The next two days passed in a blissful blur. Morgan had never felt more content. He had remembered the items from the dungeon boxes and distributed them the next day. Frank got the Mythic Cuirass, Mara the quiver, Marcus got the crossbow, Jiwoo the crown, and Annabelle the crafter’s gloves. Katherine refused the ring that had meteor, out of principle, she said. No one wanted the daggers, so Morgan kept them.

  This morning Mara, using her own Sophia, was nearing completion of the device to allow Morgan to interact with all the cores he had. She said it would be before lunch. Annabelle was excited to reveal the repaired Broken Fang. As they walked together to her workshop, she gleefully said she had a few other surprises for him. The workshop was alive with clanging. There were four forges down the center of the large smithy. Collections of weapons and armor in various states of completion were everywhere. On Annabelle’s table there was a lumpy cloth.

  “I want to save the best for last,” she said. “Here is your helmet. I repaired it.” She pulled Faceless Bastion from under her cloth and presented it to Morgan.

  “Great job, this looks brand new.”

  “Oh, that was easy. Part of my Armorsmith skill is a repair ability. Only took about 30 seconds to fix that.” She reached back under the cloth. “The repairs to your weapon didn’t use all the materials I had, so I made an arm guard for you.” She deftly pulled a large pauldron and arm sleeve out. It was made of Aethril. The thin sheets were stronger than any steel and light as a feather. The metal was a matte gray with a hint of blue luminescence. She helped him place it on his left arm. It was light and felt very comfortable. The articulated gauntlet felt like a second skin on his hand.

  “There’s more,” She answered, practically vibrating. Once he had completely donned the armor, it shifted and tightened. Now his arm looked as if it were bionic. The metal plating was seamless. Annabelle clapped, “I wasn’t 100 percent sure that it would work.” Morgan held up his hand, marveling at the way it looked.

  ::Mage Slayer’s Armguard - Epic - Weight: 1 lbs. Properties: Second Skin, Magic Absorption::

  “Now, I can’t take credit for this. I had a weaponsmith do some modifications to your weapon. I made the handle, but… Well, see for yourself.” She pulled the cloth off the table, exposing a sleek weapon. At its core, it was Broken Fang. He could feel a faint connection to it, but it looked nothing like the primitive spear he had been carrying.

  The rough, primitive blade had been shaped and honed into a smooth, menacing, long triangle with razor edges on each side. It was six inches wide and half an inch thick at its base, tapering along its three-foot blade to a needle point. The textured handle was two feet long and had short wings protruding straight from the sides just under the blade. The handle merged into the blade. He could tell where the transition was only by the change in materials. The blade was still the faint, almost smoky translucence of Obsidian Steel, and the handle was the matte gray-blue of Aethril.

  ::Broken Fang - Legendary - Weight: 2.5 lbs. Properties: Wounding, Zone of Silence, Midnight Edge, Bounding::

  ::Unable to rebind weapon. Rarity and properties increased::

  ::Rename Weapon or Accept and Bond with Broken Fang?::

  He selected renaming. It wasn’t really broken fang anymore. After a moment, he decided, then bonded with his renamed weapon.

  ::Midnight Razor - Legendary - Weight: 2.5 lbs. Properties: Wounding, Zone of Silence, Midnight Edge, Bounding::

  “I… I really don’t know what to say.” He lifted the short spear. “It is beyond anything I could imagine.”

  A huge, laughing smile was all Annabelle could manage. After a few seconds, Morgan laughed as well. “I’m thankful, and I appreciate the armguard. I can’t even comprehend how you did this. How much?”

  She stopped laughing, looking deep into Morgan’s eyes, face serious. “I owe you everything. You and Frank, and Mara. If it wasn’t for you…” She trailed off, then laughed harshly. “Besides, you gave me the materials… Now,” She turned him so he was facing the courtyard, “I have work to do for paying customers. Go bother someone else,” she said kindly.

  Mara was in a steampunk-looking workshop on the other side of the sector. Here the forges were much smaller. There were gears, pulleys, scraps of leather, and springs all over the benches. Mara smiled as he entered, pushing a golden monocle attached to a leather headband out of her face.

  “I just finished it,” she called across the room. As he walked over, she hugged him, then noticed his left arm. “Is that new? Or am I the most unobservant person ever?”

  “Annabelle made it with the leftovers from fixing Broken Fang… or now it is called Midnight Razor. There is a lot of new stuff. Let me show you.” He showed her the armguard and then summoned Midnight Razor. Mara was in shock.

