“Where did you get these from?” Jesal’s voice was almost reverent as she studied the daggers, turning them over in her hands and admiring them.
“My friend gave them to me. He wanted to see if there was any way to get them repaired.”
“They’re in bad condition but they show that they’ve actually been used. These things are not supposed to be out in the world. They’re Weapons of Power. Where did he get them from?”
“A raid against an Xelur Demon Lord?” Dave said, hoping to get some more information out of her.
Jesal put the blades down, her face pale. “Then it may be time to open the vaults.” Her voice quivered slightly.
“Vaults?”
“We Dwarves were given a sacred duty: to protect and hold the Weapons of Power. They are not all weapons like this, but might be something similar to your armor. We have made a great number of items ourselves that rest in those vaults. We believe a creature calling itself Lo’kal created the duty, giving us special vaults which hid the weapons from the outside world and then contained their power, not allowing them to be transported to a new location to be found by a new wielder. If this was found in Emerilia, then it might be possible that other weapons of great power will return.”
Jesal looked at the ceiling in thought, not seeing Dave’s wide eyes or the cold sweat that fell from his brow.
What the hell have you been up to, Bob?
“I can have a look at the blades, but I don’t think that I have the necessary skills to look after this blade. I know of one who might be able to. We will wait until we find out your smithing art before doing so.”
“You keep on saying smithing art. What does it mean?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Now put these away and get working on those rings!” Jesal said, trying to put some emphasis on her words. But the recent revelations made her feel distant.
***
Making the ingots wasn’t too hard; it was a matter of smelting the gold down, getting rid of the impurities, and then placing it into a form.
It might have been difficult for someone who hadn’t been doing it for months already. Dave had worked with multiple metals that were formed into ingots before being used. Working with stone and glass had been difficult but not impossible.
He’d had to adapt what he knew and what he could find out to get his previous results. Even with the gold, he spent time looking up different facts. He didn’t want to mess up what was about a thousand gold coins’ worth of solid gold.
Dave grunted as he moved the gold ingots around. They might be soft but they were heavy as all hell.
“Now time to turn you into something useful.” He grabbed different tools, working on cutting a sliver of the gold from the ingot to reheat it and pour it into a ring form.
He looked around after a few minutes, forming a dagger in his hands and slicing through the gold easily. His conjuration ability had increased in leaps and bounds. He was not only making items down to the molecular level—his creations could have different aspects augmented to make them better. Combining his knowledge of builder, smithing, and maintainer, he could easily make a blade that cut clean through gold.
The blade disappeared as he moved the refined gold to a crucible that he’d been heating up. He put it in, adding a bit of fire to the base and increasing the melting heat. He moved to the forms, using what he had learned from other metals and the malachite. In fluid motions, he poured the gold in—not too much or too little—moving to the next easily. There was no time for hesitation. Waiting or pausing could mean that he messed up the entire thing.
Dave watched the crucible. By the time that it would cool in the crucible, the poured gold would be sorted.
As he waited, he played with his magic. No one was around, so he worked with making different things. They weren’t anything crazy, just a few tools here and there. He started making things and added runes into their creation.
Simple items he could make not only identical to their physical counterparts, but he could change their very makeup so that they were actually better than the normal item. At this stage, he only thought that he could eke out maybe a ten percent improvement.
With enough time and more knowledge, I can hopefully improve that.
He knew that he couldn’t even make a perfect copy of more complicated things, like Cassie’s longsword. Josh’s daggers, he couldn’t even make half as good as the originals. They were just so powerful and well-made that they were leagues ahead. He might be able to repair them marginally but the skill needed to recreate that through his mind was not his yet.
Dave moved the crucible around. The gold inside didn’t move as it was now hard. He moved to the form, cracking it open.
“Well, let’s see if we can’t make a damned ring.”
Chapter 25: Private Discussions and Public Promises
Jesal pressed her hand against the magical mirror, getting transported to the meeting room of the Dwarven Master Smiths.
“How goes the new student?” Quino asked as she appeared.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jesal grinned.
“Well, I got a chance to check out those runes that he told you about. Ingenious! I never thought to go in that direction. Here I was, trying to imbue spells with more power and try different metal permutations and instead he was developing a condensed inter-layers runic platform! I am making plans to come visit. The boy interests me greatly.”
“Well, he will probably be interested in your assistance. He just showed me the Daggers of Demons Ruin.”
Quino’s exuberant energy seemed to fall away as if his entire reality took pause to understand those words. “I will be there on the first teleport pad!” Quino practically exploded.
“Wait. First, we have a good many things to discuss, then you can head to Benvari,” Sola, the Dwarf who had been picked by random to be this month’s mediator, said.
Quino looked as if he were about to argue as several other masters looked at him, forcing the old Dwarf to sit down, muttering to himself about meetings and old codgers keeping him from his work.
