Chapter 116: Chapter 102 – Crafting Adamant, Departure Plans

"Mithril and Adamant be the two most expensive metals around, and most desired too. The former be light, holds an edge like no other, and sturdy as hell, but ain't even workable unless ye got an elven mage channelling mana to it while ye worked it. The latter, just needed really good mages, at least one fire ta heat it up, an' one metal to shape it. No hammering that shit, no siree!" - Hogarth Blitzschlag, expert blacksmith and champion of metal, circa 202 FP.

 

The next morning, Cal went to the smithy because she wanted to watch the smith at work. The minor flaws that had begun to build up, the smith had fixed the day before, with the aid of an elven mage. Today, they would coat the mithril with a layer of adamant, other than the very edges, to allow the mithril's keener edge to shine through.

 

When she entered the smithy, she found that Aideen had awaited there as well, along with Magnus. The half-therian half-dwarf chef was also the strongest fire affinity archmagus in Paradise. The task left for him today, would have been impossible without a cadre of lesser archmages elsewhere, for few reached his caliber.

 

When he saw Cal enter, the unliving dwarven smith, Hogarth by name, greeted her with a smile, and asked her if she was ready.

 

Cal nodded and placed her halberd on the anvil, and stepped back. She stood and watched with her arms folded, as the smith took over and started to go to work.

 

The smith first went to a chest at the back of the shop, where he rummaged, and returned with a small block of shiny metal in his hands. The pure adamant looked almost like onyx or obsidian, with such a brilliant luster despite its jet-black shade.

 

"Ye want durability and anti-magic enchanted on these, rite?" Asked Hogarth as he reverently placed the metal block on his anvil.

 

She nodded to the question. Yesterday she had her halberd re-enchanted for a keener blade and more force while she had it fixed. An outer layer that was extremely durable and repels magic would grant her more options.

 

"All right then. Archmagus Bronzmeier, if ye please?" Said the blacksmith.

 

Magnus nodded to those words, and created a flame in his hands. The fire was of a brilliant blue hue, that nearly hurt the eyes of those that witnessed it. He wrapped the nugget of adamant in the fire and heated it up, while a smaller portion heated the surface of the halberd.

 

Before too long a time had passed, both the halberd's surface and the adamant had glowed a bright orange from the heat. It was at this point that Hogarth went to work, and stretched the heated outer layer of adamant with magic. He repeated the process until a paper-thin sheet of heated metal was created, and floated that sheet to Cal's Halberd.

 

The sheet wrapped around the head of the halberd, as the heated metals came into contact with one another. Hogarth worked his craft and fused the two metals, all while he shaped the sheet to wrap perfectly around the halberd. He worked on the enchantment after he got the sheet properly in place.

 

Enchantment was a meticulous and time consuming process. That step alone saw Hogarth spent nearly a quarter of an hour with his brows furrowed in concentration, before he nodded in satisfaction.

 

At that signal, Magnus made the flames - which he had kept alight all this time - disappear.

 

Hogarth then grabbed the halberd by its shaft, and brought the still red-hot blade towards a long rectangular trough filled with what seemed to be oils. He swiftly dipped the blade into the oil, at which point a burst of flame ensued. After the flames subsided, he drew the quenched weapon out, and reverently cleaned it.

 

"Have a look see, should be ta yer liking methinks~" said the blacksmith as he handed the halberd back to Cal.

 

Cal received the halberd in both hands, and sent a pulse of mana into the shaft just in case. She needed not have worried, Magnus' control over fire so fine he only heated the outer layer of the halberd's head, and the wood inside was left unbothered.

 

Not that heat would have that much to the heartwood anyway. Ebony heartwood was easily as prized as mithril, and were basically only workable via nature magic, and naught else.

 

When she inspected the head of the halberd, she saw that most of it was covered by the brilliant dark sheen of adamant. Exceptions were right by the very edges of the blades, where the keen mithril edge peeked through the adamant layer.

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A multitude of runes were engraved upon the paper-thin layer of adamant - a feat only doable by metal mages of the highest expertise -, and she could feel the potency of those enchantments.

 

"Give it a try," Magnus offered as he formed a fireball the size of a man's head that hovered in thin air a couple meters away from Cal.

 

She obliged and sliced through the fireball with her halberd. At roughly the same time her blade sliced through the construct of magic, it popped like a balloon and vanished without a trace. The anti-magic enchantment had disrupted the construct and had the magic undone.

 

"Amazing work, master Hogarth," Cal said as looked fondly as her trusted weapon. "My highest compliments."

 

"Me pleasure, lass. Oh right, here's the stuff ye ordered for that girl as well," Hogarth said as he brought a leather bag out. Inside the bag were Fheeri's new weapons - all carefully wrapped in cloth - as well as a pouch full of sling projectiles.

 

"My thanks," said Cal as she handed Hogarth a pouch with several platinum coins inside as payment.

 

"So you got your new toy, what's the plan next?" Aideen asked. She was the one that suggested the procedure to Cal when they talked two days ago. "Gonna stay longer? Or continuing with the road trip?"

 

"I'll be here till spring," Cal said in reply. "Ying Xiao will be here for another two or three years… Can I entrust her teachings to you while I am away? I will be back by winter as usual."

 

"That's a given. Same course those kids had before?"

 

"Yes, but I think with Ying Xiao you can push her even harder. She has the drive, and her potential is the best of them all."

 

"Noted. Consider it done," Aideen said as they walked out of the smithy together. "So what's next on your itinerary?"

 

"I'm heading for Égørisvænovãēnæl next. Not sure if I want to explore north or south first from there though."

 

"If you don't mind a tip? Head north. If you can make it there by summer's first month, one of my old acquaintances should be making port on the northern shores," replied Aideen. "He runs a ship between Alcidea and Ur-Teros, since his love was for the oceans. You can have a trip at sea and pick a destination in Ur-Teros next, before you borrow their portal for a hop back here."

 

"That…" Cal said as she thought about the prospect. "Does sound like an intriguing plan, thank you. I believe I'll do that."

 

"Nice! In that case I'll write up a letter for Archie. Just pass it on to him when you meet him, okay?"

 

"Certainly, that's not a problem."

 

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