At that moment I can see the message icon light up. When I check it I see that I gained a level in Enchanting. The next couple of hours is spent watching a master of his craft. I'm not one to do this kind of work but I can't help but be amazed at how an item can take on the form of ones imagination just from the appropriate application of the blow from a hammer, or the twist of pliers and tongs. At the end he takes one of the metal feathers I gave him, heats it briefly over the coals and wraps it around the handle. Hammering a little he is able to affix it flush to the handle and making the veins in the feather a great grip to hold it by. Last he heats the hilt where he has created prongs to hold the diamond I provided, places the diamond so that the point faces away from the blade and twists the prongs in a spiral around the gem. A little detail work to create a smooth and sharp point around the already pointed jewel. Done, he quenches it in a bucket one more time. Finished, he finally presents the new dagger to me.
Vol Adare's Blessed Poniard: A dagger made by a master smith using Starlite metal and enchanted to take advantage of the magical qualities of the metal as a focus for casting. The blessed metal used to create this is attuned only to Vol Adare and can only be used to its full potential by him. Item class: Unique. Durability 250/250. 25% increase to the power of all spells. +INT and WIS equal to ½ lvl. Base Dmg 40-50.
While I inspect the new addition to my arsenal Dolan tells me a little about it "I made ya a poniard because it be good for stabbing in close and the straight blade be helping in aiming spells if'n ya be needin ta cast wit it."
"It's amazing. I have never seen an item that has a description with a stat based on level."
"I reckon that be due to the special property of the blessing the metal has" Dolan explains.
"Thank you." Then I hand him a platinum coin, but he tries not to take it.
"That is too much. You provided all the materials and the enchantment" he tells me.
"Consider it payment for this and the 2 other things I want you to make as well."
"I know bout the staff but what else do ya need?"
"I want you to make another dagger like mine but for Azzaria." I take out the Emerald I was looking at and a regular bar of Starlite metal and hand it to him. "Use this to make it for her. She has some new magical ability that this will be handy for. Also, can we go inside for a second? I want another feather for her handle too."
He looks at me curiously about the request to go inside then says "I was gonna get ya a new belt and sheath for that there dagger anyway. Com'on now" he says waving me to follow. I hold my arm out to Thia, who knows what I am going to do. She hops on and rides inside with me. Once inside the shop and alone again Dolan turns to me with an eyebrow raised as if to say 'what now?' I give him a grin and activate Thia's Merge. The effects are the same and I am trying to get past the disorientation. I think I'm faster recovering this time but it is hard to tell. Focusing on Dolan again I can see him staring at me wide eyed and on his butt on the floor. I reach down and help him up while he gets over the surprise I gave him. "Damn boy. Warn a man fore ya do tha. I seen mages that have Merge fore but they are usually stronger than ya when they can do it."
Chuckling a little while he gives me the stink eye, I turn to the back wall where the forge is. It's stone so I fire off a few more Knifewings and pull the feathers out. Then I fix the wall with Earth Shape and cancel Merge. I place all but one of the feathers in my storage and hand the last one to him. "There you go. When do you think you can get to it for her" I ask.
"I be wantin' to do it early in the Morn. You can come by when ya eat breakfast. I be gettin up early ta work on it and yar staff. Working it will give me more time ta get used to the metal fore I start the delicate work I plan for the staff. Wait here a moment" he says before walking off into the shop. A couple of minutes later he walks back with a belt and sheath for the poniard. "See if that will fit." He hands it to me and I can see it also has a little pouch for potions to be kept. Looking in it reveals 6 places for potions that can be easily accessed.
Leather Belt of the Quick: A common leather belt that is enchanted to increase the ease and speed of accessing the potions in it's quick access pouch. Item class: Uncommon. Durability 25/25. Armor +5. +2 AGI.
Sliding the poniard into the sheath, it fits well, and I put the belt on. "Thank you for the belt Dolan. I was thinking of buying one anyways. How much do I owe you?"
He chuckles a little before responding with "Wit how much you over paid wit tha platinum, the least I can do be to include the belt for the work. Now we better head over to get dinner."
With that we left the shop and head to his house where the girls are. Before we enter the house I tell Dolan "Please don't tell Azzaria about the dagger I asked you to make for her. I want it to be a surprise." He gives me a big smile and then we enter the house. Inside we find all three girls already there and setting food out on the table. Dolan and I help get everything on the table and then take our seats. The meal is some sort of fowl that reminds me of turkey, but more gamey. It might be pheasant or something else. Not that I care, it was delicious. With it there were some vegetables that reminded me of a cross between asparagus and green beans. I know, that sounds really weird, but they were good smothered in butter. Last, there was baked golden potatoes, or at least I think they were since they looked and tasted the same. Honestly I am not a cook so I didn't even bother to ask what it all was. We don't talk at all until everyone has eaten. Then the interrogation happens.
Enora speaks up first, and her question seems to make everyone else a little nervous. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, what we really want to know is what class you got while you were gone."
