“I hadn’t noticed before now,” she said, gesturing off-handedly at the table. “I was caught up in this idea I had. Guess I forgot about it.” She wiped her forehead with the back of one hand, smearing grime across her flesh. “Sorry.”
“Where are your apprentices?” I asked, looking around. “Why aren’t they making stuff?”
“We ran out of materials. I sent them to talk to Elizabeth about it…” She looked toward the forge. “I don’t remember when that was, exactly. I sort of forgot about it.”
“What are you working on that has you so distracted?” I asked, taking a step closer, but as I tried to look over her shoulder at the work bench, she moved to block me, causing her body to press against mine.
“None of your business,” she said, annoyance filling her words as she put her hands on my chest and pushed me lightly. I took a step back, respecting her wishes.
“Fair enough. Anyway, I need you to do me a favor,” I said, opening the sack in my hand to reveal a trifecta of Etheric Flame. The blue, green, and red gemstones gleamed in the light of her shop as she looked inside before turning her eyes to me.
“What am I supposed to do with those? Make you a broach?” She shook her head. “I don’t normally work with materials like that.” She pointed to the stack of Dark Blood in the corner. “Those aren’t normal gemstones. When I use them, I extract the power from within and infuse it into the metal.” She pointed at the bag. “Etheric Flame isn’t forged the same way as Dark Blood. I’ve seen smiths try to use it that way and it doesn’t work.”
“Well, it’s not the same.” I shook my head. “Both Sally and Annabeth said it was a completely different substance that needed to be worked in its own way.” I held the bag out to her. “You need to figure it out.”
“Figure it out?” She gave me a hard look. “How am I supposed to figure out how to use a substance even the Master Blacksmith Allison cannot use? That’s asking for too much.”
“I believe in you.” I smiled at her and reached out to brush a lock of hair from her face. “You’re way better than her, anyway. She can’t work on Clarent. You can.” I patted the sword.
“That was different. All I did was infuse your sword with Dark Blood the same way I’d have done with anything. That’s a known technique.” She shook her head. “Your belief is misplaced.”
“I need you to try anyway,” I said, taking a deep breath. If she couldn’t get it to work, she wouldn’t be able to make the emitters. Without those, we wouldn’t be able to open a Nexus Gateway after we rescued Gwen. That wasn’t acceptable.
“I feel like you’re being unreasonable,” she huffed before finally reaching out and taking the bag. She pulled the green gemstone out, and the tentacles writhed around her fingers. “But if you really want me to do something with this, I guess I can mount it on some armor or something…” Her eyes searched my face. “Why is it so important?”
“We figured out how to make the Nexus Gateways open, and it requires an emitter which can only be cast by a blacksmith.” I pulled out the notes I’d written and showed her the description of the item I’d copied down.
She took a look at it before turning her eyes to me. “Do you even know what casting is?”
“Um… not really,” I said, somewhat embarrassed.
“I could explain it, but why don’t you just look? It will be faster.” She waved a hand through the space above her head where the menu orb sat.
“Um… okay, give me a second.” I opened the menu and found the Ability in the basic Blacksmith Tree.
Casting
Skill: 4/10.
User has the Ability to use the Casting technique in which liquid materials are poured into a mold. The contents are allowed to cool and solidify into a casting, which is then removed from the mold. Casting is often used to make shapes that would be too difficult to make via other methods.
“Wait, so all you have to do is melt these down and pour them into a mold?” I asked, turning my eyes from the Ability to the gemstone in her hand. “That doesn’t seem too bad.”
“In theory, yes. It’s easy. I’m not very good at it, but I’m proficient enough at casting,” she paused for a moment and stared at my eyes like she was trying to see into my brain and suck out the juices. “But you knew that.”
“Okay, so you need to practice, or I can upgrade you. That’s not a big deal,” I said, moving to her Stat window and finding she had more than enough Experience for me to get her to Skill level seven or eight. She must have been busy while we were gone.
