"You look rather tired," Mordecai said as he sat down with Amrydor in the main room of their ho, grown into Krystraeliv's living trunk. Most delvers who wanted custom rewards would be received in a more formal environnt, but that seed rather pointless with the person who was officially the personal guardian of Mordecai's daughter.
"Yes, sir," the boy replied, then smiled. "It's been a rather more challenging delve than I had anticipated. Hopefully, that will turn out to be a good thing."
"It should be," Mordecai said. "Now, what are the custom rewards you are seeking?" As he asked this, he brought his instinctive awareness of the fair balance of reward owed to Amrydor to the front of his mind. In confusion, Mordecai raised his hand and said, "Wait. You were on a non-combat delve; how did you gain a sudden surge in value owed and then have most of that value imdiately offset by gathered materials?"
Accumulated balances and rewards were one thing, but there should have been nothing in the mushroom forest that could have created a sudden surge on both sides of that equation so quickly without combat being involved.
"Lord Mordecai," Amrydor said, a sudden faint blush on his cheeks, "I sincerely believe you would prefer to not know, that there is no actual need for you to know, and that everyone involved would prefer that you not know."
His sudden formality gave weight to the seriousness of his expression; that was a fairly thorough and specific list, especially given that Amrydor couldn't lie to him.
Mordecai considered the situation for a few monts, then nodded. "Very well, I'll trust your judgnt on the matter." He was certain that sothing complicated and undoubtedly awkward for all involved had happened, and based on the values, it sohow had sothing to do with one of the bosses for the zone. It also felt like it was a personal matter, and Mordecai had no interest in digging into people's personal lives if it wasn't needed. "Now, as I had asked before that tangent, what are you seeking?"
"Right. Ah, well, the details I'll leave in your hands, but what I am asking for is the highest quality teor hamr head and chain you can make, designed for soone very strong and enthusiastic. Oh, and there should be space for inscribing multiple blessings on it, but no enchantnts should be placed on it."
It was not hard for Mordecai to guess who this particular weapon was intended to be a gift for, and from Amrydor's slightly embarrassed expression, the boy appeared to know that it was obvious.
Mordecai decided that if this was intended for Fuyuko, one of the most important qualities was going to be durability.
He began with designing the structure; a hollow sphere constructed out of a triangular grid was his starting point. To this he added internal support, with struts running from the underside of each vertex to three vertexes on the opposite side. After he had that shape set, he could modify the sides of the triangles, giving them arched support that blended into the struts, and then provide multiple connections between the struts, to spread future stress and impacts out more evenly.
A solid ball might be easier to make durable, but Mordecai wanted this one to have a significant size to its head, and even Fuyuko would only be able to work with so much weight.
For a final touch, he added dull spikes to each vertex; there was no need for them to be sharp, given the force with which they were going to be impacting with, and the dull edge design would be more durable with fewer thin areas to break, chip, or warp.
He also made sure that the undersides of each arch had a smooth, flat surface to place inscriptions on; inscribing blessings on the top surface would expose them to far too much abuse.
Now that he had the design completed, Mordecai began running through his available tals and alloys, comparing their specifications against the results he wanted. His final selection created a complicated alloy where the ratio of materials varied to create a smoother version of a laminated effect.
The head also needed a sturdy chain that moved smoothly and was of suitable strength. Mordecai designed two components for this design. The first component was an elongated, multi-sided lozenge of tal with a thick ring of tal built into each end. The second component was a pair of chain links laying parallel to each other and 'soldiered' together. The paired links were used to connect the lozenge end-rings together to form the chain, alternating between lozenge and paired links.
The lozenges’ multiple sleek flat faces glead, showing the subtle shading of the alloy as waves, and the specialized laminated effect created a smoothness that lessened friction. The round, smooth links were sized to resist deformation, and he had chosen to pair them instead of creating even thicker ones so that if one cracked, the other was still in place, and the crack could not perpetuate to the second link. With a thicker link, if a stress crack ford, it would simply grow until it had broken completely.
"Here," Mordecai said as he manifested the teor hamr head and its three feet of chain in his hand. "This is hard and durable enough to resist wear and scratches in most circumstances, with enough flexibility to ensure resilience. Even without magic, it should retain its shape very well in almost any circumstance." He handed it over to Amrydor, and that transfer rged with Amrydor's intent, turning the mana construct into reality.
"Thank you, sir," Amrydor replied with a smile as he examined the weapon. The tal was dark, but the exact hue shifted in a pattern matching the alloy ratios of different sections, and he hefted it into the air just enough to test its weight. "This is far heavier than anything I've seen used before."
The head alone weighed more than five pounds; adding the chain more than doubled the total weight. This might not seem like a lot of weight to those who'd not wielded a weapon before, but even the largest of mundane two-handed swords weighed less than nine pounds. Flinging around over ten pounds of tal at the end of a rope would be a good way for anyone without a tempered body to dislocate multiple joints.
"I am anticipating the future," Mordecai said. "I doubt Fuyuko would be able to use it terribly well at the mont, but this will also give her goals, along with a weapon that will last."
Amrydor's smile widened. "That brings to my next request, which, to be clear, is being asked of Fuyuko's father. Not the nexus."
Mordecai raised a brow, then nodded, feeling pleased. The boy had clearly been paying attention and understood that Mordecai had different constraints based on his role at the mont. "Go on."
"Well sir, I was thinking that it would be nice to gather blessings from several priests of different deities, especially the empyreal pillars. And, so long as I have it back in sufficient ti before her birthday, I hope to be able to apply one of those blessings myself. If not, I do know a few priests of Lord Zagaroth who might be willing to do a favor."
