With three swords on my left hip I entered the storefront of Orvacks Armory. The smithy was busy in the early morn, with adventurers doing last minute shopping as they prepared for a dungeon or quest in the next day or two. There was a trio speaking with Eric as I entered. I watched without listening as he was trying to sell a gal in white robes a new staff that had two slots to embed crystals. I was a bit shocked they weren’t already embedded but she quickly pulled out her own and set them right then and there. With two plain white crystals, quartz and opal from the look, she looked around and frowned.

  “Excuse me Mr. Eric, do you know if anyone here has any injuries so I could test this staff?” Her voice was nasally but not overly unpleasant. She glanced at the other patrons and frowned. “Or if you know of anyone who would be willing to let Bron hurt them a little for a test? I’ll provide healing to them even if this doesn't work!” She clarified in a panicked voice.

  I knew it would happen, but as soon as she asked that Eric turned to look at me and tilted his head. With a sigh I stepped up. “What sort of injury do you want to test? Or do you want to test multiple? I can burn myself, have Bron break a finger, cut me, whatever it is. Well, so long as Eric is willing to compensate me for it.” I shot him a grin. We all watched him as he deliberated then nodded slowly.

  “All three would be great but I understand if you don't want to.” The girl seemed timid now that I had volunteered. Without waiting for a response I drew the sword that did not have an enchantment to protect its user from conjured fire about three inches out and pressed my thumb to its blade. It took a few seconds but the heat from the blade was enough to cause a minor burn. I then ran my thumb against the blade itself and drew blood beneath the thumb.

  “Bron, do ya mind?” I held my hand out to a beastfolk that looked to be some sort of tiger. He grinned and reached out, grabbing my thumb and quickly yanking it back. I hardly winced, [Pain Tolerance] putting in some work.

  The woman spoke a quick incantation and the magic of the staff lit up in my senses. First the burn healed, leaving behind a bit of a tingly feeling, then the broken bone mended itself and lastly the small cut fused back together seamlessly. She grinned when she opened her eyes again and gauged her mana pool.

  “You said the staff without crystals was eleven gold?” She had Bron hold the scepter as she dug into her coin purse. She got out five silver as well that she passed to me sheepishly. The third member of their party was simply looking disinterestedly at the other wares on the walls. He looked to be a sort of rogue and, save for daggers, would be hard pressed to find much here he wanted.

  Eric took another few moments to check them out and have them fill out the warranty paperwork before turning to me and eyeing the three swords on my hip. “Lios, I assume you are here regarding our deal? I’ll go fetch Orvack. While you two converse, did you want to pick up any other materials today?”

  “Yes, please, I’d like to get the Zephyrim and possibly azure sycamore for the scabbard rather than the entoak, if only because its particularly fitting color-wise for a blade with a wind attribute.” I smirked at the man. I had, of course, brought with me two dozen gold coins. A solid three quarters of my current wealth.

  “Sure thing. Wait here a few while I go let the boss know you're here.” He was off like a shot, ready to sell more and earn more commissions.

  All told, I only had to wait another ten minutes before he returned with a similar crate of materials. I quickly checked them out, refusing any more mana steel for the time being but this time opting to buy a single ingot of orichalcrum, which I hadn’t used in the previous blade, alongside the two ingots of zephyrim. I also ordered a few spare ingots of svertim, the bronze like material one of my favorites for accenting the weapons. I grinned as I quickly scooped them all up including the azure sycamore into my inventory and paid. It was a touch less than thirteen gold for the lot, once again, and I cried inside at the lightening of my finances. Hopefully the swords at my hip would sell for a decent amount.

  I didn’t have to wait too long for Orvack to come find me. I was stood off to the side as Eric continued to help other customers when the large man stepped into the shopfront proper from one of the back doors. His eyes swept over the growing crowd of customers until he saw me. On catching my eyes he waved to me, indicating I should follow him out. I did so, walking past the attendant's counter and straight up to the grizzled smith.

