Varren explained that the gem June held was the way for her to summoning minions. It was a Fire Imp gem, tuned to her Fire Magic abilities. Though they quickly dropped the matter, June burned with questions.

“I’ve been hearing of your progress from our friend out there, and I’m impressed,” said Varren as they regarded June with a boring stare. “You’ve already grown stronger, and expanded your core, impressive.”

Thinking about what she’d seen the last few days, the image of Varren from the scanner chamber jumped to her mind. “So, you saw something in me that day? Something that made you think this was going to happen. Otherwise, why would you be so interested?” June said, struggling to remain stoic.

“Well, I just read your status, so I saw the class you had the potential to have. You have a lot of choices ahead of you. I can teach you a few things. One thing that might be helpful, is how to read your opponents. But that’s just the beginning.”

Judging her words, June figured Varren had seen something akin to an MMO notice on a mob. June didn’t remember getting such a status window from those skeletons she had fought, so she asked. Varren explained that the ability relied on Mana Sense, and that those basic warriors were level 1 feral undead, incredibly basic. The elder undead congratulated June on doing well, that was something, at least.

“That was the gather 10 wolf pelts quest then, huh?” June speculated to herself. She decided to move on from the topic to something that was bugging her. The idea of testing her Mana Sense out intrigued her, but would have to wait.

“You brought up reading me that first day, I wondered why were there so many of you there, they all looked like copies,” June asked.

“No, there were no copies of me, I’m one of a kind,” Varren said with a predatory grin. “There were however several of my underlings there.”

The implications swam in June’s head. “Did you make them, or...” she asked, trying to figure out just what this thing before her was.

“No, they are minions created by our great lord, but they are bound to my service.”

“Are they are all still under his control, and just listen to you?” June asked. A nod was the response from Varren.

“The Brand binds to their cores, in a way, the same with yours. That allows Sharth’ax and the rest of us Lords a degree of control. Now, speaking of cores, how does yours appear to you?” A glint in the eye and the leaning posture of the glittering undead spoke to genuine curiosity.

June laid out her experiences in controlling her magic, and the sense of elation she often felt when she finished a task. June further explained how she had encountered various forms of elemental enemies within her core. The void surrounding her core and the common forest imagery were left out.

“Interesting, that’s not a core configuration I’ve heard of. Usually, cores in undead focus on a singular element at first, with others brought to bear over time. Though I suppose that’s the reason you have an Elite Class.”

“I have to wonder,” asked June, “why the secrecy? If training undead with Elite Classes is as important as it seems, why waste time?”

Bones rapped on the surface of the desk for a beat.

“We can’t advise you on every minor detail. We’re very experienced in matters of magic and training new undead,” said Varren, lazily. “But, the simple matter of learning to control your mana is something that’s expected of you.”

Not letting up, June pressed the question. “If you know so much, why didn’t you guys just explain this stuff directly, wouldn’t that have been easier?” June said, letting irritation into her voice.

“Again, it’s simple, we can’t just spoonfeed you everything, figure certain elements out on your own. Sharth’ax and I have been at this for years, we know things you will never understand.” An edge of irritation crept into Varren’s voice.

Something about Varren’s tone bore into June’s mind, like the sound of someone smacking their lips, June tensed her grip on the arm of her chair. “Again with the cryptic answers, is everyone here useless?” she wondered to herself.

An icy stare passed between the two.

“I think we should include our friend in this conversation, shouldn’t we?” asked Varren, snapping their fingers and allowing the chamber’s door to open.

The door creaked on rusty hinges, and Bullin came into view, leaning up against the wall next to the golems. The inert stones didn’t react to his presence, even as June saw the dwarf kick a loose pebble that could be confused for a rocky toe.

“Your chat done with,” he questioned, a sour tone to his voice.

“I think it’s time you took our prodigy on a tour of the grounds, give her a warm welcome to her new home. You’ve been pushing her hard these last few days, let her have some fun.” Those last words were accentuated with a red flash in Varren’s sockets.

“Of course, my lord,” said Bullin, snapping into an uptight posture. June cast a quick glance at Bullin, who she didn’t think could be so formal.

“Take her through the crypt levels and let her get a feel for how things work. After all, she’s going to venture into this foul world at some point.” Bullin nodded at the instructions. “Maybe show her the Ossuary, if you have time,” added Varren. And with that, Varren dismissed the pair.

The pair walked swiftly back down the path through the level in silence, returning to the forge. Not wasting any time, Bullin started pulling stuff out of boxes. After a bit of heaving things around, he spoke.

Bullin held up a hand, stopping questions from June. “You’re lucky they didn’t rip you to pieces on the spot.”

