System Fact #418: Version 9.0 weapons are 'rendered' instantly via a user interface. True blacksmithing is considered a dead art, practiced only by those whose minds are too stubborn to accept the convenience of the System.
The heat in the alleyway grew intense, culminating at a heavy iron door radiating a dull red glow. Jax knocked a complex rhythm on the metal.
A tiny viewing slit slid open, revealing a single, glaring eye surrounded by soot and thick gray eyebrows.
"We're closed," a gruff voice growled. "Go download a sword like the rest of the sheep."
"Baron, it's Silas. I'm on a timer."
The heavy door unlatched with a grinding groan. They stepped into a sweltering workshop that looked less like a forge and more like a mad scientist's laboratory. Glowing vats of liquid mana bubbled in the corners, and half-dissected mechanical golems hung from the ceiling.
At the center stood Baron—a broad-shouldered, heavily scarred dwarf missing half of his left ear. He wiped his greasy hands on a leather apron and glared at Silas's wrist.
"Let me see the band," Baron demanded. Silas held out his arm. Baron squinted at the glowing red rune Kaelen had attached to it. "Enforcer-grade proximity hex. Nasty piece of work. They really want you, Janitor."
"Can you spoof it?" Silas asked.
"Spoof it? Boy, I can trap that signal in a localized loop so tight the Enforcer who cast it will think you've been sitting on the toilet for the next ten years," Baron grunted, pulling a pair of intricate, magnifying goggles over his eyes. "But it'll cost you. And I don't mean credits. I need raw, unrefined legacy mana to power the soldering iron."
Silas glanced at Aria. This was the risky part.
"Aria," Silas said softly. "Drop the hood. Just for a second."
Aria hesitated, then reached up with her free hand and pulled back the drab cowl.
The moment her silver hair tumbled down and the glowing cyan circuits of her eyes met the dim light of the forge, the ambient temperature in the room plummeted. The fires in Baron's furnaces actually flickered, bowing toward her as if in reverence to a higher power.
Baron froze. His magnifying goggles slipped down his nose. The gruff, cynical dwarf fell completely silent.
"By the Code..." Baron breathed, taking a shaky step back. "That's... that's not a human. That's a Genesis-Tier architecture. Where in the hell did you find a living Archive?"
"Scheduled for deletion in Sector 4," Silas said flatly. "I intercepted it."
Baron looked at Silas as if he were entirely insane. "You stole a god from the System Admins. They aren't just going to track you, Silas. They are going to format your entire bloodline."
"I know," Silas said. "Which is why I need another favor. Her code is leaking. She needs a physical anchor to stabilize her output in the real world, or I have to keep feeding her my own mana by hand."
Aria blushed softly at that, looking away.
Baron let out a booming, incredulous laugh. "A physical anchor for a Genesis spell? Do I look like a miracle worker? The density of her code would shatter standard steel in seconds."
"Not standard steel," Silas said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small, jagged piece of black metal he had scavenged from the Recycle Bin. It pulsed with a dark, heavy energy. "Server-rack iron from Version 1.0. Before the System existed."
Baron's eyes widened with pure greed. As a Glitch-Smith, working with Version 1.0 material was the ultimate dream. "You drive a hard bargain, Janitor. Put your wrist on the anvil. Let's get that tracker off you, and then I'll forge the lady a ring."
For the next hour, the forge rang with the sound of Baron's hammer. Aria watched, fascinated by the physical creation of an object—a concept entirely foreign to a being made of pure data.
Just as Baron was cooling a beautiful, intricate silver ring in a vat of blue liquid, the heavy iron door of the shop shuddered violently.
BOOM.
Jax, who had been keeping watch outside, came flying backward through the door, crashing into a pile of scrap metal.
Silas was moving before Jax even hit the ground, pushing Aria behind him.
Three figures stepped through the broken doorway. They weren't Enforcers. They were 'Script-Kiddies'—local Under-Code gang members wired up with cheap, glowing cybernetic implants and stolen Version 9.0 combat mods.
"Well, well," the leader smirked, his metallic arm humming as he charged a localized [Plasma Palm] spell. "Word on the street is Baron's got some high-tier scrap in here today. We're collecting a tax."
Silas didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't activate a combat skill. He just looked at the gang leader with absolute exhaustion.
"Baron," Silas sighed, not taking his eyes off the intruders. "Is the ring finished?"
"Just needs to be attuned," Baron grunted from the back, unfazed by the gang.
"Good," Silas said. He turned his head slightly toward Aria. "Aria. Do you see the glowing implant on his arm?"
"Yes," Aria whispered from behind him. "It is a crude channeling loop. Highly inefficient."
"What's the counter-syntax?"
Aria's cyan eyes flared. "A localized surge of kinetic feedback, focused exactly three inches below the elbow joint."
Silas nodded. He stepped forward, dodging the thug's plasma blast with a simple, perfectly timed tilt of his head. Before the thug could recalculate, Silas jammed two fingers precisely three inches below the glowing implant.
He didn't use a spell. He just used a tiny burst of his own raw mana, injecting it directly into the flaw Aria had pointed out.
The gang leader's arm sparked, whined, and violently exploded in a shower of harmless blue sparks. The [Plasma Palm] spell backfired, launching the thug backward out the door and into the alleyway, unconscious.
The other two gang members stared at their twitching leader, then at the tired Janitor. Without a word, they turned and sprinted away into the pixelated rain.
Silas dusted his hands off and turned back to Baron. "Like I said. I'm on a timer."
Baron grinned, tossing a small, beautifully engraved silver ring to Silas. "Tracker's spoofed. And here's the anchor. Put it on her."
Silas took the ring. He turned to Aria, who was staring at him with a mix of shock and profound admiration. Silas took her left hand, gently sliding the Version 1.0 ring onto her finger.
The moment the metal seated against her skin, a soft blue pulse rippled through her body. The flickering glitches at the edges of her vision completely vanished. She let out a long, deep breath, finally grounded in reality.
"Thank you," she whispered, looking at the ring, then up into Silas's eyes.
"Don't thank me yet," Silas said, though he couldn't hide a small smile. "We still have to make it home in time for dinner."