The next evening I found myself back at the adventurers guild. Perry and I had left early in the morning, said our goodbyes and went back to Ironfell. During the carriage ride I resumed studying runes, trying to focus only on those that I felt would be useful for the enchantment I had in mind. I also asked Perry a few questions about dungeons.
I found out dungeons were entirely man made. They were fueled by a combination of the essence in the air - the substance that provides people with experience - mana, and physical materials. When I asked how it was profitable, Perry explained that people charged for admittance and used the majority of the money recovered to sink more resources into it. It was also explained that the monsters and beasts within the dungeon would be consumed by the dungeon itself. Half of the energy that they would normally impart upon a subject would be consumed as well.
Most dungeons also were set up with a failsafe, should a person get fatally injured within or even die, dungeons would often spit them back out at least partially healed. Because of all these factors, dungeons were considered a safe and easy way to level up and gain experience, but they were a much slower way to level up as well. Danger was, after all, a factor in how quickly a person could level.
When I returned to the guild hall I went straight to sleep. The trip here, on my shoddy night of sleep, had taken a lot out of me. This night wasn’t much better. The nightmare wasn't quite as bad as it had been the night prior, but it wasn’t great. I woke in the middle of the night to cold sweats and gasping breaths, Luka and Sky waking as well to check up on me. I spent the rest of the night working on my fire enchantment. I had figured out about eighty percent of the runes while riding earlier, and would likely need another full day to complete what I had intended.
The weapon needed some amount of self repair function, durability, and some amplification of magics. I also wanted a touch of it to contain a wind based active spell that could further amplify the magic I wanted to use. I also wanted it to maintain some sharpness. I was worried a bit that the metal itself wouldn’t be strong enough to maintain such an enchantment, or that it may degrade over time, but given the nature of both metals I intended to use, especially with their mana conductivity properties, it should be fine. I had enough material for several swords, the first two would of course be practice with the last, or best quality of the three as the one I’d keep. Along with that, I expected I’d have plenty of scrap or spare metal to play with.
In the morning I sat down with Rose and Eva and ate breakfast. The duo was heading out into the plains in order to find some herbs and hunt some beasts for a couple of guild quests. They didn’t extend an invite but I didn’t disparage them for it. After they left, I sat at the bar and resumed my self study, working out the last few quirks of the enchantment. I drew out the rune circles on a spare piece of paper, having to be incredibly careful while doing so in order to ensure I didn’t mess up any individual runes.
I performed any tests that I could with it, sending mana through the circle to activate it, weaving my mana through the runes to establish continuity. There was only so much I could do to prepare it, so it was with a small amount of nervousness that the following morning I approached the empty forge. It had been another sleepless night, and after waking from the abating nightmare I stayed up to triple and quadruple check the weapon. I went to the forge with enough material to make a single sword, excluding the wood for the scabbard and handle.
I was shocked to arrive prior to the guild smith but I wasn't put off by it. It would be nice to work on my own as I figured out how to smith with a single hand. I had removed the wyrm scales within my [Ephemeral Forge] and replaced them with the metal I would be using. One ingot of mana steel and an ingot of infernal iron sat within the subspace beside the lumina stones I wanted to use for the pommel and cross guard.
I stood before the unlit forge and sighed slightly. There were some coals still warm from the previous day that I used to light the rest of them as I pumped the bellows. After a few minutes of pumping them, providing air to the forge, I turned to Sky. “Sky, how about we practice some wind magic too? Can you keep the air flowing in the forge to keep the coals warm? Not too much though. And let me know if you start to get tired, I can always manually pumped air in.”
“Yes Big Brother!” she readily agreed. At that point, I set the ingots into the forge to warm. The iron would take a bit longer, being of the fire element it had a much higher softening point. As I waited for the metal to become ready to work, I turned to Luka who was staring at me expectantly.
“Hmm... Luka, do you think it would be possible to create a hand or a way to hold the metal when I need to hammer it? You’ll need to move it as I tell you to.” I looked at the fox with a tilted head, wondering if that would even work. But I felt his eagerness to help as well, and knew even if it took a while to get used to he would do it, and he would learn to help on the forge.
“Yes Papa! I can,” His adolescent voice echoed in my mind as though he had yelled.
“Wonderful. Then lets get started.” I removed my shirt, not wanting to ruin it even though it had self repair enchantments, and pulled the red hot bar of mana steel from the forge.
