As soon as I sit down to start working I realize that my new steel tools I made are useless, as they can't cut through the spider's shell. With a sigh I put them aside, pull out Black Razor and get to work.
I work diligently for hours and only take breaks to add more mana veins when my mana is full. I make Ruby a full set of armor, breastplate and skirt, bracers and greaves, I even make her a helmet.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Furry skill has advanced to level 3!
√ Furry
√ Level 3
- Agility +3
- You can craft rudimentary items from leather.
"Well that should be enough for now, once I try it on I can make the final adjustments, hmm, I'm almost out of steel, I guess I can use bone for all the fasteners."
I touch the charm and say, "Ruby, can you step outside for a minute? I need you to try this on."
Ruby comes out of the amulet like a puff and circles around my head before moving to the bench and taking human form.
Ruby says "Do you want me to try this on?"
"Yes, please."
Ruby reaches down and grabs the bottom of her dress, obviously about to take it off. I quickly turn around to turn my back to Ruby.
"No! No, you put it on over your dress!"
Ruby asks, "Are you sure, aren't you curious if my body is completely human?"
"No! No, I just need to see if the armor fits!"
Ruby says, "Wow, Master, I think there's more heat coming out of your face than the forge!"
I cover my face with my hands as I hear Ruby laugh behind me. Then I hear creaking and banging noises for a minute.
Ruby says, "Okay, you can turn around now, master."
I turn around to see that Ruby has all of her armor on except for the helmet which is in her hands as she looks at the slot in the back of the helmet.
"That's for your hair, I thought it would be awkward trying to keep all that hair under the helmet."
Ruby puts the helmet on over her hair and when my jaw opens, her hair slides up under the helmet and out through the slot on its own.
"No fair!"
Ruby laughs and says "I'm a spirit, my body is made of energy so I can control it however I want."
"Okay, move over to see how it fits, I haven't finished it yet, I wanted to be able to make adjustments."
Ruby moves her body and says, "It fits surprisingly well, especially.
since you didn't take any measurements. how well do you know my
Body Master?"
I cough, look away and say, "I just have a good eye for detail."
Ruby smiles at me as she tests her mobility with the armor. I walk out into the larger cave and Ruby follows me. I pull out my swords and offer them to Ruby hilt first.
Ruby takes the swords and moves away from me for space and performs a combat routine. I watch her closely, just to see how the armor fits her, of course.
"It's okay, you can stop now, I can see what adjustments I need to make. By the way, do you like the two swords or would you like to try other forms of combat?"
Ruby says "No, I'm fine with the two swords, it feels natural for some reason."
I undo the scabbards from my belt and hand them to her one at a time so she can sheathe the swords.
"Try putting them on your waist, I need to know if you want them there or on your back."
Ruby tries it both ways and then says, "Definitely, my choice would be on my back."
"Okay, is there any irritation or pinching anywhere that needs fixing?"
Ruby says, "No, it works great. I only see one problem."
"What problem?"
Ruby says, "This armor is much better than yours. You are the master, you need better armor or it will look weird."
I look at myself and say, "Umm, yeah, I guess so. This was my first attempt and I had limited materials at the time. I guess once I finish yours, I should redo mine too."
The mass of fire seems to nod, so I decide to give it a try and get to work. Before, the metal would cool before I finished bending it and it would break. Now, with the fire elemental keeping the metal hot, I can successfully bend the steel. It takes me a little over two hours to bend the steel ten times, but for me it's worth it when I'm done.
"ARTICLE CREATED"
√ Bent steel katana
- Hit +5 Damage +10
- Durability 125/125
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Blacksmithing skill has advanced to level 8!
√ Blacksmithing
√ Level 8
- Strength +8 Fire resistance +8
- You can transform metal ores into useful objects.
I look at the elementalist and say, "Good job, thank you, you can go now".
The fire elemental looks happy as it fades away. I'm happy too as I look at my new katana sword, the only downside is that it took more material than I expected, so I don't have enough to make another one. I quickly take the sword and insert it into the mushroom wood hilt so I can take a few swings with it.
The balance of the blade is almost perfect, my only problem is that the hilt is too light and doesn't feel right in my hand. So I sit down and find the heaviest bone I have and start carving a new hilt. Once it's ready, I place the blade and try again, this time it's much better.
I take my time and practice all the types of moves I remember from various anime and manga. The sword is exactly what I expected to do and I am very happy with myself.
However, I am not satisfied, I want two, so I go back to my camp, take my new miner's pick and a torch, and start checking the cavern walls foot by foot. I check up and down, I have no intention of overlooking if there is iron anywhere in here. I check the walls of my camp first but find nothing, then I jump the river, move to the west wall and start searching.
After an hour, I have searched along fifty feet of the west wall when I see something shiny. I quickly approach and sure enough, it is iron reflecting the light of the torch. I insert the torch into a crevice in the wall and start tapping the surrounding rock with the pickaxe. It takes me forty-five minutes to extract fifty pounds of iron ore.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Mining skill has advanced to level 8!
√ Mining
√ Level 8
- Strength +8 Endurance +4
- You are an expert in mining ores.
Fifty pounds of iron ore is smelted to form four ingots of steel, which is the amount I need to make another katana. Once I have it, I run back to the forge room with it and, as soon as the forge heats up, I start melting it down. Once I have all four ingots, I summon a fire elemental again and start forging a second katana. This time it takes me a little less than two hours, but I succeed.
"ITEM CREATED"
√ Bent steel katana
- Hit +5 Damage +10
- Durability 125/125
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, the Blacksmithing skill has advanced to level 9!
√ Blacksmithing
√ Level 9
- Strength +9 Fire resistance +9
- You can transform metal ores into useful items.
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.
- Congratulations, you've developed a skill!
- Superior Strength has evolved to Supreme Strength due to the Force reaching 100!
√ Supreme Strength.
- With one hand, adds Stats to Strength to damage.
- Two-handed it adds Stats to Strength x 2.5 to damage.
Wait, so for a one-handed weapon I add one hundred to damage? But with a two-handed weapon I would add two hundred and fifty to damage? But I don't have a two-handed weapon! I look at my two new katanas, if I had known about this, I would have made a nodachi!
Even though I'm annoyed by the new ability, I still make a bone hilt for the second katana. Once it is complete, I sit down to carve two sheaths for my katanas.