"How good is your work, honestly?" Isaac questioned Walter as they sat in the small grass and gravel clearing on the side of the mountain. They were still around half of the way up, if one didn't count the bottom quarter that had been overtaken by the colorful woodland.

Walter shrugged. "Consistently a bit above average. If it's something that I already have my tools set up for, I'll offer you a discount because we're from the same place." He told Isaac and then took another spoonful of steaming stew from a jar that had instantly reheated to proper eating temperature. "Molly's stew's the good shit." He commented more to himself than to Isaac or Lenna.

"I was going to ask for warming enchantments but it really isn't that cold." Isaac said and looked out over the dusk-lit flamboyant forest below.

"You feel that heat?" Walter questioned but just continued before either of the pair could answer: "The red leaves produce heat if the temperature approaches freezing, the purple ones produce moisture when the air's dry, the orange ones absorb moisture if it starts to flood, and the blue ones cool the air if it gets too hot."

Isaac's brows furrowed. "How is that even possible?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Most of the plants are magical. Plants 're almost as adaptable as wolves. Something about dogs just makes them easily domesticated and mutated in equal measure, but never simultaneously." Walter shook his head. "I never bothered to find out why, but it's kinda weird."

"Spell sigils in the leaves? Grain patterns? Roots shaped into runes? There has to be some studyable phenomena, otherwise they couldn't make something like this, right?" Isaac questioned further.

Walter nodded. "A bit of all of the above." He agreed between bites. "Some of them, the orange ones I think, are all technically the same plant. It's just one clone colony or something but each of the roots are connected to each other and make a massive spell sigil. Can you feel the magic vibrating through this place?"

Isaac and Lenna both nodded. "Yes. It is subtly intense." Isaac agreed and couldn't help but glance at Lenna. That description also fit his wife perfectly, unless she was on a mission anyway.

"This place's hell on *****. Rabbits mutate when startled and suddenly are burrowing at a hundred times the speed. Crows and ravens spark and zap anything that gets too close to them, even each other but they're immune to it. Wolves heal their injuries with plant bark. Panthers are entirely silent and can move with bursts of speed far beyond normal." Walter finally took a break to get another bite. "The snakes, they are gods damned immortal. They shimmy into the dirt and replace missing pieces with soil but that's not the scary part, nah, they can merge with it for short bits of time while hunting." He shook his head. "And that's not even taking into account the fact that the trees'll eat you if you aren't with someone they recognize. The sentient ones might either way."

"Sentient trees?" Isaac questioned.

"You didn't see a lot a green, but there're still green trees about. Those are the deadly ones. Don't let any of them see your face. Dryads, the lot of them." Walter explained. "Human scouts and armies alike leave this place alone. I wasn't upchargin' ya when I said it'd be a double platinum bounty. Now, I could've guided you through at level ten or so, but the trees recognize me so I'm more or less cheating."

"Dryads? Huh." Isaac said to himself. "Why exactly are dryads dangerous?"

"Powerful hypnotism, tree-mancy, and an obsession for things more beautiful than them." Walter explained and glanced between Isaac and Lenna who had her faceplate off as she ate some jerky. "You two need to be careful."

"You aren't exactly ugly yourself." Isaac commented. Walter wasn't the most handsome elf Isaac had seen but he definitely wasn't an eye sore.

Walter waved him off. "I'm practically their cousin. The same thing that keeps them from going after each other keeps them from trying to keep me. Not that a few haven't halfheartedly tried in the past, they just aren't that attracted to wood elves, especially not attracted enough to pick a fight." He explained. "Most wood elves can traverse the unnatural forest perfectly fine. The high elves wear lead crystal jewelry. The lead wards off dryads and aware plants."

"Do you have any lead on you?" Isaac asked.

Walter shrugged. "Some, sure. Not enough to keep a human or dark elf safe from the lecherous tree bitches." He eloquently explained.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Isaac chuckled at his rather colorful moniker for the tree spirits. "So just hide our faces?" Isaac requested clarification. "Will that be enough?"

Walter shrugged. "It should be." He confirmed.

Isaac brightened as he remembered something from earlier. "Can you enchant armor with spatial lock enchantments that can be activated or deactivated at will from the wearer?" He questioned Walter as he leaned in.

Walter frowned in thought as he polished off the last of his jar for stew. "Solo attunement, mana pulse activated and deactivated, spatial lock plate armor…" He thought aloud. "The attunement rigging is some next level shit. The spatial lock enchantments aren't unheard of but they are incredibly difficult and material intensive. Not to mention the armor should be practically invulnerable, otherwise whatever hits it might just end up going through it 'cause it won't give." His frown deepened in thought. "Do you know the surface area of each segment of your armor?" He asked Lenna.

Lenna shook her head. "No. But I am sure a tailor could find out." She replied. Tailors were incredibly good at finding the area of materials after all.

