Chapter 657 - Rumors

“Hey, Mik.” I greet as I barge into the smithy.

The velnar in the corner of the room groans, and the heat inside rises. Partially ignoring me he takes a piece of metal he is hammering and throws it back into the forge, and the heat rises up even more.

So silly. He’s long since known it won’t work on me.

As I absorb the heat, I move closer and observe the axe he has thrown into the forge. He already carved pathways into it using his golden-colored tools. I know either he’ll alter it for one of his disciples or the weapon will be sold to some inscription master.

“I’m busy,” he complains.

(He doesn’t seem very busy,) Sophie says in my mind.

“You don’t seem very busy,” I say out loud.

Once again, the temperature rises, but I absorb it all, to his growing annoyance. This poor big fella is used to using heat as a wall and an excuse to get rid of people who annoy him.

He is a smart man. I would totally do something similar.

“Are you annoyed because the items I made sold well?”

With a movement like an attacking viper, he turns to me. Seeing such a huge body move so fast is quite scary, but I’m brave, so I face him.

(Why did you want me to watch this?) Sophie asks.

“What is someone like you doing in Primordial Knights? These lunatics don’t usually gather crafters.” the velnar asks instead of answering.

“Please, Mik, even though new, I’m also a member of the Primordial Knights. You can’t be so rude about them in front of me,” I answer Mik.

(It’s more fun when I talk with you too. It keeps my mind busy.) I say to mini Sophie.

(Nat, are you using me as second monitor content because of your terrible attention span??)

(No.) I defend myself.

Meanwhile, I take a few more steps and stop in front of Mik. “So? Just say it. Did my items sell?”

“Only a lunatic like someone from the Primordial Knights could make such items. Why were they so ugly? And why did so many of them hurt their user if careless or explode when used wrong?”

“Just use them correctly, it is easy. And I left notes and precautions for each item in case someone cowardly got them. But the performance should be good. Since you’re twisting like this, I guess you were wrong about no one wanting to buy them?”

Finally, he lowers his head in defeat. “They all sold during the auction a day ago.”

Somewhere deep inside, this velnar seems to be hurt. He is someone who holds great respect for his craft, but he might have forgotten how insane most Beyonders are.

(I estimate your cut to be 100,000 shards,) I hear that voice in my head.

(Only? Some of those items were fancy.)

(You mean the Antomic Bomb 2.0 and Sparrow Obliterator 9999? Both of them could kill the user far more easily than whatever they were meant to fight.)

(I miss them both. And I think you also underestimate Beyonders. I’m sure they loved them and fought for the opportunity to buy them.)

(Whatever helps you sleep at night.)

“Your cut, as per our deal, is 155,000 shards,” Mik says.

I feel Sophie immediately disconnect from our call and decide not to push it, being the gracious winner I am.

While I gather my prize from Mik, I start to wonder if this is really the best way to make shards. So far, I’ve held off on buying an upper arcane passive because I don’t need it. Something that powerful would just be deactivated most of the time to avoid making things too easy. There’s already too much I experiment with. Even so, I’m not dumb. I realize the value of a passive of such a grade, and I already know what I’ll buy if I ever truly need it.

Sure, it will take some time to fully apply, but in the future, I’ll probably be blaming my past self.

One of the reasons I’ve kept over two million shards is to make more shards. With such a huge sum, it should be possible. The problem is that I haven’t yet found a proper way to do it.

Yes, getting a few hundred thousand shards here and there is nice, but it’s far from optimal, even though I'm using guild facilities and also buying the materials from the guild, as I was able to get into my contract. I think they’ve underestimated how many materials I might be buying.

"I will see you later, Mik."

"Please don't return."

***

The next crafter I visit is someone I lovingly call Dave.

Dave is a Lumoran, and like all of them, he has black skin with transparent blue crystals covering parts of it. Compared to the many Lumorans I’ve met on the 7th floor, he has more of these crystals than most. That either means he's very old or very high level. In his case, I’m guessing it’s age since he doesn’t seem all that strong.

But Dave is very experienced, intelligent, knowledgeable, and talented when it comes to inscribing.

Dave also doesn’t talk. I don’t think he’s mute, it seems more like a decision on his part. Maybe it's like in that story I heard? The old man pretending for decades to be mute just so he wouldn't have to talk to his wife? Like many things, even this internet story is probably just a legend, but a part of me hopes it's true because of how ridiculous it is.

As before, when Dave sees me enter his shop, he smiles, waves, and gestures for me to come closer.

Used to this already, I follow him to one of the backrooms where he shows me three items he bought since the last time I visited three days ago. We spend a few hours examining these items and their structures. One of them is a broken shield, another is an inscribed dagger, and the last one is a pendant. None of them is that impressive, but I’ve learned how much this man admires craftwork.

