Vol. 8 - Intrigue - Chapter 6

Thomas, Snowlily, and Fokgrag sat around the table eating their meals. Judging by the bright smile and shining eyes of Snowlily, it was clear that the meal was pretty tasty. Thomas thought the Rockgoat meat was a bit tough to chew but made up for it with the flavor. He didn't have a clue what spices the dwarven cook had used but they greatly enhanced the flavor of the meat and made it delicious. Even though it was a bit tough it was still extremely juicy and combined with the spices it became a delicious meal.

Still, his favorite part of the meal was definitely the Fyrewine. By the time the meal was over both Thomas and Fokgrag were on their second flagons. After taking a sip of his wine, Thomas looked at Fokgrag, "So, can we talk now?"

Fokgrag grumbled but nodded, "Fine, ya wanted the plans to my U.L.T.R.A. right?"

Thomas nodded, "That's right."

Fokgrag took a long swig of his drink and sighed happily, "Alright, kid. The first step is ya need to be a Magitech Engineer. I can't teach ya anythin' until you are. So you're boned since only dwarves can be one."

After he finished speaking Fokgrag smirked as if he'd pulled one over on Thomas. However, his smirk slowly turned to a frown as he looked at Thomas's broad smile. Thomas lightly tapped one of his fingers on the table, "Shouldn't be a problem seeing as I am already one and have been for a while. Hekrin taught me."

Fokgrag frowned, "Goatshit! No human can become a Magitech Engineer! Don't be lyin' to me kid." Fokgrag grinned wickedly, "If ya really are one, prove it!"

System Notice: New Quest!   
Fokgrag Coalheart has challenged you to prove that you are a Magitech Engineer. Prove him wrong!
Rewards: 5,000 Exp, Bonus for style
Failure: Fokgrag Coalheart will forever refuse to teach you how to make an U.L.T.R.A.
Time Limit: 5 Minutes    

Thomas tapped his chin as he thought about what he should do. They were currently in a very public place and just pulling out his weapons could cause some issues. After a moment of thinking, he grinned and his mana flowed. He cast a simple spell to pull up four solid stone walls around their table and block the view of the people around them. Fokgrag looked around curiously as they were cut off and locked in. When he turned back to look at Thomas his eyes widened in shock.

Thomas started by pulling out his Peace Maker and setting it on the table with a bullet sitting next to it. That alone was probably enough for proof but he didn't stop there. Next his Spell Cannon came out and he set one of the shells next to it. After that, he pulled out the monster, The Destroyer thumped loudly as he set it on the table along with one of its massive bullets. He looked at Fokgrag and felt a sense of fulfillment seeing the look of absolute shock on his grizzled old face.

Even though Fokgrag didn't know every detail about the three weapons that Thomas had placed on the table, he at least had a basic understanding of their purpose. After all, Hekrin was his apprentice and had been working on his life's project for decades. He could see that the weapons Thomas was showing him were similar to the ones Hekrin had designed, though they were far more sophisticated and dangerous looking. Especially the biggest one. Just the size of the projectile alone was terrifying.

After staring at the weapons for a while he tried to pick up the smallest one, the Peace Maker. He was surprised when he couldn't touch it and looked at Thomas, "Soulbound?"

Thomas nodded, "The three weapons are, the ammunition isn't."

Fokgrag nodded. If what he suspected was true, then it made perfect sense for all of them to be soulbound to Thomas, "You're his inheritor aren't you?"

Thomas nodded his head again. That was all Fokgrag needed to know. Since he couldn't touch the weapons he instead stood up from his chair and moved closer to he could examine them in more detail. As he looked over the Peace Maker he began to shudder while his eyes grew wide as he was once again shocked. Seeing him, Thomas quickly lifted his hand and used his sound magic to isolate any sound they made from within the walls. He barely made it in time before Fokgrag shouted, "Heart of the mountain?!" He turned to glare at Thomas, "You actually used 'Heart of the Mountain' iron to make a WEAPON?! How the hell are you still alive?! Hekrin should have killed you for this!"

