Chapter 94: 94. The Thread Forger

The place that Jiroh’s friend was at was several neighborhoods away in the direction of the city center. While not one of the incredibly opulent areas, the people living there seemed pretty well off. The houses were larger, each flawless, with its own gate and garden. When Jiroh had said that Dallion didn’t have enough money, she wasn’t joking. The boy’s pouch suddenly didn’t seem so full.

The two continued for a fair while, then took a turn towards the city lake. Within moments the houses changed from glamorous to weird. Not so impressive, and definitely worse kept, workshop-lodgings filled the street. Large, colorful signs were everywhere, showing the nature of the workshop. Tailors and carpenters seemed to be the occupations of choice, representing about a third of the buildings. The rest were a mishmash of artists, sculptors, potion makers, and the occasional smith.

“Yarn-file alley,” the fury said. “One of the better places to go if you need something done well and fast. Not cheap, but much better than the Radiants.”

“The Radiants?”

“Elite craftsmen. They’ve proved they are good enough to receive the Imperial Seal of approval, earning the title “Radiant” whatever.”

Dallion stifled a chuckle. The name “Radiant cobbler” came to mind along with a few less flattering combinations.

“Of course, that bumps up their price a lot. Until you’re good enough for it to matter, this is the best place to be.”

“Got you.” Judging by the decorations each workshop had put on their signs, Dallion had to agree. The craftsmanship was quite good, and clearly done by awakened. There was no mistaking the flawlessness and the precision that went into every detail.

Slightly further, the buildings changed, housing multiple workshops in one structure. At the end of the road, less than ten feet from the lake, Jiroh stopped at a house of grey marble. The structure wasn’t different from any of the other combined workshops Dallion had passed. The garden, though, was filled with life-sized statues of various species. Humans, furies, even what appeared to be a dwarf stood in expressive poses, all positioned so as to point at the workshop’s basement entrance.

“This is it?” Dallion asked.

“Yep.” Jiroh nodded. “Remember what I told you. No comments about the eyes.”

“I understand, already.” It must be a touchy subject, Dallion thought.

The fury was the first to enter the basement. The room was wide—far spacier than what Dallion had imagined. Tapestries of landscapes covered the walls in between shelves of clothes. The color combinations were a brave choice to say the least, but the fabrics seemed quite good.

“Eury!” Jiroh shouted.

“What?” a flowing female voice came from the doorway across the room.

“I brought you a customer.” Jiroh made her way past several statues with armor on them.

“I’m sleeping! Go away!”

“Just come out here!” The elf crossed her arms. “Don’t worry, she’s always like this.”

“I heard that!” Eury grumbled.

“That was the point. Now, hurry it up. He’s got work in an hour.”

Seconds passed in silence, broken only by the sound of clothes being put on. The sound was unmistakable to any awakened. It also was slightly concerning. Soon enough, the mysterious artisan appeared, dressed in a loose fitting robe. The moment she walked into the main-room, Dallion instantly forgot everything Jiroh had warned him about. In his defense it was difficult not to—standing across the room was nothing less than a real-life gorgon.

As someone who grew up with games, comics, and TV, it was inevitable that Dallion knew what a gorgon was. Seeing one quickly made him rethink everything he thought he knew. The being was slender, yet muscular, like a gymnast. Tall and grey-skinned like the ring colossus he had fought a month ago, she rose half a head above him, looking at Dallion, Jiroh, and the rest of the room with tens of dozens of mouthless snakes emerging from her head. It wasn’t terrifying; it wasn’t even scary; it was absolutely fascinating.

“New to the city, I see.” The gorgon smiled.

Dallion was about to answer when a sharp nudge in the side made him quickly look away.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind.” Eury approached. “Beauty is not something I should feel ashamed about.”

“Less flirting, more helping, Eury.” Jiroh stressed. “He needs proper armor. Something discrete for guild training.”

“Does he?” The gorgon made a full circle round Dallion. Right this moment, he felt as if he was being carefully scrutinized from a hundred cameras. “Can you afford me, kid?”

“I think—”

“I’ll be covering the cost on this,” Jiroh interrupted once more. “And you’re really wasting your time. He’s staying at Hannah’s.”

