Althowin led Owin and Shade through the maze-like structure. He couldn’t tell if it was intentionally confusing or if it had just ended up as a mess after Althowin built it.

  “Owin!” Miya sprinted at him, immediately wrapping him in a tight hug. The alchemist yanked him off the ground, spun once, and dropped him back down. “You’re here!”

  “I’m here. Are you okay?”

  Miya nodded quickly. She crouched to Owin’s eye level and sat back on her heels. “Did you hear—”

  “Chorsay told me. He said you and Potilia were there.”

  “They kept me safe. And now I get to work here.”

  “Speaking of work,” Althowin said.

  Miya immediately stood. “Sorry, ma’am.” Without any other directions, Miya lowered her goggles and rushed to a table. Owin couldn’t tell what she was working on, but Miya swapped between a few different tools and, surprisingly, there was a fire involved.

  “We’re going to my workshop,” Althowin said. “This is just a training studio.” She leaned to the side, checking on Miya’s work briefly, before waving them on through another set of doors.

  They entered a narrow carpeted hallway that was covered in stains and burns. On the left, there was another workshop that looked like it was connected with a plant-filled room. Owin stood on his toes as he tried to see what was inside.

  “Another workshop,” Althowin said. She had stopped and leaned on the window. “That other room is one of my terrariums.”

  “What’s a terrarium?”

  “You ever hear of toads?”

  Owin turned to Althowin. “What?”

  “You’ll figure it out eventually. Over there is Katalin’s personal workshop that she never uses.” Althowin tapped a window on the opposite side of the hall. The workshop looked entirely untouched. “And next to that is Ernie’s, which is the main workshop Katalin uses.” Althowin continued down the hallway and casually pointed at a window with the curtains drawn.

  “There’s a lot of workshops,” Owin said.

  “This whole building is designed specifically to hold workshops. That also means it can contain any amount of damage, should something go wrong. I don’t make mistakes, but Ernie and Kat do. The compound as a whole should be able to withstand a Power 7 spell. I tested the materials against my own Boss Busters, but depending on the class, Power 7 could be more destructive.”

  “Uh.”

  “I’ll rephrase it all later so you understand,” Shade said. “He’s a little dumb.”

  “No.”

  “A little,” Shade whispered.

  “Stupidity and ignorance aren’t the same thing. He can learn. His intelligence is high enough. He simply doesn’t know things.” Althowin opened a door and gestured inside. “Go find a seat.”

  Shade pushed past Owin to enter first. Owin followed after, taking a chance to look around as he entered. The workshop was confusing to look at. He stared for a few seconds before realizing the walls weren’t made of stone. They shimmered and looked as if they were moving. The colors shifted from gray to black.

  “Welcome, ma’am,” a voice said.

  “Ah!” Shade ran behind Owin. “What was that?”

  Althowin pulled the door shut behind them. “Don’t scare people, Basolia.”

  A black form appeared on the desk, looking like little more than a lump with two white eyes. “My mistake, ma’am.”

  “Now, I don’t want to say I’m scared of ghosts because . . .” Shade gestured at himself. “But, can I ask what that is?”

  “Introduce yourself.” Althowin waved meagerly as she passed through the room and through a door in the back.

  “Greetings, newcomers. I am Basolia,” the shape said.

  “I figured that out,” Owin said. He walked up to the desk and stood on his toes.

  The black form dipped down until its beady white eyes were level with Owin’s. “You are the escaped mob.”

  “Yeah.” Owin poked the form and felt his finger grow cold. A small piece of his mana bar burned away. “You’re a specter.”

  Althowin came back into the room with goggles and gloves, but nothing else about her outfit had changed. “Not anymore.” She approached and held out a gloved hand. Basolia shifted, then stretched and flared open like a flower. A small hammer dropped from Basolia into Althowin’s palm. “It’s more like a toolbox.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Basolia said.

  Althowin exhaled and tapped a few things on the desk. Something behind the wall clunked loudly, then the room shifted. Pieces of the floor opened and moved, allowing new tables and chests to rise from the ground. Within a minute, the workshop was an entirely new room. The layout, the color of the walls, and even the material of the floor had changed.

  “What is this?” Owin asked.

  “The workshop of the strongest person in the world,” Althowin said casually.