Thomas made a placating motion, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Before you jump to any conclusions let me explain!"

Fokgrag glared at Thomas, "Explain well or you're not leaving here alive!"

Thomas nodded his head rapidly. He was certain Fokgrag would do his best to ensure that he died if his explanation wasn't satisfactory. He reached into his inventory and pulled out one of his few remaining iron ingots. He hadn't used it for much more than ammo and such so his supply had dwindled a little. Thomas waved his hand indicating for Fokgrag to remain patient, "I need you to keep quiet when I drop my sound dampening spell. I'm certain you understand how bad it would be if you started shouting about what I'm going to do."

Fokgrag looked a little taken aback but nodded his head. Thomas was right of course. If word of the weapon on the table got out the dwarves would go insane. Seeing Fokgrag agree, Thomas dropped the sound dampening spell but continued to maintain controls over the walls so they wouldn't fade. With the high level of his Mana Mastery, he was finding casting two spells at the same time to be significantly less stressful. It still took more mana and effort, but it was definitely getting easier. Combining all of those elements into new elements seemed to have helped with it a lot.

As Fokgrag watched, Thomas channeled his mana and activated his Transmutation to purify the ingot. Fokgrag's eyes widened further and further as he watched the thin wisps of black smoke leak out of the ingot as it swiftly transformed from a regular piece of iron into an ingot any dwarf would fight to own. Seeing such a revered item made in an instant gave Fokgrag a misconception of just why Hekrin would take Thomas as his Inheritor. As soon as he finished purifying the ingot, Thomas recast the sound dampening barrier and smiled at Fokgrag while holding the ingot out toward him, "Take it."

With shaking hands, Fokgrag reached out and accepted the ingot from Thomas. His eyes were practically sparkling as he stroked the metal with his fingers and looked at it from every angle, "So beautiful. I never thought I would ever have something like this in my hands."

Thomas chuckled to himself. Dwarves all seemed to react about the same in the presence of his handmade wonder items. Thomas watched Fokgrag for a few moments before saying, "I don't suppose I could trade this for the plans to the U.L.T.R.A.?"

Fokgrag scoffed, "Ain't happenin', kid. I admit, yur a Magitech Engineer but that ain't all ya gotta prove to me."

System Notice: Quest Complete!   
Fokgrag Coalheart has challenged you to prove that you are a Magitech Engineer. Prove him wrong!
You've proven your qualifications as a Magitech Engineer to Fokgrag Coalheart and further showed your ability.
Rewards: 5,000 Exp, Bonus for style
Failure: Fokgrag Coalheart will forever refuse to teach you how to make an U.L.T.R.A.
Time Limit: 5 Minutes       You have gained 5,000 experience.
Your reputation with Fokgrag Coalheart has greatly improved.    

Thomas looked over the notices with a smile. 'That was easy,' he thought to himself. Fokgrag was still fondling the ingot so Thomas spoke up, "You can have it. Just don't tell anyone where you got it."

It might seem stupid to give out a big piece of metal that Dwarves everywhere would fight him to the death for but he expected that Fokgrag would worship it and keep it well hidden so that no one else could ever steal it from him. If there were two things you could usually count on with dwarves it was drinking and greed. Not always, but more often than not. Fokgrag didn't even say a word of thanks as the ingot vanished into his inventory. He looked at Thomas suspiciously, "You said it, now I ain't ever givin' it back!"

Thomas couldn't help chuckling. To Fokgrag the ingot was a priceless treasure, to Thomas, it was a cheap-ass iron ingot. He could have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of them if he wanted. Hell, he could build an entire castle out of them by using them as bricks if he wanted. Fokgrag continued to eye Thomas for a moment before turning his attention back to the weapons, "Tell me about these things. I know Hekrin was working on something similar and it's obvious that you've inherited his will to invent. But these... they're far beyond what Hekrin ever made."

