"Now then… what shall I start out with first? Any advice?"
Rusty stood in front of his makeshift forge in the basent of his ho. The fire was unlit, and the room was dim, but as a living armor monster, he did not care. The only two sources of light were his two guides, who were hovering around his head.
"If you ask , my dear Rusty, how about first getting this rundown excuse for a lair in order?"
"Run down?"
Rusty recoiled, his helm turning toward the walls of his lair. The place was cracked, the ceiling sagged in places, and his forge was little more than a pile of scavenged stone rather than a true craftsman's workshop. Still, it was his lair and his smithy.
"Yes, run down."
Aburdon said with a sneer.
"You expect to draw custors here? To lure them into this dark pit? Ha! You need refinent. A place that dazzles them the mont they step through the door. Bright banners, rich scents of enchanted tal, and perhaps a few good-looking servants as well."
"Banners and servants?"
Rusty was baffled by the response. The ho he had bought was at the edge of the slums, near the gate leading out toward the dungeon. It looked more like a shelter for the holess, yet Aburdon seed to want to turn it into a luxurious inn. Before Aburdon could continue, Alexander cut in.
"Servants and dazzling banners? Are you trying to get us killed? And where would we even get the money for that? What we need is the opposite. We cannot afford to draw too much attention. The last thing we need is curious nobles, guild inspectors, or thieves poking around. We should start small, build up our reputation slowly, and see how it goes."
There was so truth there, but once Alexander continued, Rusty wasn't sure if he was that happy about his plan.
"We need to start with a modest smithy, ordinary work like horseshoes, nails, and kitchen knives. Then, slowly, build a reputation. Patience is the key."
"Hah, kitchen knives? Why not have Rusty pick up pottery instead?"
Aburdon started laughing at the proposition, yet Rusty wasn't opposed to the idea.
"Kitchen knives aren't a bad idea, actually."
Rusty muttered.
"Everyone needs them for cutting up monster parts and they don't cost as much as daggers!"
Alexander's glow pulsed warmly in a sign of approval.
"Exactly. If people see you as just another hardworking craftsman, they won't suspect anything."
"Yes but I'm not making any horseshoes or nails…"
While Rusty was not completely opposed to the idea of making knives, he had no intention of becoming soone who crafted household items. His system enhanced the forging of weaponry and allowed him to copy them, with the only limitation being SP and essential resources such as tal. The system did not permit him to copy everything, and pottery was one of the restricted items.
"Yes, yes, let our Rusty waste his ti forging horseshoes and nails. What an idiotic idea. If you wish to be respected, Rusty, you must shock and awe!"
Aburdon had started monologuing again, and Rusty had already begun ignoring him. His forge was nearly ready, but he first needed to visit the Soul Forge once more since the cooldown had ended. While Aburdon and Alexander continued to argue about how he should begin his smithy, Rusty simply accessed the forge again.
"Did anything change?"
A shimr swept across his vision, and he found himself back inside the Soul Forge. Everything looked the sa, yet he sensed that sothing was different. As he searched the area, he noticed it. The hourglass that asured the ti he could remain inside was not as it had been before. It was slightly larger.
"So that must an!"
The last ti he had been here, he was not allowed to stay for long. Now, with the hourglass larger and more sand within it, he could assu the ti limit had been extended.
"It must be because my level has increased. I wonder if sothing else will happen if I raise it further."
There were many things he still did not know about this miniature version of the Soul Forge. One limitation was that he could not visit other places, such as the library or the summoning area where he had once received rewards. Now that changes were beginning to occur, he wondered if eventually all restrictions surrounding the Soul Forge would be lifted and if it would no longer be a space he could access only during evolution.
"That would be great…"
Rusty spoke again, though no one could hear him. This version of the Soul Forge lacked his two guides, and for so reason, he could not summon them. Perhaps that, too, would beco available later, but for now, he decided to focus on work.
"Well then, first I have to take care of this thing."
