Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 391: What’s in the Vault

A tsk came from Erwini as she ran her tongue across her lips.

“You know what that is?”

“It has a lot of different names, but many call it a Fire-Forged Bar. I can tell by—”

“A FIRE-FORGED BAR!”

Both Max and Erwini looked at the dwarven warrior, who stood there, arms slightly raised, both eyes wider than ever before and with his mouth hanging open.

“Yes, now please close that trap and let us talk.”

His friend’s jaw began to move, but Max saw the look Erwini had given Fowl, and the warrior quickly clamped his jaw shut.

Max heard Batrire mutter “impossible,” and when the red-headed dwarf turned her attention back to him, she slowly nodded.

“Yes… it is one of the two the Faction owns. Everett has one, I believe.”

“Ehh… Technically, he doesn’t have a second one. I have one, and he has one. So I wouldn’t blame him,” she replied, reaching in and pulling out the metal bar.

With a clink she sat it down on the stone table, and everyone came close to inspect it.

Easily nine inches long, the bar had barely fit in the dwarf’s hand.

Red coloring that almost radiated with flames gave off a warm sensation.

“How special is that?” Cordellia asked.

“Special enough to get any dwarven crafter to do basically whatever you want,” Fowl replied, his eyes almost level with the stone as he bent down. “These are what those who can craft legendary and above desire. Only a few dwarves can really use them well enough to make something worthy of the metal.”

“He is right,” Erwini stated. “The truth is we have often discussed using the pair and crafting something with them. Losing Baldwin hurt, as he was our best weapon crafter in our Faction. Still, I heard—”

Her head twisted so fast it might have broken her own neck as she squinted and looked up at Max.

“You… no… that would be impossible… yet why…”

Erwini began to blink rapidly as she studied Max, doing his best to look innocent under her gaze.

“Why would he want you to look through our crafting materials? Do you know who the crafter is that he has mentioned making weapons for his members?”

“I’ve seen him a few times,” Max replied. “Does a good job actually.”

“Yet how would you know what one of these is if Everett didn’t tell you he had one?”

Pulling a book out of his storage, Max opened it and flipped through a few pages.

“Here we go.”

With his finger on the page he had turned to, Max set the worn journal on the counter.

Elven Blue Ingot

Fire-Forged Bar

Dark Star Core

Elemental Heart

The Faction leader looked up at Max and the list he had, each of them with a small description on potential uses for them next to it.

“How do you have something like this? I mean… it would make sense that you might, but no crafter would freely share those secrets and knowledge.”

Her gaze hadn’t changed, and a grunt came from Fowl.

“Just tell her. It will be easier.”

Looking at the warrior, who was slowly sneaking his hand across the table toward the bar, she grabbed the bar and picked it up before he could touch it.

“Tell me what?”

Max looked at the other three, who shrugged, each making a face that didn’t bestow confidence in which option was the best.

“Everett bound himself to me to learn some of my secrets. Would you be willing to do the same?”

Two sharp coughs came from the woman as she took a step back, bar still in hand.

“Bind myself to you? Like with a binding rod?!”

“With just that. It’s the only way you’ll find out why he has tasked me with what he has.”

Her red beard danced as her cheeks moved, a sign of her jaw clenching and unclenching as her nose did a small dance.

“But… why? What could be so—”

Her words stopped as she glanced down at the bar in her hand.

“The tower… so fast… you five are past the 50th floor…”

“None of those were questions,” Max stated. “Still if you want answers, I’m going to need you to commit to me like Everett did.”

“And they all did this?” she asked, waving the bar at all of the team.

Bursting out in a peal of laughter, Max shook his head.

“No. They are family, and I trust them with my life. Forgive me when I say you’re just someone who is in the Faction I signed up for. Without the same kind of commitment Everett made, I won’t share anything else.”

Erwini frowned and with her free hand tugged on her beard braid for a few seconds.

“What do I get out of this? I mean, a binding rod isn’t a small thing.”

“Which tells you then that Everett did it because he knew it was worth it,” Max replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “Just know, it’s worth it.”

She rubbed both eyes as she sighed and after about ten seconds, lowered her hand, and looked at him.

“I’m warning you, I’m not one to be trifled with!” she exclaimed, waving and pointing the Fire-Forged Bar in his face. “You better make this worth it or I’ll… I’ll do something!”

Nodding, Max motioned to the bar in her hand.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You going to keep that or let me have it?”

“Bah, you can go hump a goat—”

The sound of Batrire clearing her throat caused Erwini’s face to turn red almost immediately, and the Faction leader visibly winced.

“Ahh… yeah… forgive me. I’m a little bit like the color of my hair.”

“Oh I get it,” Max replied. “I’m in love with a redhead.”

***

“You sure you want to keep drinking?”

Erwini nodded and poured her fourth glass of alcohol, her dazed expression not yet gone.

“Legendary crafter… a warrior… stats so high…”

Max shrugged and tapped the table again.

“You wanted to know. Now tell me, was the binding rod worth it?”

Downing the drink in a single gulp, the dwarf nodded, storing the glass.

“Not many things are worth that rod… but that was. I understand now why Everett spoke so highly of you and your team. Still… are you wanting to craft?”

Leaning back, Max ran his hand along the red couch, appreciating how soft to the touch it was.

