Clang! Clang! Tap tap tap tap… Clang! Clang! Clang! Tap tap tap tap…
The cuirass, torn through by the Holy Tiger's claws and left with large, jagged rends in the tal, was beyond repair. But it was simple enough to slt down and reforge and re-enchant. With two more levels in Enchanter under his belt, the enchantnt was a strain, but not so bad as to knock him out for a day.
To save ti, the new armor the Smith was forging was based on molds from his Light Armor, with further adjustnts to make it even quieter. Fire Lizard skin was used in certain parts to prevent tal from scraping tal, and it was overall slightly more bulky, so it slowed him down even more, but it made him nearly silent.
Even Jas was surprised how effective his [Product Testing] skill proved in making these finer adjustnts to the armor. And the eerily silent fifth floor of the dungeon was perfect for listening for faint scraping and clanking sounds.
Still, it did take nearly another day to make these adjustnts.
It might be getting ti to start thinking about rationing his remaining food.
When he was done, the new Light Cuirass was the sa as the old one, and he had a set of Dark Iron Heavy Armor designed to be nearly silent.
For the rest of the day, Jas prepared large amounts of Aqua Magia and ground down a number of his black magic stones to fine dust.
There, he stopped. He wanted to be well rested before he started etching.
The next day he spent etching. Over and over he etched the pattern for the Basic Dark Enchantnt: [Shadow Concealnt]. On the bracers, the greaves, the boots, the cuisses, the cuirass, the pauldrons, and finally the helt. Only when he finished did he realize he was famished and that he had lost track of ti. But after a sparing al of crab at, he set about enchanting.
As always, he started by filling each etch with finely ground magic stone dust, forming the pattern of the enchantnt with magical material, and then layering on Aqua Magia.
He pressed his will into each piece, forcing the essence to align with the patterns of the enchantnts, and with a flash of light, one piece after another was enchanted with the magic of his choice.
The smaller pieces he finished at once, leaving the cuisses and cuirass for the next morning. Then, after expending all his magic enchanting those pieces, he turned to his forge once again, this ti to forge new hamrs.
First, of course, he forged two war hamrs similar to his Earth War Hamr in design, but of Black Iron and White Iron. Then he forged a hamr similar to his Green Iron Warhamr, but of Blue Iron free of any essence.
He focused on this Blue Iron Hamr first. No essence. Absolutely no undine essence. A simple, stretched etching of the [Frostbite] enchantnt. And this ti, using water magic stone dust, not ice, he enchanted the hamr using a thin layer of Aqua Magia. The goal was a reasonable [Frostbite] hamr, not the self-destructive monstrosity he had created before.
He held his hands over the hamr and sweat beaded on his brow before he even began enchanting. But he took a deep breath and steadied himself. If he failed here, he could simply try again later. It wasn't a pressing issue, but he wanted as many different types of warhamrs as he could going forward. There was no telling if the next crazy strong monster like the Holy Tiger Cub would be so kind of fire aligned monster, after all.
Another deep breath, and he let it out slowly. Then he pushed, pressing the enchantnt into inert blue iron.
Light flashed almost imdiately, and he inspected his newest creation.
[Appraisal]: Blue Iron War Hamr, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15, Enchantnt: Frostbite (10)
He breathed a sigh of relief. That was far weaker than his Ice War Hamr was. Still, he was extraordinarily careful with his testing, always holding the hamr using his blue iron tongs, activating it at a distance using his [Enchantnt Activation] skill, and testing how quickly it cooled various amounts of water to freezing.
It was safe to use. Certainly it did produce cold enough to freeze water and damage unprotected skin, but he could control how much cold he was putting out, and activate the enchantnt only during strikes. And the insulation on the handle and on his mole monster hide gloves was enough that even after a dozen swings, his hand wasn't cold.
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It wasn't ever going to be one of his first choice hamrs, not like his Earth War Hamr, but it was a usable tool at least.
Next, Jas enchanted his White and Black Iron Hamrs. On these, he went all out, no holding back.
[Appraisal]: Light War Hamr, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 19/19, Enchantnt: Glow (20)
[Appraisal]: Dark War Hamr, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 19/19, Enchantnt: Blind (20)
Jas reached up to remove his helt, to test if the [Blind] enchantnt from the hamr would work, and stopped just in ti to avoid blinding himself in another way.
Testing could wait until he returned to the staircase, he decided.
Or rather…
The staircase to the fourth floor was right there.
