Harvey spent the afternoon finishing the cracked helmet. The veilstrider who’d ordered it had brought Elena the branch that had become her main brush for defensive inscriptions, and Harvey didn’t want to keep him waiting. For now, he was only producing breastplates and helmets since those protected the most vital areas. Elena added her standard defensive inscriptions to both pieces, a drawing of a tower that was modeled after Julian’s Mark. She’d gotten quite good at that particular inscription, giving an effect that naturally improved the durability of the armor using only ambient essence, with a Veilstrider able to feed it their own to empower it further.

  It was around dinner time when they finally finished, and they found the man eating around the fire.

  “Thanks, Harvey. Elena.” He nodded, covering his mouth as he rushed to swallow. “You guys work fast!”

  “Have to, there’s no time to waste! Don’t worry, though, I’m able to see any flaws in the metal with this skill around my eyes, and the armor’s in perfect shape. Should keep you from getting a stonetusk stuck in your ribs.”

  Harvey took the opportunity to announce a brief hiatus from filling orders. There were a few grumbles, but things calmed down when he promised it would only take a day. Finishing the helmet had brought him to level 20, and he wanted to take the time to test creating his own inscriptions before making his next skill.

  “I know Gary wants you home for dinner, but can you stay late tonight and at least go over the basics with me?” Harvey asked.

  “I’d love to, but I can’t,” Elena replied.

  “Why not? I can’t wrap my head around it. Amy treats you like you’re her rebellious teenage daughter, and you go along with it for some reason.” He complained.

  “I don’t want to!” Elena whined.

  “Then don’t! What are they gonna do, kick you out of the house? Great! You can sleep in the smithy with the three of us.” Harvey persisted

  “It’s not the house. You don’t get it, Amy said they would…” Elena began, panic on her face when she saw the woman strolling down the road. She’d tried covering the stain on her cheek with an ungodly amount of makeup, but Elena could still see the sheep’s bloody head poking through.

  “They would what?” Harvey pleaded.

  “Never mind. You’re just going to have to trust me.” Elena rushed, hurrying towards the woman standing at the mouth of the alley. “Just get started on your armor, and I can help you with the inscriptions tomorrow.”

  That wasn’t good enough. She’d spent every day with him for over a week, only to rush home the second Amy called, like she had a curfew to beat. He’d asked her over and over again why she gave either of those psychos the time of day, but she wouldn’t answer him.

  He had to know why.

  Instead of watching her leave, he ran after her. Amy stared daggers at him, but he put on his best meet the parents smile.

  “Amy! So nice to see you, it’s been a while since we talked!” Harvey sang.

  “I’d prefer we kept it that way,” Amy grumbled.

  Soldiering on, he continued. “Listen, I hope it’s not too much to ask, but could I join you guys for dinner tonight? Julian and Hannah are still gone, and I’d rather not eat alone.”

  “What? Are you two dating now? No, you are not welcome in our home, Harvey.” Amy scoffed.

  “No, of course not,” He laughed. “What’s your problem with me?”

  Elena said nothing, but her eyes begged him to shut his mouth and walk away. He knew this wasn’t making her life any easier, but he wasn’t going to back down if the woman wanted to get in his face.

  “My problem, Scoutmaster, is that Gary doesn’t like you. You and your little boyfriend made him look bad in front of everyone for no reason.” Amy shouted.

  “That’s what you’re mad about? That we sat him down when he started talking about taking over Veils End? Julian said it before, and I’ll say it again. There’s no king around here. Nobody’s in charge of anyone but themselves. We’re all just doing our best to survive.” Harvey contended.

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  “Think what you want, but you can’t eat with us. Come on, Brittany, the boys are waiting.” Amy turned, Elena following close behind.

  Fury burned just under his skin, but he forced himself to keep it under control. He’d done enough to ruin Elena’s night.

  Instead, he stomped home and got to work. Pretending the chunk of wrought iron was Gary’s face would have to be enough. He’d waited to make an armor set of his own, but that was going to change tonight. The decision to hold off wasn’t out of any sense of altruism, but rather that he wanted to work out the kinks in his process to make sure his own lifesaving iron was the best he could make.

