Rise of the Living Forge-Chapter 434: Faking it

Arwin released Caldera and allowed [Arsenal] to take the hammer from his grip. The golden letters of the Mesh shimmered before him, proof of their success. It was proof that would be carved into the obelisk outside the dungeon forevermore, a permanent middle-finger embossed into the Blacktongue’s property.

Relief and amusement bubbled up in his chest, but there was something he had to take care of before he could properly allow himself to relax.

There was more than just relief on his chest. There was also a very-rapidly growing heat. A heat that even his resistance was unable to completely repress. One that was currently burning through his clothes.

Arwin was on fire.

Or, more specifically, his armor was.

Arwin yanked his shirt off as a slew of curses fell from his lips. The prototype skeleton of his armor covered his body like a metal lattice — and it was glowing cherry red. Cracks ran throughout the metal, stretching to cover more of it by the second.

[Soul Flame] coated Arwin’s hands as he grabbed onto the broken equipment. He tore it off his body, throwing the pieces as far away from himself as he could in case they exploded. The whole thing must have looked like some odd form of victory dance, hopping from foot to foot as he literally tore his own armor to pieces and flung it across the room.

“Arwin?” Olive asked, watching him with a mixture of concern and amusement. She stepped toward him. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”

“I’m fine,” Arwin said, tearing the final pieces of the prototype away from his chest and flinging them into the pink lake. The parts landed with a sizzling hiss, sending bubbles bursting all over the thick liquid before they sank beneath its surface. freeweɓnøvel.com

“You don’t look fine,” Anna said, walking up beside him with a concerned frown. The armor had burned lines across Arwin’s skin. He poked at one, then winced.

How hot did that thing get? That’s definitely something to improve on. The Infernal Armory said the connection wasn’t very good. There must have been interference from all the different bits of scrap making the protype. Maybe that caused it to overheat?

“I’ve had worse,” Arwin said.

Anna shook her head. Gentle white light illuminated her hand as she held it up to his body. Cool energy washed over Arwin as Anna’s magic worked through him. He let out a relieved sigh as burnt flesh reverted, turning pink and then starting to shift back to its proper hue.

Arwin activated [Dragon’s Greed] while she worked. Strands of power materialized throughout the room. A few of them ran back into the dungeon above them where they’d passed by some of the weaker magical items.

But as he had expected, strongest ran somewhere right in this room. Arwin was less pleased to find where it ran. Based on what he felt, he was willing to bet that the magical item they were after was right in the middle of the bubbling pink lake.

“There,” Anna said, letting her hand drop from Arwin’s side and shaking her head. “How did you take more damage from your own armor than you did from the boss?”

“It’s almost impressive,” Olive agreed with a small laugh.

“Mostly because the first actual blow in that fight was going to be the last. This dungeon wouldn’t have been too bad if we’d actually been at the Expert Tier or if I had some proper armor,” Arwin said, letting out a laugh of his own. He let [Dragon’s Greed] drop for the time being. There would be time to collect their final rewards in a moment. “It’s unfortunate that fire wasn’t more effective on the Nightmother. If it had been, we would have had a much shorter fight. But it worked out. And the thanks for that largely goes to Thane.”

They all turned to look at the boy.

Thane, for his part, was staring mutely into the air before him, his lips parted slightly in a mixture of awe and disbelief. It barely even seemed like he’d heard a single word they’d said. He was complete checked out.

“You okay?” Olive asked, giving his shoulder a small nudge. “That was a pretty intense fight for your first dungeon. You made some great calls, though. I don’t think we would have managed to take that anywhere as easy as we did if you didn’t know that whole hive-thing. Well done.”

Thane blinked. Then he swallowed, his eyes managing to find focus on his surroundings again.

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“I didn’t do that much.”

“No, Olive is right.” Arwin shook his head. “One of the hardest things to do in a fight is think on your feet. Even I tend to just focus on hitting things as hard as I can and hoping for the best. There aren’t many people that can keep the wits about them to come up with a strategy in the middle of a fight for their lives. This was your first dungeon. Being able to recognize a weakness in the monsters we were fighting and identify a way to capitalize on it is commendable. You did far more than any of us expected.”

“It was just some stuff I read,” Thane stammered. His eyes darted around the room. “I really didn’t do that much. This doesn’t make any sense. Nothing I’ve read has ever said anything about this being possible. It shouldn’t be. What did you do? Can you control the Mesh somehow?”

Arwin’s brow furrowed. It really sounded like Thane was talking about something entirely different to what they were. “What exactly is it that you’re talking about, Thane? I can’t control the Mesh any more than you can. Are you okay?”

