Three days passed in a blur. Arwin spent all his time in the smithy, burning through the rest of his scales. He focused on making gear that he already knew how to do – namely, chest pieces and greaves. By the dawn of the fourth day, Arwin’s efforts had been rewarded with five normal sets of armor and one set of magically enhanced armor. Everything else had been detrimental and had promptly gotten consumed so as to avoid letting it damage anything. The one decent magical set he created was far from the strongest magical item he’d made, with both the chest piece and the greaves possessing heat resistance and increased durability, but it didn’t have any negative drawbacks either. It’s not Unique, so that’s probably for the best. The enchantment on this is pretty weak, so it shouldn’t be completely unrealistic for Rodrick to have this. It’ll serve him well until we can get him some more powerful armor that he can conceal the properties of. In addition to Arwin’s work on armor, he spent some time making one more magical item – a bracelet. It took him a few hours and several tries before he managed to get something that fit his needs. Metal Bracelet: Average Quality [Resilient]: This item was forged by a man who felt like a strong bracelet was more important than a pair of greaves. hit it a few too many times, making it. It is considerably more difficult to damage or bend by any means. Arwin grinned to himself and slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. He pulled his sleeve down over his wrist to hide it from any prying eyes. The bracelet was far too thin to actually use defensively, but it would make a good snack if The Hungering Maw suddenly started acting up when he wasn’t ready for it. All his work had netted him some magical energy and progress toward his next Tier advancement, but no movements in Titles or Achievements. That wasn’t much of a surprise to him, though. normal animal or human as a monster, but there are actually two categories beyond that. There are monsters that don’t have any intelligence beyond a desire to grow stronger by killing, and there are monsters that are just as intelligent as a human.” “You’re kidding me,” Rodrick said. “You’re not exaggerating?” “Identical,” Lillia confirmed. “I’ve seen some of them myself in my… uh, studies.” “You’re a monster researcher, then? Just like Arwin?” “Something like that,” Lillia said, sending a glance at Arwin. “How do we know if we’re fighting a smart one?” Anna asked, chewing her lower lip with a frown. “I don’t want to mistakenly attack something that doesn’t deserve it.” “You’ll know,” Lillia said. “It would be like attacking a random human. It would be really obvious.” “Oh.” Anna let out a relieved sigh. “Good. So you don’t mind us talking about hunting in here, then?” “Not at all. Feel free.” “Great. Back to the Wyrm, then,” Rodrick said. “What was it the two of you figured out?” “Oh, right.” Arwin shook his head, having temporarily lost his train of thought, before continuing. “It might be about to have a litter. You recall how the forest seemed like it was… ah, in the mood, right?” Anna and Rodrick nodded. “Well, it’s possible the Wyrm is no different. And, if that’s the case, there could be a bunch of Wyrmlings running around everywhere really soon. And, if I recall correctly, Wyrmlings are typically born around high Apprentice tier.” Rodrick and Anna both paled. “That could be really bad,” Rodrick said, tapping a finger on the counter absentmindedly. “Depending on the number, the guards could get overwhelmed. If the Wyrms go hunting with their spawn… that’s a lot of monsters, and at least two really powerful ones. Milten could get overrun.” “Not to mention the Adventurer’s Guild might send people,” Anna added, biting her inner cheek and furrowing her brow. “The town would be insufferable for weeks, even if the horde was fought off.” “Having the Adventurer’s Guild show up would be… less than opportune,” Arwin agreed. “Which is why I think we should try to act before anyone figures out what’s going on.” “You want us to try and take out two Wyrms when we barely managed to escape one?” Rodrick asked doubtfully. “That kind of seems like a suicide mission.” “It would be, if we were actually trying to kill both of them,” Arwin said. “There’s no way we’d be able to take them out. Not on our own, at least. But, if we could somehow get them to fight or otherwise distract them, maybe we could either get the upper hand or make them run away.” “That seems a bit optimistic,” Rodrick said. “I’d be willing to hear you out if you had a plan, though.” “Well, I think we’re going to need to get stronger before we even think about trying anything,” Arwin amended. “As it stands, we’d be slaughtered no matter what we went for. Luckily, we’ve got time. Wyrmlings don’t just pop out in a day." “It should be about two months before they’re born.” Lillia put in. “But it could be less. I wouldn’t use that number as a hard deadline, but it’s a rough one.” “Two months isn’t much time,” Rodrick hedged. “Especially if we don’t have a good place to hunt anymore. The forest is too dangerous as it is right now.” “We do have a spot, though,” Arwin said, a grin pulling across his lips. “We do?” Anna asked. “Where? Do you know of another location that’s close to town?” “I do. It’s not the safest area, but we’re the only ones with access to it. Consider it a perk of being in the guild.” “Stop dangling it over me and say what it is already!” Rodrick exclaimed. “Are you sure? I was thinking about showing you the armor I made first,” Arwin said, grinning at the hungry look that flashed across Rodrick’s face. “Wait, you made me armor? I can’t afford anything yet!” “It’s an investment. Don’t expect anything too great.” “Are you kidding? Anything would be – wait. You distracted me. This is bullying,” Rodrick complained. “Just tell us what you’ve got already!” Arwin laughed and held his hands up in surrender as both Lillia and Anna nodded in agreement, joining Rodrick in glaring at him. “We’ve got access to a Journeyman dungeon,” Arwin said. “One with only one key. It’s going to be a tough one for our current abilities, but if we’re all doing it together, I think we can handle it. The monsters probably won’t be at the level of the Wyrm, so I think we could slowly make our way through it. They’ll still be Journeyman level, but as long as we don’t get too deep, I strongly believe we should be able to handle it.”