Tec Mage Chapter Thirty Three: Elemental Blacksmith
While Atlas was working on the shop his apprentice Mary was also working on something, after helping the quartermaster and then receiving a introduction letter Mary had gone to search for the Elemental blacksmith on the off chance she two could be one
The direction that the quartermaster had given to her pointed to the slums, walking though the dirty streets Mary wasn't scared, she had grown up near the slums and knew her way around and now she was powerful, Mary didn't have her giant war hammer with her but she did have the smaller steel hammer with her, she was confident that even if a gang of thugs attacked her she would kick their bums back to the dirt they came from
Mary walked up to a small wooden shack, if it wasn't for the direction that the quarter master had given then she would of sworn that this was a mistake, how could a rare class blacksmith live here surely they would be welcome by royalty or could be hired by a lord earning huge money, Mary her self was earning huge amounts of gold and she was just a normal blacksmith
Mary raised her hand to knock the wooden door "knock, knock, crack" Mary sacred her self, she had unintentionally knocked a hole though the door and now her hand was stuck in the door, Mary had invested heavily in strength but she didn't think she was able to knock a hole in wood with out trying
From the other side of the door Mary could hear a crash of broken bottle and shuffling feet, she started to panic as she tired to pull her hand out of the door
The door handle started to turn and now Mary was so frantic she was using her whole weight and strength to pull out her hand "damn these leather gloves" thought Mary as they refused to let go like it was snagged on the broken wood
Slowly the door opened and Mary was pulled forwards with the door
"What the hell do you want" the woman that answering the door was a well built tall women with massive pair of peaks, she had short messy brown hair and a bottle was in her hands "do you know how much that door is worth"
Mary's hand was still stuck in the door but she was shocked at how easy this woman pulled her even though she was using all her strength "ummmm, I've came to see if i could be a elemental blacksmith" Mary muttered
"Two silver, that door cost two silver, now pay up" the women held out her hand waiting for payment
Mary finally freed her hand and quickly paid two silver, she didn't want to upset this person just encase she was the elemental blacksmith
"Yes" the women bounced the coins in her hand then snatched them out of the air "now get out" she pointed with her left hand while she took a heavy draft from the bottle she held in her right hand
"But i have a letter of introduction" Mary pulled out the letter the quartermaster gave her
The women was draining the last drops of alcohol from the bottle and then and only when she had finished her drink did she take the letter, the women placed the empty bottle on a table behind her while knocking other empty bottles on the floor
A sound of crashing bottles made Mary winced, but the lady with brown short hair didn't even flinch, pulling the envelope apart the brown haired women pulled out the letter and started to read, Mary was left at the door standing quietly with her hands folded near her lap so she wouldn't damage anything else
"Damn him, damn him to hell" the brown hair woman slapped the letter on the table after she was finished reading it, she sat down on a near by chair, the furniture creaked under her weight, she didn't sound to angry when she had sworn but a little disappointed, the letter was from a person she liked but bad new was in it
Sit, sit down" the voice of the brown haired woman was a lot more softer but it still held a fierce bluntness to it
Mary quickly took a seat
"My name is Nina Croftwell but you can call me Nina, i suppose" the women with short brown hair wasn't big on introductions or titles and her first name was good enough for her and it should be good enough for everyone else
"Oh Nina, my name is Mary.." Mary was about to ask if she was truly the elemental blacksmith but she was stopped by Nina's raised hand
"Stop, you don't want to be a Elemental blacksmith, it's just too damn hard" Nina hand was searching for a new bottle of alcohol and when it found it her thumb popped the cork off with out any trouble
Mary took advantage of the drinking Nina "I'm a hard worker and i have my own forge if that's a problem"
Nina brought down the bottle and wiped the alcohol away from her mouth "it's not hard to learn but there is problems with the weapons and other things"
Reading Mary's face Nina understood that Mary didn't understand, taking a big breath Nina massive twin peaks raised and lowered "Elemental blacksmith make weapons from pure elements and if a person doesn't have a 100% resistance then it's a weapon that hurts the owner"