Even if it might be rough, amateurish, there's a lot you can learn about a person from the lines they made.

Just like Dave, I also point out parts I find interesting, and they’re always very different from what Dave admires. Our inscribing styles are also very different, yet Dave, after seeing my work, never tried to correct me. Instead, he seemed curious where my style might take me and found joy in comparing it with his.

To put it simply, Dave is a chill guy.

As I did before, I take out a small ring I found in one of the Primordial Knights’ treasuries I was able to sneak into. Its rarity is only mid-epic, but it was created in a style so different from mine and Dave’s, I’m sure he’ll find it interesting.

And he truly does, with his smile growing even wider.

He takes it and puts it away so he can probably examine it more later when he’s alone, and I let him. I don’t even ask for shards from him. I know for sure he’ll add its value to the money from selling the items I gave him.

I get thirty thousand shards and a thankful shake of hands.

As I leave, Dave already rushes back into the backroom to examine the ring while setting up an alarm in case a customer comes.

***

The last crafter I visit is a vile, tiny creature. A woman called Sutri. A vyssari.

When I enter her shop she shouts, "Welcome back, you frigging lunatic!"

"Please don’t call me that."

"No way, anyone from Primordial Knights will be called a frigging lunatic by me!" she shouts again and jumps down from the normal-sized chair that's big for her. "Did you come for your shards?"

"I'm the most normal member of Primordial Knights you will ever meet, and yes, I would like my shards."

"Bullshit! There are already a lot of rumors about you in Black Tower."

I halt my steps and look down at her as she stops near me. "Talon?"

"Talon," she nods. "I swear I never met someone who can talk and bullshit around as much as him. But you know what's the problem? The guy is charming and knows so well how much he can push, and somehow you can't even get mad at him."

"What did he say this time?"

"Obviously, nothing too secret. Some might not notice, but I did. Even when he seems drunk, he never lets anything important slip. Everything he says either boosts his own reputation, promotes your guild, or helps him get on people's good side. Frigging lunatic. That blabbering fool’s gonna end up as vice guild master of the Primordial Knights before any of you even realize it."

"As you said, blabbering fool. So, what are the rumors about?"

Sutri smiles widely. "Apparently you're scarier than the Doc and literally forced the poor lynthari to cut into you. Rumor has it the Primordial Knights still cry over the contract they made with you, weeping as they discover all the addendums you slipped in. You took over their defensive arrays in a few days. Your salary is two million shards a year as a newbie. You talk to yourself at times. Something is possessing you and burning you from the inside. You have an insanely powerful item that sometimes causes intense mana radiation that hurts people even stronger than you. You are Nyssa’s lover."

"What the fuck was the last one?"

"...rumor has it you’re missing your left arm more often than not. Your eyes glow when you're hungry. They made Weslin your babysitter for some reason. And there are many more about the guild, Talon, and Weslin."

"I will have to talk with him again."

"Yeah, talk," Sutri smirks. "I think he just decided to stick with you for some reason. Just use him, he most likely is just waiting for that."

"Sure sure, how much?"

"Twenty thousand this time. And I had a few B-ranks ask me who made these projectiles."

"They can keep asking," I answer while I accept the transfer of shards.

"You know I won’t say anything. I take the privacy of my clients seriously. But I had a few people make projectiles for me before. From metal, stone, wood, and all kinds of stuff, but yours are really special. I don’t think there’s any other C-rank who can make projectiles from mana and make them so durable and long-lasting. I saved some into my storage because I'm curious, I’m sure it’ll take years before they start losing their shape."

"Glad you like them."

"You bet I did! You made me some nice shards. So many projectiles, so quickly and so many shapes. Hell, the better ones you made were even resistant to weaker mana disruption, and you made some neutral so they were able to be charged with mana."

"What about the armor I made?"

"Nah, no luck there."

"Oh, they prefer items with different effects? I know the chest plates I made didn’t have any, and..."

"They are ugly as fuck."

"...I see."

"Yup," Sutri nods. "It’s different if you just want to throw something, arrows, javelins, throwing knives, orbs, that’s fine. But the armor you're wearing at all times? But don’t worry, if you make that armor just a bit stronger, they’ll ignore the design. By the way, are you making them ugly on purpose?"

"I have to go. See you later, Sutri."

I open the door and exit while she calls something from behind me. Then I head in the direction of Primordial Knights.

The schedule is clear. Weslin used a one day beyond-stay token, so he’s already back to his tutorial, but it was decided he will return after I return from my tutorial. Yes, somehow it seems that I will be sticking with the guy a bit longer.

My 30-day stay token ends soon, so I will go for a day or two back to the 9th floor to check on the others and deliver mini Sophie. After that, it is another 30-day stay. But before my 30-day stay token ends, I can spend more time with the Doc.

And who knows, maybe I will learn a bit more about the Ruler of Kindness.

***

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