Deep iron was a gray so dark it was almost black. To his metal affinity, the material felt heavy and important in a way Cole couldn't quite describe. It was more real than normal iron, if that made any sense. The cost of just three ingots had bankrupted Mary for the day, so he was going to make them count.

They had debated for a short time over what the smith would make. Obviously something with ease of use as the Merchant hadn't trained with anything bladed before. All her skill was in scamming the customers dry, every penny she bled out of them showing just how much of that skill she had. Cole had learned a long time ago not to negotiate with Mary. It would not end well for you or your wallet. She was a kindhearted and cheerful person, but she had her vices like all humans, the largest being pure monetary greed. She didn't mind giving that money away or using it on superfluous things. It wasn't the wealth, it was the act of getting it. The challenge. In that way, she and her former employer were alike. If Earth had a Chosen Merchant, it would almost certainly have been Mary.

So, he had decided to think of the simplest weapons he knew. There were three contenders. They all weren't at all easy to master or even use efficiently, but against an enemy with as little knowledge as you they would do fine.

The first was a mace, the simplest of them all. Maces could come in a variety of different versions, but the most common was just a spiked ball on a stick. This would use very little metal and was rather easy to use at a beginner level. The heavy end hits the enemy, goes bonk, and the fight is over. Blunt damage would be great against the wolves, as they had proved their hides could slow his claymore significantly. But it would be heavy, and Mary didn't have a pocket dimension floating around. Not yet, at least. The second she learned about spacial storage she started hounding him to make one.

The second was a sabre. It would use the most of the deep iron, but would also have the most space for runes once he leaned to combine them. A sabre was a relatively thin curved sword that was long for a one-handed weapon. It was similar to rapiers in that it was used for dueling, but similar to cutlasses in that it was mainly making use of a cutting edge. The blade itself was normally a bit thin in order to reduce weight. It would be a stylish and practical weapon. Swing the sharp end at what attacks you.

Finally, a spear. Spears were some of the first weapons ever made by humanity for a reason. Boiled down to their basest form, they were sharp rocks on a stick. But inversely, the skill ceiling for a spear was incredibly high, and a lifetime could be spent trying to master the weapon. They were lighter than a purely metal weapon, so long as he kept the spear slightly on the shorter side, and would use the least metal out of all three choices.

Now, good news and bad news. The good news was that Mary decided on the spear, meaning that Cole would have some extra deep iron to play around with. The bad news was that the Merchant had smelled blood in the water, and laid claim to half of whatever he made with the material. Apparently, even what he got was just his 'killing a monstrous wolf that probably would have found and killed her' cut. Future deals would be far more predatory. Her Credits, her deep iron.

Even now the woman was sitting at the forge's enchanting table, scrolling through her Galactic Market with a predator's gaze. She had told the smith that she was searching for a way to increase her funds besides forcing him to be a productive member of society and share his weapons. Whatever he made with the deep iron she was owed and anything else she negotiated for down the line would just supplement the income.

She was searching specifically for something passive. Once Cole learned how to make spatial storages, Mary could just throw an entire garden's worth of expensive plants in an enchanted item small enough to work as jewelry. Some of the more advanced storages even had a time contraction, allowing anything inside to grow or ferment far faster. The Merchant could make a killing if she took up alchemy as a hobby. Or more than that, if she managed to unlock a fusion class.

But that was still a long way off. Spatial storages had very specific limits due to how they were enchanted. The runic phrases used were usually a variation of 'store weapons', 'store plants', or 'store clothes'. Unless you were willing to add two extra runes for 'and ____', just having multiple rings was best. Time dilation or contraction was even worse, needing an extra two to three runes depending on how advanced you wanted it. 'Greater accelerate time' was a monstrosity of a runic phrase even without the actual storage runes.

Cole hadn't had a good opportunity to observe the appearance changes in anyone else yet, seeing as all of last night was spent in the dark back of the shop. Mary hadn't been changed too much, but the differences were still there. Her tanned skin had lost almost all flaws, her green eyes were darting around in ways that implied she could think a lot faster now, and despite her lack of fitness pre-mana, there was now some muscle visible in her arms. The path she was set on would likely focus on improving her mind, and her affinity just reinforced the idea.

Both the smith and the Merchant didn't quite know what the mind affinity did. So far, Mary thought faster and that was about it. Mana control didn't seem to come as intuitively to her as it did to Cole, but the passive benefit was pretty good anyway. She wanted to focus on her Credits before she got into magic, which was fair considering her class. But enough of all that, it was time to forge a spear.

