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Chapter 30.2: Black Dragon Keep

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In the heart of the Screaming Onion, Blackthorne sat on the edge of his bed and tried to find the energy to get up to go and hunt in the forest. There were only a few more hours left that he could spend in the dream world before his normal body would insist upon waking up.

It was a strange aspect of the transition, but he had realized after the first few days that outside of things like the need to suddenly use the bathroom, he had a tendency to remain asleep for eight to ten hours. Even the cough medicine was unnecessary. He had not thought to ask if anyone else had noticed that sort of thing, or even if it was true for other people.

“Master, you really should not strain yourself.” said Sonja softly. She slipped in behind him then wrapped her arms around his abdomen.

“What else can I do, Sonja? I need to earn money and we can’t go to your homeland till Shara arrives.” said Blackthorne.

She pressed her head against the side of his head. “Well, how about crafting and things like that?”

“Crafting? I... Hey, you know now that I think about it...” Blackthorne nodded slightly then placed his hand atop hers.

“That’s actually not a bad idea... and I might even be able to use that as leverage...”

“Leverage?” asked Sonja.

“Yeah, our lives on Earth are sort of fucked at the moment because of those home invading assholes... But maybe that can be changed a little...” said Blackthorne.

Sonja listened attentively as her master and broad shouldered love interest related his thoughts on a possible plan. “You would need raw materials and it would take a good deal of time, right?”

“I can buy a lot of basic crap from the shops in town, absolutely broken garbage. My abilities don’t give a damn about that sort of thing.” said Blackthorne.

She grinned then kissed him on the ear. “Sounds good, and since you won’t be able to do much real training for nearly a week...”

“This is the perfect thing! Let’s get started!” exclaimed Blackthorne.

They got dressed then headed out to visit the shops in town. The meat and other items gathered from the scorpions had sold for a decent price. He had kept the pieces of scorpion shell, however. They would not be as viable as the big daddy scorpion, but they might be useful in an attempt to make live armor.

Their first stop was the armor and weapons store that Blackthorne had frequented so much. The blacksmith seemed a bit bored as there was not a single customer in his surprisingly clean and tidy shop.

“Hey, lad. Been a while.” said the blacksmith.

Blackthorne waved to him then nodded. “Been training and other things.”

“Good, that’s always good. What brings you in? Need some amazing weapon to crush your foes?” asked the shop owner.

Blackthorne laughed at him then shook his head. “No, I want to buy as much of your broken down junk and raw materials as I can.”

The blacksmith raised up his bushy eyebrow. “What are you in need of that sort of thing for?”

“A few things I’m testing. Do you have anything?” asked Blackthorne.

“Oh sure, I mostly melt it all down for scrap or salvage that stuff for parts. Come take a look.” said the blacksmith.

They walked into the back area of the shop and Blackthorne immediately saw a literal treasure trove of absolute crap. There were cracked helms, rusted sets of armor with massive holes in them, rotting leather chest plates, and swords with so many pits and cracks that they looked like a sneeze might break them. He was practically in love.

“I rarely sell this stuff and pay even less for it. I’ll sell you anything you want by weight and material.”

“How much of this would fifty thousand Jerin get me?” asked Blackthorne.

The blacksmith’s eyes widened slightly. “Lad, that would get you a key to the room for a few days, a hundred ingots of iron, and me not giving a damn what you did in here. You’d of course get everything in this room that isn’t a container. Need to keep my bins and all.”

“Sold!” exclaimed Blackthorne cheerfully.

“Fine by me, but that’s got to be one interesting project you’re doing.” said the blacksmith curiously.

Blackthorne glanced at the man. “Well, honestly you know I’m a traveler right?”

“That much is obvious, yes.”

“My homeland is currently plagued by monsters. I can use this stuff to make weapons and armor in quality and amounts that I could ever possibly purchase pre-made.” admitted Blackthorne. He did not want to get started here and then end up angering the shop owner when he started wandering off with moderately high-end enchanted items that he made from the man’s garbage.

“Ah, makes sense. Well, what you do is your business. You’re certainly paying enough! If you need more let me know. I have like three or four store rooms and an entire warehouse full of broken things like this that I need to process.” replied the man with a friendly laugh.

Blackthorne rubbed his chin. “More you say?” He had already pledged a massive chunk of his personal finances to the cause, but he could certainly buy more if the price was right.

The blacksmith grinned. This promised to be a lovely collaboration. “I can probably keep you supplied for a very long time, lad. This is a small town, but people who pass through here often unload everything they have found along the way between here and Dala Rio, lots of monsters along the way.”

“Dala Rio?” asked Blackthorne.

“Yes, big port town about two months peasant walk to the west.” said the Blacksmith.

“Peasant walk?” asked Blackthorne.

“About twenty miles a day.” said the shop owner.

Blackthorne nodded to the man. In all honesty, he knew very little about the world. He had not been particularly interested in exploration in the recent past. The fact that life seemed to operate like a videogame currently had caused him to think in those terms. He had spent his time trying to become stronger, trying to win the game, so to speak. Now that his Earth life was somewhat fucked momentarily, it became even more important to become stronger. There were people in the world who wanted him and those he cared for dead.

“Good to know. You say that it’s a much bigger town?” asked Blackthorne.

“Absolutely, it’s a port town so goods and people from all over the world show up there.” said the Blacksmith.

Blackthorne considered that carefully. A sixty day trip at that pace would mean that it was around twelve hundred miles away. How big was the landmass that he was on, anyway? That would be like trying to walk half way across America at a twenty mile per day pace. He, and definitely Sonja as well, could easily maintain that. Were they to run at a steady pace they would probably make it there in only a few weeks. It was something to consider for the near future.

Of course, thoughts on how much more quickly they could arrive at Dala Rio when compared to the so-called peasant walk made him also consider how far the Highlands where Sonja’s people lived might be from there.

He paid the blacksmith the money that he owed, vastly lowering the total amount of Jerin that he possessed in the process. Once the absurdly pleased shop owner left the room, Blackthorne and Sonja got to work. While they sorted the items in the storeroom Blackthorne struck up a conversation with her. “You said that the trip to the Highlands would take about two weeks?”

“Yes, more or less.” she said while lifting a massive set of rusty plate armor out of the bin. It was solid iron and had several large holes and tears in the chest piece. Long dried blood still remained on the surface.

“Did you mean that as a peasant walk?” asked Scott.

“Yes, it’s the standard walking distance for travelers. Stronger people often go faster.” she said before tossing the plate armor to the side. They would separate all of the junk into armor types since they did not need to melt it down. The blacksmith did not need to do that since the only thing he had to verify was the type of material that had been used.

“So, how long would it take you personally to get there from here?” he asked her.

Sonja tilted her head to the side and considered. “If I ran the whole way?”

“Sure.” said Blackthorne.

“A few days, four or five maybe? If I was motivated enough I could probably do it in three, but that would include night travel and only a few hour’s rest each night.”

Blackthorne rubbed his chin. Plans for the future started to trickle into his mind. The items here, Sonja’s people, and a city by the sea, each of those things aided in the formation of his current musings. The group could be gathered, items could be made. If they kept pushing forward then perhaps the fact that they had gotten killed would be a major boon. Had he not been forced to stop leveling his skills he would not have thought of some of the things that he was now thinking, at least not so soon.

He looked over to Sonja then nodded. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”

She smiled back in response. Some of the thoughts that he had been thinking had occurred to her as well. Things might get even more interesting soon.