Chapter 74: Chapter 73 – Slow new start.

‘Clink’

‘Clang…’

The sound of a metal hammer against metal was heard. It echoed throughout this closed room while the magical sparks illuminated it.

Roland that didn’t seem to have grown into his body was hammering away on a shield. Each time he delivered a blow with his hammer a strange runic pattern appeared on this tear-shaped piece of metal.

This process of hammering continued for a few minutes before the youth had enough. The shield that he was working on was examined before being put away to the side to lean against one of the cellar walls.

‘I really need a furnace…’

Roland looked around his ‘workshop’. It didn’t have much, he had a tool rack hanging on the wall along with a thick wooden crafting table. He also possessed his old anvil that was in the middle of it all but he was lacking a few key elements of this workshop. He was missing a forge without which he couldn’t really do much. There was also room for a smelter but that was a bit less important than the forge.

Without a proper forge, he couldn’t heat up the metal, without softening the metal shaping it was difficult. His strength did increase but bending steel and iron into shape was above his abilities. Also doing such things to unhardened steel wasn’t such a smart idea.

Roland had some leftover gear from the bandits and from some older creations. With how the rune structures burned through the steel he wouldn’t have much left after prolonged use. Even now, his steel arming sword was already eroding.

Swords like this weren’t that thick, with prolonged rune usage the internal structure could crumble. This could lead the blade to snap eventually, it could prove deadly in the midst of battle.

While thinking about the future failure of his sword he looked at the mace he received from his bandit encounter. This item was made from deep iron which was better than hardened steel. Be it durability, hardness, and the most important mana resistance.

There was quite a difference between this metal and regular iron. While regular iron could sustain a couple of charges of his magical runes, deep iron could manage at least ten times that amount. Repairing it also removed less material which would let the weapon survive for longer.

He looked at the mace and gave it a couple of practice swings. He could see some cracks here and there in this iron mace. This was all thanks to his Runic Blacksmith’s Eyes that let him see all impurities and blemishes of this weapon. The way it was made was also quite crude which was also why it was ranked low.

Even he with only a few years of blacksmithing under his belt would be able to make an intermediate version of this weapon if he had the right materials. Though it wasn’t really the fault of the craftsman that made this weapon, it was just old and overused. It was normal for weapons and armor to drop in rating when identified after some time. Only masterwork items made from the most resistant metals could last for generations without degrading.

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“I could probably wedge a stone into the handle and give it an impact rune. The durability is only at 64% but it shouldn’t break until it goes below 30%... I hope...”

The impact rune was one of the first runes that he came across. He could place a common version on this item and not worry about the metal deteriorating too fast. This magic rune worked by increasing the weight of the item it was inscribed on.

When swinging this mace he could make it several times heavier. Force was just the multiplication of acceleration and mass, he was only increasing the mass in this equation to deliver devastating blows. This rune was strong but hard to work with. Activating it too soon or too late would just mess up a person’s momentum.

“Better to also place a hardening rune on it. It Will cost more mana but it won’t break that easily.”

He continued talking aloud, a hardening rune that was sometimes also called the strengthening rune made items more resistant to physical attacks. It worked by coating the weapon in a thin layer of mana that helped in absorbing physical shocks. It was an active type of rune so placing it on armor would drain the user of their mana quite fast.

Roland had already fiddled around with the deep iron metal. He had the three slave collars to the side and already knew that inscribing on them would be troublesome. Without softening the metal with some magical fire this metal was hard to work with. He would be able to manage it somehow on unsoftened resources but it would significantly increase the crafting time.

He didn’t really have any other options at the moment. He could try making his own forge but he wasn’t really good at building those. He also didn’t swipe the old bellows from his old workshop as he was in a rush and also lacked space.

Roland could also attempt to make a new version of the forge that utilized his magical runes. He could replace the bellows with a wind rune. The forge itself didn’t need to have some kind of special design, it only needed to spit fire, the more condensed the better.

The problem as always were the materials, for a magical forge he would need a lot of deep steel or iron. One from regular metals wouldn’t last him long. He also needed something to fuel this forge. Runecrafting while also inserting mana into the forge would strain his mana reserves even if they were abundant for his level.

“I better get to work then…”

He decided to work on the mace first. The mana stone would be attached in a crude way for the time being. There would be a lot of hammering and bending involved but without any alchemical glue, he could only wedge it in by force.

He did this by forcing a small opening at the base of the handle with one of his hardy tools. The opening was slightly larger than the mana stone in question. He then gently hammered the opening shut while trying not to damage the hilt along with the stone.

Following this a lengthy process of runesmithing took place. The unsoftened deep iron proved to be quite hard to work with. This forced him to run out of mana several times before he was done with the runic structure. In the end, he had a half baked weapon with a dual runic structure.

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