  Basolia reappeared on the new stone table in the center of the room. Althowin leaned on her elbows beside the specter and raised an eyebrow.

  “Are you going to get the materials or are we just going to sit here and stare at my workshop?”

  “Oh. Shade, are you ready?”

  “I’ve never not been ready.”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  The skeleton vanished into a cloud of gray dust. Althowin frowned.

  “Is that going to make a mess?”

  “I don’t know.” Owin stepped aside as the dust drifted to the ground. “I only ever used it underwater.” He poked the dust with his boot and spread it around the ethereal floor. “Sorry.”

  “The room is designed to clean itself,” Althowin said. “Just don’t make a mess anywhere else.”

  “Got it.”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Shade poofed back into existence and immediately dropped the mana batteries all over the floor. “Wow, okay. I thought I had a couple minutes. I was not ready!”

  Owin opened his index. “I thought I had a cooldown. I just wanted to see how much longer it would be. Is there no cooldown outside the dungeon?”

  “Would you like me to take notes, ma’am?” Basolia asked.

  Althowin set her hammer on the table and stood upright. “Yes, actually. Tell me more.”

  “After I got enough bones, Shade got a two minute cooldown to resummon when he died. But I might not have one anymore.”

  Shade pointed at the mana batteries on the floor. “Did you want me to pick these back up?”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Shade reappeared with some Vile Fiend bones in his arms. “Now I just feel like I’m being bullied.”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Shade didn’t have anything as he reappeared. His eye sockets narrowed as he looked at Owin. “You know, I need time to actually grab things while I’m there.”

  “Sorry. I was testing the cooldown.”

  Shadows enveloped the three mana batteries and the demon bones on the floor. They vanished and soon reappeared on the table beside Basolia.

  “Do you have more bones to grab?” Althowin asked.

  “If Owin gives me enough time.”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  “It is kind of funny,” Owin said as another cloud of dust settled on the floor.

  “We have different senses of humor. Basolia, can you give him a stool?”

  A stool appeared from shadows on the opposite side of the table from Althowin. Owin stepped up and put his elbows on the table.

  “What are you going to make?”

  Althowin poked his right arm with the hammer. “From what I’ve heard about your fighting style, you’re going to need both hands. And your armor set isn’t complete if you’re missing a gauntlet.”

  “It’s in my bag.”

  “So we need to get you a prosthetic. Armor sets are rare and powerful, but nearly useless without the full set. Bring your skeleton back.”

  “He’s not really mine.”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  “I think I have it all!” Shade coughed and spat white bone dust all over Owin.

  “Can you even cough or did you just fake it?” Owin asked as he wiped the crushed bones away. Basolia collected all the dust as soon as it landed and redeposited it into a pile on the table.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shade set the bones on the tabletop. Without prompting, a chair appeared, which Shade happily sat in.

  “Prosthetics are easy. Few Shard Heroes keep all their limbs. You’re just one of us now. The question that needs to be asked is if you’re willing to have a metal prosthetic or if you want to go for something more mob-oriented. A prosthetic fusion, as I call it, has benefits and drawbacks. Think if we made an arm out of this Lord of the Abyss bone, it would be incredibly strong compared to a metal arm, but it would have a weakness and fragility when fighting luminous, abyssal, or spectral opponents.”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “I feel like that’s all I fight.”

  “There are a lot of spectral mobs in the Fortress. You’ll see less luminous and abyssal mobs in the rest of the towers, but there is always the issue of fighting knights, menders, magi, and umbras. That’s why I normally recommend going for something more straightforward. Using these mana batteries, which are high quality, I can make something fully functioning easily.”

  “Are you saying I would be better with a metal arm?”

  “Yes. There aren’t any specific weaknesses, and if the power source is strong, they’ll function forever. Just know, if you want something else in the future, it is incredibly painful to switch. At least as painful as losing the limb, but perhaps worse.”

  Owin watched as Althowin rolled the mana batteries to the center of the table. Her gloves hid her prosthetic hand.

  “How did you lose yours?”

  Althowin pulled off her left glove and held her hand out, palm up. “You know, most people would be too polite to ask.”

  “Oh.”

  “Touch it if you want.”

