By the end of the next day, things had begun to settle down a little, with the army’s wounded mostly treated.

There were casualties from the mission, but not so many that it would raise concerns outside of the immediate chain of command. Most of the units had come across swarms of Goblins, and that had allowed them to move the wounded to the back, and not take fatalities.

Only the units who had encountered larger groups of strong monsters, like the units on the eastern flank who had encountered the Yeti Clans, had really suffered.

Dominic had taken the opportunity to spend the evening in the Manor’s new forge with Alexis, a questionably romantic evening of weapon repair and armour polishing spent mostly in silence.

Still, it was a good break, and nobody bothered them as they worked to get their equipment back into top shape.

For Dominic, that meant a lot of work, as his chest plate had been completely mangled, But most of the damage to Alexis’ gear was to her shield and the left pauldron above it.

The group tactics of the Paladins started out with much more ranged firepower now than they used to, as everyone had firearms and artillery weapons. But that also allowed them to push harder, so even with the mortar launchers and pistols, they were still frequently in close combat with the monsters, where Dominic and his team had retreated to keep the monsters at a distance.

He couldn’t say that their method was wrong. It certainly got the job done. But he could say that it was definitely harder on gear than a ranged attack.

The only real downside to ranged combat was the immense mana usage. They had to burn through a lot of ammunition for the mortars, and that needed to be replaced between every engagement.

For that reason alone, it was a better tactic in a larger group, like when they had the cavalry with them for support.

"What did you do to that armour? Get in a fistfight with a Troll?" Alexis asked as Dominic started to hammer his armour back into shape.

"Not quite. Though, I’m not sure that the Yeti Clan Chief was any weaker. We met up with a group of Frostwolf Riders, and they really did a number on us. We didn’t lose anyone, but it was a close thing there for a few moments." Dominic explained.

"Well, that certainly wins the award for most unusual monster of the day, but it also explains why you were wearing just mage robes when I met you."

Dominic laughed, "I had chain mail underneath. But yeah, I should make myself a spare piece of chest armour. I mean, a good one. I have another, but it’s one of my earlier pieces, and the enchantment wouldn’t stand up to even a casual strike from some of the things that we faced on that trip."

Alexis winked at him. "Strange how that happens when the hard monsters go from being someone else’s problem to your problem, isn’t it? Not long ago, you would team up with city guards to fight a single Ogre, now you just take a small group of adventurers to attack a whole camp of them."

Dominic sighed. "I wish that you were wrong. This power creep might pay well, bu the danger levels are getting ridiculous. That Yeti tossed me around like a rag doll. If I didn’t have the ability to heal with [Arcane Blast], I would have ended up as mush."

"That skill is incredibly overpowered. But I heard from the others that your Arcane Blast is increasing in power as well." Alexis questioned as she polished a vambrace.

Dominic nodded, "It seems to be linked to my base magical level, which has gone from level one to level three. It’s far from being my most powerful spell at this point, but the mana recovery is just so valuable that I find myself using it all the time.

I can cast other spells with external mana as well, but it’s slower for some reason. Like, I can cast Arcane Blast instantly. But a Fireball takes a few seconds if I’m not using internal mana.

It’s a bit of a pain, so I rely on the mana regeneration.

I’m going to make pistols with the effect later, just so I can keep up the firepower without switching spells. Amie had it even worse than I did, and after a few rounds, she was down to one fireball per reload, even with a mana regeneration pistol.

Two per reload would be far more reliable, but beyond that I’m not sure that constant magical firepower is something that is going to be within my abilities with magi tech weapons."

"We all have our limits, but with some practice, I’m sure that you can expand your range of bonuses to the point that your creations will feel like an entirely different person made them.

I mean, just look at what Pops can do, compared to what you or Mead can do. You’re all smiths, but he’s got like a century more experience and he can do things with metal that feel like they should be impossible." Alexis agreed.

Dominic smiled. "I can’t argue with that. Even when he’s holding back, so that people don’t bother him to do what might actually be impossible, it’s still impressive.

The talents of a true master smith are so far beyond what I can manage that it doesn’t even feel like we’re working on the same craft."

"Now that that part is out of the way, fix this pauldron for me. That’s more than I can buff out." She laughed, holding up the heavily dented piece.

"And you said that I’m hard on equipment. Give me your shield as well. I will patch it up and then rework the surface. It’s taken way worse of a beating than your shoulder did.

Is this all from the Ogres?" Dominic asked.

"Mostly. Not many other things could get past my guard. But the Ogres tend to hit everything at once, and even with my strength buffed, I can’t stand up to a direct blow, I need to deflect it."