The eting went on for the entire afternoon. After Totrak's density suggestion, Lija explained her spell. She had developed two ways to help during the combat. The first was a stone barrier that would have a sharp point to block the wind spells and move them away from the group. The second was called silk fall and would allow anyone who was falling to move at a slower pace, avoiding any fall damage. Hera had heard about a similar spell, but they called it feather fall. In a place where almost no one knew what a feather was, the na must have changed.
Pyrrick was the last one to talk. His contribution was the most straightforward, being an expert in buffs and debuffs. He explained that most spells made to increase one's capabilities could easily clash with one another. If a spell would increase soone's strength and agility, then another that focused solely on agility was cast. Only the higher of the two effects would be applied. Not just that, but depending on the way the magic was formulated, the second spell could even remove the strength boost given by the first. There was even the slight risk of two spells having such an adverse reaction to one another that part of its effect would change to a debuff. Thus, most buffs were created as sothing to be used on their own or made with their pairs in mind. This also applied when talking about debuffs. Hence, there was a need for soone specialized in the subject to create spells that would not just work well together but even complent one another. Pyrrick already had developed two spells that could boost five attributes in total, leaving only charisma unaffected and a debuff focusing on agility and strength.
He also was well versed in several different elental buffs that could increase one's damage. As a trial run, he cast the spells in both Hera and Blue, and their attributes almost doubled. However, such a high increase was only possible for a short amount of ti. Those buffs would last only ten minutes before needing to be cast again, and his mana would allow for about a dozen casts. aning that each would have, at the most, one hour of this buff. He could tone the effect down so it would last longer, but everyone agreed that it was better to have a massive increase for a short amount of ti. Besides, Totrak and Lija would also be able to cast the buffs to help in less dangerous situations.
After the eting, they all went back ho. Soti later, after taking a shower and resting for a couple of hours, Hera and Silah were walking down the street towards a quaint little house by the lake. At first glance, the building seed to be made out of wood, but after a closer inspection, Hera saw that they were massive stones shaped as tree logs in reality. The attention to detail was incredible. One could even see the grooves and rings of the makeshift trees. There seed to be a single floor with four windows in the house and a small chimney on the back. To the side, there was another building. It was round and had a much larger chimney on the side.
"So, this is where Kahala lives?" Hera asked.
"Yeah, she doesn't go out much. People see her maybe once a month in the market," Silah replied.
"Did sothing happen, or was she always like that?"
"I only know the stories. Apparently, after her husband passed away out of old age, she started to shut off. People said that he was her heart, and she was his mind. He… wasn't exactly the sharpest pick in the mine. Oh, that ans he wasn't very smart. But people said he had a big heart."
Hera chuckled, "It's funny that you guys have that expression. We say not the sharpest tool in the shed."
Silah giggled, "Yeah, that one makes sense too. Anyway, Kahala was always moody, but her husband brought her good side to light. When he passed away, she went back to her old grumpy self."
"Maybe she's just lonely," Hera looked at the house.
"I doubt that every week one blacksmith or another cos to ask for her advice. She chases most away, but every now and then, she takes a look at what they are showing and gives them a harsh opinion," the way Silah spoke made it seem like it was from personal experience.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hera asked.
Silah stared at Hera, surprised that she had figured out, "Do you mind if we don't? If you really want to know, that's ok, but I rather not go into details right now."
"Don't worry, but if you ever want to talk about that, I'm here."
"I'll keep that in mind, thanks."
Hera looked back at the house, "What's the plan then? Do we knock and ask right away or stop to get so wine? I brought a chicken sandwich as a bribe just in case."
"What's a bribe?" Silah asked.
"Oh…" Hera stared at Silah's innocent eyes. In a society where everyone had access to food, water, and supplies, bribing soone to get their way must have never crossed their minds, "Nevermind that. This is just a gift. Maybe after a al, her mood improves."
"So humans call gifts bribes? I'll have to rember that."
For the first ti, Hera considered what it ant to expose the dwarves to her society. Humans were greedy, money-driven locusts. When their societies clashed, Silah and the others would be exposed to all kinds of nasty behaviors.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
"Please don't. A bribe is another thing entirely. I'll explain to you later," Hera tried to quickly change the subject.
"Ok… why are you being weird?" Silah asked.
"Don't worry about that. What are we going to do?"
"Well, I hope that seeing you makes her interested. If not, I have your armor here. Maybe seeing the craftsmanship of a different society will perk her up," Silah explained.
They walked up to the house and knocked on the door. After a long ti waiting, no one seed to be ho, but Silah knocked again. More ti when by before Hera said, "Maybe she's not ho?"
"Oh no, she is. We just have to annoy her enough before she shows up. The last ti I did this, I spent two hours knocking."
"Two hours? Are we going to be here that long?" Hera gasped.
"I doubt it. It's late, and rumors say that Kahala likes to sleep early since she's so old."
"You people should stop talking about behind my back!" Kahala slamd the door open, almost hitting Hera and Silah.
