A Guide to Smithing Vertasium, Book of the People of Rangrim'

The metal is malleable when hot, hard when cooled. It actively stores ambient Mana, which makes it a danger to have in any smithy. By Decree of the Smith-Primus, only those who can prove a 'Master' Level with relevant smithing Skills will be granted access to this metal.

Alejandro and I watch as Hakim jogs toward us, picking up his pace and straightening his back upon catching sight of us. We’d been waiting for roughly an hour at this point, Alejandro having promptly arrived at sunrise and taken a seat without speaking a word. We sat side by side as the sun rose over the horizon, watching the light burn away the mist and dew.

It takes Hakim another few minutes to reach us, trying his best to appear as if he isn’t winded despite his heaving chest. Poorly hidden smiles break out on both our faces as we devolve into coughing to try and conceal our amusement. He’s trying so hard and the last thing I want to do is discourage his work ethic.

“Reporting for duty, sir.” He manages to get out while making unflinching eye contact with me. The respect and admiration that they previously held only seems to have been amplified during our time apart. I hadn’t even thought that was possible.

A gruff voice from my left answers him, taking the words right out of my mouth. “Calm down kid. We’re not military.”

Glaring at Alejandro, Hakim whips out a response almost instinctively. “I wasn’t talking to you old man.”

A deep and hearty chuckle is Alejandro’s only response, he turns towards me, a single eyebrow raised in an unspoken question. I briefly consider the request before nodding my head in approval. It’s obvious that Hakim has an inflated sense of his own worth and both Alejandro and I know the best solution for that: a fight.

“One on one. Loser submits.”

Not waiting for a response, he walks back over to the pile he brought back with him and roots around for a few seconds before withdrawing a few items. The first item is a gauntlet that he slips onto his right hand. Were it not for the pulsing purple streaks running vertically down the gauntlet, I’d have assumed it was made of steel or iron. The size and thickness of the armor would suggest a massive weight but Alejandro maneuvers it onto his arm without any difficulty. Whether that is due to Attributes or a light material, I don’t know.

Hakim’s eyes widen in shock but he doesn’t back down, immediately beginning his warm up routine. In a juvenile attempt to intimidate his opponent, he begins spinning and jumping around in a series of acrobatic moves that, despite looking impressive, leave him wide open to dozens of possible attacks.

Obviously the kid’s impressions of a fight are still based on TV shows and movies. The truth is far more brual. Fighting isn’t some long choreographed dance, it’s a rough, heartless, and quick brawl. More often than not, the winner isn’t the more skilled person but the more ruthless one. The person willing to fight dirty and use everything to their advantage.

While Hakim dances around, Alejandro picks up a long forging hammer made entirely of the strange iron grey metal, tinged with the purple streaks that seem to flicker weakly like candle light in a deep cave. It draws my eyes in and I find myself appreciating the curves and craftsmanship with each passing second. The back of the hammer tapers down to a sharp spike, allowing him to pierce through armor, while the front widens and flattens out into a square surface. The hammer, already be a beautiful piece of work were it made of regular metal, is elevated to a new level by its strange substance.

Alejandro then stands up and cracks his neck, his entire demeanor switching from the relaxed and quiet aura that he projects to the world into one of ferocity and ruthlessness. He begins walking towards Hakim and, for the first time, I see fear in the young man’s eyes. He’d underestimated the thick bull of a man walking towards him and was now going to pay the price.

To his credit, he brushes off the fear quite quickly and runs over to grab a spear from his pile of weapons. It’s a smart move, keeping his distance from the short range of his opponent’s hammer. Falling into a simplistic spearman’s stance, he crouches and sets his feet, eyes locked onto his approaching foe.

Alejandro doesn’t seem to care about the spear, lunging forward the moment he gets within ten feet of Hakim, who reacts by stepping and stabbing forward. The strike goes right over Alejandro’s shoulder as he slips underneath it in one smooth motion. Raising his hammer, he strikes.

The weapon comes crashing down on the shaft of the spear. Instead of knocking it out of Hakim’s hand, the blow causes a massive wave of force that erupts outward. The wooden shaft shatters into pieces and splinters go flying outwards. A veritable explosion of wood, the thin pieces cuts though the exposed skin of both of them. Blood begins to well up and fall down their hands. The spearhead, spinning through the sky, catches a ray of light and sends it shimmering over the battlefield as Hakim stands there awestruck.