Mary was quite excited by hearing this "what about a earth sword" asked Mary
"What's the point of a weapon that is so heavy that it's impossible to wield, you might as well use a normal sword" answered Nina "a normal sword would be sharper too"
Mary's excited face was pink and flush "what quality's does a earth sword have"
"Umm, it can't be destroyed, wait that's not true, what i should say is that it regenerates when ever it touches the floor, by absorbing the earth on the floor it can repair it self with no problem" answered Nina
"What about fire, what can a weapon made from fire do" asked Mary
"Oh fire is..... wait what's the point, a weapon is designed to be used but only a few people in history has ever had a 100% resistance" explained Nina "No one wants a weapon that bites back"
"I don't mind, i think there is a place for the skill" said Mary
Nina still didn't want to give up in persuading Mary "that's not all, this skill is expensive, only people with natural mana can master this unless they have a huge quantity of alcohol, i my self have an infinity with water but by drinking a cup of alcohol it temporarily makes you mana affinity neutral"
"Not a problem i have a good amount of gold" answer Mary "i can pay my way in booze"
"Fine" Nina voice was getting crisper as she was getting annoyed with Mary "you still need a big mana pool so you can freely manipulate the elements"
"Also not a problem, i have access to mana potions and i can refill my mana when ever i want" Mary was enjoying her self
Nina was looking hard at Mary, she wasn't sure if she was making fun at her "Right" Nina pushed the bottles on her table to one side clearing a space, Nina put her hand in her pouch, she gave a side glance at the door and all around the room like she was expecting someone to jump out, when she was satisfied that no one was coming she pulled out a big bottle
The bottle was almost empty, all that was in it was a small pool of red flowing liquid that looked like it was trying to climb out of the bottle
"This is why it's so hard to be a Elemental blacksmith" Nina had both hands clasped around the bottle like it could fly out of her hands and disappear forever "I've spent my life saving trying to find and buy this one bottle of fire mana, this is why you can't be a elemental blacksmith, this stuff is too hard to get a hold off"
"Can i see it" asked Mary while her hands were out stretched to touch the bottle
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Nina quickly slapped her hands away "look with your eyes not you hands"
Rubbing her hands from the strike Mary leaned forwards to get a closer look, the bottle it self looked normal except for the four pieces of Mithril on the bottle, the fire mana was almost dancing to get out of the bottle
After having a good look Mary sat up straight "no problem, my master can get fire mana, I'm sure he will give me some if i ask"
Nina just looked at Mary with a sorry look "the day you get a hold of a full bottle of fire mana will be the day i make you a Elemental Blacksmith
"OK" Mary got up and ran out leaving Nina sitting by her self
"Young punk, making fun of me like that, if it was as easy as that wouldn't i have it already" Nina carefully stashed her bottle away
One hour latter Nina was lying on her bed with her 3rd bottle of booze, she no long drank to make her mana affinity neutral but drank because she felt like she had no hope, her skills as a Elemental blacksmith hadn't even reached intermediate but she only had enough fire mana to make one more weapon, in the past she would recycle the elemental weapon before it could be finished so the fire mana could be used again and again but every time she did so she would lose a little part of the fire mana, she could go back to normal blacksmithing but at this time she felt so depressed to even lift a hammer, as her consciousness was drifting to sleep a knock happened on the door
"Knock, knock" there was a short silence followed by a nervous voice "umm, Nina, it's me Mary"
"Go away" Nina didn't want to deal with this young girl who made fun of her
Nina could hear the door open and feel a gust of wind blew in to her home
"I have the bottle of fire mana and I'm ready to practice Elemental Blacksmithing" said Mary
In Nina mind what Mary most likely had was something that looked like fire mana, some kind of red liquid that stained the bottle or something that looked like fire mana, Nina rolled over to look at Mary and tell her off
"Look Mary, it's fine to have a laugh but you can take it too far..." Nina voice had trailed off at the end of her sentence, she could see that Mary did in fact have a bottle of fire mana
Nina jumped off her bed and ran towards Mary, she stepped on the empty bottles that were placed all over her floor, wobbling Nina fell to her knees with a great thud, the noise was enough to cause people to winch just listening to it but to Nina the sight of the fire mana was the only thing in her mind, with out stopping Nina started to walk on her knees towards Mary
