Brand-new armor

"Something extraordinary?"

After hearing Muradin's description, Arthas immediately felt that something was off. "Can you tell me exactly what it is?"

Muradin had no idea why Arthas was interested, but he answered casually, "I heard it's an ancient ruin. Who knows what's really there? We just figured there might be gold and treasure. Want to come along?"

"I probably won't have the time. You know how my father always gives me so much to do." Arthas waved a hand helplessly. "But if you do go, be careful. Northrend is a very dangerous place."

"Of course I know that. I've been on more adventures than you can imagine."

Having finally dried his beard, Muradin took a tray out of the oven beside the fireplace. "Here, try my special little cakes! I even added some local honey!"

Brann swiftly grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth. Although his older brother was a famous adventurer and warrior, he had another hobby: cooking. Cakes were a particular favorite of Muradin's, and he had sought out many chefs to learn how to make them.

Jaina looked at the rather rough-looking cakes, hesitant to reach for one. Arthas told the mage, "Muradin's a very good cook. Try one and you'll see."

"Hey, my oven's too simple to bake those fancy desserts you girls like, but I'm still confident about the flavor!"

Only after taking a bite did Jaina realize that Muradin had not been boasting. This ordinary-looking honey cake tasted even better than the ones she had eaten at royal banquets in Stormwind City.

Arthas took one himself and continued chatting with Muradin as he ate. "When would you have time to forge me a new suit of armor?"

"Anytime, lad!" Muradin poured himself a drink and asked Arthas, "Want some?"

"I'm not in the habit of having dwarven spirits with cake."

Arthas hastily declined. He was no dwarf, and he could not stomach that strange penchant for pairing sweets with liquor. Brann, meanwhile, raised an empty cup. "Pour me one."

"I'll have a word with Magni and arrange a time to use the Great Forge." Muradin took a deep swig of spirits. "Whew-burp! Just a suit of armor?"

"Yes, but a full suit."

A good suit of armor was a second life on the battlefield. After all, not every enemy was as powerful as Halazzi, capable of easily tearing through the combined protection of the Holy Light and armor.

"A full suit? That'll take quite a bit of material." Muradin smacked his lips. "Have you got enough?"

"Of course. I think there's even enough to make a shield."

Arthas tossed the Space Pouch onto the table. Muradin set down his cup, picked it up, and opened it. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Well, would you look at that! Did you raid those Dark Iron bastards' stockpile?"

"No. Didn't you notice those thorium ingots are engraved with Ancient Elves' designs?"

Muradin wiped his cake-smeared hands on his clothes, took a fine thorium ingot out of the pouch, and set it on the table. "Excellent quality. This is good stuff, smelted with magic. I can still feel the magic in the metal."

"The elves aren't as good at smithing as we are, but they do have a few tricks when it comes to smelting metal." Brann leaned over to examine the intact ancient thorium ingot as well. "Tsk, this is practically a work of art. You could put it in a museum."

Muradin counted the metal and told Arthas, "Good. This is more than enough to forge you a brand-new set of gear."

Then the dwarf looked at Jaina. "Lass, can we leave the enchanting to you?"

Jaina nodded confidently. She had faith in her enchanting skills. She would not claim to be better than a master enchanter, but she was at least far better than the enchanters dwarven craftsmen picked up at random.

"Sorry for the trouble, Muradin."

After tidying up a little, Muradin took the materials Arthas had given him and went to find his older brother, Magni.

"You said Arthas wants a suit of armor forged?" Magni snatched the Space Pouch from Muradin's hands and opened it to look inside.

When his older brother showed no sign of returning the pouch, an ominous feeling rose in Muradin's heart. Before he could speak, Magni's next words nearly stopped his heart and lungs.

"Hmph. Materials this good? Perhaps I should do it myself!"

"Magni! Arthas and I already agreed on this!" Muradin refused to give in. Just because you're my brother, do I have to listen to you? Anyone can see how precious these materials are. If you take them, what am I supposed to do?

Neither brother would budge. In the end, they picked up their hammers together and headed for the Great Forge side by side.

