The first thing Alix noticed on waking the next morning was the visible increase in his muscle mass. It was weird waking up to an unfamiliar body, but it helped that he was slowly getting the body he had always wanted. It was just as painful as he had expected. He made sure to craft a few more tonics while he was still in bed before Tifayn began working him again.
Alix rolled over to look for Tifayn, but found the bed already empty. Ever since Evory had given him the crown, their relationship had taken a noticeable turn, although he was glad that she was no longer being swayed against her will. He couldn’t deny that he missed the attention. He suddenly wished he hadn’t cut down every flower in the garden. Did demons even like flowers?
With the bed empty, he suddenly panicked, thinking he had overslept and that the day was already half over, but looking out the window he could see that the sun was just rising. Tifayn must have woken early to get a head start on their preparations.
The Nightbringer Draught had left him feeling well rested despite the fact that he must have only slept three or four hours so he jumped out of bed. There was a lot to discuss with everyone.
A quick look at his map showed him that everyone had already gathered back in the dining room so after brewing himself a cup of coffee he made his way there. Holding the steaming brew gave him a sense of normalcy.
There was already a debate raging by the time he arrived, although it sounded like it was just the same things they had already discussed the night before.
“We need to leave, today!” Brant almost begged the impassive Tifayn.
“We cannot. Alix needs one more day of training, and we need to see what our options are to get him into Galdea. He doesn’t have any weapons or armour either so if we can make a plan to get some money to buy some, then that would be a bonus,” Tifayn explained calmly over a cup of her bitter tea.
“I found a solution for that last night, but I don’t think you are going to like it,” Alix said as he walked into the room, taking a seat near Tifayn.
“I was wondering why you came to bed so late. What did you find?” Tifayn asked.
“It was Astrid that found it. She brought me this book,” he pointed towards the volume that was still sitting on the table. The robes had disappeared sometime in the night. “I managed to craft the potion, but it sounds like it has some issues.”
“Well what is it? Can it get you into Galdea unnoticed?” Tifayn pressed.
“Not really…” Alix pulled the potion he had crafted the night before and placed it on the table for everyone to see. The shimmering liquid glittered even brighter in the light of the rising sun that shone through the one remaining window pane. “This potion is called Obscene Privilege. If I take it then it basically means that everyone will give me anything that I want, will do anything to please me. It won’t get me into Galdea unnoticed, but it will let me move freely within the city, at least for a time. There is just one problem though. If I take this potion, I will have to go alone.”
There was an instant uproar from Brant and Tifayn, both competing to argue with him the loudest. They were both to go with him, no questions asked. The way Alix saw things though, that wasn’t an option.
“Look, I know it sounds like the worst possible plan, but this potion will affect everyone around me. If I take it and you all come with me, if will affect all of you as well. You won’t focus on the mission anymore, only what you can do to please me, and the longer you are around me, the worse the effects will get. You will probably start fighting each other over me and then the entire thing will be a disaster. Unless Astrid can find something else today, I don’t see how we have any other choice. I’ll go to Galdea alone and find out what I can. The potion should at least ensure that I won’t have any trouble selling the potions I’ve crafted for a good price, or any trouble buying a decent set of armour, and anyone that I ask any questions will answer me truthfully without delay. The only thing I’ll need to worry about it spending too much time there.” Alix said his piece but Brant and Tifayn weren’t about to be dissuaded to easily.
“It can’t be that much different than the effects of the bond,” Tifayn said.
“Considering it is banned across Babyl, I’m going to assume the effects are a lot worse. We can’t risk it, Tifayn. I’ll get in and out as quick as I can, and then keep my distance from everyone until the effects wear off.”
“How long are the effects meant to last?”
“I didn’t check, I just made the potion and then went to bed.” Alix pulled the book towards him and scoured the pages for any extra information he might have missed. On the opposite page, he found what he was looking for. “It says it last for one hour per millilitre. Damn that must be some potent stuff. If I drank this whole vial it would probably last for a week. I’ll have to be careful with it.” Alix stuck the potion back in his inventory.
“I think we should see if Astrid can find any alternative. If she comes up with nothing by the end of the day, then I don’t think we have any other choice,” Tifayn announced.
“Do you expect me to just sit on my arse all day waiting for a skeleton to read some books?” Brant exclaimed.
