I had just opened the front door of the inn. I pushed the door open while taking a few steps back so Val’s family could see the inside of their new home. While Val and his wife were able to somewhat handle their emotions their kids could not.

Like so many others they had been driven from their home. During that time, they barely had a decent place to sleep and while they did get an apartment for a while it still would have felt like a foreign place that was not home.

Now I was even more glad that I was able to come to this deal as a few more kids could feel a more normal life faster. I tried to stay out of the way to give them their own moment, but as I’ve come to learn Val expresses his emotions physically and I was soon embraced by a large hug.

After a few more minutes they all rushed into the inn to look at everything that was inside. The kids, of course, immediately ran upstairs. Val went into the kitchen to inspect everything built there.

Val’s wife was admiring the bar counter as she's the one usually working the bar while her husband makes the food and runs the day-to-day operations. “This is the most gorgeous bar counter I have ever seen.” I heard her speak which brought a smile to my face. I could already imagine spending many hours behind it talking to old friends and eating excellent food.

“I am glad you like it. It's actually from the same tree but I merge them in the middle to make it even longer.” She looked at me in amazement after I finished saying that. She ran her fingers over the middle but she didn't find any connection point.

“It's incredible work Rich but what about the corners? Is that something that you did as well because it looks absolutely beautiful.” She complimented me which brought a smile to my face. “It's all-natural,” I answered and then explained how I had found it, which brought joy to her face. By the time I was done with the story, the kids had also joined us trying to jump onto the bar counter. The youngest was still too short to make it so I helped her up.

Her mother was worried about her kids being on top of the bar counter, but I assured her that nothing that they could do would damage the bar. It was at this point that we started to smell cooking food which delighted us all.

We spent the next half an hour discussing the bar and additional things that she wanted to change or add. Behind the bar, she wanted a place to put bottles and also at the centre to hold many barrels of different kinds of alcohol. She also liked the idea of a stone sink that I told her about which I will add as soon as I can.

Even before we were completely done with our discussion Val came out of the kitchen with plates of food. We ate at a table that was already finished. While I thought that his food was excellent before now it was on a completely different level. It seems that having access to proper facilities truly helped him to bring out all of his skills. After the meal was done, I excused myself. While they would want me to stay longer out of politeness, I understood that they wanted to be by themselves.

With this done, my final large project for this year was done. It was freeing yet saddening at the same time. Large projects are usually fun because you can do them with other people, especially during the harvest. This years was the funniest time I have had in this world.

But my busy schedule wasn't over, and it was time to get back to training. If I wasn’t eating so much fatty food, I don’t think that I would even have one percent body fat with all the training that I’ve been doing. Thanks to my proper eating I still look like a normal man who has just properly exercised his entire life.

This, however, wasn't reflected in my application of power. My body was able to use the stat points and the energy inside me extremely efficiently. If I were to have exactly 1500 strength points, then thanks to my body it would be amplified to around 2300. That will keep climbing up while I continue to grow. It's incredible how much more power you have when you have more muscles to work with.

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After my training, it was finally time to make my smithy look a bit better. I started by making small things that would make working here more convenient. Working throughout tonight and well into the next morning I was also able to finish three heavy tables that will help me craft whatever I need. Currently, I wasn’t missing anything except my armour which I wasn’t going to start making because I was still growing but the Vikings needed better weapons.

While eventually, the legion will also need better items it would be better if they were made by other smiths who would be making mass orders. The Vikings were completely different as everyone would be using weapons and armour that most fit their fighting style. Currently, the biggest things missing are two-handed weapons as they are a lot more uncommon than one-handed weapons which we currently have a surplus of.

Then of course there is my own preference for weapons. While making the two-handed mace was simple, making a two-handed sword will not be and was currently outside my skills. For that, it was time to start learning.

After a week of forging, I was more confident in making large swords and even my smithing level increased by two. It will take me a long time to make a decent large sword, but I could already make a passable one at least one under the first rank. This was also the biggest problem we had. We simply didn’t have access to metals that were at first rank or above.

While we were going to get some from the Thorn Rose Company it wasn't going to be enough to meet our demands. For that, I was going to lead a team of dwarves and humans to the western mountains that were beyond Arthur’s house. Hopefully, we can set up a few mines and after that, I have a bit more of a relaxed training schedule so, I should be able to go to the South and hopefully find this dungeon that wants to hide from me.

But all of that was for the future. Right now, I was making the biggest sword that I have made to date. This will be a prototype for my future weapon. After some calculations, I am quite certain that I will be about 7 feet and 4 inches tall by my birthday. Luckily, I will not be growing taller after that, but it will still make a lot of things inconvenient.

I will need to remake a lot of my tools to be bigger and even my bed needs to be converted and every doorway is going to be annoying. Then there were my weapons. They needed to be made bigger but making them bigger didn’t mean they would work as well as their smaller counterparts.

The blade by itself was going to almost be 7 feet but for the handle, I didn’t know the correct size. I needed to test out what would work. For the first test, this prototype’s handle was going to be eight inches and the cross guard was going to be six inches on both sides. I needed to use the larger forage to make this sword, but I was glad to find that it was heating up everything beautifully. Currently, the blower was on the lowest setting otherwise it would get too hot and even then, I sometimes had to cut off the airflow or otherwise risk the metal getting too hot.

I do not know if I liked it getting this hot even at the lowest speed so perhaps a redesign of the airway size from the blower to the forage is needed so it wouldn't have so much air pressure. Foraging the mace was not a problem because it was an incredibly large piece of metal, unlike the thin blade I was currently working with.

With my heat resistance abilities up, being next to forge was not pleasant but it also wasn't uncomfortable. It was a weird feeling having so much heat next to you that didn’t harm you.

When I was almost done with the sword, I had to curse out loud. It seems that I had forgotten to make a larger quenching vessel. It was an unfortunate situation but something I couldn’t fix at this moment. This sword was just a prototype, but I still used all my abilities and skill to make it, so I did not want to leave it unfinished.

I ran through my options but only ended up with one viable solution. I knew the blade was strong enough that water quenching wasn't going to destroy it, so I overheated it a bit and then quickly ran to the river. By the time I got there, it had cooled down enough to be at the perfect temperature, so I quickly submerged it underneath the water.

The steam and the sound of the water vaporizing were mesmerizing. Eventually, I pulled out the sword and inspected it to see that it was properly hardened. I took it inside and fitted it with a wooden handle. The pommel was also installed, and I went outside to test it out.

I found it way too big and unwieldy. That was to be expected as I still wasn’t grown properly to use it. It seems like I will have to wait so I could test any prototype that I will make. Not disappointed by this revelation I started to clean up and then go to sleep as the next day will start with an expedition to find some useful metals.