?"YYYYYEEEEESSSSS!!"
We all jumped slightly at the sudden, almost ear piercing scream of joy that ca from the forging area, causing us all to look towards the source of said noise before glancing at one another, seeking out an answer from people who were just as confused as we were.
Hesitantly making our way over to the forge, we saw Anput grinning form ear to ear as she bounced around, waving her tongs in the air and happily humming to herself as she danced around and stared at whatever it was that she was holding between the tal tongs.
With her tail wagging as fast as possible, her lips parted in a grin that would put the Cheshire grin to sha, and joy almost always exclusive to children, Anput was in her own world as she continued to dance around like she just didn't care about anything besides whatever it was that she had done.
Sensing us, the Jackalkin looked around with excited obsidian eyes as she said "Look! Look! I did it~! I really did it~! Haha~! HAHA~!"
"Yes... very good, Anput... you... did it. Um, what exactly... is 'it', my love? What are we looking at?"
Between her tongs was a still hot, orange sphere of... presumably tal, but that did very little to narrow it down; what we could all tell was that whatever she had done, was sothing that radiated a lot of mana, and specifically a lot of Earth Mana.
"Hehe~! HAHA~! I did it~! I really, really did it~! I managed to combine not two, but three separate mana rich tals together, alongside a fourth material! Three tals and so monster bone, and I managed to make this..! This beautiful thing~! Oh so beautiful..."
It was still cooling off, but now that we had heard what she had said... we all still stared at her, wondering if there were a few screws loose in her head; even the Demons familiar with the intricacies of forging were blinking in confusion, not understanding the significance of what she had done to warrant such a reaction.
Noticing that none of us were giving her the proper overjoyed reaction she wanted, Anput clicked her tongue and instead said "I took three mana rich tals as well as a mana rich monster part and managed to create a complex alloy that is high in mana conductivity, high in durability, dense, and extrely, extrely easy to work with when hot. And when I say high durability, I an it shouldn't dent even if Jahi takes a giant hamr to it... well, at least not a lot."
The blue Demoness perked up at that, making Anput flinch as she hid the alloy away behind herself, staring at Jahi with narrowed eyes as she hastily added "Not that I want to put it to that kind of test, mind you, just that... in theory, it should. Ahem, now anyways, the significance of this is that if we were to assign grades to tals, we would have basic steel at a solid D, right? Reliable, works for most people, not the best for anything besides everyday appliances and the like, right?"
We all nodded, which made Anput nod as she began to 'teach' us about her very important alloy, which was sothing she was evidently quite, quite proud of...
"Then there are the basic alloys of non mana rich tals and a mana rich tal; sothing like basic tin and Rubrum copper for a bronze alloy. That would be your C grade tals, things that are above average, pretty good, but could certainly be better.
Your B grade would be what almost all of us are used to using, right? Two mana rich materials, sotis three put together into an alloy and honed for specific elents and all that. Takes a bit of ti to make, a bit of ti to shape and forge, but the end result is an extrely reliable and high quality weapon or armor that should last you a lifeti... as long as you don't run into a Fiend, of course."
She smirked at before coughing when I raised a brow, the Jackalkin returning her gaze to the alloy in her hand as she continued on with her lesson, which was becoming slightly interesting... slightly.
"Now, making B grade alloy is easy enough, and going from making C grade to B grade takes so practice, so experience, so finesse, but you can do it, right? Cause when you mix a mana rich tal with one that's not mana rich, or mix two mana rich materials together, you need to use your own mana to help fuse them together properly, alongside actual forging techniques, right? Which ans almost everyone can do it so long as they know what they are doing and want to do it. It'll take so ti, but... once you get it down once, its simple to replicate. But..."
Anput raised the alloy in her hands and grinned at it, her next words taking this from slightly interesting to just... interesting.
"Going from B grade to A grade is rough. A grade takes higher quality materials and asks more of the smith; more concentration, more control, more understanding. It's... three, four tis harder to grasp than B grade, which is already 'difficult' enough to grasp. Takes a lot of ti, or just being damn lucky and being born with tal Magic... anyways, point is, A grade takes so skill, finesse, and good materials to pull off, and of course the end result is really good. Like... really, really good. This is A grade right here, and this ans I know how to forge so good shit! Course, now I just need to forge an entire ingot to actually make sothing with, but..."
My mate jumped around again as she laughed dentedly to herself, before stopping when Jahi asked "Then what about my sword? The Celestial Gold? Is that A grade?"
"A grade? No no no. That right there is A grade. Fuck if I know how the Empress made it, nor do I have a single iota of a clue on where she even started. The tal itself is made from Ritual Circles, which I guess is a clue, but not when there are almost like... a thousand of them linked together in a chain. Seriously, not a single portion of my brain wants to understand how to do that, because I think it'll just ruin my confidence and understanding of smithing..."
The Demons all snickered as they nodded in understanding, before Satanya stepped forwards and asked "So... are you going to be spending ti making this... A grade or whatever alloy, or are you going to be making a bunch of B grade alloy for us?"
Anput blinked a few tis, before staring at the alloy that had cooled off to a reasonable level, her obsidian eyes showing clear reluctance even as she sighed and said "Yeah... I'll keep forging B grade alloy for the expedition... we need it, after all. Damn..."
Looking like a child who just got a toy and was told they can't play with it, Anput sighed again and stared at her alloy so more, before blinking a few tis and looking back at us as she asked "I... didn't wake you all, did I?"
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