Lockie nods in agreement. “If we ever have the opportunity, we are recruiting that guy. Having him as an enemy will be a horrible idea.”
“Definitely with you on that one,” I say, everyone else agreeing as well. “Let's get cracking, then, shall we?”
Looking at all the mostly eaten dishes, I have no idea how we can eat so much. Especially after just eating a whole lot just a few hours ago. I get up to put it all in the fridge and everyone else chips in.
By the time everything is put away and I'm refreshed again, it's 22:12.
Logging in, I rub Grace behind her horns, much to her pleasure, judging by her rumbling. “Come on, Grace, time to get up. We have another exciting day ahead of us, hopefully.”
“Of course you will,” she says with as much of a deadpan expression a dragon can show while running a single claw down my chest. “I'm right here, all the excitement you need, right?”
Blinking, I have no idea how to answer that. Judging from my expression, she knows it too, because she laughs.
“I'm just messing with you,” she says, stretching as she gets up and moves to the door, looking back at me impatiently. “Come on, slowpoke!”
Sighing at a bullet dodged, or at least I hope it was, as one can never tell with women, I get up and we head downstairs.
Everyone is seated at the grouped-up tables, polishing off their breakfast, or beside them in Karma's case, when we come downstairs. There is something different about everyone as well.
I must have a weird look on my face, because Ifalna explains something I'm trying to work out. “I actually woke everyone else up and Cleansed them before I logged out. Thought it would be a good idea to have everyone ready.”
“Just like a good raid leader, make sure everyone will be ready on time. I like it,” Dosan says, shovelling more food into his gullet.
How? Never mind.
“Oh, and here's your gear. Check it out!” Ifalna exclaims as she opens up a trade with me.
Inside the trade window appear several items. A new tent that is large enough for Grace to sleep in. Well, fancy that. A truckload of food takes up a lot of slots. And lastly is the new mithril gear from Faland. I accept the trade and open my inventory. Something is odd about it, but I dismiss that for now as I select all the new gear and press equip.
Do you wish these items to become soul bound?
Yes/No
Of course I hit yes as fast as humanly possible, and I'm now wearing everything, sending the old gear into my bag. I notice that my Intelligence doesn't go up very much, even though everything has more than before. Oh, wait, that belt I received with +30 Intelligence is better than the new one. It has less defence, but I want more Intelligence, so I re-equip the previous belt.
Damn, this is some really good stuff, and it's all enchanted as well. On top of being a cross between scale mail and plate armour, which ups my defence by quite a lot, it also increases my Intelligence by 30 points. If I deduct the 10 that I lost from replacing my weapons with my relic, I'm now at a clean 210 Intelligence.
Damn. I bet the others have just as much on their gear as I do.
Now we are all matching with our armour being a badass light green streaked with white. Everyone is going to know that we have mithril armour, that's for sure.
Grinning, I look at everyone and see that we all match now, which is what was throwing me off before. For some reason I was so used to seeing the different gear, I couldn't place the change.
“Cheers, Ifalna. I'll have to give my thanks to Faland for the new rig. Looks amazing, just like you said,” I say with a smile. Looking at my inventory, I try to find what had caught my eye before.
Huh. That's weird.
“What's weird?” asks Kazzrak as all eyes turn back to me.
Must have spoken out loud. “The Soul Forged Heirloom Artefact that Han gave me from the armoury, it's not inert anymore. It's glowing with white runes.”
“Really? Show us!” Kendak exclaims.
Selecting the item in question, I pull it out of my inventory so it sits in the palm of my hand, glowing brightly with runes that weren't there before.
“Is it doing anything?” asks Ifalna. “I wonder what powered it up? Though it could have been any number of things, I guess.”
Ezekial starts sprouting off possibilities as he ticks them on his fingers. “Maybe there was a timer on it like an egg in other games? Or maybe it was powered up when Sybaal died? Maybe his twilight residual magic did something to it? Maybe when he got stabbed by a relic? It's really up in the air as to why.”
I look up at him and shake my head while shrugging. “Nothing coming up, so I have just as much of a clue as any of you. Zip.”
“Maybe you need to use the ring again like you did before?” Lurra queries with a wink, holding her hand up and wiggling her ring finger.
“It's as good an idea as any,” I say, rolling my eyes at her antics. I press the Signet Ring of House M into the slot, just like before.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the Soul Forged Heirloom Artefact fighting pet. Please select a class from the list below that you wish for this pet to take on.
0: Proteus, 1: Bulwark, 2: Archer, 3: Mage, 4: Swordsman, 5: Assassin.
“Woah! Now that's different,” I say, reading over the options.
“What is?! Come on! Stop leaving us all in suspense!” Eloise practically shouts at me.
I roll my eyes at her too. “Okay, I have a choice. Maybe you guys can help me out here. This sphere here is actually a Soul Forged Heirloom Artefact fighting pet. I have to choose a class for it to take on. Proteus, whatever that is, then bulwark, archer, mage, swordsman and finally assassin.”
“Bulwark would obviously be a tanking pet,” rumbles Halvard.
