Chapter 39 - Flaming Passion

{New party member has been successfully registered}

While my head was still trying to wrap itself around the notification in front of me, a new element was added to my top left vision.

An icon displaying a red forge with Arga’s name beside appeared under my health bar, with a bar of her own. Her health and status were lined up clearly beneath mine.

This is a new feature, I can see her health with mine whenever I want? That seems a little creepy somehow, but it might be handy when in the Tower.

The bar was slightly yellow, just under the halfway point to being full. I could see the damage she had suffered, exactly like the bar on top of it that I had seen this entire time. I glanced over to her to check its accuracy and sure enough, her cheeks were dirty and her clothes looked worse for wear.

So this is what Uriel can do when I add a member to my party…wait! How did I not get this option before with the daily party?

I covered my face with my hand and tilted my head back.

I felt stupid.

They never considered me a party member—that has to be the difference. It’s nice to know that she meant it though, like a written confirmation displayed in front of me.

My eyes were ready to look away when suddenly one last piece of information crossed my eyes.

A level?

Next to her name, just over the health bar, was a level.

She’s level 10, it’s not that much lower than me but she managed to hold her own pretty well up here. So I can even measure her strength using this feature…I wonder if I could see other people's levels that aren’t in my party?

“—There we go!”

While I was immersed in the panel in front of me, Arga had gotten, what she came here for. She was crouched over a large crystal growing out from the floor. It had a turquoise glow to it but the inside of it seemed misty.

“That kind of looks like the magic stone from before.”

“What stone?”

“I got an orb from a monster and it had a similar glow to that crystal.” I hovered behind her, watching carefully as she worked.

Arga fought strongly, she used wide powerful swings and dealt heavy damage. I wouldn’t go as far as to call her a brute, in fact, quite the opposite. Her moves were precise, she threw everything she had behind her attacks but they were all intended to hit very specific spots—not just mindlessly swinging.

This is on a completely different level though…

She pulled out a thin knife from her boot and held it against the base of the crystal. With her other hand, she pulled out a small smiths hammer from her back pouch and positioned it in line with the back of the knife.

With three delicate strokes, she pulled it away from the knife and then slowly back to its end. Just hovering the hammer in the air, never making contact. At the third motion, she froze, with her eye sharpened at its arc.

Ting

With a precise hit, she drove the hammers flat end into the knife and struck the base of the crystal. The crystal cracked and small lines formed at its base before—

Shatter

The crystal fell over and into her hand. All that remained on the floor was a thin circular layer of crystal, with no glow to it at all.

She had carefully removed the chunk from the ground with little to no damage to the larger piece at all. She put away her hammer and raised the chunk of turquoise to my eyes.

Its ample waving glow reflected a warm sensation that appeared to resonate around it, almost like a bubble.

{Makrum Chunk} {Crystallised shards containing concentrated traces of Makrum}

Makrum, I’ve never heard of that before…what is that?

Responding to my question, Uriel's youthful voice gave a list of answers.

{Makrum is the source of magic} {Concentrated traces of Makrum in caves bind to stones and collect in the form of Makrum shards}

Uriel continued to enlighten me through my ignorance. Once he finished informing me, he promptly vanished.

“So it has magic in it then?” I muttered to myself while admiring the chunk in front of me.

“Yes, this stuff is used for all kinds of things but most popularly—smiths use it for infused armour.”

“Infused?” I tilted my head in confusion.

Her eyes went slightly wider and her mouth dropped open.

“You don’t know about infused armour?” Asking as if it were common knowledge.

I had no idea what she meant and as such, I shook my head swiftly from side to side. Realising that I was a complete novice, Arga cleared her throat and began to explain.

“That's an easy one, it’s basically just turning regular stuff into stuff with magical effects. Most of the top adventurers all use infused gear since it gives handy effects.”

She raised the crystal closer to her eye and looked at it with the other closed, gazing deeply at its core where the swirling wave of Makrum lay.

“These shards are almost completely made from Makrum so it’s mostly used as a base for infused weapons by mixing it with other ores. There are a few other steps in between but that’s the basic rundown.”

Arga held her head up with a wide grin, proud of her knowledge on the matter. She looked like a child who had just done something amazing in front of their parent and wanted to show off.

“So what kind of effects could you add to armour?”

“Almost anything really, it all depends on what ores and materials are used.” She placed the shard that was no larger than her hand onto the ground and walked over to the dead Barhemoth.

Scattered around it were small shards of the gem that grew out from its back. She picked one up and held it up to the beam of sunlight coming from the hole in the ceiling.

“That’s not bad…” She admired.

She looked deep in thought, like a master admiring a new tool to use in their craft.

With a confident tone, she uttered,

“This would be perfect.”

I hesitated to ask what she meant by that, she was so caught up in her own world that interfering felt as though it would be wrong. But after standing in silence for a few moments it felt weirder to not speak up.

“Perfect for what?” I asked gingerly.

Arga clenched the shard in her hand and grinned down at it, a burning flame ignited in her eyes.

“I have a great idea for a new piece! It can’t wait, let’s harvest this all and get back to the smithy—I want to start right away!”