Chapter 69: The Howl

Chapter 69: The Howl

Upgrading [Awaken] was immensely tempting. The skill was probably the one with the most potential out of all the ones he had, but he just didn’t fully know what an awakened item would do yet. Getting stronger in the future was important, but Arwin needed to be strong now. It was without a doubt the safest choice – but, at the same time, he could always reforge items if they turned out detrimental, and he had no way to know if upgrading it would make his awakened items better or just reduce his chance of a detrimental trait on them.

Then there was [Soul Flame]. It had been the skill Arwin had probably used the most. He’d gained several ways to use it offensively, and the previous time he’d upgraded it had given him some pretty significant boosts. There was a good chance that upgrading it again would make it even stronger in combat.

It was a very strong candidate – but upgrading [Arsenal] was equally as tempting. The only thing that gave him pause was that he had absolutely no idea what upgrading it would actually do. The skill already scaled with his Tier, so upgrading it was unlikely to let him bond with more items.

It’ll probably give me something that directly relates to my items in some way or another. So, in summary, my options are upgrading future potential, a mixture of crafting and combat, or pure combat.

Arwin thought for several minutes, not wanting to rush into anything. As much as he wanted to take [Awaken], the chances of it just giving him a flat improvement to his crafting abilities that would benefit the long run far more than the short were too high. He mentally crossed it off the list. He needed something that would let him fight the Iron Hounds.

Both [Soul Flame] and [Arsenal] would do that, and Arwin honestly couldn’t decide which one would be better. The former was probably the safer bet, as he already had several ways to use it and knew that it would come in handy no matter what.

But, in the end, curiosity ended up winning out. An upgrade to [Soul Flame] would probably be useful, but Arwin didn’t think it would be useful enough to make the difference between success and failure in a really difficult fight.

[Arsenal], on the other hand, was a more combat and item focused ability. Even though he was clueless as to what changing it would do, it was still the skill most likely to give him something immediately useful. He would upgrade [Awaken] the next time he got a chance to.

His decision made, Arwin selected the skill. The writing in the air shifted before him as the Mesh tingled within his body.

[Arsenal] – You live and die on your equipment, so you might as well make it part of yourself. Bind yourself to [3] pieces of equipment, summoning and dismissing it at will. The number of equipment you can bind to scales with your Tier, up to a total of 10. Unbinding a piece of Equipment will make this skill inactive for 1 day. You may temporarily bind yourself to 1 extra piece of equipment after holding it for an amount of time scaling with the difference between your current Tier and the Tier of the item’s holder. Breaking this bond will not deactivate [Arsenal].

It took Arwin a few seconds to read the new description of [Arsenal], and then a few more to actually figure out what it meant. The original function of the skill hadn’t changed at all. It still did exactly the same thing that it did before, but it now had a new addition.

A temporary bond to an item, particularly that someone else was holding. That sounded like another way to say that Arwin could functionally steal someone’s weapon if he managed to get his hands on it for long enough.

I can already see how that would be useful. It’s not the direct offense ability I thought it would be, and everything will depend on how long it actually takes for me to bond with something. But, if the time is within reason... this could be really nasty.

Arwin wasn’t quite in the mood to grin but gave himself a satisfied nod. If he came across anyone that was a significant enough threat to need to steal gear from them, it would probably be difficult to hold onto them for long enough to steal anything. There were always ways to get around difficulties, though. An extra tool to rely on with the potential to turn a fight around as drastically as this wasn’t one he was going to complain about.

But now that the Mesh had loosed him from its grip, Arwin’s attention was back to what it had been on originally. He peered into his newly formed helm, and the Mesh bloomed before him for the second time.

Ivory Executioner’s Howl: Rare[?] Quality

[Awoken]: This item has taken on life of its own. Forged in an apprentice’s joy and quenched in his master’s sorrow, this item resonates with the echoes of the past and burns with fury that may never be sated.

[Molten Gaze]: The flame of a broken promise burns within this item. After this item’s wielder kills an opponent, it will ignite with magical power and release an aura that hinders the casting of magic nearby. This effect is magnified with every consecutive kill.

Three seconds again. That’s a basis, at least. In a fight, that’s a good bit, but it’s not impossible.

Sending one last look around his rather pitiful looking temporary forge, Arwin stepped out into the street and headed for the tavern. It was already midday, so he’d lost a fair portion of time sinking into the helm’s visions.

Thank God it didn’t have any detrimental elements. That would have been absolutely infuriating. Actually, now that I think about it, I have no clue if it has detrimental elements. It’s not like they’re marked, so the set ability or the effects of its aura could be bad for me.

Oh well. I’m still using the damn thing. I’ll figure it out soon enough. For now, I need to fulfill on my promise.

Arwin stepped into the tavern, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Reya and Anna both sat at the counter, just barely illuminated by the lantern hanging beside them. There was no sign of Rodrick, but a sizzling from the kitchen told him that Lillia was cooking something.

“Did you finish?” Reya asked as she spotted him enter, sliding off her stool.

“Yes,” Arwin said. “For the time being, at least.”

“Then, if you’re here, I assume there might be something else we can do to help?” Anna guessed, turning to face him and taking a sip from an old wooden mug. Arwin didn’t recognize it, so either Lillia had gotten a new cup at some point or it belonged to Anna.

“I’m going to be making something for Lillia, and it might take a few attempts. I don’t think I’ll be quite as... guided as I was this time around,” Arwin said, his thoughts drifting to the visions.

The helmet seemed magical, so he wasn’t sure if it had been Stonesinger that had allowed him to get such a vivid picture of what it had wanted to be, but he wasn’t too confident he’d be able to replicate his results for anything intentionally. Not yet, at least.

For the time being, the most important thing he could do would be to make Lillia the most effective set of armor as quickly as possible. They didn’t know the exact date the Wyrmlings would show up, so that meant he realistically only had weeks to completely prepare a full set of armor for her as well as make himself some gauntlets.

“What can we do?” Reya asked. “Do you need materials? We can hunt.”

“We already discussed how that would be a little too dangerous,” Arwin said with a shake of his head. “But there are a lot of things in the forge that go faster when I’ve got some assistance. Do you want to help me make Lillia’s armor? We can have people rotate out.”

Reya gave Arwin a sharp nod. “Yeah. I’m in.”

“Good,” Arwin said, turning on his heel and jerking his chin toward the street. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and not very much time to do it. There will be more than enough work for both you and Lillia to help, so you can aid in the initial parts and she can help finish it off.”

“I will. But... what am I supposed to do? I’ve never worked a forge before.”

“Whatever I tell you to,” Arwin replied with a flicker of a smile. “Come on. We’ve got some armor to forge.”