The days passed quickly for Scott, and his dream world alter-ego. He did not feel comfortable spending all of his time in the dream world anymore as the appearance of a monster in the real world was problematic on many levels. Previously, such things were considered to be something akin to urban legends. They happened in far off exotic locations such as Nevada, or the mythical land of Canada. Clearly, such things were either a hoax or someone else's problem.

The awaited horde of monsters spawning on Earth did not happen, however. During the week or so that passed on Earth, only a small number of monster sightings occurred near his home town. Most of those occurrences were nothing more than fleeting glimpses. Only one other death was noted. It became obvious to him over the course of those few weeks in the dream and that week on Earth, that the so-called world update was merely a preparatory thing.

A few additional fog events occurred and with them came the addition of more monsters. Though, there were never too many to be handled by local hunters and law enforcement. Even so, it remained obvious to him that the real patch update had not happened, yet.

Scott looked over his finances for a moment then nodded. Hunting the cemetery zombies proved far more lucrative than he had previously believed. No longer distracted by the need to run around like a fool, and with a companion in tow, the battles were short. His almost obscene level of life force made it easy for him to synergize materials and craft items that sold for a decent bit of Jerin.

The exchange rate was abysmal, but his Earth finances were shored up as well. Able to both pay his rent and to purchase materials he began to make a bit of headway in his plans.

The time had come. His finances were right. Doing what he intended to do would nearly bankrupt him once more, but it would potentially lead to a major windfall. "Man, I'm really going to spend a thousand dollars on silver wire and unfinished argentum jewelry... I'm so damned fancy."

Buying high-grade steel would have been a good investment as well, but the truth of the matter was that after refinement he would require far too many base resources to make it profitable at the moment. As a means to create individual items that he wished to use, it would be worth it. The cost to make and resell such items just did not pan out, yet. He needed to train further. Silver jewelry, however, was incredibly economical. There was also another reason to use it, however.

Scott grinned to himself then stood up from his computer. This was not actually his first order for silver. His original order was for a much smaller amount, including silver plates.

The latter proved quite useful in the end. In the dream world, silver had special properties. While it's raw defensive power was lower than steel when used as a base metal, there was a version of silver that proved to be far better for armor.

He looked to a small shiny ingot of metal no longer than his thumb. Given the restrictions on Earth at the moment, it had taken quite some time to refine that ingot and to combine it with his secret ingredient, but it represented something amazing.

Dark Silver Ingot

Class: D

Quality: Standard

Material Value:

Acquired through synergy refinement, this material can be used via synergy to upgrade items, or to create new ones. The effects added to an item will be based on the original nature of the material from which the ingot was created.

A variation of the mystic silver ingot, the dark silver ingot required heavy refinement of silver materials into a single silver ingot. Four ingots would then be refined into a pure silver ingot. Four pure silver ingots would then be refined into one large pure silver ingot. The secret ingredient then would be one of the crystals gained when he defeated certain monsters. The complete vita crystal spheres would produce a mystic silver ingot. However, a rare crystal shard type that he found when he defeated zombies provided the resource needed to make dark silver.

This crystal, the death essence shard, could be refined into a sphere of death essence crystal. The essence of death mixed with such a pure ingot of silver produced a tiny ingot of a material that was extraordinarily hard to come by.

He gazed thoughtfully at the darkly inviting piece of metal. It was too small to make a weapon out of it, but he already had a use for it. The ingot of metal was a lower quality version of the metal used to forge his ring, the Crimson Heart of the Fallen Lord. That ring was the only real item that he got to keep after his transition to the life draconic. For all he knew, his other equipment still existed, but it was down in the depths of that weird tomb.

It would make more sense to use the ingot when he was in the dream world, as he would gain skill experience for doing so. However, he had noticed something interesting whenever he crafted items on Earth. The focus needed to make the synergy skill work at all, and the life force expended, tended to produce better final results. It was the only conclusion that he had been able to come to since his journey into real world crafting had begun.

He went to the couch and made himself comfortable, then began his work. He held up a simple fine silver band in the palm of his right hand, and the dark silver ingot in his left hand. "Let's see if the alchemist was right..."

It would be his first attempt at a higher grade bit of synergy, the creation of a magical artifact. His efforts at the cemetery yielded great results, and he was able to finish off his work with the alchemist quite to their mutual benefit. Doing so, put the crusty old fart into such a good mood during their ensuing conversation that he let slip a trade secret of synergists that he had heard before. It was time to see if it would work.