And yes, although it was a little uncomfortably warm at the top of that staircase, Jas was able to confirm that his Light War Hamr, while dazzling, wouldn't blind him normally, and also that his Dark War Hamr, while emanating darkness in wisps, wouldn't blind him when swung.
He quickly made his way back down, blinding helt back on, lest the heat from the fourth floor damage his new pieces. They stayed in his magic bag as he tidied up his base camp and set forth on another expedition, still wearing his Light armor set in case any invisible lizards were still around, waiting to launch a sneak attack.
The walk to the boss room was entirely uneventful, and soon enough Jas found himself at the boundary of the floor, where the Lux essence in the air went from blinding to absent. He set down a couple iron ingots against the walls to mark the boundary, then stepped forward into pure darkness, and removed his helt, restoring his sight a mont later.
Ti to swap armors.
Jas pulled out his Dark armor set and gave it one last inspection.
[Appraisal]: Dark Cuirass, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 32/32, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (86)
[Appraisal]: Dark Armored Skirt, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 26/26, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (87)
[Appraisal]: Dark Codpiece, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 21/21, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (77)
[Appraisal]: Dark Greaves, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 26/26, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (82)
[Appraisal]: Dark Cuisses, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 29/29, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (83)
[Appraisal]: Dark Left Pauldron, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 32/32, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (78)
[Appraisal]: Dark Right Pauldron, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 26/26, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (78)
[Appraisal]: Dark Bracers, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 28/28, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (81)
[Appraisal]: Dark Cleat Boots, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 31/31, Enchantnt: Shadow Concealnt (73)
He had foregone making a new shield for the simple reason that he had run out of Black Iron Ore while working on his armor, having only enough left to make a war hamr. If he found a safe place, he intended to mine out as much of the Black Iron as he could. He found it amusing how the iron seed to absorb light, becoming a mass of shadowy darkness.
The Smith was, after all, a teenage boy.
The hexagonal pattern of the [Shadow Concealnt] pattern had been easier to tile than the square [Reflect] pattern had been, and his enchantnts were slightly stronger on the Dark armor set as a result.
He set up his Light Tower Shield against the wall to act as sothing of a mirror, and put on the armor. He felt so cool wearing the pitch black armor – ignoring that it was obviously of low quality, misshapen and uneven in places, and little more than slabs of iron covering his body – and he activated the enchantnt.
Darkness emanated from the armor in wisps and his form grew indistinct. The darkness spread out, covering the gaps in his armor, and soon there was only a hazy shadow, a patch of darkness where he stood.
Jas loved it.
He took his Dark War Hamr in hand and found that it, too, gained the [Shadow Concealnt] effect and rged with the shadow covering him.
Unfortunately, when he held the Light War Hamr, it didn't gain the effect. And when he used its [Glow] enchantnt, the Light and Dark enchantnts conflicted, producing a weaker glow and pushing back his shadow, revealing his entire arm.
He experinted with how much mana he pushed into his Light War Hamr, and eventually found an amount that lit up the hamr without uncovering his arm, and decided that was good enough. He tested his other hamrs and found that they would be concealed without problem even using their enchantnts, so if he needed to, he could switch.
But he hoped that the Light War Hamr would let him see a little better in the unnatural darkness of the sixth floor.
For his shield, he chose his Red Iron Round Shield. Enchanted with [Reflect], it would be safe, easy to use, quiet, and would help spread the light from his hamr forward.
And so, he descended the staircase and returned to the sixth floor.
It turned out that, in the nox essence filled darkness, the [Shadow Concealnt] effect of his armor beca even more powerful, rendering him essentially invisible. Even the sounds of his movents were muffled sohow. And yet, when he activated his Light War Hamr's [Glow], it was even stronger than expected, pushing back the darkness around him out to ten yards when paired with his shield, and as far as he could tell, only his shield and hamr were visible, leaving the rest of him concealed.
And when he deactivated the [Glow], he disappeared entirely, although that left him unable to see as well.
Testing done, the Smith and Enchanter found himself standing at the exit of the tunnel into the first proper cavern of the floor. The rats had gone, leaving tracks and droppings behind – filthy creatures. His warding stakes were lying on the ground, saturated with nox essence, enchantnt totally corroded and gone.
He picked them up and stowed them in his magic bag, simply not to waste materials. Waste not, want not.
He started moving along the cavern wall to his right, passing the area he had mined out and finding more veins of iron, though only Black Iron. No other kind could be found as far as he could see. He found that the wall extended for several dozen yards before reaching a corner, and he continued along there for perhaps a dozen yards before finding a tunnel of seemingly carved stone leading to a small room with much thinner nox essence.
And an iron door.
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