The furnace was broiling at 1586 degrees, releasing the oxygen from the melting ore and impurities. I had formed the furnace from clay and stone, Just as my guide book instructed. Using a temporary furnace was not ideal, but it was a Starter Town and I knew we wouldn't be here too long. The liquid iron and slag poured through the clay channel into the sand bed I had formed at the bottom. The iron I separated from this was dubbed "pig Iron" by the book. I added the pig iron, scrap iron from my broken armor and axe, into a thick clay container known as the 'Crucible.' I also added the bone coals, from the Bear and Wolf bones. There was an unexpected side effect to using the bones from the strong monsters, it seemed to improve the steel remarkably.
The smoke was pouring into the air, and the sheer heat was comforting to my Dragonkin body. Something deep in my soul... resonated, with the fire. I kept a watch for any bandit's or highwaymen possibly attracted by the smoke, while I worked. I had poured the yellowish-white molten steel from the crucible, into various molds for the basic shapes of armor plates and blades. After I cooled and separated my steel castings, it was time for repetitive hammering. I removed the anvil from my inventory. Step one was to heat the castings, then hammer them into shape violently, while driving out impurities. Step two... was a problem. The book instructed me to have my two apprentices use large powerful hammer strikes to continue shaping. I didn't have apprentices, but I did have two attribute points from leveling up yesterday, I thought. So I pulled up my stats and added the 2 points into strength:
> Name: Bruno Jenkins Level:5.
> Race: Beastkin(Dragon type) Class: Tank. HP:200/200 ST:150/150 MP:160/160.
> Age: 22. Height:6ft. Weight: 215 lbs.
> Stealth:5, Strength:10, Agility:6, Speed:5, Charisma:7, Mercantile:6, Vitality:10, Endurance:10, Intelligence:7 Wisdom:6.
> Skills: Dragon Scales(Racial/passive). Appraise (General/active)
> (novice24%), Basic firebreath (Racial/active) (novice20%) Guard(Combat/active)(novice18%) Taunt (Combat/active)(Novice08%)
> Quick shot (Combat/active)(Novice01%) Basic Sparks (Magic/active)(Novice)
> Active effects: +5% stamina regen(racial), +2% health regen. (racial), +10% elemental resistance(racial).
> Armor base: 00 Damage base: 00
I heard the stirring of my annoyed party, by the campsite.
"Fathead! Do you need to do that so fucking early?!" Randy shouted.
"Sorry. Gotta strike while the irons hot, ..Literally!" I yelled back.
"Fine, I guess we can head into town. You gonna be alright out here by yourself?" He called.
"Yeah, It's straight. Me 'n Hobo will hold down the fort. Oh hey, I 'Fleshed' those pelt's last night, can you hang them in the lobby?" I asked, "And please don't forget those lining materials."
I began to hammer with my new found level of strength. I smashed the hammer against the heated sections of metal, over and over again. After 'Drawing out' and 'Tapering' my sword plus two long daggers, I made the plates for my armor, then Randy's. I then gave my sword a forward curve like a large kukri machete. The daggers were curved like snake fangs, Thanks to choosing these styles I only had to bevel one side of the blades. This was actually a blessing, because beveling was the hardest thing for me to pick up so far. I placed the pieces in the furnace and then quenched them in a bath of Wolf oil to harden. The blades came out of the furnace Illuminated like some kind of 'plasma sword' then erupted in flames when plunged into the oil. It was truly a beautiful thing, like fireworks. I was starting to smooth the rough blades with an old sharpening stone, when I heard Randy's voice in the distance.
"Yo, guess what!" He hollered in my direction.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Third state of matter?" I replied sarcastically.
"No... what?! Those hides in the lobby, fucking dried instantly!" He Announced,"I hung 'em up and left, then I went back two minutes later and they were dry."
"What! That's amazing." I cheered, then I asked, "What made you go back inside?"
"Eh. Oh, I left 'da Aracha silk liners with the hides. So I had to go back." He confessed.
