Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 48: Digestion

It was, as usual, dark when Arwin stepped through the entrance. Faint lanternlight illuminated the counter, where Arwin was surprised to find Lillia sitting in one of the stools, her head in her hands.

A plate of… something sat before her. It was a gelatinous pile of half-melted flesh, singed black in some parts and semi-raw in others. Evidently, the tentacle Lillia had lugged all the way back to the tavern hadn’t met a fortunate fate.

“Is this a bad time?” Arwin asked.

Lillia turned, looking mildly surprised to find him standing there. “I didn’t realize you got back. Sorry. I was… uh, distracted.”

More like you were in mourning.

Arwin walked over to the stool beside her and tested it to make sure it would hold his weight before sitting down.

“Looks like you cooked the tentacle.”

“Cooked might be the wrong word for it,” Lillia grumbled. “The stupid thing fought me, even in death.”

“It looks like you put up a valiant effort.”

“Yeah, right. I put up a valiant effort and lost.”

Arwin eyed the tentacle. He couldn’t help but agree, but he wasn’t dumb enough to voice that sentiment. “It doesn’t look that bad. At least, parts of it don’t.”

Lillia pierced him with a withering stare. “My feelings aren’t that fragile. You don’t have to lie. It might possibly be the most horrendous thing I’ve put on a plate.”

Arwin, against his better judgement, reached out and picked up one of the more burnt-looking pieces of squid. At least if it was burnt it wouldn’t try to come back alive in his mouth.

Lillia stared in disbelief as he brought it to his mouth and bit down. Arwin chewed slowly – then chewed some more. It wasn’t anything like what he’d expected it to taste like. The meat was somehow simultaneously slimy and unbelievably chewy.

It was, without a doubt, probably the worst textured food that Arwin had ever eaten. After chewing for about another minute, he gave up the battle and swallowed the piece. Despite its horrid mouthfeel, the taste wasn’t atrocious.

“Wow,” Lillia said, blinking. “I’m impressed, honestly. I didn’t think–”

Arwin took another piece. Lillia’s mouth nearly dropped open as he ate. She squinted at him, then stood up to walk around him and see if he was somehow hiding the squid with slight of hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Eating,” Arwin replied through a mouthful of squid.

“Why?”

“Because it’s food. And, once you get past the texture, it’s not all that bad. The flavor is actually decent.”

“Bullshit,” Lillia said, crossing her arms. “It’s horrible. Objectively horrible.”

Arwin swallowed the second piece of squid and took a third. He arched an eyebrow, locking eyes with Lillia as he brought it to his mouth and popped it in. Arwin chewed deliberately, making sure she could see him eating it. “There are good sides to most things.”

Lillia’s disbelief changed to a different emotion. Arwin couldn’t quite tell which one it was – but it was an emotion he’d never seen on her face before. Before he could even try to properly read it, she brought her features under control once more.

“I suppose so. You won’t catch me eating it, though.”

“More for me.” Arwin took another piece of squid and ate it. With his other hand, he pulled out the blackened crystal and waggled it in the air.

“What’s this?” Lillia asked. “The crystals from the cave?”

“I was hoping you might know something about it,” Arwin replied through a mouthful of squid, doing his best to not spray food everywhere while he spoke. “It seems slightly magical.”

Lillia reached out and took the crystal from him, a small frown creasing her lips as she held it up to the light of the lantern. The flames from the forge still flickered within it like a layered mural, dancing in waves of green.

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“It’s beautiful,” Lillia murmured. “Hard, too. It feels slightly magic resistant.”

“Resistant?” Arwin swallowed his food. “I was thinking the opposite.”

“No, it’s definitely resistant,” Lillia said. One of her nails, as black as the night, elongated into a thin point and she tapped it against the green material. “I don’t know that much about it, but magical resistant and absorptive materials are usually a circle. You start with something that absorbs magic, and it absorbs all the energy it can until there’s no room left. Then boom – resistant.”

“I see,” Arwin mused. “I never knew that, but I wasn’t exactly the most involved with the actual materials I used. I was more interested with seeing what could be made with them.”

“I had a friend who was really interested in gemstones,” Lillia said, lowering the crystal and handing it back to Arwin as her brow creased. “Particularly magical ones.”

Arwin didn’t ask what had happened to the friend – he was pretty sure he knew.

“Would it be possible for this resistance to cause them to be harder to work with?”

