Mythran's Master Of All

********

Ren 'woke up' to the best thing in the world.

“Lucy?!?” Ren said when he took off his VR headset. “Am I dreaming?”

Lucy laughed. Lucy was wearing another pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt that had some writing on it. Ren blinked a few times and read it.

RN: Rescue Ninja!

Ren chuckled and looked around. Ren didn't see anyone else in the room, and the door was shut. Ren sat up and tugged on the t-shirt. “This is true.” Ren said. “You definitely snuck into my heart.”

Lucy's face flushed a little red and she took Ren's hand. Lucy leaned in and gave Ren a kiss. Ren kissed back and they stood there for a minute, just touching lips. Ren didn't try to do any elaborate kissing because he hadn't brushed his teeth yet and didn't want to turn Lucy off with his morning breath. Ren broke the kiss and looked at Lucy.

“I'm really happy to see you. It's felt like ages...” Ren said. “But... why are you here?”

Lucy raised her eyebrows. “I can't just come and see you whenever I want?”

Ren grinned. “Of course you can. Lucy, you could stay here with me forever and I'd be the happiest guy on the planet.” Ren said. “But... we've known each other a long time. I can see that you're tense.”

Lucy sighed and Ren moved over on the bed. Lucy sat down and hunched in on herself.

“They're sending me to the clinic tomorrow.” Lucy said.

Ren put his arm around Lucy's shoulders and Lucy leaned in to cuddle.

“Why would they do that?” Ren asked.

“I've been doing too good of a job with the lab work.”

Ren raised an eyebrow and stared at her.

Lucy chuckled. “It's been backlogged for months, and since they were making me work double shifts anyway and I didn't want to be bored out of my mind, I worked... and kept working.” Lucy said. “File after file, sample after sample. I did it all.”

Lucy half-laughed and half-sobbed. “The HR department said they've received a bunch of complaints that I was making the other people that work there look bad.”

Ren scowled and turned away from Lucy. “Those bastards.”

Lucy looked at Ren in shock.

“You go to all the trouble to do a job well and they're the ones that are in the wrong... but they'll get rid of you because that's easier than changing the situation or working harder themselves.” Ren shook his head. “I can't believe they'd go behind your back like that without talking to you first.”

“I know.” Lucy nodded. “I mean, I know I was new in the department, but they never said anything to me at all. I just got the notice last night before I left work.”

“...and it said that they're sending you to the clinic tomorrow.” Ren said.

Lucy nodded again. “I don't want to go there, Ren.” Lucy said and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “The kind of people that go in there...” A tear leaked out and rolled down Lucy's face. “..and I thought the guys at the mall that hit on me were bad, but down there...”

Ren rubbed Lucy's back to comfort her. “I received some really good advice recently, and I'm going to give it to you.” Ren wiped Lucy's tear away.

“What is it?” Lucy asked.

“You can always say no.”

Lucy's eyes widened. “What? But Ren... if I say no...”

Ren nodded. “Then what, you mean?” Lucy nodded.

“You won't know what will happen until you say no.” Ren said and wiped a tear from the other side of her face.

“They could fire me if I refuse.”

“Are you sure?” Ren asked. “I'd say the other nurses here would object to that.”

“What do you mean?”

“If... say... it somehow got out that you were being forced to work in a dangerous environment... and where you could be assaulted... again...” Ren said and Lucy's eyes widened.

“Who... who are you?” Lucy asked, jokingly. “Where's my sweet little Ren?” Lucy said and smiled.

Ren chuckled. “Oh, he's here... and he's pissed.” Ren said and slid off the bed. “I won't let them take you away.” Ren said and went to the bathroom to clean up. Ren came back into the room and changed right there in front of Lucy, and didn't notice her watching him the whole time. Ren's new watch beeped and he sat in the wheelchair. “Since you're here... why not take me down the hall to therapy?”

Lucy nodded and slid off the bed.

“It's time to start Operation: Save Lucy.” Ren said. “No ear will be left unbent.” Ren smiled. “When a good friend is in trouble, I'll do everything I can to help them.”

Lucy walked over to the wheelchair. “Thank you, Ren.” Lucy leaned over and gave Ren a passionate kiss. Lucy broke the kiss a moment later and knelt down. “I'm sorry! I got lipstick on you again.” Lucy said and grabbed a handi-wipe.

Ren chuckled. “Please, don't be sorry. A little mess is totally worth it.”

Lucy cleaned Ren's face of lipstick smears and placed a light kiss on his lips.

“Oh, yeah... totally worth it.” Ren said and grinned. “I meant to ask... who's on day shift today?”

As soon as Ren asked the question, the door opened and Stella walked in. Stella looked a little disappointed for some reason.

“Definitely no unbent ears today.” Ren said and laughed at Stella's perplexed expression. “We have a lot to talk about.” Ren said to them.

Lucy said goodbye when Ren went into physical therapy and Ren and Stella began the plan in earnest. By the end of the day, the whole hospital knew the story and everyone was gabbing about how Lucy was being railroaded by the lab workers and the HR department. Barbara came in for her shift and she got the full brunt of the story before Ren even got to talk to her.

“Those lab people have always been obstinate.” Barbara said and sighed. “No one wanted to work in there with them because they're a close knit bunch and they don't like outsiders, and usually attack anyone that intrudes in their space.”

That sounds like the same description Donan gave me for the dwarves. Ren thought.

“I'll talk to Helen in HR. If she doesn't know this has been going on yet, I'll fill her in.” Barbara took Ren's hand and clasped it firmly. “You're a good friend to stick up for Lucy like this.”

