- 110 -

  “That’s it for me Drew,” William said.

  He crashed into his bed exhausted.

  “I will get the rest of these man,” Drew said.

  “You Skurr are night birds aren’t you.” William said as he rolled his back towards Drew to hide his face from the lit work light. “I never see you sleeping.”

  “I guess so. I’m usually up with the sun. But there’s no clocks down here.”

  “No what?” William asked groggily.

  Ooops guess clocks aren’t a thing here.

  “It’s noth-“ Drew started to say but he stopped when he noticed the blacksmith had nodded off.

  Fine with me. There’s only fifteen of these left till we hit a hundred.

  Drew checked his logs and 75 poor quality or better collars should net him enough exp to level up again.

  The other ranchers were all asleep around the room. Pegg snored and Hemut slept like the dead. Vaylari had taken the first shift on the wall after dinner. She had returned an hour ago and crashed onto her bed in her light armor and pulled the curtain closed without a word.

  New Item: Slave Collar: Rough Quality. 329 exp.

  Drew set it on the pile of collars and pulled the materials for the next one.

  William had fabricated simple metal collars, two c shapes that fit together on a hinge on one end and then circled around to meet up at the front with a latch.

  We never would have figured out these latches. They are built into the enchantment.

  The script was written in Dwarvish, but Drew understood the gist of what was happening. The enchantment used the wearer’s mana to reduce their physical stats all down to 1. It also prevented the user from using spells or abilities. The latch was built into the enchantment and completed the script. As long as the enchantment had power it was impossible to open.

  Drew’s eyes slid over to where William’s armor was laid out.

  The best enchantments I know would be the Soul binding one and the physical stat boosting one. Then the armor would grow with him and buff him. Could we build in a version of this script? So that the armor healed itself or repaired itself automatically as long as he had mana? Maybe using ambient mana.

  Drew scribbled a few notes on some nearby paper and went back to complete the collar he was working on.

  New Item: Slave Collar: Rough Quality. 327 exp.

  Skill Upgrade: Enchantment lvl 9

  -

  “Ressian! Having a little rest day?” Pigra called out. The dwarf was eating some boiled vegetables and balls of dough the Dwarves called Gnoggi.

  Hemut shrugged and grabbed his second plate of food.

  “Oh he needs a break after that back breaking work!” Yocca wheezed, laughing at his own joke.

  “You all can work without me today too,” Pigra said confidently. “The Ressians need my flames to cull those goblins!”

  “They can handle the pests just fine without you. But in the mines you would be missed Pigra,” Khermet said. “We do need you down shaft today. We have almost broken through to the next level.”

  “And anyways, they want to sell the goblins alive not roasted and smoked!” Wolderrf said.

  Drew chewed at his Gnoggi and watched their antics.

  It’s amazing that the dwarves haven’t wiped out the goblins already. They think so little of the lives of those goblins.

  “Morning Drew.” William said. He sat down beside the Skurr. He held a stack of pages in his hands.

  “Where’s your breakfast?” Drew asked.

  “I’ll grab it in a second. I think I’ve decided on the enchantments for the armor.” William said excitedly and laid the notes he was holding out for Drew to see.

  Soulbound, Drain stamina, Boost Physical stats. And all tied together as a set bonus.

  “Aye. That could work just fine,” Sdaddler said. “Glad you took my advice and went for the enchantments that would work best for you, and not some Melech-Karun.”

  “Mele- what now?” Drew asked.

  “A Dwarf king.” William said.

  “A king of the forge. One that never had to fight for his kingdom.” Wolderrf said. “Usually happens in times of peace.”

  “How do you spell it?” Drew asked, and Sdaddler wrote it out for him in Common Ressian and in Dwarvish.

  “I like that the best yet William. A king of peaceful times.” Drew said, mulling it over.

  Wolderrf was looking over the schematics Drew had drafted.

  “That’s so mana intensive!” He said. “Why make the enchantment do all that work when you can set the parameter to a percentage here, and again here. Or better yet, set that as a constant term and use it here and here too.”

  Sdaddler looked over his brother’s shoulder and grinned.

  “I might apply something like this to a pick axe and see how far a soulbound pick could increase my Physical stats.”

  “Still too mana intensive for a muscle brain like you.” Wolderrf laughed. “You’d go through mana crystals like they were going out of style.”

