Chapter 518 A Ghost That Can Forge?!

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After an entire hour, a knife without handle was done, he had begun to slowly sharpen it using a Sharpening Stone, until the knife could cut through wood with ease.

"And that's how we got ourselves a knife, the handle is done separately but it is also an art by itself, take attention as I make it."

And after twenty more minutes, Darfu presented me a beautiful new knife.

"And that's how you do it." He said with a smile. "It is a pretty good knife, this one alone could sell for a few gold coins, I am very good at making my products so they end with high quality."

"Amazing, Darfu! I never thought making a weapon would take so long, from the smelting process all the way into the weapon itself… You also need to be rather capable at handing leather to make the handle… It is a bit of a pain, but I want to do it myself now…"

"Well I don't know if you got much time but-"

"Don't worry, I've got multiple ways to be in multiple places."

My body quickly divided in two exact phantasmal copies, as one flew away and passed through the walls while the other remained here.

"Right, I guess you can do that. I often forget you're a ghost, Lady Maria." Laughed Darfu.

Like that, he quickly handled me an ingot of Gray Iron and Yellow Bronze, they were the best ores to make into weapons due to their resiliency:

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[Gray Iron Ore (E Grade)]

A common mineral that grows within the interior of mountains, its gray color is indicative of its greater defensive power compared to normal Iron Ore. It possess a good affinity with magic, and it is often used as the base for creating Magic Items, Weapons, Accessories, or Armor.

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[Yellow Bronze (E Grade)]

Often called "false gold", it is a strong and resilient ore that doesn't bend as easily as other ores of more precious values such as gold and silver. It has a golden color that is often used as decoration for weapons, armor, or even jewelry. It has a good affinity with magic and the element of lightning and light.

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Both might be E Grade, but they're the pillar for most high-grade weapons anyways. There are other ores but they're a bit too advanced for a novice like me, so these two will do. My first test is to make a single equipment of my choice with both.

For starters, a knife is always recommended, so I decided to go for that one first. I slowly began to warm the Gray Iron Ingot until it became very bland and "fluffy" the right temperature.

After that, I placed it over the anvil and slowly started to smack it with the hammer. It was a rough job, I lacked finesse and had too much strength, which ended making the anvil tremble too much and the ingot constantly got bend over the other way.

However, I kept giving my all, slowly yet steadily, slowly trying to shape the ingot around… However, it never truly worked, I was always getting problems after problems, it was constantly becoming harder for me to maintain the shapes I wanted.

At the end…

I lost my mind!

"Ugh, god damn it! Just work!"

FLAAASH!

My phantasmal aura emerged out of my body as Darfu panicked, stepping back. My phantom suddenly responded to my will, moving to my hammer and then to the ingots themselves, as I continued shaping them around. My phantasmal aura started helping me, as countless tiny hammer-shaped phantasmal limbs emerge outside of my very body, beginning to hit the ingot and carefully shaping it while I used the hammer itself to give the bigger hits.

Ultimately, and after a fight that lasted half an hour, I opened my eyes in shock, I had shaped the two ingots together and melded them into a beautiful golden dagger, or well, the blade of one.

"A-Amazing, it has such an incredible quality!" Said Darfu, inspecting the blade with his eyes. "Lady Maria, what you've done was also amazing, you were able to channel your inner talent."

"Inner talent?" I wondered.

"It is when someone uses their own special technique or way to handle the ingots and make something." Said Darfu. "I suppose using your phantasmal arms was the way to go with this subject. Incredible work too! You've handed it all so amazing well, I am impressed."

"Ahaha, I think you're exaggerating a bit, but thanks for the compliments." I said with a smirk. "Now that we are done here, let's make a handle and be done with it."

After making a handle, I didn't got any skill yet, which made me felt slightly disappointed. I guess a ghost doesn't have much affinity with this than I thought? Well, much like with Mining, I just need to keep producing small daggers and other things to accumulate skill proficiency and get em' skills.

"I have yet to get the skills though. How long did it took you to get them, Darfu?" I wondered.

"Hmm, years I would say. I began practicing with my father when I was around nine, after that I slowly got better and better. But the first years I just sucked at it. However, seeing my father making masterpieces always filled me with motivation to forge more and more, I wanted to be like my old man." Laughed Darfu.

"I see, that's pretty sweet." I laughed. "Is he on the city?"

"No… Well, he was also a warrior, a former hunter. So when that Dungeon Break happened long ago in the country, that one sealed dungeon, he participated… I was only like thirteen when it happened." Sighed Darfu. "I still remember he told me that he would come back and continue teaching me more. The last thing he told me was "You better not slack off you brat!"…"

"Oh… I am sorry for asking this… I didn't know." I sighed.

"It's fine." Darfu said, as he began to talk about his father some more.

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