Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 495-496 (Patreon)

Arwin beat his own estimations. It took him a grand total of several hours to create the communication devices that Lillia had requested. They actually turned out to be surprisingly simple.

There were really only two challenges within the creation. The first was a way to keep the network of items expandable. They only needed a single ‘mother’ piece that all the ‘daughter’ pieces communicated to, but there would have to be a way for him to continuously add new devices to the network.

The most logical way to pull something like that off was to have a common element between all of them. Like a giant, expanding set. But that didn’t mean he could just use lizard scales for every single device he made.

If the scales came from different lizards, they’d have no connection. What he needed was a functionally endless resource that could constantly be drawn from. Something with a close connection to the Devil’s Den… and something that wouldn’t let anybody use it to somehow harm the Devil’s Den through sympathetic magic.

Arwin had learned enough from Twelve to know that leaving easy connections for anyone to strike at them through was a remarkably bad idea.

The answer had been simple.

Lillia’s garbage. Specifically, all the components that her cooking didn’t end up using. Her magic lingered upon the garbage’s surface, but only in passing. It was just enough to form a temporary connection that would last, as far as Arwin could guess, a few days at most.

All he had to do for the daughter pieces was to encase the scraps of garbage within two pieces of interlocking metal, almost like an unfinished puzzle. When they were twisted together, a connection would establish between the daughter and mother device for a short while — which was just long enough for a delivery to take place.

Any devices taken too far away from the Devil’s Den would struggle to have a good connection, but that could always be improved in the future. Arwin didn’t forsee it being a particularly difficult task.

As for the mother device — he made a clock.

It felt like the right idea at the time. Wallace lended a hand, creating a few pieces for Arwin while he built a more permanent connection to the Devil’s den by kidnapping a piece of coal from Lillia’s kitchen.

The coal went into a compartment at the back of the clock. It could be replaced at will. That lack of deep connection to the Devil’s Den further ensured nobody would be able to use sympathetic magic to harm anything important. Any attacks made through the connection would just end up destroying the coal and would leave everything else unharmed.

As it turned out, Wallace had some extensive experience with artisan creations. The moment he came back with the pieces he’d prepared to help Arwin, he also pulled out a number of gears and little trinkets that Arwin had never even seen before.

The dwarf was so excited to make the clock that Arwin barely even got a chance to see half of what he was doing. He just focused on making sure the magic entering the clock held the right intent and using the components that were most willing to work with him.

And then, just a few hours after they had started work — and late in the morning on the day after Arwin had gotten his class Sunsetted — the mother device was done. It was one of the first entirely non-combat oriented items that Arwin had ever made, but he was quite satisfied with the result.

Eat-o-Clock: Epic Quality

[Mother Daughter Array]: The Eat-o-Clock is capable of sustaining connections to [50] daughter items using the item within its core. Connections are created by touching the daughter items to any part of this item’s surface.

[BRRING]: When a daughter item activates the connection between itself and the Eat-o-Clock, the Eat-o-Clock will ring. It will also distribute a [Tracking Bracelet].

[Tracking Bracelets]: The Eat-o-Clock automatically presses temporary [Tracking Bracelets] into being upon the activation of [BRRING] by connecting premade bracelets with small pieces of the core item inside it. They will function for the duration of the connection between the Eat-o-Clock and the daughter item. This ability will not function if there are no materials to create bracelets from.  

[Forged For One]: This item was forged specifically to be attached to the Devil’s Den. Its abilities will not function for any other users. 

The system was all neatly contained. All he had to do was make blank metal bracelets for the clock, add them to the box along with the piece of coal, and then the clock would handle everything else for him.  

Completing the magical item had also rewarded with something that Arwin hadn’t felt before. Just with all the other items he’d made, it had granted him magic when he’d finished making it. But this time had been different.

The magic still entered his body, but it felt… directionless. It just lingered within his soul like an unwound spring. Arwin didn’t feel any direct increase in his strength yet. It was almost as if the power was waiting to be used.

This had to be what the Mesh had spoken of — allowing him to distribute his power how he saw fit instead of letting it do it for him. Arwin resolved to look further into it after he got Lillia the newly created Eat-o-Clock, which already had five blank bracelets readied within it and ready to use.

Arwin and Wallace carried the fruits of their labor into the Devil’s Den. The tavern had already re-opened to the public, and there were more than a few interested gazes that lingered on their backs as they entered the kitchen.