Luka held it for me with an earthy tendril, and I started to work to flatten it. I needed to create several fairly even sheets of this metal and the iron, embed the runes on each sheet, and combine them into a single billet. It was going to be tedious work, but I enjoyed it. Once the billet was made, I’d need to fold the damascus over itself after flattening it once more and etching it with runes. Only after I could still feel the magic staying strong, not releasing itself, could I forge the blade itself.
And so we got started. I slammed the hammer into the metal, using its enchantment to keep the metal heated. I expended some mana to do so, but soon we had a flat sheet of metal. I used a chisel, one of the ones I’d made at Prisma’s forge, to cut the sheet into several smaller ones. Once I had four quarter inch thick sheets of steel I began to hammer the runes into them, when I had an idea. I wasn’t positive it would work, but if it did it would expedite the process significantly.
I had a skill called [Compendium Actualization]. Its description specified that I could start a dance I had already completed before, but nothing about [Runesmithing]. I didn’t expect it to work easily, but I thought there was a chance to etch a slew of runes at once if I could figure out how to make it work with forging. And so, I tried to activate it using flame mana. As my hammer swung down, I envisioned the first circle, five runes, of the enchantment in my mind. My skills worked in tandem to ensure that the runes in my mind were perfect, that they were correctly built.
As the hammer crashed down, I felt a harsh spur of fire mana escape my mana channels, and I felt [Compendium Actualization] try to activate, to take hold. I gasped for air as it seemed confused, unwilling to do as I wanted. But when I looked down, a single line of the rune had been etched. It was only a tiny sliver of a rune, perhaps as small as one fifth, but that was a significant amount when I had expected none. I was trying to do two things, first I was twisting the skill itself to follow my whim, letting instinct and experience guide it. When I usually used the skill I didn’t have to think much of what I was doing, I simply selected a spell from the compendium and willed my mana to take that shape. The second thing I was attempting was getting the fire mana inside of me to follow my will, and to my surprise it readily headed my call. My mana channels felt warm, but not quite on fire, as the mana pushed out of me.
This, however was different. The mana wouldn’t surround me, all of the mana that I was imparting on the world had to come from one focal point, the head of my Flame Forger, and had to etch itself upon the impact zone. I felt that the etching was the hard part. Generally, when I created a spell it was me leaving wisps of mana in the seemingly open air or the surface of the soil. Here, instead, I was attempting to force that rune, that mana, to become one with the metal I was working with. I was pressing the magic into it, carving through it.
I felt for the skill and instantly knew it would be several minutes before I could try again. Sighing, I kept hammering, Flame Forger raining down on the sheets of metal. It had been a while since I last worked in the smithy, and it didn’t help that I needed a second party to hold the metal as instructed, so I was a touch clumsy at first. Still, the dexterity stat helped. I was, at this point, much more dexterous than the average human from earth, and even the greatest athletes. Of course, that didn’t mean I could do gymnastics and walk a tightrope but still.
I thought about these things as I etched one hundred and twenty five runes to each of my four plates, sweat dripping down my face and sparks burning at my bare chest and arm. Every ten minutes or so I activated [Compendium Actualization] and tried to focus on what I was doing. The second and third time I used it yielded the same results as the first. On the fourth I saw a slight improvement, two lines of a rune were etched in a single blow. At this point I had just finished the second of four plates, and the infernal iron I was heating was still not ready to work so I continued. I asked Sky to warm to forge even more, to pour mor gentle but firm air into the coals.
At some point I registered another person entering the forge, likely the guild smith. I paid them no mind and they minded me none either. Through [Portent] I felt him watching with some amount of amusement as the foxes helped me to forge my blade. Not that I had much of a blade yet, two hours into forging and I hadn’t even made a billet yet to stretch into the shape of a sword.
Stolen novel; please report.
The fifth through the tenth attempts to speed up the forging process only yielded two lines each. Despite that, each time I used it felt easier. By the time I struck a plate with the eleventh activation, a full half of a rune appeared on the plate and I nearly leapt for joy. I held myself back, instead settling to finish the rest of the runes on the plate and take a step back for a short break. I collected my waterskin and took a hearty gulp before cupping my hand and pouring some in for Sky and Luka. It had been over an hour since the other person had entered my field of vision.
She was burly, for a woman, but it was expected of a smith. Smithing took a certain amount of strength and practice. Her dark skin had pale white lines etched into it, poorly healed injuries from the looks. She had a pretty face despite a jagged scar running from the corner of her left eye to her upper lip, about a quarter inch from the edge of it. She looked up as I sat down for a moment, petting the foxes and wishing I had had the mind to get a brush for them. Small metal shavings and bits of cooled embers were embedded in their fur.
