65 Chapter Sixty-Five – Crystal Master in Armor Briggs! (1/2)

Briggs was pretty sure he'd be a better smith then Sama once he reached Ten, if for no other reason then that he was a Hammer Grandmaster, and so could ply one more quickly then she could. They'd probably be near-identical on QL, but he should end up faster by a good chunk.

He was seeing some of the Rank difference now as they forged and cast armor for him. She was working with anticipated measurements of what he would be as an adult, just in case. Then they'd melt it all back down and recast it closer to his real size, with the Compressed metal across the backplate for the auto-adjusting as he grew older.

The whole process was just another way to imbue Quality Karma into the metal. 9k of innate value, coming up!

Watching the pair of them going at it over a suit of armor had the smiths among the dwarves, of which nigh every one of them considered themselves an expert, falling over themselves.

They'd watched those Hammers pounding down, they knew how much force was being exerted. They'd also seen the results of that work, and if they wanted to say something to the wee slip of a female who could forge such things, her glare made it totally plain she was working and wasn't going to tolerate interruptions.

And, well, seeing a set of QL 35 skinplate coming up there made for an Ancient was a first for just about everyone.

Briggs couldn't keep the grin off his face at the expressions on the faces of the few outsiders who had lingered behind, and his fellow tribesmen.

He was finally about to get some proper armor…

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Giant hide was scraped, cured and cooked, alchemically soaked and diffused for the underlayer of padding. Hair from the former owners of the hides was used to stitch the skin in the required Runes, moving with dazzling speed and surety in Sama's Diamond Vajra and nails acting like scissor-cleaver-stilettos. The tribeswomen who watched her at work gawked in awe at her speed and the perfect lines Sama could stitch.

”See, this is why you really want a Diamond Vajra,” he cajoled them, and heads nodded despite themselves. She was a terrifying little thing, but damn, she was good!

The pieces of armor came off, were doused in lightning water, and polished by bare hands exuding ki that could split steel. Not that he was going to be running around in shiny armor unless he wanted to, of course. They still had to slake it, but she didn't have all the components to do a blueslake, and it could wait, regardless.

Shadowslake, now, they had.

Black as polished obsidian, the pieces came out of the slake baths, and were dried in seconds over Forge. It was time to fit them on.

She had eyeballed his measurements, and took great delight in fitting everything on him. From tassets to helm, she put it all on, linking the pieces together, chains and hooks, leather fitting on leather, and it all fit as perfectly as QL 35 should. High-carbon treated alloy steel, as grim and fearsome as anything popping out of a dwarven forge, hiding away the thick muscles, body hair, and power of an Ancient, and wrapping it in cold, hard steel.

She fit the black as night helm on, linking it up with his gorget and breastplate with veils of chain, and stepped back.

It was a wonder of smithwork, angles and patterns to slough off blows, curving instead of flat, and customized for an Ancient's physique. With his massively heavy build and overlong arms, he looked like almost like an automaton, save for the pale violet eyes glowering under the edge of the helm.

He spread his arms wide, and clenched his whole body suddenly.

With a clang of meeting steel, the armor flattened to his skin, flowing over it as if it were a part of him. The crowd gasped despite themselves at the obviously magical effect.

He flexed his arms, and the steel bulged and moved with him. The thick plate on his back rolled as he circled his arms, sections of chain stretching smoothly as he bent and flexed, moving with energy and poise that wasn't always apparent when he was hairy and wild-eyed. He still hard gorgets and pauldrons and a skirt and whatnot, all the extra joint protection, but the metal below was mostly welded to his skin…or, more accurately, the skin of the giant along the inside, which would use its natural damage reduction to soak the force of blows, better then any natural leather or cushioning could.

The helm snapped shut over his eyes, not even a slit visible for him to see through, but since the entire faceplate was transparent from the inside, it wasn't an issue.

He went through a set of calisthenics, then some simple tumbling maneuvers, moving with speed, energy, and poise with no difficulties. The tribe gawked to see him moving so easily clad in such heavy metal, and Sama stood by, nodding in approval as he went through the full suite of movements, before snatching up a pole and snapping into guard against him.

They sparred for half an hour, working through multiple weapons and the motions needed against them, and he smashed on her and her shield as he worked through combat outside of katas.

There were no issues. It was magical skinplate, one of the two highest level of armors that could be forged, at a nigh-superhuman QL 35. Even given the speed they were working at, there was almost no way they could mess up given Sama's level of skill.

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The armor plainly unsettled what was left of his tribe. Many of the hunters had departed with the dwarves, working as guides and scouts, as was their calling, in time of war. The warbands from the Warp were all over the place, and the dwarves were sending out their armies to meet them and get rid of them, and try to drive a path towards their source in conjunction with the elves. As loyal thanes, the Ancients of these mountains went with the dwarves to do their part.

There was no doubt they could catch up with the main force, regardless of dwarven stamina. They could simply run a whole lot faster.

Briggs said his goodbyes to his tribe and his aunt, his cousins who were treating him with even more awe then before, and the elders who could not hide how impressed they were by him. Sama took the time to demonstrate and record all the Potion recipes and Gear formulae for the women to use in the future, insuring that there would always be a place for the remains of ogres and giants henceforth, for the good of the tribe.

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His goodbyes said, they left before sunup on the third day after the slaughter of the warband that had threatened the cliff tribe. While he thought dearly of all of them, and respected his tribe for the path they preferred, Briggs was excited to finally truly be able to leave.

Meeting up with Sama was a godsend. Just the full set of Smithing Gear would be of so much help, and having a trusty partner along for what was going to be some very dangerous situations was priceless.