The following hours passed in a blur. Shara cleared her schedule and immediately started experimenting.

  Since she was w with an unknown ore, she started with small samples. Testing positioing point, other on properties. To her delight and relief, the ore yielded without struggle; it was aremely easy material to work with. Nearly as much so as iron, the lowest tier and most on ore found in the dungeon.

  She fell into a sort of fugue as the hours ticked by. First, smelting progressively rger samples as she became more fortable with the task, separating the metal from its impurities, then refining it, purifying through both natural and alchemical means.

  When she'd fihose preliminary stages of the process, six ingots of the lustrous pial id in a row, refio the best of Shara's ability. Normally, she might have taken a moment to admire the results, especially the lustrous sheen of the novel material, but a trance had taken her over. She kept w without pause.

  Natalie had suggested that Shara take liberties with f the material, but had mentioned, specifically, a breastpte, should she intuition for what the metal wao be molded into. And Shara did intuition, but only because she got the sehat erotite was a versatile metal: something that could take any shape.

  While most metals had specialties—iron for armor, silver and gold for accessories—there was nothing stopping a person from doing what they pleased with any giveal. Sure, golden armht be weaker than its more durable terparts, but it would ma uats and associated effects in exge. Likewise, iron tris and jewelry would probably take on fighter-type stats, such as tenacity and stability bonuses. Where erotite would fall on that spectrum, Shara had no idea; but regardless, she felt it was versatile.

  As Shara worked, she fell deeper and deeper into her haze, almost losing her sense of self. She dised quickly that her typical breastpte molds would be inappropriate; she o create something . She would make chest armor, yes, as Natalie had requested, but the metal—unique as it was—called for a specialized design.

  It was as if the metal talked her through the process. This was a job far beyond her expertise; a material that deserved to be worked by a master, not her. But it was eager to guide Shara heless. A part of her was unnerved by how deeply she lost herself in her work, how pletely submerged she became, and how little scious effort she put in. Her css, or the metal, or both in taook trol; Shara was simply a duit.

  Many hours ter, Shara had finished. Her body was slick with sweat, despite night having arrived and cool air wafting through the fe. She looked down at her creation. While aware to some degree of what she'd been painstakingly f, she had been so ied that it wasn't until just then, gazing admiringly at the result of her hard work, that she realized what, exactly, she had created.

  The deep, thrumming sense of harmony and e with her css faded. The metal stopped singing to her. She stared down at …

  At …

  The armor she'd made.

  If it could be called that.

  Shara paled.

  Her thoughts froze in disbelief. It was armor that belonged on a torso, yes. As Natalie had requested. But a breastpte designed for a heavily armored fighter?

  No.

  Not remotely.

  A … pial bra. That was a better description. Perhaps the least funal armor she had ever seen, much less oank would wield. Panic rose. This was what she had wasted her t's enormously valuable resour? This was the fruit of Shara's on-a-lifetime opportunity?

  Had something gone wrong? She'd pletely submerged herself in the will of her css and the ore itself, but had external ideas influenced her? Because surely this wasn't what the ore had wao be fed into. Had Shara's distracted thoughts corrupted the process? She would admit that her eyes had caught on Natalie more than a few times, however much she'd been doing her best to maintain her professionalism.

  The possibility mortified Shara, leavianding there, frozen, as she stared down at the 'breastpte'.

  But, no. That couldn't be it. This truly just must have been what the ore wanted. She tched to the belief almost as much out of hope as a logical clusion.

  What did the piece of armor even do?

  ***

  Allure's Embrace

  Rare

  Lv. 2

  Effects

  - Large increase to Tenacity

  - Temptation's Snare. Being physically struck has a agically bind the attacker in glowing pink s, rendering them immobilized.

  - EROTITE SET BONUS (1/4): None

  Description

  A tantalizial piece of armor fed from erotite. Cups the wearer's breasts but only partially obscures, revealing cleavage and undercurve in an immodest dispy. A single piece of an ensemble set.

  ***

  There was a lot to take in. Her head spun as she digested the information revealed to her.

  A rare? She'd fed a rare item? She'd held high hopes for an unon, sidering the material and the e she'd felt, but a rare was far above what she had expected—on the edge of pusibility, even, for a low-level smith like her.

  And just as surprising, the effects. A rge tenacity boost? Without some mitigating factor? Though, she supposed, the sheer ck of ce—how much skin the bikini-armor-bra exposed—of crucial internal ans was the mitigating factor itself. From the standpoint of, well, being armor.

  But such a signifit Tenacity boost made up for it. While probably not as protected from a bde as if the wearer had actual metal defendihe other associated effects of Tenacity—a rger health pool, better stamina, magical resistance, and physical stability—easily outweighed the singur dow least in most cases.

  The bonus effect also sounded great for a tank. Being hit would sometimes snare her attacker? The utility of that went without saying. It was one of the better peripheral effects Shara had seen on a level-two piece of gear.

  And finally, the non-specified set bonus. More erotite armor would culminate in another be. And, knowing how set bonuses worked, probably a signifit one. Shara g the spare pink ingots: she had plenty more to work with. Enough to make a full set, easily, and with ingots to spare.

  Okay. Maybe this debacle wasn't as bad as it seemed. While strahe armor seemed exceptional: the expected result of such a rare material. Perhaps even exceeding expectations.

  Still, the design was so sdalous. How was she going to expin it to Natalie?

  And why had erotite insisted on a lewd design in the first pce? Under what circumstances had the woman gotten this ore? A boss fight against a succubus?

  In any case, Shara figured that the inappropriate designs would be more fivable the better the armor turned out. Maybe the full set bonus would be great enough that Natalie didn't regret leaving the ore in Shara's hands.

  So. A full set. That was her goal. Boots, gloves, and a lower-body piece as well.

  Shara just hoped the upper-body piece was the worst of it. Even that might be too much. There was an uanding with ts that items couldn't always turn out exactly as they requested—and Natalie had even explicitly granted Shara creative liberty—but this straihat leeway. Css and instinct determined a lot about the shape and type of item, but a part of it—and not all that small of one—should be the craftsman's hand. So, it would seem to Natalie that Shara had tried to make something perverted. Though that most certainly wasn't accurate; Shara had fallen into a fugue. But maybe she'd accepted her css's guidand the influence of the rare metal too freely.

  Either way, Shara had some expining cut out for her.

  For now, she got back to work.