(Zack)

Luca still looks weak as he sleeps, though I can tell his Mana's gone up. It does so steadily, though it's slowing down, since it's getting higher. I know I'm going to end up with a monstrous amount of Mana, but I think he will in his life, too.

Hm. That actually brings up a good question. A very good question.

"Checking on him again?" Adrian asks, giving Max a suspicious look as the beastborn stares at Luca intently, willing him to wake up so I stop being sad.

That's not how it works, Max.

"Yeah," I say.

"What's on your mind?"

"Who will reach Nathan's current amount of Mana first, me or Luca."

"How much Mana does Normar have?" He asks.

"There are six digits to it," I answer, and his eyes widen. Nathan's got a high enough Appraisal Resistance that no one I know of can actually see his stats, but he showed it to me. "Yeah, he's a monster when it comes to Mana."

And he's not even at Level 250 yet. He's used quite a lot of Mana in his life, even Blaine and Adrian don't have more than 50,000 or so.

"Anyway," I kiss Luca on the forehead. "We'll be back, bud. Just a few more days before we think you'll wake up. Gold's got someone keeping an eye on you at all times so I can be alerted immediately."

I look at the monkey beastborn sitting in the corner, watching Max intently. He's jealous, but also in awe. He also wants to know if I can give him a fist-bump, but is too scared to ask.

I walk over to the monkey boy and hold out my fist.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on him," I say, and his face brightens as he gives me a fist-bump, his mind becoming a scramble of… well, their communication. "I'll see you around. Max, come on. I've got more training for you."

"Yay!" Max exclaims, hurrying over to me as I walk to the door. "Max get candy!"

I can sense the other beastborn's amusement at Adrian's shock.

Instead of taking Max home, I lead him to Jackson's forge, where a new person, someone I don't recognize, is manning the till. She looks to be around forty, and is just as beefy as the smith. I bet she's a cousin or something. She's got a line, too.

"Hey, Zack," she says as I start to walk up to her.

Yes! Someone I don't know who doesn't try to stop me immediately, but knows me instead! Wooo!

"Hello, Madam," I grin at her. "Is Jackson busy?"

"Always," she answers. "I can fetch him after I finish with this customer."

"Thanks!" I say, and she finishes up taking the party's orders.

They leave, then the clerk tells the customers to hold on a minute, then she heads into the back. Around five minutes later, she returns with Jackson, who's carrying a small box. Payday again? You shouldn't have.

"Can we talk in private?" I ask him.

"Sure," he answers. "Come on back."

I lead Max to the back, to the private room where we do our business. He hands the box, which contains five thousand platinum's worth of coins.

"You've gone through just five?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "More of the 'trustworthy worthy folk' will probably come by in the next week or two. I'm also raising the price up from one thousand to two."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because you have a limited supply," he answers. "And anyone who's worthy can afford it. In addition to that, I'm sure that there are more of those you'd be okay with getting it buying it than the amount of it you have."

I think on it. He has fifteen left, and I have… twenty-six, plus the five left from what I gave him before. So then there are forty-six of them, with up to five unavailable for use.

"You're not doing this for greed, are you?" I ask.

"No," he answers. "It will help decrease how quickly we go through it so that we don't run out or miss out. There are still quite a few who could use it who are deeper in or who live around here who haven't come to me yet. If there's someone who could really use it who's 'worthy', as you'd call it, but they can't afford it, then we'll work something out. Then there's the Dark Order and the Fallen Hunters."

"Yeah," I nod, thinking more on it.

Shame it's so rare, or I'd just have the entire Dark Order's more powerful members get gear made with it.

"Alright," I say. "I guess we can do that, if you think it's best."

"Then I will," he says. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Can you teach Max how to properly care for his blade?" I ask.

"With all my orders?" He asks.

"I'm sure you could use the rest," I answer, and he chuckles.

"You know how to do it."

"I know," I grin at him. "But it'll help me with Max, too."

