The transition from the academy's damp, lightless sewers to the outskirts of Oakhaven was like waking from a fever dream into a world of fire and iron.
As the four of them crested the final ridge of the Southern Valley, the horizon didn't just glow, it breathed. Oakhaven sat nestled in a jagged rift where the earth's crust had grown thin, allowing a natural Qi-vein to bleed upward, mingling with the dense ambient mana of a nearby forest. The result was a sky permanently stained in shades of bruised purple and embers.
"Keep your hoods up," Mina whispered, her eyes reflecting the distant orange flickers. "In Arcanum, they care about who your father is. In Oakhaven, they only care about how much weight your soul can carry. It's a merchant's neutral zone, but the neutrality is enforced by the fact that everyone here is armed to the teeth."
"You seem to be a regular visitor of that town." Kael noticed.
"Yes, of course. It's your good luck that I'm part of your team because none of you can compare to me in terms of my vast experience." Mina said in self-appraisal, not missing the rare opportunity to praise her vast knowledge and experience.
"Hmph… How childish!" Luna snorted as she walked past them.
"Hey, who are you calling childish? You're just jealous that I'm better than you." Mina yelled as she ran after Luna.
Kael shook his head in amusement as he watched the two of them banter.
As they descended the winding stone path and entered the town proper, Kael felt his senses go into overdrive. It was a sensory assault. Unlike the pristine, silent marble halls of the academy, Oakhaven was a cacophony.
Steam hissed from bronze pipes lining the streets, smelling of sulfur and molten copper. Merchants screamed prices over the rhythmic, bone-shaking thud…thud…thud of massive, mana-driven trip hammers. Cultivators from distant sects, men with scars across their eyes and women carrying jade-encrusted staves, jostled past them, their auras clashing like physical waves.
"It's... beautiful," Luna murmured, though her hand never left the hilt of her practice dagger. She looked overwhelmed by the sheer density of life. To her, every person was a potential threat, a beacon of qi that she had to track.
"It's efficient," Mina corrected, though her fingers were twitching with excitement as she looked at the runic carvings on the street lamps. "Everything here is designed to facilitate the forge."
They navigated through the Upper Ring, where the wealthy nobles shopped for polished, ornamental blades, and descended into the Smog District. This was the heart of the town, where the air was thick with soot and the real work was done.
"Here," Mina said, stopping before a massive circular building made of black basalt. Above the door was a sign carved from a single slab of dragon-bone, The Iron Pulse.
As they stepped inside, the temperature jumped twenty degrees. The shop was vast, filled with racks upon racks of weapons that hummed with internal power. In the center of the room, a man with four prosthetic brass arms was meticulously polishing a Greatsword. This was Master Vane, a man who had traded his own limbs for the precision of machinery.
He didn't look up as they approached. "If you're looking for 'pretty,' go back to the Upper Ring. If you're looking for 'lethal,' show me your gold or your blood."
Mina stepped forward, her usual social awkwardness replaced by a sharp, mercantile edge. "We aren't here for 'pretty,' Vane. My friend needs a shield that won't shatter when he funnels his brutality into it, and I need a conduit for Runic ink that won't melt under Grade-4 friction."
Vane's brass arms paused. He turned, his mechanical eyes whirring as they zoomed in on Jax, then Mina. He ignored Kael and Luna entirely, as if they were ghosts.
"The big one," Vane rasped, pointing a brass finger at Jax. "Go to the third rack on the left. The Mountain-Sunderer. It's made of lead-weighted iron and quenched in the blood of a Stone-Gorilla. It's ugly, heavy, and hates everyone."
Jax walked over, his massive hand closing around the handle of a slab-like shield that looked more like a fortress gate than a defensive tool. As he lifted it, the shield let out a low, vibrating growl. Jax didn't smile, he never did, but his grip tightened, and a spark of genuine satisfaction lit his dull eyes.
"And the girl," Vane continued, tossing a small, silver-bound cylinder toward Mina. "An Aether-Nib. It's tipped with a diamond-point and has a hollow core for stabilized ink. It'll draw lines on air if your focus is sharp enough."
Mina caught it as her breath almost stopped in sheer excitement. "This is... exquisite."
"It's also expensive," Vane said, his voice dropping into a low, predatory tone. "For the shield and the nib... three thousand spirit-stones. Or," he looked at Mina's satchel, "that jar of Ancient Kraken Ink I know you're hiding, plus the big one's service for the next four hours. I have a shipment of Star-Iron that needs moving, and my golems are down."
Mina's face went pale. The Kraken Ink was her most prized possession, her emergency fund for the next three years of study. She looked at Jax, then at the shield, then at Kael.
"Do it," Kael said quietly.
Mina bit her lip, her fingers trembling as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small, glowing jar. She placed it on the counter as if she were giving away a piece of her soul. Jax didn't say a word, he simply set his new shield down and walked toward the back of the forge to begin the back-breaking labor Vane demanded.
"A fair trade," Vane chuckled, the sound of metal grinding on metal. He finally looked at Kael and Luna. "As for you two... I have nothing for a void and a shadow. You're looking for something that hasn't been forged yet. Or something that was forged and then forgotten."
He pointed toward the very bottom of the Smog District, where the light of the Qi-vein was the dimmest. "Go find Old Man Hobb. He's in the 'Dross Pit.' If he hasn't died of charcoal lung yet, he might have the scraps you're looking for."
Kael looked at Mina, who was staring mournfully at the spot where her ink had been. "Wait here for Jax," Kael said. "Luna and I will go find Hobb."