< "Hard! Faster! Yes! Keep hitting the good spots!" > Artemis's voice resounded, echoing around the system workshop they were in.
"Yes, Artemis! This is great! I really think I've improved! The things I make are getting so much better now!"
They were, obviously, working on Marcus's void forging, and not some other dirty thing you dirty-minded child. They had been training for about 6 months now, and Marcus would take only the smallest breaks in between work, sleeping about 5 hours a day, and spending about 2 hours in his kingdom sorting out anything that required his attention.
He was more of a ruler in name and allowed his most loyal subordinates to rule in his place. He wasn't scared of them deciding to rebel or anything like that, as he knew he was strong enough to put them in their place, or if push came to shove call upon some favours to help quell any rebellions.
He had already managed to bring the Arctic Monkeys of the North onto his side when he introduced them to bananas, a fruit similar to the ones grown in his homeland, but with a slightly sweeter taste than the regular ones. It was shaped like a boomerang and was yellow in colour, sheltered deep yellow peel.
The Monkey King had actually tried to eat the banana with its skin on the first time he saw it and nearly Killed Marcus, thinking he had been pranked. It had taken a lot of smooth-talking to stop Marcus getting decapitated, and even more to get the Monkey King to eat the banana without the skin on it.
It had actually involved Marcus challenging the Monkey King to a little competition, claiming if the Monkey King was unable to put the banana down after a single bite, Marcus would serve him for the rest of his stay on the island. After being goaded by Marcus, the Monkey King ate a small mouthful of the banana, still extremely sceptical about it.
Considering Marcus is now ruling a completely different country, it's rather obvious that the Monkey King was completely unable to stop eating the banana given to him by Marcus, and went through all of the crates Marcus had found wild in the forest near where he had arrived. Turned out the rest of the beasts had thought the bananas were poisonous, and thus avoided them. It was now, however, a staple in the markets of his city.
"Platinum II?! No way! This could sell for thousands of gold pieces at home! I'm rich!"
< "Well, not really. The materials you are making the weapons out of are worth quite a lot in their own, so you'd run out too fast. They also can't be acquired through regular means and buying them from the system workshop would actually cost a good chunk more than the final piece's worth… so making a weapon out of the material probably downgrades its value. Glad you've struck it rich though!" >
Marcus spluttered on the water he was drinking. Artemis had developed a habit of shutting down his dreams as soon as he had them, and it was really starting to affect him.
"You don't have to be that pessimistic about it, you old hag," he muttered under his breath.
< "Pardon me?"
Marcus already knew that she knew what he had said, but he didn't have the energy to chase it up. Chances were that it would end with him being either yelled at or ignored for a few days, and that was a big waste of the limited time he already had.
"Nothing," he replied as sweetly as possible, trying to get away from the awkward topic.
< "Good boy. Okay, now let's move you onto the next stage of void craftsmanship. This one is a lot more energy taxing, so only use it on your greatest projects, or once you've mastered it to a high enough level. For now, I've managed to get something helpful for you in the store. " >
As soon as he heard this, Marcus practically screamed "Open Store" in his head, resulting in more nagging from Artemis. He was extremely excited as the past 6 months had nothing good in the store, other than a comfy koala hat and a game played back in his hometown called "Blindball".
Basically, there would be a magic sheet of darkness in the middle of the table, whilst the players stand on either side. Each player would take turns smacking the ball across the table, through the darkness, and onto the other person's side. The other person wouldn't be able to see the ball, so they'd have to rely on pure reaction time to rebound the ball, through the darkness. This would continue until either side failed to rebound it.
The game was extremely popular and was played by many, and sometimes even on a larger scale where the players would play in teams of four and would play on a court similar to the size of a basketball court. Larger scale games were normally played in the national cups and competitions which would be watched by millions, and typically involved a lot of flashy abilities from adventurers and nobles who decided to settle down or have some fun.
Marcus had tried to get his advisor into it, but the centaur would deflect the game onto the General, who had a hundred, well-coordinated hands, making it nearly impossible to beat him.
He did, however, manage to impress his entire kingdom with his koala hat, as it seemed there was a super-powered beast with incredible strength that looked exactly like the koala, causing the entire kingdom to think he had defeated the legendary beast.
Marcus checked the store and was pleasantly shocked by what he saw. There was a tube of about forty or so pills, containing things called "Vis Pills", Palladium III rank alchemical creations that would supplement the user with a large amount of Vis energy, more than enough to give Marcus a full tank.
"They're perfect! Oh, and by the way Artemis, will we ever have a chance for me to learn Alchemy too?"
< "Glad you asked, Marcus! Alchemy is actually very similar to smithing, except smithing required you to hit things with a hammer whilst alchemy requires you to crush and shape it with your Vis." >
"So I'm basically already a master alchemist then?"
< "Well I wouldn't say you're a master… more like a knowledgeable rookie. I'll show you more of the ins and outs of alchemy on a later date. We have work to do now." >
Marcus turned towards his creations:
There were also several more items of similar rarities with similar purposes, and after a small count, Marcus found that there were a little over 100 items in the pile.
His favourite item, however, was the
He had already figured out what "struck" would mean, and the other effects had made him treasure this weapon as his current greatest creation. He instantly purchased it for 18 gold pieces, before throwing it into his inventory.
"Okay, Artemis, let's make one last item today then we'll take the rest of the night off."