“Do ya need a bowl for em? There's one o’er there with some scrap metal bits in it, you can use that.” Her voice was every bit as husky and deep as I expected. I nodded my thanks and got up, my back creaking a little bit.
After filling the bowl, taking a few extra drinks myself, and refilling my own waterskin I returned to the forge. Thankfully, the woman didn’t take my brief respite as an invitation to spark a long conversation. She understood I was here to work, and that I needed to focus, much as she likely did. I noticed she was spending time repairing equipment that had been left on a shelf near the entry to the forge. It made sense, that was likely how she made the most of her money. It was cheaper for most to repair armor rather than to purchase new pieces.
When I returned to my work, the iron plate was finally ready for me to start forging. I quickly flattened it, expending a bit of mana through Flame Forger as I did so to impart a bit of extra heat. I heard notifications in the background, but was too focused and too intent to pay them any mind. They were a crutch anyway. I turned them off to save myself from distraction. After telling the foxes to tell me when they needed a rest, I split the bar of infernal iron into four sheets, exactly the same as the steel, and set three of them in the forge to stay heated as I worked on the fourth.
One the twentieth attempt to use [Actualization] I forged a full rune. I was improving quickly, it was nowhere near the amount I could create if I was dancing, but it was progress. Normally a single full rune would take five strikes, reducing that to one was huge to the process. Sure, I was striking the metal several times a minute, once every second even, but that was still relatively slow. I didn’t want to ruin the work by growing impatient, and so I continued at a set pace.
Soon after that attempt, both Luka and Sky began to anticipate my needs and I no longer had to ask or tell them what to do. They weren’t smiths by any means, but they made for excellent helpers. I sent feelings of gratitude to them both and promised a trip to a bath and plenty of treats for helping me. Shoot, I’d even walk into the city square and buy them any food they wanted, if they even knew what they wanted.
A few other people came through the forge and started working. Some of them made comments to each other about me, about the foxes, but I paid them no mind. It was nothing negative, just idle amusement. In total there were three forges with four anvils each, a total of twelve spaces for guild members to rent out and do their work. I wasn’t sure how late in the day it had gotten, but soon enough a bit over half of the spaces were filled. Some of the newcomers chatted amongst each other, talking about their projects as they stretched or waited for their metals to heat up. One person attempted to approach me and ask why my metal and tools were see through, but I ignored them for the time being, I was too focused. They didn’t seem too put off by it.
Soon, by the thirtieth attempt of using [Actualization] I had etched each of my eight plates with runes. I layered them carefully, then used a high melting point metal to quickly weld them together and welded a scrap piece of mana steel to the side, something to hold onto with the tongs as I worked. I cut the billet in half, using the pair of ingots provided enough metal for two swords, changing my calculations for the amount of material I had purchased. That was okay with me, though. I knew I’d lose a bit of metal as I worked it. The metal would flake especially as I brushed it, keeping it clean of impurities. Instead of three blades I realistically had enough material for five of them, four if I was unlucky. Well, that’s why I had purchased so much material in the first place, to give me plenty of opportunities to craft the sword I wanted.
I began flattening the billet, breaking the weak enchantment I had previously etched into it. Since there were several instances of the same enchantment, a fair bit of the magic stayed and before it vanished into the aether I worked towards rewriting it. This was a fair bit less tedious than prepping the plates in the first place, but it was still a slog. I had to re etch one hundred and twenty five runes, fold the metal over itself, then flatten it again and restart. Over and over. This happened perhaps ten times before the enchantment stayed when I flattened the billet for the final time. I re-etched the runes a final time, better safe than sorry, and began forging the blade itself.
I was hours into the project at this point. A few of the adventurers had left, two were sitting and chatting as they observed the rest of us still working. The woman who had first arrived was still there. It seemed she had finished her consignments because now she was barking orders and teaching novice smiths who were trying tot get into the craft. I tried not to chuckle as she worked them, yelling at them whenever they messed up with a small smirk on her lips, until they turned to her and her scowl returned.
After that, I rebuilt the billet and started working to stretch the metal out. Luka and Sky still hadn’t asked for a break, despite not having breakfast and now likely missing lunch. I carefully worked the blade, giving Sky time to rest as I didn’t need her to keep the coals warm anymore, Flame Forger kept the blade warm enough to work as fire spurt out upon each strike. I felt my mana waning, the draw of [Portent] plus forging and etching runes seemed too much. Still, with headache budding, we worked to finish the blade. Well, finish shaping it anyway.
