“Good Evening, Helmut.” Isaac called out as he entered Stagmer’s shop. They’d decided to get on a first name basis with each other when they’d actually signed a contract.

“Hey Isaac. What can I do for my favorite customer?” the man called out from the back of the shop, coming out a moment later.

“What I’m hoping you can do is fix my Zweihänder.” Isaac said, setting the bag on the counter between them. Stagmer winced as he heard the clank of metal hitting metal.

“I’m guessing that’s it? What happened to it?”

“Big golem fell on it while it was rammed clean through its heart. Is it fixable?”

Stagmer was silent for thirty-some seconds as he slowly and carefully pulled out the shards and spread them out across the counter. The single largest piece was a half-meter chunk that included was essentially just the hilt and a little bit of blade that had ended up getting driven into the ground before the blade had broken.

“In theory, yes. Do you know how broken blades are repaired?” Stagmer asked.

“Not really.” Isaac admitted.

“In essence, the pieces are stacked on top of the remains of the handle part via a weld or other method, then reforged into a blade.” Stagmer explained, placing a few chunks on top of the handle part for emphasis “But that process is almost as much work as forging an entirely new weapon, takes almost as long as is almost as expensive if you don’t count the material costs. And with the [System] involved, the product will also be inferior. My [Skills] enhance the products of my craft and have increased significantly since I made this weapon, meaning the reforged part will be considerably stronger than the original handle.”

“I guess getting it fixed was a pipe dream anyway.” Isaac sighed “Could you make it whole again in such a way that shows where it broke? It doesn’t have to stand up to any kind of combat.”

“That’s certainly possible. Can I ask what for?”

“Display purposes. We’re getting a new building for our faculty and university buildings are normally filled with display articles and posters about papers written by the people working there, but we’re a little light on both. Monster parts are at a serious risk of being stolen and while our papers have been very impactful, there are only a handful of them. I figured a weapon used in a pretty big experiment might look good on the wall.”

“I see. I’m guessing you’d like a replacement weapon?”

“Yeah. In fact, that’s what’s in my other bag.” Isaac said, hefting the mass of magically enhanced material onto the table “Iron from the body of a Tier 5 Golem, and one of its titanium bones. I was hoping that you’d be able to turn the bone into another Zweihänder with the same specifications, with any leftovers getting turned into boar spears with no wings so it can go deeper into the monster. The iron is for you to play around with.”

“I can certainly do that, but here’s the thing. Titanium’s tough, but it has shit edge retention, so it doesn’t really work as a blade.” Stagmer warned.

“I see.” Isaac replied “That being said, I have a fantastic [Skill] called [Blades] that repairs my weapons and turns them into blades if they weren’t already.”

“… so you can use this weapon with total impunity and not have to sharpen it every five seconds. Nice.” Stagmer nodded at him “That being said, a regular titanium blade would take a while to make, never mind one forged from magical material. In addition, it’s going to be hell on my tools, so I might even have to wait on some replacements.”

“I see.” Isaac grimaced “But I guess it can’t be helped. Did you make any progress on that other project?”

“You mean finding other people with actual crafting [Classes], as opposed to ones dedicated to working the machinery that’s replaced working by hand?” Stagmer nodded “Of course, I work with people like that all the time. I’ve asked plenty of them, but I’ve gotten back a lot of answers I didn’t like. Some people got really worried at the mere mention of the [System], others got really excited and I got really worried they were going to do something stupid given the slightest bit of encouragement. And then there were the people who practically started drooling at the mere mention of getting to play around with monster bits.”

“I generally don’t mind working with overly eager people so long as they have a smattering of common sense.” Isaac commented.

“But I do. I’ve seen to many people get hurt because they were too eager to play around with new toys and techniques in an environment like a blacksmith’s workshop. Mind you, something like, say, sewing isn’t nearly as dangerous, but the point still stands. I won’t work with people who are going to end up putting themselves or others in danger.” Stagmer sternly told him.

“I guess I’ve spent a little too much time at a job you practically have to be crazy to do.” Isaac sighed “Look, you know more about this than I do and I value your input, but this job needs people who are willing to experiment a little. Is there anyone who didn’t give you a bad vibe?”

“I found a few people who didn’t immediately want to get a bunch of expensive materials or help with levelling and are willing to enter the same kind of arrangement the two of us have. Here, I have a list, as well as my impression of them.”

Picking the list off the table, Isaac looked it over, noting that he didn’t recognize a single one of the names on it. Then again, there were hardly any craftspeople whose names he knew. But it looked like a good list with [Leatherworkers], [Jewelers], [Tailors], and so on, and so forth. A little short, perhaps, but that was to be expected.

True crafting [Classes], the ones he needed, were rare and almost exclusively found with people who produced their products the old-fashioned way, the kind who held stalls at renaissance fairs and the like.

A lot of the things that used to be made by hand were now being created by machines, and the [Classes] gained by those people reflected that, being more closely focused on empowering the machines used in the production, rather than the product itself. Quantity over quality was a perfectly workable model when producing mass-use items, but utterly unacceptable where protective, life-saving equipment was concerned.

