Navigating the labyrinthine tunnels of the underground mountain complex was a challenge to almost everybody when they went to the areas they were not very familiar with. Especially since large sections of the network were only illuminated by glowing moss and the locals kept taking it for various purposes.
Nino felt a moment of relief when the temperature around her began to rise and the sounds of the forge rang along the corridor. The path from where she lived to her destination had been relatively straightforward. But still, she had not been able to stop thinking about how humiliating it would have been if she had needed to beg or bargain to get guided to the forge.
"What are you doing here?" were the sharp but a bit surprised words that greeted Nino. Zion and a few of the other new acolytes were standing around a large metal door. All wore their usual black robes like she did.
"Receiving my weapon," Nino voiced. She tried to walk past the group but they moved to block her. Not that she could have moved past them since the door to the forge was closed.
"That demon hurt your brain or something? We all know you did not ascend," one of the acolytes flared. Nino did not even bother dignifying him by remembering his name.
"I did, envoy of the Holy Lord even invited me to come here," Nino shrugged. There would have been no way she would have bothered to make this trip without actually being summoned.
"That makes no sense, you did not take the lord's essence, so you are still weak," Zion voiced. The veins on his face were a bit darker than before and there was a weird tint to his eyes. But when he lunged for a quick strike to grab Nino's shoulder, she easily stepped to avoid it and even slammed her fist into his chest hard enough to make him fall back.
"You were saying?" Nino asked with a sigh. Despite the anger on Zion's face, he moved to create distance between the two.
"Are you some special pet then? What are you?" Zion flared. And even if Nino did not really know the answer to that, she was not sure if she even cared anymore. She had a source of power that seemed more than strong enough to match her peers.
"The same rank as you as far as I'm aware, so I don't need to listen to you, if you can't even beat me," Nino voiced. During the encounter, the noises coming from the forge had lessened and the door was suddenly pushed open.
"What are you bickering about?" a tall bald man wearing a leather apron asked with a low tone. He had a rugged but somewhat friendly face.
"We were sent to acquire our spirit weapons," Zion nodded. The other Acolytes gathered behind him with partially lowered heads like they were not sure if they should show respect to this smith.
"Come in, we have just enough time to set things up," the smith nodded. "Just call for Malik, that being me if the others are being too unreasonable."
The group of acolytes entered the forge. It was not the biggest cave they had ever seen but it definitely was one of the most cramped and heated. All kinds of glowing metal and stone constructs filled the space. They were connected with long chimneys and pipes to the ceiling. Not that Nino had much time to look at them as she was swarmed by a group of bald men wearing leather aprons.
"Hey there, looking for a high-class weapon?" the first smith asked with a wide smile. Though he was immediately shoved a bit aside by the second.
"Not from you, his creations break to dust on their own," the second smith grinned. "One of my creations is used by a venerated master."
"And how much a weapon from you would cost me?" Nino asked. After the initial rush, several of the smiths headed to bargain with the other acolytes. Like they had decided to not compete with the others for one reason or the other.
"Just sleep with me one night," the smith nodded.
"I'm fine with one hour," the other smith offered. All of them had clear signs of different stages of the Holy Lord's blessing on their muscles and veins so Nino thought at least their seed should be decent.
"You just want to fuck me?" Nino asked with a head tilt. Even if she picked one of these guys for such a deal, she had no idea how exactly to pick the best one.
"I can do it for two hundred pearls," another smith offered. Nino had trouble even imagining that amount of pearls, she had not even seen that many in all of her life. Novices were not usually paid from any task and the ones she had seen had been someone else bragging how they had found or got one.
"Like any new acolyte had that," a smith grunted and the others laughed a bit.
"Okay, all of you scram, we don't have time for this, so let me handle this," Malik boomed and he came closer while almost pushing the other smiths away. The others dispersed without complaints so easily that Nino immediately got a bit worried about what was going on.
"So here's my offer, go fetch me these things from the warehouses, and I can make you a perfectly decent sword," Malik offered and he opened the scroll he held in his hand. On it was written barely ten things and some of them Nino had never seen before.
"This is all?" Nino asked as she took the scroll.
"Tell me it's an easy job when you come back," Malik shrugged.
"Fine, where do I go?" Nino voiced. Malik was clearly in some high position among the smiths and if she refused his offer, chances were she would only get even worse offers from there on and she might never get even a decent spirit weapon.