Alejandro then jumps back, not capitalizing on his opponent’s lack of weapon. Hakim seems unable to comprehend the viciousness with which he was disarmed. Good, he needed the lesson. I see a healthy respect form on his face as he looks up at Alejandro, the previous arrogance in his eyes now absent. If there’s one thing that the kid seems to respect, it’s strength. Not the most dangerous way to go through life but one that will result in him missing the people whose talents lie in other fields. That’s something I’ll have to work on later. There’s more to life than strength.

“Again.” The gruff voice brings Hakim out of his awed shock and a smile breaks out on his face. The kid obviously loves sparring.

After eight more bouts and weapons, Hakim throws the hilt of his now destroyed sword, the last of the weapons he brought with him, into the ground with a yell of frustration. “Dammit!”

Alejandro places the hammer down on the ground as he chuckles, unstrapping the gauntlet and throwing it on the ground. All traces of his surprising wrathful visage are gone and the familiar monosyllabic and gruff attitude is back. A small part of me wonders where he managed to cultivate such a terrifying and effective personality to adopt in battle, or if the emotions are ones that he keeps bottled up until a fight is imminent. Although it doesn’t make a difference to me either way, I’m still curious to understand all my team members…. even Carmen, despite the pang of frustration that her name brings with it.

“How did you manage to strike with so much force? I swear, each attack was like getting hit by a truck!” Hakim pesters the gruff Technocrat. All traces of arrogance and disrespect were completely wiped away during their first bout and the subsequent bouts replaced the feelings with a large amount of respect and admiration.

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“Metal. Amplifies my hits.” He responds, picking up the two pieces and placing them carefully back into his arranged pile of tools. I walk over to it and stare down at the hammer, entranced by the strange pulsing of the purple metal. I feel something inside of it, a familiar presence that I’m unable to place. It almost feels like … Mana.

While kneeling near the pile, I look up at Alejandro to ask him a question and I’m once again reminded of his size. He may not be tall, but the man is incredibly thick and dense. “What is this metal? It almost feels like there’s … Mana inside of it.”

For the first time since I’ve met him, surprise hits Alejandro’s eyes and he kneels down beside me, picking the metal up and staring at it with a sparkle in his eyes. “This is what got me Technocrat. Malleable when hot, unyielding when cooled. Also stores some sort of energy. Got it to power an old radio.”

The passion and excitement in his voice startles me as another facet of Alejandro’s personality opens up to me. In fact, I’m almost positive that his little explanation is the longest reply he’s ever given me. When you count this along with his usual demeanor and his battle persona, he’s obviously a man of many layers.

That thought, however, is a fleeting one and quickly tossed to the side so I can concentrate on the more important matter at hand. If it’s truly possible for this metal to power appliances that used to run on electricity … we may have a way to recover from the destruction of Genesis far quicker than our initial plans. My parents and I had planned on trying to repair a few windmills and solar panels with Alejandro’s help but this metal could serve as a quicker, and possibly permanent, solution.

Barely able to keep my own excitement out of my voice, I respond. “Are you telling me that this metal was able to power old world appliances?”

He nods his head sharply, the excitement clear on his own face as he realizes that I reached the same conclusions as him.

My mind is racing asI begin to speak, trying to get all my thoughts out so that Alejandro can offer his own perspective on them. “If it truly is Mana within that metal … it implies that Mana can serve as an energy source Hell, it doesn’t even need to be a direct connection … if we can use the metal as storage. If we could figure out a way to control the flow out … a way to turn it on and off …”

He quickly picks up on my idea, nodding along and speaking when I am silent for a few seconds. “Localized power supply. You sure it’s Mana?”

Unable to wait any longer, I pick the metal up and close my eyes. I’m able to feel a strange … fold within my Field. Focusing in on the fold, it takes me a decent amount of time to finally pierce through the barrier and take a look at what lies inside it. To my delight and confusion, a slightly obfuscated mass of Mana hides within the metal. I try to reach out to it in an attempt to manipulate it only to find it completely locked, unresponsive to anything I throw at it.

Bringing myself back, I open my eyes and look at Alejandro with a pensive visage. “To the best of my understanding, it seems as if it’s locked within the metal and unable to be accessed. How did you manage to get it out?”

