The next morning, Luke woke up, ready for the first day of his business.

"I just need at least one customer today so I can get money to survive," he said.

The first thing he did was clean and tidy the shop. After that, he used a piece of cardboard and a black marker to write a handmade signboard.

It said: LUKE’S LEGENDARY SMITHING WORKSHOP - BEST GEAR FOR YOUR COMPANIONS HERE

Luke plastered the cardboard onto the metal body of the shop. It looked a bit messy, but he tried his best. Next, he decided to showcase his work. You can’t have a shop if people can’t see what you’re bringing to market, so he summoned all the armor he had ever made and put them on display.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

Luke placed the Hell Ape Gauntlet on the right side, the Molten Triceratops Mask in the middle, and the Mythic Astral Tortoiseling set on the left side.

Soon, people started walking past his shop on their way to work in the factories. When they saw the handmade sign and the boy standing there, they immediately recognized him.

"Hey, look! Isn’t that the ex-Kingsley heir?" a man in overalls whispered to his friend.

"Yeah, it’s him! What is he doing in a dumpster like that? Has he gone mad?" the friend laughed. "He’s trying to sell cheap toys!"

Luke heard them, but he just stared straight ahead and pretended his ears were broken.

After a couple of hours, nobody came to even take a look or inquire. The only thing that visited was hunger, so Luke decided to go out and get some breakfast.

On his way back, he stopped by a clinic. Luke knew from his fight with the Cyclops that using his armor took a toll on his stamina. He needed to buy some emergency drugs and health pills just in case he passed out again.

He paid 10 scrips for a small bottle of energy pills. While the nurse was wrapping it up, Luke decided to do some advertising.

"Um, excuse me," Luke said to the attendants behind the counter. "I just opened a smithing shop right down the street. If any hunters come in here with broken armor for their beasts or if you need custom gear, please tell them to visit me. I can forge anything."

The attendants looked at him weirdly, but they agreed. "Sure, kid. We’ll let them know."

This was Luke’s first time asking for favors. He didn’t really think it was demeaning. In fact, he felt pretty good about himself that he was becoming independent.

Soon after, he returned to his shop, chewing on the last bite of his sandwich as he opened the door and entered. But the instant he looked at his display crate, his sandwich fell out of his mouth.

"WHAT THE—!!!"

The Mythic Astral Tortoiseling set wasn’t sitting on the crate anymore. Well, the armor was there, but it wasn’t empty.

In its place was something alive!

It was a little, mystical-looking tortoise that was only the size of Luke’s palm. Its entire body was translucent, as if made of glowing blue and green glass, and you could see tiny points of starlight moving inside its legs. It was wearing the silver cuirass right on its shiny carapace, and the helmet was perfectly strapped onto its little turtle head.

The little tortoise was so frightened by Luke’s shriek that it immediately pulled its legs and head halfway back into its shell.

"Oh! Please don’t hit me!" It squeaked, trembling as its big black eyes looked up at Luke with fear. "I... I didn’t mean to scare you, master!"

Luke stood there, his heart hammering against his ribs. But slowly he recovered as he looked closer. The turtle had big, watery black eyes and a tiny, twitching green snout. It wasn’t a threat at all. It looked like a plush toy you would buy at a theme park.

"Hey, it’s okay," Luke said as he knelt by the display crate. "I’m not going to hit you. You just surprised me, that’s all. I didn’t think my armor would start talking."

Seeing that Luke wasn’t angry, the little tortoise sighed happily and popped its legs all the way out of its shell. It looked proud wearing its chestplate and helmet.

"Oh, good!" the Astral Tortoiseling squeaked, shaking its little head. "I was super scared you would throw my small self into the muddy road. I am so happy you are a very kind master!"

Luke rubbed his chin, studying the creature. He could see right through its legs—they looked like blue jelly filled with tiny, blinking stars. It was the coolest thing he had ever seen, but he was also very confused.

"Okay, but how did this happen?" Luke asked, pointing his finger at the little guy. "Ten minutes ago, you were just two pieces of metal. How did you get here? Did the system make a mistake?"

The Astral Tortoiseling puffed out its chest. "The system doesn’t make mistakes at all! It was the 〖Flame of Innovation〗 inside your soul tummy. When you hit the heavy iron block with all your power, you made me get alive!"

"What? Can you speak normally? That sounds like a riddle?"

The little turtle gave Luke a disappointed look, like a teacher looking at a student who forgot his homework.

"Dear me, master. Don’t you even know your own power? You are a First Forger! Your ability lets you create beast armor. You can wear the pieces to get cool abilities, yes. But that’s just the first step! Once an armor set is completed, the soul becomes whole. You can bring back the mythical beasts from the Yggrin era!"

Luke felt like a lightning bolt had just hit his brain. He froze, his mouth falling open again.

"Wait..." he whispered. "You mean... if I forge a full set of armor, the beast comes alive? Like a real companion?"

"Yes!" the Astral Tortoiseling said, nodding its little head.

"So that means... I could actually summon living things this whole time, just from a different medium?" came Luke’s voice. "Normal hunters just pull a beast out of their soul using their capacity. But I have to build their armor first? Once the outfit is done, the beast gets a physical body??"

This revelation shook Luke to the core. It meant the people at the school assembly were wrong. His father was wrong, too. Luke wasn’t a disgrace. He was an unorthodox summoner who just had to work a little harder at the anvil first. And since he didn’t rely on his soul, he could build an entire army of forgotten mythic beasts if he just had enough Flame points.

"Wait a minute. If a set needs to be complete, how come you are alive right now?" Luke asked. "I only forged two pieces of armor for you. Basically a shirt and a hat. That’s not a full set. The Molten Triceratops has five parts, and it’s yet to turn into a real triceratops."

"That is because a Molten Triceratops is a giant war beast, master! Look at me! I am a little turtle. I am a support beast! A cuirass and a helm are the only armor parts I ever had in history. My set is complete!"

The little turtle took a few steps forward and tapped Luke’s hand with its tiny claw.

"I am not cut for fighting, master. My job is to help your brain! If you don’t believe me, you should just take a look at my stat profile."

〖Species: Astral Tortoiseling (Mythic)〗

〖Type: Support〗

〖Rank: 1.4 | Potential: 9.9〗

〖Skills: Divine Bookkeeper | All-Seeing Eye〗

〖Description: A highly intelligent creature, one of the hatchlings born beneath the roots of the World Tree. Exposure to the Eternal Mind that flows through the tree grants Astral Tortoiselings extraordinary reasoning ability and thirst for knowledge〗

After Luke finished, his earlier disappointment vanished.

"Wow," he said. "It’s technically all the abilities the armor had provided individually. But now, you work as a unit."

"Exactly!" the turtle replied, spinning. "Oh, and by the way, since I am a real living beast now, you need to give me a name. Calling me ’Astral Tortoiseling’ is way too long."

Luke scratched his head. "A name? Uh... let me think. How about—"

Before Luke could finish his sentence, a loud KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK shook the shop.

The little turtle squeaked and immediately pulled its head, legs, and tail inside its shell, turning back into a pile of blue and silver metal.

Luke jumped too. After the drought this morning, he wasn’t expecting anyone to come to his crappy shop.

"Hello?" a voice called out from the opening. "Is anyone in here? Is this the place where you forge armor?"

Luke swallowed and tried to look like a professional adult shop owner.

"Yes, this is the place," he answered.

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A/N: Thanks for reading!