"So good to see you all," was the bright cheery greeting he gave them, getting a strong nod from Baelvyr but disgruntled snorts from the rest. "Not in a good mood, are we?"

"Everything sucks," Beth replied succinctly, getting a hearty laugh from the mysterious man of many dimensions.

"Sounds like you just need a vacation," he returned.

"And to do some shopping," Beth added.

"So, that's how it is," Mortaine said, giving her a knowing look.

"I am not a shopping addict," Beth returned drily. "Far from it. I just had all my armor destroyed recently and need to restock."

"Ah, I see. That makes more sense," Mortaine said before turning to Baelvyr. "Are you done with them now, my good man?"

"Yeah, take 'em off my hands," Baelvyr grunted. "Just don't keep 'em too long; they gotta get their referee time in soon."

"I'm sure we won't be too long," Mortaine said with a laugh, turning and making a broad gesture. By the time his sweeping gesture was finished, they were all, minus Baelvyr, somewhere entirely different. Beth still couldn't get over how easily, and strangely, the man moved people around.

They appeared within a luxurious suite, something else Beth found rather amusing; the way Mortaine quite often set a place of great luxury as his destination. They were on the top floor of a tall building, looking out over a bustling city in the light of a bright yellow sun. There were plenty of people out on the streets below and Beth could see the glimmer of an energy shield in the distance protecting the entire city.

"You said you needed to do a bit of shopping," Mortaine addressed them. "This world is quite a mercantile center; I'm sure you can find what you're looking for here. And yes, before you ask, there is a Seven Lights office here, if you decide to give them more business."

"And what is it you have for us, exactly?" Beth asked.

"I need you to run a bit of an errand. It's somewhere I cannot get to," he said with a sharp nod. "Well, I can get there, it would just require a huge amount of time and effort and would cause some…serious problems. I also wouldn't be able to do what I need to do within the amount of time we have. It's complicated, but I need you three to run an errand that has a time limit and retrieve me a box."

"Sounds like scut work," Beth grunted.

"Sounds boring," Blood added.

"Yes, well, as you're finding out, not every job or task can be limitlessly glorious," he replied drily. "You'll get well compensated for the work, I can assure you. As an aside, if you need help in gathering equipment while you're here, just let me know. You've got two days to arrange everything unless something will take longer but do let me know. Money and persuasive power are things I can readily bring to bear."

"Message received," said Sera, herding the other two out the door before they could give in to any more grumbling.

"I know he's friendly, but he is an Exalted," Sera said to them once they were out and on the street.

"Big deal," Beth shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll get there some day, and sooner rather than later. Besides, Mortaine and Baelvyr just…genuinely don't care. Don't tell me you haven't picked up on that."

"Still, not all powerful people are so open," Sera reminded them.

"Did we act out of turn with Laselle?" Beth asked as they walked down the street.

"No, but even using her name and not title would get you some serious scrutiny by many," Sera said with a slight wince.

"If they've got a problem, they can take it up with her," Beth said with a shrug. "We did what she asked, faster than she asked, and didn't demand an extra reward. She thinks highly of us and wouldn't have a good opinion of people talking shit."

"Maybe I'm too stuck in my ways," Sera muttered thoughtfully.

"Aren't you the dragon clans' wild child?" Beth asked with a raised brow.

"Even I was respectful to the Elders," Sera said a bit sourly.

"That I'd like to see," Blood grunted from behind the two.

"So would I," Beth added with a grin.

"Let's go get some armor," Sera sighed, shaking her head as she picked up the pace.

The three made their way to the shopping district of the city, finding the place centered around a massive, open-air market that had hundreds of stalls and small vendor tents set up in what was essentially a massive square in the center of the city. They spent some time just wandering the stalls, finding the place filled to the brim with exotic goods of every type and variety. There were spices, exotic foods, gems, jewels, jewelry, engravings, paintings, carvings, sculpture, weapons, armor, potions, pills, elixirs, ore, herbs, candies, fine clothes, bolts of exotic and strange cloth, and so, so much more. The stalls continued without end, and it was a place Beth could see herself getting lost in, maybe at times literally, for days on end. She made a note of the world and city, as it was definitely going to be a place they returned at least once to experience, if it didn't become a frequent stop.

