Though Valyr complained about the price of all the items he had Braum procure him, with the latter defending the price he gave out by informing him how much hardship he had to go through, he still paid the price Braum had given him in the end.
Of course, that did not mean the price did not hurt him on the inside.
With his material assets only amounting to around 30 platinum coins after spending close to half of what it previously was on a great number of skill books, 10 platinum coins was more or less equivalent to a third of what he currently had on hand. Sure, it wouldn't have been a problem for him if he still earned money from having the Crimson Forge back at Clossbay City continue selling equipment since he could make it back within a couple of days, but as he had given his ownership to another blacksmith before he left for Algerie Kingdom, he had no method of earning income to speak of.
Nevertheless, he consoled himself into thinking that paying 10 platinum coins for the items was an investment he made to improve his strength in the long-term, rationalizing that the price was something along the lines of a convenience. After all, multiple steps went into procuring the items in the first place, such as find half-wyverns and young wyverns in the wild, killing them, skinning them, draining them of their blood, and then transporting said items to the large settlements.
Inwardly letting out a low sigh as he felt that the grin Braum flashed at him was telling him that he had been duped into paying for a higher price, he soon discarded all of the thoughts that continued to linger in his mind as he asked Braum to take out the other pieces of the Half Wyvern Armor the man had stored in his bracelet.
Getting a nod from Braum in response, Valyr nodded back as he watched the man take out the four remaining pieces of the armor set from the bracelet before placing them beside the two he had taken out. Taking in a few deep breaths to gain composure and achieve a state of tranquility, he then grabbed the cloth bag on top of the anvil before placing it beside the pieces making up the Half Wyvern Armor, unfurling the knot around the bag in the process.
"A few Half Wyvern Scales, a vial of Young Wyvern Blood, and a bit of Azure Iron Essence should do the trick." Taking out a few items out of the cloth bag, Valyr placed these items on a nearby table before shifting his gaze onto the pieces of Half Wyvern Armor, pondering over which piece he should upgrade first.
"I guess you'd be the easiest to upgrade." Swiftly making his decision, he grabbed the vambraces before chucking them into the furnace, manipulating the furnace's temperature with his mana to make sure that the heating process would go without any mishaps. Sometime later, he grabbed the Azure Iron Essence he took out from the bag before placing it in the furnace as well, finding out sometime later that the furnace had the ability to have two spots inside it that had differing temperatures.
"Neat." Making a note to himself that he would get his hands on an advanced furnace like the one in front of him someday, he went ahead and activated this new ability he had discovered the furnace had, infusing a considerable amount of mana in the process in order to make sure that the temperature of both spots would not bleed into each other. Thankfully, he had close to 4,000 points of mana on hand, which made the cost for him to maintain it negligible.
Seeing that the heating process for both the vambraces and the Azure Iron Essence going smoothly, Valyr turned around in the hopes of passing the time by talking with Braum. Though, just as he had done so, he swiftly noticed that the man was nowhere to be found within the workshop, prompting him to wonder whether the man had left because he knew he was going to be stuck talking with him for a while, or if the man truly had something else to do.
Briefly shrugging his shoulders at Braum's disappearance, Valyr turned his attention back to the furnace as he thought about some of the stuff he had going on, his mind soon pondering over other methods of travel he could gain access to in the future aside from teleportation.
'It would be nice if I could get a car or an airplane going on,' thought Valyr to himself, thinking about how nice it would be to just drive off to his destination at a speed far faster than what even a large carriage could achieve. Though, not long after, this image soon transformed into him moving through the skies of Veldanyr on an airplane, feeling that his travel time would be reduced to hours, if not minutes at most.
'Then again, I still have a long way to go if I want to do that.' Eventually, he stopped his train of thought, letting out a faint sigh as a bitter smile adorned his face. 'After all, I still have a lot of advancements to go through on the Innovation branch before I could even unlock the advancement that would allow me to forge an engine.'
As he thought about how many advancements he still had to unlock before becoming capable of creating a car from scratch, he recalled the advancement the Necklace of Enlightenment had unlocked in the middle of their journey to Algerie Kingdom, which put him a step closer to leaving the Ancient Age advancements of the Innovation branch.
Then, not long after, he recalled that he still hadn't submitted the weapons he had forged to the Blacksmith Guild in exchange for contribution points, deciding that he would head to the Blacksmith Guild to submit the weapons once he was done upgrading his armor.
After waiting for a few more minutes, Valyr grabbed a pair of tongs from the rack of tools within the workshop before using them to take out the heated vambraces, as well as the heated Azure Iron Essence out of the furnace, placing the latter on top of the former as they laid flat on the anvil's surface.
Hearing a faint sizzling sound resounding from the interaction between the Azure Iron Essence and the vambraces, Valyr swiftly grabbed a forging hammer before proceeding to meld the two together.
"Alright. It's time to get to work."
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