“Tell what that one is?”
“This one is a… ball peen hamr!”
“Correct, now what’s the one next to it?”
“Hmm… That’s a round drift and it’s used to hit through holes, expand, and shape them?”
“You’re quite the fast learner, how about we move over to the tongs then?”
“Sure thing!”
Rusty spent hours poring over the basic blacksmithing guide and quickly absorbed every piece of information that it had in store for him. He found it surprisingly easy to absorb the information for so reason, it was as if he wasn’t learning it but re-learning sothing that he had previously forgotten. The floating orbs comnted on this phenonon which could explain it.
“The knowledge he is learning was sothing you once knew, right Hero?”
“That’s right, I rember reading through these old texts before, though I can’t recall most of it, only fragnts.”
“It seems that the library has our lost knowledge, there are so books on old ancient black magic, sothing that I have partaken in my past life.”
Rusty wasn’t really paying attention to the two orbs that were discussing as he was examining the various togs and trying to compare them to the drawings in the books. It seed that the library didn’t only hold the knowledge of the late hero but also the demon king. There were books on tactics and evil magic that were above his intelligence level and for the ti being he was focused on producing more weapons and not magical effects.
“I wonder, could our little Rusty here learn both dark magic and light magic? Sothing that shouldn’t be possible?”
“He does have those elental skills…”
“That’s quite sothing… but it might be better if he doesn’t showcase it once he encounters more adventurers…”
The two orbs seed to nod at each other while having the conversation. The two knew that it was unnatural for a monster to be able to use light magic, sothing that only special people like a hero should be able to. The sa could be said for dark magic, which was only handled by the highest demon lords and their king. It was not sothing a monster like a living armor should be able to use and could cause him harm once he beca a target of both sides.
“Sure… but, will he even listen to us?”
“If he has my tendencies, then it shouldn’t be a problem? I would be more afraid if he took after you, hero.”
“What’s that supposed to an?”
“Nothing.”
“Hey, could you two keep it down, it’s hard to concentrate with all that noise!”
Rusty's voice echoed through the forge as he was finding it hard to focus on the blacksmithing tools on the ground. The two souls felt compelled to stop their banter in a strange fashion. It was as if the hollow armor had a sort of hold over them as if they were his thralls. Luckily, the gag order only worked for a few seconds before their ability to talk was returned to them.
“Interesting…”
The demon lord whispered while trying not to anger Rusty, who seed to be in command. Now that they were quiet again, Rusty continued to flip through the simple blacksmithing guide while looking at the tools on the workbench. Under the watchful gazes of the two floating orbs, Rusty finally began to experint with the tools laid out before him.
He picked up the hamr and after feeling its weight in his tallic hands, it was ti to practice swinging it around. The rhythmic clanging echoed through the forge as he hit a cold piece of tal with it. For so reason, it felt right in his hand and after a couple of swings, it felt like it belonged there. However, hitting a cold piece of tal wouldn’t achieve anything, to begin blacksmithing he needed to fire up the forge and heat things up.
“Hm… what should I make first… a big shield? A large axe? Or maybe a two-handed sword?”
“Um… excuse Rusty, may I offer so advice?”
“Huh? What is it? Make it quick, I want to try crafting soon!”
The white orb of light floated down towards the ss of tools that were on the workbench. During his study session, Rusty had made quite a ss. The Hero while lacking much of his mories knew the steps that needed to be taken to beco a proper craftsman. Rusty might have had his mories and would learn it a lot faster but these mories needed to be awakened in a proper way.
“Sure… A wise man once said that you should learn to walk before trying to run.”
“Oh my, the hero saying sothing clever for once?”
The orb of black chid in while chuckling but the hero just ignored him. It seed that Rusty didn’t really know what he ant with that phrase, thus he decided to be less cryptic.
“I ant that you should probably do sothing easier, I propose you make a few simple small blades or nails first to get yourself acquainted with everything. Also, considering that we are working with bronze for now, it would be better to focus on molds and the slter for now…”
“Ah, molds do sound simpler!”
Rusty nodded in agreent, realizing the wisdom in the Hero's words. Starting with molds and smaller blades would allow him to grasp the basics of blacksmithing. He was also limited by his materials and only could use what was already unlocked, in this case, it was bronze. It seed that he needed to limit his weapons to the material that his armor was made from or to the things he could absorb from the real world.
While this place looked to be similar to a regular blacksmith's workshop, it wasn’t quite the sa. One notable advantage was the creation of molds that seed to take the desired shape of what the creator wished of them. Normally a person would need to create such a mold by carving out a wooden replica of the weapon and then inserting it into clay or sand.
Only thereafter could they start slting bronze and pouring it into the cavity.
“A simple blade… is it this one?”
In one of the corners of the forge, Rusty found a section with various rectangular molds. They had drawings of the weapons that he desired and for the ti being, he decided to go with the smallest one. It represented a small blade that was shorter than the daggers that the adventurers used. While it wouldn’t be a great weapon, it would probably be the easiest to make at this mont.
“Will this do?”
“Yes, that should be fine, you’ll be able to make a simple hunter’s knife with that one. Don’t underestimate its size, at close range, it can be quite deadly.”
Rusty nodded in understanding and slowly picked up the mold that would house his first creation. He wasn’t sure why but he was feeling sothing strange and could almost not contain his joy. He examined this mold closely and felt that it shouldn’t pose much of a challenge. It was quite simple, he just needed to pour the molten bronze inside and just wait.
“I’ll give it a try then!”
With the mold in hand, he approached the slting furnace. There were no flas at the mont but after adding so fuel in the form of readily available wood. Once this fuel made its way under the slter, it could be lit up by a lever on the side which the light orb quickly explained.
