Martin and Rangar headed for the outskirts of the Forest Hidden Monster Hunter Academy.
Since it was such a calm, pleasant ti of day, Martin took Ao Tenshin out of her pocket dinsion and set her on his head, letting her enjoy the scenery and fresh air. She popped out of her shell in her crystallized armor, once again using her new skill to show off.
"Well, that settles it. She’s a girl!" Rangar laughed.
Martin chuckled. "Yeah."
He didn’t realize he looked like a walking lighthouse with the Dragon Turtle on his head. Plenty of people craned their necks to stare at him in confusion, only for their eyes to linger on the beautiful crystal shell until Martin and Rangar went deeper into the forest.
By the ti they reached the outskirts, Martin could hear a river nearby, its current sloping down into a small waterfall.
I could let Angel have so fun in the water... I’ve never let her swim before... isn’t that bad? Does she even know how to swim? She’d probably figure it out by instinct once she got in the water.
Ao Tenshin seed to sense his thoughts. She tapped his head with her new armored soles, calming him down and reassuring him that she was perfectly fine.
Soon enough, Martin spotted a stone house by the river. It was round like a turtle’s shell, with two chimneys continuously spitting smoke. Mysterious yet charming fire mushrooms grew all around it.
"Yeah, I should’ve expected a blacksmith not to live in a wooden house or a tree like everyone else..."
Because of the academy’s the, he had half expected to see a fire tree or sothing equally ridiculous. The thought was childish enough that he couldn’t help saying it out loud.
Rangar burst out laughing. "I heard fire trees are too hot for humans to handle, way hotter than a smithy!"
"Oh! So there are fire trees! Now I feel better," Martin replied.
Rangar teased him a little more about fire trees and explained that they grew in land controlled by monsters. It was an unexpected bit of ga lore, and Martin absorbed it wholeheartedly.
Their conversation died at the smithy’s door. Rangar knocked on the steel ring four tis.
A rough voice answered from inside. "Get in!"
Rangar opened the door and stepped inside. A wall of humid heat slamd into them at once, thick enough to breathe and sharp enough to sting. The air slled of smoke, hot iron, and sothing bitterly mineral.
Rangar didn’t let a single reaction show. Ao Tenshin, on the other hand, slipped right back into her shell, while Martin covered his nose and narrowed his watering eyes.
So hot in here.
Inside, the owner of the smithy welcod Rangar with a broad grin and a laugh big enough to fill the whole room. He wore a black apron over his bare chest, his loose pants darkened by heat and soot, and there was sothing instantly likable about him despite the furnace blazing at his back.
"Only a few dare to walk into my hell kitchen on their own! Haha! What dragged you all the way out here, Rangar?" the man asked, sounding more delighted than bothered.
Rangar ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. "Yeah, it’s too hot in here. I brought Martin to you because he needs help with a weapon. I’ll leave the rest to you two."
And with that, he ran right out of the smithy.
Martin glanced after him. So you couldn’t handle it after all...
At that mont, he finally understood why so many blacksmiths were often depicted as bald. Sweat tugging at his hair was already getting annoying, and he would’ve loved to bolt from the smithy too.
But he had co here for a reason.
"Martin, aye? I’m Robert, and this handso little furnace criminal here is Scunko," the blacksmith said.
Right on cue, a fla skunk rolled out from within the furnace and perched on the edge like he owned the place. He gave Martin a quick, unimpressed look, but the shell on top of Martin’s head stole his full attention almost instantly.
A fellow beast rested there, and that alone seed enough to earn Martin a second look.
Robert hollered, "Scunko’s been my partner in cri for years now. Feed him brimstone mushrooms and fernted firebeans, and he’ll keep the flas steady better than any bellows I’ve ever used! Haha! Smarter than half the smiths I know, too.""
As if proud of the praise, Scunko puffed up his belly, held it for a beat, then blasted a roaring stream of fire behind him. The temperature in the smithy jumped again.
Martin’s eyes drooped. "Uh... wow."
"And those farts don’t stink!" Robert declared.
Scunko lifted his chin with such shaless pride that Martin almost believed that was his greatest achievent. "Let’s see what you ca for."
Grateful that the man got straight to the point, Martin took the pickaxe out of his inventory and handed it over. Robert turned the handle in his hand a few tis, angling the crystal edge toward the light from every direction. All the while, a remarkably wide smile stayed on his face.
"I haven’t worked with raw mana in a long ti. A lot of the neighboring mines have fallen into monsters’ hands, so we can’t get materials like this easily anymore. The Light Tree really did bless us! Players and the crystal mine! How’s the dungeon going, aye, Martin?"
"I need a weapon to break through the boss’s crystallized armor. Once I do that, we should be able to finish him off and get more of those resources," Martin said. "I need a weapon specialized in breaking that armor, made from this pickaxe’s edge."
"Oh! Sounds damn great! I already have an idea for a weapon, but nothing’s free in this world, Martin. Scunko’s a glutton, haha!"
Those words stung at first because Martin was pretty poor. But when Robert finished by bringing up Scunko’s needs, Martin genuinely laughed. There was sothing charming about people who truly cared for their animal companions, and now that he had Ao Tenshin, he felt that bond too.
"Conquering more of the Light Tree’s dungeons increases the academy’s overall standing and resources. But I want first claim on the blue crystals and weapons dropped in the dungeon. I’ll send you plenty of them so you can prepare for the new weapon ta."
"New ta?" Robert asked, curious about the word.
"Items from the dungeon scoreboard are scarce, so people are going to need mass-produced weapons they can actually afford and use. Once blue crystals beco available, you’ll be able to make blueprints for weapons based on those materials, right? You’ll have a head start."
"Oh... ohhh, right." Robert scratched the back of his neck. "Start talking politics and deals, and you’ll lose halfway through, haha! But I get the important part. You’re making sense, Martin. Good thinking. We’ve got a deal. But first, I have to warn you that this one pickaxe won’t be enough to make a proper weapon. I’ll need more."
He turned and walked over to a large wooden chest bound in dark iron. When he opened it, the hinges gave a low groan.
Robert reached inside and pulled out a weapon that looked more like a punishnt than a tool.
Then he tossed it toward Martin.
Martin caught it by the handle, and his arm imdiately dipped under the sheer weight. The pull nearly yanked his shoulder down and sent a hard jolt through his wrist before he tightened his grip and forced the weapon steady.
Heavy. Way heavier than I expected...
The head was thick and brutal, built for pure impact with no elegance and no wasted shape, only crushing force.
Robert smiled. "A warhamr."
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