"Boss need help?" Max asks, and Jackson jumps a little.

"Told you they can talk!" I laugh.

"I need to finish this sword," Jackson tells me. "Then I can take a break to teach him how to properly care for his knife's edge."

"Speaking of that," I say. "All of mine are fantastic, Jackson. Thanks for blades that don't ding."

"Thanks for letting me work with such potent resources," he says. "Speaking of, I have an idea for the special set you ordered."

"An idea?" I ask.

"Mixing and merging many Holiday and Special Ores," he says. "When utilizing Primordial Essence, allows me to make especially potent metals. I can do that with elemental and Special Ores, too. A standard set of Dark Armor uses Blood and Shadow, for example."

"And then you added in Temporal and Primordial," I add. "Making it a set of equipment that grows as I do while bolstering its power. It's not as ridiculous as using a mix of Holiday and Special Ores, but still potent."

"Indeed," he says. "There is, naturally, elemental ores, such as Fire Ore."

"So you want to make a Flame Armor?" I ask. "I'm not really interested in-"

"No," he shakes his head. "I've been doing small experiments using that extra special ore and essence you brought me, trying to figure out the best combination for your equipment."

The Crystal Essences and Crystal Ingots.

"Using that," he says. "While mixing in some of the Primordial, allows me to 'upgrade' an ore so that it's just as strong and durable as any Holiday or Special Ore I've ever worked with."

"In other words," I say. "You can make Flame Ore a type of Special Ore while it's still Flame Ore. All the strength and power of Holiday and Special Ores, yet with the element of fire rather than the unique properties."

"Exactly."

"So it'd just be a really, really powerful Flame Armor."

"No," he laughs. "You've brought me ores worth gold and ores worth platinum. There are ores worth diamond as well."

"Like the Frost Ingots," I say. "I don't understand – why are those worth more than Holiday and Special Ores?"

"Because they're special, in a way," he says. "They're not actually Elemental Ores, they're in a classification above that, but below the ultimate ones you've found. Dragon Ore fits into this category as well, as does Blood.

"A Flame Ore," he says. "Is just fire. It can heat up, it can ignite, it can absorb heat, but that's it. There are no 'other' properties to it unless it's mixed. Frost Ore is a type of mixed ore that we can't make ourselves. It uses a mix of air and water, and has a wide variety of uses. Sure, it can turn cold, it can freeze things that come into contact with it, and it can absorb the cold, but it's also extremely durable on its own and can be honed, by itself, into a fine edge. Flame Ore isn't much more than an elemental steel."

The more I think about this, the more I'm confused by the Holiday and Special Ores' pricing. They're actually rather cheap? Or is that simply because of how 'common' they are, even if they're only available once a year?

Actually, that makes sense. The Frost Lord was a pain in the ass to kill, even with Nathan's help, and was how I obtained the Frost Ingots, something that can only be obtained in frigid, hostile environments if not from something that difficult. I was easily killing Holiday Bosses at that time, too, and there are thousands of those throughout the Boundary.

Okay, so that's why something that 'rare' and 'powerful' is so cheap – it's actually rather common compared to some of the other things, even if I bet their price spikes months later. Then there are things like Frost Ore and Dragon Ore, the latter of which seems to be important to this conversation.

"You mentioned Dragon Ore," I say. "You've mentioned it in the past, too."

"Yes," he nods. "If you are willing to pay me a few platinum, I can send some people to try to harvest it."

"Harvest?" I ask. "You mean fight a Dragon? But no one can kill a Dragon."

Yet.

"No," he shakes his head. "There are certain ores that can be harvested in addition to the 'normal' way of acquiring. There are a few mountains with very powerful monsters on it and in it. Dragon Ore can be harvested there, but not easily."

Big S mentioned something similar, that the ores and essences I obtained through Ascending can be obtained through other methods as well. That makes sense, though, especially since Primordial Essence has been obtained through kills and the Santa Gifts.

