[Broken Bearer of Last Light] — Awarded for meeting the conditions of [Sunset]. You survived an explosion that could have leveled a city. Effects: Class Changed to Living Forge. All other Achievements and competing Titles have been consumed. This Achievement will be consumed upon advancing your tier.
Arwin was summoned from Earth when he was ten, trained by the Adventurers' Guild to be the Hero of Lian, and fought his way through the invading armies of the demon queen for years. Finally they clash face to face, both sacrificing themselves to inflict a mortal wound on the other...and then Arwin spots a strange gem inside his armour, and everything explodes.
When he wakes up, he's in an unfamiliar city, his previous class and skills are gone, and the Mesh has instead made him a magical blacksmith. The news proclaims the fallen hero's sacrifice, and how a new Hero has arisen to face the next demon queen. It's a perfect chance for Arwin to retire and enjoy building things instead of destroying them. But the events surrounding "his" funeral aren't adding up, and he increasingly suspects that something much more sinister is going on under the surface of the Adventurers' Guild...
He's gonna need some better armour.
Rise of the Living Forge
is a blacksmith LitRPG published on Royal Road by Actus, who also writes Return of the Runebound Professor.
[Tropes] have been forged. Forging a wiki page has granted you energy.
- The Alleged House: Arwin is not impressed by the shop he finds, but it does have shelves full of crafting ingredients, and he's been wandering for an hour trying to find something better, so he goes in anyway.It was almost entirely made out of rotting wood with a few bricks scattered haphazardly throughout it to give the semblance of some structural integrity. A slanted roof with shingles that stuck in every direction but the right one was perched precariously at the top of the house, threatening to pitch forward and fall off at the first opportunity.
As far as Arwin could tell, the entire house's greatest enemy would probably be a slight gust of wind. Its only saving grace was that the ratty hut was so short that the wind would probably break on the larger stone buildings long before reaching its shoddily constructed walls. - Attack on the Heart: Arwin finds a bone dagger in a dungeon, enchanted to send a sliver of itself into someone's bloodstream through any injury, to seek out their heart and bring death in seconds. It can only be used three times, however, and he doesn't like the prospect of using what's basically an assassin's weapon. He uses it anyway to kill Erik, claiming it's a gift and throwing it to him; Erik catches it but cuts his hand in the process, and collapses shortly afterward.
- Best Served Cold: Arwin has seen enough war and death to know that punishment can be necessary but doesn't satisfy and shouldn't be reckless. After the murder of Zeke, he holds Reya back from retaliating in the heat of emotion, and instead spends weeks making new armor for himself and Lillia. He absolutely wants revenge, but he's taking the time to be careful and thorough.
- Charged Attack: Prism's Reach can be fed with magical energy to empower the next shot. When fed enough energy, from its wielder or its target, it can grow into a tremendous form that is very difficult to draw but massively amplifies a single shot before collapsing back to normal.
- Cold Flames: Arwin's [Soul Flame] is very real and very hot — but since it's part of his soul, it doesn't burn him. Even the items heated by it don't harm him; he can reach into the forge and shape red-hot metal with his bare hands. Anyone working with him doesn't have that luxury, though.
- Commonality Connection: Arwin is taken aback to find himself working with Lillia the former demon queen, now in a similar situation to himself, but it's an effective partnership. Especially when they put the pieces together and realise that they were both played for fools by their respective guilds, and both thought they were simply defending their people from bloodthirsty invaders. Once they move past their former enmity, they have a lot in common and understand each other in a way that no-one else can.
- Cursed Item: Arwin's class often bestows magical effects on the items he forges, but the effects are somewhat random and often negative, like being brittle or even explosive if struck too hard.[Hungry]: This item hungers for power, and will consume more magical energy than necessary in order to function.
- Deadly Dodging: Arwin evades a charging Rot Giantling, which then crashes into a wall and gets impaled on some protruding crystals. But being undead, it's not especially bothered and just pulls itself off.
- Disposing of a Body: Imps are very helpful for leaving no traces of a kill, if you don't mind the sounds of bone crunching.
- Dissimile: Reya has difficulty describing her new skill, except that she doesn't enjoy using it, especially on sapients.Reya: It's kind of like scooping water with your hands. Except it's your mind, so it isn't really like your hands. And it's nothing like water.
- Dungeon Crawling: Dungeons form where the Mesh is thick and unstable, with high levels of magic luring in monsters. Clearing them out can be quite lucrative, and may or may not cause the dungeon to dissipate. Reya stole a key to a Journeyman-level dungeon, and the thieves' guild wants it back.
- Excalibur in the Rust: The Rot Giantling's armour is in terrible condition, covered in rust and filth, but it took a beating, so Arwin suspects it's magical and wants to examine it further.
- Extreme Omnivore: Subverted when Lillia insists on sampling the flesh of a partially decomposed partially undead Rot Giantling that was infested by Corpse Burrower spiders. The Mesh rewards her with a title that's basically an insult for doing something that foolish.Lillia: The hardest part is getting over the mental block.
<eats meat and descends into coughing and retching>
Lillia: I was very wrong. Don't eat that. - Food-Based Superpowers: Arwin temporarily gains the traits of the magical items he eats, which can be quite helpful in the right situation. He eats a steelskin bracelet to resist a wyrm's strike during his fight with Jessen, then scorches Jessen by eating a bracelet with the power to heat up to molten temperatures and grappling him.