“How can you ask that?” Thane breathed. He gripped onto the straps of his backpack like he was trying to strangle them. His eyes bored into Arwin’s skull as if to squeeze his gaze into his skull to see the secrets hidden within Arwin’s thoughts.

I’ve seen that wild look before.

“Is he okay?” Olive asked. “Anna, maybe you should—”

“Hold on. This isn’t something that healing magic is going to be useful for. He’s not injured,” Arwin said. He put a gentle hand on Thane’s shoulder. “Sit down.”

“What? I don’t need to sit. I—”

“Sit down,” Arwin repeated, his tone firm but kind. “Breathe, Thane.”

Thane slowly moved to follow Arwin’s command. His chest rose and fell with fast, sharp breaths. It was little surprise. In the excitement of the fight, Arwin had almost forgotten who it was they were escorting.

Thane might have had a great amount of knowledge about dungeons and adventurers, but he’d never seen the real thing. The boy had come here today fully planning to die. He’d held himself together incredibly well through the dungeon and been instrumental in dealing with the boss — but there was only so long someone could hold emotion like that within themselves before reaching a breaking point.

That point had been the end of the dungeon. Thane had probably never really registered the fact that they could actually clear it out. And, now that they had, all those emotions were catching up to him all at once.

Thane’s breath came in sharp, fast gasps. His eyes darted around the room as if in search of an answer. He wouldn’t find it. Arwin knew the look in the boy’s eyes because he could remember it himself, from the first dungeon the Adventurer’s Guild had brought him through.

“What’s happening?” Olive asked, crouching beside them. “It’s done, Thane. You don’t have to worry. The dungeon is finished. We won.”

Thane blinked heavily. He swallowed again, as if trying to eat the disbelieving words that came out of his mouth. “I’m alive.”

“So you are,” Arwin said. “Part of you, at least. Congratulations on clearing your first dungeon. An Expert Tier one at that. There aren’t many that can boast of such a thing. Fewer still that can say they were actually useful. But don’t take it too fast. You’ve got a lot to process. Not all of it has to be at once. We can spend some time here.”

“Arwin’s right,” Anna said. “We’re here to talk. I still remember my first dungeon. It wasn’t anything like this one, and I was considerably less beneficial to my team than you were. I just spent the entire time hiding behind my mentor. Didn’t say a word or heal a single person. You should be proud.”

“I’m alive,” Thane muttered, staring down at his hands as his eyes started to water. No more than a moment later, a laugh bordering on hysterical bubbled up from his lips. “I’m alive!”

“And you’ll get your share of the earnings from the dungeon as well,” Arwin said, clapping Thane on the shoulder. “You’ve more than earned them. I’d say you’ll make a great adventurer, but you’ve already become one. I don’t think anyone can deny that now.”

“After dealing with a boss like that, getting you your class will be easy,” Olive added. “We’ll just go find something lingering in the dungeon behind us. It’ll be a piece of cake compared to what we just did.”

Thane swallowed again. A flicker of emotion passed over his face. First it was fear. Then it was determination. A small grin pulled at his lips. It wasn’t the grin of an untempered who had never seen battle, nor was it quite the confident smirk of an experienced adventurer. It was the look of a man well on his way to making something of himself.

“Yeah,” Thane said. He let out a slow breath. “Yeah. I’m alive. We can do this. I passed your quest, by the way. I’d love to ask you some more questions about how it worked. I — I’ve never seen anything like that before. It really motivated me. What kind of magic was it? I’ve never heard of anything that lets you fake messages from the Mesh. Some kind of fancy light magic that you all pretended not to see?”

“Fake?” Arwin’s brow furrowed. “There was absolutely nothing fake about it, Thane.”

Thane’s brow furrowed. “What? What do you mean?”

“The Quest was real,” Arwin replied. “Why do you think it was fake?”

“I — well, I just thought it logically had to be. I mean after finishing the fight, it popped up to motivate me. Right? That’s what all the stuff complimenting my research capabilities was about,Right?” The boy stared at him. Arwin didn’t respond. He just stared back at Thane. The boy’s lips slowly parted into an O shape. “It… wasn’t just a way to convince me that everything would be fine?”

“No,” Arwin replied. A small grin tugged at the corner of his lips. “I’m afraid not. Entirely real. What exactly did the Quest tell you?”

Thane mutely swiped a hand down through the air.

Then his face went as pale as a sheet.

“Shit!” Thane yelled, launching to his feet like he’d been bit on the ass. “My class! I finally got a class! And I swiped the message from the Mesh away without even looking at it because I didn’t want to get distracted in case there was something else that would attack us!”

The Menagerie exchanged a glance.

Then they all burst into laughter.