Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 170: Living Metal

Chapter 170: Living Metal

Jock resisted the urge to turn around at the heat of the new fire, but with his experience, he gazed at it in awe.

“Primal fire,” he said in wonder.

“You know what it is?” Astrid asked.

“I’ve only seen it once,” Jock stood rooted on the spot as his mind wandered to the past. “Fifteen years ago, during the city expedition within Apocrypha. We encountered a monster past the first layer of the city. Its fire was enough to melt the thickest of defences. I’ll never forget when the beast turned its sight onto us. The sme–” Jock took a breath.

Astrid turned to her thoughts. Cities–because of their size–were always split up into layers. The first layer was the position right after entering a city. Humanity focused their efforts at the beginning of the raid to set up an enormous base of operation.

It was not an exaggeration to say that just setting up camp within the city cost millions of gold coins. Of course it was a joint effort by everyone. Not just the military.

Pirates, adventurers, religious groups; they all contributed. Of course they would when relics could be gained. The possibility of a family heirloom being obtained was far too great not to. It was a gamble that everyone within the world gathered for a chance to claim their stake.

Another monster that is capable of using primal fire? Astrid tilted her in in curiosity. She wondered if it had something to do with Avemoth considering the dungeon entrance wasn’t too far away from Apocrypha.

“Never-mind that, let’s see if it works–shall we?” Jock had to grab a pair of extra long tongs in order to place the ingot into the supernatural fire. Even with the extra distance granted by his tool, beadlets of sweat trickled down his forehead.

But it seemed he was only being cautious.

Jock let go of the ingot, and replaced his long tongs with his primary pair. It offered him better control, and even though he was perspiring a lot, he was able to resist it. Unlike the others.

Calum especially as the lowest Level made sure to keep several metres distance. He even had to keep his head to the side to resist the beating blaze.

As Astrid watched Jock work, it seemed like he was at a Level that could contest against Avemoth. Or maybe it was purely due to him being able to handle heat because of his Class. Whatever the reason was, Jock wasn’t to be taken lightly.

Astrid had to remember that there were still many people stronger than her. Even if that wasn’t the case, there were too many people laying low. Her father was one of them. She had no way of knowing how strong he was exactly, or even the older nobles, for that matter.

Her grandfather may have passed away, but that didn’t mean the other noble families didn’t have their elders still hidden away. However, they were old. The elders let their sons and daughters take hold of their family business while they watched from the shadows.

Astrid had heard all about it from her mother.

She didn’t have to wait long before the Jock retrieved a red hot slab of metal. The ingot was pulsating an orange glow; as if it was Avemoth’s lava back within its lair.

Jock placed it onto the anvil, then grabbed his hulking hammer. It was engraved, and unlike others that she had seen before–it wasn’t ordinary. If the middle-aged man was considered an elite in the field of forgery, then the hammer must be an Epic rated tool at the least.

“Step back, I don’t know what the metal will do.” Jock warned Losef and the others, but the warning wasn’t only for them.

Others from the smithy had congregated around. They were curious to see what would come out of Jock’s new mysterious metal. They backed off at the warning.

Jock hefted his hammer, then smashed it onto the metal. Flecks or orange, black, and red scattered into the surrounding area like showered shrapnel.

Astrid brows knotted. The metallic flecks that had scattered around squirmed on the floor like miniscule little worms.

Noticing what the metal was doing, Jock quickly stopped, and took a step back. He bent down to inspect it. Astrid followed, crouching down next to him.

“What is it?” Astrid asked. She tried using Identify on it, but it didn’t tell her anything.

“It seems to be some sort of living metal.”

“Living metal?” Astrid tilted her head as she got a better look at the wriggling specs. However, they didn’t last very long. After a couple of minutes of thrashing around, they stopped. Presumably dead.

Astrid at first was interested in obtaining it–absorbing it. But it wasn’t too useful to her since with Psychokinesis, she could form, or bend any metal to her will regardless of it being living or not. Well, even if she wanted it–it wasn’t hers in the first place.

“Let’s continue shall we?” Jock stood back up and waltzed back to the forge.

“Is that a good idea?” Leena asked from the side. It seemed that because of her absorbing the Voidbent metal, she was more susceptible to the primal-like fire.

Wait, it doesn't affect me? The thought flashed into Astrid’s mind. She hadn’t even thought of it. Her Voidbent bones were no longer affected by the fire, even though it was a heightened grade.

Astrid thought about it further, until she closed her eyes, and gazed into her Sovereign’s Eye storage. Numerous eyes floated within, but it was the large one filled with a chaotic lava that warranted her attention.

Has it changed my Constitution? Astrid tilted her head at the eye. The eye tilted in response.

It must be another benefit to absorbing the eye. Astrid thought as she brought herself back into reality.

Clang-after-clang, the large ingot started to take shape. Astrid was confused at what Jock was making. A gauntlet? But the solid insides told her otherwise.

