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

As soon as Thorn saw me, she grinned, standing tall and proud, with the three men falling to their knees and bowing their heads.

“That’s enough of that crap,” I said, striding forward and pulling first one, then the other two men to their feet. “I don’t expect you to kneel, lads; not for me, not ever.” My voice was firm as their astonished gazes met mine. “I’m your lord, or I will be, as soon as you take the Oath… crap. We need to sort that out, Oracle, before we leave today. Restun, I’m going to need mana potions,” I requested, mentally bracing myself for what was to come. “Anyway, I’m your lord, but I’m still just a man, so no need to kneel. I take it you were slaves?” I asked the first man, then looked to the other two, receiving mute nods of confirmation from all three.

“Well, I’m glad we managed to free you,” I said, smiling. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing…” I trailed off, seeing the look of stunned adoration on their faces and feeling extremely uncomfortable.

“Weems, Tim, Joh, back to those jobs, please,” Thorn prompted, and the men jumped, running to return to their work.

“Thanks,” I muttered quietly to her and she grinned, her tusks making her smile seem strange, but it was definitely heartfelt, and for that, I was grateful. “Some new volunteers, then?” I asked, nodding toward them, and she fairly beamed.

“I picked them out of the pool. They’re certainly determined; it’s good to see, in all honesty. Admittedly, they know nothing yet, but the way they all focus on each task? They’ll be smiths to be proud of in a year or two.”

“The pool?” I asked.

“The volunteer pool,” Thorn confirmed, then smiled. “Come, let’s get you into your armor and make any last-minute adjustments, and I can tell you while I fit you.” She guided me around to a waiting pile of gear, picking out three bundles, setting one before me and patting the other two.

“First of all, these,” she said, unwrapping the first bundle. “Three sets of clothing. This one is for under your new armor; it’s specially designed, padded, and strong, helps to hold the armor in place, and helps to spread the weight more evenly, thanks to the small hooks and design.” She pointed out each feature as she described them. “There’s a full set, from underclothes up, including coverings for your feet, while those two there,” she said, gesturing to the other two, “are a set of standard workout clothes and a set for relaxing in. The tailor said he and his people will come to see you as soon as you’re free to design your normal working uniform, and so on.”

“Sounds good,” I said, grateful for the fresh clothing.

“Now, once you’re dressed in that, we can get the armor on. This is our standard equipment, so I made very few changes to it, but it’s a step up from the gear you’ve been wearing. What we talked about earlier, though… are you sure about me making the best armor I can for you?” she asked slowly, and I nodded firmly.

“Definitely.”

“Then we need to make some serious plans, because we’ve talked here about what we could do… there’s not a crafter in the Legion that hasn’t dreamed of making something new, something unique and glorious, so last night, I got them together, and we planned as we worked.” she explained, almost sheepishly. “The design that we came up with, it incorporates dreams of more than half the crafters we have. I’ve personally been fantasizing about it for years; it’d be a hell of an upgrade to our standard gear, but…”

“But it’s not the traditional armor, so some Legionnaires will freak out, and it’s expensive. Got that earlier, totally fine with it, just make it as best you can.”

“We can make a prototype, as a demonstration, but we’d need to create a specialist forge for the final product. The metal I want to use won’t melt for the likes of a piddly little forge like this. We need Arcanium, and that requires a magma forge…” she said cautiously, hope clear in her voice.

“Okay, I don’t know what that is, but I’ll see what I can do…” I said, shrugging. Her shoulder slumped, and I stopped admiring the new armor and looked at her properly.

“Thornapple,” I said, and she looked at me, her expression a respectful mask. “I came to this realm a month or so ago. I’ve done so many things since then that I’m told are impossible that I’m not even going to mention them. You tell me you need a magma forge? Fine. I’ll get you one,” I promised earnestly. “I just raided my enemy’s city, stole most of his most powerful weapons of war, and almost all of his most valuable stored resources. I’ve picked fights with the Drow on their own ground, slaughtered my way across the Arena and killed the Skyking, tore a SporeMother apart, and captured the Great Tower. Believe me, if you need a magma forge, I’ll get you one. Right now, I don’t know what it is, but I will sort it out, okay? Now, about my armor?” She stood a little straighter and grinned at me, nodding to the set that stood in pride of place in her little section, gleaming dully on a stand.

“You’ll need to get changed…” She said indicating the clean clothes, and I was all too happy to comply, starting to pull my battered equipment off and stabbing the base of my naginata into the soil. “I can leave, if you wish…” she offered quickly, but I indicated that her comfort level was the deciding factor, stripping down unabashedly to my undercrackers. One touch of the Legion standard ones left me shaking my head in refusal. No way was something that rough cradling my nether regions.

In a blink, I was covered again, wasting no time in pulling the