Bab 25: Beast Gear
"Ye finally arrived, Talon. You armor is ready." Said Makar as he tapped the armor stand proudly.
Talon marveled at the armor before him which rested on an armor stand. 'I… I got this armor, this is really mine!'
He wasted no time and put on his armor suit with sparkling eyes, beside him, Damien and Makar both chuckled at his reaction.
"Why don't you look at yourself in it?" Before Talon could decline his offer, Damien conjured a clear wall of ice, only thick enough so that Talon could see his reflection in it, a mirror made from ice.
Talon gazed at his reflection in the mirror, adorned in the gray coat crafted from the Stone Ridge Wolf. The coat was a seamless shade of gray, with the wolf's fur delicately lining the neck area.
As he continued to study his reflection, Talon noticed his tousled shoulder-length raven-black hair slicked back. His singular blood-red eye sparkled vividly in the frosty mirror, contrasting sharply with the other eye, which carried an unsightly scar. A jagged line ran from his eyebrow, cut across his eye, and ended at the middle of his left cheek.
As he continued to gaze at himself in the ice mirror, he softly touched the scar. The wound had healed long ago, yet the pain never truly faded. 'Disgusting!'
"Can you please melt the ice, I've seen enough…" Muttered Talon, his voice barely audible while he continued to stare directly at the reflection of his scared eye, his gaze never leaving it, no matter how much he wanted to pull his head away.
"Of course." Said Damian as he cast a side glance at Talon's blank expression, he wasted no time as the ice began to melt in front of Talon, his reflection melting away together with the ice made mirror.
"Aye, yer armor's forged and sturdy, but Huntsmen Lance's been at the anvil, swearin' to craft a beast of yellow rank, right next to the blue one ye brought down." Said Makar as he walked to Talon, and patted his back with such great intensity, that he almost cracked his ribs just after they had been healed while giving out a hearthy laugh.
"What did he say exactly?" Asked Talon as he whispered to Damian.
"Basically that a yellow rated beast will be crafted into your weapon, next to the blue one, thanks to that bastard." Said Damian with a light chuckle before asking Talon, "So, it will be a spear, right?"
"Yeah, I want it to be a spear." Answered Talon.
"Here is the yellow beast little one." Shouted Makar, as one of the dwarfs pushed a cart, in it, the beast that will be crafted into Talon's spear.
The beast was snake-like, its length challenging to name precisely as it had to be folded around itself to fit on the cart. The scales of the snake were a strange orange color with bright red tips at the end of every scale. Even amidst the suffocatingly hot forge, the heat that radiated from the snake was unmistakable.
"This snake is yellow-rated, so it possesses a gift, probably one that is related to flames. You have no idea how useful that will be at Fort Eger. It's at the border of Edoran in the north, so even at the fort, it's freezing, you will be thankful for anything that can warm you up." Said Damian with a strange gaze, as if remembering things that he would rather forget.
"This here will infuse the spear with excellent flame properties! While we delved into the stag ye brought down, we found it was on the verge of breakin' through to yellow rank. It was in the midst of unlockin' a gift, hence that peculiar miasma. We're still deep into studyin' it, so give us a week, but rest assured, the spear's bound to be a formidable one, no matter what." Said Makar as he began laughing again, as if already proud of the work that he will create.
"Do you need me to translate this as well?" Asked Damian.
"I could understand this properly, but thank you very much for asking, Teacher." Said Talon in an overly sarcastic tone.
"Master would sound even better, but I'm not complaining," Damian remarked, raising his hands in a resigned manner and accompanied by a light chuckle before turning to Makar, "So, it will be ready in a week, right? Is that all?"
There be more, lad. I've caught wind that in two moons, the young one's bound for Fort Eger. Fear not, lad, I will be there too." Said Makar while laughing.
"Wait, how come?" Asked Damian, shock evident in his tone.
"They be in need of a blacksmith at Fort Eger, and who better than us, eh lads?" Shouted Makar, and in response, the deep shouting voice of a dozen dwarfs, cheering.
"Aren't you afraid?" Asked Talon while lightly shaking, yet still trying to remain brave to the best of his abilities.
"We rather die there then remain here, working for these hunter dogs." Said Makar in response, then spitting at the ground in disgust.
"Understandable Makar, can you watch the boy in my stead?" Asked Damian.
"Of course Damian. Before I forget, lad, leave that ring here, we are fixing it, because it's obviously cracked." Said Makar as he put his hands forward, gesturing for Talon to give him the ring.
"It's just a small crack, you can fix it later Makar, what's the hurry?" Asked Damian.
"You dare to mock us with a cracked piece of gear? You could piss in my beer and I would be less angry!"
Talon didn't wait for Damian's response as he removed the ring from his finger, and gave it to Makar, who began to study the ring the moment it got into his hand.
"When you come back here in a week, ya get your ring too, lad. Now, away with the bot of ya, we have work to. Lets get to work lads!" Shouted Makar to the other dwarfs before turning away from Damian and Talon and walking back to his forge.
"I guess it's time for us to leave." Said Damian as he began to walk out of the forge, Talon walking closely behind him.
As they were walking, Talon barely managed to keep himself awake, still exhausted from over using his gift, his feet moved as if sunken into quicksand.
"See you later... Master," Talon uttered, his voice barely audible, drained of the energy needed for sarcasm.
With a single wave of his hand as goodbye, Damian walked away lightly chuckling as he said to himself with a genuinely prideful tone. "I'm such a good teacher."
Without even glancing around at the barracks, he collapsed onto his bunk bed, instantly succumbing to sleep.
***
"You will fall, just like the previous eight."
Talon was jolted awake with cold sweat, his head ached. As he looked around the room, he could barely see as it was still the middle of the night, but the sound of slow breathing indicated that the others were still sound asleep. 'Again… so tiring.'
After attempting to fall back asleep, he realized that he couldn't, prompting him to get up from his bed.
'I don't even care anymore, I just want to clear my head at the moment.' Thought Talon to himself as he began walking towards the training grounds.
The moment he arrived, he could see that the training grounds were completely empty, not that it would matter to Talon as he walked to a weapon rack to pick out a wooden spear.
Without a partner to spar with, he had no choice but to make his way to one of the training dummies.
Gripping his practice weapon tightly, he began a series of precise stab. Each movement carried a calculated intensity, his muscles working in harmony with the rhythm of his strikes.
As he continued, the repetitive impact echoed in the training area, his mind adrift in distant thoughts. 'I haven't dreamt about this for almost a month... for a while, I thought it was finally over.' mused Talon. He then unleashed all of his might with a powerful stab, breaking his spear as its tip remained embedded in the training dummy. "Of course, it's still not." Talon uttered aloud, panting.
"What is not?" Asked Huntsman Lance as he walked into the training ground. "I was just talking to myself, and sorry for the spear." Panted Talon as he threw away the broken training spear.
"Heard everything from Damian, that bastard really is a horrible teacher and the worst thing about it that he still think that he is not. The others before you were in an even worse condition than you are at the moment." Said Huntsman Lance before walking to the same weapon rack, and picked out another wooden spear.
"I cans see that you have a lot on your mind at the moment." Huntsman Lance threw the wooden spear to Talon. "But over thinking things won't solve your problem."
He then picked out another wooden spear and pointed it at Talon. "Show me what you got!"
Hadiah
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Power 
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