- Gotta Kill Them All: Arwin's questioning of Tix of the Iron Hounds identifies four targets whom he decides need to die. Tix herself, who led the attack on the forge. Yul, whose magic set the fire. Erik, who gave the order. And Jessen, the guild leader, who is ultimately responsible for their actions.
- Hammerspace: The [Arsenal] skill allows its holder to bind some of their equipment to themselves, gaining the ability to dismiss and summon it at will. [Unique] items that bind to the wearer sometimes grant a similar ability.
- Internal Reveal:
- After the death of Zeke, Arwin tells Reya about his past as the Hero of Lian.
- After fighting the Bonehemoth together, Roderick admits that he's not a plain warrior, he's a Fallen Paladin. In return, Arwin and Lillia tell him and Anna their former identities.
- Last Disrespects: Lillia objects to Arwin shovelling dirt over Jessen's ruined and burnt face, arguing that he doesn't deserve a burial, but Arwin responds that it's not really a burial, he just doesn't want their younger compatriots to have to see it.
- Lethal Chef: Lillia is learning fast, but she started off knowing nothing about cooking. As in, it took her several attempts at roasting a bird before she discovered that she could get better results by killing it first.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Reya has so many enemies on the wrong side of the law that it's reasonably straightforward to get them fighting each other. She just has to have them arrive somewhere, riled up, at the same time, then pretend she's siding with one group to ambush the other.
- Loyal Phlebotinum: When Arwin forges an item with a specific person in mind, there's a good chance its magical abilities will only work for them, and will even be hidden from system examination by others. Verdant Blaze will burn anyone except Arwin who tries to use it.
- Mercy Kill: Arwin is puzzled at first when killing the Bonehemoth grants him an achievement called Savior of the Bonehemoth, praising him for bringing peace to it. Then he finds a series of murals showing its story, how it was an intelligent skeleton that consumed a green magical crystal but was overcome and mutated by it, becoming huge and bestial. The skeleton's last rational action was to seal away what was left of the crystal.
- Mundane Utility: Arwin can and does use [Scourge] to hit monsters with Super-Strength and Super-Speed, but he's just as likely to use it to hammer out metal faster on his anvil — or pull a cart to market.
- One-Track-Minded Hunger: Arwin gets a warning vision that if he doesn't find a way to tame the Hungering Maw, it will eventually take over his life, making him constantly eat whatever magic he can find but never be satisfied. Something similar already happened to the green crystal, and when working with it, Arwin promises to find a solution for both their sakes.
- Organ Drops: Killing monsters grants XP and sometimes treasure, especially inside a dungeon. But Arwin is primarily interested in taking their hides and scales, while Lillia wants to try cooking new types of meat.
- Paranoia Gambit: Arwin's plan for revenge on Jessen of the Iron Hounds is to live as if he doesn't exist.Arwin: Which is why he'll be confident we're trying something. He'll spend resources and energy trying to find out what it is. The longer it takes, the more confused and worried he'll get. He won't approach us, though. That would be another defeat.
- Phlebotinum Muncher: Absorbing the energy of the explosion changed Arwin's body, so that instead of needing regular food, he needs to eat magical items. He still can eat food, and enjoys it, but can't sustain himself on it. Just as well his new class lets him make those items.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Arwin snarls out "May Hell be a thousand times hotter than this," right before he shoves a vial of magma into Jessen's mouth.
- Secret Test of Character: Olive really wants the magical sword that the party finds, even though to Arwin the sword is underwhelming. He's curious about how well she'd fit in the guild, though, so he draws out the conversation, testing her patience and finding out how much she's willing to pay for it. Once he's satisfied that she doesn't have ulterior motives, she's just genuinely willing to indenture herself for months to pay off the sword if it will make her stronger, he gives it to her on much more lenient terms, leaving her confused.
- The Sleepless: Arwin does sleep, but his class sometimes, when he has a job to do, keeps him awake and alert for days at a time without serious side effects.
- Super Mode: [Scourge] makes Arwin much stronger and faster by drawing on his magic. It's useful both in forging and in combat, but limited both by his energy reserves and the need to keep his unusual new class a secret (it's not normal for a smith to be able to fight).
- Swords to Plowshares: Arwin is quite pleased by the prospect of retirement from being the Hero. His initial reaction to seeing his new class is that "a chance to create rather than destroy" is exactly what he originally hoped for.
- Tattle Tail: Lillia is quite relieved to have tucked her tail away in her pants before it could give away her crush on Arwin by wagging when he came down the stairs.
- Video Game Stealing: Upgrading [Arsenal] grants Arwin the ability to temporarily bind an extra piece of equipment, if he holds it for long enough — even if someone else was already holding it. He grapples Jessen long enough to bind his breastplate, which he can then dismiss to leave Jessen vulnerable.
- Weapons of Their Trade: Arwin typically fights with a hammer. Not only is it what he has available, but the skills that make him better at flattening metal also work for flattening monster faces.
- Why Won't You Die?: Tix increasingly loses control as she fails to properly hurt Arwin. The fact that he eats her sword doesn't help."Just die already!"
- Would Not Hurt A Child: Both Arwin and Lillia are incensed by the accusation of slaughtering children. It turns out that their armies were massacring villages without telling them about it; each of them was only told about the other side's atrocities, not their own.
Achievement: [End of the Page] has been earned.
