“Sean. Seeeaaaaannnnn. SEAN!” My peaceful slumber on a ship was shattered by an incessantly nagging voice.

“Hnkt? Whazza? I’m up!” I said, nearly tossing myself out of the saddle, much to the annoyance of our eagzard.

“SQUAK!”

“We’re almost back to the city. Time to wake up.” Elendria whispered in my ear, sending delicious shivers down my spine.

“Thanks.” I said. “And sorry I almost threw us.” I apologized to the eagzard, scratching that one spot they all loved. It was right behind where their jaw was, and it reminded me of our childhood cockatiel. It had a spot of orange colored feathers in the same location, and absolutely loved to be scratched there. A tug on my free hand let me know that the eagzard I had ridden out was jealous, and wanted his own scratches.

“Alright, alright. Here ya go.” I chuckled, scratching him in the same spot and getting small coos from both creatures. They always managed to catch me off guard like this. As vicious as they looked, they would turn around and do something adorable. It only seemed like a few minutes before we were next in line for the gate.

“Monsters below C grade go straight to the craftsman district, they’ll buy it there. Anything above that needs to go to the dungeon courtyard.” The guard was explaining to the group ahead of us, who had a wagon filled with smaller bird type monsters, obviously looking to boost our arrow supply.

“Oleg! Bad hunt?” One of the guards shouted.

“Heya Adam! Naw, we had a good one but it was only one monster. If you have time, you should really come see it. I guarantee it’ll surprise you.”

“Eh, sure. I got time.” He said, popping onto our spare eagzard. “Sorry to barge in like this, but my captain’ll wanna know what you brought in. But of a busybody.”

“No worries.” Oleg replied for us. “This way you can give him the news firsthand, and tell the story over a pint or two.”

“That good, eh?”

“Heh, you’ll see. And that’s just telling the story of turning it in. I swear Angeltongue is going to be hunting Sean here for the next month just to hear the story.”

“Angeltongue?” I asked.

“Sean? Nice to meet you, I’m Adam.” The guard said, then continued. “Angeltongue is our highest ranked bard. She’s always looking for new material.”

“Just as long as she is only looking for a story.” Elendria warned, for my ears only apparently. Adam and Oleg spent the rest of the ride in joking, while I was amazed at the transformation of the city. Everyone was moving with an efficient hurry, and there were next to no problems. People just seemed a lot more forgiving.

“So, monster grades?” I asked Elendria as we moved.

“I keep forgetting how much common knowledge you were never exposed to.” She said. “Monsters are graded based on their strength and magic abilities. F grade are domesticated animals with no attack. Threat increases as they get stronger. Mostly herbivorous animals that only attack if provoked are E, D are predators. C is the beginning of magic wielding. B rank monsters can hold their own against a party of adventurers, A rank can hold themselves against a city garrison. Above that are S, SS, and SSS rank. So far, only dragons are ranked S and above.”

“Seems simple enough.” I said, nodding along with her explanation. “What do you think the turtle was?”

“Probably low A rank.” She said. “Only because of the defense. Hard to take down a monster that can absorb magic like that. Unless you do something monumentally stupid like climb up to its neck and blast it with an untested spell that drains all your mana.”

“Uh, you sound a little upset about my plan.”

“Yes. A little upset.” She said, causing me to gulp. Luckily we had just reached the dungeon courtyard, and Brian was there to greet us.

“Welcome back, welcome back! Judging by the look on Elendria’s face, Sean’s crazy plan worked.” He chuckled. “EVERONE! ATTENTION PLEASE!” He turned and called out. “I need the center of the square cleared for a monster appraisal. Please send three runners to grab all the master craftsmen, we’ll need them to parse the monster.”

Three people took off towards the craftsmen district, while the center of the clearing emptied out without much of a fuss. I was expecting at least a bit of grumbling, but apparently the guildmaster had done this enough that people trusted his word. Probably a good idea considering his skills. Elendria hopped off the eagzard behind me, and as she strode forward I also slipped down to the ground. I did it with far less grace, and had a grunt of pain as parts of my anatomy complained about riding with two people in a saddle built for one.

“Gods above, it’s the lake guardian!” Several people cried out some version of that when Elendria emptied the storage ring and handed it back to Brian.

“Who killed him?”

“What skill could cut through his neck like that?”

“How did they flip him over? He has to weigh a few tons.”

Gossip started flowing, though they let us be for now. I could just tell that we were going to be swarmed as soon as the guildmaster was done with us. “Well?” I said with a smirk as I sauntered up.

“Nicely done. What did you kill it with? This wound is far too regular to be a weapon.”

“New magic spell.” I said. “Bit of a dangerous one. It sends out a cone of destruction in front of and behind me.” I made a magic hologram of the spell, showing him the cone and what it would do. “It also took all of my mana to cast, so I wouldn’t be good for anything else afterwards.”

