Rise of the Living Forge

The Mesh was relentless. Arwin was still desperately trying to pull himself out of his stupor and think over the Mesh’s parting words to him when new sentences of gold traced through the air to replace the old ones.

Your Class Specialization has evolved.

Cursed Dwarven Smithing has changed to Forbidden Soulmancy.

Forbidden Soulmancy?

Arwin blinked, then wiped at his eyes as he squinted at the words. He supposed that it was pointless task to be surprised that the Mesh hadn’t just advanced his smithing — it had advanced the Cursed tag as well.

Forbidden… that sounds a whole lot more intimidating than cursed. I wonder if the Mesh took me literally about being willing to let the Menagerie take on all the challenges they could if it meant they could grow strong enough to defend themselves.

And what is Soulmancy? Clearly something to do with the Soul Guardians, right? I have to tell Lillia about this and figure out what it’ll let me do before the tournament rolls around. Olive needs her —

More gold letters sliced through the air and Arwin’s thoughts alike. It didn’t seem that the Mesh planned to give him more than a brief moment to catch his breath between each announcement until it had finished telling him everything it wanted to.

New Skill Choice Available.

These skills have been adjusted by [???] to better fit the desires of your soul. Beware. Some of these skills are [Forbidden] and are liable to cause immense damage to their wielder.

[Living Storm] – Bond a portion of your soul into every Soul Guardian you create, permanently marking them as part of you. So long as the Core of your Soul Guardians remain intact, you may shatter, and re-arrange, and direct their components into any shape or form you desire. The Soul Guardians will rebuild themselves upon the completion of this skill.

[Forbidden][Heart of Metal]: Infuse your soul completely into the body of a Soul Guardian, replacing its core and leaving the weakness of your mortal flesh behind. You will be able to adapt and modify your body as you desire. It will grow as your mortal form did but will take on properties and desires of the components used to create it. This armor can be donned by anyone you allow it to, changing in form to adapt to their abilities.

[Forbidden][Lifebreaker] – Focus your soul into a single strike, driving it into the soul of a target. Should your will and magical energy overwhelm that that of your target, their soul will shatter and they will be removed from the cycle of life in its entirety, leaving behind nothing but an empty husk. Should you instead be defeated, this effect will be applied to you in your target’s stead.

[Forbidden][Volcanic Soul](Passive) – Take the fire that burns the furnace of your soul and push it past the limits of what a mortal soul can handle. Should your will be strong enough, become tempered. Should you fail, your body and soul alike will be consumed.

Arwin’s mouth felt dry. He stared at the glowing letters before him, unable to tell if he should be awed or sickened by some of the offers before him. They were terrifying. There was no denying that.

The Mesh hadn’t been joking about offering him seriously empowered abilities… but this wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Some of them seemed far more powerful than anything he’d expected to get in Master Tier, much less Adept Tier.

Even before he had a chance to really think through the benefits and drawbacks of the offers, he could see immediate, enormous threats that many of the skills posed. Ones that could just straight up kill him — or worse.

Even the wording of the skills felt more ominous. The Mesh was warning him. He’d never seen or heard of a [Forbidden] skill, but it had shown up at the same time that he’d gotten his new Class Specialization.

And now, given the immense danger that each of the Forbidden skills was promising, there was no doubt about it. His new class specialization was equally as dangerous.

As dangerous… and as powerful.

It’s always about risk and reward with you, isn’t it?

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Arwin’s hands tightened at his sides and his eyes narrowed. The Mesh had given him a single skill that didn’t come with any of the risks at the others. He could start with that one and then get to the others later. There was no point skipping ahead.

[Living Storm] was definitely a powerful option, and it was clearly influenced by his creation of a Core. It was clearly meant to truly become powerful after he had enough Soul Guardians made to rip them all apart and bring a wall of magical metal and force down on anyone in his path.

I can see it now. Waving my hand and ripping apart an entire army. A tsunami of metal and energy ripping through everyone that stands in the Menagerie’s path. This ability has some ridiculous potential, but not until I’ve got enough Soul Guardians to really take advantage of it and enough magical energy to actually control that much strength.

Arwin pursed his lips. Even with one Soul Guardian, it seemed like it would be quite strong. He wouldn’t write it off yet — but there were other abilities to look at before he made any decisions.

