Chương 25: Put Your Back Into It

I summon my hammer from storage. While mostly intended to be a weapon, it should still do the job. I will want something more specific later on, but I bet there is a whole list of stuff that one has to consider. Following my instincts and the gentle guidance of the system, I raise my hammer. Energy fills my body, it kinda hurts, but the raw power of it feels awesome. Using as much force I can muster, I swing downwards. Clink. Again. Clank. Two strikes, and my body is already protesting.

I can feel it, a burning across my entire body. Not quite exhaustion, but something similar, deeper even. Yet, despite the pain, it feels kinda good.

"Yeah, that's the spirit, put your back into it!" Claire cheers me on from a few meters away. She is inspecting something or other, probably figuring she should give me space. My hammer meets the soft metal again, and I can feel the energy building within. Every strike of my hammer seems to charge it with more, somehow. Oddly enough, I am not even really thinking about how I am hitting it, I simply do. The system is guiding me, somehow. Hopefully someday I won't need the assistance. But for now, I will take it.

The repetitive motion only becomes harder with each strike. Time passes, but I have no clue how long. It could be hours, or days. Nothing else matters, for I must simply swing my hammer. Taking Claire's advice, I try to put my back into it as much as possible. Curiously, just the thought of that seems to make it a lot easier. I try to vary my technique a bit, and find it is easier when I use as much of my body as I can. Energy seems to be generated all around my body, not mana, but a weird type of crafting magic.

The process is thus to channel this energy through my body, into my hammer and thus into the blade that is slowly coming into form. Ever so slowly, I watch it form. The hot metal has a glint of mana about it as it bends and warps under the energy. With two bars, I was wondering how it would create such a small blade. But to my great shock, they start to shrink down, before merging together into a single blade. It is still quite misshapen though, so I continue hitting.

My body follows the guide laid out by the blueprint and it all comes into form. The slight curve of the blade for ripping through sinew, the edge sharp enough to slice bone. All of it manifests before me, by no power other than my own. I have put hundreds of strikes into the craft before I feel a sense of rightness. Suddenly, my hammer disappears and in my hands appears a bit of leather. The rough scrap from the monster somehow sized perfectly to turn into a hilt.

My hands move on instinct, bringing the leather close to the edge of the blade designed to be a handle. Sure, one could just grab onto the metal directly. But that is both dangerous, and also not very comfortable. Pushing energy into the leather, it goes from its gray color to a subtle green. Then it starts to glow an orangish color. The material is hot as well, yet it doesn't seem to hurt me. Even as I directly pick up the blade, I remain unharmed enough to wrap the leather around the end.

Once done, I feel the energy settle down and the entire thing starts to cool. Now for the last part, the core. Honestly, I expected the core to be the first thing to do, but now it makes a whole lot more sense. In the bottom of the hilt, there is a small hole, perfectly fitting the mana crystal. Picking it up, I slot it into the hole. I can feel the mana surge from the crystal, filling up the blade. Tempering it, making it stronger, and all that more magical.

I set the knife down on the anvil and place my hands upon the sides. Energy rushes out of me, draining every ounce left in my body. The anvil accepts the energy, and I feel it as it diverts it right into the new knife. The world lights up with magic, and my entire body tingles. My senses go haywire as my world narrows to the blade, and only the knife. Nothing else matters, for it becomes my entire world. I learn it, how it feels, what it is like. The concept by which it uses to cut things.

I learn about the mana within it. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. That of forest, of life, but also death. Of changing, while remaining constant, just like a forest. The knowledge settles within me, and I can feel a tug on my mana now. Imbuement. I stop focusing on my forging skill now, the blade is done. Now, it is time for imbuement. Quickly glancing at the description, I see the path forwards.

[Lesser Mana Imbuement (Common)] That which exists desires to be complete. All new creations seek completion in one way, being filled. Either with mana, or other things, it does not matter. The result is the same. Imbuement is the art of infusing objects with a will of their own. A will to do certain things. Be it to keep the user's toes warm, or to remain ever sharp. The depth by which something can be infused depends on many factors. Well it is a bit more mystical sounding than what I have done in my old world.

But the practice seems the same. Though this time I actually have mana of my own, no more fumbling around with what was provided by others. I guide my mana into the blade, mixing it with the energies already residing within. Questions are whispered to me in a language that I do not understand. But I get the sense they are asking me things. Like what I want it to do, what it should be good at. So, I tell it. I whisper to it about how I want it to be strong, to cut things.

How I want it to harvest the best materials possible from my conquests. It needs to be powerful, but with refinement so that it doesn't damage more than it has to. Honestly, it does seem a bit silly. Or so I thought at first. But the more I tell it, the more it feels real. I am not crazy, I am a smith. The blade asks me what it should do, and I gently guide it towards what I want. The system helps, of course. I can get a sense of what the blade can do. For instance, I can't ask it to coat itself in fire.

But if I want it to repair itself and remain ever sharp, that is easy. I am not sure how long it takes, but eventually I get the sense that it is complete. The world returns to my attention. My body aches and my mind is exhausted. But I have done it.

'Ding', Forging of Knife of Lesser Harvest (Inferior) successful. The moment I read the notification, I collapse. Perhaps I pushed myself a bit too hard… — Ah, there is nothing quite like waking up in a warm bed after a long crafting session. I almost sit up, before I see that Luma is curled up on my chest in a ball. She is lightly purring, even in sleep. So cute. Guess getting up can wait for a moment, I do have some notifications to check.

It seems there are a bunch of levels from both the craft, but also some of the stuff before that I missed.

'Ding', Magic Smith has advanced to level 17. Stat points distributed. …

'Ding', Magic Smith has advanced to level 19. Stat points distributed.

'Ding', Quest Completed: The Worst Smith'Ding', New trait gained, {Initiate Metalsmith}'Ding', New blueprint formed, Lesser Hunting Knife'Ding', Skill upgraded, [Lesser Inspect (Common)] -> [Basic Inspect (Common)]'Ding', Luma has advanced to level 16. Stat points distributed.

'Ding', Luma has advanced to level 17. Stat points distributed.

'Ding', Spirit Mage has advanced to level 11. Stat points distributed. That is, quite frankly, a lot of stuff. The Magic Smith levels are a given, I did just forge my first piece of equipment. Still, three levels is quite good. I also got a new trait for my metalsmithing. Checking the description, it is about the same as the water mage one, just flavored for metalsmithing of course. I am intrigued about how it says I formed a blueprint.

My guess is that once I craft something once, I can make things similar to it again far easier. Which is good, as that process was quite long and intense. Heck, it drained me so much I passed out. Luma's Healing Nuzzle seems to have worked some magic though, as I feel good as new. She also got some levels out of it, which even gave me a level too. Most interestingly is that my inspect skill upgraded to basic. It is still a common tier, which is strange.

I figured that the tier would increase every time it upgraded, like my meditate did. Perhaps it only increases in tier when there is a breakthrough or something. The description hasn't changed much, just seems like the inspection is more powerful now. Lastly, I completed that quest that wanted me to craft something. It was a really easy quest though, it just wanted me to make an inferior item. Still, I'll take the reward, which the system offers me the option to select.

There are three options to choose from: material boon, knowledge boon, or enhancement boon. It doesn't tell me what is in each, but I can get a general idea. Plus they are all of normal tier, whatever that means. As much as knowledge sounds nice, I think I can get that without using a quest reward. Same thing for enhancement, which I figure will give me stats or gear or something. One thing I cannot easily acquire right now though is good materials, so I select that one.

A strange red box appears in front of me, landing on my chest with a loud thud. It is heavy, and oh shit, it landed right on Luma's tail!