"Wait, wait, WAIT, NINA" screamed Mary
Nina came too just in time to realize that she was on her knees grasping on to Mary's chest with one hand and reaching out to the bottle of fire mana with the other, Mary hand her hand in Nina face trying to push her away
Quickly Nina got off the floor and sat at her chair like nothing had happened "yes i can see you as my apprentices, just hand over the fire mana and we can begin"
Mary was still pulling her leather cloths straight, she couldn't believe the attitude of Nina, even the children in the orphanage didn't act this way "ummm are you really a elemental blacksmith"
"Of course i am" answered Nina
"Could you show me, i mean if it's not too much trouble" asked Mary
Nina looked hungrily at the bottle of fire mana that Mary held while licking her lips, then as quick as a flash she pulled out her bottle that held the last dregs of fire mana and poured it in her hand, a dull light surrounded her hand and slowly the fire mana started to move and form in to a small dagger, even the handle was made from fire mana, after the fire mana was formed it then started to change it's shape in to a ring
With the weapon being complete Nina set it alight, the ring started to burn like any normal fire, it turn out that while fire mana wasn't hot or burned in any way, to complete the weapon it needed the element to set it to a ring form, Nina then left it on a plate, she no longer could touch it with out burning her self
"There, happy" said Nina
"It's just fire in the form of a ring" said Mary
Nina sighed to her self, she rubbed her hands like what she was about to do next she wasn't going to enjoy, as quick as she could she touch the fire formed ring and pumped mana in to it, the ring changed it's shape and formed a dagger again, Nina quickly retreated her hand and held it in the air, the tips of her fingers had been burnt
"See, I've got a resistance of 33% to fire and yet I'm burned this badly from just briefly touching it" Nina was now pouring a potion on it "i can't find any one to use this kind of weapon, earth is to heavy, fire burns too fiercely, water falls though the fingers and air is intangible, you don't even know if your holding it"
It was true the weapons that Elemental blacksmiths made were too difficult to wield but useless, they just hadn't found a user that could wield them yet
Mary was impressed, she was looking at the dagger but it was evaporating "why is it doing that"
"Not enough Fire mana to stabilize it, when it is truly formed the ring becomes more solid looking and the weapon can run off the users mana" answered Nina "if you leave it in it's weapon form with no mana fuelling it then it will evaporate"
Mary was really excited, she started to wonder what would happen if you combined more elemental weapons together
"Hey, Hey" Nina had been calling out to Mary as she was stuck in thought "had over the fire mana and we can start" Nina had her shaking hand out stretched, even though her face was calm she too wanted the fire mana and her body showed it
"Wait my master needs something from you first" said Mary
"Oh hear it comes, something as rare as fire mana came with circumstances" thought Nina
"My master needs your empty bottle, the one that held the fire mana, he says that for you to receive this fire mana he needs the empty bottle" said Mary
The true rare thing wasn't the fire mana but the bottle that held it and Atlas knew it, to give up one of his containers he needed one back in its place
"No problem" Nina handed over the empty bottle, now it held no fire mana Nina had no use for it
Mary picked up the bottle and placed it in her bag, only then did she hand over the bottle full of fire mana to Nina
"My master said that i don't have to spare the fire mana, he will give me more when this one runs out" explained Mary
Nina hands shook, being able to gain this bottle of fire mana was incredible but to freely use the fire mana only to get more when ever this one ran out made her heart shake
"Who is your master" asked Nina
"He doesn't want to be known.... maybe in the future you two will meet" answered Mary
"umhp" Nina made a small noise, she understood that there was people like that in the world "OK, i understand, sit beside me and lets get to work"
The elemental Blacksmiths Nina started to talk about many thing connecting to the world of elements and blacksmithing, with Mary listening deeply it wouldn't take long for her to gain the class and make her first weapon
The two girls were happy, one was glad to learn more about blacksmithing and the other was just happy that her skills could increase and her work wasn't a waste of time and effort
End Of Chapter Thirty Three
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POW, there a new chapter on the same day as the last, you're welcome