After having had a good wander, and bought enough food to feed six armies, most of which went into either Sera's gullet or storage space, they moved into one of the surrounding buildings. They found it was a massive ironworks, smelting tons of metals an hour. Connected to the building were several dozen workshops, mainly smithies, though there were all kinds of crafters diligently plying their trades within. They moved into a large, clean, well cared for shop that had an open timber ceiling and a tall, lithe woman at the counter. The back of the shop was open, showing two older dwarves hammering away at metal on two separate anvils, the pace at which they were molding and finishing works rather astonishing.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Welcome to Ghimen Brothers' Arms," the woman said with a wide smile. "Interested in our fine crafts today."

"Yeah, my armor got torched recently and I need a new set," Beth replied. "Other than helmet; I have a really good one. But everything else is shredded."

"Yer armor didna have repair on it, lassie?" one of the old dwarves, presumably a Ghimen brother, asked as he finished his current work on what looked like a pauldron.

"It did. Still roached," Beth said. At the dwarf's nod, indicating a table by the counter, she walked over and dumped what remained of her armor. The second dwarf, meanwhile, finished his current work and set the piece on the edge of one of the forges to anneal.

Walking over, the two looked over what was left of her gear, whistling loudly at the damage. "Hell's bloody bells, lassie. What were the truck that hit ya whilst wearin' this?" the second dwarf asked.

"I had to fight against a rebirth sixteen monster even though I'm only rebirth five. I then got kicked around by a rebirth forty-four monster, but I wasn't wearing most of the armor by then," Beth explained with a shrug.

"Good Bloody Stars, lassie!" the first dwarf exclaimed. "Ya survived all that, eh?"

"Torched my armor," Beth said with another shrug. "Found this recently, but that's the only decent piece I have."

She pulled out the circlet and showed the two dwarves her new head piece. The first brother took it in hand, flipping it over several times while the two muttered back and forth in something other than standard. Beth wasn't up to date on her dwarvish languages, so she just smiled and nodded along as they argued, though the weren't looking at her. Eventually, they handed the circlet back to her.

"Don't know that we can do anythin' like that fer ya, lassie," the first dwarf said. "What exactly are ya lookin' fer?"

"I was hoping to get something at least epic quality, maybe even legendary, and at level two hundred. If any of it were part of a set, even better, but I know that stuff's a lot rarer," Beth explained.

"Hmm," they both muttered at the same time, stroking their thick beards and exchanging looks. "I cannae rightly tell ya that we can do anythin' that good fer ya, but what about this?" the first brother said, giving the second dwarf a knowing glance. The second dwarf nodded firmly, walking further into the back, behind a second set of forges that were currently cold.

The dwarf returned a minute later, sweeping Beth's destroyed armor off the table before placing a new set in front of them. The whole thing was made of some kind of rather thick scales, worked and forged into plates that were welded onto a thin but very strong leather base. The chest armor was a sleeveless tunic that would fall almost to Beth's knees, making her wonder if it had been intended more for someone like Sera or another humanized beast that retained a lot of height in human form. The leather was all a dark red while the scales were pitch-black and, unlike Sera's scales, they didn't glimmer or reflect any light.

The cuisses and greaves were made in similar ways, though it looked like a skilled cobbler or leatherworker had made the boots that were the basis of the greaves. The gauntlets were heavier things, with some of the thickest plates welded into the leather and to each other. The upper arms also had their own vambraces that strapped to the chest armor and gauntlets with little latches that wouldn't be much restrictive of the wearer's movements. Beth examined it all, noting that there was no helmet with the set, but the rest of it would provide very good protection.

