Clang! Clang! Tap tap tap tap… Clang! Clang! Clang! Tap tap tap tap…

The cuirass, torn through by the Holy Tiger's claws and left with large, jagged rends in the metal, was beyond repair. But it was simple enough to smelt down and reforge and re-enchant. With two more levels in Enchanter under his belt, the enchantment was a strain, but not so bad as to knock him out for a day.

To save time, the new armor the Smith was forging was based on molds from his Light Armor, with further adjustments to make it even quieter. Fire Lizard skin was used in certain parts to prevent metal from scraping metal, and it was overall slightly more bulky, so it slowed him down even more, but it made him nearly silent.

Even James was surprised how effective his [Product Testing] skill proved in making these finer adjustments to the armor. And the eerily silent fifth floor of the dungeon was perfect for listening for faint scraping and clanking sounds.

Still, it did take nearly another day to make these adjustments.

It might be getting time to start thinking about rationing his remaining food.

When he was done, the new Light Cuirass was the same as the old one, and he had a set of Dark Iron Heavy Armor designed to be nearly silent.

For the rest of the day, James prepared large amounts of Aqua Magia and ground down a number of his black magic stones to fine dust.

There, he stopped. He wanted to be well rested before he started etching.

The next day he spent etching. Over and over he etched the pattern for the Basic Dark Enchantment: [Shadow Concealment]. On the bracers, the greaves, the boots, the cuisses, the cuirass, the pauldrons, and finally the helmet. Only when he finished did he realize he was famished and that he had lost track of time. But after a sparing meal of crab meat, he set about enchanting.

As always, he started by filling each etch with finely ground magic stone dust, forming the pattern of the enchantment with magical material, and then layering on Aqua Magia.

He pressed his will into each piece, forcing the essence to align with the patterns of the enchantments, and with a flash of light, one piece after another was enchanted with the magic of his choice.

The smaller pieces he finished at once, leaving the cuisses and cuirass for the next morning. Then, after expending all his magic enchanting those pieces, he turned to his forge once again, this time to forge new hammers.

First, of course, he forged two war hammers similar to his Earth War Hammer in design, but of Black Iron and White Iron. Then he forged a hammer similar to his Green Iron Warhammer, but of Blue Iron free of any essence.

He focused on this Blue Iron Hammer first. No essence. Absolutely no undine essence. A simple, stretched etching of the [Frostbite] enchantment. And this time, using water magic stone dust, not ice, he enchanted the hammer using a thin layer of Aqua Magia. The goal was a reasonable [Frostbite] hammer, not the self-destructive monstrosity he had created before.

He held his hands over the hammer and sweat beaded on his brow before he even began enchanting. But he took a deep breath and steadied himself. If he failed here, he could simply try again later. It wasn't a pressing issue, but he wanted as many different types of warhammers as he could going forward. There was no telling if the next crazy strong monster like the Holy Tiger Cub would be some kind of fire aligned monster, after all.

Another deep breath, and he let it out slowly. Then he pushed, pressing the enchantment into inert blue iron.

Light flashed almost immediately, and he inspected his newest creation.

[Appraisal]: Blue Iron War Hammer, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15, Enchantment: Frostbite (10)

He breathed a sigh of relief. That was far weaker than his Ice War Hammer was. Still, he was extraordinarily careful with his testing, always holding the hammer using his blue iron tongs, activating it at a distance using his [Enchantment Activation] skill, and testing how quickly it cooled various amounts of water to freezing.

It was safe to use. Certainly it did produce cold enough to freeze water and damage unprotected skin, but he could control how much cold he was putting out, and activate the enchantment only during strikes. And the insulation on the handle and on his mole monster hide gloves was enough that even after a dozen swings, his hand wasn't cold.

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It wasn't ever going to be one of his first choice hammers, not like his Earth War Hammer, but it was a usable tool at least.

Next, James enchanted his White and Black Iron Hammers. On these, he went all out, no holding back.

[Appraisal]: Light War Hammer, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 19/19, Enchantment: Glow (20)

[Appraisal]: Dark War Hammer, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 19/19, Enchantment: Blind (20)

James reached up to remove his helmet, to test if the [Blind] enchantment from the hammer would work, and stopped just in time to avoid blinding himself in another way.

Testing could wait until he returned to the staircase, he decided.

Or rather…

The staircase to the fourth floor was right there.

And yes, although it was a little uncomfortably warm at the top of that staircase, James was able to confirm that his Light War Hammer, while dazzling, wouldn't blind him normally, and also that his Dark War Hammer, while emanating darkness in wisps, wouldn't blind him when swung.