“Here’s what’s a big deal.” She said hefting the Etheric Flame. “This is the heart of the flame from which dragons create their fire.” She took a deep breath and blew her bangs out of her face. “How the fuck am I supposed to melt it?”
“Um, with fire?” I said, already seeing where she was going with this.
“How hot do you think dragon fire is?” she asked, shaking her head. “And let’s just assume I could melt this stuff. Let’s just say I figure it out because, honestly, I can probably figure it out. What mold am I supposed to make? What’s the emitter look like?”
“I see your point,” I said, nodding to her. It was the same question Annabeth had asked me, and I still didn’t have an answer. What we really needed was our own Nexus Gateway Conduit so we could look at the damned thing. “Do you think the blacksmith’s guild has the plans for it?”
“It’s possible,” Sam said, the fire in her eyes cooling a touch. “But if they did, I couldn’t access it at my Rank.”
“Feh, that’s just a detail.” I waved my hand. “We need to know if they have the plans for the emitter, or better yet, a mold.”
“I doubt they have a mold.” Sam shook her head. “If they did, I guarantee Allison would have tried to cast one. Maybe she has, but that snobby bitch would have shown it off.” She shook her head. “No, if the plans exist, it’s definitely in their archives.”
“That was the same problem we had with the recipe to begin with.” I shook my head. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. What I want you to do is figure out a way to melt this stuff down and cast it into anything.”
“Anything?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “It doesn’t matter?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “See, here’s the thing. For both Annabeth and Sally, once they made something with the material, it opened a new Skill Tree related to it. I think the same thing will happen for you. While Annabeth’s didn’t have the recipe for the conduit, Sally’s did have the recipe for the Nexus Gateway Conduit. Maybe if you unlock yours, it will have the same thing?” I shrugged. “It’s either that or go to the archive and root around for this side of forever.” I gritted my teeth. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think Gwen has that kind of time, and even if she did, Nadine will be back before too long.”
“I guess it’s as good a plan as any,” she said, searching my face for a moment before dropping the Etheric Flame into the bag. “I’ll try to figure out a way to melt this stuff.”
“Good,” I said, and as I turned to leave, I had a thought. The requirements for Sally to craft the item had been pretty high Stats wise, and while she’d had the Experience to do it thanks to the battle at Blade’s End, I hadn’t bothered yet. Only, what if those requirements were the same for Sam and Annabeth too?
I wasn’t sure, but at the same time, it was worth a try. Besides, it wasn’t like Sam didn’t have the Experience to spare.
“You have smoke coming out of your ears,” Sam said, watching me stand half turned toward the door. “What are you thinking?”
“I was just thinking that Sally had a really crazy Stat requirement to make the final item, but what if you need those Stats to make the emitter itself? It wouldn’t surprise me all that much, to be honest.” I smiled at her. “Care for an upgrade?”
“What’s it cost?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “Is it a lot?”
“Actually, not really. Stats don’t seem to cost all that much, really. St
ill, you need a lot of Stats...” I did a quick bit of mental math based on her current Stats. “We need to raise your Special from seventy-five to ninety-five, your Intelligence from seventy-six to ninety-five, and your agility from fifty to ninety-five. It’ll wind up costing six-thousand six-hundred-twenty-nine Experience.” I gestured at her. “You have about eight thousand total, so…”
“Do it,” she said, nodding at me. “It will pay off in the long run. Ever since the last upgrade, I’ve been able to make things I never thought I’d be able to.”
“Okay,” I said, adjusting her Stats. As the blue light flashed around her, new Intelligence sparkled in her eyes. She watched me for a few seconds before smiling at me.
“It’s so weird to just feel smarter,” she said, hand cinching down on the bag. “I’ll figure this out. Come back in an hour.”
“Let’s make it two. I want you to eat something first.” I smiled at her. “Your brain needs fuel, after all.”
“I’ll eat when I’m dead,” she said, shooing me off.
