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He’d let himself forget about the hunger that lurked within him. He’d hoped that the problem had been as good as solved. Lillia’s cooking had been able to keep it satiated for so long that he’d figured that, along with the occasional supplemental snack of a more powerful item, would be more than enough to ignore it.

It hadn’t been.

He could feel the curse in his gut now, throbbing stronger with every second that passed. It would be hours before it got strong enough to pose him a real threat, but the Hungering Maw had made itself known once more and would not be silenced again so easily.

Arwin’s ears rang as he fought to process everything that had just happened.

The news wasn’t all bad. He’d gotten more than just the return of his curse. He’d gotten the final step he needed to take to cure it. The third step of his challenge — not counting the hidden one that he’d gotten by eating Twelve’s sword — had made itself known to him.

Milestone 3: Master the Hungering Maw. Your control over yourself grows, and so does your hunger. Find a way to completely bring the Hungering Maw under your control before it consumes you.

Reward 3: Unknown Title; Class Upgrade

“A class upgrade in addition to a title. Something that lets me completely control the maw,” Arwin said, letting the words roll over in his mouth. Dozens of emotions flew through him like a swarm of vultures, swooping and picking at his thoughts.

Fear was not among them.

Excitement was.

Sure, there was apprehension. Arwin knew that there were so many things that could go wrong that he could never even hope to start counting them — but just a short while ago, he’d been reminded of just how badly they needed to grow stronger.

How badly they needed power.

And power never came for free.

Arwin wasn’t the same lost, betrayed man that had first been given the Hungering Maw. He knew how the ability worked. What it wanted, and how to control it. And after all the research he’d done, the equipment he’d crafted, the friends and allies he’d made to call on — he had a pretty damn good starting point.

This won’t even get in the way of my work for the tournament. It’s abundantly apparent that I’m already working toward a way to bring the Hungering Maw under control. That’s why I got a hidden challenge reward.

Twelve’s anti-magic sword was able to completely shut the Hungering Maw off after I ate it. Sure, that didn’t last, but that means I’m on the right track. If I can figure out how to make the truly awakened items, then I should be able to use those to master the Maw as well.

He wasn’t going to figure out how to do that just sitting around, though. The tournament — and his curse — weren’t going to wait around while he stewed. Arwin had all the information he needed to get started. He just had to figure out exactly how one could imbue someone’s soul into a weapon.

Should I start with my own? I know myself more than pretty much anyone else, right? That seems like it would be the simplest to imbue into a weapon… but at the same time, it’s easier to tell things about other people than it is to really look inside. That might not be the best angle. I want to get started, but it’s important to actually start on the right thing so I don’t waste time.

Arwin pulled his status sheet up and scanned through it. It had been some time since he’d looked at the thing in its entirety. There was a chance that something within it would give him an idea or synergize with his goals to make an awakened item that was imbued with someone’s soul. He wasn’t too optimistic, but it couldn’t hurt.

Every rule I’ve learned still holds true, but now I need to merge them together. The less influence I try to put over anything I make, the more random the results are and the more that its likely to end up poorly created.

I can mitigate that by being very intentional with every component I use and by removing impurities from the pieces I work with.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Awakened items, though… those came when I just let the item run wild or when it had a really strong influence from the components. Awakened items are from the passive ability Living Forge gets, giving everything I make a chance to be awakened but also the potential to be detrimental.

Interestingly enough, I’ve seen neither Awakened nor detrimental traits as of late. The Wyrm’s Revenge is just a cursed shield. It doesn’t have the trait differentiating it, and I don’t think being Cursed would stop something from also being Awakened.

Arwin blinked as his gaze caught on a title that he hadn’t gotten a chance to use recently.

[Couple of Crafters] - Linking your intent with your partner enough times has established a connection between you so long as your goals remain aligned. The dissonance between you and your partner’s intent has been permanently reduced.

“Partner,” Arwin muttered, his eyes going wide. “I thought the Mesh was being cheeky about me and Lillia… but could this be tied directly to making items the way Twelve was speaking about? If I have to imbue someone else’s soul, this is the perfect way to do it.”

