Chapter 83: The Hidden Workshop

  At the exit, Emilia met up with the rest of the group and hurried to explain that she would have to enchant armor over the coming months. Boss Titus looked quite disappointed; he likely wanted to rely on her for the competition to earn a second-level monster hunting license, along with the associated rewards. After that, Titus distributed the plates from the Kozors—most would remain for the guild, but there were still enough plates for two sets of armor for each hunter, plus a few extra for three shields.

  Emilia also received her share of the plates, enough for two sets of armor, with the second being a bit larger for when she grew.

  Emilia hurried to thank everyone, then they arranged a meeting for Petra's name day to celebrate, and she rushed home.

  Since returning, she hadn't managed to find time to examine the treasure of the Kozor King she had found. However, once she finally opened it, she felt a slight sting of disappointment. There were several interesting bones, primitive bracelets, and ornaments, but most importantly—five whole earth treasures, freshly gathered and brimming with mana!

  Emilia couldn't believe her luck and hurried to sit at the table in her room, carefully inspecting the treasures one by one. After a moment, she paused and activated her Dispell Ignorance skill, beginning a meticulous examination. "This larger one has quite soft mana and can be easily absorbed, even by those without mana," she mused. "And this other one... if I bargain with Uncle Seladon, he could turn it into an alchemical potion, but he is quite greedy. Besides charging a high price, he might dilute the potion and steal part of the treasure."

  Emilia continued to reflect as darkness gradually began to fall and Ronan returned home, weary. Emilia kept making plans, finally sighing as she sat down with the others for dinner.

  "Father, I told you about the battle with the Kozors... today I finally looked through what I managed to scavenge and found several valuable earth treasures. One of them can be consumed directly by anyone, and I plan to give it to Kael. The other will need to be processed by an alchemist, and that is for you. No, do not interrupt me. You are my father and you work hard. Your body needs such treasures. I have already begun to develop. You, Mother, and Kael are the most precious things I have. I would rather throw these treasures away if you won't take them. Don't tell me like last time that you are already old. You and Mother are still young, and after so much mana-rich meat and these treasures, you will live at least another fifty to one hundred years. That is why it is good to invest in your bodies."

  Emilia continued to speak for a long time until her parents finally agreed. They had no objection to investing in Kael, but they tried several times to make her reconsider the other treasure. Emilia, however, would not back down. In the end, they agreed that Ronan would take time off to personally oversee Seladon's work while he prepared the alchemical elixir from the treasure. They were relatives and they would pay for the service. Ronan did not have unlocked mana, so there was no way he could steal any alchemical secrets.

  "And the price?"

  Emilia had saved 1100 silver coins and immediately pulled out 500.

  "These should be enough. And if there is money left over, let him make several recovery elixirs for Kael's training. That way he can develop both his body and his skills."

  The family continued to talk, and there were many heartbreaking moments. Finally, Emilia couldn't take it anymore; her eyes had welled up several times. She hugged her mother, then Kael, and retreated to her room. It was long past bedtime, but the others were still excited by everything and continued talking in the other room.

  Emilia wouldn't be going to sleep soon either. Ever since she started drinking the special herbs, not only was her soul slowly becoming stronger, but she could also get a full night's rest with only four hours of sleep. This allowed her to work incredibly hard and slowly surpass the others. If they worked eight hours a day for years, she would gradually begin to catch up with the elite.

  Then, she chose one of the earth treasures and, after tuning her aura, slowly began to absorb it directly. This way, there was no need for alchemical processing, and the energy would remain pure.

  ---

  Time passed, and gradually the first sets of armor arrived. Emilia had to process them, and in the evenings, she absorbed the earth treasures. Petra's name day came quickly and then passed. Time flowed relentlessly, and Emilia measured it in weeks.

  Once every week, she went out with a select group of second-level hunters to clear the den of a group of creatures. Most of the time these were first-level creatures, but occasionally they had a second-level leader. Emilia collected their blood and bone marrow, and along the way, she gathered herbs. On several occasions, she found various interesting things, such as an entire tree filled with honey that had been collected by bees for decades.

  The bee tree was located near a meadow of rare herbs with spiritual energy, and perhaps that was why the others had missed it.

  The hunters Chief Nikos had sent with her were of quite a high level and were not impressed by such treasures. After she offered 100 silver coins, they agreed to help her clear out the bees and collect and transport the honey. Thus, she gathered many jars of honey, enough to last for a very long time.

  Later, they ran into Aunt Velka, and for the first time, Emilia saw her being attacked. However, Velka simply began to sing a strange song, and soon the monster attacking her decided to ignore her and returned to the forest.

  In the second month, the Gryphon Tower was finally completed, and many children from the neighborhood could at last apply to be gryphon riders. Emilia didn't know who had been accepted and who hadn't, but she was certain that many destinies were about to be changed.

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  But not everything was going smoothly. A local gang had noticed the armor sets coming and going from Emilia's house and tried to force her to pay protection money. Emilia first showed her honorary hunter's badge, then even used Chief Nikos's name. The group was impressed and showed respect before leaving. A week later, however, another stronger group appeared and even forced Emilia to come with them to meet their boss.

  Along the way, however, she used several fire talismans, which she detonated above the rooftops of the houses. In the chaos, she managed to escape, while the guards and the hunters living in the neighborhood quickly arrived to investigate what had happened.

  After learning about the trouble, Chief Nikos sent men to settle things and offered Emilia a place to work in his estate. He even set aside a room for her and sent word to the local gangs to inform them that Emilia and her family were under his personal protection. Nevertheless, they decided not to risk carrying the valuable armor sets into the neighborhood anymore.