“You woke me up in the middle of the night. The least I could do is amuse myself a little.” All the time her face-eyes had remained closed, causing Dallion to wonder whether she could really turn living creatures into stone. And more importantly, was that the source of the statues in the yard? “My name is Euryale Ceto, though some of my regular clients might call me Eury.” Several more snakes turned Dallion’s direction. “So, tell me, what is your name?”

“Dallion,” he managed to utter. “Dallion Darude.”

“Dallion. Nice name. Hold your hands to the side, a bit.”

Dallion did as he was told.

“Looks pretty standard, so there shouldn’t be a lot of complications. What’s your body level?”

“Five,” Dallion replied.

“You’ll have to boost that a bit.” The gorgon kept circling, taking mental measurements. “We’ll start with threads and bracelets. When you get better, I’ll—”

“Add a breastplate,” Jiroh said.

The comment made Eury tilt her head in surprise. A quarter of her snakes turned Jiroh’s direction.

“If you say so.” The gorgon shrugged. “I’m not sure he’ll be able to handle it. Might cause more harm than good.”

“He’ll get used to it.” The fury tossed a single marble-like gem to Eury. “I leave him to you. One hour, okay?” She went towards the exit.

“Have I ever let you down?”

Jiroh waved, her back turned, before casually strolling out. That left Dallion alone with the gorgon, a situation he wasn’t sure could be described as good.

“Okay, so what’s your relation to her?” Eury asked a few seconds after the fury had left.

“We work at the same place.”

“Are you sure? This is the second time she has covered someone’s tab.” There was a rather lengthy pause. “Anyway, let’s get started. So, Ji said she wanted a breastplate for you?”

“Err, yes.” Dallion was also asking himself the same questions the gorgon was.

The Fury had been suspiciously friendly towards him. At first, he thought it was because he was new in town and she wanted to make him feel welcome. However, this was the second time she had helped him in a big way: first the introduction to the Icepicker guild, now this… Dallion’s suspicious nature got even more suspicious.

“Well, too bad. I don’t believe in stifling creativity.” The gorgon rubbed her hands. “Now let’s see what we’re going to do with you.”

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It turned out that the gorgon was an awakened as well, and a member of the seven races according to the scroll Nil had forced Dallion to read. Subjects to the white moon Emion, they were blessed with superior perception, which made sense considering Eury had full three-sixty vision.

The most fascinating thing about Eury, however, were her skills. Not only did she know awakened forging, but she had art skills as well. After a brief consultation with the echo in the library ring, Dallion had learned that art skills weren’t what he would have thought they’d be. Marginally difficult to acquire, they allowed a person to draw and make clothes; how they did that remained a mystery Dallion was curious to learn. The skill wasn’t regarded as particularly useful, yet when combined with something like forging it allowed a person to make the equivalent of bulletproof fabric. Eury was particularly good in both, and it showed.

In twenty minutes she had not only managed to sketch up several outfits but also discuss them with Dallion, apply a few changes, then make the one she thought would be best suited. The result was astounding. The clothes—light and simplistically casual in the real world, transformed into a full set of studded leather armor when in an awakened realm. Euryale had called the process “blossoming”—the ability of a material to change states. The only issue was that while thread-armor was discrete and suitable for lower-level guardians, it had the strength and durability of leather, and also was completely useless in the real world.

“You’ll need a better place to hide the dartbow.” Eury said while making some final adjustments round the shoulder of Dallion’s new shirt. “I can have some boots ready for you in a few days. It’ll cost you, or I can put it on your tab.”

“How much?”

“Four gold. Three if you find the materials.”

Four gold coins... With the conversion rate of a hundred to one, that came up to a considerable sum.

“I’ll pay for it. I have about fifty silver now, give or take.”

“Okay, I’ll start working on it as soon as I wake up tomorrow.” The gorgon took a step back. “Walk a bit.”

Dallion did so. He couldn’t feel any changes in the shirt, but based on Eury’s reaction, there had to be a substantial difference.