He shrugs his shoulders as he responds. “It responds to pressure. No idea on the battery aspect. Stumbled onto that.”

I fall deep into thought at his words, reevaluating my impressions about this metal. Maybe the metal is more limited than I initially imagined but that doesn’t make any less exciting. It represents the single best hope for people to return back to a standard of living that somewhat resembles what it used to be.

And it’s with that thought that I pause, finally thinking about the implications. My first idea was to take him back to Everwall this very day, to have him begin working on bringing about the first technological revolution post Genesis. But if we do that, what are the consequences? People are still beginning to get used to this new world and re-introducing elements of the old one at this critical juncture would only weaken us. The people of Everwall need to be strong and resilient, not reliant on a technology that would most likely foster dependence and weakness.

It fills me with guilt, but I decide to keep Alejandro training with me. The people of Everwall will suffer in the short term because of my decision but I’m pinning my choice on the hope that the suffering makes them stronger and more resistant to the harshness of Genesis.

Ignoring his strange look at my long silence, I ask, “How much more of this metal do you have?”

“Twenty pounds or so. Might be a vein near the city. Found it near an old mine.”

“Good. As soon as we get back to the city, I want you to meet with my mom and the other leaders to send out an expedition figure out if there really is a vein of this stuff. For now, I want us to focus on training and getting stronger. Even if this metal has the power to make things easier, we can’t let ourselves become distracted this close to the next Trial. The people are just going to have to tough it out.” I say, stroking my chin in deep thought.

Hiding the implications of my decision from them might be easier in the short run but it could lead to distrust in the long run. Although, if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t think Alejandro would have been fooled if I offered some other explanation. The man nods as I speak and his face seems to suggest that he agrees. I’m lucky to have found someone who is as understanding as he is skilled.

I talk to him for a few more minutes, trying to plan out a few more uses for the rest of the metal that he brought with him. I then turn to Hakim, his bored face showing that he obviously doesn’t care for our talk of the metal’s possibilities and implications.

“How are your Mana Skills coming along? Were you able to manifest Mana?”

His face morphs into shame and frustration at my question, the answer obvious. “No I wasn’t. I’m able to move it around my body easily enough but I can’t seem to get it past my skin. It feels … it’s like my skin is too thick of barrier and it just absorbs any Mana that is able to leak through.”

It’s hard to watch his frustration, as I want to help him grow stronger but I have no frame of reference for what he’s dealing with. My Mana never had any issues flowing out of my skin. Am I the anomaly or is he? Does there exist a sort of Innate affinity for Mana skills beyond what our Status Pages show us?

We spend the next hour working on his Mana manipulation. I watch as he tries to extract the Mana inside of his body and manifest it in the outside world but he never manages to take that final step. Instead, it seems as if he was accurate in his description. His skin absorbs any and all Mana that manages to escape, though, on the flip side, his Mana does seem to be obeying his commands and maintains its high concentration within his hand.

In another example of our differences, I try to walk him through the steps that unlocked Mana Infusion, my entire focus on his hand in the hope of being able to contain things before they got out of hand. Instead of ripping through his body like it did for mine, his Mana seems to flow through him with an ease that I can barely believe. I’ve been manipulating Mana for over a year and his ability to move his throughout his body rivals my own. His skin is his sole limiting factor for an otherwise perfect mana affinity.

As I consider this and vocalize what the issue is, Alejandro, back in his gruff mood now that we’re no longer discussing the strange metal, speaks up.

“Why not use his skin?”

Both Hakim and I look down at him in confusion, unsure what he’s trying to imply. He lets out a little sigh and then pulls the Sigil out of his pocket, holding it up to the light to expose the runes carved onto it.

“Mana powers this thing. Might work on your skin.”

The implications of his idea hit me like a freight train, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities I hadn’t even begun to consider earlier. Hakim is less quick to understand, once again tilting his head in confusion and asking, “What do you mean? How can I power a ring?”

I answer that, saving Alejandro from having to explain any further. “He’s not talking about a ring, he’s talking about your body. If you can’t manifest your Mana outside of your body, why not see if it can power something that is on your body?”

“How would we get those on my body though?”

Alejandro chuckles as he replies, “Tattoos.”