Master Of None

"Huh? What kind of question is that? A blacksmith can only work with materials dependent on their system. Rune smith, crystal smith, we even have a gear smith. But using all of that you would need a master system like the forge master system. They can do all that and much more. It is basically mastery over anything that can be forged." The king didn't even pause the process of separating the silver skinned worm eggs from the silver vein to answer. 

"Huh, so the wandering blacksmith must be pretty special then," Remey smirked at her choice to ask the king. Walker and Gil both felt that if they had asked they would not have received such a prompt answer. Instead, they would have ended up waiting for an answer that would not have come. 

"Alright then, let's store this away. Great find Midnight." Walker went to pat her on the head but found that she pulled away and looked at him hungrily. "And I have to reward you of course because only a wise dragon like you would have found such a useful crafting material." 

Midnight reacted by puffing her chest and closing her eyes. She was weak to the praise but even weaker to the pieces of cooked horned rabbit Walker pulled from his inventory. She immediately settled in to devour them. 

"You've got food!? Get it out then!" The king dropped his pick axes in an x shape over the hole he was digging and grabbed a piece of meat from Walker. "I swear. Those surface buffoons never send down the good stuff like this. They always say that we should hunt our own down here. They know nothing of how bad the monsters down here taste." 

Walker was sure that the monsters didn't taste as bad as the king made them sound since some of them appeared very soft and easily seasoned like the pale salamanders. Yet he also understood that someone could only eat so much of one thing for so long before becoming very tired of it. 

With a loud clamoring, the fire fighting dwarves came in and dropped their gear down to sit with the rest of them. They had somehow heard and smelled the food forcing Walker to pull more from his inventory. It wasn't that he didn't have enough since he had a great deal saved for when he was able to get back to the guild to sell it. But he was taken so off guard that he wasn't sure what to do. 

"I'm pretty sure dwarves are gluttons. They can eat like three times their body weight in food." Gil whispered to Walker since this was a rumor he had heard about dwarf es that appeared to be coming true. 

"Bah! Stop talking nonsense. We just need more energy to mine all day, unlike humans that are trapped thinking instead of acting." The king easily disputed this but Waker was sure that they had some special ability to eat more. 

The dwarven fire fighter explained how they had noticed the yellow slimes suddenly lose their focus and start to fall from the ceiling and in to the water. They had wisely gathered over thirty of the yellow acid slime cores from the water and held them within a tough fire proof bag they carried. They were kind enough to gift these to Remey who told them about her plans to experiment with alchemy and how their endeavors would aid in them. 

After some time the king eventually decided he had gathered all he needed and returned to the group resting. "Let's head up to the merchant district and meet my fellow king at the high forge. I need to have equipment made to fight off those slimes and order for the alchemists to begin making more of the potions to fight off the slimes. Just because they are not controlled does not been they are safe to be around." 

The king was not stupid and knew that this may have been the only rest he would get for some time. He had used it to procure a dream of every dwarf and mentally prepare for the tasks to come. Since the slimes were useful for alchemy he would not completely exterminate them, however, he was planning to eradicate as many in the underground as possible. 

"Oh, I am going to gather a few things as we go. But I was wondering if you would use your authority to set aside space to start farming the herbs needed for the basic potion before we went up to the next level." Remey was sure that the king would start this and was glad to see his nod to her. He had no reason not to but he couldn't help himself to think about how wise Remey was for getting it started now instead of later. 

The main reason she wanted this was because she wanted to make sure that the dwarves could easily make her potion before the party ended up leaving the city and heading back home. There was also the fact that she didn't want it to be something that got caught up in some political argument for power. 

Walker was a little surprised by Remeys' actions but knew that they were the right course of action. When they got back to the still water Remey had Walker take out many vials and they all began to fill them with algae. "I have no idea how these are monsters. They are too small and harmless looking." Gil held up one of the pale salamanders he had found hiding in the algae. It met him without resistance and just let him hold it. 

"Hm? That would be because they have the ability to create mucus with many different effects based on the algae they eat. One can even knock you out to sleep for days at a time." The king said this as Gil dropped the pale salamander back in to the water swearing he would not touch one again. 

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