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  Good thing I keep my mana capacitor array schematics hidden away or William would have brought them out too. Once we wrap these enchantments in that it won’t be such a drain on William’s mana pool.

  “Of course, having such a high draining piece of kit will increase your mana regeneration and pool in the long run.” Sdaddler said. “Just wait to level up the armor until your stats allow it.”

  “Now all we need to do is find a way to carve these enchantments into the Oralichalium,” William said.

  “I’ve already got that covered.” Drew said.

  Drew flew back to the bunk house, ready to start immediately. William was a step behind him.

  Drew swooped into the only room in the bunkhouse and startled Vaylari. The woman was half dressed, with her shirt over her head.

  “Ack! Drew!” She yelled.

  Drew covered his eyes with his wings, squawked an apology, missed his landing on the table, and crashed to the ground. But his groan of pain was drowned out by William stumbling into the room.

  “Wait for me Drew, don’t start-“ and he got an eyeful of the rancher’s bare back. “Oh wow.”

  He managed to stare dumbly at Vaylari as she scrambled to cover herself.

  “Bastard!” She yelled. “Didn’t your mother never teach you to knock?”

  “I, well.” William managed before she threw her boot at him. It hit him in the neck, the metal bracing cut his chin, and the heel left a nice welt.

  “Get out!” Vaylari yelled and rushed William out the door, slamming it behind him. “Idiots! All men are idiots.”

  Drew hunched down under the table, doing his best dead bird impression. His minds eye bounced between Vaylari’s athletic build and her two curved knives she always wore.

  I must keep my eyes closed. If she remembers I am here she may kill me. Eyes closed.

  The angry woman dressed quickly, buttoned up her leather armor, synched it down tightly so she would be ready for combat.

  “Idiots!” She said.

  She banged out of the door and William apologized several times as she stomped away.

  “You are lucky to be alive.” Drew said as he landed on William’s shoulder.

  “Every new day is a blessing.” He said with a sigh.

  Drew activated his healing ability and William’s cut and welt reversed themselves.

  “Thank you Drew.” William said. “We had best get to work then. I cannot think of a better omen of good luck.”

  Drew rode William’s shoulder into the bunk house and they gathered up every piece of armor onto the table.

  “How are you going to mark the metal? You need to carve the enchantments in,” William asked. “Orichalium is imbued with mana, it is notoriously hard to work with.”

  Drew flexed his claw and activated his Mana Reinforcement ability. His claw glowed with mana.

  “I’ve had Mana Reinforcement for a while now. I haven’t tried using it since I upgraded my slashing attack. Not to mention I’ve got a few more levels and more stat points to my name too.”

  “Alright. Let’s see it already!” William said.

  Drew used the schematic to transfer the Physical Stat Boosting enchantment outline to the first piece of armor. Their plan was to apply the enchantment to each item in the set for a special bonus effect.

  Drew carved the first character for the enchantment and it was shallow. But the line was there and it was straight.

  This is going to take a while.

  “Is it working?” William asked excitedly.

  “Yes,” Drew said. “Now you can stay if you don’t distract me.”

  He cocked his head to look at William and he nodded, clamping his mouth shut.

  -

  New Item: Melech Helm - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Chestplate - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Backplate - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Pauldrons - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Vambraces - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Rerebraces - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Gauntlets - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Greaves - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Cuisses - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  New Item: Melech Sabatons - Superior Quality. 2,000 exp.

  Skill Upgrade: Mana Reinforcement lvl 3

  Skill Upgrade: Enchantment lvl 10

  After an hour, Drew was only halfway through. He needed to down a mana potion to sustain his Mana Reinforcement ability. William had inspected each piece before handing it to Drew to enchant. He meticulously polished and greased each piece when Drew finished enchanting it.

  I’ve only got four of these mana potions left with me, how many are left in Damien’s trunk?

  After another hour he had touched up each enchantment multiple times, ensuring the character and function of each millimeter of the enchantment were exactly right. He finally completed reworking the last Sabatons, one of two platemetal foot coverings, and took a breath. The set thrummed with potential.

  Melech Sabatons - Superior Quality. Armor for a king of the peaceful forge. Wearing this armor will increase your Physical stats by .01%. Incompatible Physiology.

  MP: 34%

  “Each one of these pieces will give you a tenth of one percent increase in your physical stats.” Drew said as he let his mana reinforcement spell drop. “Weeks worth of planning and drafting well spent.”