  “Orvack, it’s a pleasure to see ya again. How's business?” I said, making small talk as he led me to another room, an office. The office was fairly plain. On the walls there were a few items displayed. A dagger here, a helm that looked to have been melted, a suit of armor on a stand in the corner. A rug that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a few months was under the desk and the chairs, soot from blacksmiths boots caked between the fibers. A decent sized wooden chair with no cushions made of a dark mahogany was behind the plainly decorated mahogany desk. There, he sat behind a desk with hardly anything on it save for a few small tools to check things like gems, the quality of metal, and other identifying items.

  “Lios, was it? Business is good. I see that you have not one but three blades on your hip, are those the products for our partnership?” As I took a seat his eyes lingered on the weapons.

  I smiled and took off the two I didn’t have any intention of keeping, setting them on the desk before the large man. The instant I did so I saw his eyes flash, telling me he used an appraisal skill. They widened ever so slightly before he crossed his arms and leaned back. “So, tell me, what were you hoping to sell these for?”

  “I’ll level with you, Orvack, I haven't much experience selling my weapons when they have these sorts of enchantments on them. Previously, when I sold weapons I had enchanted, they had only had a single or maybe two enchantments on them. These swords have three major enchantments, and so I’m unfortunately unsure what they would typically sell for. Plus, the market in Ironfell is much more competitive than Arborton. Most of what I made there had been nails and axeheads, as you might imagine.” True to myself I decided to be honest about my expectations, and that I didn’t have much of any. “I’d like to sell them on commission, even though that’ll take a fair bit longer to actually see profits coming in.”

  “Hmm. I think I could sell them each for a solid platinum coin, if I’m being honest. These two swords are exceptional for your level and the level of adventurers here. They should be fairly close to top of the line for any fire based adventurers up to level one fifty, so I don't doubt they’ll sell fairly quickly.” Orvack slowly drew one of the swords, having not seen the blade just yet and grinned a little bit. “One hundred and twenty gold, that’s what we’ll charge for it. Sound fair?”

  “Aye, it does.” I watched as he withdrew some paper and used a quill to sign his name. When he passed it over, I skimmed it and found it was a fairly simple commissions contract, allowing me to safely sell with Orvack and retain some anonymity. I signed it as well, surprised that he used mundane contracts when magical ones were a possibility. “Welp, I suppose I ought to go getting to work on the next few swords, aye? I have a design I think will work well for them.”

  As I stood, Orvack reached out a hand allowing a grin to breach his lips. “Pleasure doing business with you Lios. I look forward to seeing what you can do with a higher level, what did smithing these get you to?”

  Curious myself, as I hadn’t taken too much time to check my status post dungeon, I opened it up. I smiled softly, seeing the steady increase in my skill levels and classes. I had gained another several levels in my [Wayfaring Craftsman of the Tumultuous Maelstrom] class from making the last two swords. Mostly, I was excited to see some growth in [He Who Wanders] and [Compendium Actualization], mostly due to the effects I was hoping it would gain in smithing.

  [Class]

  [Bladedancer] lvl 104

  [Class Skills]

  [Bladed Weapon Mastery] LVL:104

  [Runedancing] LVL:104

  [Dodging] LVL:104

  [Intuition] LVL:104

  [Mana Sense] LVL:93

  [Mana Manipulation] LVL:99

  [Rune Compendium] LVL:104

  [He Who Wanders] LVL:9

  [Runesight] LVL:89

  [Compendium Actualization] LVL:62

  [Secondary Class]

  [Wayfaring Craftsman of the Tumultuous Maelstrom] LVL: 36

  [Secondary Class Skills]

  [Runesmithing] LVL:36

  [Runeweaving] LVL:21

  [Ephemeral Forge] LVL:36

  [Runic Inscribing] LVL:36

  [Maelstrom Modification] LVL:34

  [Arcane Analysis] LVL:25

  [Detect Metal] LVL:8

  X3 Unavailable

  [General Skills]