“Too bad.” He said, shaking his head. “I’m going to have to insist that you don’t cast that spell during the wave unless it is under extreme circumstances.”

“That’s the plan.” I said.

“YE GODS! SOMEONE FINALLY GOT THE BALLS TO TAKE ‘IM DOWN!” We both turned to see several people walking up the street, the most boisterous being a dwarf with singe marks liberally dotting his leather apron. “Brian lad, what group finally took the beastie down? And who did the weapon work? I want to see the blade that could cut through this tough bugger’s neck! Then I’m gonna smack the swordsman for not just decapitating him in the first place.”

“Lucien my friend, good to see you!” He said, giving the dwarf a side hug. “Let me introduce Sean here and Elendria, along with Alex, Martha and Darrin of the Silver Eagles, Oleg, Amelia, and Stan. Sorry you three, I don’t remember what group you have joined.”

“Just us for now, no real fame.” Oleg said.

“Anyhow, these are the people that took down the beastie.”

“Wait just a minute there.” Amelia said. “Much as we would love to claim even a portion of this glory, honestly it was all Sean.”

“Quick, pull me other one!” The dwarf said, sticking out a leg.

“I don’t like to brag, but she is right.” I said. “I killed it. Solo. Though don’t downplay these guys, I never would have made it back without them. I was knocked out from using so much mana.”

“I think he’s telling the truth.” One of the other craftsmen said, this one an elf. “Not only am I not sensing any dishonesty, but look at the body. The only true wound is on the neck. Tell us, young man, just how you managed to kill the lake guardian.”

“Well, I did a few tests at first to see what I was dealing with. The shell absorbs incoming spells, but if they are moving fast enough they can still strike to do damage. If an element were physical, like earth or ice, it was unaffected by the shell. So I used some earth pillars to flip it over onto its side, deep into a mud pit I had dug. That let it blast mana from the shell without any chance of righting itself. After that, I got onto its neck and blasted it with the most powerful single target spell I have.”

“Well I’ll be damned. Brian here said he was sendin’ someone out to take care of it, but I figured he would have gone with something like the Gold Lions or something.” Lucien chuckled. “So I take it you want us to parse out how much credit these fine folks are getting for bringing this in?”

“Actually, we had a bit of a different deal in mind.” Brian said. “For everyone that went out, I’m giving a month’s worth of contribution points. Easy Sean, that is on top of what I already promised you for bringing it down.” He said, holding up a hand to forestall any objections on my part. “What I need you guys for is to use a portion of the turtle to craft this young man some impressive gear. As you can see, he needs a full kit.”

“What were you looking for boy?” Lucien asked.

“Well, I’m not too sure to be honest. All I have ever used has been common equipment, with the exception of a magical spear. Even that is only considered rare equipment by the system.”

“We would be more than happy to aid you in choosing.” The elf said. “Especially since you have already admitted to a lack of knowledge on the subject. In order to truly help you, you would need to trust us. Would you be willing to share your status and combat style with us? A list of skills would be most helpful as well.”

“So long as you agree that you won’t divulge any secrets of mine.” I immediately replied, much to the offense of the elf. Before he could reply, Lucien cut in.

“Easy there, Lothian. The boy already admitted he hasn’t had any custom equipment before, so don’t go getting insulted if he doesn’t know the process.” He turned to me and continued, “Here, a show of faith. This is a portion of my status, showing name and class. As you can see, I am a high dwarf master blacksmith with a specialization in adapting monster parts to armor. What you don’t know, and Lothian forgot to mention, is that any master craftsman that accepts a contract to create equipment for a client is bound by the system to not release any information on the client.”

“Thank you for explaining, Lucien. And my apologies for my paranoia Lothian.”

“There is nothing to apologize for Sean.” Lothian waved my apology away. “I’m sure you had your reasons, and it is my fault for jumping to conclusions on such matters. Will you still work with me? I am an arcane elf master jeweler and enchanter, and I would love to be able to use such fine quality materials.”

“Name’s Robert.” The last craftsman introduced himself. “High human, master tanner and armor smith. If Lucien can’t make it, I probably can.”

“Pleasure to meet you all.” I said. “And I think I will have need of all three of you if you don’t mind. For my combat style, I guess you could describe it as active magical assault. I need to be mobile and still able to cast spells. Stealth isn’t out of the question, though it isn’t a focus of mine.”

“Interesting mix. What is the range of your magic?” Lothian asked.

“All ranges.” I said. “I have the mana armor skill, so if an enemy gets close or manages to hit me with a spell I am partially protected, but I would much prefer doing damage at a distance. It is the safest way.”

“Elements?” Lothian prodded, and I shrugged and sent all three craftsmen a list of the elements and spells I had mastered.

“By Bruin’s hairy nutsack!” Lucien swore as he looked over the list. “Is there an element you don’t have down?”

“There’s a few, but the list gets shorter every day.” I chuckled.