"No helmet?" she asked.

"Can't beat yers, lassie," the second dwarf grunted, plopping it on the table. He was right, though it wasn't as far off as it might have seemed. Beth brought up the stats of all the pieces just to check how good the whole thing was.

Rockhide Brigandine

{This chest plate, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability and Greater Repair.

20% increased STR.

10% increased DEX.

50% increased END.

Minimum level 200.}

Rockhide Cuisses

{These chausses, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability and Greater Repair.

20% increased STR.

10% increased DEX.

50% increased END.

Minimum level 200.}

Rockhide Greaves

{These greaves, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability and Greater Repair.

20% increased STR.

10% increased DEX.

50% increased END.

Minimum level 200.}

Rockhide Brassart

{These brassart, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability and Greater Repair.

20% increased STR.

10% increased DEX.

50% increased END.

Minimum level 200.}

Rockhide Gauntlets

{These gauntlets, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability, Greater Repair, and Mass Adjustment.

20% increased STR.

10% increased DEX.

50% increased END.

Minimum level 200.}

Rockhide Helmet

{This helmet, forged from the scales of a rock mauler, can withstand immense damage while increasing the wearer's force by a significant margin. Enchanted with Greater Durability and Greater Repair.

20% increased STR.

10% increased DEX.

50% increased END.

Minimum level 200.}

The set was genuinely amazing, and Beth liked that the gauntlets had mass adjustment on them, something she was coming to really appreciate as an enchantment. The increases were pretty staggering, which wasn't that unusual for higher-end armor and equipment, but wearing the whole set, helmet included, would increase her END by three hundred percent. She currently had more than thirty-two hundred base END, meaning the whole set would raise hers to more than twelve thousand. Even without the helm, she would still be in five figures, with more than ten thousand END. She also noted that the upper arm pieces were called brassarts to her eyes, likely one of several terms for the pieces.

"Impressive work," Sera said. "Are you sirs Grandmasters?"

"Aye, lassie, all four of us that still work," said the first dwarf. "Our eldest mainly handles the business side o' things, and more power to 'em. Us four that still 'ammer are all Grandmasters, though the youngest is closest to Sage."

"Aye," added the second dwarf, "he doesn't have long ta go, as he is right on the cusp."

"One day, we'll make stuff like this," Beth said with a sigh.

"Forgers too, are ya, lassies?" asked the first brother.

"Only early Journeyman, both of us," Sera said. "We just don't seem to have enough time to do everything."

"I can imagine not, iff'n ya be fightin' with beastie what'll do that ta yer armor," the first brother said, nodding at the pile of scrap on the floor that had been a set of epic set equipment.

"Yeah, it's been a bit rough lately, but we've got a little free time after our current job," Beth said. "We're gonna focus on our professions for a little then."

"Well, if ya lassies need some advice, ya can come back to our shop," the first brother said.

"Thank you so much," Sera said with a formal bow.

"Now, the real question," Beth continued, refocusing their attention on her. "How much?"

"Ya want the helm, too, lassie?" asked the first brother.

"Might as well," Beth said. "I don't have a good spare for the circlet right now."

"For all the pieces…I would normally say a mithril and a half, but I'll go easy on ya," he said. "We'll do a mithril and thirty diamond, and that's as low as we could take it. Ya want anythin' better, ya can't find it for better than that."

"Deal," Beth said with a shrug, pulling out the coins.

"Let Adelene do 'er job, lassie," the second brother said, nodding at the clerk. "She gets all antsy when we try to make a sale."

The two brothers chortled and returned to their forges while Beth made the trade with the salesperson, who was very polite. It also left Beth with an official receipt, both in hardcopy and in digital form, showing she had purchased the armor, for how much, and when. She made the armor disappear into her necklace after the transaction and then had it appear on her body, waiting a minute for it to resize slightly before stashing it again.

"Alright, next stop," Beth said, waving the other two out of the shop ahead of her.

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