"Pretty fine work I would say."
Holding up his new adamantine scythe he had just finished Marcus traced his finger along the enchantments he had just applied to the weapon and sent a little magical energy into each one.
One by one the enchantments activated slightly and Marcus got a feel for how they had set into the scythe.
Each one reacted well and Marcus was satisfied that the scythe would function as a powerful weapon.
Sure it was nowhere near as strong as his amethros scythe that used the magic core of the Doomsday Worm and had some of his own soul put into it, but this scythe would make the perfect weapon for when he was in public and did not want to show off too much.
He had purposefully made the scythe slightly below the requirements to become system recognized, and while an adamantine weapon was something rare, it would not draw attention even close to the same degree as an amethros weapon.
"Wow, to think you could make such an impressive weapon. I have not seen such refined technique before." Qadria said, looking at the scythe dreamily.
She could work with adamantine as well, but her skills were not to the point where she could make a weapon of the same quality as Marcus could.
"Thanks, I worked fairly hard on it. And I am sure that over time you will get better. All it takes is more practice and the right materials." Marcus said.
At this Qadria beamed since she was getting encouragement from Marcus who she could tell was among the very best at forging.
"Now, it is late, and our guide Amira is still waiting for us. I do wish to look around more and talk to some of the forgemasters here, but for today I think we will need to call it a day." Marcus said, putting away his tools and new scythe.
Suddenly realizing what time it was, Qadria went wide eyed and remembered that she had left Amira and her guards in the storefront of the forge.
"Yes, it seems I got caught up in watching your work. Let us go." Qadria said, hurrying towards the shop.
Soon they had exited the forge and entered the storefront to find Amira sitting at a table surrounded by her guards.
She looked incredibly tired and a bit peeved after having to wait several hours for Marcus to finish forging.
When she saw Marcus and Mrazivy returning with Qadria her face lit up for a moment with a relaxed look before curling back into a scowl. It seemed that despite Amira having a great deal of patience, especially for her young age, waiting for many hours without any updates about what was going on had left her a bit angry.
"I am glad to see that you are finally done. What is it that you could have been doing all this time?" Amira asked, her irritation clear to hear in her voice.
"Sorry about that. I got caught up in making something." Marcus said lowering his head.
"Yes, Marcus here has to be among the best forgemasters on the continent! He is at least as skilled as my uncle." Qadria exclaimed. She was particularly starstruck by having witnessed Marcus' work.
On the other hand Amira looked stunned to hear just how skilled Marcus was as a forgemaster. Amira's uncle ranked among the very best in Aezam with only two others that could possibly make a case for the best. For Marcus to be ranked among them showed just how skilled he was.
"I see. So, it is not just some exert that wants the core of a mummy lord, but you personally Marcus. We did not know you were such a skilled forgemaster." Amira said, a look of realization on her face.
As far as the Eazim Clan had been told Marcus and Mrazivy were here on the behalf of the Chelmer Resort to retrieve the core of the powerful mummy lord that resided within the Desolate Desert in order to make a powerful magical item, but now Amira had made the assumption that Marcus was the one that was supposed to making this item.
Of course, she was completely wrong, since acquiring the mummy lord's core was only a reasonable excuse to enter the Desolate Dessert. Marcus' true objective was the Font of Death.
"Yes, I am the one that will be using the core to make a magic item. However, it is not for myself but the Chelmer Resort." Marcus said, before Mrazivy changed the subject.
"Now you already know about our objective here. I am tired and I imagine that you are as well. I would like to return to the estate and get to sleep" Mrazivy said.
At the mention of sleep the burst of energy Amira had received when Marcus and Mrazivy showed up vanished and she could not help but yawn deeply.
It was already well past midnight and Amira unlike guards was a low level and did not have the stamina to easily stay up for long periods of time.
"Yes, we should head back. If we are gone to long the grand elder will begin to worry." Amira said, standing up and heading for the exit.
Swiftly they got on their carriages and returned down the dark streets towards Akeem's estate.
At night traffic was not nearly as heavy as during the day, but magic lights lined the streets in the capital and a few people were still milling around despite the time.
Thankfully nothing impeded their journey back to the estate of the Eazim Clan's grand elder and after a few words Marcus and Mrazivy parted ways with Amira and returned to their room for the night.
"Was it really necessary to show off like that? Now the higher ups here are going to know that you are an exceptional forgemaster. It is possible that you might receive some more forceful recruitment offers." Mrazivy said, wearing a concerned expression.
Already the two of them were going to have to show off their combat skills, but now Marcus had demonstrated that he had another valuable skill outside of battle that made him even more valuable.
"I admit I may have been caught up in the moment, but now I have made a connection with one of the best forges in Aezam. I was going to need to make another scythe that is less eye-catching anyway, so I figured I might as well do it there. It is not like I made the scythe top tier. I do not think that it will cause any real problems." Marcus said.
Sighing, Mrazivy sat down on the bed and shook her head.
"Next time at least tell me what you are going to do first. While I did enjoy watching you work, I also had to wait there for several hours."
"Sorry. Next time I will get your input before I do anything like that." Marcus said his head hung.
He realized that he had been a bit rude by suddenly taking up several hours while others had to wait for him.
"Well, since you did leave me standing there for so long, you can make it up to me now." Mrazivy said with a seductive smile.
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