“Good. Now, two things to remember. Don’t try to hide in your clothes. That’s the first instinct everyone has. For one thing it’s very uncomfortable, for another it only makes things worse. The longer you stay away from the real world, the longer your muscles need time to readjust. You don’t notice it yet, because you haven’t gotten in any real fights, but it’ll put you at a huge disadvantage.”

“Right.” Dallion remembered something of the sort happening when he had faced the chainling a while back. At the time he had only fought it from a distance, but even so the jump from the awakened realm to the real world hadn’t been pleasant. “And the other thing.”

“Give me your hand.”

Item Awakening

 

Dallion looked around. He was in what appeared to be the vast inside of a palace, only without doors or windows.

The RING is Level 23

 

Twenty-three? That was definitely impressive.

You are in a vast metal domain.

Defeat the guardian to change the RING’s destiny.

 

“Welcome to my training room,” Euryale said. Metal gauntlets with dagger length claws covered her hands. “A gift from my mother to keep in shape. Not my first choice, but it has its uses.”

Dallion reached for his dartbow.

“The second piece of advice I’ll give you is how to use thread-armor in actual battle,” the gorgon continued. “You won’t be needing your weapon. You won’t be needing your shield, either. The whole point is to get used to the armor.”

Despite his inner reluctance, Dallion nodded.

“In a bit I’ll charge at you with the intent to slash you in two.” She moved her fingers, making the blades dance in the air. “You already know guard skills, which will make it easier, but also more difficult. Easier, because you probably know how guard markers work. More difficult because you’ll have to ignore them.”

“You mean I have to unlearn what I have learned?”

The gorgon stared at him with a puzzled expression.

“Err, no. You’ll have to sort through the markers. You’ve done that before, I trust?”

“Well, no. But if you explain what I’m supposed—”

Before Dallion could finish his sentence, Eury dashed forward. In the blink of the eye, she was a step away from him, hands extended forward, ready to slice him to ribbons. Green markers appeared everywhere. Dallion could see the exact lines at which she was going to slice, just as how to block her.

You’re good, he thought as he raised his buckler. But I won’t let you hit me.

The claws of Eury’s right gauntlet scraped the buckler’s surface. Fractions of a second later, the claws of her left sliced through his leather armor, just deep enough to leave a mark without doing any harm to him.

Considering his options, Dallion leapt back. The gorgon didn’t follow.

“That’s what happens when you rely on your shield,” she said. “Remember that you have several defense items now. Your armor will cushion a few blows, but if you really want to make use of it, think of it as its own entity.” Eury removed the gauntlets from her hands. The pieces of armor immediately disappeared. “Try shooting at me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go ahead.” The snakes on her head moved in amusement. “You won’t hurt me, I promise.”

Dallion had already seen enough strong warriors to know she was telling the truth. Slowly he drew his dartbow and fired a bolt straight at her.

Time froze as he focused. The bolt split the air, flying to her chest. Before it could hit, though, Eury twisted to the side at just the right moment to avoid a direct hit. The bolt slid along the loose robe she was wearing, flying on without dealing any damage.

“That’s how you use thread-armor in an awakened realm.” Eury stepped forward. “The real strength is in their ability to deflect attacks.”

“Don’t you need acrobatic skills to do that?” It was definitely impressive, but what good was a move if Dallion didn’t have the skills to perform it?

“Acrobatics are useful, but the item lets you do it without them. It’s a guard item, after all. As long as you have it, guard markers relating to it will appear each time someone attacks you. Think of it as layers of markers one beneath the other. Right now, you see the obvious, but with enough training and perception you’ll be able to spot the nuances and pick the one that’s most suitable.”

The awakening realm disappeared, returning Dallion into the gorgon’s workshop.

“Any other questions?”

Dallion had a million questions. There were so many things he wanted to ask, not only about the armor, but about her skills, her home, her race. How could he not? He was standing in front of a race he didn’t expect he’d ever see, even in a world like this. If there were elves and gorgons, what other races could there be?

“No, no questions,” he said despite himself. “I need to get back to work. Thanks for the hints, Euryale, and for the armor.”

“Eury.” The eyes of the snakes on her head winked in unison. “You can call me that from now on.

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