“I don’t think it works that way,” I replied, but she was already turned back to her bench, ignoring me.
I left, and after stopping by the kitchen to ensure someone actually brought Sam food, I went to find Annabeth. She was in the center of town, musing over a massive black stone with silver veins running through it.
“Well, that’s certainly cool,” I said as she walked around the six by ten-foot block. “Know what you’re going to make, yet?”
“The stone has yet to speak to me,” she said, turning to look at me. “Do you need something?”
“I wanted to upgrade your Stats a bit. I had an idea while talking to Sam. Basically, Sally requires really high Stats to craft the Nexus Conduit, so I want to upgrade yours to a similar level just in case. You have the Experience for it, so…” I trailed off because her gaze was boring into me.
“I would rather you didn’t unless it’s absolutely necessary.” She shook her head. “Perhaps later, I will feel okay with it, but I was never that smart before. Now it’s harder for me to concentrate on my work. I keep thinking of different things.” She sighed. “It will be fine soon enough, but I fear if you do it now, I may never get anything done.”
“What if I just increased your agility?” I asked. I didn’t want to upgrade her Stats if she didn’t want me to but at the same time, I needed to ensure we actually were able to craft the Nexus Gateway Conduits. “Would that be okay?”
“No.” She shook her head. “What you fail to understand is how comfortable I am with my hands. When you change things, I must spend time to adapt. Do you want me to spend that time now or craft the sculptures you asked for?”
“Fair enough,” I said, sighing.
“Sorry,” she said, bowing her head to me. “I know this is not what you expected me to say, but at the same time I believe this is the best course.”
“I trust your judgment. I’ll leave you to your work,” I said, waving at her. “Good luck.”
“Thank you,” she said, and she watched me for a moment before turning back to her chunk of stone. She pulled out her knife, holding it loosely in one hand and slowly raised it to the block. Then, instead of doing anything, she dropped her hand and regarded the stone again.
Not wanting to spend time watching her carve, partially because I hated when people watched me do things, and partially because I needed to find something to do. Part of me wanted to check on Maribelle or Buffy and Elizabeth, but I knew not enough time had passed for anything appreciable to do. No, what I really needed to do was kill an hour.
Fortunately, I knew just the place to do that. I made my way toward the gate, and just like I’d thought, Sheila was going through training exercises with the guards who weren’t actively watching the gate.
When she saw me, she gave me a nod. “All right, you maggots. Give me fifty more sword thrusts then take two laps.” The crowd of women groaned, but Sheila ignored it as she came toward me. “Do you need something, boss?”
“I want to join your class, actually,” I said, nodding toward the women. “I have Clarent, but honestly, I don’t even know how to hold it. I’d love for you to teach me a bit.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, looking me up and down. “Honestly, you’re kind of scrawny. You’d make a terrible fighter.”
“I still want to be able to defend myself a little,” I said, shrugging. “And I don’t actually have anything to do. Everyone’s busy.”
She stared at me for a long while. “It’s your funeral.” She jerked a thumb at the women. “Get in line.”
40
An hour later I was tired, sore, and so sweaty I could smell myself. As I stood there, sucking down water like it was going out of style, part of me wanted to head to the bathhouse. I didn’t, but only because I wanted to check on Sam first.
I ran a hand through my sweaty hair and grimaced. Even my hands hurt, and I knew that even though I’d worn training gloves like the other guards, I’d likely have blisters. Still, it had felt good to work off some steam. Besides, I couldn’t be helpless forever.
Taking one last gulp of water, I made my way out of the training area and headed toward the blacksmith’s shop. The first thing I noticed was the smoke pouring from the chimney. The next thing I noticed were the crates of dragon scale we’d brought back from Blade’s End. They were stacked outside the shop, and Sam’s two apprentices were busy going through them.
They waved at me as I approached before going back to work. I waved back before stepping inside. Like before, Sam was hunched over one of her work benches, but unlike before, she had several molds set out, each filled with glowing fragments.
