The wood is oddly supple and pliable, but, despite him bending it to the lengths of its flexibility, it doesn’t crack or splinter and instead holds its form well, offering a lot of resistance to his pressure.

It’s wood from some of the precious, ancient trees of the deep forests of the south. It’s a material that, while being a rare commodity in the north, is plentiful down here in the south. Because the trees are so old, having sat in rich, nurtured sections of the forest for generations, the wood is soaked full of energies stemming from both the natural magical ambiances of the region, as well as from the healthy, rich soil.

- [Rare-Wood] -

- Quality -

Unique

- Composition - Rare-wood: 100% - Quality Effects -

Imbues high-attribute magical properties onto any crafted items

Stemming from the old trees of the deep forests of the world, rare-wood is a type of wood that has aged in a high-magic zone for decades, absorbing much of this energy into itself.

It has extremely versatile uses in crafting.

Weight: 3.0 kg Value: 765 Obols

“I mean, as far as wood goes,” starts Rhine. “It’s pretty good.”

Hineni nods. He hates to admit it, but for wood, this stuff is very useful. The description of the properties on the item’s window is a little vague. But he has the feeling that this material is very potent.

“What should we make first?” asks Rhine. “Bows? Arrows? Staves?” He rubs his lip with the back of his thumb. “We could make some wands, maybe?”

Hineni hands him the piece of wood. “Burn it.”

Rhine blinks. “…Huh?”

“Throw it in the fire,” says Hineni.

“…The rare-wood?” asks Rhine, taking it from him. “You want me to throw it… into the fire?”

“You heard me, boy,” says Hineni, nodding his head. “Toss it in.”

“I mean, sure,” says Rhine, shrugging as he turns around and then unceremoniously throws the piece of very, very expensive wood into the flames of the improvised furnace. “But uh, hmm… is this a good idea?” he asks. “It seems kind of wasteful. We should just burn normal wood.”

Hineni shakes his head, walking over to the fire. He bends down, examining the log as it burns. “I want to see if it's any different as a fuel,” he explains. Hineni lifts a hand, pointing at the smoke that rises up the half-chimney, sitting out in the middle of the hill. “The fire shouldn’t destroy the magical properties of the wood. It’s just turning it to ash and all of that is being carried away by the smoke,” explains the man, holding his gloved hand above the smoke for a moment. He pulls it back, showing his palm to Rhine as he runs a finger over it, wiping off a smear of black residue. “The wood is fine and all, if we want to make wooden weapons.”

Rhine nods, thinking. “- Which we don’t.”

“Which we don’t,” repeats Hineni. “We want to make some good old-fashioned things out of metal,” he explains. “But that doesn’t mean we can just ignore the free resources that we have here. The wood is strong. We can use its properties. But for metal weapons.”

“— By burning it?” asks Rhine.

“Yup,” replies Hineni. “A fire made with high-magic fuel will boost any items we make in it The ash has the magic in it, he says, prodding the burning log with a poker to break some of the bark off.”

“Huh,” says Rhine, surprised. “I never knew that. Wow.”

Hineni nods, dusting his hands off. “That’s because I just made it up,” says the man, grabbing another log of the extremely valuable wood, tossing it inside of the fire. Rhine snorts. “It sounds dumb enough to be true, though. We’ll try it out.”

Rhine nods and the two of them set to work.

The new forge, at least until the house is done, is sort of a rough operation. It’s just a waist-high stone wall that encircles a cleared area near the road. All of their tools and equipment has been set-up there for them to work, over a sparsely roofed, open area. But all of their critical equipment has been built up for them to use. The military expects them to keep up with their orders of gear, after all.

— Rhine throws another log into the fire, feeding it to a high blaze.

“So what’s on the list today?” asks Rhine.

“Repairs,” replies Hineni, looking at their list of orders, which is nailed onto the side of a wooden crate. He reaches in, pulling out a small, iron shortsword.

The man blinks, looking at the old thing. It has no pommel on its hilt and has an unusually fat grip.

This is his own sword. He made this one himself, ages ago.

“Well I’ll be…” says Hineni, looking at the weapon. Its blade is cracked straight down from the top, running all the way from the tip to the base, around the hilt. It looks like somebody had tried, very, very hard to stab something very, very hard. He shows the sword to Rhine. “Small world, huh?”