  “That is amazing. How did she make it so…. Pretty?”

  “I don’t know, but it feels better than it looks. I had gotten so used to the extra-thick handle from the ogre. This is like a dream.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Okay,” Mara said, interrupting him as he stared at the weapon. “My turn for the presents.” She held up an oval metal piece with four little, sharp legs on the sides. She pointed to the small piece of metal. “The cores should fit here. Sophia said she, or well… your Sophia, could integrate it. We had to change the design slightly because of your mana problem.”

  Morgan held the small metal box in his hand. The legs ended in needle points.

  He asked Sophia.

  “Sorry,” Morgan told her. “I think this is not going to be pretty and very painful. I am gonna go install this and then come back.”

  “I knew there was a reason she wasn’t telling me,” Mara said, shaking her fist in the air. “But you won’t be able to position it correctly yourself. Let me help you.” She ushered him to a chair on the side of her bench. “Do I need a towel? How bad do you think this is going to be?”

  “I don’t think it will be that bad. The legs are very sharp, and not too big. But it is going to hurt.”

  Mara handed him a dowel wrapped in a thick piece of leather. “Sophia said this should help. She is very thoughtful,” Morgan could hear the sarcasm dripping off her words. “Also, I need a mana battery. She said you have a few.” Morgan handed her one of the small glowing orbs.

  The device was cold. He could feel its tiny needles catching on the back of his neck as Mara adjusted its position to the base of his neck just above his shoulders. The tough leather in his mouth had a salty taste and smelled heavily of cow. “Okay, this is it. Good luck. I Love you,” Mara said in his ear.

  “Whaa…” Morgan mumbled around the stick in his mouth as the four needles jammed into his spine. The pain was concentrated in his head and neck. Everything else was numb. The little legs moved quickly, piercing deep into his muscles and his spinal column. The pain wasn’t as bad as it had been from the bar through his chest, but not by much. Within 10 seconds he was drenched in sweat and completely healed.

  Morgan said, giving Mara a thumbs up and spitting out the leather gag.

  Sophia said.

  He produced a core from his inventory. It was a human core with a couple of lower-rarity skills. He placed it in the device. It took a few seconds before he felt the coin-shaped core click into the metal on his neck.

  “It worked,” Morgan told Mara, giving her a hug.

  “That was intense,” Mara said, concern etched on her face. “That thing clamped on harder than I thought it could. But it barely bled. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, good as new, just gotta get used to the small thing on my neck.” Speaking of the metal on his neck, Morgan could feel it getting increasingly warmer. “What was that you sad right before…”

  “Forget about it,” Mara interpreted him, color rising to her cheeks. Morgan was about to ask something when Sophia chimed in.

  A small progress box appeared in the corner of his vision. Common 6/50, Uncommon 1/40, Rare 1/30. Sophia explained, Morgan reached up and loaded his highest core. The first one had been absorbed or disintegrated.

  Less than a minute later, he had absorbed his fifth core. Sophia informed him that he had reached the cap on a skill. Common 6/50, Uncommon 1/40, Rare 8/30, Epic 4/20, Legendary 5/5, Mythic 1/2.

  Sophia said and a familiar box appeared, just like his leveling selection, this box held three choices.

  Without even reading them, he asked a confused question.

  ::Legendary - Battle Master - You bolster allies, greatly increasing their prowess::

  ::Legendary - Summon Master - significantly increases the damage and effectiveness of all your summons.::

  ::Legendary - To the Last Drop - In combat, when out of mana, you spend vitality to cast spells.::

  Sophia started.

  :: Skill Granted - To the Last Drop::

  Mara sat in a chair next to him as he installed core after core into his new implant.

  Morgan mused to Sophia.

  Morgan shot back.

  When Morgan asked her about VISTA after the next core, she beamed.

  “It is amazing. I have done months of experiments. I explained to Sophia what we are working on and she can help me build and test designs. Then,” She stood pacing back and forth as she continued, “she can show me the schematics as I am working, right in front of my eyes. Sophia is absolutely a lifesaver.”

  Sophia said smugly.

  “I am glad you can use her much better than I am,” Morgan told Mara, ignoring Sophia.

  A warning chime sounded, followed by an announcement in an augmented voice rolling over all the sectors in a booming baritone. “All Codename operators, please report to the Citadel. All Codename operators, please report.”