“Whoa,” Wallace said as a box of vegetables hurtled past his head, ferrying its contents away from a sloshing sink and over to where Lillia stood at the far end of the kitchen. The entire room was alive with dancing metal and dishes that flitted in every direction, somehow never colliding with each other.

“You’re done? Already?” Lillia asked, her eyes going wide as she caught a glimpse of the clock in Arwin’s hands.

He grinned and glanced in the dwarf’s direction. “I got some help. Wallace ended up swinging by at a good time.”

“Set it up!” Wallace said eagerly. I want to see how it works. Delivering food… what a novel concept. I’ve never even thought of it before. The logistics seem difficult. But if you could pull this off, it would be incredible! I could have beer! Whenever I wanted! In my own forge!”

“I’m glad to see your assistance was entirely selfless,” Lillia said with a wry grin. She took the clock from Arwin and examined it, her eyes sparking with excitement. She then set it on a shelf.

The metal box really wasn’t anything too impressive to look at. It wasn’t even technically a clock. It didn’t keep the time at all. The only thing that actually gave it any resemblance to a clock was—

A screech rang out through the kitchen as a slot slipped to the side on the box’s front. A small metal sculpture of a bird in flight shot out form within the box, its wings flapping once as it screeched again. Then it retraced back into the box and went silent.

“It connected to the Devil’s Den,” Lillia exclaimed. “How is this a clock, though?”

“Well, it tells you when it’s time to deliver food,” Arwin said, scratching the back of his head. “Kind of clock-adjacent.”

“Only tells one time,” Wallace said. “Food time. Hence the name.”

Lillia snorted. “Thank you. Both of you. I can’t believe you got it ready so quickly. This is even better than I was hoping. Now all we have to do is wait for Reya and Olive’s marketing to start paying off. Hopefully we should have a few interested people pretty quickly. Is it difficult to make more of the… eggs?”

“Eggs?” Arwin asked.

“The daughter items,” Lillia said. “The clock has a bird, so eggs seems appropriate.”

“Huh,” Arwin said. “They are kind of egg-shaped. And no, it’s not difficult at all. I can do it just about as easily as making a random band to snack on. If Reya and Olive manage to get a ton of interest really fast, I can make some more without any trouble. But you’ve made sure they set the price relatively high, right? This is a lot more effort than just serving a meal to someone at your tables.”

Lillia nodded. “Yes. It’s high enough that I don’t think we’ll get instantly swamped with orders. It costs 50 gold.”

Arwin’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. That’s a good amount. I didn’t think…”

“Neither did I,” Lillia admitted. “But the Mesh enforces fair pricing for me as part of my class. I have to. Don’t know why. But, apparently, that’s how much this service is worth right now. Most people can’t afford such an expensive meal. It’s honestly a bit ludicrious. I’m sure the Mesh has its reasons. There are enough wealthy adventurers that—”

The door to the kitchen swung open and Reya’s head popped in. Her eyes lit up as she spotted the three of them and she stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

“I heard you were back!” Reya said. She was clearly out of breath, and a faint sheen of sweat covered her forehead. She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. “Did you happen to finish your preparations?”

“…yes?” Arwin half asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Reya said. She cleared her throat. “I may have a few clients for us.”

“What?” Lillia’s eyes widened. “So fast? Even with the price?”

“Well… I was having a bit of trouble because of that.” Reya cleared her throat. “So I changed up my tactics.”

“What does that mean?” Wallace asked curiously.

“I remembered how Lillia said her food has a time limit on it to be effective when you eat it,” Reya said. She scratched the back of her head. “So I may have added a guarantee to our offer.”

“A guarantee?” Lillia tilted her head to the side. “What did you say, Reya?”

“Err…” Reya gave them a sheepish grin. “The Devil’s Den now proudly assures all of its customers that, so long as they are in or near one of the dungeons surrounding Milten, their meal will be free if it isn’t delivered to them within 30 minutes of placing an order.”

Chapter 496

Leon’s breath came in ragged, desperate gasps. His back pressed to the stone wall behind him, slick with sweat and blood, and exhaustion pulled at his fingers to coax the sword from their limp grip.

 Jagged gouges and burn marks covered his armor. Many of them were old, patched up from other dungeons, but the vast majority were new — and they were racking up. The fact that his armor was still in one piece was a miracle. But even miracles could only last so long.

Leon dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the jagged claws of a goblin. He drove his shoulder into the monster’s chest, too tired to even muster up a cry, and brought his knee up into its face.

The blow connected with a loud crack. It sent the goblin’s head snapping back in a spray of blood, and Leon forced his exhausted limbs into motion once more. He planted his sword in the goblin’s chest, driving the blade in up to the hilt.