Thomas couldn't help noticing, once again, how Dwarves sometimes switched the way they talked. It seemed to have something to do with their mood or emotions but it was hard to tell. He didn't let it distract him for long before he started explaining how each individual weapon worked. He didn't go deep into the details and completely left out the concept of magnetic acceleration built into The Destroyer. For his part, Fokgrag focused more on the Spell cannon. He seemed to like the concept behind it, though Thomas wanted to build a heavily upgraded and modified version of the weapon. He was actually thinking about modeling the next version after a pump-action shotgun. He hadn't made his final decision yet on that though.

Once Fokgrag had about as much understanding of his weapons as Selena and the others, a little less on The Destroyer, he looked at Thomas, "Impressive. How did you come up with these designs?"

Thomas started storing everything back inside of his inventory as he answered, "They're based on weapons from my world. Where I came from we didn't have magic so we developed our weapons to a ridiculous degree."

Fokgrag found the concept of a world without magic hard to digest but the weapons were definitely something he and Hekrin had never imagined before. Once everything was stored safely inside of his inventory, Thomas dropped the spells he was maintaining around them. The moment he did, he froze and slowly raised his hands. Fokgrag and Snowlily looked around and found themselves completely surrounded by guards in heavy armor with spear tips pointed at them.

Fokgrag seemed unaffected as he practically shouted, "What? Can't people have private conversations anymore?!"

The guards looked confused. One stepped forward and looked around. They hadn't known what to think about the report of a large box suddenly surrounding a table inside of the restaurant. He looked at Fokgrag, "We weren't aware of what was happening. We got a report of something suddenly surrounding a table with three civilians inside. When we arrived we tried to call out and get someone's attention but there was no answer."

Thomas spoke up, "Ah, sorry, that was all my fault. I needed to speak privately with Master Fokgrag so I isolated us from prying eyes and ears. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

The guards grumbled and the one that spoke before spoke again, "Just don't do something like that again. Head somewhere private instead."

Thomas nodded his head. Honestly, he would have much preferred to do things that way from the beginning but the five-minute time limit had forced him to improvise. Failing that quest had not been an option, "I promise to do that next time."

The guard nodded and joined the others as they left. What Thomas had done was annoying but it wasn't a crime. Once they left, the waitress came over to their table looking rather disgruntled, "Your bill is due, that'll be ten thousand gold."

Thomas's eyes widened at the price. Though the items on the menu had been a little expensive their total shouldn't have come to even half of that. Still, he didn't argue. He expected it was the price he paid for making a scene and forcing the guards to come into the restaurant and 'deal' with the situation. He retrieved the gold and handed it over with a smile, "Sorry for all the trouble."

She snatched the gold and huffed at him before walking away. Fokgrag looked over at Thomas with a wicked grin, "I think she likes ya boy!"

Thomas stroked his chin and then shrugged. He had nothing against dwarves but beards on women just didn't do it for him. Maybe if she shaved... but he was pretty certain that asking would be taken as a grave insult. That was usually how it went when dwarven women had beards. He'd made the mistake of asking once and got the shit beaten out of him. With the bill taken care of the trio walked out into the streets. Thomas looked over at Fokgrag, "So what's the next test?"

Fokgrag looked up at Thomas and stroked his beard. He was clearly thinking and that was the moment Thomas realized Fokgrag was making it up as he went! Thomas could see the gears turning and the sudden light in his eyes at Fokgrag got a bit of inspiration, "Well, as ya know my place was recently... uh... dismantled. Seein' as how ya got plenty of money floatin' around, I want ta see ya build a proper workshop."

System Notice: New Quest!   
Fokgrag Coalheart wants you to rebuild his home and workshop for him. The better you do the more impressed he will be.
Requirements: Build a workshop with a house on the second floor. Must include stations for Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Leatherworking, Tailoring, and Alchemy.
Rewards: 15,000 Exp, Bonus for style
Failure: Fokgrag Coalheart will forever refuse to teach you how to make an U.L.T.R.A.
Time Limit: 48 hours