Chapter 685  684: Anput the cksmith


    Leone and I got a nice spar in without being distracted by anyone else, our des crossing in simple, yet effective arcs as we enjoyed a casual spar that went back and forth,cking any of the usual finesse that one would expect from experienced fighters and instead being something entirely casual.


    I enjoyed the way it forced your muscles to stretch out and got the blood pumping, all while I could keep my mind calm and rxed, entering an almost dozing state as I responded to Leone''s attacks reflexively, while she seemed to be taking this time to think over what we had talked about over chess.


    The exercise was perfect for us, and after almost two to three dozen minutes of doing so, Jahi and Belian finally finished up and noticed us, making their way over and pulling us free from our rxed and contemtive states.


    Letting the dull metal de rest loosely in my palm, I controlled my breathing and began to rx my body, the heat pulsing through my veins in the form of adrenaline gradually abating and leaving me slightly tired and loose, my muscles still relishing the additional oxygen they were receiving while the small tears had already begun to heal themselves.


    I wiped the slight sheen of sweat off my brow and grabbed the wine bottle, concentrating my mana into a weak cloud of ice that chilled the liquid inside before creating a few sses, which I began to fill and hand out.


    "What brings you over here, Princess? It''s rare for you to join us in the training grounds."


    Belian gave Leone a bow before epting the ss gratefully, his brown eyes holding a curious light as he waited for an answer, all while his red skin glimmered beneath the torchlight, disying the hard work he and Jahi had been putting in for however long.


    "Just stretching myself is all; felt the need to exercise a bit, and what better way than a spar?"


    Jahi and Belian nodded, though Jahi was focused more on our appearances then Leone''s words, the Demoness taking in our sweaty visages and making it quite clear that she was quite fond of what she saw.


    Belian tactfully decided to ignore the younger Demoness, sipping on the wine and nodding appreciatively before saying "Well, I''ll leave you three to it! Thanks for the wine, Miss Katherine."


    With another bow the red skinned Demon turned away and left us, the winess still in his hand as he exited the training grounds.


    Sipping on my own ss, I raised a brow at Jahi and said "Love, you could be a bit less obvious with your gaze, y''know? You look like you just discovered what sex was."


    Her amethyst eyes turned towards me, locking gazes for a moment before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few seconds, calming herself down.


    Leone was blushing slightly as she stood beside me, fiddling with the winess in her hands and staring at the red liquid intently, trying to avoid the heated gaze of the Demoness in front of us; it was amusing to me how the two who had been the most ''active'' over thest day were the two that were still craving more.


    Though, that might just be normal for us now... perhaps I had been a bad influence to them but ''unlocking'' the gates to sex so early?


    Eh, who cares...


    Taking another sip of the wine, I was about to say something when I looked towards one of the many entrances, feeling the familiar presence of my mate drawing closer.


    Anput came into the training grounds with a grin, a box cradled in her arms and a bundle slung over her back, tied to her in a white cloth.


    The Jackalkin''s tail was wagging swiftly as she approached us, her obsidian eyes sparkling as she ced the box on the ground and untied the bundle, ignoring our raised brows and collective curiosity for a moment as she set herself up for a presentation.


    Looking back up, she began to say "So I made quite a few things- Ooh, wine!"


    I snorted at how quickly her attention was robbed from her works, but I still handed her a ss and filled it with the fruity red liquid, which she drained in a single gulp and shamelessly asked for a refill.


    Giving it to her, I watched the Jackalkin drain that ss as well before she handed me the winess, smacking her lips together appreciatively and returning her attention to the things she had made.


    "Ah, so I made quite a few things today, and I have a little something for everyone~! First, Jahi, I went ahead and made an upgrade for your dius. This one is made from an alloy of Rubrum Copper and Fortis Silver, which created a nice Vis Bronze if I researched everything correctly. Strong and rather attuned with Fire Mana, the bronze is naturally warm to the touch and heats up with just a bit more mana added into it. So be careful, but also... yeah, this is a nice~ de."