But Lillia was busy right now. He couldn’t just monopolize all of her time. She had her own work to do and couldn’t just keep dropping everything to help him out.

If my theory is correct and Partner doesn’t mean lover but just someone I’m working on an item with, then it’s actually better to test this with someone other than Lillia. It’s a good thing there are a few more members in the Menagerie. I’m sure there’s someone that isn’t doing anything too important right now.

***

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Reya asked, squinting at Arwin from where she sat perched upon the anvil in the Infernal Armory.

Arwin had found her in the tavern, foolishly committing the crime of not looking particularly occupied for a brief moment. That mistake had been enough justification for him to kidnap her and bring her back to the smithy so he could test his theories out.

Unfortunately, the Hungering Maw wasn’t as eager for Arwin to test his ideas out as he was.

“I’m fine,” Arwin said, forcing a smile across his features. “And this will help me get fine-er.”

“If you need to get fine-er, you’re not fine. Is your magic-eating thing acting up?”

Am I that obvious?

“Yes, but this will help it,” Arwin said. He could almost instinctively tell that the Hungering Maw wasn’t going to accept just anything as a sacrifice. He needed to make something more — which was where Reya came in.

“If you’re sure. Just tell me what to do, then. I’ll do my best.”

“I need to test a theory out,” Arwin said, briefly explaining the jist of what had happened with Twelve in his vision and how he needed to make an Awakened item that had been imbued with someone’s soul.

Reya thought over everything for a few seconds before nodding her understanding hesitantly.

“I think I’m with you. I’m ready to start… but I don’t know how you’re supposed to get my soul into anything, though. Does this mean I’m not going to get to go to the afterlife?”

“What? No. I’m not taking your actual soul. That would be some really vile magic. Not even Twelve did that. I think this is more of an imprint. Like you’re smacking your soul into something hard enough to leave an impression of it… but probably a little more elegant than that.” Arwin paused, then frowned. “Wait. Did you just agree to let me take your soul?”

Reya shrugged. “Haven’t seen it, so figure it can’t be worth that much.”

“We’re going to have to have a serious discussion about your self worth later,” Arwin said. “But, for now, just… think soul-thoughts.”

“What are soul thoughts?”

“I don’t know. Whatever you feel your soul is,” Arwin said, walking over to a single ingot of Brightsteel sitting on a stone pedestal beside his hearth. The Infernal Armory had already lit it with black flame in wait for their work. “Think about your soul — and send some of your magic into me while I try to make something. It might take a few tries.”

“Kay,” Reya said, hopping down from the anvil and walking over to stand beside Arwin. “Just don’t make a weapon.”

“What? Why?”

He’d been planning on making another dagger for old times’ sake. It had felt rather apt.

“Wyrmhunger,” Reya replied. “She’ll get jealous. I promised her I wouldn’t use any other weapons.”

“Noted,” Arwin said. “What about a bracer? Similar to the one Olive has.”

“That sounds awesome!” Reya exclaimed.

“Don’t get too excited. I don’t really know what abilities it’ll have. It might end up being pretty terrible since I’m not putting any random monster components into this yet. I just want to see if I can get an imprint of your soul.”

“It’s okay,” Reya said cheerfully. She put a hand on the hilt of the red dagger at her waist, and it trembled in response. “That’s what you said about the first dagger you made me too, and look how that turned out.”

Mildly creepy.

A pang of pain pressed into Arwin’s stomach. He shoved it into the back of his mind. The Hungering Maw didn’t rule him, and it most certainly would not be stopping him from finding a way to control it.

If it was scared, then he was on the right path.

“Right,” Arwin said, turning to the hearth and hoisting the ingot of metal. “Let’s do this.”

“Ready when you are. Do you think my soul will taste good?”

“I suppose we’ll find out,” Arwin said wryly.

Reya pressed her hands to his back. Magic prickled against his skin — and then he could feel it. There was new power waiting for him to use it. There was a connection to Reya.

If there was any way to get a good feel for someone’s soul, it was going to be this.

Let’s see if we can make a Reya-flavored bracer.

Is that weird to say?

Eh. I’ll worry about it after I’m done, but maybe I won’t be feeding the Maw this one.