After binding the tools and equipment to his soul, Archie asked Syllia something that had been on his mind for a while, “Is there a limit to binding things to my soul? Will there be any problem with the amount I already have Soul-Bound to myself?”
Syllia waved her hand, “No, Soul-Bound items just mean only you can use them, as they create a link between your soul and itself. There is a limit that your soul can handle, but the threshold increases with every Racial Evolution. However, it is impossible to bind higher-grade items to your soul. But don’t worry, your soul isn’t close to being full”
Archie nodded at her answer, not wanting to ask about how she knew. Probably a skill she has, he mused.
Archie grabbed a bar of iron and placed it in between the heavy-duty tongs. Approaching the forge, Archie activated Forgesmith’s Flame for the first time. A flame puffed into existence within the forge, the flame itself was the size of a campfire, and constantly took mana to stay alive.
The only difference between Syllia’s flame and his own was that his had tinges of green. Probably my nature-affinity taking effect, since it changed a portion of my mana to nature-attuned, Archie reasoned.
Placing the entire bar of iron and the upper half of the tongs within the forge, Archie kept his eyes on the metal, ignoring the heat that came from his Forgesmith’s Flame.
After the metal’s previous grey color completely changed to a red-hot color, he took the now malleable bar out of the forge and placed it atop the heavy-duty anvil.
“Good. Now you must elongate the metal and hammer it to form into the shape of a sword.” Syllia commented from his right, resembling a hawk with the way she stared at Archie smithing.
Archie took out his heavy-duty hammer and started to hammer the metal. Clangs reverberated throughout the smithy, but they sounded a bit hollow.
“Put more strength into your strikes!” Syllia shouted, causing Archie to slam his hammer harder.
“Be more confident with every strike!” Syllia shouted once more.
After a couple of minutes of hammering, Archie grabbed the ‘blade’ he had made with his heavy-duty tongs and placed it in the oil vat beside him.
Taking It out, Archie looked at his ‘blade’. “I hammered it inconsistently.” The blade itself looked wrong, parts of the blade looked warped and hammer marks were shown everywhere. The forging part was fine as there wasn’t any overheating or cracks.
“Toss it out and start from scratch,” Syllia instructed. “These blemishes can only be removed by practice. No one has ever made a perfect blade on their first attempt, not even their tenth. It takes constant effort.”
Archie tossed his ‘blade’ to the side and grabbed another bar of iron, not letting his failure get him down.
----------------------------------------
Taking out the red-hot bar of iron and placing it on the heavy-duty anvil, Archie began hammering. Each blow of his hammer produced a clear, loud clang that echoed throughout the building.
Archie was precise with every strike, ensuring the force was evenly distributed across each side of the metal to prevent any warping or cracks from forming.
After what he felt was enough, Archie grabbed the blade and placed it into the refilled vat of oil.
Taking the blade out, Archie identified it.
Iron Blade (Common):
A dull iron blade forged by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgemsith. Status: Perfect.
Smiling at his first properly made blade, “Congratulations!” Syllia exclaimed, a beaming smile on her face.
Archie placed the blade on the table and was about to pick up his rune scriber before he heard Syllia clear her throat, causing him to turn around.
“Before you try to scribe a rune onto your sword for the first time, I recommend trying to practice on these iron sheets.” Syllia cautioned while producing a crate filled to the brim with thin metal sheets.
“Right,” Archie said as he grabbed a few sheets of metal and placed them on the table.
“Do you mind?” Archie said as he looked at the blade she placed, hinting that he wanted to analyze her rune.
“No, but don’t forget to experiment and try to understand how they are made,” Syllia answered.
“Of course,” Archie said while picking up the rune scriber and starting to copy her Lesser Sharpness rune.
Archie examined the rune carefully. At the center was the rune base for Wind with numerous pathways connected to it and branching out and interweaving with one another. Various symbols were connected to these pathways: circles—some filled, others hollow—half-moons, zigzags, and even straight lines that severed certain paths.
All in all, they looked like actual circuit components. “Can you explain the functions of the symbols?” Archie asked, not wanting to jump to conclusions.
Syllia moved over to where Archie stood and started to point toward the zigzag symbol on her rune. “This is called the Vizst and this symbol controls the flow of mana that flows within this pathway, reducing the amount that flows through it.”
