Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

directly from the strength of its owner. My grandfather was able to unlock the secret of the ultimate blacksmith art.”

Habald took a glove off and wiped away a manly tear.

“It was only today that I realized how truly great my grandfather was, rest his soul. If your theory is right, he gave his life for his last creation, one he thought was his best.”

So, you think the ultimate art is creating non-level items? But you have to drop back down to Level 0 with no experience to be able to do it, and the material would have to let mental energy through it. You’d have to have your main skill and crafting up to 1000.”

“Exactly. You understand what I’m trying to tell you.”

“Okay, so we know what we need.”

The master and his apprentice looked each other in the eye. Isaac didn’t care what he sacrificed to reach his goal. His life? What was so special about it? There was nothing more valuable than knowledge and experience.

Isaac was his father’s son even if he didn’t recognize it. No normal person would have been able to keep up with his crazy routine for a whole year. He spent days after that conversation just collecting information about metals and the art of smithing. Just like he always did, he scoured the trash heaps and stole what he had to in order to find resources and metals to study. Habald caught him, though, and told him that he was too engrossed in the idea of the armor. But all Isaac had to say was that he didn’t understand why normal people could be so cavalier with their goals and desires. How could one not be willing to throw one’s self completely into the idea of achieving one’s goals? The hunt and the experience were there to be enjoyed. After this conversation, the old master stopped raising that issue.

Isaac spent another year maxing out his smithing.

And in those couple of years, only once did he have a visitor at the clinic—his mother came by a month after Isaac had been sent there. She looked better, less tense.

Young Philip Polanki remembered that day very well. The one and only conclusion he could draw was that his family was better off without him. After Project Chrysalis was released, he didn’t think about them once. Perhaps, that was because he was wrapped up in his new idea. Perhaps, it was because he’d never known parental love.

Everything was going well, with Isaac able to do more than just boost his smithing skill. Habald paid him a share of each order they completed, and Isaac was able to just pull some out of his inventory when they began discussing buying palirin. He lost his 70 levels to create a scalable dagger, though the money from that sale went toward buying more palirin.

After the conversation they had, Habald started helping his apprentice boost his resistance to mental damage. The accursed metal was practically useless for ordinary blacksmiths due to the fact that it didn’t really have any outstanding qualities. Its capacity to let mental energy pass through it was exploited in alloys used to make conductors for a variety of devices. The demand was highest among artifactor mages. If palirin had been as expensive as mithril, it would’ve taken Isaac ten years to earn the amount they needed.

But none of the blacksmiths out there even suspected that the secret of their ultimate art was using palirin and alloys containing it.

When they finished preparation, Isaac left for a tunnel deep underground in one of the forgotten dwarf cities. He found an abandoned smithy there that Gvalt told him about, and the old alchemist had already given him all the ingredients he needed to create an alloy with the accursed metal. Habald delivered everything he required and placed prepared ingots in the furnace.

When the palirin melted, everything that was living in the vicinity died. Isaac himself had shown up with only his mallet.

First, he prepared the alloy, the recipe for which it had taken them two long years to find. Then he got to smithing.

All his clothes were burned away by the fire and mental damage, but soon enough, he was finally ready.

Note! You have gained access to aerveg, smithing’s ultimate technique.

Using it to make an item will cost your soul, and your new class will be living (activated) armor or a living (activated) weapon. Its effect will depend on the person who uses it.

Would you like to use this technique? Yes/No

The world sank into darkness, his consciousness followed suit, and Isaac saw thousands of ghosts flying around him. He couldn’t feel his own body, though he could tell he was being carried toward a light. The closer he flew, the clearer the armor he’d forged looked.

When Isaac found himself in his new body, he realized that part of his senses had been dulled. He saw everything through the slit in the visor even without eyes. The only things he could smell were what was inside the helmet. He’d lost his sense of touch most of all, though he still felt heat and the blows he took. And even if he’d never paid much attention to taste before, it was also gone now.

Isaac sat there for days as he awaited the master. To pass the time, he studied the changes that had taken place in him.

First of all, the armor was rough, almost as if a beginner had forged it instead of a master who had donated his own soul. There were defects, cracks, and even sharp corners that could easily injure the wearer. Second, his attribute panel had been reset. Third, Isaac could run, jump, and walk, though he couldn’t talk. His strength was on par with anyone else just beginning the game.

Human, Isaac, living armor, non-level

That evening, Habald showed up and helped him home. When