I said, as I wiped some of the blood off the corner of my lips.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I said.

“Alright Dummy, one more round,” I said. I smashed my hammer into its left shoulder and the Dummy lashed out in in response, hitting me with a three-piece right-left-right that sent me stumbling backwards, the world fading in and out of focus.

“Mmm yeah, feel good?” the Dummy said.

Your Constitution has increased by 1!

This point will be awarded when you reach level 8.

3/3 bonus points accrued.

Additional point gains are now disabled until points are claimed.

“Not particularly, no,” I said.

“Can I make a suggestion?” the Dummy said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Sure.”

“Have you considered not being a useless piece of shit?”

Ezzie laughed through the link.

I said.

Ezzie said. The Dummy’s eyes dimmed from red to black.

“Ohhh, big man on campus,” the Dummy said.

“I don’t even know what a campus is, so.”

“That’s because you’re an uneducated buffoon,” the Dummy said.

I hefted my shield and swung my hammer into the Dummy’s ribcage.

“Twenty-one,” the Dummy said. “You are garbage.”

I said. I took a few more swings to the same result.

Ezzie said.

Ten swings in and I already had to take a break.

She yawned.

I said. I went back to work on the dummy, trying to gauge just how much stamina each attack pattern used.

“Nineteen. You suck! Eighteen. You suck! Nineteen. Harder daddy!”

I dropped my hammer mid-swing, the weapon tumbling across the dirt. “Wait what?”

The Dummy stared forward as if nothing had happened.

I said.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I said. I picked my hammer up and went back to work, drawing a bunch more you sucks and a couple of you are garbages.

Ezzie said.

I eyed the dummy warily.

“Aw, is playtime over?” the dummy said. “I was just starting to enjoy it.”

“You’re weird,” I said.

“Don’t kink shame, it’s not cool,” the Dummy said.

Ezzie said.

I headed over to the forge.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I queued our bronze up, then watched as our shiny bars were melded into existence. When the forge was finished, we had ninety-four bronze bars to work with, which brought our total up to a hundred and fourteen, with another fifty-seven copper bars to spare.

And my Armorsmithing had increased to seventy-five, unlocking three bronze armor recipes, just as I’d hoped.

Recipe: {Bronze Helm}

Requirements: 8 Bronze Bars, 1 Medium Flux, 7 Leather Strap.

{Bronze Helm of the ??}

Grade: F

Item level: 8

Slot: Head

Type: Plate

Quality: Uncommon

Primaries: Random combination of Str/Dex/Con (passive will be generated upon item creation).

Armor: 9

Durability: 30/30

Recipe: {Bronze Breastplate}

Requirements: 13 Bronze Bars, 3 Medium Flux, 8 Leather Strap.

{Bronze Breastplate of the ??}

Grade: F

Item level: 8

Slot: Chest

Type: Plate

Quality: Uncommon

Primaries: Random combination of Str/Dex/Con (passive will be generated upon item creation).

Armor: 18

Durability: 40/40

Recipe: {Bronze Greaves}

Requirements: 12 Bronze Bars, 3 Medium Flux, 7 Leather Strap.

{Bronze Greaves of the ??}

Grade: F

Item level: 8

Slot: Legs

Type: Plate

Quality: Uncommon

Primaries: Random combination of Str/Dex/Con (passive will be generated upon item creation).

Armor: 14

Durability 45/45

I said.

I said.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I queued up a helm, but instead of watching the forge start back up, I ended up staring into an error message:

You lack the required materials to create this item.

I glanced at the recipe tooltip, but I definitely had more than enough to create the helm. I tried again, thinking that I must have queued up the wrong item by mistake or something like that. Same result.

You lack the required materials to create this item.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I queued the breastplate up and received that same error message a third time.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said.

I didn’t like where this was going.

I just stood there in the swelter of the forge, the gravity of what had happened sinking in.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said.