Syllia then pointed at the circles, “These are called Tir and this symbol stores and releases mana, stabilizing the mana channeled through the pathways. The filled Tirs are filled with mana and the empty ones are not.”
She then pointed at the half-moons, “These are called the Xulths and they act similar to a switch or amplifiers for mana depending on how they are used. They control the flow of mana between two points.”
Syllia then pointed at the last symbol, the sudden perpendicular lines that cut through a pathway. "This is called the Dios and they allow mana to flow in only one direction, preventing mana from flowing back.”
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Okay. Vizsts act like resistors, Tirs act like capacitors, Xulths act like transistors and Dios act like diodes, Archie concluded, confidence filling him as he finally understood what the weird symbols meant. Simple enough.
He then started to explain to Syllia what he compared the symbols to, “Yes, they sound about right. It seems circuitry and runes are very similar to one another,” Syllia responded, before looking off to the side in thought. “From what I was taught, planets in new universes develop things similar to runes due to records from the multiverse seeping in.”
“Yeah, I thought as much; they sounded way too similar to be different,” Archie agreed. “Whelp, better for me, I am an engineer.”
Archie filled the runic scriber with mana and began inscribing the rune onto the metal sheet. With each pathway he etched, he understood more—this was essentially an amplifier circuit. The runic base, Wind, would be amplified when infused with mana, creating a thin membrane around the blade that would enhance its sharpness.
Identifying the metal sheet, Archie smiled and showed the sheet to Syllia who looked shocked.
Iron Sheet (Common):
An iron Sheet forged by Syllia Glynvyre, an Expert Runesmith. A Lesser Sharpness rune has been etched by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith. Effect: Lesser Sharpness. Status: Perfect.
Excited by his success, Archie then started to etch the rune on his blade and was met with a similar result.
Iron Blade (Common):
A dull iron blade forged by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith. Etched upon the side of the blade lies a Lesser Sharpness rune scribed by Archie Gracefield. Effect: Lesser Sharpness. Status: Perfect.
Archie then placed the blade on the table and placed a smaller bar of iron in between the jaws of the heavy-duty tong.
The forge was still alight with his Forgesmith’s Flame, as he had forgotten to turn it off, and placed the bar in the forge.
Taking out the red-hot bar of iron from the forge, Archie placed it atop the heavy-duty anvil. He then grabbed the precision hammer and flipped it where the sharp slanted peen was in the middle of the bar.
Using the precision hammer as a chisel and hammering it with the heavy-duty hammer, to create an ellipse-like hole in the middle of the bar. Keeping the precision hammer’s tip in the hole, Archie then started to shape the cross guard, making it in the shape of a V.
After removing the precision hammer, Archie slid the cross guard onto the bottom of the blade and pushed it firmly until it held in place. Archie then turned off the forge’s flame and activated Foregesmith’s Flame once more, but instead of it appearing in the forge, it appeared in between the crossguard and blade.
Archie used the skill as though it were a soldering iron. After what felt like a good amount of time, he placed the bottom half of the sword in the vat of oil.
Syllia passed Archie a strap of leather, “For the grip,” was all she said.
Taking the sword out of the vat of oil and wrapping the hilt with leather, Archie noticed a slab of stone Syllia held out for him. Whetstone, Archie noted.
After sharpening the sword he Identified it.
Iron Broadsword (Common):
An iron broadsword forged by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith. The V-shaped cross guard provides protection for the wielder’s hands as well as various other effects. Etched upon the side of the blade lies a Lesser Sharpness rune scribed by Archie Gracefield. Effect: Lesser Sharpness. Status: Perfect. Requirements: Lv 50+ & Humanoid Race.
Archie stared at the sword with a feeling of nostalgia, it reminded him of when he created his first effigy. Looking away from the sword he looked at the notifications that he ignored.
*Your Profession has reached Lv 51– Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Profession has reached Lv 52– Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Race has reached Lv 54– Points allocated, +3 Free Points*
Skill Upgraded: [Rune Scribing (Initiate -> Common)]
Rune Scribing (Common):
The art of rune scribing opens the door to enchanting and imbuing objects with magical properties. An initiate rune scribe learns to carve basic symbols that can provide various benefits onto the object. This skill allows for the creation of simple runes with various effects. Appropriate materials and tools are necessary for scribing runes. Adds a lesser increase to the effectiveness of runes based on Intelligence.