The armorsmith was a bit shorter than Silah, not that it made too much of a difference for Hera. All dwarves were short, and unless they were right next to each other, she couldn't tell who was taller. Kahala was wearing what looked like her pajamas, a long-sleeved shirt stained and beaten up, and a pair of wool pants. Her hair was mostly white and oily, as if it hadn't been washed in weeks, and her face was bony and wrinkled. Silah had told her that the armorsmith was 280 years old, but she looked much older than Risli, who was getting very close to her 300.
"No one is talking about you. I just knew that you would complain about that, you old hag."
"Bah, it had to be the so-called genius blacksmith. Have you figured out how to lt iron yet?" Kahala scoffed.
Silah was about to say sothing back, but she stopped and took a deep breath, "I'm not here to talk about . This is Hera, one of the humans who arrived in the city a while ago. I'm sure you know about that."
"Yeah, yeah. I heard about you. Where is your friend with blue hair? I heard you two practically wore the sa pair of pants," Kahala took a long look at Hera, "You're tall. Unnecessarily tall."
"And you are old. Unnecessarily old," Silah replied.
Kahala turned back to the dwarf, "I know why you are here, and the answer is no. I don't care for who it is. I'm not making a set of armor."
"Then help fix the one they have. It's made by humans, and I'm not sure how they did it," Silah pulled Hera's armor from the basket she was carrying.
Kahala glanced at the armor without interest, but that quickly changed. She pulled the armor and started analyzing the scales. Without saying a thing, she walked inside her house with the scale mail still in her hand. Hera got a bit worried about losing her armor, but Silah walked inside with a satisfied expression.
"Co in. She's interested," Silah smiled.
The house wasn't that tall, and Hera had to bend down a bit or risk getting a neck sprain. It was a small place with a single bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room. The furniture was also very simple, just so chairs and a desk, no decorations or anything like that. However, there were piles and piles of ores and ingots spread around the entire place. In the corner of the living room, behind the couch, a massive pile of gold ores was going halfway to the ceiling. Hera half expected a small dragon to appear from it. Doing a closer inspection, all the rubble and tal on the floor had a thick layer of dust and dirt covering them. It looked like they were there for a long ti.
"This is a ss," Hera mumbled, thanking her height for being far away from the dust.
"Bothered by a little dust human?" Kahala scoffed, but her eyes were still glued to the armor.
"A little? No, but this is more than I can take."
"Humans seem to be really weak, maybe you should…" Kahala stopped talking to sneeze and cleaned her nose with an old grey rag, "… should spend less ti prancing about and make sure you have strong bodies."
Hera stared at the dwarf, "You just sneezed. You do realize that all this dust is making it worse, right?"
"Dirt won't make sneeze. I've been in the mines for longer than you breathe air," Kahala scoffed.
"Not dirt. Dust," Hera passed her finger through one of the ingots close by, removing a layer of dust, "This! I know you depend a lot on healing spells, but basic hygiene is still a thing you know. If you clean this place up, you will stop sneezing, I guarantee it."
"I'll get Ogryn to clean this up later. He's been bugging to do that for months. Now can you stop complaining about my house and sit down," for the first ti, Kahala moved her attention away from the armor.
"Sorry," Hera moved over and sat on a chair by the table where her armor was on display.
"How did you do this?" Kahala asked, pointing at one of the scales.
"I don't know. I wasn't the one who made it."
"Bah, you are no help."
"What's so interesting about this Kahala? I an, the craftsmanship is not that amazing," Silah asked.
"That's why you are no genius. Look at these scales. What do you see?"
Silah inspected the scales for a mont but couldn't grasp anything out of the ordinary, "Nothing special. They are all the sa."
"Exactly the sa."
"So?"
"By the mountain, child. Can you not be dense for five minutes? How can soone make two identical scales? It doesn't matter how you forge it. There will always be slight differences, places where the swing of the hamr was a fraction too strong or where the tal cooled off a bit too much. I could understand if one or two scales looked very similar, but all of them are the sa," Kahala showed the armor again.
"You… you are right! How is this even possible?" Silah gasped.
"Oh, he probably cast those scales," Hera said.
"He used a spell? Is that why the enchantnt in this armor is such a ss?" Kahala asked.
"No, not a spell. He used a mold to make the scales."
"Stop talking nonsense and explain properly, Heka," Kahala slamd her hands on the table.
"Listen, lady. I'm trying to be polite with you, but you only complained ever since we got here, and I even brought you a chicken sandwich. That's at from the Sky Rulers," Hera tossed the sandwich on the table, "But I'm sick of people with so power treating like crap, asking to do this and that but still can't rember my damn na. I'm fine with explaining what casting is, but one, stop giving attitude, two, if you don't understand sothing I said, ask about it nicely, and three, call by my na. It's Hera."
That reaction caught even Hera off guard. She didn't know that she had all that bubbling up under the surface. Hera glanced at Silah, who stared back with wide eyes and then towards Kahala, who started laughing after a mont.
"Now that I like. I'm tired of people kissing my ass all the ti. I see a little of in you now, the anger, bravery, and stupidity of talking like that with soone who can snap you like a twig," Kahala picked up the sandwich and took a bite, "Start from the beginning. What is that casting thing, and why are fungus involved?"
Hera sighed, "It's not fungus. Molds are like… hollow shapes. Do you have an apple or sothing? It's easier if I show you."
Reviews
All reviews (0)