  [Running] LVL:90

  [Meditation] LVL:55

  [Twin Pact] LVL: 104

  [Distant Recollections] LVL:31

  [Cooking] LVL:24

  [Pain Resistance] LVL:92

  [Training] LVL:92

  [Portent of the Thaumaturge] LVL:104

  [Syncopate] LVL:72

  X1 Unavailable

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  “It went up to level thirty six.” I said trying not to let pride fill my voice. I knew I was still but a small fish in a massive pond, and that the man before me was of a significantly higher experience. Still, I couldn’t help feel prideful. Every small bit of growth was an incredible boon. Even my smithing class aided my combat potential and my combat class aided my crafting potential in a myriad of ways.

  “I look forward to seeing what you can do when you evolve your class.” Orvack grinned at me and picked the two sheathed swords up. “I suppose now is a good time to see if there are any interested parties for these weapons. You did good work, I’m sure they wont take long to sell. Helps that they are pretty too.”

  I grinned back at the older smith, taking his teasing in stride. “I sure hope they do, now I’ve just gotta figure out the enchantments for the next few models and decide how pretty I’ll make em. Figured your shop could do with some more beauty, ya know?”

  He laughed and led me back out to the shop floor. He quickly set both swords on racks on the wall behind the counter and informed the staff of the price for them, keeping the price the same for both. I still thought that the one with Inferno’s embrace was better, but both would surely be powerful.

  After that, I returned to the guild and secured myself a booth in the corner of the room. The guild hall was fairly busy, bustling with adventurers preparing to depart for quests as usual. I simply drew out my Lexico books, wanting to work on my wind enchantment. I didn’t know how much I wanted it to do compared to the flame one, but I knew I wanted to try to make something different.

  I started by writing down the effects I wanted it to have. Wind aura of some kind.. Hmm, maybe I can launch a blade of wind? How do I enhance that like the flame blade? I mused and glanced down at my sheet of paper, sighing at the notes I was making. I felt that fire had been the easiest to conceptualize for a sword. Lightning wasn’t too far behind, but it certainly wasn’t easy to come up with a new enchantment. Wind was a fair bit more difficult. Something to increase the speed of my strikes? I tapped at the table as Luka and Sky ate from plates provided by the guild. We had made it just in time, they were stopping breakfast service and had some extra meat that needed eating along with some fruits. The foxes were all too happy to help.

  I spent a good while sitting there, simply conceptualizing the next enchantment, until a shadow fell over my paper. I glanced up to see the blue armored warrior who had a habit of glaring at me standing above the table with three other scruffy looking adventurers.

  “Care if we sit?” The man said in a tone that suggested he was going to sit anyway. I shrugged, but pulled my books and notes closed, setting them in the bag I had brought down from my room. As I went to grab my enchanting notes, the last book on the table, blue boy snatched it up and started to look over it.

  “What's this? Fancy yourself a wizard?”

  I narrowed my eyes, flicking them over the other’s faces as I felt Luka and Sky grumble beside me. I sent them a missive to be calm, that there was no point in starting a conflict here. “And if I do? I’d appreciate you returning my book.”

  “And if I don’t?” The man started to flip through the pages but he barely looked at the pages, seeming satisfied to antagonize me despite not understanding what he was looking at.

  “Is there something I could help you with, Mr.?” I saw the other three had hands on their weapons. One had a hammer, another a shortsword and dagger, and the last a spear that he leaned against the wall within arms reach as he sat, sandwiching me between the four.

  “Yes, Yes there is. You see, I’ve noticed you hanging out with two of my friends and I’m afraid they are too kind to ask you to leave them alone. They’ve asked me to do so.” His statement confused me. I looked around confused for a few moments.

  “Oh? And who are your friends?”

  “The elf girl and her pretty bard friend.” The man grinned at me menacingly, setting the book on the table but keeping his hand on it.

