Achievement: [More than Average] has been earned.

[More than Average] – Awarded for forging your first Average Quality item. Effects: One skill in your next Skill Selection has been upgraded to Unique. This achievement will be consumed upon choosing your next skill.

A faint feeling of strength seeped into Arwin’s body and his grin grew wider. There were a very high number of adventurers who believed that the most important way to get stronger was purely reaching higher Tiers and upgrading their class.

While that was certainly one way to get stronger, Arwin’s years of combat had shown him that it was far from the most important one. The actual key to power was getting as many Achievements and Titles as possible, which would give the highest chance to get the best skills. There was no limit to how many of them someone could get per Tier, but there were only ten levels per tier. Unfortunately, Arwin had only learned that late into his career as the Hero.

I always did wonder why the Adventurer’s Guild never told me about how important getting good skills in each Tier was. Now that I suspect they tried to kill me, it makes me wonder what purpose they really summoned me for. It clearly wasn’t to be the strongest warrior humanity had, or they wouldn’t have withheld information.

One day, I’ll find out. For now, I’ve got another chance. I’m all the way back at Apprentice Tier, which means I have all the opportunities in the world to improve my skills. I can be stronger than I ever could have been as the Hero.

But that would come later. He picked the sword up and held it out before him, letting the Mesh tingle against his skin. For now, it was time to see what magic his first well-made sword possessed.