Chapter 37: Critical Success
TRISTAN
What had started as a slow walk back to his room had turned into a near sprint once he’d realized that Jamal had called him “swordsmith.” Tristan couldn’t wait to spend some time at his new forge. His brain was churning even faster than his legs as he pondered what exactly he would work on first.
But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t get away from one idea in particular: crafting something to resist or negate debuffs. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d fought so many enemies that had inflicted them, from the half-giant Bernhardt, to the oozes, to even Aaric himself--though the ice mage was more about slows and freezes than damage over time effects. DoTs, he corrected himself, still struggling to remember all the terms Sophie said he should just know ‘because that’s what the whole rest of the realm calls it.’
How could he work that kind of effect into something he could craft? What type of gear would even take that kind of property? He had no way to know other than to test them out, so that’s what he’d do.
By the time he got back to his room, he’d already worked out a list of things to try. Its order was a combination of ease (which was why rings were first, and gauntlets were last), enjoyment, and likelihood. Swords ended up closer to the top than breastplates, even though it was widely acknowledged that breastplates could take almost any property--other than those that ended up being exclusive to weapons. Those types of properties usually ended up being offensive though, and what he wanted was clearly not for attacking. Still, he liked making swords more than armor, so he’d try them in that order.
Unsurprisingly, it turned out that rings either wouldn’t work, or he simply didn’t have the right techniques yet. After an hour of cutting and shaping and sizing, he’d gotten several interesting creations, but nothing that would actually help against debuffs or DoTs. His only real success was making [The 1s Ring], which surprised him by being an uncommon item that gave +1 to all his stats. Tristan honestly had kind of neglected his basic gear, and he was slightly embarrassed when he took off his old [Simple Ring] due to how small its bonus to max health now seemed. The new ring gave nearly the same effect while also raising all his other stats.
While it was a clear upgrade, it still wasn’t what he’d wanted. He wasn’t even sure how he’d made that property either, because he couldn’t reproduce it. So, rather than continue to bash his head against it, he moved on to other types of gear.
Tristan knew that necklaces were just a small step up in complexity, but he’d been down that path before, and honestly he didn’t love the whole jewelry-making process. So he skipped them and moved down his list to bracers. This was another place where his current equipment was outdated, since it was labeled as “simple” with only one property: [Reinforced]. While it added armor, it was only a single point, and that wasn’t what he wanted on his replacement.
But try as he might, Tristan simply couldn’t get the steel bracers to grasp the concept of debuff resistance. The best he got was a straight upgrade to what he’d been wearing, getting a second point of armor on common rarity [Rough Bracers]. He supposed more armor would help him some, but it definitely wasn’t what he was working toward right now. It was also worth noting that the tier 2 bracers did add a little bit of health innately, which was a nice bonus.
By this point, Tristan was tired of making little progress. He’d given the other armor types a fair chance, but they’d proven to be disappointments. It was time to get back to his real love and joy. He couldn’t explain how or why he was always drawn to making swords. Perhaps he just had a better feel for what the metal wanted to be when shaping it into a sword. Perhaps his Core gave him extra help as it supplied more of his soul to replace the basic materials. Or perhaps more of his soul just wanted to be in the swords.
Whatever the reason, Tristan had a much better feeling the moment he started shaping this sword than he had with any of his previous projects. He toiled over the forge, taking his time, and focused his thoughts on what this sword needed to do. He thought about the stinking oozes, and how just being near them seemed to whittle his health down. He remembered the weariness he’d felt while watching Bernhardt’s bleed stack grow, and how hard he’d had to work as it ticked down with agonizing slowness.
He needed to be able to prevent that from ever happening again. Knowing that he would go after that Progenitor Ooze from Sharing Cross eventually, he would need to be better prepared.
He worked the steel for two full hours, honing the blade’s edges to the best of his ability. He felt it growing thicker as his Core supplemented the materials he’d put into it. He even put a decent twist on the crossguard, trying to give it a little flair this time.
In the end, however, after the final heat treatment was done and he looked at the sword with [Identify], it ended up being just a pretty-looking [Greatsword (common)]. It didn’t have a single property to its name, which meant despite the great increase in damage from being a tier 2 weapon, it was totally unusable for Tristan’s purposes. It was a shame, too, because he’d really grown to like the ashen gray color that it had taken on in the end. It was almost matte, reflecting far less of the light than he’d ever seen from any other sword. He would have to reproduce something like it some day, because he just couldn’t justify keeping this one, not with as low on materials as he was starting to be.
He would have to melt it down and reforge the whole thing.
He scolded himself in retrospect. I should have gone into those upper passages in the dungeon with Sophie. It was a mine, and I left all that blessed ore behind! It was yet another lesson to take with him going forward: always take an opportunity to gather crafting mats. Because while his growth materials bag was getting bigger with levels, its contents were shrinking much more quickly. Sadly, he could do nothing about it now.
He spent a minute examining his newest sword, just to see what he could learn before scrapping it. It had a good balance, and the edge was fine, but overall it seemed a bit too plain. The color was the only part of the sword he really enjoyed.
With no other lessons to learn from the failure, the whole blessed thing went back into the forge.
It was late by the time he heated and worked it back into a billet. He could tell he was pushing the upward limit of what his Endurance could maintain. Every once in a while his attention slipped a bit. His hammer hit slightly off-target, or too hard, and twice he lost his own rhythm, slowing down the swings too much. He had to admit that maybe he’d pushed himself a little too hard the past couple days, and maybe it was time for rest. And though he hated leaving the project unfinished, at least he’d returned the metal to a decent starting place for next time.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
He cleaned up his workspace and wondered how many “next times” he would have in the future. Not just for this project necessarily, but down the full length of his whole Path. He’d never really thought about it before. How many successes and how many failures would he have? How many successes because of his failures? His father had long since taught him that every mistake is just a learning opportunity.
