Obtaining A Quote

The pink haired blacksmith finished scribbling something onto his notepad and finally spoke, "Right so by the looks of it you're definitely a Defender. I'm presuming you want something heavy with focus on defense?"

Tilia nodded. As expected from The Gated Arena. The blacksmiths here had quite the eye! The pink haired blacksmith wasn't surprised by the answer and continued, "The trouble regarding Third Stage custom sets is just how obscenely rare the materials are. Usually you'd go with something like monster scales for defensive purposes while maintaining a better weight to defense ratio."

"My previous set held the same philosophy.", Tilia agreed while adding some additional information.

"Do you still have the previous set? It'd help with the quote."

"I do. . . it's not in great condition right now."

"That's fine. I figured as much considering you weren't wearing it. It's not uncommon for the Semi-Immortals to not have equipment after all.", Rodrick sighed.

"Do they bother you often?", Tilia stifled a chuckle.

"More than you'd think. The Semi-Immortals are so demanding. You're apart of the rare few who patiently waited instead of bothering us in the middle of our work."

"I'm aware of how much concentration is needed, I didn't wish to interrupt anybody.", Tilia suddenly rose another kite shield to block a shower of sparks descending towards her.

Looking upwards she spotted another floor suspended on the ceiling by chain. The blacksmith responsible for the shower of sparks was currently patting themselves viciously. Their apron was set alight. Tilia figured some sort of accident took place and didn't bother them regarding the sparks.

Suddenly the pink haired blacksmith stepped to the side. Tilia shadowed his movements and a flaming hot wheel rolled past where they were just standing. It bounced occasionally which sent a few sparks outwards. Another kite shield stopped it from rolling free and a blacksmith ran towards it, "Thank you so much! That could've been dangerous!"

Tilia deactivated her War Sight and watched as the blacksmith lifted it with a pair of prongs. Dumping it into a nearby barrel of oil the blacksmith shook their head, "A failure!"

A chuckle escaped the pink haired blacksmith, "The new generation of blacksmiths has joined us so workplace accidents are at their seasonal high right now."

"I could tell.", Tilia wiped a bit of sweat away, "Are injuries common?"

"Very! It's the reason why the Church Coalition is directly across from us. Easy access to emergency healing. Allows them to practice with burns and lost fingers."

"Church Coalition? I thought it was a simple church."

"Too many faiths come here. The amount of churches that would need to be built is quite high. So they formed the Church Coalition. It allows a civil conversation regarding the difference of beliefs and allows them to practice their Prayer and healing capabilities with no conflict."

"As expected from The Gated Arena."

"Currently they're being swarmed about some curse that sprouted against many of the Semi-Immortals. None of the faiths are capable of removing it with their various sacred waters. So it's busy over there too."

"When is it not busy? The Gated Arena is always abuzz with activity."

"Ironically it's shortly after the Provinces fight in The Arena. Everyone is too busy reflecting which means there's a shortage of materials, so less blacksmiths can work. It takes about a week before things start picking up again. Although it took far longer this time around. The final fight between The Azure Phoenix and the Sword Saint was incredible. It took three weeks before everything returned to the normal pace."

"Wrock certainly enjoyed that fight himself."

The pink haired blacksmith paused and looked towards Tilia. This time he properly examined her appearance before exclaiming, "It's you! The one who stood up against Pale! You had your helmet on during that fight so I couldn't quite recognize you!"

"I still lost that fight.", Tilia didn't let the praise inflate her ego.

"It was an Ace! All of you from the South Province sent waves through here. I'm actually so pleased to be the one to assist you.", the pink haired blacksmith moved newfound fervor, "Is your previous set of equipment the one you used during the fight against Pale?"

"The very same."

"Oh that's excellent! I know somebody who wanted to see it up close. It's not often you see a set of custom armor that synchronizes so well with someone's War Sight. Who exactly created such a wondrous piece of equipment?"

"Some dwarves I assisted in the Eastern Continent.", Tilia answered honestly.

"They must've been some old experts then. Most dwarves nowadays choose to be stonemasons. Granted their cities in the mountains are jaw dropping to visit."

"You visited one?"