- [Iron Short-Sword]{Gift of the owl-god} -

- Quality -

Normal

- Composition - {Wobbly}[Iron Hilt]{XL}(Normal)

{Cracked}[Threaded Iron Blade]{Short-Sword}(Normal)

{Rusted}[Iron Nut](Normal)

{Worn}[Leather Wrap](Normal)

{Worn}[Black Cloth Wrap](Normal)

{Worn}[Black Cord](Normal)

- Quality Effects -

“Chosen of the owl-god”

Adds additional attributes to the attached weapon - Title Effect - “Gift of the owl-god” +3 OBSCURANTISM +3 WIND DMG +3 LUK 2 PHYSICAL DMG (3) An extremely well worn, custom-made, iron short-sword. Its hilt is unusually fat. It is a strong state of disrepair. ‘Made by Weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the Owl God’ No pommel attached Weight: 1.23kg Durability: 08/12 (30) Value: 177 Obols

Rhine looks at the sword. “Wow, it’s pretty beaten up,” says the boy, lifting it up towards the fire to look at it in a better light. He hands it back.

Hineni nods. “I mean, it’s been a while,” he says, looking at the weapon with something akin to a sense of nostalgia. He had made this weapon just before everything started. This was essentially the last creation of his second life.

He looks around the destroyed city, wondering what the fate of its owner is. But the woman, who he only very vaguely recalls, is nowhere to be seen. Nobody is anywhere to be seen. It’s the middle of the night, after all.

Not really sure what he expected, Hineni sits down and sets to work.

This sword, like all of his swords from back then, should usually be fairly simple to repair. The blade is a threaded blade, which means it can just be unscrewed and then a new one can be screwed in. But because of the unusual design of the sword, having no pommel, he recalls having to fiddle around with the nut that holds the blade’s threads in place. The man distinctly remembers the memory of himself wishing whoever had to fix this in the future good luck.

He shakes his head. Life is funny like that sometimes.

After a while of twisting and poking around, he manages to loosen the rusted nut that is hidden down, inside of the base of the hilt. It cracks as he spins it open for the first time, flakes of rust falling down onto his fingers. The owner certainly has been making use of the weapon, if nothing else, by the looks of it.

He supposes that he’s happy about that. It’s nice to see your handiwork being appreciated.

Hineni undoes the bolt, setting it to the side and then begins unscrewing the old blade. As he turns it, it breaks in half. The cracked seam that was running through it was apparently a full-on break that was just being held tightly together by the pressure of the fastenings, rather than just a simple scratch.

Component Removed: [Threaded Blade] from [Iron Short-Sword]

“Rhine. Where are our threaded blades?” he asks, looking around at the mess of crates and boxes sitting around the improvised forge.

“Uh…” Rhine looks around the area, just as lost.

Hineni shakes his head. “You know what? Nevermind.” He points at Rhine. “Make me a new blade for this, please,” says the man. “Use…” He thinks for a moment. “Use orichalcum.”

“What? Really?” asks Rhine, picking up the broken pieces of the blade. “But this was just iron.”

“Yup,” replies the man. “Some things change over time for the better, though,” he explains, continuing his work. He nods his head to the forge. “You do it. I have to mess with this,” he says, pulling apart the fabric and the leather that are wrapped around the hilt.

Rhine nods, and sets to work, making a new blade for the short-sword by himself.

It took a while, but the sword is done.

Hineni looks at the new weapon as Rhine finishes bolting it together. The design is the same as before. No pommel. A fat hilt. Hineni doesn’t know why the owner wants it like this, but that’s not his business now, just like it wasn’t back then.

“Great work, Rhine,” he says.

Rhine shakes his head. “I think you were right with the smoke thing before,” he explains. The boy runs a finger along the orichalcum blade. “The orchalcum didn’t get any weird properties, but the other stuff did. Like the hilt.”

- [Orichalcum Short-Sword]{Treasure of the owl-god} -

- Quality -

Normal

- Composition -

{Enchanted}[Steel Hilt]{XL}(High)

[Threaded Orichalcum Blade]{Short-Sword}(Normal)

[Steel Nut](High)

[Leather Wrap](High)

[Black Cloth Wrap](High)

[Black Cord](High)

- Quality Effects -

“Treasure of the owl-god”

Adds additional attributes to the attached weapon - Title Effect - “Gift of the owl-god” +9 OBSCURANTISM +9 WIND DMG +9 LUK Effect: Destroys all magical forces the blade comes into contact with. 9 PHYSICAL DMG A custom-made, orichalcum short-sword. Its hilt is unusually fat. ‘Made by Weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the Owl God’ ‘Made by Rhine, the River-Wizard - Follower of the owl-god’ No pommel attached {Enchanted}[Steel Hilt]{XL}: All strikes ignore {01} DEF Weight: 1.26kg Durability: 72/72 Value: 5400 Obols

Rhine whistles. “I’d like to see their face, when they get it back.”

Hineni nods. This would definitely be a nice thing to experience. His weapon had kept someone alive this long. He hopes this new one will keep them alive even longer. He doesn’t really remember anything at all about its owner. But in a way, he feels like they’ve known each other for a long time.

He plays around with the old, rusted bolt from the blade.

“Put it in the box,” says Hineni. “We have plenty more to finish tonight.”

He flicks the old iron nut into the crackling fire.