Finally, hours from when we started though still with the sun high in the sky, the blade was complete. I panted as I stepped back, letting it cool on the anvil. It was a pretty blade and it had yet to be polished or heat treated, yet to be bathed in oil or acid. As I stepped back for a breath I deactivated [Portent] in order to start gaining some mana.
“Impressive work, still a bit more to do aye?” The woman approached as I poured more water into the bowl for the foxes. “Helga, by the by.”
“Lios, a pleasure.” I reached out with my greasy hand and shook hers. Her grip was firm and strong, what one would expect from a smith of her tenure, and covered in callouses. “And yeah, but perhaps that can wait till after lunch.”
She started laughing as she let go of my hand. A long laugh, one that brought tears to her eyes. “Lunch? Tis a bit late for that aint it? Lunch was served two hours ago. Still, you're too early for dinner now. I’m sure ol’ Garth can whip somethin up for ye.” She wiped a tear from her eye and smiled at me.
“I know I know, I got distracted is all.” I laughed with her a bit before turning toward the guild proper. I summoned all of the parts to the [Ephemeral Forge] including the half finished glowing orange blade, and walked toward the dining room. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon enough to finish the thing.”
“Oh I have no doubts. Completing a weapon in a single day is a fair feat.” She laughed again before returning to her trainees and calling out to them to get back to work.
True to my word, I went and had a quick meal, getting plenty of extra meat for the foxes. Then, I went and collected the wood and a scrap piece of svertim and shoved them into my subspace, smiling as it felt like I could hold much more now than when I’d started the project. I stopped myself from pulling up my status sheet and returned to the forge, only half an hour after leaving it. My mana was only partially recovered, but it was enough to continue working.
I placed the blade into the forge and did the same with the scrap of svertim. I wanted to use it as the cross guard of the blade, give it a pop of bronze coloration. As they heated I started to cut a hole into a small pieces of the entoak for the handle. I etched a five rune circle into the handle to ensure the handle wouldn’t easily slip out of the wielders grasp then finally pulled the blade from the forge, having heated it enough for heat treating, before plunging it into a barrel of oil near the forge. The oil lit up instantly, the surface burning as the blade cooled rapidly. Taking the blade out after several minutes I ran a file over its surface. Seeing that no marks were made by the file, I nodded with satisfaction.
I finished shaping the cross guard, leaving a couple of open settings for the small lumina stones. I etched it quickly with a five rune enchantment to allow mana to either enter or exit the stones, to power the enchantments of the sword should the wielder run out. Before fitting the cross guard or the handle, however, the blade had to be plunged into a tube of acid for a few moments to bring out the damascus look. Otherwise, it’d still function fine but would lose some of the beauty that damascus brought on with its strange patterns.
I hadn’t been overly intentional with how I wanted the pattern to look, I’d worry about that the next time. The pattern would still be pretty of course, as I found out after completing the etching. I pulled it from the acid and wiped the blade down with a grease cloth. Once clean I pulled it from [Ephemeral Forge] and gasped excitedly. The blade of the bastard sword was pretty. Swirling red contrasted shimmering blue of the mana steel. The blue was a bit overpowered by the infernal iron, the iron glowing warmly like magma or coals.
I felt some of the others admiring it as well as I put in the finishing touches, fitting the cross guard and handle carefully. Once they were set, hammered on with some glue to hold them tight, I worked on the pommel, using the last bit of the tang to create a setting for the larger lumina stone. Once it was ready, I pushed the stones into the three settings and grinned as they fit perfectly, using tines of metal to wrap around them. I took a few extra moments to sand then stain and polish the handle, and a few moments more to polish and sharpen the blade on a grindstone, aware of the observers despite not having [Portent] active.
Once I felt the blade was complete I set to working on the scabbard, taking two half inch planks of wood and using a chisel to carve out the general shape of the longsword then using the sword as a guide to finish the rest. I would enchant the scabbard later, but for the time being I was ready to be done with the project. I sighed in relief as I held the scabbard before me, completed and stained, taking on a beautiful pale stain that matched the handle. I had considered a reddish color, but felt that with the blade shimmering red that it may be too much. Especially with red stones as well.
I sheathed the blade and let out a tired sigh, glad to complete it as I stretched and cracked my back, sternum, shoulders, elbows and knees. My body ached but it felt good. It had been too long since I was able to just set about on a project and see it to completion. My stretching was interrupted by an impatient Helga.
“Well, is it done? What does it do? I stopped everyone from appraising it. The smith should always be the first to do so.”
“Fine Fine, Give me a second.” I responded playfully and activated my skill, holding the sword before me still sheathed. My eyes widened at the result.
