A heard of metal bison are perfect hunting targets since they number many and they can't fly. We pick them off one at a time until we run out. The [Fire Elementals] here are angry, volatile creatures that chase will fight to the death. Because of that, my fire resistance has grown.

[Resistance: Fire 460 > 499 (599)]

I only wanted to spend three days here before moving on to getting more points. The next scheduled event is at the end of the week, so I have the time. The first day was uneventful, minus the grinding, and the same with the second. But on the third day, I spotted a golden beast.

[Golden Fire Elemental C Lv80]

I want to kill this thing for myself. ff anything, I need some luck in my life. Fire elementals can fly, so I use Duchess as my mount as we follow the flying creature. I try to piss it off by having Duchess attack it once or twice, but it's dead set on running away. It's slightly slower than Duchess, but catching up is a hassle, thanks to all the smog. I use my shoes to find perch on Duchess' back and launch my Flash Gordon at it.

The fire elemental must have sensed the major threat heading for its form, so It dispersed itself just to come back together at the same spot. That ability caused Flash Gordon to miss, but it opened an opportunity for Duchess to cast a spell and envelope the creature in a light shell.

[Master, it will break free soon. Quick.]

"Alright."

I get in my pitcher stance and toss the metal sphere straight at the creature. It's a surprisingly great weapon, and I have some mileage from using it over the three days. I mostly used it against the bison to initiate fights when Flash Gordon was busy. I sacrifice over half my health to make sure this does enough damage to kill this golden creature in one hit.

Duchess opened a section of the shell for the sphere to travel into. The elemental tried to escape through that hole, but it was met with a face full of metal. Something strange happened, however.

I've seen fire elementals die, and they usually have the same 'death animation.' They implode and leave a scorch mark on the ground. But this didn't happen. It looked like the elemental was about to implode, but it instead got absorbed into the sphere. The spiral glows gold before going cold and going back to normal. No notification of gaining a point of luck, nor any of my beasts getting shared experience. Duchess brings the sphere back to me, and I examine it.

[Dormant Egg]

Oh? So this strange thing is an egg? Damn, I hope my throwing around didn't scramble it. I wonder what will hatch or what I'll need to do to hatch it. I wish I could've got the point of luck, but this is cooler. I found this thing in a volcano, after all. Although I'm a tamer, I've never hatched an egg before, so I'm excited at this new prospect.

I flick the egg, and it's still metal, strange. I use my [Unique Servitude] ability on it. The first thing I should do is make sure I can actually tame this creature. This is a common step tamers take when they have infants or eggs. It also speeds the growing process up since the tamed beast can 'suckle' off the tamer's mana.

[Unique Servitude B lv1 (4/5) > (5/5)

Any creature can be designated as a servant with their consent or if they cannot resist. A servant is necessary for other Unique Master skills to work. All servants know the location of their Master.

Servants must be unique in some way. All servants gain a passive +10% to all stats.

Servants cannot have a higher Spirit stat than the Designator

Registered Servants: Flash Gordon. Rob. Duchess. Khan. Dormant Egg.]

The egg hasn't changed after it registered in the system. Maybe I need to 'feed' it. Since it was dormant in a volcano for who knows how long. I cycle my mana inside of it, and it greedily absorbs it. I use [Broken Blood] to keep feeding it until it's completely saturated with my mana. It still needs more, but it isn't taking any more mana. I need something else.

It absorbed that elemental well enough. Let's try some fire. I hold the egg above a molten metal river. The egg starts absorbing the heat from the metal from its spirals like an industrial heat vent. The metal cools and hardens, turning into slag that floats down from the moving metal below it.

My resistance isn't high enough where molten metal doesn't hurt me, so I can't dip my hand inside. I let my tamed beast continue hunting while I let this egg absorb the heat from the river. Eventually, it doesn't absorb any more heat, but it's still dormant. I moved from the river and stuck my hand over an open vent that shot out a volcanic flame, and the egg continued to absorb. It burns, but not enough to keep me away.

~

After terrorizing some [Fire Elementals] for their flame and collecting some loot and resources, we leave the fracture. My egg hasn't hatched yet, but I have an idea. This is the best institute in the prime territories, so if they aren't teaching blacksmithing, something is wrong. I need their best forge and hope I don't break it. I can't afford to replace it. I could also get that rusty blade from the desert fracture fixed. The first thing I should do is run through some events to reaffirm any points since my beasts gained quite a few levels. Actually, let's get some rest.

I head inside my room and my manor. I sleep here with my egg and Flash Gordon. Rob is in here too, and so are Duchess and Khan. I guess it's a sleepover in my room tonight.

In the morning, I recheck my tamed beasts stats. They've gained fifteen levels, so they got about 23% stronger. Now eighty sharks are floating around me.