  “Shade, can you take this off?” Owin held out his hand. The skeleton grabbed the chitin gauntlet and pulled it off. “Thanks.”

  Shade put it close to his face and sniffed. “Oh, ew.”

  “You can’t smell, Shade.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  Althowin rolled her eyes.

  Before she pulled her hand back, Owin reached out and ran his fingers along the metal. It wasn’t as smooth as it looked. He felt little ridges, bumps, and curves just like one would find in a normal hand. Thin seams separated the sections between fingers knuckles and horizontally across the palm, allowing the hand to bend. Althowin moved her hand a little, showing how expressive it could be.

  “I made this one,” she said. “A different alchemist had made the first version for me. It locked up a few times, especially in extreme conditions. Do you know where one is most likely to find extreme conditions?”

  “The dungeons?”

  “Exactly. I replaced it with a water elemental arm. I thought that would be clever. Apart from simply getting everything wet all the time, the actual utility of the arm was next to useless. I don’t know what I had expected. I made a temporary replacement, then made this one. When I lost my leg, I immediately made it myself.”

  “You said replacing it was as painful as losing it, but you changed your arm three times?”

  “A few more, actually. A few failed attempts.” Althowin closed her metal hand around Owin’s. “What do you want?”

  “What?” He tried to pull back, but her grip was impossibly strong.

  “What are you going to wish for? Why go for the shards?”

  “I don’t know. I keep changing my mind. I could wish for Artivan to be alive or Shade to be free or to be human or anything. I really don’t know.”

  “Don’t use your wish on me,” Shade said.

  Althowin let go of his hand. “Interesting.”

  “What did you wish for?” Owin asked quietly.

  “Let’s get you your arm and your gift from Katalin, then we can figure out what to do with these bones and extra batteries.” Althowin pulled her glove back on and held her hand out to Basolia, who deposited ingots of metal. She shifted each one into the center of the table. With a few spells Owin tried to follow, she split the chunks of metal into sections, then started hammering them into thin strips. She worked incredibly fast and didn’t say a word.

  Shadows moved over Owin’s hand until it vanished beneath Basolia. After a moment, the specter retreated and reappeared as a mound again. It said a few measurements, which Althowin acknowledged with a grunt.

  It took less than an hour before she had a fully functioning hand the exact perfect size.

  “That was the easy part.” She walked around the table and grabbed his right arm. “I should be able to simply force this on, but it will be agony. The mana battery inside will reach its threads into your body, connecting to your nerves. I don’t see any reason why this would be different for a goblin. If for some reason it doesn’t work, we might need to cut you up a bit for research.”

  “Oh.”

  “It will work,” she said. “I made it.”

  Owin took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  Althowin jammed the metal arm into Owin’s elbow like she was simply putting a gauntlet on his hand. He felt spikes stab into his flesh, immediately followed by the cold, burning mana threads that snaked through his muscles, around his bones, and up until they stabbed into his heart. He wheezed in a breath, fighting the pain. Even as he thrashed a little, Althowin held him still.

  “And I would say that’s not nearly as bad as disconnecting a prosthetic.”

  Owin clenched his hand, staring at it in amazement. “How?”

  “Perfect,” Shade said. “Now we can get into the fun stuff.”

  “Fun stuff?”

  Shade reached into Owin’s bag and set a dull red gem on the table. Owin opened his index and looked at the item. He was having trouble remembering. His brain felt fuzzy after the shock of pain.

  Empty Minor Charge Gem

  Collect magic of one type to power an item or entity.

  Note: Collecting more than one type of magic will cause the gem to explode

  Note: Charge gems will shine when fully powered

  “Interesting. A charge gem, when used properly, can avoid the danger of exploding, but only a master alchemist can fix that flaw.”

  “Aren’t you a master?” Shade asked.

  Althowin raised an eyebrow. “Is that a real question?”

  Shade narrowed his eye sockets. “Is it?”

  “I still haven’t decided whether or not I like you.”

  “I get that a lot,” Shade said.

  “Basolia,” Althowin said, holding out her hand. The shadow moved and spit out what looked like a knife.

