“Whoo, yep… this thing’s busted.”

Zeke unhelpfully said as he managed to help clear the smoke using his barrier and Runic Spell to create a soft breeze to blow all the smoke away. The smoke was even worse within the backroom of the store, where Adam usually does his smithing.

But once the smoke cleared away and Zeke saw the forge for himself, he grimaced at the sight.

The forge was as large as a regular chimney in a home. The giant metal forge was as high as his own height and around four feet wide. It was made so that the smith can do multiple works at once. But it wasn’t a normal forge like in his old world.

This one was a special kind, the same as the forges from Cloud’s home–riddled with complex runes. Each one was drawn with so much precision that Zeke could barely make sense with his still limited knowledge of the runic language.

Still, he could tell that the runes did a lot of heavy lifting during the forging process. Though it was more about hastening the process rather than actually making it. The smith did all the work, and it showed thanks to the forge showing wear and tear over the years.

However, the forge was now bent out of shape, showing nothing like its former self from earlier. The metal could’ve been fixed, and the heat could still work, but the runes were messed up. No matter how much the smith worked on it, the forge won’t work even half as fast as it did before. Hell, Zeke was surprised the smith was able to even make anything out of it, proving once more of his skill.

Unfortunately, the tool needed to make his work was going through its death throes, and apparently it gutted out for the final time. It was a sad sight to see.

“Oh no…” Mikella winced, turning to the smith. He was sitting on the stool, his hands covering his face in defeat. The inside of the building was a mess, mostly things being out of place and the walls cut up and burnt, but the smith’s only intention was making his work, and now that was impossible.

“Aye, that’s the gist of it,” Adam moaned, opening his eyes and rubbing his beard for comfort. “I suppose I’ve been pushing the old girl for too long. Now it gave up the ghost.”

“Did the knights do this?” Mikella added. There was heat in her voice. “Did they go this far?”

“Looks like it,” The smith shrugged. “When the attack came, I hightailed it with others to lend a hand in gettin’ folks out. I’m not much of a fighter, but I do have a damn good Sword Mastery skill. Better for making good swords, mind ya.”

The two nodded as he continued. It was interesting to hear that a skill normally suited for combat can help with a crafting class as well.

“But when I returned after you lot had a go at 'em, I laid eyes on what those bloody bastards did to me precious forge. Aye, a crime of the highest order, it was...”

“They did this to make it even harder for us to get back on our feet,” Zeke slowly said, getting Adam to nod his head. “Damn, that is cruel…”

“I tried what I did,” The smith added. “But I couldn’t make a miracle. Most of the time I had to leave the poor girl to help with the construction. But now… now she’s gone.”

The smith lowered his head, his voice seeped in sadness. It was hard to see an old man nearly bursting to tears at the loss of a good forge. Zeke couldn’t help but sympathize even as a mage.

“Can it be fixed?” Mikella added, rubbing Adam’s shoulder for comfort. “I mean, maybe if we put our heads together…”

“Aye, we tried, but it’s no use. Not even Cloud can fix up the damage done to the runes. Those runes are special, ya see–made by a specialized Runist who focuses on crafting metal works like my forge here. And I doubt you can fix them up yourself, lad. No offense and all that.”

It wasn’t a secret that Zeke’s Runist class was impressive, but even then, Adam was right. Runists have their own way of inscribing runes, even if the language and letters are completely the same. It was the meaning and intent behind the inscriptions that give the runes life. Zeke was nowhere near good enough to reproduce a specialized Runist’ runes.

“Have you considered… replacing it?” Zeke said slowly, hoping that it wouldn’t offend the smith. He expected Adam’s the sort of old man who felt like his forge had a living soul.

“With what?” Adam scoffed at the idea. “You find a merchant with a working forge traveling anywhere? If so, I’d like to find him myself. I’d give all the gold I have to get myself working again…”

Zeke grimaced. That was pretty obvious. It wasn’t as though one can find a working forge fast enough to replace this one. They still haven’t found any merchants willing to come back to town yet.

Mikella kept rubbing his back, but figuring that it was pointless. The man’s spirit was truly broken.

“Mr. Smith…” Ana cooed. “What are you gonna do now?”