“No, I will be training Alix and it would probably do you some good to get some training in as well.”
“I told you, I will only help after you bring me the ones responsible for taking my wife.” Brant gathered an armful of food and stormed out of the room.
“You really should be making more use of the Soulbind,” Tifayn said once Brant was gone.
“I’m not intending on treating him like a puppet. I only cast Soulbind to stop him from attacking me. It doesn’t really matter anyway. I can see him on my map and all he does is wander down hallways until he bumps into a skeleton and then he runs the other way until the same thing happens again.”
Alix was keen to visit Astrid but Tifayn wouldn’t let him go. She forced him to eat a hearty breakfast, and then she dragged him back outside to continue his training. He didn’t really see what difference one more day would make, but Tifayn insisted.
With the sword in his hand, the morning hours sped past. Alix was soon attacking, returning Tifayn’s blows as quick as she could strike, but his footwork was still sloppy. Learning to balance wasn’t coming as naturally to him as he would have liked, but with his Swordsman Title, he still gained months’ worth of experience in a few hours. He had expected to unlock special move skills like all the characters in the RPG’s he had played before, powerful sword moves that could defeat an opponent in an instant, but nothing popped up, other than the notification when he reached Level 11. Instead he was left with what he could only describe as turbo charged muscle memory.
Their session only came to an end when he deflected yet another blow, but this time both their swords cracked and half their lengths flew off into the grounds.
Tifayn smiled and then threw away the rest of her sword. “You should keep that as souvenir,” she said, pointing at the ruined sword.
“It’s not going to do me much use now. Do you have any more?”
“No, I didn’t expect you to break them so soon. This is good though. You are getting stronger. I was hoping we would have the forge up and running before this happened, but you are learning faster than I expected. I think you are ready for a proper sword.”
Alix had yet to check in with Mr Bones about the forge since he had last mentioned uncovering it, but from the occasional look at his map, he knew the skeletons had maintained a constant presence there so they had to be working on it somehow.
Before heading to check it out, he opened a communication line with Astrid.
Astrid, have you found any alternative solution to the Obscene Privilege potion?
None yet. I know there is a book in here on illusionary magic, but it seems to have been misplaced over the centuries.
How are the robes?
Magnificent.
From where they were practising in the grounds, it was only a short walk to the newly installed side door which led directly to the forge. The doorway had been completely restored, as had the hallway beyond, fresh mortar lining the re-laid stones. Only a few steps along the path was the entrance to the forge, which they found bustling with skeletons.
Alix had expected the forge to be a run down and dingy place, a forgotten hovel in a far corner of the castle, but it was the complete opposite. It had a low vaulted ceiling, a solid stone floor and a remarkably intact stone hearth. Every surface was blackened from centuries of soot, but the skeletons had done an admirable job sweeping the floor clean. A large pair of double wooden doors which led outside to another part of the grounds were in the process of being replaced. He was surprised he hadn’t noticed them before, but then he remembered a portion of the west tower had collapsed around that area of the grounds.
“What are these vents in the roof for?” he asked Mr Bones when he found him overseeing the cleaning.
“They are part of an old heating system. Each one has a special spelled brick placed around the entrance that filters out all the harmful fumes in the smoke, sending clean hot air around the castle. Warmth never used to be a problem in the castle as the forge used to be run all day, and the underfloor heating kept everything warm at night,” Mr Bones replied.
“…underfloor heating? You are telling me I’ve been shivering my ass off and this whole time there’s been underfloor heating?” Alix couldn’t believe this was the first he was hearing of it.
“Apologies, my lord. Warmth is one of the things us skeletons have long forgotten about. The system is still mostly intact from what I’ve seen, apart from a few of the further away wings where the floors are damaged. I would have mentioned it sooner, but the system needs to be activated with the keystone. Unfortunately the keystone is in the vault, the passage to which is still underwater.”
“Damn, I’ll have to have a look at some point and see if there’s a way through. Heating would change everything. Is the forge useable just now? We can at least try out the heating vents, and it looks like I have need of a sword.”