Downcast, June didn’t answer.

The demeanor of the dwarf shifted after a few seconds. “Well, before we actually get to training, I suppose I should teach you some forging,” said Bullin, laying out his plan for the day. “I think we need to get another weapon in your hands, something suited to you. What kind do you want to make?”

“I’m not sure,” she said.

“While you’re deciding on what you want to do, I’ll get everything ready. Take your time, you don’t want to screw up.”

June set about figuring out how she wanted to make her first truly custom weapon. She knew she needed an object that was useful for her class, but also not too bulky or obvious. If the plan of sending her out into the world remained on course, she wanted something she could make use of. A stereotypical wizard’s staff felt a bit too on the nose. She already had a short sword, she decided that she needed something to fight close-up with.

“What about a dagger?” She asked Bullin. He paused for a moment, before nodding his agreement. “Do you think we should make something more complex?” she proposed, he shook his head, showing he was fine with keeping things simple.

Problem was, what kind of enchantments did she want to use? The skeleton ran back to her room to fetch some enchantment books, trying to figure out what she wanted to create. June flipped open one of the rune books, she searched through the options. It was hard to decide which combination to use.

Her experience in the arena had taught her a valuable lesson. As an undead, healing opportunities had to be kept close at hand. She was bound to take damage, and she must be able to heal without losing mana. Determined, June made her choice, based on how great Hex made her feel.

Though the question remained, how to build the rune combination she needed to get the desired effect. In a part of the book describing runework, June hit upon a passage that could solve her problem.

In my studies, Runic combinations are rather haphazard, unless used properly. The wielder’s intent must be considered. I suppose that’s why Mana has become so important in the forging process. One could possibly create any combination by bending Mana to the user’s will. The issue is that the Runes have to abide by the “rule of common sense” if you wish to utilize them. Take the routine Poison Injection sequence favored by miscreants. You wouldn’t use a Pull Rune over a Push Rune to facilitate the mechanism. For that reason, you must remember the purpose of runes in combining them.

— Advanced Runics and Theory, by Archwizard Valguraan

June picked out the Runes she thought would work best, sketching them out to check their alignment. The idea was to use two sets of runes, and then channel mana into one. One set would leech mana from targets struck by the blade, the other would leech life force, healing her wounds. Besides the configurations for both Life and Mana leeching, she included lines of Focus runes around each set of Distillation ones to help purify the incoming energy.

June walked over to Bullin, who was currently pouring Infusion Oil into a bowl, to ask for his input.

“What do you think, will this work to help keep me alive?” she asked.

Bullin sat the material down and glanced over the enchantments etched onto the parchment June held out to him. “I might suggest one alteration to the design of your blade itself. To function more than a few seconds with your current design, you have to channel it into it.” He held up a finger, signaling she should wait, while he rummaged in another crate. Blazing eyes found a small metal package within. Bullin opened it with force, almost tearing into it. The box held a handful of carved black gemstones, and a collection of modest steel tools.

“Those are black opals, great for storing Death Mana, and the tools to set them. Put a few of those suckers into the handle, and you can get them to feed into the runes if you set them up right.”

“So this world has a mana battery of sorts, cool,” thought June. She thanked Bullin, before returning to the design of her weapon.

“Before we get into this, you need to remember to use mana the entire time,” Bullin reminded her. Since you’re working with basic steel, infusing mana into it is important.”

June recalled the image of seeing Bullin’s rainbow of mana while he forged. With the idea firmly planted, like a sturdy tree’s roots, she focused her power. The flow of warm power trailed up her ribs, and then back down her arms, pooling in the hammer.

“Can you heat multiple pieces, I want to try something.”

Bullin shrugged and began placing multiple portions of steel into the fire to warm. He then set about carving at a handle for the dagger.

“I sure hope this works,” she thought. “Do you have flux?” she asked. Bullin grinned, before fetching a bucket from the side of the room. Peering inside, she saw that it looked just like powdered mana crystal used for runework.

“I’m surprised you know about this stuff at all. Normally low-skilled smiths just stick to basics,” Bullin said as he did his work.

June smiled while she stared into the flames of the forge.

Finally, they were ready to begin. Bullin helped by controlling the temperature of the forge, making the process much quicker. As the ingots heated, June waited, trying to figure out how she was supposed to do this. “Clearly, he wants me to do this on my own,” she pondered to herself. She had spent some time in her world learning about basic blacksmithing in late-night information binges, so that knowledge came flooding back. Problem was, she had never actually forged anything.