From within his inventory, he materialized a halberd. It was the sa one he had used in the dungeon against the monsters ford from mining equipnt. The lesser lightning enchantnt on it had proven to be powerful, but it had been completely used up during only one dungeon run. That would beco a serious problem if he could not repair it.
"I need to restore the enchantnt, otherwise I will not be able to progress."
Rusty knew that only a small number of blacksmiths in this world could handle enchantnts, mostly because of the skill requirents. A blacksmith needed the ability to develop mana sense, a rare talent. While there were ways to obtain it, from what he knew they were costly for humanoids.
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Fortunately, he fulfilled that requirent and had already enchanted a few items on his own. Now he needed only to restore the magical pathways and reawaken the mana within the tal. The main reason the halberd had lost its enchantnt was that the mana inside the tal had been drained.
"This process should be easier than forging new enchanted steel."
After placing the halberd on a workbench, Rusty rummaged through the forge to find mana crystals. When crafting an enchanted weapon, he first had to ensure the material could contain mana and then carve the magic circles into it. Those circles were dormant now, waiting to be reawakened. For this, he would not need his engraving skills. Instead, he would use a process called mana re-infusion.
Mana re-infusion was a delicate task. If the flow was uneven, the weapon's engravings could fracture, leaving it unstable or, worse, volatile. Rusty placed the mana crystal into the Soul Forge's crucible, watching as its hardened edges began to shimr, then soften, until the stone bled into a glowing azure solution. Once in this liquified state, it was ready to awaken the sleeping energies within the weapon.
"Now the conductive bath."
There was a reason he had waited until he was inside the Soul Forge rather than working within his own workshop. Restoring an enchantnt could be done in several ways. So thods required nothing more than a craftsman with a specialized skill in mana manipulation. Others, like the one he planned to use now, relied on a special mana-conductive solution available to him here. He could eventually obtain it in the real world, but it was costly.
The solution looked deceptively ordinary, faintly translucent like water. Once he poured it into the basin, however, it began to warp the light in strange ways. When he lowered the halberd into it, the reaction started. The etched pathways of the enchantnts gave off a faint glow. That glow signaled the weapon was ready to accept the pure mana from the lted crystal. In so cases, weapons would show no reaction at all, which ant mana reinfusion would be impossible unless the tal itself was replaced.
"Good, now the hard part."
Rusty needed to concentrate now. After the lted mana crystals mixed into the solution, they would saturate it with magical energy. The tal of the halberd would begin absorbing this mana on its own, but that was not enough. He needed to use his mana manipulation skill to direct the flow into the proper places and focus on the sections where the enchantnts had been etched.
In situations like this, his tal body proved useful. A humanoid craftsman would have to keep their distance from the smoldering hot solution, but for him it posed no problem. His body was made of enchanted steel, which allowed him to keep holding the weapon throughout the procedure. He could even guide the mana by palming the weapon directly, which made the process both easier and faster.
He called upon his mana sense, allowing the lines of power to co into focus. The engravings along the weapon's surface pulsed faintly, like dormant veins waiting to be filled. The key was not to force mana inside but to maintain control. If he poured it in too aggressively, the enchantnt could rupture, and if he gave too little, the result would be weaker than before.
Rusty concentrated, and the solution shimred as the mana swirled around the weapon. Slowly, he pressed the liquid mana into the halberd's spell channels. The engravings sparked briefly, then light spread across the patterns carved into the surface. At this point, he no longer needed to hold the shaft, yet he kept his hands in the solution a little longer. Only when enough mana had settled into the enchantnt did he finally lean back.
"There, that should do it. Success."
The process did not take long, only about ten minutes. Although he had practiced this procedure during his last evolution, this was his first real attempt with sothing important on the line. He had two properly enchanted weapons, but this one was the stronger of the two. The fire enchantnt he had placed on a poleaxe was bound to inferior tal, and for the ti being, he had no way of transferring enchantnts, even with the help of his system.