  Owin leaned forward to see it closer. It looked almost exactly like his old jagged stone knife. The first weapon he had. “Is that—”

  “Katalin’s gift to you. Now, I will say, she is not great at making items. She really started the idea and ruined a few sets of materials. Whatever is going on in that girl’s head stops her from figuring out items, and it is infuriating. But, and this is important, she is far more skilled in explosives than I ever was. Her mind just wants to explode, and I can appreciate that.”

  “If she’s bad at it . . . what’s that?”

  Althowin held the knife up. “The thing about Ernie is that he can only think in creation. He thinks about creating things at all times. Even when looking at food, he is probably thinking what materials could be added to change it into something else. Everything is malleable in his mind. Everything but Katalin. His brain goes silent when he looks at her.” She set the knife on the table and ran a gloved hand over the jagged blade. Althowin smiled. “He made this. She had started and failed a few times. She even somehow made one of the versions a bomb and it exploded in the workshop. Everyone was fine. He had watched and learned enough of what she was trying to do that he made this.”

  “What’s it do?”

  “Nothing. It’s a knife. A blank slate. It can be customized however you wish. It does have a lot of Katalin’s influence, so it is slightly explosive already.”

  “An explosive knife sounds like a horrible idea,” Shade said.

  “There’s a reason we didn’t want Katalin to make it on her own. What do you currently have for weapons?”

  Owin carefully grabbed the lich bone with his new hand. It felt tingly and clumsy, but he managed to wrap his hand around the handle and pull it from his belt.

  Althowin took it, opened her index, and passed it to Basolia. Shadows covered it for a moment, then retreated. “An undead knife is strong. Especially a lich bone. It’s interesting.” She passed it back. “What’s the sword?”

  Shade drew the Incandescent Blade and handed it over. Althowin looked over it with her index and let Basolia cover it once again before passing it back.

  “A good mix. That hammer Chorsay brought from Atrevaar is yours too?”

  “Yes.” Owin smiled just thinking about the Thunderstrike Maul. It had been a long time since he got to smash something with it. He was so much stronger now.

  “That means you have a neutral weapon, a fire sword, and an undead knife. If you want, I can use some of the Vile Fiend’s bones to turn this into an abyssal weapon. It would be really powerful against the right opponents, but . . .” She tapped a gloved finger on the jagged blade. “That would mean you have two knives weak to luminous damage.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I use knives a lot.”

  “Let me think about it. With this charge gem and a mana battery, we could make it into an interesting knife. Basolia, look through our supplies. Let me know what damage types we have available.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The specter retreated, and Owin realized for the first time that the entire shadowy ethereal texture on the floor and walls had all been Basolia. As soon as the specter vanished, the room felt brighter.

  “Go join your friends. I’ve got some work to do.”

  The door opened on its own.

  Owin stepped off the stool. Shade slowly stood up. They both looked at each other, then hurried from the room. As soon as they stepped into the hall, the door shut behind them.

  “Was it just me or was that terrifying?” Shade asked.

  “I didn’t know there were specters like that.” Owin looked down the hall, then turned back to look the other way. Shade was doing the same thing.

  “Which way do we go?” Shade asked.

  “Uh.”

  “I’m not going in to ask.”

  “Me either.” Owin set off in one direction. “We’ll find our way eventually.”

  They walked for about a minute before Owin stopped. The hallway looked the same with rooms on either side, but the carpet was different. Three different staircases forked into different directions at the end of the hall.

  “I can’t believe we’re going to starve to death.”

  “Shade, neither of us eat food.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to die of boredom.”

  Althowin’s compound was a big circle with a lot of branches that made some areas into spirals. Or something. Even after finding the building that acted as quarters for everyone, he still wasn’t sure where he had gone or how he would get back to the workshops.

  “Look at you,” Chorsay said. “How does the arm feel?”

  “Still a little numb.” He clenched his right hand into a fist. “I think that goes away after a little bit.”

  “I hope so.” Chorsay had been sitting in a chair with a book and some steaming drink. As soon as he spotted Owin, he set all of it aside and stood. “I know you’re going to say you don’t need a room, but you have the first one right here.” He opened a door and gestured to the Thunderstrike Maul. “You can keep anything you want in here or just hide if you want some privacy.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Sanem and Raif have a spot down the hall, across right here is Miya’s, Vondaire’s is beside her’s, mine is a few doors down beside Myrsvai’s, and Arkasti is right beside you. She didn’t give us an extra room for Shade, but I don’t think that’s an issue. Is it?”