  Emilia had no choice but to agree, and this way, she also gained access to the mana-rich garden of the estate, where she could meditate and quickly restore her mana.

  The estate was grand and bustling with people, providing her a place to forge connections and build a network. The numerous hunters and merchants visiting the grounds expanded her horizons, and her skills climbed at a dizzying pace. Here, Chiron's Blessing revealed its true power, and Emilia quickly began finishing two, and soon even three, sets of armor per day.

  She did not rush to produce three sets daily, however; instead, she chose to experiment with many different formations. She returned home often and had managed to develop various formations for the house. The chimney drew smoke more efficiently. The walls grew sturdier. There was even a plate where wine could be chilled, for which Emilia purchased a small gemstone for 100 silver coins to serve as the formation's core. The formation was inscribed upon one of the scales of her River Yeti, making it portable and durable enough to last for years of frugal use.

  This cooling formation was quite simple and gentle. It required no aggression, and the effect could be tuned to be weak and slow. Because of this, even though she was not yet ready to work freely with expensive stones, she could utilize them for these simpler, more delicate formations.

  Every afternoon, Emilia also visited the church, setting aside a budget of 100 silver every two weeks to study various high level books. She accumulated all sorts of knowledge to build a stable foundation, ensuring she could receive more intuitive information whenever she leveled up her skills. This was the same path taken by most children of merchants and nobles.

  Furthermore, she trained three times a week with Cassian. She either sparred with the younger guards, utilized the various training grounds, or paid for battles against special golems where she could freely practice her magical strikes without the danger of harming an opponent.

  In addition to the three magical treasures, she managed to purchase two more. She ate select cuts of magical beasts every day, and her mana grew quite rapidly—almost like one of those wealthy merchant children.

  Unnoticed, her mana rose from 215 to a full 250 units. Her physical strength also increased, and she grew another five centimeters in height.

  Thus, weeks turned into months, and she had nearly finished all two hundred sets of armor and two hundred shields. Once her Formation Mastery reached and surpassed 30 points, she finally felt confident enough to work with the weakest monster cores. For now, she could only use them on the formation she knew best—the armor—and she refused to risk them on any other designs. However, she had stockpiled a massive amount of bone marrow, which allowed her to experiment freely with her other formations.

  Officially, she had divided her working time into three parts. One part was dedicated to the armor and shields. Another was for stockpiling talismans—both those made from tree bark for her personal use and those on paper, most of which she had a contract to sell directly to the Hunters' Guild for 19 silver coins each.

  This arrangement ensured they received cheap talismans, while her sales remained untracked by the guilds and noble families.

  The final part was reserved for studying and training with Cassian.

  The four hours at night, while everyone else slept, was her personal time to experiment with different substances, formations, and even her herbalism. She became a regular customer of Sylvara, frequently buying various herbs brought in by the hunters. There were even second-level herbs available, and as a regular customer and personal friend of Chief Nikos, Emilia had secured the right to buy the herbs before any other customers.

  All of this cost a significant amount of silver, but her work with the talismans was also progressing, thanks to Chiron's Blessing. Even though she was making the same types of talismans, she learned to craft them much faster and with a higher success rate.

  For the ones made on tree bark, she took advantage of her stylus and occasionally used the blood of second-level monsters. She primarily used her stronger materials on defensive talismans, making them considerably more powerful than the typical ones. However, she did not forget her fireballs; a significant portion of those also had reinforced energy lines.

  She couldn't strengthen the lines indefinitely, though. They could easily become overloaded, causing the talisman to fail. No matter what materials she used, zero-level glyphs could not handle a load beyond a certain point.

  The only thing Emilia regretted was the lack of combat experience. Chiron's Blessing also helped in battle, and the time she had spent with Boss Titus had given her priceless lessons and developed deep instincts. She had learned to dodge the strikes of all sorts of mutated magical monsters and their unpredictable spells. Cassian's lessons were good, but they could not replace real combat.

  Time pressed on, and Emilia began working primarily on armor featuring monster cores. She had to produce 100 pieces, but they were more dangerous and sensitive. She could hardly afford to make more than one set per day, and some of them failed, wasting the entire day's effort. Fortunately for her, the cores were provided by Chief Nikos, allowing her to work in peace.

  At one point, early on, she had moved her workspace to a gazebo in the mana-rich garden, which helped her increase the success rate of both her armor and talismans.

  The secluded setting, the clean, fresh air, and the beautiful atmosphere also made the work far more pleasant.

  Time passed, and Titus's group performed excellently at the tournament. They began hunting second-level monsters more frequently, and Emilia enchanted armor and shields for all of them using monster cores directly. This took another ten days of labor, but she was infinitely grateful for their time together.

  Varis had also asked her for armor enchantments, as he wanted to train a group of adventurers to one day explore the Lost Archipelago, and Emilia found it difficult to refuse him.

  Soon, however, Emilia finally finished her work on the armor and shields. Chief Nikos allowed her to stay at the estate for as long as she wished and to continue working in the garden. She was selling talismans to the hunters and repairing and enchanting armor, so he was indebted to her.

  There was still some time before the opening of the private space, and the child who had been sent to study with the Children of the Moon had returned; Emilia now trained them every day. Work, it seemed, was never-ending.

  Finally, the Day of the Moirai came and went. It was said that on this day, the three sisters who weave the threads of fate pause for a single breath—and in that breath, mortals gather to celebrate the year that has passed and the thread still left to them. Emilia held a large celebration, inviting all her friends, and Chief Nikos honored her with his presence personally, though he stayed for only fifteen minutes.