  Nearly bottomed out my mana pool twice!

  “Oh, that’s not very much is it?” William asked.

  “Every little bit counts.” Drew said. “If I set it any higher then they wouldn’t work in low mana density areas.”

  “Alright then, that makes some sense.”

  “With all ten pieces equipped it will be 1.1%. There should be an additional 1% set bonus for all the pieces.” Drew said. “And when I apply the rest of the enchantments the armor will only grow stronger.”

  “It’s great!” William said and reached out to equip it.

  “Nope! Do not equip it yet. The mana cost would drain you dry and give you a nasty headache.”

  “So what’s next?” William asked.

  “Two more enchantments. The soulbound growth enchantment. And then my own shell enchantment for sustaining the enchantments on ambient mana.”

  That should enclose it all inside a single enchantment. Tying it all up like a neat bow.

  “I don’t even want to know how either of those work.”

  “Well it’s actually fascinating,” Drew said. “Bring me the backplate. Put it on the table here.”

  William rushed to fetch the backplate.

  “I am not exactly sure how the soul bound enchantment works,” Drew said. “But it lets things like my coin purse grow if you feed it exp. And other people cannot equip it unless you are dead. It will do the same for your armor.”

  William set the back plate on the table and sat down in his chair again.

  “See, that’s what I mean, how can an object like a coin purse collect exp? Isn’t exp only for creatures? Will it turn my armor into a creature? Or… unless the armor becomes part of your soul?” William asked. “Doesn’t the holy church get concerned about citizens messing with their souls?”

  Drew applied the soulbound enchantment to the inside of the backplate while William mused on the religious implications.

  “I guess so? Aren’t coin purses pretty common?” Drew said.

  “I guess so.”

  Drew only needed to apply the soul bound enchantment to one piece of the armor so it took about ten minutes. When he was done, he received a new notification and a massive headache. Drew nearly fell off the table.

  Item Upgrade: Melech Plate Armor Set (Soulbound) - Superior Quality. 23,000 exp.

  MP: 0%

  HP: 75%

  Debuff: Mana Backlash (7:00)

  Ooof! That really hurts. Holy crap that is a lot of exp!

  “You alright Drew? Drew!” William cried and reached for the bird.

  “Gah, yeah. I am okay. Just bottomed out my mana pool.” Drew groaned.

  “Well that’s a relief. Did the enchantment work?”

  “It did.” Drew said with a sigh of relief.

  “Fantastic!” William said and rushed over and equipped the armor.

  What happened to all my mana at the end there? Did the enchantment drain the rest of my mana?

  “Drew this is amazing.” William said again. He jumped up and down gracefully in his new suit of armor.

  Debuff: Mana Backlash (5:15)

  “The whole suit feels lighter.” He said. “Wait! I thought you said it would be a 1% increase?”

  “Yes, 1.1% with the set bonus.” Drew groaned. It was all he could do to keep from sliding off the table. He watched the Mana Backlash debuff tick down.

  “Well the notifications say it’s 10.1%!” William cheered.

  Drew’s head was still swimming and he could not see well enough to read his schematics.

  How? I didn’t do my calculations wrong… did I?

  “That can’t be right.” Drew said.

  William took a careful sprint across the bunk house.

  “I feel significantly stronger.” He laughed.

  Debuff: Mana Backlash (3:55)

  William lifted a bed over his head and started spinning it around. It banged into the walls and rafters as he spun it.

  Debuff: Mana Backlash (2:35)

  “Enough racket. I’ve still got this headache.” Drew said. “Take the armor off.”

  “It’s exhilarating!” William said.

  Drew managed to sit up and get a look at the excited blacksmith.

  He’s like a kid in a candy store.

  “Better take that off before it drains all your mana.” Drew said.

  “Look! I can lift two beds!” William grunted. “My heavy armor proficiency just went up again!”

  The next moment William crumbled to the ground. Both beds landed on top of him.

  Drew tried to scramble off the table but moving was still too much for him.

  Debuff: Mana Backlash (0:48)

  “William!” Drew squawked.

  “How can enchanting armor be so noisy?” Vaylari shouted from outside the door.

  William and the beds had fallen blocking the door. As much as she tried, Vaylari could only push the door far enough to stick her head in. She saw Drew laid out on the table, and William buried under two beds in full armor.

  “I am surrounded by idiots.” She said and left.