He took the finished pick over to Rowan for him to look it over. Rowan glanced at it and turned it in his hands.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Is there nothing you can’t do? Are you sure you don’t have a magical ability to learn skills as well?” He said while laughing.
Arthur laughed with him, “Not that I know of. It would be nice if I did, though. I will be honest and say I expected it to take longer to make that, and I was rather surprised at how smooth the final product turned out.”
“Your skill will determine how nice the item finishes out. Since you made an entry-level item out of one of the softer metals, it turned out fine. Check the quality of the item.”
Arthur decided to do as he suggested and looked at the item.
Item:
Basic Iron Pick Head
Durability: 30/30
Rarity: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 1.5 kg
Slot: Crafting Item
Traits: The head of a pick. Combine with a handle to assemble a Basic Iron Pick.
“The item turned out Good quality because of those criteria. If you tried that with steel, you would have been lucky for it to be Common quality and would more than likely have ended up as Poor quality. That also will affect how the final item turns out, visibly. That is why you need to ensure you level up your skill before attempting things too high above your skill level. Some of the higher metals you wouldn’t even be able to move. Had you tried to forge Magesteel, for instance, you could have heated it all you wanted and hit it with the largest hammer you could find for hours, and it would still be a perfectly flat bar.” Rowan explained.
“I appreciate the advice and explanation on that. I honestly wasn’t entirely sure how that all worked. I think I want to work a bit longer, though. That got the blood flowing, and I still have a good amount of time left before I need to head back to the inn. Anything else you need?” Arthur asked him.
“Well, normally, I wouldn’t ask for a weapon from someone just starting off but, since you did so well on the pick head, how about you make an iron dagger? I am sure one of your hunters will need it anyway.” Rowan suggested.
“I’ll give it a shot,” Arthur said enthusiastically.
Arthur walked over and grabbed another of the iron bars. He tossed this one in the fire in the middle of the bar as well. As he walked away, he wiped off a fresh bead of sweat while it raced for his face. The heat was the only downside to being in here. He turned to walk away from the forge when he froze. Why was he such an idiot? He always hated it when he had read books or watched TV, and people had done idiotic things without thinking about them. Here he was suffering from the heat, and he would be willing to bet that the magic he used to shield himself from his fire spells would serve the same purpose to protect him from the heat here.
Giddy with excitement, Arthur practically bounced in place as he waited for the metal to heat up. He walked over to the tool rack and grabbed the hot cut tool to place in the anvil. A full bar wouldn’t be necessary to create a dagger. If he cut it down the middle, he should be able to make two of them at the same time. As soon as the metal was hot enough, he took it out and placed it on the cutting wedge and pounded on the bar with the hammer until it split in two. While it was still hot, he took the cut end of each half and lightly hammered them until they were back in a uniform shape. He tossed one piece into the fire to let it heat up and set the other on the edge of the coals. If he placed both in, the extreme heat from the fuel would burn the second one and destroy the metal while he worked on the first. If he put the second in the fire as he pulled the first one out, it should correctly time the work so as not to burn the metal.
After a few minutes, he pulled the first bar out of the fire and placed the second one in it. He took it over to the anvil and started working on stretching the bar out to the correct length for the dagger and the tang. He took care to keep his fire shield up and was pleased that the heat was barely noticeable. He was also happy to see this protective layer didn’t seem to drain mana. He could only imagine the draw on it was so low that he natively regenerated the mana faster than was spent. He worked the first piece and watched as the metal stretched out longer. When it had cooled too far to work correctly, he tossed it into the fire and grabbed the other piece. He continued the same process on the second piece until he had to put it back in the heat.
He kept going back and forth with each piece as he started to work the metal into the shape needed. He got the blank to the required length for the blade and worked on putting the point in. He shifted to the back part of the dagger and started hammering down to stretch and thin the tang into a long and skinny stem for the handle to fit on. He didn’t see any type of resin in this shop, so he figured that a scale handle would not work, and he would need to do a through-tang construction. Once he got the tang to shape, he flipped it around and worked on putting the bevels into the blades. He then did a bit of touch up hammering to clean up the shoulders of the knives and cleaning up some stray hammer marks. Once he completed, he felt rather accomplished and took a look at his work.
Congratulations, you have successfully created Basic Iron Dagger Blade. You have gained 160 experience in Blacksmithing for creating this item (x2).
Item:
Basic Iron Dagger Blade
Durability: 35/35
Rarity: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 0.6 kg
Slot: Crafting Item
Traits: The blade of an unfinished Iron Dagger. Combine with handle components to assemble a Basic Iron Dagger.
Arthur was pleased with the work, and, as before, he completed this in a fraction of the time he would usually have been able to. Not only that, but the blades were already ready to use and just missing a handle. There was also one other surprise message he hadn’t been expecting.
Congratulations, you have learned Alternate Heating, a subskill of Blacksmithing for a 100 experience bonus.
