Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Ninety-Three (Patreon)

"Hmm,” Tom said, examining everything. “You know, I haven’t really done a commission in a few decades, but some of this is pretty interesting.”

“Interesting? Interesting?!” Old Cai exclaimed, clearly in a spot of agitation. “Look at some of this! Why, they even have some of that grand old transfiguration liquid! They’re not even Ascended yet, but they’ve brought in quite a treat. We ought to give them a good piece of service! And what about you, Young Lady? Need a new spear or a special enchantment, perhaps?”

“You could have had Old Cai do the stones,” Beth cut in with a smirk before Sera, who he had been talking to, could respond.

“Ha! I wouldn’t have someone of his level do something like that,” Sera replied with a grin, shaking her head.

“What stones are these? Out with, you rascals,” Cai commanded.

“Just these,” Sera said, producing the special stones she had bought that she had had turned into massage aids.

“Oh, a nice set,” Cai said, pulling out something that resembled a monocle but had dozens of complex runes scribed on it. “I have set of a old rumble myself. Helps ease that tension in the joints. Shame you had someone second rate cut the work into them.”

“Ha! You old dog, anyone below Divine is second rate to you,” Old Tom snorted, gathering up a set of materials from Beth’s pile before pulling out a handful of bars of metal from his own stock. “Anyway, if the dragon lass don’t need no spear, then we can get started. The two of you can watch with the boots, then the both of ya can help with the chest piece. We’ll have ya both do some of tha work on tha pants at the end. Sounds good?”

“Sounds perfect,” Beth said, nudging Sera.

“Oh, Cai, you might want to look at it anyway,” said Sera, making the spear appear.

“Ah? Hmm, you’ve put quite a strong level release item on it,” the old man muttered, taking Sera’s spear and examining it with his custom monocle device. “Hmph, decent work on the smithing, but the rune work is second rate, and I don’t just mean that because it was somebody who hasn’t got a proper rank doing it. They didn’t fold the enchantments into the metal properly.”

“Aw, it’s fine enough work,” Old Tom said, having glanced at the spear while he heated the forge. “Go get some of the others and have them look at some of that liquid. You do have more o’ it, lassie?”

“We’ve got a small pool’s worth, though we’d like some to work with ourselves,” Beth replied, a little hesitantly. She had known the liquid was valuable, to be sure, but she hadn’t realized quite how valuable it was, considering these old monsters’ keen interest in it.

“Bah, we’ll only use a little, and some of that on your new armor, besides,” Cai snorted, tossing Sera her spear back.

The old alchemist slipped out of the shop as the others got down to business, or rather, as Old Tom started the forging process and Beth and Sera watched. She was still fascinated by the way the old dwarf hammered the metal while folding runes and mana into the piece, finding his combination of pure old school techniques and more advanced methods to be rather brilliant. Watching him forge made the time fly, and they had plenty of that, for now.

What was really special was watching the way he took care with everything step. Nothing Old Tom did was ever rushed or done with haste or waste, but neither was he slow or plodding in his smithing, his hammer blows always ringing out with the same time and rhythm. The way he folded in mana, added and moved the runes, and molded the metal to suit his whim and desire was hypnotic, a mesmerizing act that Beth could watch for hours. She and Sera even missed the others enter at first, Amalia and a few of the others they had met on their previous stay here coming in to look at the liquid Beth had brought and discuss some of the rare materials that were still laid out in rows on the far side of the smithy.

Tom was such a master of the craft that it took him but two hours to forge the first piece, or maybe pieces was more accurate, considering he was making a pair of boots. After finishing the process, he turned to the two and grilled them on the work, asking questions about what he had done and why, forcing them to think through the entire forging. When they were done getting grilled, though it was more like charbroiled, he had them join him in heating and working the metal for Beth’s new chest piece, though they were only acting as assistants or secondaries. Tom still did the vast majority of the work, but he did leave some room for them to get some hammer blows of their own in and participate in the shaping a bit.

The piece turned out better than Beth expected, honestly, examining it after they finished and were taking a long break. With their involvement, and the piece being rather complex, it had slowed the process down quite a bit, and they had spent the rest of that afternoon working the forge. Not that they were physically tired after such work, but everyone would need a little break after focusing for so long, even the best crafters in the galaxy.

Beth already would have been plenty satisfied there, with two new pieces of armor that were top of the line for her current level and build, but they had one more to go. That was going to be the work of the whole night, it turned out, though it wasn’t an issue for anyone there. Even with the focus and mental energy the work demanded, Beth and Sera could go for days on end without a break and still not tire out; they would, in fact, tire mentally and start making mistakes long before they felt any signs of physical exhaustion.

But they didn’t have to worry about that tonight, considering they had only helped a bit with one piece before this. Now that they were doing more of the work, they had to focus more, and the process took much longer than either of the first two pieces, but they learned a huge amount. Beth learned better that way, anyway, getting a great deal out of the doing of a thing rather than from the studying of a thing, though that did clash a bit with her history of epiphanies, considering she had several just from seeing something. Either way, she wasn’t getting an epiphany tonight, but she was getting an updated set of armor, something that could match her gauntlets, circlet, and sword.

Old Tom had asked before they started what the general idea was, and he had a good head for such things, so they landed exactly where they needed. Considering that level hadn’t been an issue for Beth in a long time, and likely still wouldn’t be for dozens of rebirths, she had asked the pieces be made to level five hundred standard. Considering they were rebirth seventeen right now, their max level was already currently five hundred forty, so she could use the pieces right away. They could have made them stronger, even much stronger and used items to bring down the level requirements, but Beth would rather have an impeccable set of level five hundred gear than a down-leveled set. The differences weren’t that great, and she could either get help for upgrades, buy something with the wealth they would generate over the next few years, or just make it herself.

