The man collapsed just outside the border of kairo's stronghold, his clawed hand twitching as he fell. The ghouls hissed, forming a loose half-circle around him, but kairo raised a hand
"Don't touch him. He's still breathing."
He stepped forward cautiously. The figure's charred robe had peeled away to reveal green-blue scales mottled with dried blood. A long serpentine tail–singed and burned—trailed behind him. A Naga, and one badly injured one at that. His chest rose and fell shallowly, clutching a ruined hammer with a fractured soul gem embedded in the hilt.
[Name: Shiri]
[Race: Naga—varient: Soulcraftef]
[Class: Hero Artisan–Black rank]
[Status: Critically injured | Soul stability: 42%]
Kairo crouched beside him and retrieved one of the healing salves he'd secured earlier.
"This wasn't for you," he muttered. "But you look like you need it, you may be usefull."
He opened the man's jaw slightly and poured the potion in, carefully jot to aggravate the wounds. A dull light pulsed through the naga's wounds and scales, slowly and steadly, his breathing began to be regulated.
When Shiri awoke, it was in the shaded interior of Kairo's command hall, his wounds wrapped and soul flame stabilized, his hammer right besides him.
"I'm alive..." the Naga croaked, voice horses and wary. His tail flexed weakly.
"You were dying, my scouts picked up your trail outside sector D7."
"D7..." Shiri's for hardened. "The village..."
Kairo leaned forward. "You were there? The place was ash by the time my scouts reached it."
Shiri nodded grimly. "I'm...a soulcrafter. I was traveling with a mercenary unit–blacksmith support for a relic hunt. We arrived too late. The village was already under attack.....by that thing. A scaled abomination. Fast, intelegent. It tore through us like paper."
[Dialogue unlocked: Hero-class Artisan—reputation pending]
Kairo tapped his interface, silently recording the data.
"I've been taking that signal. Its guarding a relic, likely tier 2 or 3. You're lucky to be alive."
Shiri hissed. "No, I'm cursed to be alive. My brothers died screaming. I watched it...eating their mana cores."
Silence passed between them.
Lairo folded his arms. "You're a blacksmith. But not just any blacksmith."
"Hero tier. I craft weapons from soul atone, forge armaments that remember their welders. I can even accelerate the construction speed of any building, if I have a core link."
Kairo's mind lit up with calculations. Such a unit could shift his progression timeliness dramatically. With Shiri supporting construction, even tier 3 goles would come into reach faster.
"Join my fsction," kairo said.
Shiri's eyes narrowed."No."
Kairo blinked. "Why not?"
"I know your kind. Terrarory lords. You summon beasts, raise walls, wage wars. You call your creations tools. I am not another 'asset' on your ledger."
Kairo stayed quiet for a beat. Thwn nodded slowly.
"Fair. But I'm not them."
Shiri raised a scaled brow.
"I won't burn bridges that haven't been crossed yet. You want revenge, I want progression. That thing that killed your party? It's in my way too."
"...Go on."
"We form a temporary alliance. You lend me your skills. I'll support your hint for vengeance. We kill the scaled bastard together. After that? Your free to walk."
Shiri was silent. Then, with a deep exhale, he extended one clawed hand outward.
"For the duration of this battle, I'm with you, terratory lord."
Kairo took it.
[temporary pact formed: Shiri the soulcrafter—the hero artisan(black rank)]
[Buffalo granted: construction speed +35%| hero tier weapons crafting avaliable]
they moved quickly.
Shiri was given access to a portion of Kairo's salvaged materials. With frightening precision, je began reforging blades, embedding fractured soul gems into the handles and applying runes that pulsed with faint light.
Kairo, in turn, restructured his formation interface to include new "strikecrafts"- tactical weapons crafted by Shiri ment to break scales and pierce through layered defences.
While they worked, ghouls constructed a warch post near the old village ruins, ready to moniter the movement from the relic zone.
In the deepening dusk, two minds–tactician and craftsman–prepared for a single golal:slay the lizard-like monster guarding the relic.
What neither of them knew....was that it had senced them.
And it was preparing as well.