First, James took some of his Blue Iron, not the Blue Iron that had absorbed undine essence, and forged a new pair of boots. This time, rather than spikes, he had designed a pattern of short, rounded studs. Enough to texture the bottom of the sole without sliding around as much on the smooth pebbles that made up the ground.

[Appraisal]: Blue Iron Studded Boots, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/14

After trying them on and confirming that his footing was more solid, although they were twice as heavy as his old boots, he enchanted them with [Water Resistance].

[Appraisal]: Blue Iron Studded Boots, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/14, Enchantment: Water Resistance (20)

The forging process had gone smoothly thanks to the improved forge the Smith had constructed. The clay allowed the forge to run hotter and retain heat better, and using his bat wing fan had also sped up the process. His blue iron tongs were stronger and resisted the heat of the forge better as well.

Next, still interested in the effects of the Water Amulet, James forged two Blue Iron knives, one with the essence-filled Blue Iron and one with regular Blue Iron. Finally, he forged a new knife of regular iron, trying to make each knife identical to the others. For the essence-filled knife, he channeled mana into his mundane Green Iron forging hammers, trying to steer the essence into the Basic Water Enchantment: Frostbite pattern before he etched it. His Enchanter skill [Mana Manipulation] helped immensely with this process, empowering each strike of his hammer with the ability to knock the essence around inside the Blue Iron.

Once satisfied, he enchanted each of the three knives with the [Frostbite] enchantment, trying his best to use the exact same etching pattern and the same amount of magic crystal dust.

[Appraisal]: Iron Knife, Quality: Very Low, Durability 8/8, Enchantment: Frostbite (10)

[Appraisal]: Blue Iron Knife, Quality: Very Low, Durability 8/8, Enchantment: Frostbite (14)

[Appraisal]: Ice Knife, Quality: Very Low, Durability 8/8, Enchantment: Frostbite (21)

The Enchanter tested his knives, feeling out the strength of his enchantments. Clearly, the material and essence of an item had an effect on the strength of an enchantment.

Then James put the Water Amulet on and immediately felt the enchantments grow stronger.

[Appraisal]: Iron Knife, Quality: Very Low, Durability 8/8, Enchantment: Frostbite (15)

[Appraisal]: Blue Iron Knife, Quality: Very Low, Durability 8/8, Enchantment: Frostbite (21)

[Appraisal]: Ice Knife, Quality: Very Low, Durability 8/8, Enchantment: Frostbite (32)

By this point, James was satisfied he understood what the enchantment in the Water Amulet did. It was a boost to his Water elemental enchantments.

[Appraisal]: Water Amulet, Enchantment: Water Element Enhancement

With his experimentation done and curiosity satisfied, James spent some time excavating more of his sleeping tunnel, turning it into a proper nook out of sight of the lake, and then turned in for the night, ignoring the clacking from outside his wards.

The next morning he rose, ate, donned his armor, and once again returned to the pond. This time, however, he simply filled several jugs with the essence-brimming water and stored them in his magic bag.

Skitter skitter, clack clack

Behind him, James heard the approach of a crab monster. Just what he wanted. He turned and pulled out his Green Iron War Hammer and readied his Green Iron Tower Shield, thrust out in front of him.

The crab monster was approaching rapidly, claws waving and clacking in the air, and it attempted to dart around James' shield to clamp down on his ankle.

But it didn't get the chance.

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[Technique: Hammer Strike]

[Rapid Blow]

Crack!

With a sharp sound, James struck true and cracked the crab monster's shell with a single strike. After several more strikes, the crab monster was well and truly dead.

He quickly dug out the Water Magic Crystal, stowed it away, and then dragged the carcass by one of the large claws to a position about ten yards outside his wards.

Once there, he scanned around. None of the large white bird monsters were nearby that he could see. He took the time to cut off the crab monsters' claws and legs and took them back into his camp, digging out the meat and smoking it while keeping an eye on the carcass.