This night’s work would be no different, in the end. He might have failed tonight, but at least he’d learned one more thing that wouldn’t work. Tomorrow would be better.
If there was one thing Tristan was certain about, it was that he wouldn’t stop trying until he could find a way to either minimize or outright prevent some of the damage over time effects that had been so troublesome on his journey so far.
- - - - -
It took him a full week of late nights, which were all the more exhausting after long days of training, but eventually, through all of his failures and new insights, Tristan finally had a breakthrough and was able to create the [Oozebane Greatsword]. He’d gotten an amazing notification immediately, truly putting into perspective how great a breakthrough this had been:
Critical success! You have crafted a (Rare) item.
Bonus experience gained for all your crafting Classes.
The notification wasn’t joking either about the bonus experience. He’d earned easily triple what his prior crafts had earned him. Then again, this greatsword had challenged him more than any previous project, too.
Though his Core might say otherwise, Tristan felt like he’d poured his whole soul into this creation. With each attempt and subsequent failure, he’d felt like he didn’t have the concept quite right. For this most recent attempt, he’d spent time refining a single idea in his head until it was exactly what he wanted. He’d practically relived every interaction he’d ever had with damage-over-time effects, despite the fact that it meant revisiting the memories of some of the vilest oozes he’d ever encountered.... And the death of a comrade.
He didn’t lie to himself about the impact Jacques’ death had had on him. But in genuinely opening up about what he’d felt and experiencing those moments again, he’d felt a connection form in his sword. He didn’t have any other words to describe it. He’d just known, immediately, that this crafting session would not be a failure.
Now, as he leaned back and rested his exhausted arms, Tristan let his [Identify] show him his success:
[Oozebane Greatsword (rare)]: [Incorruptible], [Oozebane], Soulbound
A sword forged from the steel and memories of a determined blacksmith seeking to learn from past encounters.
Several pieces stood out there, not the least of which was the fact that this rare greatsword came with two properties in addition to the everpresent Soulbound. Obviously he expanded each, because he had never seen their like before. He could guess by their names, but he wanted to know exactly what he’d managed to make.
[Incorruptible] While wielding this sword, negate all damage from enemy damage-over-time effects.
[Oozebane] While wielding this sword, deal increased damage to oozes and reduce damage taken from oozes by 25%
In combination, the two properties were everything he had hoped for and more. He’d originally hoped for something purely defensive. To that end, the first property would have been way more than enough. But to see the second property... to have created something so perfectly designed to aid in his never-ending battle against the villainous oozes that plagued not just him, but the realm? He was beyond proud. He felt seen. As he raised the huge sword with one hand, he had to admit that it felt good in his grip. It was heavy, sure, but so were all greatswords, and he began to realize just how little that was starting to bother him. It wasn’t just the difference that his training with Jamal had made either. There was something about this sword that just fit him. He could feel its blade, its edge, and its grip as though they were all part of him.
Taking the sword in both hands, he proceeded to go through several of his training exercises and sword forms. The whole time, the blade flitted and danced through the air with much more control than his [Hope’s Aspiration] ever had. He loved the way it felt in his hands, and honestly, he wondered if using it as his primary weapon wouldn’t be better for him in the long term.
But then what would he do with [Hope’s Aspiration]? It had been his first real greatsword, and though it might not be as strong as his new tier 2 sword, its unique [Brightshield] property was incredibly powerful and had already won him a fight that he might have lost otherwise. With his quick-swap ability, couldn't he just use them both interchangeably? That would mean losing instant access to his longsword and shield though. Would it be worth it? He could see benefits for both gear sets, as they were very different in what they offered.
Maybe, if I can’t decide, I’ll ask Jamal what he thinks.
The greatsword could put out more damage, and it offered the ability to completely avoid one instance of damage. But the shield could block more damage overall while also allowing him to heal a bit. Admittedly, now that he'd leveled more, the amount it healed didn't feel quite as impressive as it had back then, but it was still significantly more than nothing. On the other hand, Tristan had done the majority of his training with Jamal using a greatsword, and he knew his skills with it far surpassed what he could do with a simple longsword. Especially with how much they'd been working on the Roving Blade technique, he might actually be better defensively with a greatsword than with the shield.
I wish I had another open switch slot so I could save all three options, he thought sadly, but that was not yet the case. Tristan pulled his sword and shield from storage and sighed slightly. The sword was only something he’d repaired, and it lacked any of the flourishes he’d grown to love and add to all his crafts. But it was still his, and it had served him well. The shield, on the other hand, he had made, and its creation was still one of his proudest memories. Looking at it now, though, he couldn’t help but see that it had taken a serious beating in the duel and was badly in need of repair. He hadn’t gotten around to it yet because... well, he'd been focusing his attention elsewhere.
I'll come back to them eventually, he supposed as he switched the new [Oozebane Greatsword] into the gear set that had held the longsword and shield. In an instant, the beautiful new blade disappeared into the magical storage just beyond his fingertips. Resummoning it immediately, Tristan didn’t regret switching out the set in the slightest. In fact, it gave him still further ideas--about how maybe down the road he could specialize multiple swords to fill different roles, not just tanking. He could move out of shields completely and just have a sword for whatever he felt he might need!
His excitement died down a bit as he saw the bulky shield and rusty longsword resting on the ground beside him. Of course, now he would have to either carry them on him at all times now or simply go without.
Maybe I’ll leave them behind just for now. As soon as I get a third gear set, I’ll use them again. Probably.
Switching back to his newest weapon once again, he admired its form and feel, then slid it into the sheath for safekeeping, set it gently on the table beside his bed, and finally gave in to the tiredness that had been hounding him for days.