Book 1: Chapter 35: The First Step

Book 1: Chapter 35: The First Step

Carmen stood in front of her forge, staring at the flames. She had built the thing herself, and to exacting specifications. However, she knew just how much room there was for improvement. Still, as she walked around it and inspected the brickwork, she was more than happy with the results.

The forge itself was a little more than waist high, made of thick bricks she’d made herself using a local clay deposit she’d found near the lake. The process hadn’t been as onerous as she’d expected, and it had been made even simpler via copious use of her archetype techniques. Idly, she inspected her technique list:

Archetype: Tradesman

A versatile crafter who can create a wide variety of goods.

Required Aspect:

[Scholar] [Magic]

Techniques

Bond

Using Ethera, bond two materials together.

Fracture

Harness Ethera to break a material

Summon Tool

Summon one of the following temporary tools: mining pick, blacksmith’s hammer, shears, knife, woodsman’s axe

Ethereal Infusion

Imbue an item with Ethera.

Minor Enchantment

Imbue an item with the minor enchantment: durability

Decontaminate

Remove contaminants from a raw material

Tradesman’s Appraisal

Gain basic information on your creation.

Refine Material

Enhance the basic properties of a material. Only usable on pure substances.

Crafter’s Stamina

Gain one (1) point of Constitution per level.

Resist Fire

Enhance resistance to fire and heat.

Shape

Reshape a material with raw Ethera.

Meld Metals

Create an alloy from two metals.

Minor Embellishment

In the end, it took another four or five hours before she finished the process. Once it was done, she sagged in exhaustion, both mental and physical. But she was only getting started. Sure, the spear was fine as it was. It would do the job. Yet it required two more steps before she could call it complete.

First, though, Carmen needed some rest. She’d been at it for almost an entire day straight, and though her endurance was augmented by Crafter’s Stamina, it could only do so much. So, she stashed the spear in a corner and headed home to eat and sleep. Fortunately, Alyssa had taken Miguel out into the wilderness, where she was teaching him the lessons her father had taught her. Hunting, fishing, tracking – all sorts of wilderness survival skills that were even more important now than they had been when she’d learned them.

Her meal wasn’t terribly satisfying. Just a hunk of bread, a few berries Alyssa had gathered, and some dried meat. Normally, she would have taken the meal in one of the communal dining halls, but that would have come with a host of social obligations she had no time to meet. So, she suffered through her meal, then washed off as best she could before going to bed.

Sleep came fast and ended even more quickly, and soon enough she was back at the forge. Technically, she could have finished everything at the cabin, but she had no intention of taking her work home.

Sitting near the forge, she held the spear across her lap. After spending quite some time inspecting it for any flaws she might have missed, she decided that its quality was good enough to take the next step. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best she could do.

For now.

She felt positive that, one day, she could make something far more impressive. After all, the crafting guides Alyssa had bought from the Branch of the World Tree suggested the existence of rare, powerful materials. And she knew her journey as a crafter had only just begun.

No – there were many powerful items in her future. But every journey began with a single step, and her path as a blacksmith started with a single spear.

So, with that in mind, she took the next step.

Using a small knife, she started to carve. As she did, she kept two techniques active. The first, as always, was Ethereal Infusion, which bathed the entire weapon in Ethera. The second was Minor Embellishment, which had two requirements to activate. The first was to simply embrace the technique, using it the same way she used any other. The second requirement was to create some sort of flourish in her crafted product.

According to the crafting guides, it could be something as simple as embedding a jewel into a tiara, but it hinted that the more appropriate the embellishment was to the item, the more it would boost the eventual quality of the end result. However, the guide acknowledged that there was some debate on the subject as well, and it said that some crafters had posited that the appropriateness of the embellishment was subject to the crafter’s opinion. In short, if she thought it fit, then that was all that mattered.

Carmen wasn’t sure about that, but it really wasn’t all that important, either. She’d known from the very beginning what form the embellishment would take. So, she got to work, carving the shaft with fanciful designs that resembled Renaissance ornaments. But she didn’t stop there, instead continuing onto the spearhead with an engraving tool.

Once she’d finished, Carmen set it on a nearby rack, then stepped back. From a distance, the designs weren’t even visible. However, once someone drew close enough, they would see just how elaborate they were.

It was perfect.

But it wasn’t done.

There were still two more steps. Both were important, but one was far more critical than the other. So, Carmen chose to take care of that one – the Minor Enchantment – first. On the surface, it didn’t seem all that difficult. All she had to do was carve the appropriate symbol into the surface of the weapon while channeling the technique. However, her tests had told her that it was far from simple, and she knew it would require every ounce of her concentration to get it right.

So, Carmen took another break, got some food, and even walked around the settlement for a bit. Once her head was clear, she returned to the forge, placed the spear across her lap, and got to work.

She’d left a small ring of virgin territory in the center of the spearhead, and she targeted that space with her engraving tool. As she did so, Carmen used Minor Enchantment. From experience, she knew it would only make the weapon more durable – a minor effect, just as the name implied – but it was worth it. The last thing she wanted was for the spear to snap at the wrong time, after all. So, Carmen put her all into it, doing her best to regulate the Ethera flowing through her so that she wouldn’t overload the would-be enchantment.

It was no easy task, but she’d practiced enough that she managed it all the same. And then, after a few strokes of her engraving tool, she was finished.

Now, all she needed to do was sharpen the blade and seal the wooden haft with wax.

She took her time, partially because the tasks required it. But mostly, she was loathe to finish the weapon. What if it didn’t prove to be worth the trouble? What if it was just another spear? After everything she’d done, it was still made from mundane materials, after all. But part of her reticence was also because, despite the amount of effort it had taken, she had very much enjoyed the process.

There was something about the act of creating something from nothing that had always appealed to her, and the addition of magic – or Ethera, she supposed – just made it that much more impactful.

But still, she put the finishing touches on it, and just like that, the project was done. It was the product of three days of work and countless hours of practice. She’d arduously gathered the best materials she could, and she’d used every ability at her disposal. Looking back on the process, Carmen didn’t think she could have done anything differently.

So, it was with some sense of satisfaction that she used Tradesman’s Appraisal:

Congratulations! You have created a unique item [Spear of the Dragon Lancer].

Overall Grade: Crude

Enchantment Grade: F

Carmen pumped her fist in celebration, letting out a whoop of excitement. Then, she did an awkward, little dance. And as far as she was concerned, her celebration was well warranted. Until that moment, the best item she’d managed to craft had still never exceeded an unranked overall grade. That she’d stepped up to the next level was an enormous achievement.

Calling something crude wasn’t really flattering, but it represented the first step of magical equipment. According to everything she’d read, it was an enormous leap forward in terms of effectiveness, and even though the Spear of the Dragon Lancer wouldn’t have any fanciful magical powers, it would be nearly unbreakable and would feature a minor self-repair function.

In short, it was everything she’d hoped to achieve.

But having taken that first step, she couldn’t help but look forward to the next. Sure, she’d made a crude magical item, and that was great. Better than great, really. But what would an item with a simple grade look like? Or a complex one?

Before, those goals had seemed almost unreachable. However, now that she’d taken the first step, those heights seemed much more attainable.