Meeting with an old acquintance

"I need to go to Uncle Rainer's smithy. I need him to make something for me." Viel answered without lying. He knew that his grandma could know what he did very easily. She wasn't one of the Wildgarde Stronghold's guardians for show.

Wildgarde Stronghold has four guardians. His grandma, Vera; Uncle Rainer, who was a Grand Master Blacksmith who was rumored to be only a step away from becoming a Zen Master Blacksmith; Aunt Natasha, who was a High-Cleric, and last but not least was Commander Gerald, the Leader of the Wildgarde Stronghold and the one that overseeds Lux trial to be allowed to go to Elysium.

What Viel wanted from Rainer was for him to Viel an armor from the Arcanium he got in the gacha. An armor forged from high-grade arcanium by a peak grandmaster blacksmith is no small thing. And he wanted that armor for his future named soul from the Animate Object skill.

Viel left them and went to Rainer's smithy. When he arrived at his destination, he entered through the smithy's door, hearing two people talking inside. He approached them and saw that Rainer was talking with Nero.

Nero was one of the children with high potential that was discovered among the villages that were under the Stronghold's protection. He was Rainar's disciple and because of his strength and talent, he was able to become the guild master of the Widlgarde Stronghold's faction in Elysium, the Storm Dragon Guild, a bronze-rank guild.

The guilds in Elysium were divided into different ranks, they were: Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Orichalcum, and Adamantite.

Nero has brown hair and a slim figure. Viel knew Nero since they were young as they trained together with the other children of the Stronghold.

They did get along, but they weren't friends as Nero and Lux's relationship wasn't good at all. Nero despised Lux as he thought that all he has; his grandmother's love, his family's support, a good background, the support of the people of the Stronghold, and even his brother's affection, were given to him when he didn't deserve them. He thought that Lux had not had to fight for any of the things he had, but just the opposite of him, who had to struggle and strive to get everything he had.

But, Nero respected Viel a lot. He even saw him as an older brother figure. He recognized Viel's efforts to not be left behind while he waited for his little brother to go to Elysium.

Viel looked at Nero. When their eyes met, Nero bowed.

"Nice to see you again Viel. How have you been?" Nero respectfully asked Viel while he was still bowing.

"Hi Nero. Please stand up, you know very well that I don't like people bowing to me." said Viel as he urged Nero to stop bowing. "I've been doing very well. Training and all that things, you know how it goes."

"What are you doing here? As far as I am concerned, you should be with your trash brother who failed once again this year, right?" Nero asked with disdain.

"Nero, please, I would like it if you could refrain from talking like that about my little brother." Viel advised Nero as he gave him a cold glare.

"Viel, don't you see it? He doesn't deserve a caring brother like you. But, what can I do? In the end, is you who will suffer. What a loss of a good talent!"

Viel smiled. He knew that although Nero didn't treat Lux well, he cared about him a lot. Even more when most of Wildgarde Stronghold knew how big of a talent Viel had.

"You know, I would love to have a big brother who cared for me as you care for Lux." Said Nero as he give Lux a side glance.

Viel just looked at Nero, not knowing how to answer.

"Well, leaving this aside. It has been a pleasure to see you again after all this time. I hope to meet you soon, not here, but in Elysium. Bye Viel, bye Uncle Rainer."

Nero left the smithy before Viel could say anything to him.

"What an awkward moment. Viel, don't get mad at Nero. You know how he is and although I don't approve of how he treats Lux, it's true that you should move forward and enter Elysium. We don't know if Lux will even recover."

Viel didn't say anything. He knows that Rainer, like most of the people in the Strongolh, didn't do it with malice. They just didn't want him to lose his youth.

But what people didn't know, was that his little brother has recovered and is more than ready to go to Elysium.

"Hmm…What do you need from this old man?"

"Oh please. Uncle Rainer, you aren't an old man, you are still in the prime of your life."

"Don't beat around the bush. What do you want? I've known you since you were a baby, I've even changed your diapers. I know very well what you're like and when you want something."

"Ok Uncle. I have gotten my hands on a very good material and only someone at your level will be able to craft something good from it without wasting anything."

"How good is the material you are talking about?"

Viel just took out the arcanium lingot from his storage ring. It was purple and it was shining with a metallic hue.

Rainer's jaw dropped, and Viel swore he even hear it crashing on the floor.

"A high-grade arcanium lingot." He grabs it and lifts it to estimate its weight. "It should weigh around 10kg…"

Rainer turned serious and stared at Viel.

"How do you even got your hands in this "very good material", they are nearly non-existent in Elysium, even more in Solais."

"Let's just say that I was very lucky."

"Boy, it doesn't matter how lucky you are, arcanium doesn't grow from the trees. It's near impossible for it to come to be, the conditions needed are just too much."

"I know. But back to the main point, do you think you could make me a good armor from it?" asked Viel as that was his main objective all this time.

"Of course. I won't make you a good armor, I will make you the best armor. But, you know everything has a price, right?" Rainer won't work for free, he would only do that for his cherished disciple.

Viel saw that coming, so he activated his OGH blessing.

"Uncle Rainer, wouldn't you make me this favor for once? You know how hard I have helped the Stronghold people all these years while I waited for Lux. It's just a small thing."

As if something clicked inside of Rainer's head, he suddenly blinked and answered Viel.

"You are right boy. After everything you have done for the Wildgarde Stronghold, it's only natural that I do this for you. Tell me, how would you like it to be?" Rainer said as he seated near a table and grabbed a paper and a pencil for Viel to design the armor.

—-

"It's going to be a little bit difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible. Are you sure of it? You don't even know if you are going to be able to find a fire of that rank and until you find it, the armor won't reach the best of its capabilities."

Rainer helped Viel design the armor. When he first heard Viel's idea, he couldn't believe it. He wanted to make a living armor that could move by itself, although Viel assured Rainer that he will take care of that problem. And also, the living armor should have a very high-rank flame inside. (𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑙)

"Well boy, as the design it's complicated it should take me around a week to finish it. Is this right for you?"

"Yes, take all the time you need Uncle Rainer. It's better if you do it slowly and well than fastly and worse."

As they finished their business, Lux left Rainer's smithy and went back to Lux, Eriol and Vera.