There was something about the place, something mystical. Lone wasn't sure if it was the entwined branches that made up the cottage and workshop, the waterfall flowing down a crevice to the right of the room, or the small pond that the waterfall's stream led to, but he was thoroughly enchanted by the place.
"You said this place was naturally here or something, right? How? It's so perfect," Lone asked Eolande while he continued to take in the sight that was the Twilight Glade.
"Hehe, it's amazing, right? This place was created by the very first Tylwyth Teg. It was her home, and it was passed on from head to head until it finally came to belong to me. This place is a separate dimension. Currently, we're no longer in Clicker's dungeon," Eolande explained with pride in her voice.
"That certainly is amazing. Anyway, how will you test me?" Lone asked in curiosity. He was impressed by the separate dimension, but not enough to ask more about it.
"Pretty simply. First things first, do you already have the blacksmithing skill, do you know enchanting and what metals can you already work with?" Eolande asked in a professional manner. It would seem that this wasn't the first time someone had come in hopes of being her apprentice.
"No, I don't have the skill. No, I know nothing about enchanting, and I can work with, iron, steel, bronze, silver, gold, a little bit of ebony and I can barely work with Alterion," Lone answered diligently.
"Hmm, pretty decent foundation. I'd imagine that you're close to getting the skill, but not knowing about enchanting is going to a bit of an issue. Well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Follow me," Eolande ordered and began floating towards the workshop-like building.
Lone trailed after her with Sophie in kind. He was wondering why enchanting would be necessary, but he was excited to learn it from the Tylwyth Teg if possible.
The three were upon the building very quickly, and Eolande used her dainty hand to open the entirely circular wooden door that was made from entwined twigs and roots. After entering the building, Lone and Sophie's noses were assaulted by a rich smell of nature, and a significant fluctuation of mana washed over them.
"Ah, endure that mana, okay? It's needed for the forging, so I can't turn it off," Eolande said, fully expecting Lone and Sophie to be suffering. However, when she turned around to look at them, they were both doing fine, which puzzled her.
Lone took it upon himself to explain why. "The mana is thick here, but I'm a being that's practically made out of mana while Soph is a natural genius at manipulating the flow of mana due to her sensing of it being at such a high level, so don't worry about us," he said.
After looking at the two for a moment, the Tylwyth Teg replied. "You continue to surprise me. Come, let's see your skills," Eolande said before she hovered her way further into the workshop. Lone followed her with Sophie while he inspected the wooden structure he was in.
It was, as previously mentioned, made entirely out of wooden branches, roots, and leaves. What was odd though, was that it looked completely natural as if it had grown out that way. Lone found this fascinating. He also saw several great looking pieces of armour and weaponry of all kinds mounted on the walls of the rooms they passed. They looked exceedingly powerful, in fact, so powerful that Lone physically couldn't look at a few of them, which was mysterious.
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"Equipment has ranks too," Eolande's voice caught Lone's attention. "The stuff that I craft tends to be SS-Ranked, or, on the odd occasion, SSS-ranked. I've yet to make a Cosmos-Ranked piece of equipment though. Who knows, if your talent is good enough, perhaps you'll make one before me? Hehehe," She finished with a light giggle that was pleasant to the ears.
"I probably will, assuming I devote myself to the craft," Lone replied which forced a frown onto the Tylwyth Teg's face, but she didn't reply and continued onwards.
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination. An enormous open room that had nothing in it except a furnace and an anvil. Both looked very exquisite, and Lone almost couldn't look at them due to how powerful they were.
"Welcome to the crafting room," Eolande happily said.
"Pardon my rudeness, you're the smith, not me, but correct me if I'm wrong. Smithing needs more than this, right?" Lone asked while he gestured to the anvil and furnace with his left arm.
"Yes, usually. But we're not crafting with the usual methods. We, Mr.Immortus, will be crafting with magic and the standard methods," Eolande replied with a cheeky smile.
'Ah, is that why no one's ever passed? Crafting with magic? Certainly, it's a concept I never thought of, this should be fun,' Lone thought before he spoke back to Eolande. "So, how will you test me?"
"Since I like you, I'll give you a very basic test," Eolande said. She then waved her hand, and a lump or iron appeared in her left hand while and a bunch of leather appeared in the other. She landed onto the ground and walked over to the furnace. She shoved her hand in with the iron lump. Miraculously, her hand wasn't burnt to a crisp, but Lone and Soph could instantly feel the temperature rising in the room. After a few seconds, Eolande took her hand out of the furnace onto to reveal a long rod of molten iron. Lone was fascinated by how and why it wasn't dripping anywhere.
'I guess that means iron doesn't kill her kind, huh?' Lone thought.
A few moments later, Eolande brought the iron to the anvil and placed the leather next to it before laying the metal rod onto the anvil. She waved her free hand only for a very small, but exceedingly powerful hammer to appear in it. If were to estimate it, Lone would say it was at least SS-Ranked.
Eolande then began banging the molten iron rod with the hammer repeatedly and started 'folding' it. All the while, she was chanting something, and small runes that Lone didn't recognise were appearing one by one around her.
A few minutes later, she stopped chanting and picked up the leather again after letting go of the hammer. She pushed the leather onto the hilt of the iron rod that now held the shape of a longsword and shockingly enough, it wrapped itself around it and took the form of a grip. Seconds later, she waved her now free hand and the runes floating around her poured into the sword like a stream, causing a brilliant glow to arise from its blade.
Eolande then lowered the sword to inspect it. "Mmm, I'd say it's about A-Ranked. Now, what I want you to do, is create a weapon or piece of armour using the exact same method I just did. It can be no lower ranked than C-Rank. You have a week," she said with a devilish grin before she slowly walked out of the room, fully expecting Lone to bring out some sort of materials somehow and create something from them as she had.
Lone stood motionless. "That sword was stronger than Dawn... fucking hell... Grim, you taught me basically nothing..." he mumbled under his breath. "Oh well, good thing I got a skill from watching her working so hard, heh," Lone continued with a slight sneer. Although he now viewed people in a more decent light, he still didn't like being underestimated. No one could beat him when it came to talent, and he'd be damned if he didn't prove that.