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A single ingot of deep iron was tossed into the forge, which was already raging with forcefire. The silvery flames, as energetic as ever, burst up as they encountered the mana metal. That perpetual need to be used was temporarily forgotten as it recognized a worthy material. The claymore was a masterpiece and would likely stay as a sentimental piece long after he outgrew it, but the first fully magical weapon he forged was about to be created.

The deep iron took significantly longer than the mundane version to heat up. It glowed a subdued red when it did, not even close to the bright white of hot iron. Cole took it to the anvil and with the artic iron hammer, which had been sitting at the edge of the flames to harden, struck the metal with enough force to shatter bones. The only reaction was a small ding and an indent in the metal about as deep as a pin.

This was going to be a challenge. Good.

The next three grueling hours were spent on a single step. Just below the halfway point of the metal, blow after blow rang down to dent it. Each swing barely had a visible impact, but Cole's Rank increase accentuated his already lengthy endurance, so the hammer just kept doing its work. The minutes flew by as the smith only ever deviated from his position in order to reheat the metal, and slowly, oh so slowly, the first change to the ingot came together.

The ingot had been turned into a slight hourglass shape with the narrowest point being just over halfway up the bar. Three hours for a change that small on a single ingot was slower than Cole was used to, but the motions were almost therapeutic. It had been too long since he had something new to forge. Adding runes to the claymore didn't count, enchanting was a separate process. The deep iron affected the smithing itself, and the new challenge it provided was welcomed wholeheartedly.

Next, he would shape the blade, which would take form from the shorter side of the ingot. The blade would require far more precision than the hourglass shaping had, and that was without counting sharpening. It would end up being a three-sided arrow shape, focused on stabbing attacks but capable of slashing if need be. Opposed to something like a pike, which could only stab and batter with the shaft, this kind of spear would hold far more versatility.

The process was slow, not only due to the material's unnatural durability but also due to how it absorbed the force of the hammer blows. The way it was structured, or perhaps how mana enhanced it, caused it to distribute the strain across a larger area than a mundane weapon. The smith had to take an incredible amount of care not to undo his past work, just to finish his current segment. Working with a single part of the metal was practically impossible, as the whole creation took a portion of the force.

But he was Cole Vance. The blade formed, slowly, but it formed. It was about five inches from the tip to the point where the metal narrowed. It was triangular, to help mitigate any magic or mundane healing enemies might have. Triangular stab wounds were way more difficult to stitch shut, so taking care of them was far harder. Magic healing might just ignore that, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

The spear would most certainly be best for piercing and stabbing, but slashing with the tip was still possible despite the shape. The edges were still better than a pike's, so the ways to use the blade would be versatile. Mary didn't know much about fighting with spears anyway, so wild swings and stabs would likely be what the weapon was most used for.

The other side of the ingot, the longer one, would be the socket. Cole hammered away at this side for hours as well, although thankfully he didn't have to be quite as careful. This end only needed to be circular, so the distributive properties of the metal were less disruptive. The socket ended at just about a foot long, ready to be attached to the shaft of the spear once it was hollowed out.

The smith, for once, did a purposely shitty job with that step. The inside of the socket was hollowed out so that the shaft could be attached, but it was filled with little ridges and divots. The small ledges and lack of any smooth surface would normally make the whole thing worthless, as there was no possible way that the haft of the weapon would fit without being mangled or far too loose.

But that was if the wood was inserted. If it were magically summoned, say by someone who still wanted more practice with conjuration, the wood could be perfectly shaped to that socket. Instead of impeding the weapon's assembly and lowering its quality, the imperfections would have the rest of the weapon formed around them, making the wood fit to the spearhead in a way impossible in the old world. There was no empty space or pockets of air within the socket, as the two parts of the weapon were perfect fits for each other.

The rest of the shaft was perfectly straight and ended about five feet below the spearhead. Even getting it that long had been pushing the limits of his mana pool, needing all the benefits from his increased rank and mana practice to pull it off. He had to wait several minutes before he could conjure some leather for a grip, but once he did the handle was wrapped and the weapon was almost complete.

Mary had already gone to sleep again in the corner by the bookshelf, so the enchanting table was free. Beforehand they had gone through some of the simpler runes and decided on what Mary's spear would have. She had decided on a symbol meaning 'sharp', which was about as basic as you could get with a weapon enchantment. The rune was made of six simple lines. One was a swirl at the top of the rune, and the rest were an intertwining spike rising up to meet it.

The smith only had to carve the rune once due to the small size of the blade, but even that was had. Deep iron tools on a deep iron blade damaged each other an equal amount, so his chisel was fairly bent by the time he was done. It would likely only last for another handful of quality creations, one of which should probably be a new chisel. But it was enough for the spear eventually, and Mary's weapon was complete.

A damn good pointy stick.