Still don't know how to get the rest of the rewards, but there's got to be a way. But I thought things like Dragon Ores can only be obtained by killing Dragons?

Well, that shows how much I noticed that little nugget of information. People had in-depth knowledge of them. There's no way they could if that was the only way to acquire them.

"Alright," I say. "So you want to try to make what, Dragon Armor for me?"

"Not quite," he says. "But that's one possibility if the experiment fails. Is he okay?"

I look at Max, who is twisted around, looking down with a frown on his face.

"Yeah, he's fine," I tell the blacksmith. "He's zoned out on our conversation and is currently wondering if he should wear shorter tunics so that it doesn't look funny when his tail isn't pointed straight down. Just ignore him for now, he'll figure it out on his own."

"Okay," Jackson says. "I would need ten platinum to arrange for parties to harvest the ores and bring them to me in time to perform the experiments and then create the equipment for you. Even if the experiment I want to do fails, it would be the most powerful set of equipment ever forged in the Boundary. In fact, I could make that right now just using the Primordial and Crystal Ingots and Essence. But the thing I have in mind could be just as powerful, if not more so, if it succeeds."

"Then go ahead," I pull out a ten-plat coin and hand it to him.

"Money!" Max exclaims. "Max money?"

"Yes," I answer. "You'll make money on your own, Max."

"Yippee!"

"It sounded like he was asking if that was his money," Jackson says as Max beams at me, his tail wagging.

"No," I shake my head. "He was asking if he was going to make his own money. He knows that's my money and that I earned it. Anyway, get the ores and try to make the armor, Jackson. I'll pay the cost, you know I can and will."

"Okay," he nods. "Let me finish the sword, then I can teach Max how to care for his blades."

"Thank you," I say, and he stands, then starts to leave. "Stay here a minute, Max."

I follow Jackson out into the forge, taking a look at the sword he's working on. It's a rapier, and based on the bluish tint to it, I can guess who it's for.

"You wanted something else?" He asks, and I hold out another ten-platinum coin. "I want four knives made. Nothing special with the elements or features, but they need to be sharp, rarely need caring for if ever, and durable. I don't care if you tap into some of what you're using for my armor, I'm sure you've got enough for that."

"For Max and Luca?" He asks.

"And the last two members of my team," I nod. "Who haven't shown up yet. One for each of them. I won't tell them there's anything special about them, so they won't be tempted to… do a Braden. But I'd feel more comfortable knowing they had such weapons."

"Alright," he says. "Do you want me to use some Spook Ore for that extra-special ability?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Could you?"

"I will," he says. "How are you holding up?"

"Better than I was," I shrug. "Max's arrival has helped me a lot. Reminded me to be cheerful and goofy again, even if I'm mourning. Once the team's assembled and gotten a few Levels, we're going to Talorn, and I'm having them work together in taking out monsters. I'm going to focus on getting powered up, too, so that I can kick A'Lutar's ass, find Fallen Braden, and put him to rest."

"Good luck," he says. "And if your team ever needs equipment, just send them to me."

"I will," I nod. "But they're going to have to buy it themselves. I learned from my mistake with Braden. Just gifting it to them far before they're ready is a bad idea. They need to work hard, learn to buy it themselves. Equip themselves. Only once they've learned to handle what they can and know to calculate and determine will I gift them something strong."

"Other than the knives."

"That's for my own safety of mind," I shake my head. "That's different."

"Alright," he says. "Do you want me to wait on the last two until they're here, so I can imprint their names on them? Or do you want all four blank on that front?"

Their names? Hm. If they're identical knives, then the names might be a good idea, but I don't know their names.

I feel a surge of my psychic power, and somehow, I know their names.

"I know their names," I shake my head as I feel my body start to tremble. "Gavin… and Braden."

"Braden?" He asks. "But he's-"

"Not that Braden," I shake my head. "I-I'm getting another teammate named Braden."