"No need to worry. That is one of the things I had planned on telling you all anyway. My new subclass is Celestial Mage. It unlocked magic for me in both the Elemental and Universal realms. All of it in those realms. One of the things that you will no doubt see me use in the future is my Dimensional Storage ability. This allows me to store things in a dimensional space attached to me. Before there are any more questions let us tell you the full story about our trip."
Azzaria turns to me and asks "Even about Gwydia?"
"Yes about that too."
So we do. We tell them everything, with me doing most of the talking and Azzaria filling in details here or there for me. The expressions seen on all of our audience were fun to watch. Worry to gasps of surprise when we found the cave was more of a mansion and anger at the queen beetle when it used poison. They were particularly surprised to find out that there is a Mana Fount there. But nothing was funnier than when we told them how I dedicated the fount to my patron and got a divine visit with her. I could practically hear the sound of the jaws bouncing off the floor. After we got to the part about gaining access to the vaults and finding starlite metal Dolan jumps up and exclaims "You took it to the altar to get blessed!" Everyone gets a little laugh out of the old dwarf's enthusiasm. Shortly after that we finish the story and get to when we arrived back here in Efftin.
Enora is the first to speak up again. "So, when did you two get together then?"
I had been expecting this for a while now but decided to let Azzaria handle it in the end. The way that she tells it, basically I am an idiot and in the end she couldn't help having feelings for me. I didn't take it to heart though because I can tell the others are experienced enough that they can read between the lines, or just know Azzaria well enough. We said our goodbyes before Azzaria and I head back to real beds for the first time in what feels like a century. We hold hands on the way to the house with Thia and Timbre following along. When we enter the house Azzaria turns to my companions and says "You two can use the couch. Good night." Then she yanks my hand forcing me to follow her down the hall, past the room I stayed in last time and then to her room. It was pretty Spartan but it had a much larger bed than the other room and nicer furniture. She closes the door behind us and gives me a small, chaste kiss on the lips. "Stay with me tonight." There was no heat in her
voice. Nothing to say that anything would happen other than sleep, but sleep is exactly what I needed. With Azzaria in her soft bed I was out in a moment.
*******
The next Morning I wake up warm and comfortable, with something soft pressed against my chest. I have woken up this way the last few days so it wasn't a surprise. The bed we were in did make the whole situation a little more comfortable than when we slept on the ground. Embraced as we sleep, it always seems that Azzaria can't get close enough through the night and always stays pressed against me no matter how I turn. Now we are holding each other face to face. When I lean in to give her little kiss she immediately opens her mouth to me and kisses me fiercely. When we break apart I look at her open eyes and say "Were you pretending to be asleep to surprise me?" She giggles a little but doesn't answer me. "Come on Vol, time to get up. You have things to do and I will make breakfast." We roll out of bed and I head into the living room to grab my now clean cloths from the magic washing machine. Then I head to the bathroom while she moves to the kitchen. I take a quick shower and sit at the table near the kitchen. Azzaria isn't done yet so while I wait for her I take out my new dagger and look at it.
Since the enchantment for making it a focus was done during the creation of the item I can still enchant it more now that it's finished With my talents I can enchant it with both a passive and active feature. Included with the knowledge I got becoming an enchanter are the spell patterns to enchant items with stats like STR and VIT. How much can be added depends on the materials being enchanted, the amount of mana put into it and the enchanting level of the one doing it. Thinking about it I consider adding some VIT to it for the increased HP but decide against it. Instead I decide to enchant it with haste as a passive. Pulling out another good chunk of Mana Crystal I set It next to the poniard and concentrate on the Haste spell. A minute later a portion of the Mana crystal has liquefied and is absorbing into the dagger, forming little lines like those I have seen on other enchanted items in patterns on the hilt and blade. I look at my spells for what I should make an active enchantment before I realize that there is one thing that I always do when a fight is close up. Doing the same as before, except focusing on it being an active part of the dagger, I enchant it with Burning Palm. More Mana Crystal liquefies and creates more patterns on the weapon. Done, I check out the end result.
Vol Adare's Blessed Poniard: A dagger made by a master smith using Starlite metal and enchanted to take advantage of the magical qualities of the metal as a focus for casting. The blessed metal used to create this is attuned only to Vol Adare and can only be used to its full potential by him. Item class: Unique. Durability 250/250. 25% increase to the power of all spells. +INT and WIS equal to ½ lvl. +10% attack speed. Base Dmg 40-50. Active skill: Burning Blade: Causes additional 15-20 fire Dmg and Burn status is also inflicted, causing half the original damage amount over 10 seconds, stacks up to 5 times. Duration: 10 secs. Cost: 15MP
I guess the active skill changed from Burning Palm to Burning Blade because it's a dagger. By then Azzaria is bringing the food over to the table. I put the little bit of crystal that is left back in storage and sheath my newly improved dagger. Checking the messages that appeared throughout all this I find I have gained a level in Time and Fire magic. We eat a quick meal of eggs and bacon and I have to ask "Where did this food come from and how is it not bad now after our trip?"
She looks up at me from her meal and responds like it is nothing. "It was all in the icebox. I got it before I left on the trip that I found you on. It is getting a little old so I have to cook it all soon. That is why there is so much."
