96 Enhancing the Forest Prowler Set

The hubbub of the Panjal City and panic spreading amongst the higher echelons of the various guilds had nothing to do with Samar. No matter how they searched they would not be able to track the Shadow Seamstresses back to him. 

Assured of this fact, he leisurely walked towards Elara's Leather Crafts to submit his quest. 

The melodious bell tinkled as Samar pushed open the door to the shop. Elara, sitting behind her counter, looked up and her eyes showed her astonishment. 

"You have returned earlier than I expected." She said in a calm voice. 

Samar found it difficult to gauge what she meant from her voice. 

Did she assume that he would fail? 

Or was she surprised that he had completed the task earlier than she expected? 

Samar did not delve deeper into the problem as whatever she may have thought, the results were all that mattered. He carefully took out four Pristine Shadow Cocoons from his inventory and placed them before Elara. 

Then he watched her expressions change from calm apathy to shock and astonishment to ecstasy and joy. Elara immediately reached for a Pristine Shadow Cocoon and gently inspected it. 

"This is in great condition." Elara whispered, scrutinizing it from all sides. She placed it on the table and covered them up with a pitch black cloth. 

Then she looked up at Samar and said, "You have done a good job of preserving their essence."

"I know. The appraiser at the Auction House said the same. She also led me to believe that I was being taken advantage of by you. Even a Master would not charge four Pristine Shadow Cocoons as a customization price, let alone a quasi-master."

Samar said in a calm voice, pinning down Elara with his piercing gaze. Panic flashed in Elara's eyes for a moment before she smiled brilliantly, like a salesman wooing a customer. 

"Indeed, four Pristine Shadow Cocoons of this quality is a high price. How about I charge you only two?" Elara offered, clearly unwilling to let go of the Pristine Shadow Cocoons. 

"The lady at the Auction house offered me the services of their Master Leatherworker for two Pristine Shadow Cocoons and even promised to enchant my Equipment Set."

In her mind, Elara cursed whichever Sales attendant had met Samar. She closed her eyes and weighed her options before presenting the best deal possible to Samar. 

"I can match their offer. I will also enchant your Equipment set." Elara made the offer, awaiting his decision. 

Samar smiled at her and said, "Deal." 

The Leathercrafter released the breath she had been holding. Just as Samar reached out to take back the two other Pristine Shadow Cocoons, Elara grabbed his hands and stopped him. 

Samar looked at her with questioning eyes. 

"If you allow me to keep them, I will replace the Shadow Weaver's threads with Shadow Silk extracted from these cocoons."

Shadow Silk processed from the Pristine Shadow Cocoons was a much higher grade material than the Shadow Weaver's threads. If it was used in his set, Samar was sure that its quality would go up a notch, even if the grade did not change. 

Moreover, Samar had no use for Pristine Shadow Cocoons. 

It was not like they were eggs of Arachnos he could hatch. The three creatures he found were only maturing inside them and not born from them. So, Samar felt like it was worthwhile to make this trade. 

After Elara received his permission, she got to work. She processed the cocoons and extracted the silk. Then she used the silk to sew the pre-cut pieces of Chameleon dermis together in Samar's size. 

Within a few hours, the modifications were complete and the Forest Prowler Set was ready for enchantment. Elara went to the tanning room to call Samar only to be shocked by the sight in the room.

She saw Samar, engrossed in his craft, carving miniature versions of runes on the tiny White Fangs. As he started to recite the hymns, the room hummed with the faint energy of the wind element.

"Invoker," Elara breathed, her astonishment palpable. "You are an Invoker?"

Samar looked up from his work, a humble smile playing on his lips. Her reaction once again reminded Samar of how revered the profession of Invoking was in the Elven faction. 

"I am but a novice," he replied, his tone modest. "I still have much to learn."

Beside Elara, a woman dressed in robes snorted disdainfully. "A novice?" she scoffed, her voice dripping with superiority. "A person who cannot recite at least five Hymns is hardly worthy of being called an Invoker."

Samar's expression remained unchanged, unwavering in the face of the woman's condescension. However, he was shocked in his heart because Gamya was a player! An independent Life Profession Player at that!

He simply nodded when Elara introduced the woman as Gamya, the Invoker who had accepted the quest to enchant his equipment.

Gamya ignored the two and began to fulfill the purpose of her arrival. She meticulously inscribed the Wind Rune onto each individual piece of leather, her strokes precise and movements unerringly fluid. 

Samar observed Gamya carefully as she completed her task and his expression became strange. 

He found the process was very much similar to how he made the Rune Arrows. The only difference was Gamya did not invoke the power of rune immediately, while he did so before combining the arrows.

"Does that mean I have been creating enchanted arrows all this time?" Samar wondered as he continued to watch Gamya. 

