Inside of the Smithy

"This is pretty big for a Smithy," said Liu Kai, tilting his head side to side to check all the items they have in a big room Chief Brashford has inside his store.

There are varieties of weapons hanging on the wall. They saw weapons like swords, axes, daggers, tonfas, clubs, spears, bows, javelins, flails, surujins, flails, staff, hammer, and a lot more.

There's a different set of armors and wardrobes and knight armor, shinobi suit, ranger suit, mage robe, and many more.

It enthralled them after seeing all the equipment, and they started to think about what's best for them.

"You forge these with a giant bug's exoskeleton?" Liu Kai asked Chief Desmund, still observing the weapons and armors.

"That's right, one exoskeleton can produce different kinds of weapons and armors," Desmund Brashford stood straight, responding proudly.

"Man, it's hard to pick between these weapons. They're all looking good to me," Jin Chow complained.

"Uhmm… Think of your style of fighting and your abilities before picking a weapon," King Lee advised.

"That's right, not all the weapons here suit your needs, that's why you need to be meticulous about this," said Desmund Brashford.

Jin Chow strokes his imaginary beard, thinking about it.

"I'm going to go for this," said Jin Chow. He finally gained confidence in deciding to use a Two-handed Giant Hammer as his weapon.

"I'm going to go for this," said Jin Chow.

"Great pick. You're pretty tough already, that's exactly what you need to have a great offense," approved King Lee.

"This is for you, Sergio." Desmund Brashford tossed a pair of boots forged with an exoskeleton of giant bug and a glider.

"Uhhh… I asked King Lee about the three of you before we slept yesterday. And I'm thinking about if there are weapons and armor that I can offer to you. Since I have none, I made those customized gears for you. It's going to help you get into the sky easily, do extra damage to your kicks, and remain in the sky a little more to pinpoint your target, hahahaha!" explained Chief Desmund, laughing awkwardly.

"I shall accept these items." Sergio Von Croy bowed, holding the items he received.

Desmund Brashford is quick to keep up with the various kinds of needs of his clients, and he's worried about what type of weapon could fit all of them.

"For you, Liu Kai, you should pick anything you want, because from what I heard, your style of combat is diverse." Chief Brashford.

'That's a lie. He made a custom weapon for Sergio long before we approved it. They were expecting that we would adhere to their proposals.' Liu Kai thought to himself, still suspicious of their motives.

"Let's see," said Liu Kai, disregarding it for the moment. He walked around and inspected all the weapons while thinking about what King Lee said earlier.

It should suit my fighting style and ability, huh. But what's my fighting style? I don't have one in particular, right? Then I can get whatever I desire and have one, right?' Liu Kai thought to himself, excitedly checking each weapon thoroughly. 'This is exciting; it's like picking a class for your character before starting a game.' He chuckled.

'My skill is more about boosting my stats. It doesn't require me to have a distinct combat style like Sergio,' Liu Kai suddenly stopped in front of short scythes that captured his eye.

"What's this?" He raised his eyebrow, looking at Chief Brashford.

"Oh, that's called Kama. Don't pick that. It's made from an excess of various exoskeletons. It's made for cutting crops, and not for combat," Chief Brashford signaled to put it back.

"No, I think this is going to be all right for me," declared Liu Kai.

Liu Kai felt something that linked him with it. It's a dual short scythe that looks like a sickle attached by a chain that resembles a centipede, connecting it at the end of both handles. 'Maybe the chain is crafted from the exoskeleton of a giant centipede,' Liu Kai said to himself.

The Blade is sharp and long enough to penetrate a giant bug's exoskeleton, and the handle is well designed as well.

"Are you sure of that? I mean, there are a lot of weapons that you can choose better than that." Chief Brashford asked him worriedly with a furrowed brow.

"No, this is a good weapon for me. As long as it can slice, I don't see any problem. I think this will work for me," told Liu Kai, still looking at it.

'Weird!' The three knights thought about Liu Kai after picking an item made for reaping crops.

"Let's go ahead with your armors," King Lee informed.

"Chief Brashford will reconstruct the weapons and armors after you choose. It's to suit the body and with the technologies of the dwarves, the skills you have will also work in different ways with it, also with the weapons you chose earlier," King Lee explained.

"How is it possible?" asked Jin Chow.

"Chow's has a good question. How does that work?" Liu Kai added

"I'm going to need some blood from you to reconstruct the items you chose so that it manifests with your body. We found out that the abilities are encoded in the DNA of the person, and if the armor was forged one's DNA, it could also respond to the user's call once the ability is activated," explained Desmund Brashford.

'The ability we have is part of our DNA? That's interesting, so it was embedded into a multicellular level.' Liu Kai thought to himself.

Jin Chow and Sergio Von Croy had no idea how it worked even a little from Chief Brashford's explanation, so they just let it go.

"Okay, so I'm going to get this complete armor. It looks powerful and perfect for me," Jin Chow announced, holding a golden whole body armor.

"Your brain is finally operating Chow," teased Liu Kai.

Sergio Von Croy already has a suit for his glider and no longer has to opt for another. That leaves Liu Kai to choose his armor.

The moment they reached the Smithy, the hooded full-body cape cloak quickly captured his attention.

"I'm going to get this," said Liu Kai.

"You've got a poor taste, bud," King Lee countered.

"That's like made from ancient times, and it's not as great as the others." He continued to complain.

"You're wrong about that King Lee, and just let him pick it up. He likes old school alright." Desmund Brashford yelled at King Lee, defending Liu Kai's choice.

"I feel you're going to enjoy it. It was partnered with this," Desmund Brashford hurled chainmail and tunic at Liu Kai.

"Put the chainmail under the cloak to provide extra protection. It's not as robust as the others, but it will at least cover the vital spots in your body. The good thing about that was you can still move freely since you don't have full body armor," Chief Brashford added.

"This was made from a giant bug's exoskeleton too?" asked Liu Kai, inspecting the cloth material

"Ahhh, no. I made the tunic and the cape cloak from a giant spider's silk. It has high elasticity and can't be easily penetrated. It depends on what type of attack, but sometimes it can be tougher than the other armors here," explained Desmund Brashford.

King Lee's eyes widened. He's speechless when he realizes those clothes weren't just plain clothes made of plain fabric.

"All right, add all that to this table, and I'm going to get blood from you, boys." Chief Brashford tapped the table beside him, holding now a box that looks like a medicine kit.

"How much blood do you need?" asked Jin Chow, who's starting to get sweaty.

"We're going to fill this syringe," said Chief Brashford, holding a syringe about 10 cm long.

"WHAT?" Jin Chow complained, fixed his gaze to the syringe Chief Brashford is holding.

'Jin Chow, who should be the toughest because of his big well-built body, is afraid of needles?' King Lee queried.

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After a while, Chief Brashford successfully got the syringes full of their blood. He started the fire for heat-treating the weapons and reforged it with their blood.

Clang, clang, clang!

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Sounds of two metal colliding to each other were heard to the room as soon as Chief Brashford started.

"Let's have lunch together! And let's head to the Dojo after. You're not going to sit here to wait for him to finish those, are you?" asked King Lee.

"I'm going to introduce you to the members tomorrow, and we're going to practice with them," King Lee added.