Chương 173: Imperial Steel

"When is the next delve?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Lord Ceonwin replied. He leaned back in his chair and picked up a smouldering pipe from the table. He took a long swig of it, then blew a puff.

"We've been clearing out the collapsed hallways, and letting some of the weaker squads catch up by hunting the remaining orcs in the tunnels. There are a few left even now, I'm sure, but most of them are gone."

"I'll keep my guard up, sir," I said.

"Are you busy, or would you like an update?"

"Let's have an update on your visit to your lands."

"Admittedly, they are in rough shape," I replied. I walked over to the man's desk and stood beside Sir Sidal, looking over the maps. It was a depiction of the southern regions of Gate, with models of soldiers and orcs scattered across the front lines.

"I'm…I'm working on some things. I didn't have long, but I have a line of communication, now, and people I trust are in charge."

"A line of communication? Riders? You're not committing any of my men to a messenger service, are you?" He didn't sound angry, though his voice was more stressed than usual.

"Your daughter, sir," I replied.

"She grew arcane plants capable of transmitting messages long distances. It's more complicated than that, and I don't really understand it, but we set up the system the best we could." Lord Ceonwin bobbed his head.

"Apologies, then, for the accusation."

"I understand you have a lot on your plate, sir."

"Orc attacks are picking up again. We can't see any signs that they're preparing for a major push, but that's because we can't see anything beyond the Shroud. Even the Greencloaks' best scryers are blind out there."

"So we're expecting an attack?"

"Always. And we don't know where. But it seems we also have enemies within nibbling at the western reaches of my Domain."

"It's worse than you think," I told him. I explained what I'd done for the past three weeks, and my run-ins with the cults, then told him about the small reforms I'd tried to put in to harden my lands up against any attacks. We were vanguards against any of Hinlaw's meddling.

"With the Greencloaks helping you, you might just stand a chance," Lord Ceonwin said.

"The alchemical supplies will bring us wealth, if we're lucky, but we must also concentrate on your own strength. You cannot focus all your efforts on those lands."

"I understand, sir. However, I've gotta ask: do you know who leads the cultists?"

"I suspect Hinlaw is involved, given what you've told me," he replied.

"But I cannot say for sure. The Subtle Men, I've heard, tend to help the cultists. They also feed Hinlaw most of his orders." I didn't have a response ready. The cults weren't gone yet. We were probably just beginning our troubles with them, and considering how little the Greencloaks could help, I was willing to bet some of the fighting would fall to me.

"Now is not the time to worry about that, Levi," Lord Ceonwin said.

"You look exhausted. Rest, and tomorrow morning, be ready for an expedition into the Labyrinth." ~ ~ ~ Before I slept, I visited Shatter at the castle blacksmith shop. He was helping clean up from a day of work. It was quiet in this season, with most of the sappers having already completed their basic gear, and not having resources to get better gear. Still, Drywsone had his apprentices practicing forging better equipment for us, so they would be ready when we did bring better ingredients back to the surface.

Shatter turned away from the bucket he'd been packing up and turned to face me. He said, "Levi— I mean, Sir Levi! You're back."

"You don't have to call me 'sir.' And please don't insist."

"I— You know what, of course. It's far easier to just call you Levi." He leaned closer.

"Is there anything you need? Does your siphon need an upgrade? I'm not sure if there's much more I can do. Besides…if I'm going to turn it into a proper weapon, I'll need some better…cores. I mean, not exactly a core. Not like, if you were to steal a core from a Gold-tier Path-walker or higher. But something better, something with the capacity to draw energy…" This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I shook my head.

"I'll keep my eyes out. For now, though, the siphon is fine. What I really need is some advice on materials to look out for in the lower levels of the Labyrinth." Shatter's eyes lit up like a graduate student asked about their thesis. He pulled out a book from beneath the counter—a heavy, leatherbound tome with frayed edges, almost indistinguishable from the scrap log—and set it down in the center of the table. The pages creaked as Shatter opened the book.

He flipped through the parchment gingerly until he arrived at a page about halfway through. He tapped his finger in the center.

"The main resource you need to find is called Imperial Steel." I raised my eyebrows.

"What is it?"

"It was what the old empire gave to some of their soldiers as armour. I know there isn't much of it out here, this far west—""Why's that?"

