Arwin held the wooden prosthetic aloft in the still-sweltering smithy, watching red letters trail through the air as the Mesh finally revealed the results of his efforts over the past few hours. The Ashen Armament [Cursed] [Parasitic Limb]: This item holds the hunger for power and life of a Cursed Ashleaf Tree within it. When attached to a suitable host, it will take the place of their right arm. The Ashen Armament will take a portion of all energy its host earns and grow along with them. [The Solitary Forest]: Ashleaf Trees are solitary monsters that consume the life energy of all things that draw near. Each tree possesses an enormous root network around it that will strangle out any other foliage that attempts to grow within their domain. This power has been trapped within the Ashen Armament. Sending power into this item unleashes the living roots within it — as well as the immense amount of emotion constrained within the Ashen Armament. The roots will obey this item’s wielder so long as their resolve remains firm. If their will breaks, the Ashen Armament will attempt to wrest control over its wielder’s body. Arwin swallowed as he lowered the arm and set it back on the anvil, staring at it in silence even as the words blinked out and the smithy plunged back into darkness. It was no different than how the Wyrm’s Revenge worked. That reinforced his theory even further. Cursed items were all gambles. They gave enormous opportunity at the cost of a very significant risk, and this was no different. He could return Olive’s arm to her, but at the cost of her potentially losing control of the rest of her body the moment she utilized its full strength. Arwin doubted that effect would last forever, but even a few seconds of being controlled could result in immense damage. Arwin could feel the emotion churning within the arm. Hunger and desire mixed in the Cursed item. It hadn’t forgotten Arwin’s promise. More than anything else, it wanted to be used. The item wanted a body back. Before any more thoughts could pass through his head with regard to the item, the air before Arwin shimmered as golden letters suddenly bloomed before him. It had been incredibly effective against Jessen, but Twelve was an assassin. If Arwin managed to get his hands on Twelve for long enough to temporarily bind himself to any of the man’s equipment, it would have been easier to just end the fight by snapping his neck. That was the end of the easy choices. Everything that was left behind had potential to significantly improve his crafting, his abilities to fight against Twelve, or both. Arwin’s fingers drummed against his thighs in thought. He still had 4 options to consider. [Molten Novice] (Passive) [Soul Flame] had consistently been one of his best upgrades. It improved both his crafting and combat potential, especially since Verdant Inferno was able to draw on [Soul Flame] to make its attacks even stronger. His recent work had shown that [Soul Flame] was still integral with Dwarven Smithing, not just to protect himself from the lava, but also to wrap materials he was working with. Upgrading it would probably let him work with more delicate materials, which was definitely something he’d need in the long run. I’m just not sure if I need that right now. I don’t think I’ve got any more very delicate materials that I would be using in any currently planned projects. I don’t think the boost in damage a stronger [Soul Flame] gives me will be too significant either. It isn’t about hitting Twelve hard — it’s about hitting him at all. I’ll keep this as an option, but it might not be the best one to go with right now. [Molten Novice] was directly related to Dwarven Smithing. Upgrading it would probably give him improved control over lava and access to some more crafting techniques that could help him make his Cursed items even stronger. [Awaken] was always a very good option. He’d yet to see an item be both Cursed and Awakened, but nothing said it wasn’t possible. There was just a very low chance to actually awaken an item. If he managed to pull off an Awakened Cursed item, Arwin suspected it would be one of the most powerful pieces he’d made to date. His final option was [Unleash]. Arwin had yet to use it in the real world, and he highly doubted it would be anywhere near as effective as it had been in his Vision, where willpower had been the most important element of a fight. It empowers my Cursed items and makes me stronger. Definitely a good option, even if I’ve only got one item myself. Upgrading it could be pretty solid, both for crafting and combat purposes. I think it would provide marginally more effectiveness overall than upgrading [Molten Notice] right now. We won’t be fighting Twelve in the Infernal Armory, so I’m not going to have access to lava during the fight. But what about Awaken? If Arwin could actually manage to make an Awakened Cursed item… he was pretty sure that was the strongest boost in strength he could hypothetically achieve. He ran over the other options in his head for a few more moments to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, but his mind became more set the longer he thought on it. This whole fight against Twelve was a gamble. They weren’t going to be able to win it taking safe routes — and they didn’t even have to fight if they couldn’t get strong enough in time. The Menagerie could only win this if they had a real trump card. Something that could tip the scales. [Awake] was the skill option that gave Arwin the only chance of achieving a flash in the dark. A small upgrade wouldn’t be enough to tip the scales. They needed something big. Arwin made his decision and golden letters took form in the air once more, replacing the previous messages. [Awaken] (Passive) – All items forged by your hand have the potential to take on a trait, determined by [Unknown]. The potential for the trait to be detrimental is [69%]. Materials with a higher chance to awaken will fight with you to exert their influence on the piece they are being made into. You may attempt to Awaken items that possess sufficient strength through reforging. Arwin’s eyes widened as he read over the skill upgrade. This could be what I needed. The chance to Awaken an item had continued to scale with his Tier, but Arwin was far more focused on the final, new line in the skill. He could reforge an item and attempt to Awaken it.