“It is still a bit rough and there are only a few tools left, but it will work. When I saw your training had begun, I concentrated my efforts on fixing it up, knowing you would have need of it sooner rather than later. The castle has never been in quite this state before, but the Darknight has always had to rely on the forge. I expected the ring to have told you as much.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“It hasn’t mentioned anything about the forge so far. What is it that I am supposed to know?” Alix asked, wondering again why the rings were making it so hard on Leon and himself. They were the one thing they had been given to get them through this mess, but so far, they hadn’t been forthcoming with the information that they needed, unless he knew what question to ask first.
“Any of us could handle the forge if needed, but most of the Darknights before have taken to it themselves. It would be easy to pass on the last Darknight’s sword, but all have ended up forging their own. No other blade will ever feel like the right fit. Eventually you will be drawn to the forge as well, and the ring will help you to craft the perfect weapon. The Darknight has not always wielded a sword, so it may be that a sword won’t be the best fit for you either. You might forge a hammer, or an axe. I have seen plenty of both before, as well as halberds, spears, knives, staves, even bows, although the carpentry workshop is still a mess. We will need to replace the windows before it is a suitable place to work with wood again. Still, it will need to be stocked with tools, and we will need the forge running for that. We just need materials to work with now,” Mr Bones replied.
Alix had always thought it would be cool to be a swordsmith, although he knew that wasn’t a reality for most blacksmiths. It was an extreme niche reserved for YouTube, one he had spent many hours enjoying. It was a shame he didn’t have the ring back then as he currently knew nothing about how to forge a sword, or anything else for that matter. He had read a book on metallurgy, but hadn’t gotten around to one on metalworking yet.
Astrid, could you bring me a book on metalworking to the forge as soon as you can please, he quickly communicated with the librarian.
There was no reply but in a few moments he noticed Astrid’s dot leaving the library and make her way down to the forge.
“We better get started then, we don’t have any time to waste,” Alix said, stepping over to the hearth.
There was no usable coal left in the place, all the stocks having rotted away to dust, so they would have to rely on wood to light the forge. They couldn’t spare any of the good timber, so he dipped into his inventory and drew out the scraps he had collected, the stumps and some of the curvier branches that had broken down into generic wood. In an empty corner of the room, he deposited as much of the wood as he could. The stack rose from floor to ceiling, and he still had plenty remaining in his inventory. He had a plan for that once the book arrived.
Tifayn and Mr Bones seemed to be just as excited as Alix was to get the forge running again. They both carted armfuls of wood over to the hearth and piled it high with fuel. Once it was filled, he raised his hand and spoke the spell he had already chosen.
“Ignite!”
A red spell circle wove itself out of his hand, rotated and grew, and then condensed into a beam that shot into the depths of the hearth. The wood ignited with a boom that shook the room, as if the wood had been sitting in a pool of petrol, sending scorched splinters flying into the air, followed by a plume of smoke. Alix thought it had been an embarrassing failure at first, but then he noticed red flames licking up through the smoke. Soon the smoke was sucked up through the vents and away, and the fire in the hearth was burning steadily.
When they had the fire going, Alix realised that he had nothing to work with. It had felt like an accomplishment just getting the fire going. The chill had left the room, the damp drying from the stones, when the skeletons turned to him expectantly. Mr Bones had gathered the ones that still retained a bit of their blacksmithing knowledge. The older the skeleton, the less they remembered who they had been, but still some of their memories remained.
“What are we supposed to work with?” Alix asked, and Mr Bones suddenly realised their problem.
“I will fetch some pieces from the armoury. Most of them aren’t good for much other than smelting down anyway.”
As Mr Bones left the room with a few of the skeletons in tow, Astrid entered the forge. He didn’t recognise her at first wearing her librarian robes. They were as magnificent as she had claimed. The look was completed by an official looking hat she had found from somewhere.
“Here is the book you asked for. I see you are forging your Darknight weapon. So soon. You must have an affinity with the blade. That is good,” Astrid said, handing over a book simply titled Metalworking: Tools, Materials & Processes for the Artisan.
“I don’t know about all that, I just need a weapon. Did you manage to find any alternative to the Obscene Privilege potion?” Alix asked, hoping she had found the missing book.
“Unfortunately not. I have noticed quite a few handy books are missing, many of which hold great value. I dread to think what has become of them.”
“I’m sure they will turn up somewhere. Thanks Astrid, you are going a great job.”
