It was morning, and Zack woke up feeling a little lonely. The past week Lilith, Kaya, and Yu have been helping with Eve's journey. With Yu's daily attempt at a baby, and Lilith's endless lust he grew accustomed to regular intimacy. Destiny and Ren were both working hard through the day so he rarely saw them.
Knowing there were more important matters to attend to he ignored his lust, and began work. Zack started with extending the tavern to house more patrons, and enlarge the bakery. Then he went outside extending the eating areas for aquatic residents. Lydia's seafood was a major hit, and he was expecting more to request her services. With this in mind, he made a sufficient place for her to work from.
The next project was extending the tailor, and when he walked in he noticed Destiny hard at work. Assisting her were five dolls, and several elves enchanting the silk. Observing how much Destiny produced in two weeks blew his mind.
The amount of silk produced had to take a toll on her stamina. Zack was going to invest in elixirs to help her body recover to ease her burdens in his absence. After extending the shop Destiny pulled him to the side and embraced him before retrieving a box from her ring.
"I've always seen clothes like this from afar, but not very often. During the auction, I got a good look at his suit, and I thought one would look good on you. It can't be stained, allows wings to extend through it, normal weapons won't cut it, and it withstands moderate magic." Destiny said nervously.
Zack went up opening the box and pulled out an all-white suit resembling Mephisto's. He realized something like this must've taken a lot of time. Zack knew how hard she already worked, and she dedicated more to him alone. He turned around embracing her.
"I love it," Zack said while sliding his hand down to her hips.
"I'm glad you like it. I even made some new clothing for the people with tails, and wings." Destiny kissed him dearly.
"We can come back later." Sera teased.
They forgot about the others around them. The other women giggled at Sera's words, and a few were of the shy ones went red quietly working. Destiny kissed him on the cheek before returning to work.
'I fo-forgot they were here.' Destiny stared at the corner to avoid their gazes.
Zack went into a back room trying on his new suit, and as he buttoned the front he felt a slight trickle of mana and realized how comfortable the silk was. Even though it was a formal suit it didn't hinder his movements. When Zack walked out of the room they all admired his look. He never invested in nice clothes cause they always ripped.
'I gotta keep this in one piece no matter what.'
In the forest, the woman from the auction remained watching from afar. Her name was Haruna and she was tasked with observing Zack. In the last two weeks, she has seen the town a few times during barrier alterations.
With it now out in the open she was watching closely from the outskirts. The first thing Haruna took note of was the unusual terrain, and how fast they were building. She attempted to breach the barrier in the first few nights but failed every time. While observing the city two men wearing the same armor appeared on the branch beside her.
"We have a dire situation to investigate."
"I'm still on orders," Haruna replied.
"Who do you think gave ours? Lord Hisato will be coming over personally."
Haruna went silent as they disappeared from the tree, and took off in the direction of Stormhaven. Zack was on the mountain making new homes as Sun led him around to their suggested spots. While working on renovations he noticed all the other kakuens were missing.
"Where did everyone go?" Zack asked.
"Three went to the old mountain to fill rings, and the rest are showing Pan the nearby valley. Can Eve grow trees here?" Sun investigated.
"Every time I start to grasp her power it improves, and something like that shouldn't be a problem," Zack replied.
Sun heard the news taking off to inform the others. She wanted to have their opinions on what to grow. Zack was descending the mountain admiring the forest Eve cultivated. They left to visit Lilith's family and after check Eve's grove for anyone who managed to escape. The alterations are meant to make the new guest feel welcome if anyone decided to follow them home.
After Zack finished thinking about the others he traveled to see Rolen. When he walked into the forge he saw Valan, and Aelia observing Rolen's work closely. In Rolen's hands, Zack noticed the other tools from the auction. The engravings being carved into the mithril plate were disappearing. Was it not working? Zack didn't wanna break his concentration so he observed quietly.
Rolen struck the plate as it reformed into a necklace, and then retrieved a large diamond from a nearby chest carefully engraving new designs into it. The diamond began to shimmer with a gold light resembling the forge as he placed it on the armor. The objects shined immensely before the armor dissipated.
Rolen caught the diamond as Thea placed the necklace on the anvil. Rolen stuck the necklace igniting the metal before placing the diamond on it carefully. A loud ringing ensued as the pendant began cracking. Rolen continued to strike the weapon as his hammer glowed. The forge and anvil began radiating in unison as he worked diligently till the glowing stabilized.
"Did it work?"Aelia asked.
"Only one way to find out. Bind with it." Rolen said while handing the necklace to Zack.
Zack did as he was told, and put on the necklace as it disappeared. He attempted to call it forth as the armor appeared around him. It was extremely light, and fit around him perfectly.
'I've never heard of people binding with armor before.' Zack looked down in awe.
Zack noticed his mana, and grace flowing freely through the armor. With little focus, he formed a ball of flames in his hands. Zack closed his eyes slowly feeling the residual mana flowing towards him. This would allow him to spend less time gathering mana during battle. He opened his eye retracting the helmet for a better view.
'Never was a fan of helmets. Much easier to see, and breathe this way.'
"This was a method used by arcane knights long ago. They would use the same forges, but the last of them perished after the second dark age. Your mother was truly a prodigy to recreate something like this. It's the only thing around here I can't replicate." Valan praised while examining the forge.
"Pour magic into the gauntlet while clenching your fist," Rolen requested.
Zack did as directed as the engraving glowed on his gauntlet. From his right gauntlet extended a seventeen-inch blade of pure mana. It was constantly consuming mana to use it so he released it. He now understood the warning Rolen gave before. It would be dangerous if enemies had armor this strong. Zack calmed his mind as the armor dissipated.
"I know you have problems manifesting your spear right now, and figured this could help. It's resilient as grade five armor, and the blade is the same level. If you expend some mana the armor can repair, but it's costly." Rolen said while returning to his workbench.
"Let's leave them to their work," Valan said as they walked out together.