"Long time ago when I sought out an old blacksmith for tutorage. It's an utter masterpiece of creation."

"How envious. The dwarves I visited only had underground forges. Their main village was a standard one on dirt."

"Really? Perhaps the foreign dwarves don't live underground then. No matter, it's a great honor to see such equipment up close."

"It's essentially ruined, I wouldn't get your hopes up.", Tilia apologized.

"It's fine! A blacksmiths ideal can be seen regardless. As long as it's still somewhat intact though."

"It's intact. . . that's just about it."

"Very good. . . this way.", the pink haired blacksmith took a sudden sharp 90 degree turn.

A darker section of the blacksmithing place was soon revealed. The wall was covered with large metal drawers with labels written on them. The lack of lighting and tiny writing prevented Tilia from reading what the labels said without getting closer. Seeing Tilia's interested gaze the blacksmith explained, "It's a storage area for more unique equipment. Some materials are sourced purely at night, and in order to keep some of the aspects of the materials they must be stored in dark areas. This is especially true for materials source from creatures of the night."

"Is it purely just to maintain the aspects?", Tilia was unsure what 'aspect' really meant but was still curious.

"Hmmm, mostly. Sometimes certain equipment can be. . . volatile."

"How so?"

"My experiences are too broad to give a good example. Let's just say some should be sealed in these chests as well."

Exiting the storage area the two reached a new area with hundreds of available equipment on display. The first thing Tilia noticed was just how broad the selection was. The pink haired blacksmith paused and looked about, "This is a merged section with the Tailor's Guild. They're better at handling leather and such, so we often coordinate when equipment needs it. This place is used for the finishing touches and stylizing."

"Is looks important? I figured effectiveness would be best."

"There's usually two main reasons. First is that monster materials can sometimes bring forth unexpected results if the final product looks similar to the actual monster. A sort of hidden attribute. This is still being studied however so it's quite rare. The second reason is that for some reason warrior performance is often improved if they feel like they look cool. A sort of boost to their morale and ego."

"The confidence boost helps with their performance. . ."

"It's actually such a difference that it's worth going to such lengths to stylize the equipment."

Having spotted his target the pink haired blacksmith moved towards one corner of the merged section. Waving he called, "Vivi! Over here!"

A startled individual jerked upwards in fright. A pair of glasses clattered towards the ground which immediately made them curse, "Rodrick what did I tell you about startling me?!"

The pink haired blacksmith Rodrick raised his hands in surrender, "Whoops. I'm a bit excited right now I forgot."

"Yeah yeah, so what is it this time?", Vivi picked up her glasses and slipped them on.

"I brought that Defender you were talking about. The one who lasted a while despite being outnumbered and against an Ace."

Vivi's demeanor changed, "Why didn't you say so!"

Vivi turned around with a bright smile on her face. Extending a hand towards Tilia she immediately introduced, "Vivi, currently a leatherworker and tailor. I saw just how fantastic you performed during that fight, but to be honest I was more drawn by how your armor held properties of the War Sight you used."

Tilia shook the hand and smile, "I go by Tilia. My armor isn't in great condition. I came here to gain some insight on materials needed for a new set."

"That would explain why Rodrick brought you here. What do you have so far?"

Rodrick showed the notes on his notepad, "I already did the basic requirements. Miss Tilia certainly needs a Defender set of Third Stage."

"Ooh troubling, Third Stage materials are already difficult to come across. Our senior's expedition won't end until next year either."

Tilia corrected, "I'm not looking to commission. I'm simply looking for information regarding the resources I should gather."

Vivi nodded, "That's much easier then. First let's see your old set, it'll shorten this process by a lot."

Walking to a nearby empty armor stand she gestured towards it, "Put it on here!"

Tilia walked up to the armor stand and placed her old armor set. As the final piece was placed upon it both Rodrick and Vivi remained silent. 

A whistle finally broke the silence, sourced from Rodrick. In an effort to show his bafflement he scratched his head, "I mean, did you feed it to a creature? I haven't seen armor this close to being completely dismantled in a long time!"

Making a helpless gesture Tilia apologized, "I did try to tell you. Sorry it's not in great condition."