Chương 29: Are You Single?

A branch of one of the everbright trees lands on the ground with a thud. My knife sliced clean through the limb, almost effortlessly. The blade is still sharp as ever too, thanks to that imbuement. Oh, how I love magic. Jumping down, I nail the landing right on my ass.

"HA. HA. HA" Dovey adds from a nearby tree. I ignore him. The bird's sense of humor is very interesting, to say the least. I bend down to grab the branch and put it into my storage. Also checking the details, of course. [4 Units Glimmerwood (Common)] A fairly common wood infused with a strong affinity for light mana. The wood also has a strange property of emitting a slight glow when mana is channeled through it. This has led to it being quite high in demand, and thus valuable.

The system informs me that it is four units worth, whatever that means. I figure that while I am here, I should gather a bit more. The description does mention there is a market for it. A few hours later, I am walking out of the everbright grove and back towards Claire's domain. With a new spirit companion and a bunch of wood in tow, of course. I even found a bunch of weird flowers and a white rock too, which I grabbed. Hoarding everything that seems strange or cool seems like a good idea in this world.

The trip back is pretty uneventful, and far faster. With my higher stats and better control, Plane Step is so much easier to use. Plus, Dovey uses some air magic to provide me a slipstream, or so he calls it. All I know is that it makes it far easier to sprint while I wait for my spirit to recharge. Luma just sleeps the entire time, naturally. Which is apparently normal, as Dovey confirmed that she is a very young great spirit, likely about two weeks old.

Interestingly, that coincides pretty well with my arrival in this world… I am starting to think that Luma was no happy accident. It also means that she still has a ways to grow, one day becoming a mighty big fox I expect. Somehow I don't doubt she will get even cuter too. When the area where I know Claire's barrier starts comes into view, my short adventure has come to an end. Not making the mistake of running facefirst into the barrier, I carefully feel around the area.

"Master, what the hell are you doing?" Dovey asks, "Have you gone insane after being exposed to my overwhelming power?"

"No, there is a domain border around here somewhere. I can't see it, though." I reply, "Also what overwhelming power would that be? Making a few leaves rustle with a breeze?"

"Meanie." I sigh and fumble around until my hand finds the barrier. Then, as Claire told me to, I knock. A good five knocks, pause, two knocks pattern, which I hope is still the pattern in this world. To my pleasure, it seems that I am correct. The barrier opens up, revealing what seems like a small door into a completely different world. Ushering Dovey inside, I step through last.

"Woah, this place tingles all my feathers!" Dovey says and flies about, surveying the area.

"It's so big! Oooh, what's that?" The bird starts heading towards Claire's house, and I follow after. Only to watch Dovey fly right into the window. A loud bonk echoes out as he collides with the material that is probably strong enough to stop just about anything. He bounces back, and falls onto the floor, legs upturned like he has died. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I laugh as I stand over him.

"Guess even spirit birds can't see windows."

"Shut up, meanie." Dovey says as he bounces onto his feet.

"My, my, my, what do we have here?" Claire says as she exits the house.

"Damn kid, you leave for half a day and come back with a new friend? Guess you humans are more social, after all."

"Claire, meet Dovey, the stupid and far too arrogant dove." I say, pointing towards the bird that is currently staring up at Claire in awe.

"Dovey, this is Claire, who is teaching me how to be a smith, amongst other things." Claire laughs, "Nice to meet you I guess, o spirit." Dovey tilts his head.

"O grand Claire, do you happen to be single? You see, I am new in town…" I sigh and cup my face with my hands. Why the hell does my new bird have to be a chaser too? What is worse, is that Claire plays into it. She giggles, "Hmm, I am. But there might be a big problem."

"Oh?" Claire reaches down and picks up Dovey with her hand. Sitting in one of her hands, he is barely as large as her palm.

"You are kind of small…" Luma and I watch the hilarious scene as Dovey deflates entirely. He shrink himself even smaller somehow.

"Why is everyone so cruel?" —"Hmm, this is quite high quality wood." Claire says, holding a piece of it up to her eye.

"I bet that damn bird's spirit was leaking and making it stronger somehow."

"So, it's perfect for me, then?" I say.

"Yep, light-affinity wood with a bit of spiritual energy as a bonus. Quite literally perfectly suited for you. Eerily so, if I might say."

"Yeah, I'm starting to notice such things too."

"Guess the Goddess must really like ya, eh kid? Now, we only have a few hours left. So let us get to the crafting thing." I realize something.

"What if Calder comes to grab me while I'm recovering or crafting?" Claire grins at me, "Then he will just have to join me for tea!" Hmm, I see, this must all be part of her plan. She pats me on the back, "Well then, off you go. I am sure you can figure it out from here. Of course, there is a ton left to learn. But you are reasonably smart, I'm sure you will figure it out somehow." With that, she kicks me out of the house. Sighing, I head over to my anvil, Dovey and Luma trailing behind me.

I tell them to give me some quiet, and they go find a nice field to lay in and soak in the mana or whatever. Now, it's time for some smithing. Also known as, I sit down on the ground and start to meditate. Blueprinting is the first step, of course. To start with, I decide on the size of the hammer. They can vary quite widely after all. From hulking behemoths that can smash buildings, to tiny ones for putting nails in. I want something good for both blacksmithing and fighting.

Which is tricky, as they are quite different things. Back in my old world, it would be a lot more complicated. But the actual shape of the hammer doesn't matter much for smithing here. It is mostly about how easy I can move energy through it as I swing, I think. Naturally, a bit of a longer handle would work best for this. Placing the head a bit farther away would allow me to get more bang for my buck, so to say.

But if I'm doing that, I will want a slightly heavier head, so that it doesn't turn into a spear or poleaxe. The image begins to form in my mind. A somewhat long handle, not quite a shaft. Perhaps half a meter in length. Naturally, this is where I will use the glimmerwood. As for the head, I decide to get a bit fancy. It will be quite heavy, to get that impact when I hit monsters with it. So I go dual-sided flat heads, for maximum flexibility.

But I also add a small gap inbetween the heads, so that I might be able to catch blades or whatnot in it. Now that I have Dovey on my side, I am not entirely reliant on myself for damage. Plus, hammers aren't really meant to be the main damage dealers anyways. That is where the mages and swordspeople come in. Hammers are great for disrupting defenses, and formations. Essential for diving into ruins and such, but bad for solo combat. Luckily I do have some magic on my side, and am pretty good at hitting things.

With that in mind, I let the full image of the hammer form before me. This time, I also make sure to specify a spot for the crystal to go into. Set right into the side of the hammerhead of course. A sense of stableness settles over the blueprint. I can tell it is ready to actually be forged. Also as a note, this time it seemed far easier to do. Part of this is certainly to do with having more experience blueprinting stuff. But I also think I am more familiar with the concept of hammers in general.

I have used them quite extensively, after all. This leads me to believe that I will struggle to make things I am less knowledgeable about. Maybe all those random tasks for nobles will finally mean something. They did have me make quite a variety of strange and odd things. I can't wait to put them to the test. For now though, I have a hammer to forge.