“Little Ana…” Adam said, raising his head. “Perhaps I might have to move back to the kingdom. Maybe send a message to my daughter for some help. There’s no point of a smith without a forge and all.”

“No!” Ana cried out. “Mama loves your weapons! She said she can’t live without them!”

“Ana,” Mikella spoke softly. “I’m afraid there’s not much Adam can do. We have to be reasonable…”

“Bobo!” Ana shouted, surprising Zeke. “Can’t you fix it? You’re a healer, right? You can heal the forge!”

Zeke truly didn’t want to disappoint the girl, but what she was asking for was impossible. Mikella frowned as Adam lightly smiled at her. Despite knowing the futility, he was glad that Ana cared so much for him.

That’s when he saw Clara walking over, looking up at him.

“Bobo, can you help?” Clara asked, hope in her eyes. “I know you can. You can do anything!”

Now that hurts Zeke the most. After all this time, the people here often relied on Zeke, and now Clara believed Zeke is the kind of guy that can do anything.

His heart ached. He really wanted to help–he really did. But there was only so much he could do. Even after checking his skill list, the only thing he could see was his Recovery skill.

Recovery (Epic), Level 7

You can pour mana into any target’s inner workings, recovering them back to their original state. Due to your influence, you are able to view deep within the inner workings of any target, material or organic, and sense the pathways that make up the target. Your healing and perception increases according to the level of the skill and the current Spirit stat.

“...Wait…”

Zeke muttered, rereading his skill. Nothing about it ever said that it is only limited to living beings. Hell, it even said ‘any target, material or organic’.

“Zeke…?” Mikella asked, her brow raising at him. “What are you thinking? You’re not thinking of something stupid again, are you?”

Zeke hated to admit it, but Mikella can apparently read his face like an open book. So when he turned to her, he was totally honest as she hit it right on the mark.

“...Yes, yes I am,” Zeke answered, totally ignoring Mikella’s shaking of her head and slamming her face with the palm of her hand.

Zeke went ahead and ignored everything else. He ignored the children’s hopeful stares, the smith’s confused look, and Mikella’s clear frustration as he walked towards the forge.

It was busted beyond belief. He could see holes on some parts and ruined metal twisted on top of one another. It was a miracle it could work at all in this state.

Then he activated Recovery. His eyes glowed bright turquoise as he stared at the inner workings of the forge. Much to his surprise, it too had channels.

Just extremely plain channels that were so still, it was obvious it wasn’t a living thing. Still, it had an interesting layout. The channels weren’t spread out from the center like a human being, but instead had several centers marking at each significant part of the forge, possibly the runes he saw earlier.

Each one had a single or two channels spread to the others, then each of those connected to the same one as before, repeating it every once in a while.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Understanding the inner workings, he tried to study how they all connected, and realized that some of the connections were cut off. Not in a way how one would cut through with a knife, but more like being torn off hazardly by hand.

And he could see the other part that was torn off. Figuring out what he needed to do, he acted.

…..

Mikella wanted nothing more than to slap Zeke right on the head. Right now, he was actually trying to ‘heal’ the forge, as if that was actually possible.

Though, at the same time, she hoped he could actually do it. She knew it was hopeless, but it was still a nice gesture to even try. The little girls watched with hope in their eyes, fully expecting the wonder mage known as Zeke to do the impossible. Of course, the one being afflicted with this turned to her with a confused look on his bearded face.

“Hey, lass… is he serious?” Adam asked, hoping to not sound like he was offending her. “Or is all this helping finally messin’ with his head a bit?”

“I think it’s the latter,” Mikella answered honestly. She had no reason to hide it as her face pretty much showed everything. “But… I mean, are you fine with him messing with it a little? If you’re not, I can pull him away.”

She was prepared to do so too, even if Zeke would grumble at her about it later. However, Adam hesitated for a moment, then he waved his hand.

“Bah, let him do what he pleases. Not like the girl has any spark of life in her now. And who knows, maybe he’s puttin’ on a show for the girls. Show that life doesn’t always work or somethin’…”

Even the smith grimaced at the idea. Mikella knows Zeke isn’t the type to do that and is actually working hard to do exactly as he promised.