    Unwrapping the bundle, she revealed arge three and a half foot long, half foot wide sword that would be quiterge for Leone and I, but for Jahi...


    The Demoness just lifted it with a single hand and made it look tiny, whereas we would potentially need two hands to make the de work considering its weight and bnce.


    We could lift it easily, yes, but the ability to wield it rested in how well you could manipte that weight and length with one or two hands, and unlike fiction, swinging a gigantic sword around one handed leaves little room for technique, which leaves a tiny likelihood that you survive a fight.


    Giving it a few swings, Jahi listened as Anput continued on, the Jackalkin reaching into the box and pulling out a set of armor pieces.


    "Kat, Leone, these are greaves that I made for the two of you. You both have simr enough proportions for your limbs, but still let me know if they don''t fit. Alloyed Shell Stone and Firmius Iron to get a really tough metal, which is going to be the staple for our armor going forwards. At least until we find some stronger materials..."


    Simple metal sheets hammered into a curve were presented to us, the foot and a few extra inches of material meant to protect our ankles up to our knees, all while the leather padding on the inside made them bearable to wear and the straps allowed us to adjust them to fit over whatever clothing we wore.


    "I kept them simple since Kat can enchant them, and doing any extra work on them might impede her working area, so I opted for the simple, yet effective look. Not the prettiest, but..."


    "Pretty doesn''t keep us alive, Anput, so it''s fine."


    My mate smiled at me before handing them to us, and she continued on, saying "Besides that, I made you both vambraces as well, and they''re a bit moreplex than the greaves."


    Pulling one out, she showed us a hollow tube of metal, before unsping a piece and revealing that they could separate into halves.


    "This keeps you more protected while being easy to remove; just connect one half of it and ce it over the arm like so, before sping that part. These are connected by leather inside, so they should befortable and keep you protected, while allowing me to adjust them again should the need arise."


    Handing them to us, she took a deep breath and reached into the crate, saying "Finally, I made this for you, Jahi. A cuirass. I took the time to make sure it looked decent too, so instead of just Shell Stone and Firmius Iron, I used some Fortis Silver as well and burnished it. So instead of looking like a deep brown, its more of a bronzy color. Either way, its quite tough and still rtively light."


    Arge cuirass was thest thing she pulled out, and after looking between Jahi and the armor, I smiled wryly as I wondered how much extra material needed to go into making the Demoness armorpared to someone our stature.


    After all, on top of the sheer size of Jahi, she was also a rather endowed woman as well, so the cuirass needed to ount for that as well...


    Taking it from Anput, Jahi inspected the armor for a few moments before beginning to undo the straps, opening the cuirass up and trying to put it on herself, only to smile wryly as we all moved forwards to help her, strapping the thick metal te onto her and taking a step back to observe it.


    Like Anput had said, the metal was a deep bronze color, the torchlight making it slightly red and contrasting her blue skin, but just like I had said, it didn''t need to look pretty, it just needed to work.


    A wavy pattern across the entire piece showed the Shell Stone base, and the thin waves wrapped around Jahi''s entire torso, while the thin tes that connect to the waist of the cuirass - the tassets - rested against Jahi''s thighs, protected her legs and hips alongside her torso.


    Quiterge and with a lot of avable space, the cuirass was thick enough to protect the Demoness while still being light enough to not impede her movements.


    "You keep outdoing yourself, Anput. Really. It fits nicely, and it seems strong enough."


    "Oh, it is. I tested on a few sheets of alloy that I had left over to see how strong it was, and unless someone is mming a spiked hammer down on you with a lot of momentum, it shouldn''t break that easily."


    We all nced at the Jackalkin for a moment, and she just smiled and shuffled around, looking away as she muttered "What? It needed to be tested... I was just doing my job."


    "You seemed too enthused about that, Anput... but either way, thank you. All that''s left to do to them is enchant them, which..."


    I let out a sigh as I nodded, staring at the various pieces of armor in front of me as I said "I know... I''ll get to it soon."