Astrid bowed slightly and then departed back to the library. She spent every moment of her time there now and she seemed to be enjoying every second of it. Alix found a stool and took it over to sit by the wide double doors, where the light from outside would help him read. He quickly turned to the first page and began to read, his mind filling with all the swordmaking skills he had longed to master as a nerdy teenager reading the latest epic fantasy tome.
Mr Bones returned while Alix was getting started on powering through the book. Between him and the other skeletons that had gone with him, they were carrying a small hoard of damaged blades and armour. They deposited the load on the ground and began sorting through it.
Most of it went into a pile which the skeletons moved to the smelting furnace on the other side of the room, where the pieces beyond use or repair could be melted down for their precious metals. Mr Bones kept back a few choice blades, narrowing it down to one, a bent and chipped short sword.
Alix analysed it with the ring, thinking Mr Bones had to have made the wrong choice.
* Azurite Short Sword. Power Rating 0.
“Are you sure this is what I should use? It looks like it would be better of going into the smelter,” Alix asked, taking a quick break from the book.
“Of course. The Azurite is wasted on this blade. It deserves to be saved. It was never tempered correctly, so it is useless as it is, but Azurite is a very precious material. You don’t want to make your own sword out of anything less. The Solknight will have a dozen fine blades to choose from already, but none will be as good as one he forges himself. We can only hope he never follows the urge to forge his own if he is convinced that his money can buy him something better.”
“If you are sure. I’ll finish reading this book and get started.”
Mr Bones nodded his approval and went back to tend the hearth while Alix read. Tifayn alternated between examining the broken blades herself, and helping the skeletons fill the smelter. They would need more than just the wood to light the smelter, but Alix thought he should have a solution before he was finished reading.
The solution came shortly after, when he noticed that a new option to Dismantle the wood had appeared. It was now possible for him to turn it into Charcoal, which he did with a large portion of the remaining wood in his inventory. He deposited the load in a large stone bin and both Mr Bones and the other skeletons quickly started shovelling it into their respective furnaces.
Once Alix knew what sort of blade he was going to be working with, he skipped through the book to the relevant chapters, after finishing the introductory chapters that covered the basics of metalworking, which unlocked the Title Blacksmith. He was no longer surprised by the random text that popped up in the world around him. He didn’t miss his phone or Google at all. He knew the names of everything around him, and he was learning new skills at a swift rate. With his Bibliophile skills, he was able to read a page in a matter of seconds. Within an hour, the notification bell went and a new Title appeared: Swordsmith. At that point he felt like there was no time left to keep reading so he put down the book and went to join Mr Bones and Tifayn by the forge. With the addition of the charcoal, the forge was now at a scorching heat.
The pair of them continued to stoke the fire while Alix broke down the Azurite short sword and prepared it for forging back into an ingot to begin from scratch. They only had a few tools to go around so he was forced to do the brunt of the work alone. The skeletons worked away in the corner. They seemed to be more skilled than he had given them credit for. He hoped they would be able to run the forge and create some basic tools without him. As it was, he was left holding the only serviceable hammer in the place.
It was fairly basic work, heating the blade and then hammering it on the anvil. It folded easily under his strikes, compressing into a thick bar. He felt his muscles growing under his shirt as he worked. Soon he had to strip down under the sweltering heat from the forge, but with his new skills and titles, he felt perfectly at ease, the forge no more than an old familiar friend. Tifayn worked the bellows and Mr Bones kept the fire well fed.
When the ingot was ready, he began to hammer it to form, continuing to fold the metal as he did, until he had long lost count of its layers. The ring guided his movements, and he felt a power flowing through it, into the Azurite. He thought of what he wanted and the ring made it happen, the Azurite lengthening into the shape of a sword again. Suddenly he realised that he was being drawn towards the work, that he wouldn’t be able to stop at this point no matter how hard he tried. If anyone tried to stop him, he would fight them to the death.
He forgot the skeletons, Tifayn and Mr Bones as he hammered away, forgot himself as he shaped the edges and crafted the tang. He didn’t notice when they stopped their own jobs to watch him work. The blade became longer than the piece he had started with, until something told him it was time to stop. It felt like waking up from a dream, and he suddenly noticed the eyes on him, or the stares from where eyes had been. The skeletons were somehow able to convey a range of emotions without them. He shoved the blade back into the fire.