The next option took an immediate dive off the deep end of sanity. The first of the [Forbidden] skills, [Heart of Metal] was the ability that only a madman would take. It made Arwin’s insides twist at the very thought.

Protecting people was one thing. Transforming himself into the very armor he made was an entirely different one. It doubtlessly came with enormously powerful benefits and the ability to basically become an eternally adapting defense for his guild… but at the cost of his own body.

A life lived as a metal chunk was not a real life. Taking this skill would mean giving up his ability to taste food. To hug his friends. To live. Arwin wasn’t so sure that he wanted to give up everything he had for some more power. Not when there were other options.

And that led him to [Lifebreaker]. Arwin could see immediately why it was [Forbidden]. Even if he’d never heard of the classification before, the skill was literally a guarantee of death. When it connected, one of the two people involved in the blow was gone. Completely and utterly wiped out.

It was a skill meant for a man who desired nothing but the ultimate revenge. Arwin was also pretty sure that the existence of this skill technically confirmed that there was in fact an afterlife of some sort — and that there was a way to remove people from accessing it.

I know I myself have said that there’s no such thing as evil magic, just evil methods… but this is just evil. Who am I to determine who gets to enter the afterlife or whatever happens after that?

What if people are completely shaped by their circumstances? Wouldn’t their soul still be technically pure and have a chance of becoming a good person later on? I don’t know. I won’t be the one to decide that, though. I’m not living solely for revenge.

Thanks… but no thanks.

Only one skill remained to look at.

[Forbidden][Volcanic Soul](Passive) – Take the fire that burns the furnace of your soul and push it past the limits of what a mortal soul can handle. Should your will be strong enough, become tempered. Should you fail, your body and soul alike will be consumed.

“Volcanic Soul,” Arwin murmured to himself.

The skill almost didn’t fit in with the others. It was clearly adjacent to Soul Flame, but on an entirely different level. It had clearly earned the right to be a [Forbidden] skill by right of the threat that his soul could simply burn away to ash simply by selecting it.

There was so little information as to what the skill would actually let him do. But, if it really was similar to [Soul Flame], then it was more than just a powerful option. It was a ridiculous one.

Dwarven Smithing relied heavily on lava to purify and work with items. If he could fill that lava with the soul-empowered equivalent, he could already imagine just how significant of a boost to his crafting abilities that would provide.

I could work with materials that were beyond me. I could produce things faster and connect to them better since the magma would be a portion of my own soul rather than just imbued with [Soul Flame].

And that was just for crafting. If [Volcanic Soul] let him control soul-empowered lava… well, there weren’t many things on a battlefield that were more terrifying than a literal wall of lava crashing down on somebody, not to mention soul-empowered lava.

That wasn’t to say the ability was all positives. It was generic in description, so he had no clue as to the full extent of what it would cover. There was also the rather significant matter of actually having to survive getting it.

Forbidden Skills didn’t seem like they were going to ever be easy.

But Arwin hadn’t asked for easy. He’d asked the Mesh for a way to defend his people — and it had more than given it to him.

He scanned over all the options that floated before him one last time. There was no point. He’d already come to his decision. Out of every single ability, there was one that fit in the goals he’d had with every ability choice since the very beginning.

There was only one that made both his crafting and combat stronger. One that could create as well as destroy.

“I’ve made my decision,” Arwin said, his hands tightening at his side. “I’m not going to die to an ability, Mesh. And I’m getting answers to all those questions you asked me on my own. Give me Volcanic Soul.”

The golden words slipped away.

A presence slammed into Arwin’s gut like a hammer blow. It drove the breath from his lungs. And, for the second time that day, the world shattered. It fell away around him, fragments of broken glass plummeting through the void.

Arwin’s heart thumped in his ears as he found himself careening amidst the fading shards of reality. His heart rose into his throat and goosebumps exploded across his skin. Everything faded away until there was only black.

A glowing ember of light fluttered to life before his eyes. Molten orange, a leaf of warmth that danced on an invisible wind before gently, gracefully, alighting upon his forehead.

Agony exploded through his body.

The darkness vanished, and all that remained was an endless sea of burning hot lava — and at its center, Arwin.

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