“From my understanding, Proteus is actually a sea god, and with his constantly changing nature of the ocean, he can change into many forms. Maybe proteus will be able to change between all the classes?” Kazzrak says with a shrug.
“Quite possibly. I like it.” I smile. I select proteus as my choice.
Are you sure you wish to select 0: Proteus?
Yes/No
Again, I press yes.
You have chosen Zero the Proteus. Zero is upgradeable and uses qualities from each of the other classes. Zero's version of each class will not be as powerful as any single other; however, having diversity more than makes up for this.
Zero's sphere unfolds itself on my hand into what looks like a steampunk clockwork humanoid with a smoothly curved faceplate. I can see into the workings of the clockwork pieces making it tick, and surrounding all the joints is a glowing white mist.
He looks really bare, with only a breastplate as armour. He has a tiny sword strapped to his back, a single-headed axe on his left hip, a crossbow on his right hip, and a small round shield on his left arm. This leaves his hands free to use his weapons. The little guy is just standing there, looking relaxed in my hand, with his blank faceplate tilted to look up at me.
“Now that's cool. Where do I get one?” Dosan says with wide eyes. “I should have tried to Bond it! Damn.”
Exclamations of surprise follow from everyone else as well.
Congratulations! You have collected a Soul Forged Heirloom Artefact fighting pet and have earned the achievement 'Soul Forged in fire'. This achievement grants the ability to upgrade this pet by feeding it various metals.
Collect 9 more pets to earn another achievement.
I really wasn't paying that much attention to the others though, as I was reading the new system message and that it is actually upgradeable, which is super cool! There is also now a set of options on a pet bar that is positioned above my own spells and abilities. I could make Zero go into different modes, while also being able to summon or dismiss him just like Grace. The last option is to upgrade my pet, which must be part of the achievement.
Of the different modes of attack, active defend and passive defend, I choose active defend, and the little guy springs off my hand
s and hooks onto my horns as easily as it would be for me to shoot a paper wasp with rubber band. I can feel him rustling around up there, and then he stills and a comfortable weight settles onto my horns.
When I say comfortable, I really mean it feels completely weird, because I'm reminded I have horns and I can feel them like I do with a fingernail or tooth.
“Ha! What did you do?” Dosan laughs, pointing up at Zero. “He's anchored himself to your horns with his feet like some monk doing the splits between two poles. Not to mention he is swivelling around with the crossbow out with a glowing white arrow of magic loaded and ready to go. Shit, it's pointed at me! Sybaal, call off your clockwork ninja!”
Everyone laughs at Dosan, as he is holding his hands up in front of his face to ward off the piddly little crossbow bolt. I'm tempted to tell Zero to let one rip at him. I put him out of his misery though and change Zero to passive defend mode. I'm guessing the little guy put away his crossbow, as Dosan lowers his hands.
“Does anyone have any metal on hand? Apparently, I received an achievement that lets me upgrade Zero, my clockwork ninja,” I say while looking at Dosan with a raised eyebrow.
Everyone is looking at each other like they don't, when Lurra frowns. “Don't you have that bar of mithril with Knax's soul inside it?”
Eloise gasps and most everyone's eyes go wide at the implications, including mine.
Almost mechanically, I select the Upgrade ability and a cursor appears in my bags. I open my Mining Bag and see the bar in question. Feeling almost as if this was meant to be, I select it.
This Soul Forged being already has a Soul Metal attached to it. You cannot upgrade this being with another Soul Metal.
“Did it work?” Eloise asks quietly.
Sitting there at the table for a moment, I close my eyes with a smile before opening them again and pointing at Zero. “No, it didn't work. Because this Soul Forged already has something called a Soul Metal attached to it. I cannot upgrade Zero with another Soul Metal. That's what the system message just told me.”
Several faces begin sprouting grins around the table.
“So it didn't work?” cries Sorrel, grabbing onto Ifalna's ear while sobbing and blowing his nose on it.
We all laugh as Ifalna jumps up and wipes her hand over her ear with a yelp before shaking her fist at Sorrel. “What did you do that for?!”
A sobbing Sorrel zips around erratically while moaning. “I'm sorry! I needed to blow my nose and your ear happened to be the closest soft thing!”
“Gah! Ask for a tissue or a hanky next time! Here, take this.” Ifalna produces a large square of cloth from her bag, which Sorrel promptly snatches up. He sits on Ifalna's shoulder and begins to try to refill the salt sea.
Ifalna turns her head to look at him. “To answer your question, no, it didn't work. However, we now know that the bar is called a Soul Metal and can be merged with another Soul Forged clockwork shell without a soul.”
“That is at least one of the ways we can revive Knax,” Ezekial agrees. “There may be others, but this seems like the best bet so far.”
Grace puts her head on my shoulder. “I'm glad we have started down the path of knowledge. Knowing the direction is good. Now we just have to find out more about these Soul Forged.”
“The problem is,” Ezekial begins, “I've already asked everyone I could about that topic, as I was trying to discern what the metal sphere really was. Everyone here is very tight lipped, and coin didn't even sway them. The only hint I could get was that if I really wanted to know, I would have to travel to Solime, which is the Genasi capital city of these parts.”
