Forged Legacy

Harvey shielded his eyes from the pale sun high in the sky as they left the dusty chapel. It had barely been an hour, but it was one of the most eventful he’d had so far.

“You guys want to grab a bite to eat?” Harvey asked.

“Sure, we can grab something and then go on a hunt. I’m itching to test these new skills out.” Julian bubbled, cracking his knuckles as he was engulfed in flames.

“Wicked.” Hannah gushed.

“Want to join us, Harvey? You’re obviously invited too, Elena, but I know it’s not really your thing.” Julian asked.

“No thanks! For both of us… Harvey isn’t going anywhere.” Elena replied before he could answer.

“What? I want to go!” Harvey complained.

“Not happening. Until that injured weave of yours is back to 100%, it’s just not worth the risk.” She insisted.

Harvey pulled up the screen to check the damage for the tenth time since he woke up.

Still at -7%... but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. He thought.

“It’s down to -2% Elena, I’m fine.” Harvey lied through his teeth.

“Show me the Weave screen then.” She replied flatly.

“Umm… No. I don’t want to.” Harvey gulped. He hated lying to her, but he hated feeling useless even more.

“Exactly. He should be good to go tomorrow,” she explained, turning to Julian and Hannah, “but until then, we have orders to fill.”

“Damn. Bossy Elena’s kinda hot.” Hannah hissed.

He expected her to get embarrassed, but was shocked to watch her snap her fingers and put her hand on her hip.

“You know it! We can still eat together, though!” Elena cheered, strolling to the General Store.

Hannah looked at Harvey and mimed a whip cracking, laughed in his face, and ran away before he could defend himself.

“You know she’s just looking out for you, right?” Julian asked, nudging his arm.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t listen to her if she didn’t have a point.” Harvey laughed. “She’s not my mom.”

“Yeah, but you better be careful! She’s starting to act like your wife!” Julian chuckled.

“Not you too.” Harvey groaned. Follow current novᴇls on novel{f}ire.net

“How are you doing on materials? We could head down into the tunnel and grab some more for you.” Julian offered.

“Actually, you can’t. I blew up the tunnel.” Harvey winced.

“You what? There’s no way you already got enough iron to last through the end of the trial!” Julian snapped.

“Wait, before you get mad, let me at least explain why I did it. Remember how I told you I ran into a sentient elemental?” Harvey hesitated.

“Vaguely. I guess that got buried beneath the F-Grade part when you told me.” Julian admitted.

“Well, it knew who I was. It remembered me from before it evolved and swore to take revenge on Veils End for wearing its dead brothers as armor. That meant they’d be coming even if I managed to kill the only evolved one.” Harvey explained.

“Damn… that makes sense then. We could really use the mine, but it isn’t worth leaving the door open for a hive of angry elementals.” Julian swore.

“I doubt it’ll stay closed for long. The evolved ones are weirdly intelligent for a hunk of metal, and their bodies are refined enough that they could pick their way out with enough time. I’ve been keeping an eye on it.” Harvey offered.

“That’s ok. If they do break out, we can use it as a final push before the real war starts.” Julian suggested.

“We may want to break in,” Harvey added, the body of the dead F-Grade appearing in his hands. It was ice cold, and he nearly dropped it, even with his current 112 points in Strength. He winced at the look of shock and pain frozen on its face, forever staring back at him now that the energy animating the metal had faded away. The words of the elemental accusing him of wearing their bodies like a costume echoed in his mind. He was about to suggest that Veils End do exactly that. It pained him to know these things weren’t just mindless ore, but that didn’t change the fact that they were going to need more iron to protect themselves.

The System didn’t give him much when he inspected it normally, so he forced essence through his broken channels into his Inventor’s Insight skill to create a more detailed screen to share.