Though, he never said that he could fix it. He just said that he’s gonna try something. And so far, all he’s trying is just staring at the forge.

Then he started doing something else. He started… he actually started to kick the forge.

Blam! Blam!

He kicked the forge in a certain spot, grimacing as his foot hit the heavy metal forge with all his might. Then, he went over to the other side, then just… punched the forge once, before turning to another side and kicking the forge.

His face winced at the punch, but like a man driven with passion, he kept moving. He even used his Recovery skill to heal his wounds made by hitting his skin directly on the metal as he kept punching the damn forge.

“Is, uhh…” Adam chose his words carefully. “Is he really alright in the head?”

“Honestly, I lost all hope at this point,” Mikella honestly said, just watching with a dumbstruck look in her face.

This went on for a few minutes, with Zeke often wincing and whining a little after each blow, but each time, he kept doing it with fervor, as if closing in little by little on his promised goal. When blood started to trickle from his hands, something that even scared the girls a little, Mikella spoke up.

“Zeke, seriously, just stop,” Mikella pleaded. She was really starting to get concerned as Zeke seemed to go on endlessly. Even Adam cringed every time Zeke made a blow with his fist actually expecting it to do something. “It’s not working. There’s no point in having to do this!”

“I’m almost there…” Zeke said, almost in a trance. “Just give me a bit more time...”

Mikella pulled her face with the palm of her hand in frustration. “Zeke! I’m serious! You’re scaring the girls!”

Despite Mikella’s agitation, Zeke went on, completely ignoring her. Mikella was just about ready to pull this boy in with a rightful tug on his collar and slap him silly until–

He punched one final time. The forge churned and roared.

Mikella flinched as she immediately pulled the girls away from the forge that had suddenly started spitting out gouts of flames. They weren’t that hot, not at the distance she was, but she’ll be damned if she let the kids there any longer.

Now Zeke looked maniacal as he grinned. “There we go! I knew you had it in ya! Come on, stay with me!”

Zeke even started to talk like the smith, his voice high pitched and guzzling with energy as he placed his hand on the forge and the same glow of turquoise light filled his hand. He flared his skill, and the forge kept jumbling about as if it was alive.

The smith watched slack-jawed along with Mikella. The girls, on the other hand, were screaming with delight as the forge just… began to fix itself.

The twisted metal parts that seemed to be completely destroyed acted like time was rewinding, the metal just ‘thunk’ back into place. The holes were being repaired with mana, slowly shifting into actual metal.

The process was just too surreal, as if Zeke had suddenly developed the power to rewind time. Then, after another intense moment of healing the forge, the mana finally calmed down and the end result was displayed.

The forge, now fully whole and renewed, had its flames finally pouring out of the opening, as if displaying its wondrous might once more.

“Oh–Ooooh! She’s alive!” Adam roared, standing up with his arms raised and a giant grin on his face. “It’s a fucking miracle!”

Mikella was just struck silent as she watched Zeke walking back with a look of exhaustion on his face. Then before watching his work, Adam went ahead and gave him the biggest bear hug Zeke could’ve ever gotten.

The poor mage looked like he was ready to keel over, both from the hug and the strength Adam was putting into the hug. Adam just roared with delight as he spun Zeke around like a rag doll, not realizing that the other citizens from the outside were watching with curiosity.

Once it was known what had happened, the citizens around the blacksmith were equally delighted.

They had their forge back.

…..

Mikella sat with Zeke while the blacksmith took in order after order, delightfully telling everyone that he was back in business. He even offered a discount for those who were waiting eagerly, and even did some for free who were heavily affected by the attack.

All the while, the girls were just exploding with energy, acting like Zeke had by punching the air, replaying the scene of Zeke fixing the forge.

Mikella looked back at Zeke, his eyes tired and exhausted. Yet, there was that goofy grin on his face, his gamble working well.

She didn’t know how else to say it. Sometimes, she was glad Zeke often ignored her plight. Though now she felt a little silly trying to stop him from helping Adam and his forge. It clearly became a boon for everyone involved, not just Adam.

