---The next day, Minas Mar---
"A~nd this was the last one..." the blacksmith said with a sigh, receiving the finished shield from the Waters of Styx. Over the past couple of days, since Pip's party, the blacksmith had finished all the individual and small sets of the Sky Dragon Equipment.
He had forged a pretty cool cuirass and helmet combo for Azul, a pair of vambraces for Lydia, a Helmet for Misto, and finally this shield for Ferdinand. Now, he still had exactly 7 Sky Dragon heart Scales left for Cade's armor. Once they all turned to armor, he was finally done.
Tired, the blacksmith put the shield aside and sat down. Forging the dragon scales was really tiresome, compared to the blessed
However, this didn't stay without effect.
Seth had actually thought it would happen for
"Guess, It's time to see what armor Cade wants," he mumbled to himself. With his newly developed and improved process, it would take roughly a week. Although he missed the preparation, he wanted to be there when things got into motion.
He was a little peeved for some time, since he was not able to watch the planting of the Gate Guardian Tree in person, but it couldn't be helped. At least they had a recording this time, unlike when the original Guardian Tree rose in Delta.
The original plan was to do it all at once, but they changed their plans a little. One might call it an improvement. Although he couldn't be there because of Monique's new armor, he couldn't delay the start just because he couldn't be there. Although it was not their only reason to advance into the continent, the main reason to invade the foreign lands was of an urgent nature.
It was about a year ago now that they fought their final fight with the Scene in Y-City and uncovered their crimes. One of their crimes was working with the Southern Sect Alliance and selling people of Urth to the cultivators as cultivation resources, materials, or disciples.
The full extent of this had only come to light afterward, thanks to the investigations done by Marco, Paolo, and their local allies like Master Mountain and the Soaring Falcon Sect. For the past year, Minas Mar's hands had been bound by local problems, and they had been unable to take action in the land past the rift.
Now was their time. The immediate dangers were fended off, and Minas Mar had decided to take a more aggressive stance against foreign enemies. Seth knew it was made very clear to everyone that they wouldn't be able to save everyone.
The people who had been kidnapped for nefarious purposes had long lost their lives. They could only hope to allow those meant as servants, slaves, or disciples to return home. The longer they waited, the higher the chance someone would lose their life before they could get to them.
As for those who could no longer be helped, they had no intention to allow their deaths to be silently forgotten. The grand temples and sacred shrines of the perpetrators that were part of these crimes would become their gravestones and memorials, once Minas Mar razed them to the ground.
This was the decision they came to with a unanimous vote. Save who could be saved, avenge those who couldn't. The XiGuang Province was in for a storm of blood, and Seth had made sure that it would be a one-sided one.
Not the happiest start into a honeymoon, depending on who one asked. But the proper honeymoon would come afterward, once the urgent business was over and they were free to travel and explore the sights of the Cloud Continent.
With their first step, they not only created their own base at their opponent's doorstep, but they also guaranteed that cultivators could no longer treat Urth like an open buffet, invading the No Man's Land and wantonly setting up their bases as they had at the edges of Minas Mar.
Tomorrow, Idyllin Mo would return to Delta and start transporting priests of the System God, as well as their rescue teams, to the Gate Guardian. The first group was going to set up a System Church with a teleport hub to allow travel directly to the rift and back.
The second would take immediate action to secure the people they of Urth they knew of. Seth liked to call them their Special Ops, since they were teams of Oathguards specialized in assassin and thief classes. Perfect for infiltration and rescue.
Setting up the church would take a couple more days. In the meantime, the teams could begin their operations. Once the teleport connection was set up, they would be able to send more people regularly and bring back the survivors. If everything worked out and Seth was able to keep to the schedule, they would be able to hold the ceremony and join the second wave, which would start once most of the targets were secured.
"Cade, could you come down to the workshop?" he contacted the newest member of the Field Teams. Although the day was not young anymore, there was enough time to talk about her wishes concerning the armor.
"I will be right there," the answer came after a moment of hesitation. Although Cade had confidently said that she wanted it during their conversation with Leana, she was still a little awkward about it. Soon, Cade Albright entered his workshop for the first time.
"...Did you dye your hair?" Seth asked, a little shocked. The Cade that entered was the one he knew for the most part. Golden pupils and fangs caused by her first class, a pale skin covered in tattoos inscribed with the power of a Rune Warrior, her second class. Everything was as usual, except for the platinum silver hair with purple tips.
"I-It was Leana's idea..." she admitted hesitantly.
"Well, it looks good on you, I guess?" The blacksmith gave her a kind of compliment. She now looked more like a necromantic witch than their resident necromantic witch, but he didn't voice that thought.
"Thank you, but why did you call me?" she asked.
"Your armor, I will be starting tomorrow, so we should talk about what kind of effects you want or need. Although we traveled and fought together for some time, I don't have a proper idea about your actual skills," the blacksmith explained.
During the evaluation, Cade was rarely seen, and she had often acted more like an assassin than a warrior. He knew for a fact that she was also well-versed in magic, but which exactly, he didn't know.
However, the roles she took on under Leana suggested she had a considerable prowess as a warrior, too. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the princess to be so stubborn about this armor. What exactly Seth knew about her apart from her classes was next to nothing, but he needed the information to properly choose the enchantments.
"I understand," she said ponderingly, after she listened to his explanation. "I guess the most important thing would be that I can change size to some degree," she suddenly said.
"You what?" the blacksmith exclaimed at the random fact thrown in the room. This was the first time he heard about this. As if to prove her point, Cade suddenly shrank from a woman of roughly 177cm down to a height of 160cm.
"This is my actual height, but please don't tell anyone," she said, a little embarrassed, before she grew again. Her growth didn't stop at her earlier height. She kept growing, past Seth's height, and only stopped when she was roughly 2.5m tall.
In addition to her height, packs of rippling muscles had also appeared across her body, making her resemble Asterion, the muscular Minotaur.
"I can also transform into a couple of beast forms to a certain degree to gain their powers, but I think that has little impact on the armor," she explained before shrinking back to her initial height.
"I see, yes. If you intend to use it in combat, the armor has to adjust to your size," the blacksmith agreed, hiding his surprise. If the difference was not too big, an enchantment would not have been necessary, but here it was. He would let Rún know.
"..and of course I will keep it a secret," he added belatedly.
"Anything else?" Seth asked expectantly. The very first thing she showed him was something he didn't know about. What else would she reveal? He was looking forward to a couple more surprises.