Once Forlorieous had finished fixing the problem with the formations in the Borealia royal castle’s atrium, she walked over to Marcus and said, “Well I have finished fixing things here. So, I will be going back to my home to continue my nap. Of course, if you ever change your mind about my offer, you are more than welcome to stop by.”
Forlorieous then gave Marcus a seductive wink before being wrapped up in vines and warping away.
“Would you care to explain exactly what happened here?” Gwyneira said, trying to catch up on the order of events that led to a great spirit suddenly teleporting into the royal castle.
Nodding his head, Marcus caught Gwyneira up on everything that had happened after he had met up with Forlorieous.
“Hm, well we got their help, so that is all that matters.” Gwyneira said after hearing the details of Marcus’ encounter with the great spirit of nature.
She then turned to Salvia who had been examining how the new formation that Forlorieous had added interacted with the old ones.
“It is incredible. This formation brings all of the waste released from the natural treasures to one central location and prevents them from leeching out into the surrounding area. I would say now I only need to purify it once every month or so now, instead of having to constantly manage it.” Salvia said, very impressed by the new magic that would make her life much easier.
Still, even though she knew how to use this new magic formation, she had no idea how it was made or exactly how it worked.
“Well, now that we have wrapped this up. Could I ask you for a favor Gwyneira?” Marcus said..
Turning her head back towards him, Gwyneira said, “Sure. So long as it is within my power, and reasonable.”
“Okay, but first I need to ask if Mraz has come back yet?”
Shaking her head, Gwyneira said, “No she has not. I believe that last I heard she was still a bit away from the border.”
“Good. That gives me some time to prepare.”
“So, for my request. In three days’ time, I would like the castle’s kitchen and dining room all to myself. In fact, just keep everyone out of that area. I want to do something special for Mraz.” Marcus said, with a bright smile on his face that he could not contain.
Shrugging her shoulders, Gwyneira had no problems allowing Marcus’ request.
It was really a simple matter to vacate a part of the castle for only a single day, so long as she had Aaren use his authority as king.
“Is that really all you want? For this and everything else you have done, I should be able to get you a rare skill orb of something similar form the castle’s vault.” Gwyneira said, thinking Marcus was deserving a bit more compensation for the good work he had done.
However, what he asked for caused Gwyneira to be taken aback.
“Well, if you are offering. Could I have some of your scales?” Marcus said brazenly.
Her eyes going sharp and staring almost angrily at Marcus, she said, “And what would you want my scales for.”
Naturally asking for the body parts of any beast was enough to set them of into a rage, as it was instinctually ingrained in them to not let go of a piece of themselves.
They would normally allow this only to those that they truly trusted and shared a deep connection with.
Still, Gwyneira did have a favorable impression of Marcus, and he had proved to be an invaluable ally. So she was at least willing to hear him out.
“What would plan on using my scales for.” Gwyneira said, doing her best to hide how upset she was.
Walking over to her, Marcus whispered into Gwyneira’s ear, and told her exactly what he planned to do with her scales.
After hearing this, Gwyneira sighed, and looked over at Salvia. Who, seemed really happy to no longer be perpetually having to deal with the mana waste emitted by the natural treasures in the atrium.
“Fine I will give you three of my scales, but only this once.” Gwyneira said sternly.
She then turned back into her true form showing off her powerful and majestic form as a frost lindwurm.
Pulling out three of her large scales, Gwyneira let out a pained grunt, as blood began to trickle down her side where she had removed the scales.
Holding out the scales towards Marcus she said, “Here take them. And I expect to see the finished product when you are done.”
Bowing his head, Marcus took ahold of the three scales, and placed them into his item box.
He had been planning on making something very special, and Gwyneira’s scales were what he needed to bring it up to the next level.
Turning back into her human form, Gwyneira held her side which stung a bit and said, “I will make sure that what you have requested is done. Now I am going to rest, so do as you please.”
After saying that, Gwyneira disappeared in a cloud of cold mist. Leaving Marcus alone with Salvia, who was playing with the plants in the garden.
‘Time to get to work. I need to finish things up quickly or I might be late.’
Walking out of the atrium and then the castle, Marcus headed straight for his home, after switching his appearance back to that of Irene.
He needed to tell everyone that he had returned and to pick up some of his equipment.
Upon his arrival after being gone for many months his employees were all surprised and happy to see his return.
“Lady Irene, I am glad that your business has finished up successfully.” Clara said while bowing to Marcus.
“I will have everyone gather and we shall prepare a small banquet for you return.”
However, before Clara could go off to gather the others, Marcus stopped her and said, “Actually I am only stopping in for a moment. I have somethings I need to attend to right now. Anyway, a welcome banquet just for me would be a bit boring. Lilia is still in school, and I doubt any of my friends could be here on such short notice. How about we hold a welcome back party in about a week when we can get everyone together.”
“Very well, I shall do as you have requested Lady Geist.” Clara said.
Marcus then quickly wrote down a list of people to contact, before heading over to his workshop.
Opening it up, he found it to be spotless, his maids having cleaned it in his absences.
‘I think that should do it.’ Marcus thought after gathering most of the equipment he kept inside his personal forge.
In fact, pretty much the only things he had not gathered were bolted into the floor or walls.
‘Roxene if you do not want to be cooped up in my companion storage for the next few days, I recommend getting out now.’
Jumping out, Roxene let out a long yawn and said, ‘Okay, just make sure not to be gone for too much time. I can only entertain myself for so long.’
Roxene then bounded off towards the house so that she could have the maids spoil her after such a long time.
‘Now it is time to spend my hard-earned skill points.’
Opening up his status, Marcus scrolled right down to his forge skill, and dropped one hundred sixty-four of his hard-earned skill points into it to bring it up to level seven.
Certainly, this was a bit of a waste as he eventually could have trained the skill up to this level. But in order for him to work with Amethros he had to have at least a skill level of seven.
‘There. now I should be able to make it. But it will still be best if I go and get Thabon’s help.’