He quickly made his way back down, blinding helmet back on, lest the heat from the fourth floor damage his new pieces. They stayed in his magic bag as he tidied up his base camp and set forth on another expedition, still wearing his Light armor set in case any invisible lizards were still around, waiting to launch a sneak attack.

The walk to the boss room was entirely uneventful, and soon enough James found himself at the boundary of the floor, where the Lux essence in the air went from blinding to absent. He set down a couple iron ingots against the walls to mark the boundary, then stepped forward into pure darkness, and removed his helmet, restoring his sight a moment later.

Time to swap armors.

James pulled out his Dark armor set and gave it one last inspection.

[Appraisal]: Dark Cuirass, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 32/32, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (86)

[Appraisal]: Dark Armored Skirt, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 26/26, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (87)

[Appraisal]: Dark Codpiece, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 21/21, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (77)

[Appraisal]: Dark Greaves, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 26/26, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (82)

[Appraisal]: Dark Cuisses, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 29/29, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (83)

[Appraisal]: Dark Left Pauldron, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 32/32, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (78)

[Appraisal]: Dark Right Pauldron, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 26/26, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (78)

[Appraisal]: Dark Bracers, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 28/28, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (81)

[Appraisal]: Dark Cleat Boots, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 31/31, Enchantment: Shadow Concealment (73)

He had foregone making a new shield for the simple reason that he had run out of Black Iron Ore while working on his armor, having only enough left to make a war hammer. If he found a safe place, he intended to mine out as much of the Black Iron as he could. He found it amusing how the iron seemed to absorb light, becoming a mass of shadowy darkness.

The Smith was, after all, a teenage boy.

The hexagonal pattern of the [Shadow Concealment] pattern had been easier to tile than the square [Reflect] pattern had been, and his enchantments were slightly stronger on the Dark armor set as a result.

He set up his Light Tower Shield against the wall to act as something of a mirror, and put on the armor. He felt so cool wearing the pitch black armor – ignoring that it was obviously of low quality, misshapen and uneven in places, and little more than slabs of iron covering his body – and he activated the enchantment.

Darkness emanated from the armor in wisps and his form grew indistinct. The darkness spread out, covering the gaps in his armor, and soon there was only a hazy shadow, a patch of darkness where he stood.

James loved it.

He took his Dark War Hammer in hand and found that it, too, gained the [Shadow Concealment] effect and merged with the shadow covering him.

Unfortunately, when he held the Light War Hammer, it didn't gain the effect. And when he used its [Glow] enchantment, the Light and Dark enchantments conflicted, producing a weaker glow and pushing back his shadow, revealing his entire arm.

He experimented with how much mana he pushed into his Light War Hammer, and eventually found an amount that lit up the hammer without uncovering his arm, and decided that was good enough. He tested his other hammers and found that they would be concealed without problem even using their enchantments, so if he needed to, he could switch.

But he hoped that the Light War Hammer would let him see a little better in the unnatural darkness of the sixth floor.

For his shield, he chose his Red Iron Round Shield. Enchanted with [Reflect], it would be safe, easy to use, quiet, and would help spread the light from his hammer forward.

And so, he descended the staircase and returned to the sixth floor.

It turned out that, in the nox essence filled darkness, the [Shadow Concealment] effect of his armor became even more powerful, rendering him essentially invisible. Even the sounds of his movements were muffled somehow. And yet, when he activated his Light War Hammer's [Glow], it was even stronger than expected, pushing back the darkness around him out to ten yards when paired with his shield, and as far as he could tell, only his shield and hammer were visible, leaving the rest of him concealed.

And when he deactivated the [Glow], he disappeared entirely, although that left him unable to see as well.

Testing done, the Smith and Enchanter found himself standing at the exit of the tunnel into the first proper cavern of the floor. The rats had gone, leaving tracks and droppings behind – filthy creatures. His warding stakes were lying on the ground, saturated with nox essence, enchantment totally corroded and gone.

He picked them up and stowed them in his magic bag, simply not to waste materials. Waste not, want not.

He started moving along the cavern wall to his right, passing the area he had mined out and finding more veins of iron, though only Black Iron. No other kind could be found as far as he could see. He found that the wall extended for several dozen yards before reaching a corner, and he continued along there for perhaps a dozen yards before finding a tunnel of seemingly carved stone leading to a small room with much thinner nox essence.

And an iron door.

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