Walter waved her off. "A normal set wouldn't be able to handle it. You'd need a dwarven set, made specifically for the enchantment patterns, maybe even layered, which would make repair impossible. Each piece would need to be replaced entirely if any of the enchantments wears out or gets damaged. Layering is a high level artificer trick. Only the high elven artificers use it nowadays. Well, Blade too I guess." Walter went on. "My hands might be steady enough for that kind of work, but my skills are definitely not in that direction. You'd have better luck finding a spatial mage who is good with enchantments, hooking them up with a dwarven smith, and then hiring a good artificer. It'd be a cool project but I don't feel like taking a decade to do it. Okay, maybe not a decade, you could get it done in two years with a team of dwarven smiths, but still, that sounds like far more trouble than it'd be worth."

"You said 'practically invulnerable'." Isaac clung onto what Walter had said towards the beginning. "Two years is fine. Do you know of anyone who matches what you mentioned?"

Walter thought about it for a moment. "Old Benny Flint and his boys could probably make the armor. Good luck getting them to work for a dark elf but they are definitely good enough smiths for the job and are located in Silton, that's the dwarven city sort of under Altesia facing the plains." He offered. "As for a spatial mage, Karthen Eidi'Diasta is more than qualified. There are plenty of decent artificers around, I'd check in with the college to see if any of their teachers are free or want to do it."

"Karthen is… done leaving his safe haven." Isaac informed Walter.

"Oh? Did something happen?" Walter wondered.

"Yes. He went on an adventure with one of his former pupils, Lenna, and myself." Isaac replied.

"Which one?" Walter asked. "I find it hard to believe that he would willingly go on an adventure in the first place."

"Alexander. He's-" Isaac began but Walter cut him off.

"Ah. That makes sense. Anything for the college's golden boy. The prodigy must be taken care of after all." Walter said with an eye roll that took his head along with it.

Isaac raised an eyebrow. "So he really is some genius?" He asked about Alexander. "I always knew he was smart, and he'd mentioned it a few times here and there, but I didn't think it was that crazy."

Walter nodded with wide and serious eyes. "Oh it's way worse than you could imagine. Free tuition even though he's a commoner. Private lessons with the heads of each department. Hells, the school even hired someone to look after him while he was there. It was this whole thing." Walter explained. "He's a bright kid, don't get me wrong, but it brings into question how much of it was just because he had all of the resources that the school could offer him."

Isaac leaned back. "Damn, learn something new everyday." He commented as he looked at Alexander in a slightly different light. He certainly seemed smart enough but it was not like he hit maximum level while in his teens or anything.

"Well, if Archmagus Eidi'Diasta isn't up for it personally, I'd get him to draw up the plans from his office. Unless you want to get Space himself involved or something." Walter said with a shrug. "The old elf is probably your best bet."

"But the dwarves aren't likely to cooperate." Isaac brought up what Walter had said previously.

"Not unless Lenna does something big for them or theirs. I don't know if killing Jallen V'Nova counts. I'm not familiar with dark elf territory layouts." Walter explained.

Lenna shook her head. "Jallen's territory didn't even come close to Silton. It is still on the border of a V'Nova controlled city, but not one that Jallen controlled." She told him.

Walter sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Welp, good luck." He told them both and started washing out his food container and spoon with an Ocean in a Bottle. "I'm not that familiar with the dwarves. Maybe someone else can help you get in contact with a different group of viable smiths."

Isaac nodded. "Thanks anyway." He said with a thoughtful frown as he tried to think of someone who could help them. There was always Stan but Isaac had no idea if the old dwarf actually had any contacts in a larger high quality smithy. He also had to wonder if asking would make it look like he was profiling the old man too much.

"If you need some simple enchanting done, I can do that for you, if not, I'm gonna get some rest while I can." Walter announced. "There's no telling if the wildlife will continue to respect the wards or not. If they're hungry enough, I doubt a little pain and a mild mental push to go somewhere else will do anything."

Isaac nodded and eyed the mountainside around them. It looked clear but that didn't mean much when there were an unknown amount of magical predators around. "Can you enchant throwing spikes?" Isaac wondered.

"Hardened and sharpened?" Walter questioned.

Isaac nodded. "Yes. We have ten of them in decent shape." He explained.

Walter nodded. "I can do that. If that is all you have for me, I'll start under the daylight before we head out. I'll be up with the sun either way." He informed them.

"That's fine." Isaac replied and pulled his good throwing spikes out of his Inventory.

"You're gonna have to tell me how that works at some point." Walter told Isaac as he accepted the spikes.

"Maybe." Isaac said noncommittally.

Lenna handed Walter the ones that she had as well. "Thank you." She offered as she handed them over.

Walter nodded. "Don't thank me until they're done." He stated and stuffed them into his saddlebags. Walter got his rifle out of its sheath, which was connected to the inside of Copper's saddle that had been dropped onto the ground. He laid down and used the saddle as a pillow while he cradled the rifle in his arms. "G'night." He told the duo. "I'm a light sleeper." Being a light sleeper had kept him alive and un-robbed on multiple occasions. It was one of those things that separated the living from the dead when one traveled with nothing but what they could carry across all manner of roads and through all manner of places. The forest that they were in was one such place that liked to devour those that fell into too deep slumber.

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