“Nice, my Basic Rune Scribing skill upgraded,” Archie smiled.
“Congratulations!” Syllia smiled, “And with that, I do believe I owe you a reward.” Causing Archie to perk up when she said the word reward.
She placed her palm upwards, and a metal chest piece appeared in it. “I was going to give you a piece of armor as a gift, and seeing how you were missing your chest plate, this felt like the right choice.” Syllia chuckled.
“I still have it with me, but it was considered to be useless by the system.” Seeing the confusion across Syllia’s face, Archie explained what had happened to it, causing her to look at him in shock.
“You were incredibly lucky to have both survived and escaped from that tortoise,” Syllia said.
“Yeah.” Archie agreed before adding, ”I got some of its shell after I killed it.”
“That would be great material for you to make once you get the hang of forging armor pieces,” Syllia suggested.
“Bralmir said the same,” Archie said, causing Syllia to look uncomfortable once more.
Identifying the chest piece, Archie smiled.
Deep Iron Golem Chestplate (Uncommon):
A sturdy chest piece made from the corpse of an E-Grade Deep Iron Golem. Forged by Syllia Glynvyre, a D-Grade Expert Runesmith. The armor is highly resistant to physical attacks and is able to self-repair rapidly when in caverns. Effect: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair, Greater Physical Resistance. Provides +60 Vit & +45 End. Status: Perfect. Requirements: Lv 50+ & Humanoid Race.
Archie’s eyes widened at the stat points the chestplate provided. “Are you sure?” Archie was completely shocked at what Syllia offered him, this provided more stat points than he had ever seen.
Syllia chuckled at his expression, “Yes, I am sure. Besides I can make better ones, the benefits of being a smith, I can never be under-equipped.”
Archie’s jaw dropped, Choosing to be a Novice Forgesmith was the correct decision.
Archie equipped the chest plate and opened his status page.
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human E-Grade Lv 54
Class: Nature-Attuned Pugilist Lv 55
Profession: Novice Forgesmith Lv 52
Health: 3286/3286
Mana: 786/880
Stamina: 2000/2320
Stats:
Vitality: 313(328)
Strength: 256(294)
Endurance: 221(232)
Agility: 208
Intelligence: 212
Wisdom: 88
Willpower: 88(96)
Perception: 189
Free Points: 79
General Skills: Identify (Initiate), Nature's Meditation (Epic)
Class Skills: Basic Martial Combat Mastery (Uncommon), Savage Charge (Uncommon), Adrenaline Rush (Rare), Pugilist’s Grit (Uncommon), Retaliation (Uncommon), Relentless Flurry (Uncommon), Taunt (Uncommon), Thorns (Common)
Profession Skills: Forgesmith’s Flame (Initiate), Basic Smithing Mastery (Initiate), Basic Rune Scribing (Common), Material Insight (Common)
Bloodline: Adrenaline Junkie (Unique) [+10% to Strength and +10% to Willpower]
Affinity: Greater Nature Affinity (Epic)
Blessing: Blessing of the Forgefather (Moderate) [+5% to Strength and +5% to Endurance]
Titles Collected: Bloodline Progenitor [+10 Vitality and +5% Vitality], Flawless E-Grade Evolution [+10 all Stats]
Tutorial Points: 111,982
“It’s time for you to go,” Syllia said, motioning towards the now-setting sun.
“Can I take a crate of the bars and some sheets to practice on?” Archie asked.
Syllia simply summoned two crates, one containing numerous iron and steel bars and the other containing numerous metal sheets.
Throwing them into his spatial ring, “Thank you.” Archie said as he headed out of the smithy.
Syllia did not respond, even after Archie left her smithy. She simply sat on a chair that she brought out from her spatial storage and smiled. “The Forgefather, the first and greatest smith, is back. And our Workshop gaining a new Forgesmith, one with promise.”
She glanced at the door that led to her personal forgeroom, then rose from her chair, gripping a hammer in her right hand, eager to forge. The lingering touch of Bralmir’s presence had flooded her with the urge to forge something, but was held back due to Archie's presence.