‘It ca out better than I expected.’
Holding his knew adamantine shield aloft, Marcus could not be prouder of his work.
He had just made four masterpieces back-to-back, and truthfully this was the best one he had created.
He had used the last of Gwyneria’s and the mythic grade monster parts he had gotten from Tralenstein in its creation.
This had made the shield incredibly sturdy, and for even further reinforcent he had used the core of the boss of the glacier as its focal point, as well as incorporating the plates of its carapace on the outside.
‘I wonder how much a shield like this would go for. If Thabon’s had been worth almost eighty thousand, this one would have to be worth at least two hundred thousand, but probably more.’ Marcus thought as he examined his shield.
It was now probably tied for the best piece of equipnt he had, along with his scythe.
Feeling giddy he exited his workshop to test out his new armor and shield, when he heard a voice call out to him.
“Oh, looks like you are finally done.”.
Looking up towards the source of the voice, he saw Ardea sitting high up in one of the trees on his property, eating so kind of fruit.
For a mont he wondered how she got in here, but then rembered that she was one of the strongest beings on the continent, and his guards that were in the twenties level wise had no chance of spotting her if she wanted to not be found.
Jumping down from the tree she casually walked over to Marcus and looked at the shield in his hands.
“That is pretty fine work you have done there. It is rare for a forgmaster to be able to make quality items like this and work with such high-level materials. Guess you are not a great spirit for nothing.”
However, as she was looking at the shield she suddenly brightened up, and said, “Hey what is your forge skill level?”
Tilting his head, Marcus wondered exactly why she wanted to know, but told her that it was at level seven.
Sighing she looked a bit disappointed, but still looked at Marcus expectantly, before saying, “Well I was hoping it would at least be eight, but I suppose seven ets the bare minimum.”
After saying this, Ardea pulled out one of her gauntlets and imdiately Marcus could see that it was damaged.
The pinky and ring finger broken off and there were cracks all the way up to the end of the gauntlet.
Seeing this Marcus could not fathom what could have done this level of damage to an athros weapon.
Taking the gauntlet, he said, “How did this happen? You fought an intense battle with Retharin, but your gauntlets did not take so much as a scratch then.”
“Ah that is because he was being careful not to damage my equipnt, but I see what you an. I just ran into an old enemy in the mountains on the continent to the west of here. It is not that big of a deal.”
“Now do you think you could fix it for . The person who made them for died around half a decade ago, and I do not know any other suitable forgemasters. It is pretty hard to find anyone that is able to work with athros unless you get involved with so annoying people.” Ardea said, getting down to business.
Looking over the gauntlet Marcus could tell that it had been made by soone far more skill than he currently was.
Still if he was just going to fix it, he should be able to manage since it had an auto repair enchantnt which would just need to be nded and the missing materials supplented.
“Yeah, I could fix it, but I would need so more athros to replace what was lost. I am sure you understand that it is not a material that one cos by easily, and I only have a very limited supply myself.” Marcus said, hoping that Ardea would understand.
Certainly, he did want to get on her good side, but he had less than three ingots of athros now and was saving it to make a new upgraded weapon once he had so high quality secondary material.
“Oh, you actually have so athros on you! That is a surprise. Hm, well I have a number of other rare items on , so if you would be willing to take them as paynt, I am sure we can co to an agreent.”
Taking a mont to think about it Marcus did have a few things in mind that he wanted, and said, “You would not happen to have any materials from so high-level monsters or beasts that have an affinity with light, darkness, or lightning.”
Unfortunately, Ardea shook her head, and said, “No sorry, I do not have anything like that. But I could get so if that is what you really want.”
“If it is possible that would be great. Here let write down what I would like and then if you find it agreeable, I can fix your gauntlet tomorrow.” Marcus said, as his enthusiasm began to rise.
He then took out a notebook and wrote down the specifics of what he was looking for.
“This should not be a problem; I can get all of this if you are willing to wait around three or maybe four months. I have other things to attend to after this, but once I am done, I can search out these materials.” Ardea said, a smile on her face since she was going to be able to get her precious gauntlet fixed.
“Okay then tomorrow I will take it over to the forge I work at and fix it. Now if you do not mind, I would like to introduce you to Lilia.” Marcus said, as he beckoned Ardea to follow him.
However, she did not move imdiately, and said with a confused expression, “Wait are you just going to take my word for it that I will get these materials for you? You do not want to have a contract drawn up?”
“Oh no it is fine. I have already left that life behind. Anyway, I trust that you are not the kind of person that goes back on their word. Otherwise, you could have just threatened to fix your gauntlet and I would not have been able to refuse. So yeah, I do trust you to hold up your end of our deal.”
Sighing she could not believe how trusting Marcus was being, but she still smiled since she was happy to hear that he thought highly of her.
After that, Marcus led her to where Lilia was waiting.
“Lilia this is Ardea the person I told you about who might take you as her apprentice.” Marcus said, introducing Lilia.
“Nice to et you, Lilia. As your sister said, I am Ardea, the Grand Witch of the Peaks. Now enough formalities. Go ahead and punch with everything you have.”
Shock on her face, this is not how Lilia expected this to go, and she was reluctant to attack, since she did not want to hurt anyone if she did not have to.
“I can see that you are hesitating. But there is no need to worry. You could not put a scratch on even if you hit a thousand tis. Now hit as hard as you can.” Ardea said sternly to Lilia.
Hearing this and seeing Marcus give a nod of approval, Lilia took a deep breath before equipping her gauntlets and getting into a ready stance.
She began building up mana in her right hand and gauntlet, while also casting her strongest force magic spell.
Then when she was ready, she used her strongest attack skill mighty blow and punched forward with all her might.
As she connected right in Ardea’s stomach there was a loud popping sound, followed by a bright flash of light.
Steam even ca off of the area where Lilia had struck due to the power and speed behind the attack, but Ardea had not even moved a milliter from where she stood even after taking attack that would have demolished a building.
“Hm, you definitely are impressive for your age and level I will give you that. However, you are not qualified to be my apprentice.” Ardea said to Lilia with an expressionless face.
Slumping her shoulders Lilia felt defeated, and Marcus was a bit disappointed that she had not passed whatever criteria Ardea had.
Yet it appeared that all hope was not lost, as right after she said, “But that is only true for right now. The main problem is that you are simply too young and not high enough level. Otherwise, I can see that you have the potential to beco my apprentice. Live your life and grow a bit more, and if you still want to learn from in four years, I will seriously evaluate you then.”
Nodding her head furiously Lilia agreed, feeling that she really did want to learn from Ardea now that she had t her.
“Now before I go, I think I should at least show you what I can do, so that you know for certain that I would be able to be your master.” Ardea said as she smiled at Lilia.
Getting into her own stance, the air around Ardea began to shift into a deadly calm, and the world seed to grow still as her focus sharpened.
Just seeing her stance even Marcus could tell that she was a master of her style, and as she sent a single punch forward, the world seed to ripple from her power and technique.
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