“How are you feeling?” Mikella asked, noticing that Zeke had his hands still bleeding from his strange punches.

“Feeling… pretty good,” Zeke said, though his tone didn’t have the same energy as his wording did. “It was a little more draining than I expected.”

“Well yeah,” Mikella pointed at his bleeding hands. “Did you run out of mana? Because you might have to heal your hands there.”

“Heal my… oh!” Zeke looked confused for a moment, but became aghast once he pulled up his injured hands to his face. “How the hell did this happen?!”

Mikella decided to actually slap upside his head, explaining that in his trance he literally beat his hands up to fix the hot forge. Zeke apologized as he healed his hands with ease, chuckling.

“See, this is why I don’t like it when you do crazy stuff like this!” Mikella shouted, unable to hold back her frustration despite the joy going on around her. “You always hurt yourself, and now you didn’t even realize it!”

“Yeah… yeah, sorry,” Zeke said, genuinely apologizing as he grimaced. “I just got caught up in a trance, you know?”

Mikella only just frowned at him, though inside she knew how he felt. It was like when she would be training herself. No matter how much her body yearned for rest, she kept going, especially after realizing that she could improve her attributes by her training.

Zeke did the same, except rather than for training, it was to fix the forge. In the end, Mikella couldn’t help but try to vindicate herself as she asked.

“Zeke, did you… did you really want to help Adam so much that you barely noticed your pain?”

“Oh… uhh…” Zeke pressed his lips together. Then, as though realizing his guilt, he frowned. “I was just… really curious on how far I could take my Recovery. I didn’t really think about whether I could fix the forge or not.”

Zeke sounded like he should feel guilty for not caring much about Adam’s plight, only wanting to see if he could fix the forge. However, Mikella felt relieved.

In the end, he was the same as her. They would always go far and beyond their normal limits to see just how far they can actually go. For Zeke, it was to sate his curiosity. For Mikella, it was to improve herself.

That helped her feel a little better, even if it sounded selfish. That got her to get over her worries for Zeke’s crazed antics and focus on what she was really curious about–how he managed to ‘heal’ the forge.

Zeke explained with gusto that punching and kicking wasn’t really to fix the forge into place, but to connect the torned channels in the inner workings of the forge. Surprisingly, they were close enough for Zeke to try and do something physical, and he got so engrossed into connecting the channels that he didn’t realize he was hurting himself in the process.

Then, once the channels connected–in short, the runes getting back into place and forcing the forge to gush out those bouts of flames, he used his Recovery skill properly and remade the forge back into its proper place.

It was interesting to hear, and Mikella couldn’t help but giggle at Zeke’s near obsessive explanation about his Recovery skill. Then, he showed her something that truly surprised her. He gained a notification once the forge was fixed.

> Recovery Level Up! It is now Level 8.

>

> You have gained +2 INT from your skill.

> You have gained +2 SPI from your skill.

“Holy shit!” Mikella shouted with glee. “It leveled up!”

Zeke preened like a peacock displaying his feathers. “I know, right? It was worth the busted hands!”

Mikella shook her head, unable to believe how Zeke was okay with all this. Still, this stroked a fire in her belly. Now she wanted to head out there and raised her skills to reach the maximum level. It was strange how her main Sword Mastery skill wasn’t maxed while Zeke’s Barrier Craft advanced already.

It was an insult to her pride as an athlete. Just when she was thinking about dragging Zeke over to use his barriers as target practice, she noticed a group of people coming over.

They weren’t just citizens–they were soldiers. And all of them belonged to Zacharia’s unit as the general himself approached them, his stoic face as stoney as ever.

She figured they were arriving from somewhere as it was a while since they were seen. She even noticed Piker, and instantly saw the changes.

He looked defeated, like he’s just been at a battle. But there weren't any physical changes she could pick up. She definitely felt like he was out of sorts, but it was put to the side as Zacharia faced the two with an army at his back.

She didn’t like where this was going. Her back was tingling and there was something off with the scent in the air. She didn’t know what this meant, but her hackles were rising.

“Zeke, Mikella,” Zacharia declared, not caring that the other citizens were watching the scene unfold. “You are to come with us. There will be no resistance.”