A refrigerator! Why didn't I guess that. With the washing machine and all the other appliances around here there is probably just about any modern convenience I can think of short of computers. Thinking about it, there is probably already something like a tablet computer though. Maybe I'll ask about it sometime, but for now there are things to do. Finished with breakfast Azzaria decides to get her shower and I leave to see Dolan. He is waiting for me when I arrive and tells me that the blade for Azzaria is ready to be enchanted. I pull out a couple more pieces of Mana Crystal and lay them next to the half formed object. Concentrating, I perform the same enchantment I did on mine yesterday but while I do so I focus on it being for life magic and Azzaria. The dagger takes less Mana Crystal than mine did but it's probably since this metal isn't blessed. I did gain another level in Enchanting and Advanced Mana Control though. Dolan gets back to work after that and I go back to Azzaria's house.
When I get back she is still in the shower, so I take a seat on the couch in the living room next to Timbre and Thia. I take the time to pet both of them, and feed them from a little meat that I have in my storage. Azzaria comes out in clean clothes like the ones she had before and plops down in my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck and laces her fingers together behind my head, laying her head upon my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her waist, and she speaks into my ear "What are we going to do this morning?" Squeezing her a little tighter I tell her the plan for the day. "First I think I am going to take care of my tent situation" I waggle my eyebrows at her suggestively before continuing "and a few other things that we need to take care of equipment wise at the general store. Plus, I think you should try to talk to Tayna now. You two were friends and she seems like a nice girl. You shouldn't let the business with Serin ruin that." Lifting her head, she looks me in the eyes for a second and then nods "You are right. I don't know if she will reciprocate since her mother is a supporter of Serin. It's worth a try though."
We still don't get up though. Sitting there, we take a few minutes to enjoy the peace. After a few minutes Timbre gets up and places her head on top of us and gives us a nudge each. This is followed shortly by Thia climbing up to the shoulder opposite of the one Azzaria has her head on. We pet them both for a while before we finally get up and head out to take care of our business for the day. Walking down the busy street in town I can tell that word has spread a little since my first time here. I can tell because I don't get any weird looks. In fact, everyone seems pretty friendly. I am a little curious of this. "Azzaria, I am not getting any weird looks and everyone seems to be pretty happy to see us, and friendly. What's going on?"
She barks a quick laugh before answering. "Efftin has a few hundred people but it is still small. Rumors spread fast and important news even faster. When I was cooking with Hildre last night she said that Dolan had talked to a few people to spread the word of what we did for the village. If not for that then the guards we spoke to at the gate when we got here would have already started spreading the word, just not as fast. With so little change around here gossip like you is a hot topic."
"I see your point, I just didn't think news would spread quite that fast." We reach the General store and walk in. Tayna is at the counter again and greets us with a friendly smile. This time there doesn't appear to be any hesitation when it comes to Azzaria.
"Welcome back. I heard that you cleared out the problem with those disgusting beetles. Can I help you with anything today?"
"Hi Tayna. I am going to look around some." I say before leaving Azzaria to talk to her friend. There isn't much difference here than the last time I shopped here but I want to give them time, so I keep looking. There are no books here this time but I do get some jerky and other trail fair as well as the biggest tent I can find. This one is a lot more expensive than the difference in size led me to believe. Looking at its folded up mass of canvas and poles I can see the lines of enchantment. The description on the tag says that it will set itself up with the application of mana into a piece of obsidian on one of the corners. Since I have a ton of money at this point and not really worried about the price, I take it. When I come back to the counter Tayna and Azzaria are talking with big smiles while Tayna is petting Timbre. Thia is on the counter watching all this. "How is everything" I ask the two when I walk up.
Tayna looks over to me and eagerly jumps behind the counter again. "Everything is great!
" She says looking over the items in my arms. "Is that everything for you?"
"Actually I was wondering if you have a bed that I can get. I am done sleeping on the ground when we are out" I tell her.
She looks at me funny and says "We do have a few larger beds, but they are far too large to take with you out into the woods."
"Lets take a look shall we?" Shrugging her shoulders she leads me into the door behind her and we enter a storage room with large size items like furniture and such. We walk to the left and there are a few beds with mattresses. I take one down that is large enough for two people but will still fit in the tent I grabbed and start putting it together in the little room that is available. Tayna is standing there confused as to what I am doing, but Azzaria understands and starts helping. When it is set up I look over to Tayna once more and say "I will take this one. Do me a favor though and keep this next part to yourself OK?" With a curious nod she agrees and I place my hand on the bed. A moment later it disappears as I put it into storage. I am watching for Tayna's reaction and I am not disappointed. Her eyes get real big and she sputters for a second before taking a deep breath and composing herself. I can't help but laugh a little at her comical expression, and I am joined by Azzaria. Back at the counter with my companions I pay the few gold that Tayna says I owe and tell her to keep the change. We leave and I head over to Faulst's tailor shop. Inside, the foxkin is behind the counter when we walk up.
"Hello sir, it is good to see return customers in my shop." He says with a salesman's smile.
"I would like a few sets of clothes like the last one I got from you" I tell him.
"Not a problem sir." He steps off to the side where he got my last set and brings back a half dozen of them. Anything else?"
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