Alix knew that it was time to heat treat the blade. He asked the ring how, and the ring told him what to do, turning him towards a curious stone pit carved into the floor.
I need oil, he thought, and he once again found what he needed in his inventory. A mixture of seed, plant and wood oils pooled as a viscous in the carved pit. With a pair of tongs he grabbed the shining blade and dropped it in the oil.
The blade hissed and smoked, until it had cooled. Then he grabbed the blade and pulled it from the pit. The Azurite came out perfectly straight, and it had turned a glossy black, whorled elaborate patterns hiding just beneath the glossy surface. It was a lot longer than the blade he had started with, yet it somehow felt lighter and more balanced.
Alix took a quick drink of water before returning to his work. Some of the wood he had harvested had been used to repair the frame of the forges grinding wheels, and he used them to sharpen the blade. Once he was pleased with the edge, he plunged the blade back into the fire one last time, performed a final tempering, and then stopped to admire his work, and as he did so, his notification bell went again.
* Reached Lv. 12.
Alix never imaged he would be able to craft such a fine piece. He had always admired those that could accomplish such things with their hands.
“That is a fine blade, my lord,” Mr Bones said, breaking the silence. It was still strange, hearing words coming from the bones, but it was stranger still that he was getting used to it. The others muttered amongst themselves, in their own language of clacking bones.
Alix was unwilling to stop and speak until he had completely finished the blade. He dug through his Woodworking crafting menu until he found what he was looking for, a basic sword hilt. He crafted the hilt and pulled it from his inventory, already pre drilled for the tang. He burned the handle onto the hilt, and then a name appeared above the sword.
Xilian.
Alix thought it was strange that the sword had a name of its own, considering he had just been going for a plain Azurite sword, something that would hold up against Tifayn’s swings.
“Well done, Alix. I didn’t expect you to be able to craft such an extraordinary sword so easily,” Tifayn said once he had the finished blade in hand. He could barely remember half of the steps he had taken to complete it. He passed the sword over for her to examine when she wouldn’t take her eyes off of it.
“I don’t think there’s anything extraordinary about it really. I feel like the sword did most of the work,” Alix replied, although his body was still the one that had taken the brunt of the work and his muscles ached. He drank a tonic as Tifayn poured over the sword, inspecting every inch of it from every angle. “It is called Xilian. Does that mean anything?”
“That is what is extraordinary about it. I can tell it isn’t a normal Azurite blade. Only swords imbued with their creator’s magic become sentient enough to name themselves.”
“Are you saying this sword is alive?” Alix asked. He couldn’t deny that he felt a bond with it, although he thought that was just pride at his accomplishment. He was more eager to wield and train with this sword than the wooden one.
“In a way. It has only just been forged, but as you grow, it will grow alongside you, and the more you use it, the stronger it will become.”
That seemed a bit overpowered to Alix, but he had to keep reminding himself that was the way things were in this world. He couldn’t let anything surprise him or he would have no chance at surviving. He had pondered curling up into a ball somewhere and hiding for the rest of his life, but he knew that wasn’t an option. The ring had made it clear that he couldn’t hide from what was coming. Once the five years were up, the rings and their wearers will be compelled to come together and fight until there was only one of them left standing. He would have to make use of every overpowered weapon and spell he could think of, even if it did feel a bit like he was cheating, although if RPGs had thought him anything, it was that the first sword he received was nowhere near the strongest in the game. Either Xilian would grow into that weapon or he would have to find it elsewhere.
To Alix it had only felt like an hour or so since he had begun working in the forge, but by the time his senses returned to him, the sun was beginning to set and he realised it had taken most of the day to finish the sword. The cold began to blow in the open double doors. Alix felt bad that they hadn’t managed to make any other preparations for their journey, but by the time he was finished crafting Xilian, he was too exhausted to do anything else. It felt like when the sword dumped a load of information on him all at once. He just hoped he didn’t pass out for days again this time.
They let the fire die down and Alix and Tifayn retreated to their rooms. The skeletons that never tired headed off to work returned to their smelting. Mr Bones assured him they would be able to handle the forge themselves from now on, as long as they had a supply of fuel and materials. Alix thanked them for their work, and then fell into bed, exhausted, and Tifayn curled up beside him.