Death Smith - Book 2 - Chapter 18 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DIY upgrades Two days later. Late-April, 14 AR. Inside Rift 12. ‘Three… two… one,’ Lance counted. Seconds later, he heard a soft popping sound. It signalled that a small pellet inside the monster had exploded, taking out a small chunk of a batlike monster’s flesh in the process. The chunk, in this case, was the monster’s entire throat. These small batlike enemies were not a difficult monster to fight, but they had a nasty habit of sneaking up on you and attacking from the rear. Lance had heard some Rifters speculate whether these monsters had a thermal vision, seeing as they were quite skilled at locating Rifters. Compared to the massive tree-monsters they had fought in the beginning; these monsters were quite weak. “That is quite effective,” Iyas said as the monster fell out of the tree it had been hiding in. Iyas was about as strong and experienced as Scott and Lance. Armed with a spear and decent equipment, he was easily one of the stronger Rifters in the group. Like Lance, he had not wanted the leadership role, instead preferring the freedom that came with doing what you wanted. He was about as tall as Lance, only thinner and had a healthy tanned skin because of his Moroccan heritage. His brown eyes matched his hair, although he kept the latter short and shaved at the sides. Lance agreed with Iyas. The young woman had made a perfect shot with her spring rifle. Although it used air pressure, the projectile could kill smaller monsters with ease. Lance had also seen just how brutally effective it could be on larger foes if she combined the pellet with her ‘Explode item’ skill. “Thanks guys,” Mira said, running a hand through her blonde hair. She looked slightly embarrassed, but proud of her contributions. She reloaded her spring rifle and armed it, pulling on the lever to build up pressure. She got up from her sniping position and slid the rifle over her shoulders, grabbing a short sword from her hip as she nodded to the others. She wore basic leather wrist guards and a sturdy and thin gambeson of sorts. It was clearly less protective, compared to what Iyas and Lance were wearing, but anything would help in a Rift. She had tied some cloth wraps around her prosthetic leg on her left side, making it less reflective. “I still say you shouldn’t hide that leg. Weaponize it! Perhaps some blades on the side?” Iyas offered with a confident nod as the three of them reached the fallen monster and noticed the browning blood that was pooled around it. “Well, that thing won’t be moving anymore.” “I still think it is a stupid name,” Lance said with a sigh, ignoring a notification on his status screen that he was gaining experience, although he wasn’t in direct combat himself. “What? Rift-glider is a good name for this type of monster,” Mira said defensively while Iyas cleverly refused to comment, retrieving the black-shard for Mira. “Such a gentleman.” “Anyway, that should cover this side of the camp,” Lance commented as he closed his eyes, feeling the pull of the Rift-event somewhere further to the north. Any Rifter could feel the pull, that gut feeling that would lead a Rifter to the event itself. So far, the Rifters had mostly been focusing on clearing out their immediate surroundings, improving defences and securing fresh water. Every few hours a small group of Rifters would patrol the area and take care of smaller groups of monsters. The camp itself had added a few extra layers of fire ditches to prevent any potential fire from threatening the camp. There were trees everywhere and a small fire could quickly turn into something worse with all the trees surrounding them. “Good enough for now. Let someone else take over, right? You guys wasted enough ammunition,” Iyas said as he stored his spear within his inventory and grabbed a canteen to quench his thirst. “Lance perhaps! He missed two of his arrows. I traded ten pellets for ten kills. Pellets are cheap to replace,” Mira said, rubbing her left upper leg to ease some of the tension. Iyas laughed at that as he nodded. “True. You are a crack shot with that rifle. But remember, most skills rarely work well with guns and bullets. You having that detonate item skill and a pellet rifle is just an overpowered combination.” Lance smiled. He was getting better with the bow, but against moving targets, it was clear to see that he was still an amateur. But even Iyas and Mira would have to admit that Lance was much better with his javelins. “Are you coming with us, or do you want to check on your traps again?” Iyas asked, seeing Lance glance in the direction away from camp. Lance nodded. “You two kids go on ahead. I won’t be long,” Lance said with a smile, ignoring another notification about him gaining experience as he watched Iyas and Mira leave. It wasn’t strange that Lance went on by himself. His higher level made smaller monster groups less of a danger to him, and most of the Rifters had seen Lance sharpening his traps at the camp or placing them. He placed them in the opposite direction of the Rift-event, making it less likely for people to run into his traps. He had placed them out in the open so Rifters could spot them. They would still tempt monsters because of the blood he had poured over the traps. “Let’s collect some shards,” Lance said to himself as he started walking toward his traps, spotting three smaller grey dots in the air, flying in unusual patterns before one of them dive-bombed downwards at an incredible speed. * * * * * “Mind your surroundings, Ash,” Lance said, watching the pale warrior attack and shield bash the monster he was facing. Lance had taken a seat on a nearby tree branch that allowed him to observe what was happening. He watched Ash slash a few times, trying to hit the six-limbed monster. The monster looked like a hybrid between a toad, a goblin, and a centaur. It had a greenish and slimy skin, while its four legs allowed it to cross the terrain with ease. It was intelligent enough to use tools and crude armour, with this monster carrying a long branch that had sharpened bone tips tied at the tip, forming an improvised spear. The Rifters had encountered this before, having fought off smaller raiding parties of these monsters in this Rift. And Lance had caught a few of them in his traps as well. After having brought back one of their corpses, the other Rifters had given Lance the honour of naming it. Luckily, the name ‘Centaur-toad’ had been catchy enough for Lance to gain some respect from the other Rifters. Beyond the Rift-glider, the Centaur-toad, and the large and hulking tree creatures they had called ‘Bark-brains’, the Rifters had encountered others as well. “You are not just facing him,” Lance said once more, seeing a second monster occasionally try to hit Ash in the rear before flying off. ‘Those Rift-gliders are fast!’ Although Ash was comparable to a basic human, he was still stronger than the flying monster and the Centaur-toad but lacked the speed to hit them. “I guess two are still too much for him,” Lance thought, knowing it was just a matter of time before Ash would go down. Not wanting to waste more time and black-shards on repairing Ash, Lance snapped his fingers, signalling to his avian squad to go for the kill. As practised, Alpha and Beta moved towards the Rift-glider, driving the bat creature away from Ash and straight into its death. A moment later, Icarus had broken the monster’s neck in one violent dive-bomb that was quite like how a peregrine falcon would normally hunt. ‘I made the right choice in letting the birds practise on their own ever since entering the Rift. They have gotten so much better,’ Lance thought, realising how often the three birds were picking off the occasional single Rift-glider by working as team. “Nice job,” Lance said, watching the two crows secure the body so that Lance could find it later, while Icarus moved towards the Centaur-toad so it could distract it. ‘Now that the roles are reversed, what will you do?’ Lance thought, moments later dropping from his elevated position to make his way over towards Ash and the monster. With Ash no longer fighting two fronts, he was doing much better. He circled the monster to position himself more advantageously. Then, as if he had been waiting for it, Ash threw his axe towards the monster as a distraction before closing the distance, tackling the monster and himself through a small bush. Lance could hear twigs snap as the two fighters broke clear of it and slid down a small hill. The fighters ended up in a small murky pool at the bottom, with Ash holding onto the monster’s wrist to prevent it from using the spear. Lance slid down the hill as well, seeing Ash drag the monster further down in the water with him, submersing the two of them completely. Lance could still see the two of them in the murky water as air-bubbles escaped from the Centaur-toad’s mouth. ‘Nice one,’ Lance thought before he instructed Icarus to help the crows in dragging the Rift-glider’s corpse to him, giving them something to do. Ash continued to drown the monster he was fighting as Lance opened his inventory and checked the timer on his forging process. He could see the next crude-javelin would be ready in two minutes. He had been crafting a lot in his free time, making cheap bone javelins from the parts he had harvested from monsters. Although he had long since run out of the Trihorn bones, sinew, and horns, Lance had used other types of monster-bone or sharpened bones to make the javelins. They lacked the penetrating power of the original ones and showed a massive decline in stats, but still worked wonders in a lower-level Rift like this one. Lance also made crude javelins by hand in camp, giving a plausible alibi why he continued to have so many of these javelins on hand. He preferred people not to know about his crafting Skill. Later, if he had the time, he would try and make some bone knives as well, to see how they would work in the field. He watched Ash wade his way to Lance, dragging the drowned monster along with him. Lance had learned a while ago that Ash didn’t need to breathe. Still, seeing Ash drown a monster as a strategy was something else. Ash then snapped the monster’s neck as he dropped it next to Lance. “Axe…” Ash said, uttering a single word as he inhaled the air to do so, drenching the word in a deep and creepy tone. “Sure, go on ahead. Could you help the others as well? I think the Rift-glider might be too heavy to carry,” Lance commented as he grabbed a knife and began cutting out the black-shard from the Centaur-toad. As it came loose, Lance could see the many arteries and nerves that were still attached to it, hinting at how Lance’s own white shard would look inside his body. [You have finished forging an item] [Death Forge has reached lvl 2] Lance was about to order up another bone javelin when he noticed the addition message on his status screen. A wide smile appeared on his face at the fact that his forging skill had increased. He had been constantly using it ever since he figured out how to use a template, but this was much quicker compared to how long it had taken him to gain another level in his healing skill. ‘Is it because of the associated black-shard cost?’ Lance mused, knowing that each javelin required black-shards to craft, just like it had cost him to make the birds and Ash. “Just in time!” Lance exclaimed as he heard Ash slide back down the hill, carrying the corpse of the Rift-glider. Attached to it were three birds, desperately holding onto it with their beaks, as if not understanding that Lance’s earlier command had stopped. “You guys can let go now.” Lance watched the birds do so and take up a position near Lance while Ash sat down next to him. “I levelled up my crafting skill just now. Great, right?” Lance asked. Ash paused at that, as if he was searching for the correct word to use. “Yes…” “Again, way too deep and creepy. But yes, it is great,” Lance explained as he handed his knife to Ash so that he could cut out the Rift-glider’s black-shard. As he did so, Lance read up on what had changed for his skill. [Additional -50% Stamina and health regeneration per Forge] [Forging items +1 item in total] [Unlocked reforging option] [Reforging slots available] [3 base slots] ‘Bloody hell, that is a lot to take in,’ Lance mused, going over all the changes. He was especially interested in the reforging option, seeing as it was something Dieter and Daniel had explained to him. It was how Rifters with crafting Skills could upgrade items, like the mace he had gotten from Dieter.

