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nAs he was nearing the completion of the first piece making up the Astarto Defense Armor set, Valyr stopped midway, taking out all of the materials he had chucked into the furnace aside from the azure iron he had retrieved early on before stacking them on top of one another as he allowed the materials to cool down. Seeing them gradually melding with one another, he inwardly nodded before returning his focus on the helmet.

nTtang! Ttang! Ttang!

n,c “And… done.” Wiping off a bit of sweat from his forehead, Valyr let out a sigh of relief as he placed the now forged helmet on the side, preparing to chuck in another hunk of azure iron into the furnace for the next armor piece. However, just as he was about to do so, a thought popped up in his mind, prompting him to plop the helmet into the furnace for a bit before pouring a vial of Lesser Tidemother Blood on it.

nHiss!

nUnsurprisingly, due to how hot the helmet got in the furnace, most of the blood from the vial burned off into a putrid smoke that neither of the two wanted to inhale. Nevertheless, by the time Valyr took out the helmet and allowed it to cool down, a faint tinge of crimson covered its entire surface.

n“Huh. It feels sturdier.” Tossing the helmet in the air for a bit, Valyr eventually arrived at this conclusion. Finding the change brought by the vial of blood interesting, he placed the helmet by his side once more before chucking another piece of azure iron into the furnace.𝒐𝒱𝑙xt.𝑐𝚘𝓂

n‘While I’m waiting for that to get to the right temperature, I should focus on that first.’ Stoking the flames in the furnace for a couple minutes, he then shifted his attention to the materials he had stacked on top of one another earlier. Looking at how far the materials have melded with one another, he lightly nodded in satisfaction before putting it inside the furnace.

nWatching Valyr do his thing, Tristan could not help but become mesmerized for a bit, finding the way Valyr forged equipment somewhat enchanting. However, this thought was quickly broken by the shock he felt after watching the pile of materials Valyr put into the furnace turn red hot within seconds.

nWith widened eyes, Tristan could not help but move closer to the furnace, deciding that he would retrieve the materials from the furnace if he noticed that the materials were starting to burn. Fortunately, before it had even reached that point, Valyr removed the materials from the furnace and plopped it on the anvil before using a chisel to divide it into six equal portions.

n“So, there’s the helmet, the pauldrons, the chestplate, the vambraces, the greaves, and the boots. Yeah, I portioned it correctly.” Muttering to himself as he double checked to make sure he had portioned it correctly, he soon hammered on the portions as if there was no tomorrow, flattening the portions into discs before throwing them into the furnace not long after.

nThen, once they reached the optimal temperature for forging once more, he retrieved them from the furnace before doing the same thing all over again, repeating the process until six dark blue orbs the size of tennis balls were displayed on the anvil.

n“With that done, I can return my focus on the other armor pieces.” Nodding in satisfaction, Valyr placed the six orbs on a nearby table, making sure that they didn’t touch the helmet he had forged earlier. After that, he focused his attention on the chunk of azure iron he had put in the furnace earlier, which was coincidentally at the perfect temperature for forging at that very moment.

nJust like the helmet, he continued forging the other parts of the Astarto Defense Armor set. Once he was done with the pauldrons, he moved onto the chestplate. After the chestplate, the vambraces, and so on and so forth.

nIn the meantime, while watching Valyr forge the entire armor set, it was only then did Tristan see Valyr truly engrossed in forging for once. It was also only then did he find out how passionate and determined the man before him was when it came to forging.

nTo him, it felt like he was born for the profession. He breathed, walked, and lived for the profession from how efficient and graceful his movements were.

nNevertheless, this spectacle eventually came to an end once Valyr had finished forging the final piece of the Astarto Defense Armor set, the boots. Letting out a long sigh of relief, Valyr stood up from his seat and stretched his body as much as it could handle before turning to look at Tristan with a smile.

n“Wanna grab some lunch before I continue?” Seeing that the time had already become afternoon, Valyr made the offer, to which Tristan unhesitatingly agreed with. With that, they left the smithy for a while and headed to the village inn for their lunch, with Valyr ordering a hearty lunch as he told the latter that there was one more thing he would forge.

nDigging into their food, Tristan looked at Valyr after sometime as a question popped up in his mind. “Hey, Valyr. Mind telling me what those dark blue orbs you made earlier were?”

nSurprisingly, Valyr nodded in an instant to the question, prompting Tristan to perk up his ears with great eagerness. However, as he heard the former snicker soon after, this eagerness quickly down as he saw the man before him with a cheeky grin on his face. “I could tell you what they are… but you’ll have to give up on the elixirs. Your choice.”

nHearing the words that came out of Valyr’s mouth, Tristan scratched his head for a bit before letting out a light sigh. “You’re driving a hard bargain, you know that?”

n“Well, I have to at least keep some for myself, you know?” In response, Valyr let out a bit of laughter. “In any case, you’ll see what they do later.”

nWith that statement ending their topic, the two continued to eat their lunch as they talked about some gossip they’ve picked up around the village.

n…

nReturning to the smithy with their hunger satiated, Valyr went ahead and held up one of the dark blue orbs in front of Tristan, prompting the latter’s attention to be fixated on it. After that, he placed the helmet piece of the armor set on top of the anvil.

nThen, without any warning, he slammed the dark blue orb into the helmet, making Tristan think that a huge dent would appear on it once Valyr took his hands off. However, once the latter did do so, there was no dent to be found.

nIn fact, there was no dark blue orb to be found either.

n“Wha—” Just as Tristan’s face was filled with incredulity, wanting to ask the man in front of him what just happened, this incredulity became more exaggerated once the helmet started to give off a faint dark blue light. At this point, Tristan’s mouth went slightly agape as he gawked at the sight before him.

nA couple minutes later, the faint dark blue light around the helmet disappeared, prompting Valyr to pick it up as he placed the chestplate on the anvil before dropping one of the dark blue orbs on it. While the chestplate was emitting the same dark blue light as the helmet from earlier, Valyr gave the seemingly transformed helmet to Tristan with a smile. “Identify it with Analysis.”

nWith his eyes still widened from shock, Tristan did what he was told. Soon after, he could not help but look back and forth between the helmet he held and Valyr, his eyes now as wide as they could open. “Is this… still the same Astarto Defense Armor set I know?”

n“More or less.” Valyr nodded in response as he placed the chestplate to the side before placing the pauldrons on the anvil. “I haven’t checked if it changed descriptions yet, so I’m not too sure. Then again, this last step was pretty much an experiment.”

n“An experiment?” Tristan doubted what his ears were hearing. “You’re telling, this great of a change to the set’s stats… is an experiment?!”

n“From how you’re reacting so far, it seems the experiment’s a success.” Valyr chuckled in response. “Well, look at it this way. I can repeatedly do this future armor sets like this one. I guess what you’re holding in your hands right now is considered the enhanced version of Astarto Defense Armor set.”

n“The enhanced version? With this kind of disparity in stats?” Hearing Valyr’s words, Tristan could not help but shake his head as he showed the screen he was looking at earlier to the man before him. “You must be kidding me.”

n“It would be better to say I’m holding one of the pieces making up the first ever Supreme Astarto Defense Armor set.”

n“…”

n“…”

n“That sounds a bit too overbearing, don’t you think?”

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