When the process was complete, it was ti to examine his work. A normal blacksmith would have used heavy tongs to pull out weapons that radiated so much mana, but Rusty simply leaned in and took hold of it with his tal hand. Once withdrawn, a faint glow lingered across the halberd's surface. The magical circles pulsed like a heartbeat before slowly dimming. He lifted it, droplets from the solution falling to the ground. After using his identification skill to confirm that the enchantnt had been restored, he nodded with satisfaction and set the weapon back on his workbench.
"Good, that went well, and it did not even take that long. What should I spend the rest of the ti on?"
Rusty had limited ti inside the soul forge. During his last visit, he had created mana-enriched steel to aid in producing enchanted weaponry, but he had lacked the knowledge of what enchantnts to place upon them. Now that he was here again, he wondered if he had enough ti to improve so of the weapon models.
There was also sothing he wanted to confirm. He had been unable to copy the enchantnts he obtained from the summoning chamber. In theory, he possessed all the necessary materials, such as mana conducting steel and mana crystals, yet the system would not allow it.
There was one exception. He had successfully copied his own enchantnts, as proven when he recreated Gleam's armor, which carried his light-elent and dark-elent enchantnts. If this were possible, then perhaps he could attempt one of the simpler enchantnts, such as one that sharpened a weapon. If so, it was likely the system would permit it.
"But what enchantnt would be best?"
Ti was running short, and he needed to decide. He was not limited to weapon enchantnts since he could also apply them to armor and shields. One option created a barrier of mana around equipnt, while another increased the weight of a weapon, making it especially effective for maces and hamrs. Others enhanced durability and functioned as passive effects. So even increased stats, although those required a dium, a special item that could channel the effect once lted into the tal or attached to the weapon itself.
"I don't have any diums, though. That leaves only regular enchantnts…"
He glanced at the hourglass, and after a few seconds passed he finally made a decision. His choice was not driven by the desire to make himself stronger but rather by the new blacksmithing store he had in mind. He had spent ti exploring the city, studying his competition, and observing other adventurers. These people would beco his custors, and most of them relied on a limited set of enchantnts. The most popular among them was the 'Lesser Durability Enhancent'.
Many assud that the most valuable enchantnts were those that increased sharpness or added elental damage to weapons, but this was not the case. Adventurers needed equipnt that would last and not fail in the middle of battle. For that reason, durability was their highest priority. The enchantnt worked by reinforcing weapons, armor, or tools, allowing them to withstand wear, damage, and the strain of combat or exploration. It was inexpensive, required only common materials, and proved useful not just for beginners but also for seasoned adventurers.
"Yeah, that will be perfect. If I have enough ti, I might even add an impact enchantnt to my mace or a lesser aegis enchantnt to my shield."
With that thought in mind, he began his work. For so reason, the weapon most adventurers preferred was the longsword. To him, a being made of tal and resistant to slashing, such a weapon was far from ideal. Even so, he had to provide what the market demanded. He drew out a sword forged of mana-infused steel and prepared himself.
"Let's place these here…"
To aid his task, he unrolled a large parchnt he had brought from the real world. It held the diagram of the magic circle for the Lesser Durability Enhancent. The design had been created with the help of his two guides and stolen from one of the blacksmithing stores. Once the parchnt was pinned to the wall with nails, he set to work. Using his mana sense, he studied the diagram and traced the proper sequence of lines, focusing on the flow of energy.
"Alright… this shouldn't be too hard."
He steeled himself and picked up the engraving chisel, a tool designed for etching mana channels. The hourglass continued to drain, each falling grain reminding him of the limited ti he had. He steadied his grip, pressed the tip of the chisel to the steel, and began to carve. Sparks of pale blue mana flickered with every stroke, the faint glow marking each line he inscribed. Slowly and with care, he worked his way across the blade, tracing the intricate circles that would form the foundation of the enchantnt. This was the proper start of his journey as an enchanter, and he would not fail.
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