After a few minutes, Bullin signaled June should be ready to hammer. He handed her a glove to hold the tongs with and got her into position to pull the piece of metal from the flames. Red and black tendrils of power slithered down her form, pooling in the end of the tool, and she brought it down. As she did, nearly white-hot metal came into contact with her hammer for the first time. June recalled the pace at which Bullin had hammered, trying to mimic it. After her initial few swings, he stepped in. Showing her how to properly time her swings, the heavy hammer sang a low-pitched song as she prepared the first ingot. She was off her mark a few times, hitting the anvil itself, but Bullin helped her out. “Don’t throw so much of your shoulder into the swing, it’s all about control,” he said as he coached her through the forging.

Firing her Mana Sense, June tried to get a feel for the flow of mana into the blade. She saw small flecks of shadow hanging onto the blade. Resolving to get a more visible effect, she poured more mana into each swing. As she did, a serpent of crimson and umbra danced across the blade. With each strike, the mana pulsed and floated across the anvil like steam rising from a fresh-cooked meal. At first, it didn’t look like much was happening, but over the next few minutes, metal shaped and mana pooled, signaling progress. The pounding sent flakes of hot steel flying, and the heat from the forge filled the room. June didn’t know skeletons could get so hot, but she was proven wrong conclusively.

As June heated and hammered, the piece formed into a longer shaft of super-hot steel. Successive hammerings drew out the metal, forcing it flat. Now it was time for the bending of the first piece. Working from vague memory, June hoped she was working in the correct order. Bullin was several steps ahead of her and had already placed an edged tool into the hole in the anvil. He must have approved of her work, as he didn't stop her, she assumed. As June recalled the videos of this she’d seen before coming here, she tried to hammer an indent into the metal, which would allow her to break and bend it. Once she could bend the steel back on itself, she moved carefully, applying a handful of powdered mana crystal to the bent sections before placing the metal back into the fire. A few minutes later, she yanked out the folded piece, and hammered it flat. With repeated blows of the hammer, the noise changed as it impacted the denser metal. The sound changed from a guttural to a more ringing song. As June repeated this process, she flattened the dagger, drawing it to a thinner overall shape.

When she was satisfied that the folds held, she placed it back into the fire, and took out another portion. She hammered away at the next piece, bringing it to roughly the same shape of the first. She placed it on top of the first piece, which she asked Bullin to pull from the fire. Carefully, June drew out the ultimate piece to a slightly smaller form, then she stacked the three chunks onto each other.

Bullin was now eagerly watching her hammer away at the stacked pieces. June threw everything she had into each swing, pushing more and more mana into the piece as she worked it. After several more minutes of sustained blows, the pieces appeared to have joined. The fused metal went through multiple cycles of heating and hammering. During each pass of heating, she broke and folded the steel multiple times, adding more powder.

After quite a long time, Bullin stepped in. “I think that’s enough,” commanded the intently watching dwarf. “Start forming the final shape.” His blue-tinged eyes were watching the skeleton like a hawk.

June swapped over to hammering on the nose of the anvil. As she hammered away, a point took shape. Through several more cycles of hammering and heating to shape the metal, a roughly even form was achieved over the whole of the dagger. June could finally see the dagger she was trying to make within the steel. As she flipped it over, she worked on a tang as well, recalling the short sword’s form. As time passed, June poured even more mana into her work, and her core sang the now-familiar song of hunger. Working for nearly an hour now, a rough dagger was finally completed. Bullin directed her to dunk it into a barrel that contained a dark and thin oil. A hissing sound like an angry viper filled the stone chamber.

Bullin pointed June to a pedal-powered grinding wheel. "Grind the shape so it’s less rough,” he directed her. “I’ll finish it once the rest of your work is done.”

Following his directions, June put the unfinished dagger against the stone and began grinding it. It was then that the exhaustion caught up with her. The act of forging the blade had been taxing, but not overwhelming. The repeated pedaling of the grinding wheel made June feel as if she had run a marathon, dragging the fire of purpose from her bones. Grinding the edges and faces of the dagger took far longer than June expected. “Guess I have to raise my Endurance a bit,” she despaired internally.

Bullin stepped in at that moment, holding his beefy arm in front of June. She looked up at him as he handed her a carved wooden handle. Looking closer, she saw that someone had formed three indents into the hilt. The handle’s wood was dark, almost chocolate-colored, accenting well with the darkened steel of the blade.

The pair once again repeated the handle application process, similar to the one from making her short sword.

And now the last step had come. June carried the assembled weapon to the enchanting table. She took the metal tool and maul into her hand, tapping out the runes she wanted into the handle. Tink...Tink...Tink. One side of the dagger got the life leech configuration. Tink...Tink...Tink, and the other side received the mana one. With a smile, she finished the runes with simple lines to connect them, and forced mana into them. A dull blue light glowed around the handle.

