Arwin wasted no ti in trying to bond Verdant Fla to himself with [Arsenal], only to be reminded that he still had his other smithing hamr bonded to him. He found the ntal bond to the weapon in his mind and severed it without a second thought.
His armor instantly snapped into place around him as [Arsenal] faded. According to the skill description, it wouldn’t co back until the following day – which ant Arwin wasn’t going to let his new weapon out of his sight for just as long.
He reached up to his armor, frowning slightly as his hands ran along a rough gouge in its center. He’d still yet to actually get around to fixing the damage he’d taken during the dungeon. And, as much as he wanted to show off his new creation, it was more important to make sure he didn’t have a glaring ‘stab here’ target right in the middle of his chest.
Arwin set his hamr down by his anvil and worked himself out of his armor, setting the scale mail down beside the hearth. He still had enough scales to patch the damage his armor had taken, but he did pause for a mont to consider if he should make himself a plate chestpiece rather than a mail one.
No. Not yet. I promised myself I’d try to sell so shit today, and that’s what I’m going to do.
He gathered so scales and brought them into the hearth, letting his [Soul Fla] heat them before setting about patching the damage to his shirt. He’d gotten pretty decent at working with the scales, so the entire process took him less than an hour.
Arwin pulled the [Soul Fla] from the Hearth and donned his armor once more. Nodding to himself, he slung his hamr over a shoulder and paused to hide its properties from any prying eyes before scooping up the armor he’d made to sell and striding outside, balancing it on his shoulder in a large pile.
He was a little weary for having missed sleeping, but sothing about forging almost seed to sustain him. It definitely wasn’t the sa as getting a good night of rest, but he didn’t feel anywhere near exhausted as he should have.
I wonder if energy from the sh counts as energy for your brain as well. That’s an interesting thought. Could you hypothetically make so many items that the sh just gives you endless energy and you never have to sleep?
Arwin let out an amused huff and locked the door to his smithy behind him, double checking the handle before setting off. It wasn’t like anybody was going to break into the smithy, but it was still his, and it was the first of many steps into turning the drafty old building into a ho.
Once I get these things sold, I’ll go spend so of the money getting materials to patch the place up. I think it’s about ti those cracks go. I need a cart as well. Hm. Need a cart to sell the goods, but need to sell the goods to get the cart.
That’s botherso.
He arrived at Lillia’s tavern and stepped inside, blinking to let his eyes adjust. Arwin wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it being darker inside the building than outside, even when the sun was literally sunning right beyond the doorway.
“Morning,” Reya said through a mouthful of food, raising a hand in greeting from where she sat by the counter. “Lillia made pancakes.”
“Finish chewing before you speak,” Arwin said automatically, joining her by the counter. He’d been taught a lot of things in his training as the Hero, one of which being the proper way to conduct himself amongst others. And, while so of that training had eroded over the years, a few bits still stuck around like stubborn specks of dirt.
Reya started to nod, then froze as she caught a glimpse of Arwin’s hamr in the dim lantern light. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. She swallowed her food. “You’ve got a new hamr. Did you…”
“Find it in the gutter? Yeah.”
Reya frowned. “Oh. I thought–”
“I lied,” Arwin said with a sigh. “It was a joke. I thought it was funny.”
“I’m sure you’ll get there,” Reya said, not even paying attention. Her eyes were transfixed on the dull gemstones in the hamr’s head. “Is it magical? Did it work?”
Arwin chuckled and nodded. “Yes. Best weapon I’ve ever made, without a doubt. Not that I’ve made many, but still.”
“Best?” Reya’s eyes widened. “Even compared to my dagger?”
“The one that’s currently inside a Wyrm? Yes, I’d say so,” Arwin said with a wry smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll make you a new weapon at so point. I’m not sure if a dagger fits your new Class anyway.”
“I don’t want a new weapon,” Reya muttered, sticking out her lower lip and crossing her arms. “You made that one. I want that one.”
Arwin repressed a laugh at her expression. She looked like a child whose birthday present had just been confiscated – which, now that he thought about it, really wasn’t all that funny.
“We’ll kill the Wyrm and take the dagger back,” Arwin promised. “Besides, I’m sure it’s probably not actually in the Wyrm anymore. It’s probably, well… out.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“As long as I get it back one day, I don’t care where it is,” Reya said. “What’s the hamr do?”
“A lot,” Arwin replied honestly. He hoisted the armor he was carrying. “But, for the ti being, I want to follow through with what I was talking about yesterday and get to selling this stuff. It’s starting to get heavy.”
“You really think it’s going to go any better than last ti?” Reya asked doubtfully. “There isn’t anything magical in there, is there?”
“Just plain old armor,” Arwin confird. “But I’m thinking this ti we go buy a cart first. I’ve still got 22 gold, which should be more than enough to get one. With that, we’ll look more legitimate.”
“A sign would probably help.”
“Well, I don’t have a sign. Maybe I’ll buy one of those too,” Arwin said.
Lillia poked her head out of the kitchen. “Do you have a na for your smithy yet?”
“Well, no.”
“Then why would you get a sign?”
