Item Creation

Another day had passed and Mallory was busy melting down more Valis coins as she performed the same thing as she had before melting down purified magic stones and horse shoes from ordinary horses or monster drops which she was able to get her hands on.

Almura was busy putting together a new set of light armour for Mallory with the materials gained.

While Mallory had practiced blacksmithing a little, she still trusted Almura to make a better finished product for her after witnessing her abilities.

Several moulds had finished cooling down and were removed one after another then were sanded down and polished until they fit Mallory's expectations and needs.

A slightly flat and circular mould was then carved into slowly as various details were added to the front and back.

On the front of it had a small hole to insert something inside, a pointed shapes piece of metal was placed over it and the hole on the other side of the pointed edge was placed over the hole in the circular shape.

Another piece of metal was inserted through both holes and was turned slightly which had locked them together.

In the hand of Mallory was one of the items which she had been working on but she was unsure if it would work as intended.

Almura had finished with her own tasks then came over to witness the completion of the new magic item. "Hmm.. not bad but what does it do?"

She was very curious about what kind of interesting thing Mallory had come up with but all that she got in return was Mallory rolling her eyes.

Mallory shrugged as she responded. "It has to be tested first. Have you tried making the other pieces as I had asked?"

Almura let out a sigh. "The armour is completed and is ready for anything you wish to do with it but I am more interested in what you will do with those parts and this recent thing."

Mallory revealed a playful smile. "You will see soon."

Almura crossed her arms over her chest as her stubbornness was revealed to Mallory as she was glaring down at her. "Hurry up.."

Mallory was about to speak up but Almura interrupted her suddenly. "Mallory.. are you going to continue like this or do you plan on doing anything about becoming an adventurer? I know you are part of a familia and that you may have people around you already but.."

Mallory looked over and urged her. "Go on.. continue."

Almura hesitated for a while then continued. "I want us to enter a more solid agreement and if possible, I want to join your familia. You should be aware that there are certain limitations to those that are without a familia.

For blacksmiths it is the same thing and we can really benefit from levelling up to get the blacksmithing skill. You have no idea how many blacksmiths in this city and outside would kill to be granted that chance but are unable to."

Mallory silently thought to herself. 'If only you knew that I already qualify for that ability then how would you react?'

Not everyone that could swing a hammer at some heated metal could call themselves a blacksmith and not every skilled blacksmith could be granted the opportunity to join a familia to further their own abilities.

There were certain limitations for everyone which had to be overcome with time, patience and hard work while some elements of luck were involved too where the status was concerned.

If a skilled blacksmith caught the eye of a god or goddess like Hephaestus then they would gain the chance to overcome those limitations with the status and gain a better environment to improve themselves.

Mallory was qualified to learn the blacksmithing ability but she had put off learning it so that she could gain other more useful abilities for herself but many other blacksmiths would be very envious over the fact that she even had the option to learn it.

Mallory clenched the new magic item in her hand then spoke as she observed a strange scene in front of her eyes. "I will speak with my goddess but that would mean that you will have to accompany me to most places in the future. This may affect your work."

The contracts or relationships between each adventurer varied depending on each person.

Some had a close relationship while others were very distant and were only interested in the exchange of weapons or armour for a payment of a certain amount of Valis.

If the relationship was not that close then there would be no such thing as discounts or favours being done for each other but Almura had asked such a thing so it showed how close they had become recently.

The closer blacksmiths and adventurers journeyed and took on dangers together in the dungeons so that the blacksmiths could mine rarer metals or raise their status within the dungeon or put in the world.

Mallory did not want their relationship to be a distant one either so she stated what she wished for too.

Certain trips or adventures would affect the work of Almura so it was best to warn her before they made any major commitments.

Almura looked very determined as she answered. "I have been stuck in this city for much too long anyways so I do not mind moving around. Just inform me first before we ever have to set out so that I can at least prepare myself."

Mallory nodded as she observed the flickering strange phenomenon in front of her eyes. "If there is ever an established team or group then you are now officially part of it even if my goddess denies my request."

Meanwhile Mallory thought to herself. 'Not like I have known my goddess to deny my requests…'

Goddess Seshat was usually very accepting to most things Mallory brought up or had requested so it showed how much her goddess favoured her so Mallory did not believe she would be rejected.

At the same time, Mallory knew that the main reason why she had not been rejected yet was because she had not asked for anything excessive.

Accepting some extra familia members which would possibly support Mallory brought the familia no harm and only helped to improve the familia so it was something simple to agree to for Seshat.

A faintly visible but flickering rope or string shaped object was wrapped around the wrists of Mallory and Almura which had slowly become more visible and solid to the eyes of Mallory who was the only person who could see it. 'What is this exactly? It is more visible when I am around Franco, Swaine, Goddess Seshat and now Almura. Does this have something to do with the new skill that I have or is this part of me levelling up and gaining more mastery of my Apotropaic skill? It seems like it is showing my link to others.'

The links between herself and many others was not visible to her but only showed up on those that she was closer to.

It had proven a little of her own hypothesis as she watched the link forming gradually and it becoming more visible and stable when she had been spending time with Almura.

As they were making that step forward to becoming better partners as part of the same group, the link had stopped flickering between existing and not existing.

What had been revealed to be wrapped around her wrist then travelled between herself and others the wrist of Almura was a pure white metallic chain link which seemed to represent the current bond between Almura and herself as if their official relationship or bond had been established. 'Whatever it is.. it definitely has something to do with my friendships or bonds. As for the main use of it.. I cannot even make contact with it so there is not a lot of hope to experiment with it..'

The chain link looked very thin and fragile as if it could snap if there was some force applied to it as if the bonds which had bound Mallory and Almura had just been established but their bonds were still very fragile and could be broken by the slightest thing.

Mallory played around with the magic item in her hands then spoke mischievously. "Do you really want to see the use of this? Then how about we both finish up with the carvings and modifications to the armour then we can go out and teat it."

Almura showed a large smile suddenly. "Let's get to work then!"

The sounds of metal being hammered, carved into and polished began to fill the room as they worked together to finish their work together at the fastest speed possible without affecting the overall quality of their work.