Return of the Legendary Runesmith-Chapter 104 - 103- Date

"Where did you find this material?" Was the first question Adrian was asked after the blacksmith finished inspecting the alloy Adrian received from the Dark Knight.

He met Ariana half an hour ago, and after he told her about the material he had recently acquired, she said she had someone whom they could trust.

There was a man whom she saved and his family during one of the Acolytes attacks. He used to live far away, and Ariana was there as a city guard.

After the town was brought to ruins, she brought him here to live, near the academy where only selective people could get a residence.

She helped him with funds and supported him to open a new shop so he could survive.

That’s why, he was loyal to her and won’t speak a word to anyone.

And seeing the reaction of the blacksmith, Adrian was fortunate that the man could be trusted.

"That information is something I can’t share." Adrian shared a glance with Adrian as he said so.

Redirecting her gaze back to the blacksmith, she asked, "Drek, what is the matter?"

The man, Drek, didn’t say anything. Rather, he first took the scrapped piece of allow and told them to follow.

Ariana and Adrian shared another glance before stepping towards the furnace.

The man held the shard with the tongs before putting it on the flame.

Just by standing ten feet away from it, Ariana could tell how hot the furnace was.

’He was probably working on a weapon.’ Adrian mused as his eyes roamed around the workshop.

There were several armor and weapons stacked. And a huge bin in the corner where he probably put the failed pieces.

Looking at the workshop, Adrian felt slightly embarrassed.

Despite having a more complex and laboring job as a blacksmith, his workshop was much cleaner than Adrian’s.

’I should clean it...sometimes.’

The blacksmith kept the shard in the furnace for thirty seconds before taking it out.

It was glowing red, naturally, but what surprised Ariana was the fact that he suddenly tossed it in the air, took off his glove, and before Ariana could have warned, he held the shard in his bare hand.

"What the-" Ariana cursed while Adrian watched in amazement.

No sane man would have attempted that unless he had confidence in the material.

And as Adrian thought, once Drek unfolded his fingers, the previously glowing alloy piece returned to its original obsidian shade.

"You see that?" He extended the piece towards Ariana and continued, "Not only did the heat not enter its inner arrangements(molecules), but the time it took for the material to cool down...is practically nothing."

Ariana knew that the man didn’t exaggerate and was hard to please. If he was praising a material then surely it must be something special.

After a brief pause, he said, "The only material I could think of which could withstand such heat is,"

"Heartstone." Adrian instinctively answered.

Drek nodded, "That’s right. The runesmith’s toy. One could add any rune on it, heat, cold ...any. And it has the strongest tolerance point."

"However, Heartstone doesn’t cool down so quickly," Adrian spoke with a frown.

"Exactly. And that’s what makes this material so special." Drek added a tinge of excitement reflecting in his voice.

Ariana’s brows were tensed slightly as she asked, "So extreme heat resistance....that’s quite rare."

"And we haven’t even tested the other tolerance of this material." Drek instantly added.

Ariana sighed, "While I understand your excitement and would provide you enough time to play with it, I want to know if you can make armor out of it?"

Considering it has a very high melting point and it cools down instantly, molding it and shaping it into armor would be quite difficult.

"Hm...I would need to heat it constantly...to the point of never keeping it out of flames." It sounded nigh impossible to Ariana, even though she could see a flicker of hope and eagerness in his eyes.

Turning towards Adrian, she asked, "Do you have any way?"

Adrian had his curled index finger pressed against the lip, as he contemplated.

"There is an artifact I can build that could keep a certain area hot, but that would be a bit risky considering burning that alloy releases harmful gases, unlike metal."

Drek chuckled, "Leave that to me. As a blacksmith, I have my tools which would prevent me from dying."

Adrian nodded and told him that he would provide the artifact by evening.

On that note, they left the workshop and entered the market.

The workshop doesn’t appear like a playground of blacksmiths from the outside. It appears like a normal house. Actually, Drek no longer sells weapons, rather, his family runs an eatery. Drek makes weapons in his free time, inside the workshop he built underground.

Once they were in the market, Ariana asked, "Do you wanna eat something?"

Adrian smiled faintly, as he suddenly held her hand and said, "Shouldn’t I take you somewhere?"

Ariana was surprised by the sudden contact, pausing for a moment, but then she pretended it was nothing and shrugged, "Y-You decide." Guh! Why did she stutter?

Adrian chuckled, ’Still plying tough, eh?’ well, he loved that side of hers.

"You are adorable, Aria."

"*Glances away* say whatever you want...idiot," she muttered under her breath.

Adrian, while smiling ear to ear, brought her to a very well-known eatery in the town where dumplings and soup are served.

The shop, fortunately, offered them a quiet place in the corner, and just as they sat, "Good afternoon, Sir Adrian." A waitress greeted him with a smile as she rested a plate of chips on the table.

"Rebecca...how are you?" Adrian smilingly asked.

The violet-haired giggled, "Got to see you so definitely better than before."

She stepped back and asked, "So the regular one? Dumpling and soup?"

Adrian nodded, "Yeah-*Thunk*"

Rebecca was startled when the table suddenly jerked as if something struck it from beneath.

She looked at Adrian in concern, "Are you okay?"

Adrian’s smile didn’t falter, "Yes, I am fine."

Rebecca glanced at the other person before she made her way back to the kitchen.

Adrian finally turned towards his beloved girlfriend, and said, "Do I know why I am receiving this pleasure of getting stomped by you?" His foot was currently being ground by the female warrior in front of him

Although she definitely wasn’t using her full strength, it did feel.

Ariana scoffed, "If you don’t understand then just continue to receive the ’pleasure’."

Adrian chuckled. As he thought, his girlfriend is adorable.

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A/N:- Thanks for reading.