Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) by Jez Cajiao (beach books .txt) 📗

uniform design, because that’s more efficient, but it doesn’t have to be something from a goddamn thousand years ago. Your job, as the chief armorer, is to come up with some new designs. In fact, make me the absolute best armor you can imagine; spare no expense, and create something you’d be seriously proud of, okay?”

“Anything I want?” she pressed cautiously. “I can have the other smiths work on this with me?”

“Sure, if they want to,” I said, shrugging. “Seriously, Thornapple, I’d never really looked at the Legion armor properly before I wore it in the Arena, and it is stunning. The craftsmanship is fantastic, but I think you can make more, if you’re set free… so, make it the very best you can, and take a lot of notes as you go.”

“Why notes?” She asked frowning.

“Because once you’ve got it as perfect as you can make it, we’ll test it, and if it passes the tests, you’re going to be making a lot more of them for the Legion of the Tower.”

“Uh... Lord Jax, you don’t understand. Making the kind of armor I want to make, it’ll take us months, weeks at least, and that’s just to make one…” she said hesitantly. “Add to that the various different shapes and sizes of the wearers, not to mention species…”

“Trust me, Thornapple…”

“Just call me Thorn, my lord,” she said, smiling.

“Then call me Jax,” I responded. “But seriously, trust me on this, Thorn. I can teach you ways to speed up production like you’ll never believe. Standardization and factory builds are going to rock your world…”

“Sta…” she started to ask, and I shook my head.

“Honestly, not important right now, and not something we can do anything with. For now, if you can kit us all out in Speculatores Praetoriae kit, that’s my team and I here…” I gestured around at my team. “…and give Lydia Praetorian Guard armor…”

“No,” Thorn said flatly, cutting me off.

“What?” I asked, nonplussed.

“No, Jax… no, my lord,” she insisted, shaking her head, and meeting my eyes steadily, all doubt gone. “I can give you, specifically, Speculatores Praetoriae armor. Honestly, I could even give you full Praetorian armor, should you wish it, although you wouldn’t even be able to use it, but you are our lord and it is yours by right. But… to give the others the same, even if we had enough… it would make the entire Legion hate them.”

“Hate?” I asked, even more confused.

“Yes, my lord,” she said, sighing. “I’m sorry, but the Legionnaires out there, they train their entire lives to be chosen for the Speculatores Praetoriae, and none of our Legion, or any other we have had contact with, have been able to earn a place in the Praetorian Guard since the fall of the Emperor, understandably. If you then jump your own people over their career-long dreams, especially when yours are… untested… it will only drive a wedge between them and your people. Add to that, we have a single set of Praetorian Guard armor, as each armorer is required to make one to pass their apprenticeship, but that is all we have. The other remaining pieces were smelted down, as is custom.”

“Well, shit.” I closed my eyes in dismay. “Okay… can you give us all basic armor, then? Hell, anything better than what we’re wearing now?” I asked her, receiving a firm nod in return.

“I can provide you all with basic Legion armor; the scout variety for most of you, and the heavier infantry version for your… ‘tank’,” she agreed quickly.

“How long will that take?”

“If we work through the night, we can have it ready for noon tomorrow,” Thorn said, pausing to make sure I was fine with that. When I nodded, she relaxed, clearly relieved, and went back to making notes in her journal. After a handful of minutes, she moved on to Lydia, and I took a deep breath, relieved that the issue was taken care of.

“Right, then…” I started to say, before looking up as movement caught my eye. It was Augustus and Hellenica, falling from a ship overhead and gliding toward us.

My first instinct was to panic that two people were falling to their deaths… until I noticed how gently they fell, and that nobody else seemed concerned. Instead, I leaned against the railing and watched.

It took little more than a minute for them to reach me; a few gentle course corrections, and then suddenly, they were there, Hellenica landing as gracefully and gently as a leaf, and Augustus stumbling and staggering to a halt, panting, his cheeks flushed and a huge grin on his face.

“Jax!” he said, stepping forward and reaching out to grab my shoulder. “You have to try that!” He beamed with excitement. “Honestly, it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s just…wow.”

“Okay, mate!” I laughed, shaking my head at him in amusement as he dropped his hand and I turned to Hellenica. “Clan Mother, it’s good to see you again,” I said simply, and she smiled amiably at me.

“And you, my Lord Jax. It is refreshing to see you upright and unbloodied….” she said, breaking off and looking over my ragged, filthy clothes. “Well, somewhat unbloodied…” she amended awkwardly, and I shrugged.

“I know; don’t worry, a bath or something is very high on my list of jobs today,” I promised her, and she smiled more deeply, evidently relieved that she didn’t have to be the one to broach that subject with me.

“So, is there anything you need from me?” she asked graciously, and I returned her smile, shaking my head.

“No. I simply wanted to thank you for your help at the Skyking’s tower and afterwards, and especially for the healing…”

“You and your people saved me from a fate I’d rather not remember. It is I who should be thanking you,” she insisted, but I waved her off.

“Well, as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. Is there anything I can do, or that you need from me?” I asked, and she paused, tapping