Given that Amrydor was training at the temple, his last comnt was sothing of an understatent. "I take it you want to start with my blessing, as a priest of Ozuran, and Moriko's, as a priestess of Sakiya."
"Yes sir," Amrydor said as he handed the weapon back to Mordecai.
"Alright, I'll collect all the blessings I can here, and see that it gets back to you in plenty of ti. Is there anything else you would like to request of the nexus? You do still have a fair amount of balance in your favor."
Amrydor nodded. "Yes, I was hoping that there might be enough to create another suit of living leather. I'm assuming that I can't get a particularly enhanced version, but I am hoping it can at least start with the reshaping flexibility. Um, it should be fine if it's not very strong yet, until it gets upgrades."
That was interesting; there was no reason Amrydor would need it for himself, so it must be intended as a gift, and there was only one likely candidate that Mordecai knew of.
"I should be able to do that," Mordecai said, "but this ti, I feel the need to pry into personal matters a little. Is there any reason Fuyuko might be displeased about the intended recipient of this gift?"
Amrydor coughed and shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the nature of the question, his cheeks flushed once more, but he replied calmly, "No sir, I don't believe so. I think I've been clear and open about everything with her. If anything, she seems to find it funny."
That was as much as Mordecai wanted to know; he didn't care about the details, he just wanted to be sure everyone was fine with everything, and it was pretty much what he expected. "Very well, give a mont."
Focusing his attention on manifesting an armor of living leather caused Mordecai to pause; then he sighed. "It seems that at least one of our inhabitants is aware of the existence of a new variant or ability that incorporates liquid crystal into the living armor. But this has not yet been examined by myself, Kazue, or Moriko, so we don't have the information to readily duplicate it. Now, if the person possessing that armor were to allow to examine and analyze it, that would count as a trade toward accrued reward value. And I have no desire at all to question how this variant ca into existence."
The boy groaned and covered his eyes with one hand for a mont. "I should have realized that would happen; it's the sa as with the conversation Shaman Crizdirk and I had. The knowledge is assimilated into the nexus's awareness." Then he sighed and slid his hand down over his face. "Alright, that's a fair trade." There was a faint movent under his clothing, then he reached under the collar of his shirt to pull off the choker that he had shifted the armor into.
Mordecai accepted the choker, and that direct possession allowed him to focus his core's analysis upon the new nature of the armor. "Interesting. I knew it could mutate under unusual circumstances other than just the addition of deliberately crafted patches, but this particular change is not quite like anything I have seen before."
It also gave him more information about the balance of rewards, even if he didn't particularly want that knowledge. The change to Amrydor's armor was roughly the value of Klastoria's body, assuming most of her body was collected in a usable, high-quality state. Klastoria's core would make up the rest of the value that Amrydor had collected, if it was perfectly intact.
Achieving both of those conditions would be nearly impossible in combat, and achieving even one would be incredibly difficult. To his knowledge, no one had yet achieved either of them. Yet Amrydor sohow had, while not participating in a combat delve.
Mordecai handed the choker back without further comnt about the origin of its new abilities, then said, "After analyzing this, I have worked out a new option. The liquid crystal of your armor is a separate layer from the living leather, but I believe I can create sothing of a hybrid version instead. Consider it a semi-fluid leather that can reactively stiffen into crystal hardness when struck, though this would make that section brittle during that mont as well. It would also take better to any form of appearance alteration magic, providing better non-combat flexibility."
He smiled and added, "Oh, and the recipient would even have a temporarily exclusive item. It would be the first of its kind after all; it'd be good to have feedback after a month or so of use." Which was about enough ti for the caravan from Artgoi to complete its loop and be ready to depart Azeria to head back to Artgoi.
It only took a mont for Amrydor to understand. "Oh, yes, I could see her being pleased about that. And she would be the only one in the caravan to have it, at least, until their next trip. Yes, she would like that a lot. So, yes, I would like that option."
Mordecai nodded and said, "This might take a few minutes; I want to make sure I get it right, especially since it's the first of this variant we'll have made." That was always one of the problems with creating new things, rather than simply copying old patterns; there was always a chance of sothing unexpected happening. Once Mordecai was as certain as he could be about the results, he manifested the new outfit in its choker form. "I assu this will be the easiest way to gift it."
"Yes sir," Amrydor said as he accepted the choker. "Thank you again."
"I enhanced it as much as I could within your budget, but you still have a little bit left over. I think it will be best to just save that until you are about to leave for the Azeria clan." The balance didn't have to be perfect, but if it was too far off when soone left, it could be disconcerting for the nexus in a way that scaled with how much was owed. Thankfully, the bargain they'd made with Gil negated that sensation in his case especially since the dolls, made in a cutely deford image of his visage, were selling well, though none of the doll designs could beat the Zushi pillows for sales. "Now go on, I do believe Fuyuko wanted to talk with you."
With that matter taken care of, Mordecai headed back up to the master bedroom of their ho. He paused just inside the entrance to admire the view; Moriko was posed while Kazue was working on so sketches reference to use later while sculpting, and she was wearing naught but an artistically selected and arranged set of jewelry. It was a fine view, but mischief ca to mind quickly, and Mordecai created a series small, cool breezes that carried hints of sweet rose to tease Moriko's skin and nose.
Moriko's controlled poise wavered a mont, her eyes beco dark as a sultry heat entered them, and both won shifted their gazes to glare at him. He grinned at them unrepentantly. "Don't mind , I'm just entertaining myself while admiring the view." He wasn't going to ss with Moriko too much, yet, as he didn't want to create any issues with Kazue's sketches, but a little teasing should be fine. After all, her avatar was a first stage immortal; surely she could handle a little teasing without moving and breaking her pose.
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Early chapters, so excerpts and short stories, and more art!
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