“If you’ve got some form of magical fire, sure. You’d probably have to work really fast if you’re making something magical,” Lillia mused, chewing her lower lip. “If you couldn’t finish by the time the crystal completely filled, it would probably become very hard to influence or change.”

And I’d be willing to bet it would be borderline impossible to understand as well. That’s it. I need to add the crystals last, not first. That doesn’t actually solve my issue understanding what they want, but if I introduce them to the project at the proper time, I’d be willing to bet I’ll be able to understand what they want far better.

“I think you might have just solved my issue,” Arwin said, sliding the crystal back into his pocket. “Thanks, Lillia. What do I owe you for the food?”

“I feel like I should be the one asking you that,” Lilla muttered, sending a glance over at the plate of squid. “Thank you, though.”

“Thanks? For what?” Arwin asked, blinking in confusion.

“Never mind.” Lillia shook her head and waved her hands dismissively. “I’ve got prep to do for tomorrow. Go to your room – or back to your smithy, depending on whichever you’re going to be doing tonight. Somehow, I think I’ve already guessed which one it will be.”

Arwin chuckled and nodded to her, turning to head out the door. “Probably. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Lillia replied, picking the plate of food up and heading toward the kitchen. Arwin stepped out of the tavern and made a beeline back for his smithy.

The excitement in his steps faltered slightly as he drew closer, recalling a slightly significant issue. He may have had crystals to work with, but he didn’t have any material to make the rest of the hammer with.

Sure, I could use the crappy scrap metal I’ve got, but that would be such a waste with the quality of these crystals. I need to use something nicer… but what? Maybe I should go shopping tomorrow. More importantly, I really need to start selling some of my normal pieces. I keep telling myself I’m going to do it and not getting around to it.

Arwin let his thoughts entertain him as he headed back down the street. He was so caught up in them that he almost didn’t notice the figure standing at the entrance of the smithy – almost. Arwin skidded to a stop and narrowed his eyes, nearly dropping into a fighting stance before he realized that the figure was just Reya with a bag over her shoulder.

“God, Reya,” Arwin said, shaking his head. “What are you doing? I thought you’d be asleep by now.”

“I was busy,” Reya replied, holding the sack out to him. The movement caused it to clink and sway precariously. “Here!”

“What’s this?” Arwin asked, accepting the sack. It was considerably heavier than he’d been expecting and he almost dropped it in surprise.

“Well, you spent so much effort trying to help me get a class that I figured I’d try to do something back. I may have stumbled into a little gold, so I went shopping earlier today. Looked around for some good material for you,” Reya said, shifting her feet. “I don’t know if it’ll be useful, but I know you’ve been trying to get better metal.”

Arwin opened the top of the sack and peered inside. There were several glistening silver rods as well as a dozen bars of the same metal.

“Reya, this is incredible,” Arwin said, lowering the bag to look back to her. “How did you know I needed this? I was just thinking–”

“You’ve kind of been muttering it under your breath the whole time you work,” Reya said with a relieved grin. “It’s useful, then?”

“It’s definitely better than anything else I’ve got,” Arwin said with a huge grin. “This is exactly what I need. Do you know what kind of metal it is?”

Reya nodded. “It’s called Brightsteel. Not to be confused with Starsteel – that stuff is actually from the stars. This is more just… pretty metal, I guess. It’s pretty sturdy, but the smith that sold it to me said it was great for the internals of weapons. It’s apparently pretty decent at hitting things because it absorbs vibrations so you don't hurt yourself. I didn’t really understand more than that, but hopefully it will be useful.”

“It most certainly will be,” Arwin said. “Thank you, Reya. How much was this?”

“You don’t want to know,” Reya replied. “Don’t expect more of it anytime soon, though.”

“Noted,” Arwin said as he slung the bag over his shoulder and unlocked the door to the smithy. “I appreciate it. If things go like I hope, I’m going to be making something really important with this.”

“Magic?” Reya whispered, lowering her voice conspiratorially.

“We’ll see,” Arwin replied with a chuckle. “For now, it’s just a hope.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, then. I’m going to go sleep now, so I’ll see you tomorrow – or whenever you finish smithing.”

“Probably the latter,” Arwin said. He bid Reya goodnight and headed into the smithy. As soon as he drew up to the forge, Arwin dumped the crystals out of his pockets and emptied the metal from the bag beside them.

He then drew a spark of [Soul Flame] from his chest and sent it into the hearth, filling the smithy with flickering light. Arwin picked up one of the pieces of metal and held it up before him, the flame illuminating the smile that stretched across his lips.

It was time to make a hammer.