  He’d decided that he’d create and inscribe his first set of gear before making his next profession skill. If nothing else, the exercise would help him push his limits and give him a great component memory to include at the Loom. Still, he hoped to accomplish a lot more.

  His conversation with Elena had really changed his mindset, and he’d decided he wanted to include inscriptions in his next skill. He’d thought the art outside the bounds of his class before, but now he realized that those bounds might not even exist. Sure, he probably wouldn’t gain any essence from the System, but that didn’t matter if it helped him create a profession that combined both blacksmithing and inscriptions when he finally reached F Grade.

  The second he started to believe that it was possible, he couldn’t get the idea out of his head. Most of his frustration in the past few days stemmed from the fact that he had so much he wanted to try but had so few skills to create. He wanted to be everything, all at once. A warrior and a wizard, who could hold his own in a fight while still getting the opportunity to explore all the magic and wonder this new world had to offer. He may not be able to test it all with a thousand different skills, but who was stopping him from painting a thousand different inscriptions?

  He’d already seen the breadth of powers Elena could create, and she was only level 11. What kind of depth could they achieve together at level 1100? Inscriptions let him dabble in every possible form of magic without needing to stress over every skill he created, which is why he was going to learn how to make them with or without the System rewarding his efforts. He was on the Harvey path now.

  The hammer dropped to the floor after an angry swing at his half-baked wrought iron billet sent white hot slag splashing over his robe. The globs stuck to the cloth, burning a hole until they were searing his skin.

  Gahhh that hurts… He winced. Chill out, Hulk. Smashing slag all over the room isn’t gonna help you get back at Gary.

  After scrubbing off the chunks, he returned to his work with a clearer head. Pain was useful when it came to bringing you back to earth. Just to be safe, he threw his two unspent free points into Willpower. He’d need it when he started inscribing, so why wait? Especially if it helped him calm down a bit now.

  Anger turned to fascination as he slipped into the routine of his work. He’d toyed with the idea of adding essence crystals to his design like he had with Elena’s inkwell, and snickered as he watched the wrought iron cool around the glowing gems. He’d added 3, one at each shoulder with the largest in the center over his chest. He had plenty more and could’ve bedazzled the entire thing like the shirts his mom wore back in the early 2000s, but restrained himself in case too much essence interfered with armor somehow.

  He was going all out, forging the full set instead of limiting himself to just the helmet and breastplate. He’d need some help from the leatherworker to bring it all together, but she’d already agreed to help him. He worked through the night, and he was just about to finish tempering the final pieces when Elena walked through the door.

  “Seriously, Harvey! You just had to antagonize Amy even after I begged you to leave it alone!” She shouted, plopping down onto her stool.

  He barely heard her, radiant light erupting from his body. He reveled in the burn of his weave being remade, a grin stretching from ear to ear.

  You have created | Wrought Iron Armor Set | Major Essence Gained

  Your profession, Apprentice Inventor, has reached Level 21. +3 Strength, +3 Endurance, +2 Wisdom, +2 Willpower, +2 Free Points

  Your Race, Veilstrider, has reached Level 20. +1 to all stats

  “Congrats. Now will you listen to me?” She groaned.

  Harvey stretched his arms as the sensation disappeared, a long yawn passing through his lips. “What? Sorry, I was kind of distracted.”

  “Did you have to pull that stunt with Amy?” She repeated.

  “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but the part of me wanting answers was yelling louder than the part telling me to leave it alone.” He apologized, moving to sit next to her.

  “I know you want answers… but I can’t give them to you. It will just create more problems.” She hesitated.

  “You keep saying that. I’m not sure I believe you, but I’ll try my best.” He sighed. “Did you sneak out after they fell asleep? I’m surprised you're here.”

  “What? It’s the next morning.” She remarked.

  “It is?” He asked, rubbing his eyes while yawning again.

  “Have you not looked out the windows?” She laughed, pointing to the streaks of daylight filling the forge.

  “Honestly? No. I think my eyes are shot after staring at the fire for days.” He laughed.

  “You should take a nap. You’ll need to be focused if you don’t want your first inscriptions to fall apart on you.” She suggested.

  “Nope!” He sang, popping the cork of a green vial that appeared in his hand. Tipping it down his throat, he felt the power of the endurance potion surge through his veins. “I’ll be fine. Let’s get started.”