A rush of relief twisted through his weary limbs as magical energy wove its way into his being. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t anywhere near enough. His breathing was still ragged, his exhaustion still weighed on his shoulders like two millstones.

Another goblin caught him on the side. Its claws raked through the armor, screeching against the hardened metal. One of them slipped through a gouge, slicing into his chest and tearing a snarl of pain from Leon’s lips.

He twisted his body, driving an elbow into the goblin’s skull and sending it reeling to the side. An axe whistled through the air and slammed into the monster with a wet crunch, splitting it in two and continuing down into the floor, where it came to a stop with a loud clang.

“Thanks,” Leon rasped.

Ted just grunted. The other man didn’t have the energy for words. His armor wasn’t in much better shape — and there were a lot of damned goblins left. Far, far too many goblins. They’d overestimated themselves.

A Journeyman dungeon was still too much to handle for the Jumping Tigers. If they’d just waited a few more weeks, if they’d just been a little more prepared —

It no longer mattered.

There must have been a dozen goblins between them and survival, and that wasn’t to mention the Shaman standing at the back of the horde, blocking the only exit of the room and the only way to safety.

The wretched creature waved its staff, sending a wave of shimmering energy rolling out over the monsters around it. Every single one of the fallen goblins twitched. Then they jerked upright, puppets pulled by strings.

There was no light behind their eyes, but there didn’t need to be. Leon’s jaw clenched tighter still.

“Again,” Leon snarled. “How many damn times can it do that?”

The horde of monsters jerked toward them, leaping for the kill.

A crack rolled through the cave, followed instants later by a wave of white light. It slammed into the goblins and threw them back like a dozen dolls, scattering the green monsters across the room to crash into the walls.

Sickly purple light swirled to life around the goblin shaman an instant before the white light could connect with it. The wave shattered into harmless fragments that fell to the ground like falling snow.

“Shit,” Ajax, leader of the Jumping Tigers, wheezed. He leaned heavily against the gnarled wooden staff, his face weathered by exhaustion. His robes were torn to shreds and his body was matted with blood — only some of which belonged to him. “I need a potion. Healing. Now!”

“We’re out,” Ted replied, coughing as he fought to lift his axe once again.

The goblins twitched. The shaman waved its staff and the monsters jerked back to their feet, just as ready to fight as they had been at the beginning of this nightmare. This fight was ludicrous. The goblins didn’t seem to have any limit to their abilities.

Anger swirled in Leon. He tried to draw on it, to channel it into strength, but it was futile. He just didn’t have anything left to draw on. And, worse, he knew all to well that this fight was anything but diffiuclt.

If they’d brought someone with ranged physical attacks, the shaman would have been simple work. If he or Ted had been strong enough to clear the way to the shaman for long enough to attack it, they’d have already won.

There was nothing unfair about the fight.

They were just too weak.

“What about magical aids?” Ajax asked desperately. “Come on! What happened to our damn resources? I’m out of everything! I don’t think I’ve got another spell left in me!”

“We’ve got nothing,” Leon said. The back hit his wall and he nearly lost his footing on the slick ground. A bitter smile twisted across his lips.

Life could change so quickly.

Just twenty minutes ago, he’d been so certain that the Journeyman dungeon was as good as dealt with. He’d been so confident that they’d be able to take it down with just the three of them and pocket the very sizable rewards that they’d harvested.

Everything had been going great. Once they got out of the dungeon, they’d have been able to make enough money to pay off the last of their debts. To get some new armor made. To strengthen and come back stronger than ever.

Now they weren’t going to make it long enough to get another sip of water.

“How are we out?” Ajax demanded. “We had money! I knew we shouldn’t have wasted it on—”

“We exceeded the potion budget. The money we spent was from personal coffers,” Ted said. He wiped his mouth with the back of a hand. A goblin leapt at him and he kicked it away, sending the monster crashing into one of its brethren. “Nobody to blame, Ajax. We planned it out. We just didn’t plan it right. How could we have known?”

The mage looked away. He swallowed. Then his grip on his staff went slack. The gnarled wood fell to the ground with a clatter and the thin man raised his hands before him in a weak fighting stance.

“It’s been good,” Ajax said. “I’m sorry I didn’t prepare better. I’ve failed as your team leader.”

Ted let his axe drop as well. He didn’t have the strength to lift it again. His hands were the only weapons left to him, and Leon was in the exact same position.

“One final charge?” Leon suggested, well aware there was no way they’d make it. The goblins would tear them to shreds well before they got halfway to the shaman — but he’d be damned if he died fighting here.