“Hey, you’re one of the oldest here!” Endur said.
“Well, it’s not my fault I have more spirit than some of you darned rocks! Damn rock pounder!” Quino accused but there was a grin to his face. He had been Endur’s teacher, after all.
Such an odd combination: a Dwarven master with Hammer Blows and another with Mind’s Razor. Jesal grinned to herself as the two of them bickered about the other smithing methods.
“Damned metal punching ape! No class—just beating up your metal!”
“Better than staring so hard at the metal that I get hemorrhoids!”
“You couldn’t even think your way out of a form!”
“Shows how much I didn’t learn from my teacher.”
“Why, you ungrateful sprite!”
“Who’s the sprite, you damned wisp?”
Jesal tuned it out after a while, moving to Kol.
The others were still gathering for the bi-weekly meeting. Although Endur and Quino would yell at each other for a few hours, it was a way of them affirming their old relationship and new as fellow Master Smiths.
“Master Kol,” Jesal said in greeting. They might all be Master Smiths in this room but Kol was one of the most powerful, having forged several Weapons of Power by himself, destroying them as soon as they were completed, as if they were misshapen nails.
“How is my errant smith doing?”
“Well, he seems to have made some more breakthroughs that I’ll be revealing. He is an interesting smith to work with.”
Kol grunted but Jesal thought that she might have seen the hint of a smile on his ruined features.
“How did his tests go?”
“So far, he has blown them out of the water, using new or different techniques to combine knowledge in different ways.” Jesal shook her head.
“He truly is a man of great drive and different ideas,” Kol said as Sola hit the table w
ith a hammer.
The master Dwarves took their seats as Sola looked out among them. “Does anyone have any issues that they wish to bring to the attention of this meeting?”
Jesal raised her hand. “I do not have an issue but some new techniques and discoveries to be entered into the records.”
“Do you have the information copied down?”
“I do.”
“Very well. Give it to me at the end of the meeting and I will have it passed out to everyone by the next meeting. Anyone else?” Sola looked around, nodding to herself as no one indicated they had anything to say.
“Very well, to the issues at hand. The dragons have indeed reappeared on Emerilia. We have had a number of them come to our different mountains. Most have moved to their old homes. Others have created new ones. We have communicated with Denur and she will look to deal with any issues that our people or the dragons have with this council,” Sola said.
There were nods of agreement and deep grunts of respect. Having a good relationship with the dragons was good for everyone involved. The Dwarves had kept their secrets for lifetimes and would look after the dragons’ homes, even if they left and went traveling the world in their different forms.
“We have also received a message from Lo’kal,” Sola said. The previous ease turned to tension.
“He sends word that the lords and ladies are able to not only take paladins but also Creatures of Power.” Sola looked around the table. “We all know that neither the lords of Dark or Earth are too happy because we told them to fuck off after attacking our people. I ask that everyone keep an eye out and look for any sign of these Creatures of Power or new paladins. We need to know what the powers of these creatures are and where they will appear. As we are connected to the Dark and Earth by where we live, we must be watchful for things that lurk in the depths of our mountains.”
“Did he say anything about the Weapons of Power?” Jesal asked.
“He did not. Why do you ask?”
“I was asked to repair two Weapons of Power—the Daggers of Demons Ruin. They were found during a raid by one of the Player groups.”
“I have also seen a number of Weapons of Power. It seemed that the Lady of Light got them into the hands of those who were considered her followers so that she could have them open the portal to the Alturaran lands,” Kol said.
“You say they were considered her followers. What of them now?” Sola asked.
“After the fighting at the citadel, the guild known as the Golden Sabres has started to integrate themselves with the People of Emerilia. It seems that the events affected their view on the world greatly. The Stone Raiders guild has actually bonded to them in such a degree that I think the two guilds might merge at one point.”
This sent a ripple of mutterings and whispers through the gathered Dwarves. It was early days of this generation of Players, but the two guilds had already shown their strength by taking on Boran-al Citadel, even with their low levels. They had been around long enough to see a few iterations of Players as they rose and fell. Few felt that the Stone Raiders and Golden Sabres were weak.
“They did have an issue with people from other Affinities in their ranks betraying them. As the Pantheon’s abilities increase and they are able to reach more of their followers, then the Golden Sabres would become weakened. If they are to join the Stone Raiders, then it would strengthen both groups.” Sola voiced the thoughts of the other Dwarves in the room.
“Have the Chosen Warriors ready. We are walking into an unsure time. If Weapons of Power once again wander our lands, then a time of change is upon us. The lords and ladies of the Affinities are not to be underestimated. They are as powerful as they are conniving. We have already made our play to weaken them from the start. Does anyone have thoughts on this subject?”
