《Lone: The Wanderer [Dropped Version (includes original draft of the rewrite's first volume)]》Book 2 Chapter 36: Names and Forging
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Due to diligently listening to two ancient beings speak in this tongue, Gained Skill: Skill: Language of the Ancients Effect 1: Allows the host to speak and hear the language of the Ancients to varying degrees based on mastery. Mastery: Beginner Level 3 Increase Of Language Understanding: 6% The Ancient being, Red'Flata, has decided to subordinate itself to the host. The Ancient being, Kal, has decided to subordinate itself to the host.
'interesting... is this because of my 'Lord of The Cosmos' title? I suppose I can just ask them why they want to serve me... ' Lone thought before he refocused his attention onto the Anvil and Furnace. "I... Lone. Pleasure... meet. You, serve... why?" Lone uttered. He was still obviously very unfamiliar with the language hence his difficulty in speaking it.
"Indeed. It was as we felt," the Furnace said. "You may call me Red'Flata. We have lived here for a very... very long time. We wish to travel and serve a new master other than the Tywyth Teg. She is skilled in the arts, but we can feel your potential. An accurate comparison is impossible. We also feel strangely inclined to help you however we can, which is perfect for our goals. So, please, allow us the joy of being your forging tools," it finished with an almost desperate tone.
"Yes, us, you, help," was all the Anvil, presumably, Kal, said. It would appear that it wasn't as advanced at speaking as Red'Flata was.
"My interest in forging is limited, but I expect to live a very long life, so I wouldn't be surprised if I eventually got a level in crafting that would meet your expectation. If you're fine waiting that long, then sure, I'd be happy to take you with me on my journeys," Lone responded honestly in Milindonian for convenience since he had a lot to say. He planned to speak in the ancient tongue whenever possible, but Milindonian would do just fine for lengthy sentences.
He didn't care about crafting very much, more so the results. But Lone was aware that eventually, he would have to craft more and more the stronger he got since finding skilled enough blacksmiths to match his needed level of equipment would be a challenge. So his plan was to learn as much as he could from Eolande then just take it from there by himself.
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"Very well. Do not worry about the Tywyth Teg's reaction to our decision. She has long been prepared for such a change of circumstances," Red'Flata said to which Lone nodded. He had actually forgotten about her very briefly. "Good. For now, though, you wish to learn from her, but she has set a test for you that is impossible."
"Yes... mission, not doable," Kal chimed in.
The embers in the Furnace roared slightly, almost with excitement. "She wishes for you to create a piece of equipment from materials which aren't present and then enchant such a tool even though enchanting takes years for a person to learn. It is a good thing that we are here. Kal and I here can teach you how to create such a thing within the space of a mere few months," Red'Klata said with scatters of pride in its voice.
Lone had scratched the back of his head before he responded. "One problem." Even though it was simply two words, Red'Klata could tell that Lone's understanding of the Ancient tongue was now even better than Kal's, which amazed it.
"Problem, is?" Kal responded with a particular hint of anger in its tone. Kal was a simple Anvil who hated obstructions.
"You must have... looked down... my potential. I have already, enchanting, learnt from watching Tylwyth Teg," Lone replied in a more understandable way, but it was still very broken. 'This is a tricky language. Still, it's already Beginner Level Eight. It sure does level fast, huh? Shame I don't know Eolande's name in this tongue, since 'Tylwyth Teg' is pretty hard to say even if I am copying the Furnace... ' Lone thought.
As it turned out, even if Lone had just said 'Eolande' in Milindonian, it just wouldn't feel right. This language, the language of the Ancients, it was very reliant of feelings and less so of the words. This made speaking in Milindonian less preferable, even if he had to for harder sentences. It was like describing a painting with every word as he spoke the language of the ancients, but Lone didn't know the feelings behind Eolande's name's 'painting' so he couldn't adequately express it.
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Red'Klata and Kal stayed silent at first before finally, Red'Klata spoke again. "I apologise. Of course, we knew you had infinite potential, but there is usually a limit to things. To think you would learn a skill of such difficulty after watching it just once."
"I understand. Most skills... same thing. Some... not the same. Making skills, even harder... takes... days... or... weeks," Lone replied with a bitter expression. He was remembering his struggles of creating the Lighting Wave and Kindling of Magic skills.
"... You have created a skill?" Red'Klata said in shock.
Lone frowned at this. Surely it wasn't that uncommon, right? Creating a skill did take him some effort, so maybe an average person could do it in ten, maybe twenty years, but that length of time was nothing to these Cosmos-Ranked items in front of him. "Yes, two," he replied.
"Mmm, surprising indeed. Creating skills is no easy task, regardless, we have veered from the origin of the conversation too much. We wish to serve; you are happy to be served. Shall we start forging?" Red'Klata concluded.
"Yes, I would," Lone replied. He then walked over the Anvil, Kal once again and squatted down to the floor. He carefully picked up the hammer that Eolande had either carelessly or purposefully left there. Neither mattered to Lone. He knew it was a far superior item compared to his self-made Alterion one.
He then proceeded to create some simple steel with his Mana Crafting before returned to Red'Klata. Once at the Furnace, he created a simple cast for the steel in the shape of a blade and melted the metal using a small amount of mana flames. As it melted, he let it slowly pour into the cast.
This took roughly thirty minutes to do evenly. After that, Lone had to wait another ten or so minutes for the blade to cool enough so he could gently pick it up with a pair of forging tongs that were hooked onto the Furnace.
When he had a decent grip on the blade with the tongs, he quickly moved the end that would attach to the hilt into the furnace and began stamping on the bellow to heat up the fires. A common misconception with heating a steel blade during forging was that the whole thing was heated up before being rapidly cooled in water, which wasn't true. It had to be done in stages, or else the blade would go limp from the heat.
After heating the blade and cooling it adequately in between stages, and after being happy enough with the result, Lone left the Furnace and approached the Anvil. Hammer in hand and slightly hot sword on the Anvil, Lone began striking the soon-to-be blade. He had heated the entire blade briefly before bringing it over to allow for an easier buffing out the weapon.
It would seem that somewhere along the line; he had messed up. He had completely forgotten to fold the blade. So after several retries, he finally had a blade that he was satisfied with. He then spent several attempts creating a pommel and hilt for the steel sword before he connected them all via the heat from some simple mana flames.
Wordlessly, Lone brought his new creation, which honestly wasn't that great, to the centre of the room, between the Anvil and Furnace. He then closed his eyes and tried to channel the Enchanting skill.
A strange language filled with magic escaped his lips and slowly, but surely, several runes began forming above his head. They were far dimmer and fewer in numbers than Eolande's, but they were there, which was a start.
However, when Lone tried to fuse them with the steel blade, they exploded along with the blade throwing Lone across the room from the impact.
"A very impressive first attempt," Red'Klata said with pure admiration in its tone.
"Shut up," was Lone's response. Even if the Furnace was right, Lone didn't like failure; he didn't like it one bit. This was going to take a while to master, that Lone was sure of.
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