Brann's knowledge of smithing fell short of his two older brothers', but Muradin and Magni were both deeply traditional dwarves. Their standards for smithing were as exacting as their standards for fine liquor.

"You should end up with a pretty fine suit of armor." Holding Muradin's liquor, Brann quietly filled his own flask.

Arthas had complete faith in Magni's and Muradin's skills. If the equipment they forged could not be considered good, then most human smiths would not even qualify as worthless hacks.

When it came to purely manual smithing, no one in Azeroth understood it better than the dwarves. Even the elves, with traditions stretching back over ten thousand years, only surpassed them in magical smithing.

The forging lasted for well over half a day. Drawing on the searing fire from the heart of the earth, Magni and Muradin melted down all the precious metals Arthas had brought. Every hammer blow they struck brimmed with the power of the earth flowing through dwarven blood.

The bright silver outline of the armor gradually took shape. With their tasks clearly divided, the two dwarves quenched and polished every component of the full suit. Then, with Jaina's help, they inscribed intricate magical runes on Arthas's battle armor.

Precious magical metals such as thorium were naturally well suited to enchantment. In fact, enchanting them was slightly easier than enchanting ordinary metals-unless the metal's inherent properties were too stubborn, in which case the process became more difficult.

Metals such as the even more precious titansteel, which had absorbed a portion of the Titans' power, and the virtually indestructible elementium ore could be enchanted by very few enchanters. Anyone capable of working with metals of that caliber was undoubtedly a master among masters in the field.

Arthas also wanted to obtain ores of that caliber and ask a master craftsman like Magni to make equipment for him. Unfortunately, this world was not like the game. Those rare metal ores were either exceedingly scarce or found in forbidden regions beyond mortal reach.

Even high-ranking dwarven smiths could hardly be said to practice with thorium regularly. They might have only a handful of opportunities in their entire lives to forge armor or weapons from it.

Only dwarves like Magni and Muradin, who held lofty positions and possessed both exceptional strength and superb smithing skills, could fully bring out thorium's formidable properties and forge a complex suit of enchanted armor.

After a long wait, Muradin emerged from the center of the Great Forge, his head drenched in sweat. He looked at Arthas with a confident smile. "Your armor's finished. Aren't you coming to take a look?"

"Thanks for all your hard work."

Following Muradin into the Great Forge, Arthas immediately spotted the armor hanging on a display stand, glowing with a pale silver radiance.

"The breastplate, pauldrons, armguards, gauntlets, and greaves were all forged from thorium, mithril, and truesilver, blended in the ideal proportions. The elemental fire and elemental earth you brought also did an excellent job of stabilizing the alloy."

"To hurt someone wearing this armor, you'd probably need an entire regiment of heavy infantry. Ordinary crossbow bolts won't pierce it."

"It also has extremely high resistance to elemental magic. An ordinary mage's Frostbolt hitting it would be about as effective as tossing a bucket of water over you. It can resist some Arcane Magic too, though the reduction isn't as significant as it is for elemental magic. Its resistance to other forms of energy is about the same as for arcane."

"As for amplifying your Holy Light abilities, I'll leave that to you, lad. I'm sure your abilities are no weaker than those of the priests in the Great Cathedral."

Magni wiped the armor spotless with a rag. Thoroughly pleased with his creation, he patted Arthas on the waist. "Next time you have materials this good, come straight to me. Muradin's craftsmanship still isn't good enough."

"Hey! I made the shoulders and arms, all right?" Muradin protested. Just look at those lion-shaped pauldrons. What fine work!

The dwarven king simply ignored his younger brother. "What colors would you like? Lordaeron's blue and silver again?"

"Same as before."

"All right." Magni nodded, then remembered something else. "There's still some of the metal you brought left over. But I remember you favor a two-handed warhammer, so you probably don't need a shield. What else would you like made?"

After so much fighting, Arthas's warhammer had suffered some wear, so he asked Magni, "Could you repair my weapon? You can keep the leftover materials as payment."

"Of course. But I won't take that little bit of thorium from you." Magni laughed heartily. "If you get more materials this good in the future, bring them to Ironforge. I'll forge whatever you want free of charge!"