On the coffee table sat a simple dinner plate. Atop that plate sat a sphere of pure death essence. It gleamed quietly in the darkness, its shiny black exterior granting a fell atmosphere.

Scott held the silver band to one side of the crystal, and the ingot to the other. He then began the process of combining the two items. His life force dropped rapidly as he worked, and his body began to tremble. It was an undertaking most people would find impossible at his level, but his draconic nature allowed him to power through. The two items began to merge together, but a disturbance appeared in the pattern. The energy released by the two resource items began to swirl around refusing to mix together. The crystal at the center of that swirl began to glow brightly. Now was the time. The strain might prove to be too much, but he had to try it.

"Imperious Burn!" cried Scott. The items exploded apart briefly, the attempt to synergize them proving to be a failure. However, the anemic flame produced by his casting of the spell shot outwards along the path that the items flew. The band broke one of his windows, but stopped in mid-air just beyond when the brightly burning flame caught up to it. The metal ingot splattered liquidly against one of his walls and began to slide down, but froze when the flames caught it.

Pain wracked his body as he tried to force the two items back together. His skill was far below what it needed to be to manage the effect, but his charisma was extraordinary for his level. Dark bruises appeared along his arms and chest. Blood trickled down from his noise and a blood vessel burst in his right eye.

He screamed as his body temperature rose rapidly and steam began to rise from his trembling form. A mistake! It was a mistake to try it so soon! Yet, his will would not be denied. The two items once again became pure energy then sluggishly drew back toward the blazing crystal at the heart of it all.

Scott blacked out not long after the two items merged with the crystal. Hours passed before he awoke. His body was stiff, and he hurt everywhere.

"Damn..." he croaked. He coughed up a wad of blood flecked phlegm then rose sluggishly to his feet. Scott staggered to his kitchen sink then spat the hideous mass down the drain. He rinsed his mouth repeatedly to relieve himself of the taste of copper on his tongue.

"Did it work?" he asked quietly.

He staggered drunkenly back over to the couch then looked down at the plate. A ragged looking ring made of gleaming black crystal winked at him. Cracked in several places and slightly warped in appearance, he held no hope that it would be worth having. Still, he checked its status.

Inferior Cracked Imperial Band of the Dread Inferno

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.13

Life Force Cost: 53

Level: 1

Accessory Type: Ring

Armor Class: 1

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 5/5

Hardness: 1

Equipment Requirements

CHR: 17

--

Bonus Armor Class: 0

Special Options

Amplify the power of Dark Magic Fire Spells 11.75%

Access Special Power: Dread Inferno

His lightly burned lips creased into a tired smile. "It worked... I made a super shitty version, but it worked."

Currently, he was too injured to equip it but his draconic healing factor would help that along. He got cleaned up then spent a little money to transfer his new toy to the dream. Sonja was more than a little upset at how he injured himself, but his excitement about his recent victory quelled some of her wrath.

Several days passed in the dream while Blackthorne healed and worked on his crafting skills. Once he recovered to the point that he could risk equipping his ring, he did so. He and Sonja set out in the late afternoon to see what his new toy could do.

First, he tried casting his burn spell and noted that it did seem slightly more interesting on a visual level. Neither it, nor its imperious version, proved to be particularly noteworthy in the damage department. Unfortunately, casting those spells had worn down the ring's limited durability quite a bit. If he could use the special power at all, it would probably only be once and for a limited amount of time.

"So, all those injuries for that?" asked Sonja with a dismissive snort. She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him critically.

"As I said, this thing is a barely working version of what I wanted to make. I mostly wanted to test out the special power to see if it would be worth bothering to make another one after I upgrade my synergy skill a little," Blackthorne held his hand aloft. His mana senses stretched outward for a moment, but he stopped before he began to convert the local life essence into it.

"I need to move further away. This might actually hurt you, if I screw it up." Blackthorne ignored her snort of derision and moved a good distance away from her. Despite her disbelief of his words, given the fact that his magic had never proven to be particularly notable to her in any regard outside of synergy and transformation, she opted not to come any closer.

It would cost far too much of his life force to fuel the special power provided by the ring. His only option was to mitigate the loss by performing a full mana draw from the area until he had no choice but to supplement the remaining needed power with his own life essence.