However, once she saw the master smith’s brows dip, she realised something was wrong. It was as if his eyes had glazed over and he was following something within his vision.

He showcased many blacksmithing techniques that she had never seen before. And soon, the ingot had transformed into a black arm that had thin veins of throbbing orange marked into the surface. Black seeped from the metal as if veiled in an abyss like veil.

Jock took a stumbled step back.

Karilla approached in worry. “Jock?”

“I’m fine.”

“What happened?” Astrid asked. She could tell something wasn’t right with the process. Her keen senses with emotions told her so.

“The metal has a mind of its own, that’s what.” Jock glared at the metal arm. “It forced me into the form–I had no choice in the matter.”

“Just how strong is it?” Astrid gawked.

“Look for yourself, it’s finished.” Jock gave the arm a look of disgust. As if it had somehow defiled his honour of creation.

Astrid approached the arm and grabbed hold of it. It was as he had said–it had a mind of its own. She could feel the connection within. It wasn’t happy that she was touching it.

Level 150 - Arm of Shadowfire [Epic]: A living-metal born from the shadowfires of Lekorra. The Arm of Shadowfire is capable of binding to a user of its choosing. Use force at your own peril.

| 85 added Dexterity.

| 50 added Constitution.

| 50 added Strength.

| Any Skills used while in the shadows have their power increased by 50%.

| Grants the Skill - Shadowfire: Imbues stealth attacks with the primal might of Shadowfire.

Awesome. Astrid smiled at the new item. But she knew it wasn’t hers. She handed it to Jock. However, the moment it was in front of him, he shook his head in discomfort.

“Do you know about the pride of a craftsman?” Jock asked.

“Somewhat.” Astrid admitted.

A craftsman’s pride. It was what allowed them to reach the peak of their trade. Although there weren't many willing to go into detail about how their own pride worked, it was evident it was important to them. If they strayed away from their pride, their future work would be negatively affected.

It was as if a hater had told something to a painter. It would sow doubt into the mind of the artist. Doubt would turn into a spiralling sense of mediocrity. It wasn’t true, but words didn’t have to be in order to affect the mind.

“Then I’ll sell it to you.”

Astrid was about to rummage through her purse when Jock simply shook his head.

He grumbled. “I don’t want your money. I’ve heard of you, Astrid, you were the one to find the dungeons. Much like the living-metal, I want something from the dungeons.”

Something from the dungeons. She didn’t have a lot, especially since she was so focused on fighting in the last dungeon. But she did have something. Something that she had obtained a while ago. Voidbent.

Although a lot of her reserves were kept for the future, it seemed she was going to have to let go of it now. However, it was worth it. She just happened to know of someone that didn’t have an arm. Was it better to have it healed, or forego human flesh for an alien-like arm?

Astrid smirked. She knew what she would choose, but Brett wasn’t her.

Besides, with her current strength, was it not time to see if she could create it herself?

With her decision made, she took out the rest of the Voidbent ore that she was holding within her Void Storage Skill.

Astrid, still shrouded in her robe so as to not bring attention to herself, brought it out from under her cloak. She held it out for Jock.

“What’s this?” Jock grabbed hold of the rock and bobbed it up and down within his hand. It looked like he was checking the weight of it, or trying to find its properties.

However, it was clear he was a master. “The durability is incredible. It’s not too heavy either. if it’s made into armoured plating for ships, it would heighten the chance of far sea survival by quite a lot.” He nodded, enthusiastic about the properties of the metal in his hand.

“Is this all you have?” He asked expectantly.

Shaking her head, Astrid took out twenty-one clumps of the metal one after the other.

“That’s more like it.”

“The armoured plating sounds good.” Losef added.

Astrid neglected the fact that she could try and do it herself. She was worried she couldn’t create an Epic rarity metal at her current Level.

“With the amount here, sure thing,” Jock continued. “I could probably stretch this amount to about four ships worth. More if I mix it with something else.”

“Well, we’ll leave it to you.” Losef put his hand forward. Jock was quick on the uptake and shook his hand.

Astrid copied him. Jock’s hands were as hot as the forge, as if a heat was implanted underneath his skin. It was then that her gaze fell on a bucket of glass. With a quick use of Identify, it was the glass she was curious about; Steilgam Glass.

“Are you using those scrap pieces?” Astrid asked.

“They are failed attempts, we’ll be using them to blend into other products.” Jock crossed his arms. “Are you interested?”

“Just in a few pieces,” Astrid continued. “They look pretty.”

It elicited a short, but rare chuckle from Jock as he nodded. “Come back in a couple days, I’ll see what I can do about your ship.”

“I appreciate it!” Astrid nodded in response as she took a handful of the glass shards, along with the arm.

They made their way out of the sweaty workshop, and out into the salty air of Hullbeck.

“What now?” Astrid asked.

“How about a trip to the Rosary?” Rachelle grinned.