Quino was acknowledged. “I say that we create some contacts with the various guilds and Players. The more we can connect ourselves to them, then the more people we might be able to call on in our times of need. It might also be an idea to give them bounties for the different Creatures of Power. Use them to find out what these creatures are capable of.”
“Use them as bait to find out everything so that we can use their teachings to train our own people?” Endur said, nodding in respect and understanding to his master.
Wouldn’t think that they were arguing with each other like two children just a few minutes ago.
“Agreed. We have been slow to interact with the Players. It will be good if we extend some relations with them. We must be sure to vet those we do come to trust. We do not need to accept an agent of the Affinities into our home.” Sola’s voice was cold and hard.
Jesal shivered with the thought, imagining if Dave or any of his friends thought to try to fight the Dwarves. At their current levels, they would do a decent amount of damage but be stopped. Yet Dave, even though he was ranked as a level 3, showed that he had the skill and abilities of someone with much more skill points than that.
We aren’t the only ones with secrets.
***
Dave had finished early and Jesal was off at some meetings. Dave practically skipped through the mountain as he made his way outside. He found Deia and Induca fighting each other as Malsour read a book and Anna taught Suzy a few sparring techniques. With their time in the training area, they had become a common sight, the Dwarves caring little as they greeted and waved to them, or watched in interest.
Dave waited, watching them all. He could sense the power coming off them all now. They were much stronger than when they had first come to the mountains. Suzy walked with a confidence and will that Dave had always hoped to see in her. It wasn’t just skin-deep, where she locked away her fears. She seemed to have faced her fears, baring all to the world and not caring what it thought about it.
I wonder how soon it will be before she starts to try to summon creatures to challenge them in a battle of wills. She had been working with her creation magic but she had talked to Dave multiple times about how to make a portal to these other realms to summon a creature that she might be able to tame and bend to her will.
Dave was still working with the basics of what he could understand about portals. Right now, he was focused on attaining the rank of Dwarven Master Smith. Once he did, then he would start to look into the information about portals, teleport spells, and teleport pads.
In a way, it was cheating: a summoner who used a soul binding on creatures was supposed to study how to open portals to different realms throughout their life. If Dave could create a portal capable of doing that, or use one of the ones hiding in the seeder, then all Suzy had to worry about was making the creature bow to her will.
Soul binding was just a part of the whole process and one that she was being taught by Anna. Without having to split her mind between two paths of study, she could get stronger as a creator summoner while also reaping the benefits of a soul binder.
Ahh, it is good to have friends. Dave watched them all, just taking the moment in. For years, it had just been him and Suzy. Even then, they couldn’t really hang out and have a beer all that often as people would say that they were dating or report that they were doing something weird. Dave didn’t want to show that he was giving Suzy preferential treatment as he knew that she wanted to make it or fail by her own efforts. Yet, it had left them both feeling lonely.
I’m happy that she was actually real and not another part of that simulation. Dave looked at her as she practiced. Her brow was creased in concentration and she was as driven as ever as she and Anna traded blows.
Leaving her alone in Earth’s simulation, he wouldn’t have been able to take it. Yet, he hadn’t wanted to go into the simulation only to find out that she was just part of the simulation, knowing that he had not had a single person back on Earth. It might not be his home anymore, but the thought made him sad.
Now, I’ve got a new purpose, people who are more interested in my skills than my money, no fucking reports and friends who are eager to go into battl
e with me. I don’t know if the last part is that healthy. Though, I’ll take it happily. He chuckled to himself.
Malsour noticed him, smiling, and waved him over.
“Hey, Malsour. What you reading about?”
“Some interesting insight into the different Mana densities of different metals that are mined all over the world. If we are to go to other lands, then I am interested to know what kind of materials I will be working with.”
“Anything interesting?” Dave leaned in closer.
Malsour grinned, knowing that Dave would of course be interested in special metals. “Well, in Ashal, because it is such a high-level area for monsters, there are some veins of ore that have been naturally imbued with Mana. In areas where the Mana lines of the planet are closer to the surface, this happens more, but it is still something that occurs all across the land. Say there’s a place where there are great enemies that take a lot of power to kill. If there are metals in that area, then it seems that they are imbued with some of that Mana force. For Mithril and ebony, it takes them from Rare and Legendary ores to mythical and deity proportions. If you can get some ore from those areas, then you would be a rich man indeed.”
“I’m more interested in seeing what you could make with it.” Dave grinned.
“As am I,” Malsour said with a conspiratorial grin.
They laughed as Malsour marked his page and closed the book.
“What about lower grade materials like iron and silver?” Dave asked.
“Well, some of them can start to form Mana crystals within their metals; others will be attuned to a certain Affinity. If they are then enchanted with runes that evoke that same Affinity, then the strength of that enchantment can be greatly increased.”
“How can you tell?” Dave asked.
Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2) Page 21