Ren squeezed Barbara's hand back. “You're a good friend, too.” Ren said. “We all help each other when we can. That's what friends do.”

Barbara nodded and Ren leaned back into bed. It had been a long day and he'd missed 4 whole game days again.

“There's things I need to do in the game, Barbara.” Ren said and put on the VR headset.

“Have fun, dear.” Barbara said.

Ren nodded.

“Flow Login Start.”

********

Ren woke up in the game and saw Lucy's still form sitting there. I've done what I can. I can only hope that it helps.

Ren stood and stretched.

“Hi, Ren. Are you pretending to talk to Lucy again?” Teepo asked from the roof of the next building.

Ren nodded. Hi, Teepo. Anything happen while I was gone?

“No... and Donan's mad about it, too.”

Ren widened his eyes. What? Why?

“The order is still sitting in the middle of the shop. It hasn't been picked up yet.” Teepo explained.

Yeah, that would do it. Ren thought and reached out automatically to catch Teepo when he jumped from the roof. Ren put Teepo on his shoulder and went inside the shop. The forges were cold and there was no sound of a ringing anvil. Ren was so used to hearing metal being struck with a smithing hammer while in the shop, he felt a little unnerved. It wasn't natural. Ren walked around and went into the back room. Donan sat on an unopened barrel of oil.

“Hey, Donan.”

Donan grunted.

“I see all the crates are still here.” Ren said and sat down on the floor.

Donan grunted again. “They should have picked it up 3 days ago.”

“Who is the order for?” Ren asked.

“The city guard.”

Ren raised an eyebrow. “Want me to go and ask them why they're late?”

Donan raised his eyebrows. “They'd throw you in jail if you question them.”

Ren smiled. “I know the captain of the guard. He even saved my life once.”

Donan smiled, too. “Alright, Ren. Go and see what's up.” Donan said. “You better not get locked up in chains.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ren stood up.

Donan hesitated for a moment and then nodded his head. “Come with me.”

Ren followed Donan further into the back room and Donan pulled out a small wooden box. “I've made every chain and lock in this city.” Donan said and preened a little. “Needless to say, everyone loses their keys at some point.”

Ren nodded. He'd heard that happens in real life as well.

“So I made these.” Donan said and opened the wooden box. Inside were tiny little tools. Files, hooks, some with twists and some bent in an 'L' shape, some in an 'F' shape, and a few 'S' shapes. There was even a 'U' shape, and various pieces of wire. All had variants in different thicknesses. Ren had an idea of what they were used for. Donan saw the recognition on Ren's face and nodded.

“Yes. Lockpicking tools. You won't find a finer set anywhere.” Donan said and handed the chest to Ren.

Ren stared at Donan. “But... if this is the finest set... why are you giving them to me?”

“I've had them for a while, and if anyone would need such a thing, it would be you.” Donan said and shook his head. “I've never seen anyone find as much trouble as you do, Ren.”

Ren nodded. He had definitely found more than his fair share.

“Plus, I want you to have these when you go with the dwarves. Just in case they put you somwhere that you need to get out of.” Donan stared at Ren and Ren nodded again. “Good!” Donan clapped Ren on the shoulder and led Ren out of the back room and shut the door. “You might want to bring something with you to the guard post, to explain why you're there.”

“That's a great idea!” Ren said and smiled. “I know just the thing.” Ren said and stored the wooden box into inventory.

Ren started his forge and let it heat up for a moment. Ren took several of his normal iron ingots and put them in the smelter. They melted pretty fast and Ren stirred the molten iron quickly, fluffing it up with air. Ren skimmed off some of the impurities that came to the top and let it bubble for several minutes. Ren didn't have the time to wait for hours to have the mixture be a better quality, but Ren was forging it anyways and it would have to do.

Ren got the big blank square mold and poured the molten mixture into it, leaving a little extra on the end to grasp properly. The little end cooled fast and Ren grabbed it with his tongs and took the half molten blank and folded it in half. Ren heated it up again and once it was hot enough, folded it again and again. Ren repeated this several times until he thought it was thick enough to hammer out the shape he wanted. Ren had made the pattern in his head while folding the metal and the shape was a sight o behold when it was done. Ren sharpened and polished it to a gleaming shine and used a strip of his spider silk cloth to wrap around the handle like he did with the pickaxe and his own hammerpick.

Ren finished working and lifted the huge battleaxe up. It was double-bladed, one on each side of the handle, a big spike sticking out of the top, had a round center piece and a small spiked mace head on the end of the handle. With the system's help, Ren had scaled the pattern he made to accomodate the extra iron he'd used for the extra additions and let the system handle the shaping. The captain of the guard was a big man and would need a big weapon.

Ren smiled and took out his Book of Runes. What to add... what to add... ah, got it. Ren thought then placed a hand on the center piece of the battleaxe and cast a quadruple protection rune. The glyph etched itself into the metal and Ren used some of his bat leather pieces to make a sheath for it.

“Donan, I'm off to the mansion. I'll be back as soon as I can.” Ren said, equipped his Dire Wolf Hooded Cloak, and left the shop without looking around. Donan had been standing right there the whole time and had watched Ren work. Donan had never seen such a thing being made before.

Where is he coming up with all these ideas? Donan thought. That kid is amazing!

Ren hung the sheath over his shoulder and walked down the street, around the corner, and down that street. While Ren walked he figured he better check his status while he had the chance.

“Show Status.”