Living in the Present

Snow's day was hectic the moment she woke up. She had forgotten how busy it was working back in the store, signing off papers, and even assisting with healing. Even now, more new Sleepers were being awakened from the Overflow as many came over injured.

A few times, Snow had talked with the remaining guilds on destroying the third dungeon without the help of the other guilds, but she sharply declined. For some reason, she had a nagging feeling that they must stay outside for a few more weeks before moving.

She knew that staying inside the third dungeon would become a lot more complicated; she was, honestly, slightly worried. Still, she knew that worse came to worse, Mr. Rogers was bound to move when things became bad. This was her insurance and belief that all was not lost.

Red's company that she worked for, Red Flower Nation, brought in more magicians to assist in teaching and controlling the rampant disorganization from the new Awakened. There was too much to learn as they were needed to quickly become part of modern society.

Even the Dragon Express had sent in more people to help in managing the field operation. There were just too many things to do as she felt swamped with paperwork.

Finally, Snow was able to take a quick break. It took her over five days to get things a lot better under control. Even though Heather did a fantastic job without her in the beginning, there were too many things that Heather couldn't get done without Snow's approval.

Snow stepped outside, enjoying the afternoon breeze that she dearly missed. She has been cooped up for too long. The last time she went out was when she assisted in helping the injured, but there weren't many that needed it.

Angie, who was busy running errands for Snow, came over with a small bag of food that she had bought from Sam.

"Saintess!" Angie ran over, handing her the bag in hand.

"Thanks." Snow gratefully took the food from her. Almost every day, she had personally asked for Sam's food. She was impressed that his food was quite tasty. When he heard that she asked for him specifically, she remembered how excited he was and vowed to be her personal cook.

Usually, she would have cooked for herself, but lately, she felt a bit lazy, and her time was short. She needed every second to complete her work.

Angie glowed with pride. She rocked on her feet, waiting for Snow to compliment her more, but Snow didn't say anything as she munched on the chicken. There really wasn't much she could think of in teaching Angie as using light magic was a lot simpler compared to the others as it was mostly through the arts of her emotions. The stronger she felt of wanting to heal them, the stronger the magic became.

When done, Snow destroyed the box of food and headed straight towards Falcon. Angie trailed behind her like a puppy.

She arrived in front of a large building specially carved out and replaced with blacksmith equipment and furnaces. In a short time, Falcon had covered the walls with weapons that she had never seen before. Each one much more fierce and beautiful than the next.

Her eyes trailed across the wall, finally resting upon a white hilted katana with a black sword. On the center of its blade were intricate words of an ancient Atlantis. Snow had wondered when and where Falcon had taken the time to learn such history.

But even still, something about the sword called to her. She felt the glittering black blade had a life of its own.

"You like that?" Falcon said, hammering a blade on the furnace. His usual goggles were tightly on his head, focusing on her work diligently. The loud clang of his hammer echoed with clarity that it brought shivers to Snow.

Snow was startled that Falcon knew where her gaze was cast without turning around.

"Yes," Snow spoke with such a commitment that it even surprised her. She didn't expect that she wanted it that badly.

Falcon chuckled, finishing up his last hit against the sword. He placed his hammer down, stretching his tired back. "That beauty is called the Sword of Yin and Yang."

"That is an unusual name."

"It is. I wasn't the one who gave the name."

"Wait, you didn't?" Snow didn't understand what he meant. Who else, but the creator, would create a sword that would give it a name?

"The sword did."

"I'm sorry? What?"

"The sword has a soul, Saintess." Falcon teased, "a blacksmith hears the voices in it and gives the name that it has decided upon itself."

"So, is there some kind of spirit living inside it?" Snow was trying to articulate what he was implying. The only thing that she could think of was that their sword was some kind of spirit.

"You can say something like that." Falcon shrugged. "It chooses its beholder as well, and from my guess is that it rang with your soul."

"I guess?" Snow still didn't quite understand how a sword can choose one's name and people, but she had read about such instances when it came to special weapons made by famous Dwarves.

"Take it. My gift." Falcon waved his hand. He went towards the back of the room, shuffling around. Metal upon metal sounds could be heard, making Snow wonder what he was doing.

Without a second thought, a bit worried that Falcon would take back his word, she stepped towards the Sword of Yin and Yang. Her hand reached out, taking both the sheathe and the sword itself.

A jolt of energy washed over her fingers as she ran it against the hard texture of the snakeskin. An instantaneous connection was felt, and she knew that the sword in her hand was a part of her that she felt as if it was her own. With a quick swing, a soft hum tickled her very ears, becoming louder until she was engrossed in it.

Excited by the gift, she sheathed it as her hand tightly wrapped around.

With a loud clunk, Falcon came out with pieces of armor that she had given for him to fix and upgrade. Even though it was the same armor that Falcon had gifted her, he had explicitly called her to bring in the armor for an upgrade.

It looked a lot different from before. The pure white was a lot more dazzling than before. Ryzar's feather dyed in gold decorated the very shoulder, giving it a slight fluff. One would have thought she had wings tucked behind her.

When the light hit the very armor, she saw a simple shimmer of nanotech embedded into the precious metal. Shimmering slightly golden whichever way it turned. It was completely different from the other armors that the Players and Hunters wore as it was handcrafted use of both advanced technology that they had and the art of Dwarven blacksmithing mixed into one.

Such intricate, delicate balance of the two was founded by Falcon himself as he had been working on as she was his personal tester for such a product.

"I was playing with a few things on the armor," Falcon said as he tapped it with knuckles. "The nanotechnology on this is quite interesting. It self heals any broken pieces if you give it some time. So far, it's able to withstand a level A class monster attack, though anything higher than that, you will have problems. I integrated it with the special mark that you have on your face, which allows you to have claws, helmet, and a tail. It responds instantaneously when any attack is aimed at you as the armor will appear and disappear when you want to put it on or not. It's quite fascinating to know that the item that you got is old magic, and trying to figure out how to make it work together with the rest was a bit tricky."

"Thanks a lot, Falcon." Snow reached towards the armor that she was given. She felt a spark of power coming from her tattoo as the armor itself connected with one another.

Instantly, the armor disappeared, leaving Angie in awe.

"No problem." Falcon chuckled. "Glad that you are still alive and kicking. To see someone like you go in and out of dungeon diving is impressive. In the past, I thought all receptionists would be stuck up in their booth talking with customers.���

"You and me both." Snow chuckled. It felt like yesterday when she was just tolling away doing her paperwork in a safe environment. She never dreamed of being out on the field, slaying monsters, dying, coming back from the very dead, and even joining in on dungeon diving with the Players themselves. If someone had told her this was what was going to happen, in the past, she would have laughed at such absurdity.

"Either way, its good to see you out there with the people."

"How so? I'm just doing my job."

Falcon slowly shook his head, "you're their anchor Snow. During these tough times, to see a young woman, fighting to live for another day is an inspiration to the other Natives. I wouldn't be surprised that was where the name Saintess stuck to you."

"Oh, god, please no. I'm just doing a job, nothing more."

"Keep believing that."

Snow shrugged, "Anyways, I'll bring you some more good monster materials for you to play with."

"You do that, I'm going to need some more premium stuff to finish a couple of these orders."

Falcon headed straight back to his furnace, picking up his hammer once again. He went back to work, leaving Snow to watch silently. She knew that he was a busy person, and dallying here would only shorten her much needed break.

Quickly, she stepped out to continue her stroll throughout the camp.