“If I rember correctly, if you find so coal outside it should beco available as a fuel source. The wood here should be enough to handle the lting point of bronze but it won’t be enough to handle iron or steel.”
“Uh, Mr. Hero? How much of this fuel should I take?”
“You shouldn’t have to bring much, the soul forge just required one sample before unlocking the resource here. The materials here replenish themselves.”
“They replenish themselves? So the bronze ingots that I gathered won’t be used up during the slting process?”
“They shouldn’t if it’s the sa, however, once you are outside the soul forge, you’ll have to use the resources you have previously acquired…”
The hero attempted to convey his discoveries to Rusty to the best of his ability, but he remained uncertain whether his bronze friend fully grasped the intricacies of the situation.
“Imagine it as unlocking an achievent, once it is unlocked it becos available without a limit.”
“I think I understand…so this ans that I can just make all the bronze weapons that I want!”
“Sothing like that… but be careful.”
While Rusty was overjoyed with the idea of unlimited resources, there were so downsides to this soul forge that the white orb soon ntioned.
“While you are in the soul forge, your body remains inside the real world. If soone finds you during your stay here, then it could end badly.”
“Wait… I have been here for two days already… Does this an that I’m in danger?”
Rusty panicked a bit as he rembered leaving his body in the crystal cave. He didn’t really try to hide himself from anything or anyone and assud that no monster would be able to get in there either. However, his knowledge was quickly expanding and he now knew what those light crystals were. While they would work against the dungeon monster, they would do nothing against regular adventurers.
“It should be fine with the ti dilation of this place but I’ll leave the rest of the explanation to you, dear hero.”
The orb of dark light decided to chi in before flying away. The demon lord seed to be bored watching Rusty bumble around in the soul forge and vanished behind the entrance to the library. This left Rusty more confused and also made him realize that there were many things that he had no idea about.
“Ti dilation?”
“Yes, ti dilation. It ans that ti here in the soul forge moves differently from the ti outside in the real world. While it may feel like hours or days in here, only minutes or seconds may have passed in the outside world. However, I’m not quite sure how much of it has passed outside…”
The hero tried his best to explain the concept in simple terms, hoping Rusty would grasp its importance. His mories were still lacking so he couldn’t disclose the difference. It was possible that only seconds could have passed outside in the real world or perhaps hours.
“So, you an… if I spend too much ti here, it could be dangerous for my body outside?”
“Exactly. You must be cautious and not lose track of ti while you're here. It’s easy to beco absorbed in learning and crafting, but you must never forget to keep yourself safe. If you die outside, you will also die here but… calm down. That cavern filled with lights should be reasonably safe.”
The hero wanted to propose the use of a clock to accurately asure the ti dilation but decided against it. Rusty was like a newborn child who was just absorbing information and at this point, didn’t know much about clocks.
“Thank you for telling . I’ll be more careful from now on, maybe I should dig a hole and hide there?”
“Uh… sure…”
Rusty’s proposal sounds preposterous but he was a living piece of armor that didn’t require food or breathing. If he dug himself a hole, he would probably be relatively safe from any outside sources. He lacked an organic body that would generate an odor so other monsters would probably not try to dig out a bronze suit of armor to eat.
Eventually, he brought his attention back to the task at hand. He approached the slting furnace, wood in hand, and ignited the fuel. Flas danced to life beneath the slter, casting flickering shadows across the forge.
“Here goes nothing…”
To the side, there was a row of bronze ingots that could be used in the slting process. For this small blade, just one of them would be enough. The slter here was a bit different than the ones presented in the guide and felt much simpler. Not from the aspect of size but by how it had various slots that fit these ingots perfectly.
The slter was tall and oval in shape and on the sides there were various tallic tubes. There was a slot at the beginning into which he could press the ingot. It seed that later in ti, he would be able to mix and match ingots with each other but for the ti being, only one slot was available.
After pushing the lone bronze ingot into the slot, he looked as it got sucked inside and traveled up into the slting furnace. Finally, it started the lting process and now what he needed to do was to position the mold in the correct spot. This also was rather rudintary as there were painted-on markers on the ground along with another support slot where he could place the rectangular mold in.
As the bronze ingot lted within the furnace, Rusty carefully positioned the mold in the designated spot, ensuring it was aligned properly. He watched intently as the liquid tal flowed down from the slter, filling the cavity of the mold. The molten bronze glowed brightly as it settled, taking the shape of the blade within the mold.
For Rusty, it was an exhilarating sight, witnessing the transformation of raw material into a tangible object. He felt a sense of accomplishnt wash over him, this was his first attempt at blacksmithing. Even though this soul forge space made this process a lot easier, it didn’t take away from him feeling elated. The light orb watched on in silence, moving as if he was nodding in approval at Rusty’s progress.
With the mold filled, Rusty waited patiently as the bronze cooled and solidified. The process seed to take longer than he anticipated, but he remained glued to it. For a mont he forgot his drive to beco the strongest warrior and beca sothing akin to an artisan. He wasn’t sure why but creating things with his own two hands, seed like sothing that was also his calling.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the bronze blade was ready. Rusty carefully opened up the mold revealing the blade inside. However, to his surprise, it wasn’t quite as good-looking as he expected. The blade wasn’t sharp at all and the handle didn’t look thick enough to hold. Luckily, he had soone to shed so light on this issue.
“Good, now you need to polish it and sharpen, then we’ll create a proper hilt and it will be finished.”
“Oh right, I almost forgot about that part!”
Rusty picked up the rough bronze blade, examining it closely. Indeed, it lacked the finesse and sharpness of a proper weapon. Crafting wasn’t only about pouring molten tal into a mold, there were lots of other steps that needed to be taken to finalize the product and he already couldn’t wait to get to work.
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