“I would. For a lot of reasons, but right now what I really want to do is get back to my team and know what I have to give in order to get that bar.”

“Bah,” Erwini scowled. “Back to the one thing I don’t want to just give up! I have no doubt you could create something legendary with it, but we’re talking about a bar so rare the king would gladly trade above its worth just to have it.”

“Which goes back to the question of how you got one.”

Snorting, she shook her head and then used her thumb to point at the wall behind her desk.

“I’ve got another rod if you want to learn that secret.”

“Perhaps not,” he replied. “Still, what would it take?”

She grimaced and scratched her beard.

“For that? Six clear crystals.”

“Are you saying that because you and I both know we’re not allowed to fight in the tower past the 50th floor?”

The smallest smile formed.

“Not completely, but the power those would provide and knowing that the bar would be used by a member who is attempting the impossible… it would make it worth the trade. Bags of gold wouldn’t make me want to sell it.”

“So how do I get it so our team can do the 50th floor?”

“That I can’t help. You’ll have to take that up with the king. Good luck with that one. He’s not easily swayed. Perhaps you should return to Peltagow and undertake the task there.”

It would be possible. A day or two each week. Surely we could defeat a floor in a day?

Perhaps, but would you want your skills used like that? Remember, you promised to visit Rakonath, and the time has come to do that soon.

Frowning, Max realized that Erwini was mimicking his facial expression, and she most likely thought he was upset with her or with that news.

“Ignore me; I’m just lost in thought about that prospect. Still, I’m open to the trade and will gladly look at getting enough of those for the bar.”

Rolling her eyes, the woman nodded and started to tap her fingers together.

“Now then, if what you said is possible, when might you want to craft for me? I could easily trade other materials that you might want.”

Seeing the row of white teeth between the woman’s red beard, Max could only imagine how excited the dwarf was about having someone like him crafting.

“I could be convinced to do so. Each item would be partial payment toward the metal I want.”

“You may not have enough time to craft that many items,” Erwini said. “Still, I’m excited to see what you can make and go from there.”

Cracking his neck, Max stood and pointed at the door.

“Then let’s get started. Tomorrow, we plan on starting the second part of the tower grind. If what you want isn’t too much, I could probably make something real quick.”

Faster than he had expected, the Faction leader was on her feet, moving toward the door.

***

“I’m just saying,” Fowl muttered as he pulled a green elixir from the chest, “why would we get one of these now?”

“He’s complaining about free stats,” Cordellia said as she pulled the top off hers. “What happened to the dwarf who never passed up a chance for loot?”

Max smiled and looked at the bottle and stored it.

“Not going to drink it?”

Shaking his head at Tanila, he withdrew the two green crystals from the boss chest.

“It might not work, since I drank that elixir back in Rumstant. Doing so would then be a waste. Besides, I can give this to my sister when I see her next.”

“Always the nice guy,” Batrire stated after wiping her lips. “Still this gave me five Dexterity, so I’m not complaining.”

“What are the odds of another undead boss?” Max asked as he studied the crypt they were in.

“Higher than you might expect,” Fowl answered. “You do realize we’re dwarves, and one thing we’re good at facing is the undead. Between large axes and hammers, we also have healers who occasionally take the holy spells that grant bonus damage to them.”

Batrire let out a grunt at their warrior’s statement.

“A waste… a bloody waste. What kind of healer would give up the very spells we need to keep you alive for a buff that only works against a single type of creature?”

“Don’t we all have those kinds of things?” Cordellia asked. “I mean, my bow works great against certain creatures and is absolutely worthless against others. Golems, undead, slime stuff. How many of those were impossible for me to injure? Not all of us can be like wonderboy and be good against everything.”

Grinning as he sensed everyone looking at him, Max shrugged and pointed at the portal.

“We’re capped for the second part of the tower, and tomorrow we’re headed to the castle to see Fowl’s parents. How about we stop talking about how great I am and focus on what we need to do.”

“Besides take a bath?” Batrire asked as she gave their warrior a sniff. “Some of us smell.”

Fowl had started to frown but stopped, lifting up his arm and smelling his pit.

“Gods that does smell ripe!” he exclaimed. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”

“We did,” Tanila muttered. “You just didn’t pick up on the hint.”

As the others began to tease their warrior, Max watched Tanila as her hand seemed to be rubbing her belly just slightly.

“Everything okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah. For a moment I thought I had felt this little one move, but we’re still months from when that should happen.”

Closing his eyes and putting a hand on her stomach, Max began to shut out all the noise and distraction around him, letting his Sonar skill do what it could when he focused.

The faint outline of a child appeared in his mind, and he could sense the heartbeat racing like the wings of a hummingbird.

Opening his eyes and taking his hand off, Max smiled at her.

“They appear okay.”

“You know that’s not fair.”

“Would you rather me not check?”

Shaking her head, Tanila sniffed and ran a thumb along one of her eyes.

“No, I’m glad you can. Just a little jealous.”

Taking her hand in his, Max motioned to the portal with his head.

“Well, let’s go. I know Fowl can’t be the only one who needs a bath.”

One of her eyebrows raised, and Tanila gave him a sideways look.

“You’re not telling me I stink, are you?”

“Gods no,” he replied with a grin. “I’ve got more than enough points in intelligence to not be that stupid.”

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