“Because Reya told to,” Arwin said irritably. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll call it Arwin’s Smithy.”
“No,” Reya and Lillia said in unison.
“What?” Arwin asked defensively. “It’s a good na.”
“No, it really isn’t,” Reya said. “And if you’re going to sell stuff, don’t you need a smith’s mark or sothing?”
Arwin frowned. “A smith’s mark?”
“You know, the little badge or stamp that shows you’re the one that made sothing,” Reya said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You put it on all the equipnt you make so when people travel out with it, it’s easy for them to figure out that you’re the one that made sothing. It’s good for brand recognition.”
“Brand?” Arwin raised an eyebrow.
“I dunno. I just heard it sowhere. Do you want advice or not?”
“Please, continue,” Arwin said. He would have raised his hands in surrender if doing so wouldn’t have caused him to drop everything he had on the floor. The idea of marking his work was actually rather appealing, and it made a lot of sense.
It’s like free marketing. I just need to make sure the mark doesn’t look stupid. Well, that and I also have to get around to actually making a brand of so sort to put my mark on anything I make.
“That’s kind of it. I didn’t think of anything beyond that,” Reya admitted.
Why stop at just a mark, though? One of my biggest concerns has been that the guild could bring trouble before I’m ready to handle them if they figure out who I am. What if I get a whole persona, mask and everything? People love masks. I could make it as well, from a sheet of scrap tal or sothing.
“You’re a genius,” Arwin said. “I can’t just be Arwin. I should pretend to be soone else.”
“I didn’t say anything about that at all,” Reya said, staring at him in befuddlent. “Are you okay?”
“Perfectly,” Arwin replied with a grin. He laid the armor on the ground beside Reya, then nudged it with his foot. “Watch over that, would you? I need to make sothing really quick.”
Before either she or Lillia could respond, Arwin was out the door and down the street. He shot back into the smithy and hurried over to his forge, throwing so [Soul Fla] into it and pumping the bellows.
While they heated, Arwin let his eyes drift over the room. He didn’t have any of the tal that Reya had gifted him left over – he’d used every single piece of it in making his hamr. He still had so of the other stuff she’d brought over, though – and that would be more than enough for his purposes.
Arwin gathered so of the scrap and tossed it into the hearth, more occupied with figuring out exactly what his seal would be.
Sothing catchy. Maybe sothing to do with fire. Fla, perhaps?
No. Too generic.
What about… Black Fla?
Wait, that definitely won’t work. It sounds badass, but I don’t use Black Fla. Also, sothing tells soone else is already using that. I an, isn’t every branding of fla on a piece of armor going to end up being black?
As Arwin mused, a thought struck him. A snicker escaped his lips, but the longer he thought about it, the more tempting it beca. It was a bit on the nose – more than a bit, if he was honest with himself.
I could be Ifrit. A monster known for imnse magical power and the ability to grant wishes, though it twists them to make sure the result is always as horrible as possible. Calling myself a Genie would be too arrogant – but this fits perfectly. And, once the guild learns who I am, I imagine it won’t be long before they start calling a monster as well. Might as well lean into it.
Arwin took a piece of tal from the hearth and set it on the anvil. He hoisted Verdant Blaze and brought it down on the burnt orange tal with a ringing crash. It was a bit awkward to hold because of its size, but after a few more swings, Arwin started to pick it up.
Flakes of tal fell away from the piece as he worked, shaping it into a rough circle. It didn’t take long before he had a several-inch thick disk resting on the anvil before him.
For the design, sothing simple and clear should work great. But how do I actually put the design in? I’ll have to make it stick out so it gets pressed into whatever I’m marking, but I don’t really have any small tools.
Arwin looked around the shop, half-hoping he’d find a Jeweler’s kit lying around sowhere, but there was no such luck. Huffing, he brought the disk he’d made back to the hearth to re-heat it.
Guess I’ll do this like a kid. It’s finger art ti.
Once the puck was glowing, Arwin pressed a finger into the softened tal and started to – very slowly – press a design into it.
It was slow, borderline infuriating work. Arwin had never been a master artist, though art had always fascinated him. Fortunately, the design he was hoping for was far from complex. But, even still, it took him nearly five hours before he actually managed to get the disk to look the way he wanted it to.
His Ifrit design consisted of two inversed shapes going down the center of the mask, each roughly in an ‘F’ shape with the back of the letters facing each other. They were stylized so that the lines sticking out their sides outlined the eyeholes and curled up like the wings of a bird to form sothing akin to a face. Arwin then added in a few flowing lines running out from either side of the mask to give the vague impression of fire.
Far from beautiful, but it looks how I wanted it to. Definitely recognizable.
Most people probably would have had to stick a handle onto the disk so they could handle it properly when it was hot, but Arwin wasn’t most people. He stuck the disk into a pocket, satisfied with his creation.
Perfect. Now I just need to make a matching mask and I’ll be good to go. Then I’ll definitely gather a lot of attention – everyone is going to want to know what the creepy smith with the tal mask has for sale. This is flawless. I can’t wait to see what Lillia and Reya think.
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