For completing two Basic Iron Dagger Blades simultaneously, you have gained 160 experience in Alternate Heating.
Arthur decided he wanted to completely finish the blades. Finding two small pieces of metal, he did a simple oval-shaped guard for these and punched a hole in them. Two wooden blocks were found that could be used as handles.
Congratulations, you have successfully created Basic Iron Dagger Guard. You have gained 20 experience in Blacksmithing for creating this item. (x2)
Item:
Basic Iron Dagger Guard
Durability: 15/15
Rarity: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 0.2 kg
Slot: Crafting Item
Traits: An iron guard for a dagger.
The wooden blocks were the right length that he needed, but the shapes were blocky and unwieldy. To start, he needed to drill the hole in it. Since he didn’t expect to see a drill press anywhere, he walked around the shop until coming across something he had only seen in pictures in history class. He stumbled across a pump drill. It was a solid wood rod with a metal bit on the end that looked slightly like an arrowhead and a metal disk mounted on the shaft marginally higher but under the crossbar. There was another wooden rod that crossed it to form a plus symbol, and it had a hole in it that the main shaft slid through.
From each end of the cross-piece was a piece of rope that looped up through a hole in the top of the rod opposite the bit. You could spin the cross piece until you got a decent amount of twist on the rope and then just press down on the cross-piece. This would cause the center shaft to spin very quickly, and the metal disk would cause it to rotate until it wrapped back on the pole again in the other direction. From there, you press down again to spin again. Using this tool, he was able to get both center holes drilled. He searched around the shop until he found a small knife and used it to carve one of the blocks into a handle that would work well and contour for the hand. Once he finished the handle, he heard a chime and checked the notification.
&nbs
p; Congratulations, you have learned Woodworking for a 100 experience bonus.
Congratulations, you have successfully created Basic Wood Dagger Handle. You have gained 40 experience in Woodworking for creating this item.
Item:
Basic Wooden Dagger Handle
Durability: 20/20
Rarity: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 0.3 kg
Slot: Crafting Item
Traits: A wooden handle for a dagger.
That was interesting. It seemed some of the skills would be directly complementing each other, which honestly made sense. Arthur finished shaping the other handle in the same way. He moved on to making a small metal pommel by hammering a small chunk of metal for each dagger. With the hole complete, the assembly continued. He heated the tip of the tang in the forge until it was white-hot, and as soon as he pulled it out, he quickly slid the guard on. The handle followed, and the blade was wedged in between some metal. The end of the tang that was protruding from the pommel was lightly hammered and peened over to hold it in place. Once finished, the end cap smoothed over, and the item was completed.
Congratulations, you have successfully created Basic Iron Dagger. You have gained 200 experience in Blacksmithing for creating this item. Since all items in its assembly were created by you, you also receive a 20% experience boost of 40 experience.
Item:
Basic Iron Dagger
Attack: 4-6
Durability: 40/40
Rarity: Common
Quality: Good
Weight: 0.8 kg
Slot: Main Hand/Off Hand
Traits: A basic dagger made out of iron.
That was amazing. The experience was nothing to sneeze at, and the bonus was even better. Arthur guessed there was a clear benefit to learning the necessary skills for all parts of the process. He went ahead and finished the second dagger in the same fashion, and as soon as the end smoothed out, showing it was complete, he was awarded another sound and message.
Congratulations, you have progressed to Level 2 in Blacksmithing. You are granted a 3% bonus to forging speed.
More great news. Arthur had already made it to level 2. Not that level 2 was anything special, but it gave him some confidence. He strolled over to Rowan with a bit of swagger in his step and handed over the two daggers. Rowan gave him a lopsided grin.
“Had to go above and beyond, huh? Couldn’t just do one?” He asked.
“There wasn’t much point in only making one. One ingot was too big, and since I had to cut it in half anyway, I figured I might as well do both. Even picked up the subskill of Alternate Heating because of it.” Arthur said cheerily.
“What do you mean, you got a subskill? I don’t even have that subskill in Blacksmithing!” He said, exasperated.
“How could you not?” Arthur asked.
“Well, for one, Smart-ass, I don’t know what it means,” Rowan told him.
“Oh,” Arthur said sheepishly. “Sorry about that. I got it from working both daggers at the same time.”
“You can’t do that. The fire would have burned the other one and ruined the metal!” Rowan said to him. It looked like a vein was going to pop on his head.
“You can. You just cannot put the second piece of metal in until you take the first out to work it. While working the first the second heats and when the first is cold, you swap their places. Keep doing that, and you have no issues. The trick is to keep a steady working speed and not take a long break without removing the metal from the fire.” Arthur explained to him. He honestly wasn’t sure how the idea wasn’t common knowledge to a smith like Rowan but, when he thought about it, everyone here was pretty low on skills since the lords here beat them into submission and kept them on the borderline of worthless.