“Lucien.” Brian interrupted. “I think Sean would benefit greatly if you could make him a perfectly round buckler from the shell, and leave the embedded gem in the middle.”

“Aye, that’s what I was thinkin.” He nodded. “That would combine rather well with his vortex shield spells. Anything else from me?”

“We were brainstorming before he agreed.” Brian continued, “He was thinking of leather armor reinforced in vital spots with bits of the shell.”

“I like it.” Lucien said after a moment of thought. “That’ll keep it light enough that you don’t sacrifice mobility, but it won’t hurt your spellcasting like it would if you used metal plates. I’ll keep my eye out for proper sized scrap pieces.”

“I can easily do the leather.” Robert said. “Though it would take at least a month to get it just right. What all pieces do you want?”

“Chest, arms, legs, boots and gloves if you have enough.” I immediately replied.

“Brian.” Lothian asked. “Have you decided what to do with the core yet?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up, as I had no idea what the state of the turtle would be in when it got back. Tried looking, but things are getting harder to see with clarity. For all I knew, Sean would have to use his most destructive spells.”

“I see. Well, I can tell the core is intact, I can feel it from here. Would you be ok with me using it in the gear we are making? I think it might be strong enough to form a set linkage.”

“I’m fine with that, the amount of powerful gear we can make is a lot higher than I initially thought. Though I do believe we will be sick of turtle meat after a few days.” Brian said.

“That is true.” Lothian chuckled. “Now, Sean. I know what you want from the others, what about me?”

“I’m not sure what jewelry would be appropriate. I would prefer something like a diadem instead of a helm though, so that I don’t have to sacrifice vision.”

“I see. Well, if Robert makes you gloves, you can’t use any rings. I can do the diadem and a necklace, that is fine. I think the best thing to do would be to enchant the inserts into your armor to be honest. Leather armor won’t take enchantments, but the mana veins that have to be running through them would easily allow for an enchantment to be carried throughout. If we put some plate guards on the back of the hands, you can get the protection as well as an enchantment and we won’t miss the loss of rings. Would you permit me to work out the best way to make things work?”

“Since Brian put you guys forward, I am more than happy to trust you.” I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Wonderful.” The elf said, turning back to his fellow craftsmen. “I sense the core in the middle of the head. I’ll prioritize that for extraction then help Robert with the skinning.”

“I’ll take apart that shell then.” Lucien said. “Boys! Bring up the carts and make sure you have extra hay bales for padding!” While we had been discussing things, a small army of apprentices had appeared, and a few took off running. “I’ll remove the parts with each senior apprentice watching for an hour. At the end of that, you get one chance to test your skills at removing a piece. The rest of the seniors will be tasked with making sure everything is packed securely. This stuff is strong, but remind me the mantra with monster parts.”

“All parts lose durability until properly forged!” The apprentices chorused.

“Excellent. Each of the seniors will get to forge one shield for the defense coming up. Junior apprentices, you will work with Robert and learn the fine art of removing intact ligaments and proper butchery.”

“Why do the blacksmiths need to learn butchery?” I asked Brian as the courtyard resumed its activities.

“Reduce waste.” He said. “They usually buy the whole monster, then sell the meat off. Bones, fangs, claws and shells make great crafting material. Depending on the grade, monster meat can command a premium, but only if cut right. Cut a muscle wrong, and no matter how you cook it the only thing you will be left with is a tough hunk of meat.”

“Makes sense. If you guys don’t need me, I’m going to head back to the inn and try to recover.”

“I suppose.” Brian said. “Though I do need to thank you.” He said, walking with me. “I didn’t want to put any added pressure on you, but things would have gone badly had you not killed it. The enemy would have found a way to send it our way, and it would have ripped open a gaping hole in the wall before we could have stopped it.”

“That’s.” I started, stopping to think of it. “Are there other teams hunting similar guardians?”

“Oh, guardian isn’t a title, just something we call a monster that has a very definite territory.” Brian waved off my concern. “And I do have some hunting groups out. Mostly looking for powerful earth and fire creatures or groups.”

“Earth to protect the walls and fire to protect the city?” I guessed.

“Exactly. Though the earth thing is to protect some of our surprises as well.”

“Need any help excavating traps?” I asked hopefully.

“Sorry, we have plenty of folks on it.” He said, patting my shoulder. “What I need for you to do is head back and get some rest, and then spend the next month on improving your constellations. I need you to be able to hold several of them for the majority of a day.”

“Damnit, alright.” I said. “That isn’t the most fun thing to do you know.”

“Oh I know.” He chuckled. “That’s why I’m having the Lunar brothers keep an eye on you. They have orders to get you to the point where you can work out with them and possibly cast some of your lesser spells while still maintaining the constellations.” I groaned at the thought of that, glad to see the guildmaster turn and head back to the courtyard. I headed back and had one of the last meals that didn’t have some bit of turtle meat in it for a while.