  “I have my own room already. It’s a prison cell designed by the gods.”

  “Oh.” Chorsay scratched his cheek. “If you need one, let me know.”

  “I was listening but I don’t know which rooms you were talking about.” Owin stared down the hallway. “I only need to know where to keep my hammer, I guess.”

  “And the spine sword. Maybe we should give Althowin that. Send me away quick and I’ll grab that,” Shade said.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Owin looked up at Chorsay. “What are you reading?”

  The old man crouched with a grunt and touched the dust Shade left behind. “You can’t read anyway. Does it always do this?”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Shade reappeared with a spine sword in his hands. “Look at me now!”

  “It does kind of make a mess, Shade,” Owin said.

  Shade looked at the pile of dust. “What do you want me to do about it? I’m not sweeping, if that’s what you’re implying. I didn’t choose to be dusty. Am I dusty? Or is the dust a side effect of something else?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, I wish I knew. Imagine.” The skeleton leaned his elbow on Owin’s helmet. “Just imagine.”

  “I’m going to keep reading,” Chorsay said. He returned to his seat, took a sip of his drink, and opened the old book in his lap.

  “Where is everyone else?”

  “Sleeping. Like most people do at night.” Chorsay smiled softly. “I’m not sure what you want to do, but you can join me out here for now, if you’d like.”

  “I didn’t know it was night.” Owin climbed onto a couch and laid his head on the arm rest.

  Shade carelessly tossed the spine sword into Owin’s room then ran over and sat beside him. “Are we supposed to sit here quietly all night?”

  Owin shrugged.

  “I can read to you, if it will help pass the time.”

  Owin nodded quickly.

  Chorsay flipped back to the first page. He took a longer drink from his mug, then adjusted himself and cleared his throat.

  ***

  Everyone had gone to bed. Well, almost everyone.

  Tomorrow was the day they would dive into the Subterranean Dungeon.

  Potilia couldn’t sleep even if she wanted to, and she didn’t want to lie in bed while Lera and Cixilo were actually asleep. She stayed in the restaurant, which apparently never closed, and continued ordering tea and snacks.

  The other Hogs had called her a moron for bringing so many books, but she had already read through one and would finish another before morning. She could simply trade them out for two more at a shop in town. The shopkeeper had already started a hunt for a few books Potilia wanted, so the exchange would be quick on their way to the dungeon in the morning.

  Snow was gently falling outside, visible through the dim street lights near the restaurant. It left a calm, quiet, snow-covered facade for her to look at whenever she needed to digest a portion of the book. The moon hung over the mountains, partially obscured by the clouds.

  It was a beautiful evening, and could make for a memorable, perfectly peaceful day if not for Siora sitting a few tables away.

  She had joined the rest of them when most everyone else was still awake, but now that everyone else had gone, it left the two of them awkwardly apart.

  Potilia had caught Siora looking at her a few times. If she glanced up from her book quick enough, she could almost always catch Siora’s eyes, but the soldier had yet to say anything.

  All Potilia wanted to do was sit and enjoy her tea, snacks, and books, but she couldn’t stop herself from checking to see what Siora was doing.

  Siora Rilokos was the hero who killed Artivan. One of the heroes who tormented Owin.

  What would Chorsay do?

  Potilia sighed. “Siora, do you want to join me?”

  Siora immediately walked over and sat across from Potilia. She sat quietly with her hands in her lap. When she was out of armor and with her hair down, she looked almost timid. If not for the scars all over her face, she wouldn’t even look like a soldier.

  “D-do you like reading?”

  “When I get the time, yeah.”

  Potilia grabbed the book she already finished from her bag and held it out. Siora looked at it for a moment before grabbing it. She ran her hand over the cover and very carefully cracked the book open to the first page.

  “Thanks,” she said quietly.

  Potilia poured some tea into an empty mug and placed it in front of Siora.

  Siora smiled and took a drink of tea. She visibly relaxed and opened her book again.

  Potilia glanced up a few times, expecting to catch Siora’s yellow eyes, but the soldier was fully invested in the book.

  It could still be a good night.