Rowan took on a speculative look and seemed to be thinking the idea over. “Now that you say that, it makes sense. I can’t figure out why I hadn’t thought of it before. It looks like it is my turn to pick up that subskill, as well. Either way, the blades you made look pretty good. I’m about to finish up with this sword you have an open work order for, and then I’ll do two daggers as well. Anything else we need after that?” Rowan asked.
“Actually, can you make a decent size shield? Something for someone of my size to use?” Arthur asked.
Rowan eyed him warily. “Why in the world would you use a shield? I haven’t ever seen you wield one before.”
“It’s not for me. One of the new recruits has skill with one, and I figured he would be a great asset with that sword and shield on our hunting trips. Especially if we ran into something dangerous that needed a bit more muscle.” Arthur explained.
“I’ll see it done. I think I have enough scrap supplies around to rig up a way for him to hold it until we get some of the leather in. Anything you have planned now?” he asked.
Arthur thought about it for a moment and decided he wanted to try one more thing before he left for the day. He gave Rowan a dangerous smile, “There is one thing I am going to try. It could be dangerous, but who knows. I’ll make one more dagger, but I cannot do two at a time for this.”
“Please don’t do anything stupid, Arthur. I know my workshop here isn’t the best, but I still do like it intact.” He sighed in resignation.
“I don’t think it will cause any harm to the building, but it may just fail spectacularly.” He told him in response.
Arthur moved back over to the iron and grabbed another piece. He was going to start it the same by cutting the bar in half, but after that, things were going to change. What was planned should work, but he couldn’t tell for sure with how different some things were here. Ingenuity was supposedly rewarded here, so he had confidence it would work.
He quickly got the bar cut and properly squared off. He decided to take this process slow, though. He started by layering his fire protection on him and started pushing heat into the bar. The process was excruciatingly slow, but he watched the metal slowly begin to heat. To his surprise, he was able to hold onto it even as it started turning red. He began to feel some heat with it as the red deepened in color and decided to set it down and grab it with the tongs. When he had the bar firmly in the tongs, he continued with pushing heat toward it. It deepened to a bright red with hints of white, and he decided it was time to hammer.
He took some steady swings at it, and each hit caused the metal to cool a bit as he expected, but he was able to focus a bit more and bring the heat back up. He noticed a bit of his mana drain as he kept working, but it wasn’t draining at a terrible rate. He maintained the pace and saw it was moving faster than he expected. With less time wasted putting it back in the fire, the process was moving quick. As he worked, he still kept feeling like he was missing something. Surely this process could be done in an even better way.
Shortly after this consideration, he had a eureka moment. Allendria had told him that Earth Magic could manipulate the movement of metals as it could dirt, it just couldn’t manage the metal itself because of the hardness. With the Fire Magic softening the metal, he should be able to use his Earth Magic to quickly shape the metal itself. He tried to send a tendril of earth magic into the metal as he worked and noticed his heat start to subside. Pulling back the Earth Magic, the heat returned.
Surely this would work. Arthur just needed to figure out how. He decided to approach this the same way he had to learn his new fire magic. The elements had to be intertwined for it to work correctly. With this in mind, he focused on interweaving his Fire and Earth Magic together as he pushed them in the metal. He focused on his will to shape and heat at the same time in a concentrated stream of woven power and was amazed as the metal started to move.
It started at the tip of the metal. Arthur had only been stretching the metal and hadn’t begun shaping it yet, but starting from the end, the metal began to compress, and it looked like a kid playing with Play-Doh. The metal started forming and flowing into a perfect tip, and the magic started working backward. There was almost a dis
tinct line in the blade that moved from tip to end. As it passed, the metal turned from a flat piece of iron to a perfectly beveled dagger blade in a few moments as it continued to crawl. When it reached the end, the dagger looked perfect, and he slowly drew the heat out of it and let it quickly dissipate into the air. When he grabbed the finished blank, it was cool to the touch and looked great. He heard the chime that was quickly becoming one of his favorite sounds and looked at what appeared.
Congratulations, you have learned the hidden subskill Arcane Smithing for a 500 experience bonus.
You have gained 50 experience in Earth Magic and Fire Magic for successfully casting Crafting Spell: Arcane Forging.
Congratulations, you have successfully created Basic Iron Dagger Blade. You have gained 75 experience in Arcane Smithing and Blacksmithing for creating this item.
Item:
Basic Mage-crafted Iron Dagger Blade
Attack: 4-6
Durability: 50/50
Rarity: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 0.6 kg
Slot: Crafting Item
Traits: A basic iron dagger, created using magical techniques. This blade will have more capacity for absorbing magical power. Combine with handle components to assemble a Basic Mage-crafted Iron Dagger.
Congratulations, you have learned the Crafting Spell: Arcane Forging. You have gained 350 experience in Fire and Earth Magic for discovering a known spell.
Congratulations, you have reached level 4 in Earth Magic. Earth magic spells now have a 9% increased effect.
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