James had no chance of reacting to the unbelievably fast water spear flying at him. It struck his shield with a loud ping and was reflected back to the lake before he knew it. The next thing he knew, a large chunk of his mana had been consumed.

But the [Reflect] enchantment held. And it hadn't used all his mana, either. A minor success.

Terror and elation briefly warred within James before, even at that distance of hundreds of yards, James saw it. The telltale ripples on the lake's surface. The water spear had splashed into the lake with much less force than the first time, due to the distances involved, and whatever was shooting at him was still alive.

James started side-stepping as fast as he could to get back into his wards while keeping his shield between him and the lake.

Three more water spears shot out, and in the space of a single step, were on him.

Two missed, striking where he had been standing before. The last struck true, passing his shield and striking James directly.

The mass of undine essence filled water, accelerated by magic, struck the amulet empowered [Water Resistance] enchanted set of armor and had nearly all of the magic resisted before James even registered the attack. Deprived of the magic, the water acted as a large mass of water normally would. With a crashing wave-like splash, James was struck by the water and shoved the remaining several yards into his wards, kicking up a spray of pebbles as he landed.

Behind him, several more water spears landed, gouging out small, wet craters in the pebbly beach as the water quickly drained away.

With that, the assault stopped, as abruptly as it began.

And James was alive.

Wet, bruised, and alive.

"I am ne-" James began whispering before clamping his mouth shut tightly.

I am never yelling in this dungeon ever again! He swore to himself, silently.

He pushed himself up, standing and picking up his shield and hammer, both of which had flown from his hands from the impact of the mass of water, and with the shield pointed at the now quiescent lake, retreated as far back as his sitting rock in the alcove. He sat heavily and kept his shield up, now almost entirely hidden from the lake behind it. He let the heat wafting from his forge warm him up and start the drying process, unwilling to remove his armor outside of his sleeping nook.

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He worried for a moment about rust before putting the thought out of his mind. Surprisingly, none of his colored iron gear had ever shown signs of rust so far, just the regular iron tools. He decided to cross that bridge if and when he came to it.

Now somewhat more relaxed, James allowed himself a quiet moment of celebration. Both of his plans to deal with the water spears had been successful. He [Appraised] his shield.

[Appraisal]: Green Iron Tower Shield, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 19/19, Enchantment: Reflect (30)

The mirrored surface of the shield didn't even have a scratch on it. Feeling his mana as he circulated it, James estimated that between a quarter and a third of it were used up with the activation this time. Much better than using his entire mana pool and overloading the enchantment like last time. Although, James worried, this time he was much farther away, which may have reduced the force of the attack.

It was hard to tell without more testing, and James' instincts did incline him towards performing more testing, but his common sense won out. For now, he was satisfied to know that his shield performed as desired in the 'not-getting-killed' department.

Then his thoughts turned to his armor. It had taken some damage during the fight, mainly his cuirass and cuisses from the bird monster tackles.

[Appraisal]: Green Iron Cuisses, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 8/10, Enchantment: Water Resistance (17+8)

[Appraisal]: Green Iron Cuirass, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/15, Enchantment: Water Resistance (14+7)

However, despite the dents, the thick iron of the armor seemed sturdy enough, and James didn't have any stocked green iron anyway. He could smelt down his Green Iron Spiked Boots, but he didn't think it worth it. He also noted the enhancement of the [Water Resistance] enchantment from the Water Amulet around his neck.

There was one other source of green iron nearby…

James looked down at his, eventually to be known as legendary but not yet, Green Iron Anvil Shaped Object.

But James felt an incredible fondness for the misshapen lump of Green Iron. Not only was it his first anvil, and the anvil he had used up to forge everything since he was enslaved, it was even a crucial weapon in his fight against the spider monster.

He couldn't bring himself to smelt it down.

However, he did decide to upgrade it a little.

James propped up his shield between his forge and the lake, ensuring the enchantment was active. Then, taking his Blue Iron tongs, he warmed up the anvil-shaped object in the forge. It took almost no time at all to soften in the upgraded forge, due to the improved heat and lower melting point of Green Iron.

With nothing to strike against it wasn't the best forging, but James smoothed out the top surface, evening out the most egregious bumps and dips in the surface. He also rounded out the horn, and evened out the feet, letting it sit more sturdily. Not that it mattered all that much, given the pebbly, unstable beach on which it normally sat on this floor, but it was more the principle of the thing that mattered to James at this point.

Eventually James got to the point where even his lightest taps with his smallest hammers were doing as much good as bad with each strike, removing one imperfection just to create another, when he stopped and quenched the anvil, barely fitting into his quenching bucket. With a short hiss and a burst of steam that quickly passed, James pulled out his anvil and [Appraised] it.

[Appraisal]: Green Iron Anvil, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10

James nearly whistled in appreciation at his work before he caught himself, stifling the noise and producing nothing but blowing air quietly through his lips. Then, as his focus dissipated and the sounds of the rest of the world came back into his awareness, he heard it.

Clack clack clack clack clack…

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