Transmigrate to another world

Chapter 49: The Forging

Ruby says, "Demon? What's a demon, and how do you know?"

"A demon in my world was a mythological being of pure evil. They are immensely powerful and can only be defeated with the best weapons. And I know this because I was just given the mission to kill him."

Ruby says "Kill him? You mean he's not dead?"

At that moment, we both notice the creature turn its gaze towards us. Without speaking it, we quickly back up around the pile of rocks until we no longer see the ice.

Ruby says "Do you want to kill that?"

"Do I want to? No, but I need to. That corpse at your feet is probably the archmage."

Ruby says "Do you think we can kill it?"

"No, not without some preparations."

Ruby says "Like what?"

"I'm going to have to forge a sword that's capable of killing him."

Ruby says "Can you?"

"Maybe, if I use the Armatite."

Ruby says "You don't have enough mana for that."

"Not if I just use mine, but if I disenchant all those magic weapons we found in the armory I might have enough."

Ruby says "Well, I'll help you in any way I can. I'll be with you no matter what we face."

"Thanks, Ruby! Let's go back and I'll get started. I'm going to take the quick way back, so you might want to go back to the amulet."

Ruby nods and dunks the amulet in the water. Once it's safe, I jump into the river. Even with my armor and weapons weighing me down, it's easy enough to swim with the current. The river quickly carries me to the lake, then I swim across the lake and out to the side of the waterfall.

I don't want to fall down the waterfall and maybe hurt myself, so I jump into the pond and then jump into the river again and down it to my camp. I come out of the river at the camp cold but not too tired, I light the fire and take off my armor and weapons, then use the purifying stone to dry myself. That done, I sit by the fire and start cooking more beast steaks.

"Ruby, will you have dinner with me?"

Ruby quickly steps out of the amulet and takes human form, she immediately sees the steaks and smiles.

Ruby says, "I'd love to!"

We sit together by the fire and enjoy our meal of beef steaks and mushrooms. As I eat, I plan what I need to accomplish and what kind of sword I want to try to make.

"You should probably go back to rest, I'll need your help later but first I have some boring things to do."

Ruby says, "Alright, whatever you say master" and smiles before disappearing into the amulet.

I groan a little as I get up and head to the forge room. I grab the two bars of Armatite and the crucible and place them near the bench. I then grab one of the pikes and place it on my lap as I sit down to meditate, position it so that my head is over the crucible and place one hand on the Armatite bar which is half gold.

I quickly enter the inner world and turn my attention to the pike and begin to unravel the mana that is in it.

When I open my eyes, the head of the pike has turned to steel dust and fallen into the crucible, and the gold in the bar has grown a little. I repeat this eight more times with the remaining pikes, then melt the powder into a couple of ingots and move on to the swords. When I have disenchanted five of the swords, the first Armatite bar is completely gold and accepts no more mana.

??-DING-??.

- Congratulations, the Disenchant skill has advanced to level 4!

? Disenchanting.

? Level 4

- Intelligence +8 Wisdom +8 Wisdom +8 Mana +40

- You can remove an enchantment and recover 15% of your mana.

??-DING-??.

- Congratulations, you've acquired a new skill!

- Superior wisdom gained by having a wisdom stat above 50!

? Superior Wisdom.

- Wisdom stat added to mana.

I set aside the finished bar and start working on the second bar. It takes all the remaining weapons and a couple of armors to fill the second bar. I also make twenty-three steel ingots during the process, which is good because I want to practice making the sword out of steel before I try my hand at Armatite.

Before that, I want to make some new hammers specifically for bending. So I grab a couple of ingots and set about forging them. It takes me several tries to get the hammers perfect. Now everything is ready for forging, but I want to experiment with something, so I run back to camp and pull out the mortar I got years ago from the goblins.

I use it to grind up the crystal scraps from Ruby's sword making.

I keep doing this until they are reduced to a fine powder, as I was hoping that even the individual grains would give off a glow that would signify that they contain mana. I plan to sprinkle the powder on the steel during folding to see what happens. Now that everything is ready, I summon Ruby.

Ruby steps out and takes her human form, the first thing she notices are the two golden bars of Armatite ore. She picks one up and turns it from side to side admiring it.

Ruby says, "Wow, you really filled it with mana!"

"Yeah, they took all the weapons and almost half the armor."

Ruby says, "So, how can I help?"

"What I need you to do, besides powering up the forge, is to maintain the temperature of the metal while I work on it."

Ruby says, "Okay, I should be able to do that."

"Okay, first let's do some practice with steel so any mistakes won't be a problem."

Ruby says, "Okay, I'm ready."

So I started forging my first nodachi, and almost immediately everything went wrong because the metal melts as I try to hammer it into shape.

Ruby says, "I'm sorry. I think it's a little hot."

"That's okay, that's why we're practicing."

I smile at her so she knows I'm not mad and start again. It takes us four tries before I manage to forge the first nodachi.

??-DING-??.

- Congratulations, the skill expert blacksmith has advanced to level 13!

? Expert Blacksmith

? Level 13

- Strength +16 Fire resistance +16

- You can craft expert level metal objects.

Now that we have mastered the technique, I repeat the process and make another one, but this time each time I bend the metal I sprinkle crystal powder along the blade before bending it.

The second one comes out higher quality and can be charmed, which is even better than I expected. Now I think we're ready for the real product, so I get the two bars of Armatite and put them in the forge.

"Okay, Ruby, fire up the forge please, then we'll do everything else the same way."

Ruby says, "Yes, master, here we go!"

The fire in the forge turns blue as Ruby lights it and the two bars begin to glow rapidly. I watch closely as the colors change as the metal heats up, even though it feels like my face is getting sunburned. Once I think it's the right color, I use the pliers to pull the bars out and start hammering them together and flattening them. Chapter Experience:

Then I put it back in the forge to make sure it is melted correctly. After a few minutes I take it out and start shaping the metal into the length and shape I want, dust it all with powder and then bend it. Ruby concentrates completely to maintain the perfect temperature so I don't have to stop and overheat the metal.

I manage to fold it ten times before I run out of crystal powder, so I finish the last fold and finish shaping the sheet. I then quickly cool the blade and look at it to check for flaws, it is beautiful and as perfect as I can imagine.

Ruby says "It's a beautiful sword, but it was exhausting, I need to rest."

"Go ahead. Thank you for your help and sleep well."

Ruby says "Try to remember to eat and rest."

I don't hear Ruby well because I'm already looking around trying to decide what material I'm going to make the hilt and scabbard out of. At that moment I notice something strange. I stacked all the wooden sticks in a pile against the wall earlier, but now all that's left is the tree branch.

Did it absorb them? I reach over and pick it up, it feels heavier than I remember, but it's the perfect length to make a hilt and sheath out of it. Then I sit down with my wood carving tools and start working, it's going so well I can't help but think the wood is helping me shape it.

??-DING-??.

- Congratulations, the Carpentry skill has advanced to level 4!

? Carpentry

? Level 4

- Agility +4

- You can craft wooden tools or structures.

Once the hilt is made I attach it to the blade and activate observation.

"MAGIC ITEM"

? Nodachi of folded little weapon.

- Hit +10 Damage +25

- Durability 150/150

- Charmable: Yes Grade: Supreme

Supreme grade? That should be the highest possible! Great! Now I just hope my plan to enchant it works as well as the crafting did.