  “What are their names, these friends of yours? I find myself hanging around far too many pretty women for that description to narrow it down.” My heart thumped a little bit as I realized he was talking about Eva and Rose. That he was trying to get me to stay away from them, and would likely use force to do so. “On a side note, if you don’t give me back my notes I’m afraid I’ll have to ignore your request. If your greasy fingers damage them in any way, I’m afraid I’ll be forced to leave similar marks on you.”

  “Threatening me? Do you have any idea who I am? I could have you sanctioned just for your words alone!” The man did hold himself with an air of superiority, cockiness and arrogance befitting those of the noble class. Still, that idle threat did not dissuade me.

  “No, I don’t know who you are. Nor do I care. I won’t be leaving my friends simply because you, what, politely requested I do so?” I scoffed at the man then waved my fingers toward the book. “Now, follow through with your threat and show you are unable to resolve your own issues without your family's name, proving to the world that you're nothing more than a spoiled manbaby who can only cry to get what they want, or give me my damn book and get out of my face.”

  His face reddened, nicely contrasting his azure armor, and he glared at me. “You dare call me a manbaby? You’ll pay for that.” His voice was rising causing a few of the other adventurers to turn their attention to our table. “There’s a third option, you country bumpkin. You’ll pay for insulting me.”

  He made to take the book in both hands threatening to tear the pages to pieces. I sighed and prompted Luka who had been ready to move from the moment the man sat down. A spike of stone shot from the ground through the armored man's foot, clanging against the metal boots. The man cursed and dropped my book which I promptly scooped into my bag, not rising as the other three looked on confused. The one with the hammer stood and drew his weapon first upon realizing I’d attacked their leader.

  “You’ll pay for that!” Blue man growled as he moved to stand up.

  “Well, it appears inevitable that we are set to fight. Mayhap we can do so outside where we won't break anything?” I stood up slowly, pulling my bag to my shoulder.

  “A swell idea, Alexilios.” A new voice sounded from amongst some of those who had gathered. “Might I suggest the guilds training hall?” Perry stepped out from the crowd and surveyed the situation slowly, noting that the blue man had a bit of sweat rolling down his face as he pulled his foot up from the stone that had impaled it.

  “Guildmaster! This boar attacked me without any provocation!” The man exclaimed pointing at me.

  “Ethan Penrose, yes? I do believe that when you threaten someone with status, steal their belongings, and attempt to ostracize an individual from their party that can be considered ‘provocation’, or do you not agree?” Perry crossed his thick hairy dwarven arms and took another few steps forward. “Now, if you wish to fight you all will do so in the training hall. I’ll oversee. If you don't then you may leave but I will not condone violence within my guild without reason. Understood? That goes for young Alexilios as well, worry not he will be punished for harming you but only after this conflict resolves itself.”

  The man looked furious for a few moments before he steeled his eyes and nodded. “Then we will fight in the training hall.” His compatriots nodded along and all stood, making enough room for me and the foxes to escape the booth.

  I sighed heavily as I passed them, then glanced at the dozens of adventurers who all looked positively elated that they could watch a fight. In the back of the crowd I noticed Eva and Rose as they entered the guild, confused by the commotion. “Lead the way, Perry. Lets get this over with, I have more studying to do.” I filled my voice with as much derision and nonchalance as I could.

  “This is okay though, right Perry? This fight?” I asked with a touch of hesitation lacing my voice.

  “Aye. so long as there was no clear violation of the guildhalls rules, the standard is to settle disputes in the form of a spar. It doesn’t seem to happen too often, most folk are mature enough to handle things themselves.” Perry frowned and looked up at me as I walked beside him, slowly following Ethan and his cronies to the training room. “Truthfully, both of you came close to violating guildhall rules. Him by attempting to force you away from your companions through threats of violence, destruction of property, and intimidation. You, for spearing the lads foot with a rock. Yes I saw that.”

  “So... what is the punishment for my part?” I had a feeling it wouldn’t be so bad.

  “I’ll need you to repair the floor, or at least pay to have it repaired. Five gold should do nicely. Ye can wait till one of your swords sells, I know you’ve spent most of your coin at this point.”