"Well I'm glad you did. It's great we don't have to wait several days for them to dry. If it's a glitch... I say we don't report it. I mean it's a miracle we found it at all, I doubt anyone else will." I explained.
Agreeing to keep the magical lobby tanning glitch a secret, I got back to work. Ned offered some very much appreciated help, when it came to making the hilts. He had alot of experience in woodworking from learning to make staffs. He even offered to help Randy make his next bow when the time came. After I made some stencil's and patterns I dyed, cut and designed the leather. I then used some rather expensive molds that I had previously purchased, to cast three pommels. I also made some dark colored dyes from plants Randy had suggested, mixed with charcoal. Cutting the 5mm thick leather was no easy task. Casey helped me with the parts that needed fastened and stitched, because I was not very delicate in the matter. The results were far from basic weapons and armor, but fairly high quality as far as common materials go. The steel was chrome-like and durable, yet surprisingly light weight. Once we finished the last details, I offered Ned and Casey each a curved fang-like steel dagger with a thin black snake head pommel. I presented to Randy, a Fine leather Jacket with strategically placed modest sized steel plates for additional protection. The dark blue colored leather seemed to fit the Dwarf quite well.
For my own armor I admit to putting in extra effort to make it look as good as it protected. But I Didn't take any risks, because I didn't have any more material's, on hand, to start over if needed. My gloves were just simple Wolf leather gloves designed more for the function of reducing the vibration from my sword and shield. My pants were leather with reinforced seams with sleek steel guards buckled over my thighs and shins. I also added a small, thick leather patch to cover my knee ...for arrow protection. My chest piece was the finest work I had to show for my efforts. The full breast plate was a thick and durable Wolf leather that had fashionably shaped steel plates attached in front and flapped leather slots behind it. Fitted with straps and buckles it sat above a plackart of layered leather bands for maximum flexibility. The plackart had smaller scale-like plates covering my stomach and lower back. Sleek steel pauldrens smoothly lay on top of my broad shoulders. The steel plates and leather designs were fashioned to look like my own dragon scales, I even dyed everything red and black to match. If I was gonna be called a "Lizardman" I was gonna be called a badass one.In the end I decided to just mend my old Coyodae leather boots with the salvaged material from my old leather gloves. After all I enjoyed my comfortable old boots. I also decided to just purchase a helmet, because I saw a nice one in the market I could modify to match the set. My kukri-style sword was 22 inches from its soon to be sharp tip, to it's Dragonhead pommel. I could polish and sharpen the blades at the blacksmith's shop when I purchased the helmet later.
"That armor actually looks good, Fathead" Randy reluctantly complimented. "Guess there wasn't enough steel to cover that big ass head of yours?"
"No! ...I meanYes, but there was a good looking iron helmet at the market, I was just gonna replace the iron with small steel plates that were left over." I stammered.
"The armor does look cool, but are you sure you wanna double down on the whole Lizardman thing?" Ned critiqued.
"I think it works for ya!" Casey interjected cheerfully, "But what are those weird flaps on the back?"
She pointed to the odd flapped slots I placed on the back. I Put them on the armor to allow for my oddly 'collapsible' dragon wings to unfold out. When my wings were not extended, the slots were covered by flaps of thick leather for some protection.
"Oh, just for these..." I stated as I extended my scaly wings, "Ouch, I guess they need adjusted."
"So... I been meanin' to ask... can your fatass fly now?!" Randy demanded.
"I've tried when nobody was watching and If it wasn't for that brief moment during the duel I would honestly say they're just for show." I admitted softly, "I cant even hover a few inches."
"That Mage Faerykin said Flight was a Racial skill specific to the Faerykin race." Offered Ned.
"But we all saw him launch up after that jerk, yesterday..." Casey thought for a moment then asked, "What if its not a skill, but like the Dragonkin's instinctive reflex."
"What like Muscle memory? Wouldn't that mean that my avatar is ...alive?!