Master Of None

"Walker, why is your cloak so ragged? You need to take better care of it." Lisa saw the coal dust covered state Walker was in and found it very unsettling since she was the one who had made that cloak.Â

Feeling he had made a mistake by not cleaning up first and making sure the cloak was washer, Walker knew that he needed to use his trump card to make Lisa happy. It was time to compliment her, a lot.Â

"Well I know that I have a very talented and beautiful younger sister who could repair any damage that could ever come to any piece of clothing I have." His words were sweet enough to give someone a stomach ache.Â

"I know better than to listen to you when you are trying to distract me from being angry." Lisa crossed her arms pretending to be really mad. However the smirk on her face gave away her true feelings, that she was actually really happy to hear the compliments from her older brother.Â

"Yes, big sis Lisa is the best! She even fixed the hold in my shirt!" Gale joined uin not realizing fully what was going in but showing an almost perfectly patched shirt. "She even had purple to fix it!" The purple threat stood out against the grey shirt but it was Gale's favorite color so no one had argued it.Â

"Hear that Walker, I have another sister to worry about now." Lisa stuck her tongue out at him before ignoring him to give Gale more attention. Between Gale and Midnight giving Lisa more attention than Walker throughout the entire sinner he had begun to feel a little forgotten.Â

He went off to the library to get away from everyone after he had cleaned up and found that Maria was leaning against the second floor book shelf reading about poison toads. "Why choose to switch your reading topic to poison today? Weren't you reading about history last time I saw you?" His question startled her from her own little world.Â

"Mhm, but I was told you were going somewhere that might have something poisonous'¦" She had been secretly reading everything about poisonous monsters and plants since the day before.Â

"Well I will need an expert to give me the details before I leave and rush in to a new environment. But we are going to the deeper sun hollow forest. Not to the swamps. I think plants and animals that live in the forests are a little more important." With his input, Maria placed the book down and started to filter through the books on a taller shelf.

"That one." She tried to reach for one that was just a little too high, seeing this Walker grabbed  it. "I read that one already but it's about bad mushrooms." Walker wondered how she had reached and read this book but just figured that she had asked either Su's mother or the wandering blacksmith for help.Â

Taking the book Walker took up a space next to her and started to read. She seemed happy to have company and started back in to her book on poison toads. The peaceful environment in the library coupled with the smell of books helped all the stress from the day to melt away. Walker soon was absorbed in the book, memorizing as much as he could before he went off to sleep.Â

The book was about the various species of monstrous mushrooms. Most mushrooms in the deep sun hollow forest were edible and a source of food for the elven kingdom. Yet there were the rarer poisonous ones that were to be avoided due to the fact that even a touch could kill a full grown man.

The monstrous mushrooms were a mutated species that had grown large and gained the ability to move around and consume living creatures. They were often easy to defeat and kill so they posed no threat. The trouble was that their spores were able to cause a massive variety of different ailments, some of which could paralyze or poison. Both conditions could end someone's life while they are in the forest.Â

The weaker ones did not even develop spores meaning that they could be killed and even eaten. The ones that started to grow too large though soon had the caps on the top of them change colors. This was the sign that they had developed spores and would release a cloud of them upon death to try and kill what attacked them and use it as nutrition for its soon to grow young.Â

The best ways to defeat them were to use ranged attacks that did not stir the air or to be fast enough to attack and retreat within an instant. The other recommendation was to have gear that resisted the possible effects of the spores, but this was harder due to their multiple effects.Â

Walker thought this was one of the best things to know since they were said to be one of the hardest opponents for close combat fighters. Since Remey and Midnight were their two main close combat fighters being able to warn them was the best possibility. Seeing that Su would also possibly be close to them she would need to avoid using her shield bash skill on them. The real question would be if she could safely block them after taunting them.Â

Seeing that the spores would be airborne Walker realized that he should use some form of water magic. This could deal with the spores in the air and also potentially do some damage if the skill is powerful enough. It was the start of a safer strategy.

With so much to think about Walker decided it was best to get some real rest. The moon had climbed high in the sky and even Maria had fallen asleep reading. Raking the little demon girl to her own room Walker left her tucked in with the book by her pillow. He found that he slept much better than normal once he had woken up.Â

The morning was crisp and the sun was even brighter than the day before. The thought of Walker having his new weapons by the end of today made him much more energetic. It was like he had been given a massive boost in agility out of nowhere. Su was already out in the training field laying down some hurt on the training dummies.Â

Walker gave her a wave as he headed out the back door on his way to the forge. Su was practicing twisting to black and using her shields at different times. She had taken inspiration from Walker's blade wheel skill and wanted to be able to twist and block in an instant. His actions were stiff but definitely improving the more she tried them, all she needed was to find the flow in which she could move the best. After she did that she would be able to clock anything without even thinking.

Distancing himself he headed to the forge finding that Onyx was resting nearby watching Su from a distance. He had found a great spot where the morning sun hit and most likely would stay there until the sun passed it's highest point. Midnight had definitely rubbed off on him.Â

When Walker entered the forge the Wandering blacksmith was already hard at work. He was finishing another stack of arrow heads for Gil which looked to have killed plenty of time in his early morning. There was an empty plate showing that he had eaten something which made Walker much happier since it always seemed that the wandering blacksmith would not leave the forge at all.Â

Midnight wandered in right behind Walker, the shadow wrapping wearing off as she released it. "Getting a little sneaky practice in first thing in the morning huh?" Walker had not noticed her at all which was quite the feat since he had improved senses and could often sense mana now.Â

She raised her head pretty tall and spread her wings to give them a flap. She showed off her sneaking and how she  wanted to share her progress with wing strength. The flapping she did to show off stoked the fire a little in the forge making the wandering blacksmith smile and clap. It seemed he was rather enjoying the display of strength that could be used in the forge.Â

Without wasting time they three decided t get to work. The techniques were different since the small hampers would be molded. However, the large hammer was going to be heavily tempered and made with a mana storage inlay. The drawing on the parchments on the table showed the thinking that went in to it. The design showed a twisted easy to grip handle with a large rectangular head. The back was a large spike that could use the weight and sharpness to cut through armor.Â

There were even ratios to the amount of each metal and material used. This was the most in depth that any of the gear that had been designed previously had. It looked like the wandering blacksmith had plenty of ideas in the works for this. Walker's excitement was building.Â

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