“I’ll look these people up on my end, I should have my selection in a couple of days.” Isaac said, then reached into one of his jacket pockets and placed the orb he withdrew on the table between them. It resembled a perfect sphere made from steel wool encased in epoxy resin.

“This is the Aspect of a Barbed Dervish, a Tier 3 metal monster. I think it would make a good base to stack your Aspect of the Forge Golem onto once I’ve gotten it.”

“Er, stack?” Stagmer asked.

“Ah yes, I forgot to tell you about that.” Isaac sighed and shook his head “I recently found out that you can stick an Aspects similar to one you already have into the same slot so long as it also has a [Skill] similar to the one you grabbed from the old one. Then the old [Skill] upgrades, turning into the equivalent from the new Aspect, and you can even pick up a second one. Slotting that one now should let you grab two from the Forge Golem.”

“That’s awesome, thanks.” Stagmer said, picking up the orb and staring in wonder at something Isaac couldn’t see, almost certainly the item description.

Isaac just busied himself looking through the merchandise lying out. He could spot several nice pieces that were markedly superior to others also present. It made for a clear visual display of Stagmer’s improving skill and increasing [Skill] Levels. Picking out a few from each ‘tier’ of quality, he returned to the counter, where Stagmer had just absorbed the Aspect. The engineers would love him for giving them such a great example of how [Skills] interacted with materials.

“I’d like to take these as well.”

“Sure, sure.” Stagmer waved him off, currently playing around with a floating cloud of metal scraps.

“Ok, I’ll pay later, then.” Isaac said.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Stagmer said “This Aspect is worth a million times more than those.”

“Thanks.” Isaac flashed the man a grateful smile that went unseen. As per their agreement, the Aspects were given in exchange for highly preferential treatment and a massive discount for services, not direct monetary compensation. Isaac could afford to shift away his target for levelling to something that gave the specific Aspects he wanted to give away but very few people were in a position to buy them at the current prices.

Stagmer had therefore essentially gifted him his purchases even though he hadn’t had to, and Isaac appreciated it.

“Do you have a rough timeline on when you’ll be able to get an Aspect from a Forge Golem? I know fighting a Tier 4 monster is a big deal and I don’t want to pressure you in any way, of course, so just a rough guesstimate would be nice. Week, month, you know.” Stagmer asked, sounding incredibly apologetic.

“Remember, that bone on the counter came from a Tier 5 monster. Fighting the Forge Golem isn’t going to be a problem, it’s just that with this kind of material list …” Isaac waved a hand and opened the relevant page “… all anyone can imagine is a humanoid form made from metal that is some degree of molten and that makes it a bloody fire hazard.”

Summoning List (Elemental, Metal and Fire Subtypes)

Name

Material Cost

Mana Cost

Forge Hazard

Tier 1 Circle, Coal Dust

10

Slag Slug

Tier 2 Circle, Slag

50

Molten Beast

Tier 3 Circle, Molten Iron, Photo of an Animal

100

Forge Golem

Tier 4 Circle, Slag, Iron, Coal, Steel

150

Crucible Warrior

Tier 5 Circle, Crucible, Coal, Iron

250

Thermite Avatar

Tier 5 Circle, Aluminum Dust, powdered Iron Oxide

350

…

“Yeah, I can see that.” Stagmer whistled as he looked the list up and down “You know the Crucible Warrior sounds pretty cool and useful as well.”

Then, he blanched “Sorry, my mouth went a little too fast for me to think better of it.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m interested in seeing what new monsters look like as well.” Isaac grinned.

“Can I help figure out a safe way to fight the Forge Golem?” Stagmer asked.

“Hm, I don’t think so. We’ve already got a closed off summoning room without any flammable materials inside, but I’m afraid filling it with a molten mass of slowly cooling metal would pretty thoroughly ruin it … and probably get a hit put out on me from my colleague who has to fix it. If nothing else, Karl will likely soon reach a point where he can make that room impervious to the metal and then I can use it to summon the Golem. Or maybe I’ll come up with something before then, who knows? Point is, I should have the Aspect for you in a few weeks at the latest.” Isaac promised.

“Hey, just don’t put yourself into danger for my sake.” Stagmer told him earnestly.

“Danger’s practically in the job description.” Isaac shrugged “I’m still alive, though. I know what I’m doing.”

“Overconfidence gets people killed, you know.” Stagmer warned, suddenly seeming quite a bit older than before, reminding Isaac that the man across from him had at least ten years on him.

Well, this timeline him. Including the life erased by his jaunt through time, Isaac was actually the older of the two, but no one knew about that.

“Oh, I’m keenly aware of that. I train every day so I’m able to clean up after those people when they summon something they can’t handle.” Isaac told him, voice deathly serious “Despite what it looks like, I am careful.”

“And I believe you, but it never hurts to remind someone of the dangers. The master I apprenticed under had us recite the basic rules of the safety every single day. It got on my nerves after a week and I got very close to snapping at him that I knew all that a couple of times, but then I saw the aftermath of an accident at another shop. And then I realized that the old man actually had a damn good point.”

Isaac shrugged “Safety regulations get on everyone’s nerves, but gods know we’d be in a world of trouble without them.”

“Exactly.”

They spent another half hour or so talking about future expansion of Isaac’s crafting network, and then he headed out to go back home.