Atal had promised great rewards if I could make him a weapon, but that didn't mean that I was going to hand over my best work immediately. I'd seen the man rip a woman apart with just his fists and not so much as blink about it, so I had to consider that he might not be that good a guy. I also wasn't quite sure what exactly he would need, and wasn't going to be bringing out the big guns first. After all, it was better to keep some things in reserve.

I was going to start with copper, as my understanding was that he'd found a knife that had sort of worked for him. Thing about a knife was that it wasn't thick at all, so would bend all around if used too harshly. To this end a mace might actually be the better tool, or something ranged, things to consider.

“The most likely thing to break for him is whatever strikes something,” I said to Chien as I paced, we were currently making charcoal, the first step to any extended forging, and one that was rather slow.

“Makes sense,” he agreed.

“What's he likely to hit though?” I asked.

“People, big monsters, you know, whatever he wants really. I've never met Atal, is he as amazing as they say?”

“Terrifying, very calm luckily for us, but absolutely terrifying,” I told him.

“Mom said she saw him go after a creature once, that it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.” He sounded like a kid yearning for a hero as he spoke.

“I still haven't met your mom kid, why don't you ever bring her around?” I said, something that'd only come up once or twice over the years, but he'd always avoided.

“She's busy,” he told me, same answer as always. It was suspicious, but the kid worked hard, and so he could have his secrets.

“Anyway, club, do you think it'll work?” I asked, since I had no clue what kind of issues we were likely to encounter.

“Maybe?”

“Other than that, something ranged,” I mused.

“Like a spear?”

“A spear might well work, though depending on how strong he is, perhaps only once. From my guess he has to grip them so hard that the shaft shatters, so an all copper spear might be a good option. Then again, if he's throwing them that hard, they'd probably be destroyed in one use. Copper's not that cheap that we can use it like that yet.”

I kept in mind the iron I had. I didn't have a good source of copper that we could just throw away, but iron? Iron was everywhere, almost literally, I could get more from the shore almost without effort. It would be easy to put together a bundle of iron rods for old Atal to launch like they were coming out of a fucking rail-gun. Did I want to let that out into the world yet though? I honestly wasn't sure if people were ready for it.

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“So what, make rocks out of copper for him to throw?” Chien joked.

“Actually, that might not be the worst idea,” I said, rubbing my chin as I thought about rock throwers.

“Same problem right? Copper not being cheap.”

“Make something to throw things for him then. Make the thrower from copper and the rocks, well rocks going fast still bloody work, regardless of how fast they're going,” I told him.

“They'll shatter,” he answered.

“Yeah, as they slam into whatever they hit. Tomorrow we can put some mock-ups together, then we can start the casting.”

“Lot of work boss,” he griped a bit.

“You want something out of this when it's all done?”

“I want a lot of things boss, but that can all wait for later,” he said with a grin.

“Alright, grab some of the extra wood. We can at least put together some prototypes to try tomorrow.”

While the charcoal cooked I made a few different variants of objects I hopes might work. Each of these would be a possible weapons for Atal, something he might try.

The first group were ball throwers, not unlike those used for dogs back on Earth. They were just a simple handle with a curved up on the end. My hope was that Atal would be able to use one of these to toss rocks without having to grip them. There wasn't any reason he couldn't do that anyway, but it would be worth a shot.

The second weapon was inspired by an old video from a gentleman who liked both history and the color beige. It was a staff sling, a weapon used throughout the middle ages to hurl big rocks. This one I thought had a decent chance of failing for Atal, particularly at the little rope cup that would hold the projectiles, but there was nothing to do but try. The bottom end was pointed, so we could save the effort and see how a copper spear handled his strength as well.

The next morning we headed out of the city to test the weapons in the nearby woods. I wanted plenty of room, and no watchers as I tried to work out how and if these would even function. There was no objection from anyone as the two of us left with the morning gatherers, fitting right in with their ranks.

There were however a few odd looks. Mostly women went out to gather, and all of them had eyes on our tools. Over the last few years I'd introduced tool after tool, and now people were starting to take a closer eye to everyone who had something they'd never seen before.

As we made our way down the road out of the city I recognized one particular girl eyeing us hard. She'd been mostly looking at Chien, but as she flicked her eyes up and met mine I saw recognition flash there. This was the same girl who'd been sent to spy on the sled I'd made so long ago. Based on the group she was with though it looked like the woman in charge of her had changed though. The new head of the click she retreated to raised and eyebrow as she came close and began to whisper at speed. I didn't bother to try and hear what she was saying, as after a quick conversation the leader came to me herself.

“Hello sir, my name is Olara, and I must say those are some interesting tools you have there,” the woman said, the others in her group following like ducklings. “Sala is one of the newest members of my group, and she said she's seen you with interesting things before. She also said you were quite kind.” She gave me a light smile, her aura dancing around her lightly.

“Yes, something we're going to test,” I informed her.

“Would you mind some company? I'm sure there are plenty of good places, and we did bring a bit of extra fish along today we could share...” Olara asked, leaning forward slightly with a flirtatious grin.

“Normally I wouldn't mind, but unfortunately today I do want some privacy,” I informed her.

As I did I could see Chien frown a bit, having cute girls flirt with you was always nice, and he was at the age where he'd be very interested in such things. If Chien were human he'd be about fourteen now. I was pretty sure that many of the girls on the street of flowers viewed him too much like a relative or child for that. Olara also seemed visibly disappointed, so I thought I might throw them both a bit of a bone.

“I'm busy today, but wait a cycle of the moon and come see me. I've got ideas for some digging tools that you might like and I'm sure Chien would be more than happy to show them to you,” I told her regaining the smile that had faded. “My shop is near the street of flowers, ask a guard about Justin's place.”

Shovels and spades weren't really a thing yet in this world, with people instead digging with sticks. Sometimes they even found favorite digging sticks and altered them a bit, but woodworking was laborious or used magic, and those tended to break. I could throw together a few things in moments that would make her happy, and if she used magic like my mother she'd be able to grow them herself later.

“You got something good for them?” Chien asked after they'd broken away from us.

“I have a couple of ideas kid, but some free big brotherly advice first. Those girls don't like you, they like what they can get from you. It's important to know the difference and treat them accordingly.” It wouldn't do for him to get head over heels for some girl out to use him.

He laughed at me. “That's ironic, because I don't like them either, but what I can get from them...”

Honestly I didn't know if that response was good or bad, but it did make me take a longer look at the kid.