Speaking of making it themselves, their contributions had given them some insights, but the leap to Grandmaster wasn’t quite that easy. Beth and Sera took some time to rest and eat after they finished helping before they both dove into projects of their own. For Tom, given his skill and perception, keeping track of two young smiths at the same time was trivial, even while he continued to work on pieces of his own in the meantime. Beth hadn’t expected to get the rank right away, but she knew if she and Sera made a concerted effort, it wouldn’t be that long with the help of these incredible masters at their back.

Honestly, it had worked out better than she had hoped, given that she was only hoping Old Tom would help with the armor, but he had been more than willing to work with them to help them level. Beth was running under the same assumption as last time; these guys were just bored. The duality of not wanting to be bothered or to have to deal with all the politics and bullshit, while at the same time not having anything all that interesting or exciting walk through the door. Let alone the fact that Beth had brought something interesting this time that even the great crafters couldn’t just get their hands on with a snap of the fingers. Old Cai had been so please to be given just a few dozens gallons of the stuff that he had tossed a box of elixirs to each of them. For the old fellow they likely weren’t worth all that much, but they ranged from some ten stat increases all the way up to some one hundred stat increases that wouldn’t interfere with anything else they had taken.

Beth also wanted to take a little while to test the new armor, considering it gave a much bigger boost than what she had been using. At her level, ironically enough, just a small change in armor could mean a big difference. She was used to having tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of stats now, but it still was a difference when her armor when from doubling her Strength, taking it over four hundred thousand, to close to tripling it, taking it up to over six hundred thousand. And that was without her sword, which added another hundred percent Strength increase on top of it, taking her Strength with her full set up to around nine hundred thousand.

There were some restrictions on that, however, including that weapons with stat increases usually applied the primary increase when they were being used. By that, it was meant that if Beth swung her sword, or blocked with it, she would get that full bonus Strength, and she would get some of it just being in battle with the blade, but weapons didn’t usually give much or any of their bonus if they were equipped. One couldn’t just strap ten swords to one’s waist and back and suddenly have five or tens times their usual Strength, even given that those were superb weapons like Beth’s that increased Strength by a good margin. There were also some diminishing returns on the amount of stat increases equipment could give overall, but Beth was just under that line with her Strength and not close to it with her other stats. Comparing her old armor to her new armor showed just what a difference it was:

Rockhide Chestplate

{This chestplate, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability and Greater Repair.

20% increased Strength.

10% increased Dexterity.

50% increased Endurance.

Minimum level 200.}

Dominant’s Chestplate

{A chestplate forged by a great smith for a great student. The protection offered extends beyond the physical bounds of the piece and can divert excessive mana buildup. The piece offers Grand Durability, Grand Repair, Greater Fitting, and Minor Reflection as enchantments.

50% Increased Strength.

30% Increased Dexterity.

50% Increased Endurance.

25% Increased Wisdom.

Minimum Level 500.}

The difference was pretty clear, especially in the enchantment department, and they hadn’t even needed Old Cai’s help to get there. That was what they had been discussing with runes worked in the metal and rune work done during the forging technique; the piece they had made, or rather, the piece Old Tom had made with a bit of help from them had two Grand enchantments, one Greater enchantment, and one very powerful enchantment at the Minor level. Reflection would bounce back a portion of mana directed at the caster and was rather powerful even at the Minor level, considering that everything used mana. It wasn’t just that Beth’s new armor would send back a bit of fire if someone shot a fireball at her, it would return some of the damage of any skill or ability used on her. After all, everything use mana, including skills and even core powers; reflection was highly sought after as an enchantment on armor and was considered highly difficult for even skilled enchanters, let alone other crafters like smiths or leatherworkers or such.

Just seeing the process had given Beth and Sera a boatload of inspiration, though it hadn’t been enough for an epiphany, or even a rank up. Still, they already had extremely solid foundations and good knowledge, so it was little surprise, even to them, when a few weeks under Old Tom’s tutalege was enough to push both of them the rest of the way to Grandmaster. Beth assumed they were the first two of the group to reach it, given where they were and who they had been working with, but she was both surprised and happy that she was wrong. Kris, somehow, had beaten even them, likely using some of her connections as a very important member of the phoenix clans. Beth still wasn’t sure quite who Kris was, exactly, but Sera had at least known of her, as had Val, even if Sera and Kris hadn’t ever met before joining the team. Considering the aid that the phoenix clans were constantly willing to give Kris, Beth just assumed she was a young princess like Sera or an heir like Val or something and shrugged the rest of it off.

They didn’t just dine and dash with Tom and the others, sticking around for a little bit to help with a few things, though that was just an excuse. Tom didn’t need anything, and the others were just as self sufficient, and Beth certainly wasn’t going to go over to Old Cai’s to milk some toads any time soon, so it was mainly just about socializing. She knew the crafters were hidden away here, but it had taken them quite some time to chase the girls off last time, and this time was no different. It turned out they sometimes missed the stimulus that other people gave, even on a social call, and Beth was happy to stick around and chat for a bit, considering it let her see some true masters at work. She and Sera would have stayed longer, but there was a lot to do and some of it did have some priority, even if things weren’t exactly the absolute most pressing right now.

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