He learned much from the Adept Invoker who had practiced her skills more than he had. However, she was still lacking by far compared to Bowsmith Sangma. 

After Gamya finished inscribing, Elara came forward, expertly stitching the pieces together to form the Forest Prowler's Tunic.

Once the Tunic was assembled, Gamya began to chant the First Hymn of the Wind Rune, channeling the power of the Runes into the equipment. However, the effectiveness of her invocation was far from desirable, reaching only 60%.

'An Adept Invoker can only command 60% of the Wind Rune's power? Shouldn't she be able to command at least 80%?' Samar could not believe this was her best effort when he, a Novice Invoker, could consistently command more than 90% of any of the four Basic Elemental Rune's power. 

Samar could not let her complete the enchantment with such low effectiveness as it would directly lower the stats boost his Forest Prowler Set would provide him. 

Dissatisfied with her efforts, Samar stepped forward, and stopped her before she started to imbue the power into the carved Runes. 

"Is this the best you can do?" Samar asked, doubting Gamya's professionalism and abilities. 

The blue-eyed player was insulted by his questioning gaze. She would've accepted his criticism were he her peer but he was but a Novice Invoker! Losing her calm, she resorted to demeaning Samar. 

"What does a noob like you know about invoking? Do you think you can do a better job?" She asked, in a mocking voice. 

Gamya was not usually this arrogant but she was riding on a high of becoming the first Adept-stage Invoker in the Elven Faction! 

And she had reached that stage just before arriving in the shop! 

The courtship from various big guilds and constant flattering messages from their representatives had inflated her ego and made her look down on Samar. 

Ignoring her jibe, Samar placed his hands on the crafted Leather Armor. He looked Gamya in the eyes, his voice calm yet resolute as he said, "Allow me to try."

Gamya scoffed, but Samar paid her no mind as he began to chant the First Hymn of Wind. The air around him changed as it became charged with energy. 

His demeanor was calm and collected but Gamya knew better. She could feel the enormity of wind power surrounding his body. If she had gathered a whirlwind with her invocation, then Samar had gathered a tornado!

Samar channeled the power gently into the Leather Armor and slowly all the carved Wind Runes began to light up and hum with power. 

This was the hardest part and Gamya knew it. If Samar failed to control the energy, it would run amok and degrade the equipment or in the worst case scenario, even destroy it. 

However, Gamya's fears never came to life. The wind that was like a storm under her control was as gentle as a breeze when directed by Samar. 

His title, 'Attuned with the Ancients,' guided him on the correct method to channel the enormous power. His practice while working with the fragile Rune Arrow materials had made him proficient in the art. 

Soon, all the runes inscribed on the Forest Prowler's Tunic lit up with bright green glow, signaling the successful enhancement of the armor.

Gamya realized that the runes inscribed on the armor glowed with much greater power than she had ever seen. Such a bright shine meant Samar's effectiveness had exceeded the 90% threshold! 

She was shocked to see a Novice stage Invoker achieve a much higher effectiveness than her, an Adept stage Invoker. Her pride was wounded and she gave up the quest in a huff. 

Embarrassed by her previous arrogance, she left the shop without saying another word. 

With Gamya gone, Elara turned to look at Samar with amazement and a great amount of respect. Samar was not misreading her as he received notifications regarding increase in favorability with Elara. 

The amount of favorability points received had elevated their relationship to friendship and was enough to secure Elara's vote should he stand in an election.

Some other perks had also been unlocked like private deals with Elara. 

"Deathless Samar, I did not imagine your affinity with the Power of Runes to be so strong." Elara complimented him in a coquettish voice, pressing his arm in her ample bosom. 

Samar immediately became alert as Elara was a woman who knew how to use her beauty to her advantage; she would not compliment him unless she needed something from him. 

Seeing her charm tactics fail, Elara got straight to the point. 

"I can provide you with the lyrics of the Second Hymn of Wind," she said, her voice tinged with eagerness. "In exchange, I ask for your assistance with invocation requests at a discounted price."

" Only Lyrics?" Samar asked, immediately catching on to her scheme. 

The knowledge of a Hymn included its lyrics, intonation and meaning. Just the lyrics, on their own, had significantly lower value than the complete knowledge of the Hymn.

 Elara knew she had been caught. She produced a beast skin roll from the counter and unfurled it for Samar to see. 

"This was the payment I received from one of my Invoker clients. I have no use for it, but since you are an Invoker, surely you can use it?" She asked in a hopeful tone. 

Her words made sense. The lyrics of a Hymn in the hands of a non-Invoker were indeed useless. 

However, an Invoker could use the skill Deep Meditation to perceive the reaction of power particles to their intonation and pronunciation. It was a lot of work but the results would be worth it. 

Moreover, Elara was offering the Lyrics on top of the compensation she would pay every time she called for his services. 

It favored him so much that Samar had to take it!