"The old empire…well, they didn't really start off here. They were an empire, after all. Their old capital was destroyed by Kharzon and captured at the end of the Age of Laurels, and then, over centuries, their world collapsed around them. Most of their larger cities are now ruins at the heart of the Bane-lands. They fell first at the edge of their age, heralding another age."

"The Dark Age."

"Precisely. Anyway, they were wealthy enough to outfit their average soldier with Imperial Steel. It's highly susceptible to maegen, though the old empire would've called it pneuma, I believe." Shatter tapped his finger in the middle of the page again, drawing my attention to a drawing of a set of armour. Layered metal plates, scale mail, and lamellar.

"Regardless, its ability to absorb maegen makes it even more powerful nowadays. They would've used their old magic to enchant it, but it's been sitting underground for over a thousand years, absorbing maegen from the world's natural currents."

"So it'll be like my current enchanted armour?" I replied.

"More than that," he replied.

"Yes, it will enhance your regular attributes, and greatly. If you can make armour out of it. But it can do far more. We can link it with the System, and it can act as though it gave you a specific Skill, according to the tier. It'll be a fodder Skill, sure, but once you merge it into a different Skill, the armour will be bound to you, permanently increasing the attributes it gave you, and greatly enhancing the Skill you merge it into."

"The old empire would've made their armour well before the Warlord ever created the System, right?"

"Perhaps I should say you can link it with the Path, then. After all, some of the System's rules are based on that." Shatter closed the book.

"I don't know how regular Path-walkers bind their enchanted armour to themselves, and I don't really need to know yet. I just know that the System helps Dupes do it." I pressed my hands down on the counter and folded my fingers together.

"Why isn't there more of this stuff Imperial Steel stuff circulating around, then?"

"The old empire brought most of it underground when they retreated to their labyrinths. Then, again, they retreated with it to the lower levels, where Kharzon's forces and the monsters buried in those tunnels finally wiped them out. What we have is what we've been able to recover, but there's still plenty of it left down there, even in this section of the Labyrinth."

"You'd think we would make a better effort to harvest it."

"The independent adventurer expeditions that try to gather it end up selling most of it to the northern front, where they need it the most. Besides, we don't have to stock the lower levels of the Labyrinth with monsters. You'll find plenty of Silver- and Gold-tier foes down there, as well as natural skeletons."

"I did find a few skeletons from the upper levels kitted out in old armour that looked like it could've been from the old empire. Was that Imperial Steel?"

"Not all of their soldiers wore it," Shatter replied.

"Especially in the waning days of their empire."

"Is there anything else I should be looking for, then?"

"Your helmet will need a plume," Shatter said.

"Not to mention armour ornaments. Look for enchanted weapons and other ancient equipment. Sometimes, they'll have a Skill embedded in them, which you can leach out of them and steal for yourself when you add it as a proper ornament."

"You're going to reforge any scrap we acquire down there into modern armour, though, right?"

"Correct, as long as you actually bring it to the surface with you. We don't have cleanup crews running through the lower levels of the Labyrinth to pick up after you guys. Harvest your own Presences and carry your own loot with you."

"Understood," I said.

"Last thing, then I'll let you go." I lowered my voice to a whisper again.

"Do you want or need anything? With your leys…being a little messed up, is there any way we can fix that? Or help you? Anything from the Labyrinth that we could bring up to try to make it better?"

"Levi…"

"You've helped me and my squad so much. We could return the favour."

"I'm not sure what could be done about my leys," he replied.

"I haven't really had a chance to look into it, no matter how much I wanted to. Ever since you met me in the library…well, alright I have made a few trips. But I haven't found anything conclusive." He looked away, embarrassed.

"Hey, hey, nothing to be ashamed about," I said.

"We'll keep looking. I promise you that." ~ ~ ~ Before I slept, I made sure to put Sage's plant in a pot. I left it on our windowsill in our room in the barracks, though it rattled in the wind. At least it would have light. I was tempted to leave it with Sage, because on Earth, I hadn't had the best track record with keeping plants alive. Then again, I'd gotten a lot better at plenty of things since leaving Earth. Maybe botany could be one of them. Could I turn it into a Skill, even?

With that, I settled into my bed, just thankful to finally be off the road and sleeping on something soft again.