Name / Nickname Flash Gordon Species Elemental Stone (Rare) Level 80 (14m/75m) Evolution Requirements Not Met ~ Health Points 2165/2165 Mana Points 90/90 Armor Points 176 (88 x 2) Might 0 Agility 0 Vigor 433 (305 > 380 + 10% + 15) Mind 18 (14 > 16 + 10%) Spirit 88 (65 > 80 + 10%) Luck 11 (10 + 10%)

~

Name / Nickname Rob / Little Buddy Species Skeleton Grave Robber C (Uncommon) Level 80 (14m/75m) Evolution Requirements Not Met ~ Health Points 275/275 Mana Points 325/325 Armor Points 5 Might 109 (80 > 85 + 10% + 15) Agility 201 (117 > 142 + 10% + 45) Vigor 55 (40 > 45 + 10% + 10 - 5) Mind 86 (50 > 60 + 10% + 20) Spirit 86 (50 > 60 + 10% + 20) Dexterity 161 (70 > 95 + 10% + 56)

~

Name / Nickname Duchess / Thisss one Species Amphitere C (Rare) Level 80 (14m/75m) Evolution Requirements Not Met ~ Health Points 440/440 Mana Points 1100/1100 Armor Points 0 Might 61 (50 > 55 + 10%) Agility 110 (80 > 100 + 10%) Vigor 88 (60 > 80 + 10%) Mind 220 (170 > 200 + 10%) Spirit 132 (100 > 120 + 10%) Charisma 55 (40 > 50 + 10%) Luck 11 (10 + 10%)

~

Name / Nickname Khan the Exile Species Ozone Prowler C (Unique) Level 80 (14m/75m) Evolution Requirements Not Met ~ Health Points 495/495 Mana Points 470/470 Armor Points 0 Might 220 (170 > 200 + 10%) Agility 99 (75 > 90 + 10%) Vigor 99 (75 > 90 + 10%) Mind 94 (70 > 85 + 10%) Spririt 94 (70 > 85 + 10%) Perception 94 (70 > 85 + 10%)

I should reaffirm some points with my beast's new stats and run through some events personally since I might get a better time. I dipped on my team for a few days, and I should make the momentum we got from the king of the hill event persists until the end of the week.

I'm looking for any of the eight captains I met last time, maybe not purple hair crystal boy, so I can get some information from them. I check the tanker events first and find one of Erhart's team members running through the diplomat gauntlet, trying his hardest to keep damage from that automaton. He gets a pretty good score, but not better than mine. I wait for him to finish before asking about his captain's whereabouts.

"Master Erhart is indisposed at the moment. However, he has an open invitation to you, captain of the Bluefield team. I can take you to his location if you wish."

"I just want to know where you guys get maintenance on your armor, if the institute has a deal with your team or if you guys have your own smiths."

"Oh. Well, I can show you to the artisans' department here on institute grounds, but Master Erhart pays out of pocket for us to use their forges'. He believes any good knight should know how to care for their armor with their hands and hearts."

"Lead the way."

He leads me but doesn't let up on conversing with me.

"Captain of the Bluefield team, may I ask why you are seeking the location of where our First Bastion Institute cares for their armor? Are you also looking for maintenance work?"

"You can call me Ellis. I have a personal project that needs their forges, and I'll see if they will let me fuck around with it."

"Oh."

"..."

"How did you get your skin tougher than armor? If you don't mind me asking, captain of the Bluefield team."

"Probably the same way you hardened the metal in your armor. Tempering."

"I see."

"..."

"Captain of the Bluefield team, what personal project do you have that needs a forge? Are you also a smith of some kind."

"If I stop answering your question, will you stop leading me to where I want to go?"

"...no?"

"That's good."

"..."

"..."

We arrive in silence at a different district of the institute, where I see multiple open forges billowing smoke into floating magic circles and channeling magic into the center.

"We are here."

"Thank you. Here's my phone number, give it to your captain. Only your captain."

I leave the tank to his devices and look around for a decent forge to use. Not that one. It's too small. Nor that one since it seems broken. All these forges are a mismatch and personalized to their smith. My perusing must have gotten the attention of one of the students here since I got approached by a man wearing a dirty black tank top with a leather apron loosely tied around his waist. He wears a bandana above his dark brown eyes. He's bald, probably from choice.

"Hey there buddy, whatcha looking for?"

"A forge."

"A forge? Well, there's a bunch of forges for many different things! You have to be specific here, friend!"

He seems to want my credits. It's hard being a student, I guess.

"Tell me about some of these forges. You seem to know your way around here."

"Alright, well... Here at the Auroran Institute, we smithing students have to make our own forges after our first year. Our institute has great expectations of us since we have the skills to get in here. Many of these forges are still slowly crafted to suit the needs of their maker. So, it really depends on what you need. My friend forge over here uses cold forging, so if you need something made that can't be around heat, his type of forge would be best."

I pull out my rusty sword, a dirty handle with barely a blade hanging on. It's supposed to have a magical enchantment that isn't combat-related. It 'eats' rust, but it rusts a lot.

"What about fixing this?"

"...where did you pull this beauty out of?"

Huh?

"It looks like an ancient relic with a rare enchantment! It's the perfect candidate for an ego to form! I don't think anyone here can repair it, at least not right now. Give me five years."

"...it's okay."

"No, no, no. My teacher can probably do something to fix it. I'll go get it."

It?

"Wait." He stops, and I continue, "We can deal with that later. I'm still interested in these forges. Can I see yours?"

He seems taken aback at this seemingly random topic change.

"Uh, sure. Over here."

He leads me to a very uniform and mundane forge. It has all the parts needed to work but doesn't look unique or special.

"It isn't a looker, but it can do anything!"

"How hot can it get?"

"Uhhh, I never tested it. But it should get hotter than any other forge that isn't specialized for heat over crafting."

"Are there any forges like that?"

"Not here, not practical. Why do you ask?"

"Do you want to experiment?"