She must have heard me come in because she turned to me, a mold filled with glowing crystal in one hand and an ear-to-ear smile on her face.
“I did it!” she exclaimed coming toward me and shaking the mold at me. “I was thinking about it, and I realized something important.”
“What’s that?” I asked as she grabbed me by the arm and practically dragged me toward the bench where various molds were laid out.
“I was thinking about casting, and I realized something. It doesn’t always have to be molten metal. You can cast with other things. The key is that you have a mold.” She shook the mold in her hand for emphasis. “And something liquid that will harden.”
“Okay. I’m not sure I’m following, but you seem excited so explain it to me like I’m five.”
She frowned at me. “Basically, I ground up one of the Etheric Flames and made a paste. Then I poured it into a mold.” She pointed at the mold on the far end of the table. It sort of looked like a seashell, but I couldn’t make out any other details. “Then the paste hardened and voila! I made this.” She put the mold in her hand down and picked up a small red object. It glowed with internal fire, and while I could see impurities inside it, I still thought it looked pretty amazing. It reminded me of porcelain, except for that whole scarlet glow thing.
“You’re amazing!” I said, taking the offered seashell. As I turned it over in my hand, I noticed more imperfections, but the detail was impeccable. I’d have never imagined it’d been cast.
“I know, but it’s still nice to hear.” Sam turned and grabbed up one of the molds. “So anyway, I made a few until I got most of the imperfections out. That’s why there’s so many of these sitting around.” She gestured at the array of seashells and other knickknacks sitting on the bench. “I’m fairly good at it now. That’s why I made this.” She picked up another mold and showed it to me. From the outside, I couldn’t tell what it was, but I could see flickers of green, red, and blue light within.
“What’s that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her as she broke open the mold to reveal an egg-shaped gemstone that was one-third green, one-third red, and one-third blue. Only the way they were intertwined together was sort of like a jigsaw puzzle, only more refined.
“Well, I wanted to make you something, and since I suck at making pancakes, I made you thi
s,” Sam said, holding the orb out to me. “Can I have your sword for a second?”
“Pancakes?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her as I handed Clarent to her. She took it and placed it on her bench before beginning to carefully pry the orb out of the pommel.
“Pancakes make everyone happy.” She gave me a weak smile. “I’m a terrible cook though, so this will have to do.” With that, she finished prying the orb loose from the sword. It hit the bench with a thunk before rolling off the edge and striking the floor.
“I actually don’t really eat carbs,” I said with a shrug as the orb rolled toward me. I bent to pick it up as she fit the newly crafted Etheric Flame orb into Clarent. “I mean, I do, but not pancake carbs.” I patted my stomach. “And when I do eat carbs, I pretty much just eat pizza.”
“Well, I’ll take you for pizza one day,” she said, fitting the orb into place. “Would that be okay?”
“Sounds like a date,” I replied, and her shoulders tensed for a second before relaxing.
“Great, I’d like that,” she said, turning and offering me Clarent. “What do you think?”
Her cheeks were bright red, and instead of looking at me, she looked at her shoes while handing me the sword. I wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly gotten embarrassed, but there was no reason for it. Her work was fantastic. Maybe she thought I didn’t think so?
“It looks great! You’re the best, Sam!” I said, taking the weapon from her and giving it a quick swing. I wasn’t sure how, but it felt more powerful than before. What’s more, I could feel heat coming off the pommel now.
“I’m glad you liked it. I didn’t want to presume,” she looked up at me and flashed me a quick smile.
“No, it’s really great,” I said, flipping the sword over so I could stare at the new orb. “It’s truly splendid craftsmanship.”
“Thanks,” she swallowed and reached out to touch my wrist. As her fingers grazed my flesh, she met my eyes. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I really do,” I said, only as I went to see more, I noticed the halo around her menu orb like I’d seen with both Annabeth and Sally.
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 23