“Let’s test this out.” He felt quite giddy because of the anticipation. He opened his inventory and focused on a crude javelin, but got no option to do so. Eventually, he retrieved both the javelin and a piece of bone before he got the choice to use the reforge option. ‘So, I can only reforge items that I physically touch?’

[Filled slots] [0/3]

‘So, three basic slots per item,’ Lance thought, wondering if he could get more slots if he levelled up that skill. ‘Would it also work with my companions?’

He then began touching his companions, opening their menus, and seeing a similar number of open slots. Three was the base number of upgrades per item. But no reforge option became available for his companions, despite Lance retrieving and trying all sorts of items from his inventory. Regarding his javelin, he had plenty of options from adding additional bone to strengthen the handle, or by adding a claw to the spearpoint to imbue the weapon with additional bleed-damage.

Lance accepted the reforge option for the javelin, strengthening with bone and claws, seeing the items disappear the moment he accepted it. The first slot filled had set Lance back a ten black-shard, while the second one had cost one hundred shards. ‘If the cost of upgrading goes up per slot, I’ll run out of black-shards in no time.’ Already Lance had been struggling with getting enough black shards to repair his companions and have enough to make more javelins.

After storing the javelin, he could see the timer start inside his inventory screen. Afterwards he shifted his gaze toward Ash. “Well, the weapon I can upgrade, but I am not sure how it works for you guys,” Lance admitted, feeling disappointed for a moment before he suppressed it. ‘Is it because of my class as a death smith? Just like I can only make items from monster parts, perhaps I am missing something here?’

Knowing that this mystery would take some time, Lance instead focused on the things he could answer. He looked at the timer on the javelin upgrade and noticed how it drained half of his Magicka and Stamina regeneration rate. Lance then pressed the forge button on another javelin, upgrading it with additional bone and claw.

He wasn’t sure whether the second forging process would cause a hundred percent decrease in his regeneration rate, or if the second process would halve his remaining, resulting in a seventy-five percent decrease. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he found out it was the latter. It meant that no matter how many items he could eventually forge, he could always recover a sliver of Stamina and Magicka during this process.

Wanting to celebrate further, Lance then patted Ash on the knees as he snapped his fingers, sending the birds up in the air again. “How about we celebrate the good news by throwing javelins at monsters?” Lance asked, noticed Ash’s excited smile. * * * * * A few hours later, Lance pulled out his left earbud as he cocked his head to the side. He could see Mira sitting there, peering over his shoulder to see the movie he was watching on his smartphone. She had done so for several minutes already but was getting bolder by the minute. “Can I help you?” “Sure, scoot over,” Mira said as she moved forwards and even grabbed the free earbud. “What are we watching?” “Dirty harry. I was told it is the greatest movie ever made.” Lance handed Mira his phone as well, so she could see better. She smiled as her smaller hands quickly snatched the device. “Really? Is it that good?” “It is awful, but they filled it to the brim with guns, so you’ll no doubt love it,” Lance said with a grin. [You have retrieved an item from the inventory] Lance produced a small canteen in his hand and undid the lid, taking a few large sips of water before storing it again. Afterwards, he closed his eyes, letting his thoughts drift towards that quiet place in his mind where he liked to brood. He could feel Thomas’ presence tug at him, wanting to watch the movie. But, within that quiet place of his, not even Thomas could reach him. He went over what he had accomplished these days inside the Rift. Both Alpha and Beta had been a tremendous help in terms of sentry duty and offence. Their flying ability had improved rapidly, and Lance figured a few more weeks of practice would make them equal to normal crows, if not slightly better due to them not having to sleep, eat, or deal with fatigue. Icarus was in a league of his own. Lance wasn’t sure if it was just an affinity for flying that falcons had instinctively, or if it was something specific to Icarus, like boxing was for Ash. Either way, seeing the bird take out the Rift-gliders was a remarkable sight, not to mention music to his ears. Lance’s heightened Perception stat made it possible for him to hear the zipping sound as the falcon dived low, only to adjust its course at the last minute. Ash, like always, was constantly proving to Lance that he was more than just a tool. Ash was a companion, his right hand in the race for justice. So, Lance rested with ease, knowing that his four companions were grinding experience somewhere in the jungle. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author: Osirium Copyright: 2022 OsiriumWrites Released: 2022