June opened the box of gem-setting tools and used one tool to get the setting into place. With slow precision, she used a small hammer to drive the metal setting into the wood. Moving with purpose, she grabbed a different tool, and fixed the gems into the pre-carved holes with shaky hands. After the final gem went into place, another shower of colorful sparks flew around the forge. June beheld her success. Dark wood stood out against the blackened blade, glinting with a sinister red light. The opals set into the handle and hilt echoed the same fiery energy. Like embers caught on a wind at midnight, the lines of red snaked through a field of black.

Item Gained

Name

Vampiric Edge Dagger

A wicked dagger that holds power over life and death. Channeling mana into the runes will allow the wielder to sap life force and magical power from their foes. Created using a new forging technique.

Rarity

Magical

Grade

Above Average

Affinity

Death

Effect

Mana/Life Leech

+30 ATK Rating

Seeing the description, June nearly did a backflip. She hadn't screwed up the forging, and it looked like the game world hadn't seen some element of her forging process before. The prospects and her curious nature danced for joy in her mind. Bullin watched the skeleton regard her work, with a smile. “Now, let’s make some armor,” he called from behind June.

As she spun around, a smile spread.

A stack of leather sheets sat on the enchanting table. Alongside the materials was an armor form that looked like a mannequin torso. Placed beside the torso was a bucket with a brush sticking out of it. June spotted a large metal box tucked under the surface of the table. The smell emanating from the bucket was foul, like rotten meat. It hung over the entire table like a fog. Even without a nose, June became queasy and her smile faded.

A look of mirth spread across Bullin’s face. “Don’t worry about that. You won’t notice it once you finish the piece. It’s just glue.”

“What the hell is it made of, your old socks?”

Bullin chuckled. “Quit your belly-achin’ and get over here,” Bullin said as he laid out the first leather sheet. It nearly dwarfed the table with its size.

Bullin directed her to slather glue onto the sheets. June layered multiple sheets onto each other, creating a smooth piece of thick leather. She then layered it around the form, using a proffered tool to cut it into shape. Bullin directed June to cut strips from the leather for buckles and straps. After a few attempts and following Bullin’s advice, she had enough strips.

Finally ready for the final assembly, June hefted the gigantic piece of skin into place. With Bullin’s help to hold it in place, June could stretch the sheet across the torso form. Pausing, June had a thought.

“What about runes?” asked June as she pulled the massive sheet taut.

“We’re skipping details and runes, because they won’t be worth the effort,” he said as June cut the leather to better fit the form.

“Since it’s so basic, why am I bothering? Why don’t you just make something magical for me?” asked June.

“I could make you something better, but you’d quickly have to replace it,” he admitted. “But we can make it pretty great, thanks to what I’m about to show you.”

Quicker than she thought possible for how big it was, Bullin pulled the metal box from under the table.

June watched, considering his words. She assumed that he meant she could only make basic items. Anything more advanced would have to rely on higher tiers of crafting skill.

The dwarf picked up the bucket, dumping the glue into the forge. He paused to channel mana, bringing the flames roaring to life. The smell filled the chamber, bathing June and everything around her in odors of rot and ash.

Bullin then dropped the bucket onto a crate, filling it with a pull of a nearby lever. Bullin filled the box with water. He also took the mana powder from their engraving of runes in the dagger, dumping it into the box. Bullin took the leather and placed it, form and all, into the box. With effortless grace, he placed the filled box into the forge’s flames. As the fire licked at the metal, it glowed a dull orange. After several minutes, Bullin ripped off the lid and pulled the form out. As he held it above the simmering water, droplets fell like acid rain, singing everything they touched. Bullin placed the finished piece onto the table, carefully peeling the armor off of the form. The hardened leather resisted, making a sound like snapping bones. An item box appeared in front of June as she inspected it.

Item Gained

Name

Reinforced Leather Gambeson

A basic leather armor chestpiece. Offers minimal protection from attacks, but it's better than nothing.

Rarity

Non-Magical

Grade

Above Average

Affinity

—

Effect

+40 DEF Rating

While June channeled mana, Bullin sharpened her blade and made some final adjustments to the armor. When he was done, a form-fitted piece of armor shined on the table next to her new weapon.

With her new gear strapped on, June felt incredible. The world would quake before her might, or at least, that’s what she felt like. Eagerly, she followed Bullin out of the forge. He led her back down the passageways toward the teleportation chamber, after reminding her to grab that Skill Gem that Varren had given her.

As they returned to the teleportation sigil on this floor, Bullin once again called out, this time screaming, “Rotting Crypt!” before a bath of amethyst light covered them both.