He held his ringed hand aloft then focused his attention of the rainbow fire of life that existed all around him in the grass land. "To me..." he whispered softly. It was unnecessary to do so, but he felt the need to say something in that moment.

The life force of the grass began to flow out of its original owners and to Blackthorne's new toy. The ring lit up and cast a hellish red light as the grass began to die all around its master.

It was not enough, not nearly enough. The inferior nature of the ring caused the power to require far more mana that normal. Blackthorne supplemented his own life force and immediately felt a crippling weakness steal upwards throughout his body. The heat left him as though it were being sucked into the ring above his head. Soon, however, a bright red circle formed above the ring. Within that circle several geometric figures appeared and soon unintelligible writing that Blackthorne did not understand appeared within that circle as well.

His eyes blazed red as he sensed the moment had come. Words came unbidden to his lips, the incantation for the dread class version of the inferno spell.

~ Dread God of Hellfire born of my dark desires...

Arise from the underworld and burn this foolish land to ash...

Let no hope remain in the barren wasteland left in your wake...

Only the scars of a dreadful fate shall remain as testament to our wrath! ~

"Come forth, Dread Inferno!" cried Blackthorne. The hellish light in his eyes matched the blazing red of the conjuring circle as the earth began to shake beneath his feet.

A sound akin to an agonized shriek erupted from the ground before geysers of blazing flame erupted all around him. Those geysers flew upwards into the air then converged to a single point. Briefly, they took on a humanoid form complete with burning wings and oversized horns. The humanoid figure roared explosively then hurled itself downward toward Blackthorne. It spread apart like oil atop water and engulfed a massive circular swath of the grassland all around him that was easily several hundred feet in diameter.

Screams inundated his ears as though the agony of all of the souls burning in the darkest of hells called out to him. However, it lasted for but a moment. The inferno attempted to converge once more and become the humanoid figure, but the spell suddenly died out. The half-formed figure looked surprised briefly before it faded away. The ring of Dread Inferno broke in half and fell from Blackthorne's finger. It turned to dust before it hit the dead grass beneath his feet.

He fell to his knees, but was ready to laugh in exultation. However, the damage rendered to the now burning hellscape faded away as well. Only the dead grass from his mana draining activities remained. "Well, shit..."

Sonja trotted over to him to see if he was injured. Blackthorne stood of his own accord, as the spell power he used was unfortunately an incomplete conjuration it had drained him but left no injuries.

"What was that?" she asked him, her eyes wide and curious.

"It was a spell from the conjuration school that uses imperious magic as a catalyst. Basically, the ring was a conduit to bring a dread spirit of fire and burning death into the world," he told her simply.

"You... can do that?" she asked him incredulously.

"Me? Hell no. I have never really used my conjuration abilities. This was all done by the ring. Unfortunately, it was too much of a piece of shit to finish the summoning," he replied. "If I had done so, Dread Inferno would have done my bidding for a short time."

"How powerful is that spirit?" she asked. Sonja fussed over him for a moment, certain that he had burned himself somehow.

"From what the alchemist told me, he would have power based on his level and that would be based on the ring. An actual conjurer who could summon him directly would have the summoned creature's level be based on the conjurer's charisma and conjuration skills." Blackthorne pushed at her fussing hands then grinned.

"So, not really that strong with the piece of shit I used. A higher level ring though? Well, he would level a town easily enough," replied Blackthorne. "I need stronger imperious spells, and more synergy skill to make a better one, though."

"That doesn't really answer the question," she said in a chiding tone.

Blackthorne shrugged. "I guess he could one-shot zombies at level one? The summoning looked grand and all, but I am still me and the ring was a piece of shit. He would be limited by that."

Sonja patted him on the shoulder. "Seems like I was wrong. You might be able to make for a great magus one day."

Blackthorne grinned at her. "We probably need to head somewhere with better access to magical knowledge before I can do much. Conjuration might prove to be as useful as synergy, if I can call on critters like that one."

Sonja smile at him, and it was not a smile of condescension. In truth, it was laced with a sense of relief. His power as a warrior was still quite mediocre, only the fact that he was a dragon really did much to alleviate his weakness. However, if he could master such powerful magics in the future then he might very well soon have the power needed to slay her husband.

His laughter caught her attention a moment later. "Master?"

He grinned at her. "I gained two ranks in arcane ring mastery."

She offered a smile that reached her eyes for once. Were he to hear her thoughts they would sound like, "Good. Keep improving, my little master. Someday soon, those talents will be needed."