“Ah, which we will need to have mounts to get there quickly. Right. Let's saddle up and move out, people. We have a quest to start,” I say as I stand.
Everyone else stands with conviction on their faces, and with a heartfelt thanks to Tanni and his kids, we leave.
Ezekial pipes up again when we get outside. “I've bought updated maps for as wide an area as I could, so here is the update. I'll lead us to the mount trainer.”
Receiving the updated map from Ezekial, he leads us off towards one of the exits. I can now see a stable and a large walled yard out front on the map. It doesn't take us long to get there, and when we arrive, I can see that there is quite a large stone wall surrounding three different buildings and the large yard out front.
One of the buildings is a large manor with many windows, while the other two are stables or barns. A large gruff-looking orc is shouting and waving his arms at a surprisingly familiar young elf girl riding a horse. Although riding might be a bit of an overstatement, considering how much bouncing is going on and how much airtime she is getting out of the saddle.
“What are you doing?! Grip with your knees! Keep your feet in the stirrups! Are you dense or something? STAY ON THE HORSE!” This last order is obviously not followed, as the young elf bounces right out of the saddle and lands in a heap on the ground.
“Payback's a bitch,” mutters Dosan under his breath. “I like that horse.”
Elbowing him in the side, I put on a pleasant smile and walk into the stable yard. “Hello! You wouldn't happen to be the riding trainer, would you?”
The gruff-looking orc turns his glare from the heap pulling herself up off the ground to me. Sweeping his gaze up and down for a moment, he dismisses me out of turn before focusing on me again with surprise.
With an extremely non-gruff squeal of delight, his hands clasped together, and a leg raised behind him, the orc makes goo-goo eyes and barrels towards me. Stunned into stillness, my eyes widen and twitch slightly as I have this very feminine but very butch-looking orc male race towards me with both arms above his head.
What the fuck is going on?
Cringing slightly as he gets close, I suddenly find myself shoved out of the way, the bright blue sky and clouds being all I can see before I land on my ass with a grunt.
Well, that's new.
“You just had your ass handed to you by a decidedly happy individual. How do you feel, Sybaal?” Dosan laughs.
“Decidedly unhappy with a sore ass. How do you think I feel?” I ask grumpily as I get up and dust myself off, looking over at the orc trying to pamper the shit out of a confused-looking Grace. Well, if that's what it takes to get the guy to like us, then I guess she is just going to have to suck it up.
“Phrasing! Oh, I am going to remember this day. This moment is going down in the history books. Sybaal had his ass handed to him for once, with not even one sword being drawn!” Ifalna says smugly, wriggling her eyebrows.
Rolling my eyes at them and with everyone else chuckling at my expense, I try to get the orc's attention, although I fail miserably.
Sybaal: Grace, you want to get the ball rolling here? Looks like he will only respond to you, so ask him about the last quest in the mount chain already.
Grace: Maybe I like the pampering for a change. I don't get it from you, so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Sorrel: You tell him!
Jena: Yeah, hit him in the feels!
Adelram: This looks interesting.
Karma: Don't you dare get involved, Kazzrak! I know you want to and I forbid it! They need to work this out on their own.
Kazzrak: I wasn't going to do anything of the sort! Don't lump me in with that numbskull.
Sybaal: Traitor!
Kazzrak: Sink or swim, buddy.
Sybaal: Well, I'm sorry I don't pamper you enough. Obviously, we are going to have a longer discussion about it, but could we do that at another time when we don't currently have pressing matters to attend to? Please?
Grace: What do I get out of this waiting, then?
Sybaal: I'll give you a really long back massage. I'll even pay particular attention to that spot behind your horns. Can we get going already?
Grace: Deal. If you forget the horns, I'm going to get mad. I'm not even going to remind you.
Sybaal: Okay, okay, I won't forget.
Ifalna: He's definit
ely going to forget.
Ezekial: Most definitely.
Sybaal: Guys! You done? Dosan, I'm surprised you didn't have a snide comment or two.
Dosan: I'm just thinking how similar you two are, both being dragons and all that. So, I'm guessing if you're anything like Grace, you really, really enjoy your horn being rubbed. Am I right?
Sybaal: * Facepalm *
Grace: Dosan, another word and I'll convince this fellow to give you a full pampering session. Full. Pampering. With backstage passes.
Dosan: Shutting up. * Zip *
“So hey, my name's Grace, what's yours?” Grace says alluringly with a full barrage of eye batting.
“Oh! I'm Varbu, and aren't you just a darling with a capital D! Oh, dearie me, you are just the prettiest creature that has ever walked into my stables. I'm in love!” Varbu gives a great sigh and falls backwards over Grace with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead.
Classic fainting pose. This guy really knows his stuff.
“Would you be able to help me out with a big problem I'm having?” asks Grace politely.
“Anything! How can I help you, dearest?” Varbu sighs in anticipation, eyes wide and hands clasped once again.
“Well, see my familiar bonded partner and his friends need to learn riding, but at the same time, we heard about a quest that we might be able to obtain a special mount for them? Can you help me out? Also, when do you think I'll be big enough that he will be able to ride with me up in the sky?”
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 48