“Better than the alternative,” Ted growled.

“Did that stupid thing even work?” Ajax asked, sending a quick glance at Ted.

“No,” Ted said with a sharp bark of laughter. “I mean, we’ve got a few minutes left, but I think we all knew it wouldn’t. It just sounded too good to be true. I couldn’t resist.”

Leon’s lips twitched into the faintest of smiles. “Well, you were always the most optimistic one of us. Until the other side, brothers.”

“Make sure to choke ‘em as you go down,” Ted said. “Never let it be said that the Jumping Tigers gave up. Until the end!”

Leon let out a scream. It was more ragged terror than anything else, but Ted and Ajax’s voices joined into the mix. The three of them charged. It was a sad, stumbling lope more than anything that could generate any true fear.

But it was better than standing still.

They slammed into the wall of goblins. White hot lines of pain seared into Leon’s side as claws dug into his sides and screeched against his armor. He felt his fist meet flesh. His forehead slammed down into a green skull. Hot, rank breath and blood splattered all around him. Most of it was his own.

He barely even noticed. There was nothing left in his body but adrenaline, and that too was nearly spent. He screamed, his voice so raw that nothing came out but a jagged hiss, and he fought with every last scrap of energy that remained within him.

His balled fists fell upon a goblin’s skull. It crumpled to the ground. His shoulder caught the mouth of another. Its teeth dug into his armor, but he barely even noticed.

Leon just fought.

He fought as he waited to die.

But, for some reason, he didn’t.

The goblins didn’t overwhelm him. They fell beneath his fists… and they didn’t get back up. But he didn’t have time to be confused. His body was moving on its own, his fists rising and falling incessantly.

He stumbled free of the mess, armor tattered and bloody straps of flesh hanging free of his body —

And not a single goblin rose to meet him.

Leon blinked.

The shaman laid on the ground before him, a pool of blood forming around its corpse, a dagger lodged in the back of its skull.

It was dead.

Above it stood a young woman, a leather bag slung over her shoulder and blood splattered across her face.

He blinked.

Am I hallucinating?

Ted stumbled up behind Leon, Ajax leaning heavily against his side. The two of them stared at the woman, disbelief etched into their bloodied faces. They were clearly seeing the same thing that Leon was.

“Hey! Sorry for interfering,” the girl said, slinging the bag off her shoulder and holding it out. “But, uh, it didn’t look like you were going to clear this room in time for the guarantee, and I don’t want to get scolded on my first delivery.”

The Jumping Tigers stared at the woman.

 Then, from somewhere within the blood splattered haze, Leon’s brain kicked back into motion.

He knew who this was.

“You,” Leon said, his eyes going wide. “Aren’t you that woman that was with Ifrit back at the market? Reya?”

“Oh! Yeah!” Reya nodded. “I remember you! You might want to buy some new armor. That stuff doesn’t look too good. Please take the food, though. I’m not counting conversation as a delay in delivery.”

Ted mutely reached out, taking the bag from Reya. He stared down at it. “I… what?”

“What do you mean, what?” Reya asked. “It didn’t get banged up, did it?”

“No,” Ted muttered. “No. It didn’t.”

“And I made it within the time limit. Less than thirty minutes,” Reya said. “So… that’s that. Eat it fast. It’ll get worse if it’s cold.”

They all stared at her.

“Is there something on my face?” Reya asked.

“Yes,” Leon said. “Blood.”

“Oh,” Reya said. She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. “Sorry about stealing your kill. Uh… part of the contract. Thirty minute delivery times take some sacrifices, you know. So… yeah. Enjoy.”

Then she stepped backward, her form turning translucent as she passed right through the doorway without even opening it.

Leon looked down at the corpse of the shaman on the ground between the three of them. Then he looked back at his guildmates.

Ted spat blood onto the floor. Then he reached into the bag and pulled out a chicken leg. And, even through the rancid scent of viscera lingering in the air and the blood slicking Leon’s nostrils, it smelled delicious.

Then Ted sat down on top of the corpse of a goblin and tore into it, biting into the meat and swallowing it without even chewing. Juice dribbled down his chin to mingle with the blood covering his face. He didn’t even seem to notice. Ted reached into the bag with his other hand to pull out another drumstick.

Wordlessly, Leon and Ajax sat down beside him. There was nothing left to be said. Nothing that could be said. Against all possibilities, they were somehow alive.

There was only one option left to them now.

The Jumping Tigers just ate their delivery.