The next six days passed in a blur for Andrew. The camp was alive with activity day and night, split into two shifts so that there was always a large group of clear minded fighters available. The smithing and tailoring team gathered on the first day to discuss their most important task, armor. The hobgoblin leather armor was still in high supply, so they decided to make major alterations to that in order to save time. The metal components were simple and easy to churn out in large amounts, a relatively standardized set of thin flat and curved plates that would be slipped into pockets strategically sewn into the chest, arms, and legs of each set of armor. It left more gaps than Andrew's original design, but was far quicker and easier to produce. The inscription team worked to inscribe each plate with a slow release battery and water accumulation circle, Andrew's suggestion. He could still smell his own skin burning when he remembered his own struggle against the goblin shamans.

New chisels were made so that all six members of the Inscribing team could work simultaneously, and their ever increasing skills meant that they could inscribe ever more each day. While the rest of the team worked on inscribing armor plates, Tyler worked tirelessly to churn out as many mana grenades as he could. Andrew was using his Auto Mana Inscription skill for almost every piece of work he did, so he passed his chisel on to an impassioned Tyler. It seemed to consume his mana far faster than Andrew's, but Tyler did little else and his pool was rapidly developing. By the second day they had more grenades than they could reasonably use, around thirty five. They were effective at long ranges but the risk of collateral damage and the chaos of the battlefield meant they typically couldn't be used once the battle truly began. The fight against the wolf riders was a clear example, of the twenty five they had on hand at the time, only six were used. So Andrew intervened, recovering his chisel and setting Tyler to the task of increasing the grenades effectiveness. By the fourth day Tyler had tried and abandoned his attempt at a simple sling. It was easy enough to create out of the scrap leather they had around, but no one in the camp could use one with any consistency. Andrew's Adaptive Weapon Mastery skill saved him from making embarrassingly wide shots, but he still struggled to significantly increase his range with the weapon. They eventually settled on a staff-sling design instead. It was far easier to use, usually went in the direction you were aiming, and most importantly, significantly increased their effective range. Tyler got back to work with the chisel again after that.

A new temporary team was formed. Carpenters and scavengers who swept the camp's outbuildings for good lumber, which they cut into small round shields. They were typically made from several pieces of scavenged wood, cut into shape and pressed tightly together. An inscription team member then carved an Earth accumulation circle on the back and powered it until the boards melded together into a single smooth piece. A little heavier than before, but significantly more durable. They soon had more than enough shields for everyone.

Andrew spent every available moment developing new weapons. His personal forge was alight day and night, churning out fire-infused ingots. He siphoned the fire affinity out of most of the ingots and into a few set aside for later, then concentrated the remaining metal affinity of the ingots at a three to one ratio. The resulting silvery sharp ingots he hammered out into new spearheads which he carved new expulsion runes into. He took care to slightly tweak each spearhead he made, experimenting with the expulsion base runes to manipulate the expelled metal mana in different ways. A closely dotted vertical line of even depth launched the mana out into a thin vertical blade of mana, and when he chained several identical expulsion runes together, the velocity of the projected mana increased significantly. Andrew completed twenty spears in the first four days. Then he began work on a more experimental design that would consume every minute of his next two days.

[Mana Smelting lvl 3 -> 4]

[Siphon Affinity lvl 5 -> 6]

[Mana Smelting lvl 4 -> 5]

[Runic Artisan Level up]

[+ 1 Wisdom for sustaining constant mana control]

[Rune Modification lvl 5 -> 6]

[+ 1 Wisdom for sustaining constant mana control]

[Runic Artisan Level up]

[Mana Control lvl 10 -> 11]

[+ 1 Intelligence for pushing the limits of your mana control]

The giants were hard at work preparing the terrain for the oncoming battle. They scooped great chunks of soil from the ground and were quickly developing a half-moon trench that surrounded the palisade walls, ready to be connected to the river and flooded at a moments notice. Andrew pulled Arges from the task for a moment, soliciting his help in uprooting a thick tree which he promptly stripped of branches with a few swipes of his thick callused palms. Andrew dragged his old handsaw out of retirement and got to work shortening the trunk to roughly the size of a giant's forearm. Then he used his axe, chisel, and copious profanity to carve a rough bowl into each end of the trunk. He periodically called Poeas, the one armed giant he fought beside a few days earlier, over to test the fit of his missing forearm against one of the two bowls. Once a rough fit was formed Andrew had Po set the trunk down vertically in the trench they were digging, fitted side anchored over a round boulder of similar size. Andrew circled the trunk, carving water accumulation and fire dispersing mana circles around the exposed upper quarter of the log.

[Carpentry lvl 1 -> 2]

[+1 Strength for performing physical labor that pushes your limits]

[+1 Strength for performing physical labor that pushes your limits]

He paused his work for a moment to carve an air accumulation and binding circle into the dirt nearby, then filled it with reject river stones and powered it up. He returned to the log and used his chisel and a spearhead designed to fire narrow bolts to bore a hole down through the center of the log before giving the water and fire circles a hefty helping of mana. While the mana accumulated Andrew had Po carry his forge, fully intact, over to the buried log. Andrew got to work using a pair of new larger crucibles to melt down large quantities of the plentiful iron ore, carefully climbing the makeshift stairs to pour the molten metal into the core of the tree trunk until the shallow bowl was filled to the brim with rapidly cooling molten metal.

[Mana Smelting lvl 5 -> 6]

When the metal was cool and the air infused stones were practically floating, Andrew got to work combining them. He easily gathered the light air stones and climbed up to the smooth metal plug formed into the core of the tree trunk. Then he siphoned the miniscule amount of air affinity each stone held into the plug, while pulling the considerable fire affinity out and into other pieces of scrap metal. When he was finished the metal was a pale white and light enough Andrew could probably drag it around if he was so inclined. He then circled the still half-buried tree, mending away the water accumulation and fire dispersion runes around the trunk.

[Siphon Affinity lvl 6 -> 7]

[Mend lvl 1 -> 2]

Po easily wrenched the trunk out of the trench and laid it out flat. Andrew crawled inside the bowl and used Auto Mana Inscription to carve an air mana accumulation circle into the exposed metal core before circling around the flat metal face to carve a battery, trigger, and long chain of slightly downward arcing expulsion runes, designed to launch a huge quantity of air mana in a roughly straight line.

[Rune Modification lvl 6 -> 7]

[Rune Inscription lvl 10 -> 11]

[Runic Artisan Level up]

[Runic Artisan Level up]

[Rune Mage Level up]

[Auto Mana Inscription lvl 6 -> 7]

[+ 1 Wisdom for sustaining constant mana control]

It took half a day of the tailoring team and Arges's combined efforts to rig up a harness and sleeve capable of binding the prosthetic in place, and when they were finished Andrew sat down cross legged palms touching the trunk with a full mana pool, and activated Empower Item.

You will meld into a single piece. You accumulate and project air mana. You will not ignite. You will meld into a single piece.

The mana expenditure was immense. It drained the entirety of Andrew's mana pool, and he had a feeling it could have taken quite a bit more than he had. The end result was a smooth melding of metal, wood and leather which fit comfortably on the nub of flesh just below Po's elbow. It probably wouldn't hold up for long if he went around hitting people with it, but that was far from what it was created to do.

[Empower Item lvl 9 -> 10]

[+ 1 Intelligence for pushing the limits of your mana control]

[+ 1 Intelligence for pushing the limits of your mana control]

[Runic Artisan Level up]

[Runic Artisan Level up]

One week. The scouts should be on their way back now. They're in for a big surprise when they get back, the hobgoblins even more so. Now it's time to test this sucker out.