After about an hour, they came.

Several of the bird monsters swooped down on the carcass and immediately started picking at it and trying to drive off the others.

James put his helmet back on and slammed down the visor. It was time for revenge.

He lifted his Green Iron Tower Shield and readied his Green Iron War Hammer and set forth to battle.

It was tough. The bird monsters, as soon as James left the ward, swooped into the air and circled around, lining themselves up to dive bomb into his blind spot. His visor blocked much of his peripheral vision, meaning he had to continuously turn to keep the bird monsters in his field of vision. The heavier boots slowed his footwork, even though it was more stable, and worst of all was his shield.

It was simply too big and heavy. Even with his Strength, James couldn't bring the shield to bear to block the divebomb tackles of the bird monsters. Even as he heaved and tried, a tackle caught him in the side, knocking him to the ground. Pebbles bounced and scattered from the impact of his fall, and even before he could regain his footing and stand up, more tackles knocked him back to the ground.

After several dozen tense seconds of this, James finally got to his feet and rather than continuing to try to block the attacks with his shield, he slammed it edge first in to the pebbles, standing it up facing towards the lake, [Reflect] enchantment powered and active.

Now unburdened by his heavy shield, James raised the visor of his helmet, expanding his field of vision significantly. Although he couldn't turn his head or tilt it up with full range of motion, he could, for the most part, see what the bird monsters were doing.

He saw it. A bird monster turned, lined up on him, and tucked its wings, accelerating faster than natural, aimed at his side.

As he turned, he swung his hammer to meet it-

Whiff

His strike missed. He had mistimed the [Rapid Blow] activation, and missed the diving bird by an inch.

But the bird had missed him as well.

It extended its wings and flapped, regaining altitude.

Thud

Another of the birds took the opportunity to tackle James, denting his cuisses and bruising his thighs from the solid hit.

But James was ready. Before the bird monster could right its posture and fly away, he struck.

[Technique: Hammer Strike]

[Rapid Blow]

Crunch!

The impact and shattering of bird monster bones was transmitted through James' Green Iron War Hammer and into his hand and arm. The monster squawked indignantly and fell to the ground, thrashing around with one wing twisted at an odd angle, unable to get back to its feet or take to the air.

Thud

Another bird monster crashed into James' back, making him step forward to keep his balance before it took to the air again, out of the range of James' hammer.

James took a deep breath and blew it out through his lips. How annoying! The bird monsters were much faster and hit a lot harder than the bat monsters had. He took another deep breath and focused.

All he had to do was hit the birds out of the air.

They were diving at him in straight lines.

It was just a matter of timing.

And the next time a bird monster dived at him, he caught it.

[Technique: Hammer Strike]

[Rapid Blow]

Crunch!

This time his underhand strike, in the same line as the bird's tackle, caught it head first and knocked it back almost a dozen yards, head and half of its body crushed, leaving the wings intact.

Instantly he was focused on the last of the bird monsters, which had just turned to dive into him. His stance was less than ideal, still caught in the backswing of his earlier strike, but he forced it, relying on the enchantment more than his technique to get the timing right.

[Rapid Blow]

Paff!

The Smith's strike caught the bird in its tail, just barely not missing, but still enough to cause the bird monster to lose control and crash into the ground, unable to gracefully take back to the sky.

James was on it instantly. With quick steps he caught up to it as it regained its footing and his hammer struck true, causing a small explosion of pebbles as he slammed through the monster and into ground, pulverizing the body almost entirely.

"Yeah!" James shouted. He stomped back to his shield and hefted it back up. "Take that you stupid birds! Don't mess with me!" His lips were pulled into a victorious smile, and his breast was full of sense of power and accomplishment.

His visor still up, he caught the sight of a spear of water shooting out of the lake, faster than any arrow he'd ever seen. It closed the distance of hundreds of yards in the blink of an eye.

Ping!

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