  I caught a flash of a grin beneath his billowing beard as he nodded and turned to lead the way through the guild to a stairway I hadn’t noticed before. Not that I’d explored the hall extensively. As I followed him Eva and Rose approached me, listening to the whispers of the various adventurers who followed to watch the fight.

  “Whats going on? I feel like it’s not like you to cause trouble.” Eva asked in a hushed tone.

  “Ah, no big deal. The smurf over there wanted to try to get me to stay away from you guys for some reason and resorted to threatening to destroy my research. I had Luka poke a stone into his foot. Now we’re gonna have a fight over you guys or something.” I gave them a footnotes explanation, ignoring their angry gazes. “Claimed they were your friends and that you'd asked me to stay away a while.”

  “Those scumbags, let us help you, I can fight with you!” Eva growled, sending a murderous glance at the blue man who was hobbling along as we walked down the stairs.

  Before I had much chance to respond, we made it into a relatively large chamber. It was around the size of a basketball court with training dummies on either side and a section carved out to train ranged weapons - essentially a large hallway with targets in the distance. The main attraction was a sand filled ring in the center of the room. On one wall, opposite the stairs, was a door that was labeled “Training Dungeons” that piqued my curiosity. I didn’t have any opportunity to explore it though as Adventurers filtered in and took places around the sand pit in the middle of the room.

  Sighing, I drew my sword and entered the ring. I looked around and pursed my lips, feeling uneasy that so many people were standing so close to it. I glanced over at Perry. “Say, does this ring have a protective barrier or something? Also, what are the rules to this fight? Eva, Rose, no need to join me I’ve got this.”

  “Lios, let's talk about this. There are four of them!” Eva growled at me. “Plus, they want to fight you for us, right? Don’t we get a say?”

  “She's right, you're at a disadvantage. I know you're stronger than most but this is foolishness!” Rose agreed, her red hair bouncing as she nodded. It was curled today, making me wonder what she used to curl her hair. Maybe it was like in the movies where they used cardboard or plastic tubes after a shower?

  “I get where you're coming from but... I want to use a show of force.” I sighed, my eyes flicking between the two of them. “Please let me handle them. You shouldn’t have to get your hands dirty for their sake.”

  Rose glared at me, musing over what to say. “We don't need you to protect us, Lios. You might be the hero of Linden, but that doesn’t make you a hero, you don’t have to risk yourself for our sake.”

  “Plus, we are plenty capable of our own defense. You know we are strong too!” Eva growled as she looked over my shoulder at the four fighters behind me. “Let us -”

  “Eva, I want to go all out. Please. I know we don’t know each other well but... my [Intuition] is telling me I can handle them all. They’ll underestimate me because I’m a lone swordsman. I also haven’t got much of a reputation, despite my title. One I don’t feel I’ve earned.” I mumbled the last part but with their enhanced hearing they clearly heard me.

  “How sure are you that you can win with minimal injuries?” Eva asked, her voice stern.

  “I’m more sure than not. I'd say nine out of ten. Maybe a bit higher.” I shrugged semi nonchalantly.

  “Fine. I doubt you’ll relent if we keep arguing. Don’t get hurt though. The forge will miss you.” Eva turned and strode from the edge of the sand pit into the small gathering of other adventurers without letting me get another word in.

  “Are you sure you’ll be fine? Who am I kidding, of course you are. I won’t heal you if you get hurt, understand?” Rose crossed her arms over her chest and I nodded, a small smile on my lips despite the situation. She stepped back until she was outside of the circle beside Eva.

  I stood at the edge of the ring as they both glared and stayed on the outside. Both of them scooped up a wriggling fox, sensing my desire to do this alone. I was starting to really enjoy fighting. I wanted to see if these four could back up the talk of whoever blue man's papa was. I wasn’t familiar with the Penrose family, though I’d likely read the name during my studies of nobility a number of years ago.