“Good Evening, Helmut.” Isaac called out as he entered Stagr’s shop. They’d decided to get on a first na basis with each other when they’d actually signed a contract.
“Hey Isaac. What can I do for my favorite custor?” the man called out from the back of the shop, coming out a mont later.
“What I’m hoping you can do is fix my Zweihänder.” Isaac said, setting the bag on the counter between them. Stagr winced as he heard the clank of tal hitting tal.
“I’m guessing that’s it? What happened to it?”
“Big golem fell on it while it was ramd clean through its heart. Is it fixable?”
Stagr was silent for thirty-so seconds as he slowly and carefully pulled out the shards and spread them out across the counter. The single largest piece was a half-ter chunk that included was essentially just the hilt and a little bit of blade that had ended up getting driven into the ground before the blade had broken.
“In theory, yes. Do you know how broken blades are repaired?” Stagr asked.
“Not really.” Isaac admitted.
“In essence, the pieces are stacked on top of the remains of the handle part via a weld or other thod, then reforged into a blade.” Stagr explained, placing a few chunks on top of the handle part for emphasis “But that process is almost as much work as forging an entirely new weapon, takes almost as long as is almost as expensive if you don’t count the material costs. And with the [System] involved, the product will also be inferior. My [Skills] enhance the products of my craft and have increased significantly since I made this weapon, aning the reforged part will be considerably stronger than the original handle.”
“I guess getting it fixed was a pipe dream anyway.” Isaac sighed “Could you make it whole again in such a way that shows where it broke? It doesn’t have to stand up to any kind of combat.”
“That’s certainly possible. Can I ask what for?”
“Display purposes. We’re getting a new building for our faculty and university buildings are normally filled with display articles and posters about papers written by the people working there, but we’re a little light on both. Monster parts are at a serious risk of being stolen and while our papers have been very impactful, there are only a handful of them. I figured a weapon used in a pretty big experint might look good on the wall.”
“I see. I’m guessing you’d like a replacent weapon?”
“Yeah. In fact, that’s what’s in my other bag.” Isaac said, hefting the mass of magically enhanced material onto the table “Iron from the body of a Tier 5 Golem, and one of its titanium bones. I was hoping that you’d be able to turn the bone into another Zweihänder with the sa specifications, with any leftovers getting turned into boar spears with no wings so it can go deeper into the monster. The iron is for you to play around with.”
“I can certainly do that, but here’s the thing. Titanium’s tough, but it has shit edge retention, so it doesn’t really work as a blade.” Stagr warned.
“I see.” Isaac replied “That being said, I have a fantastic [Skill] called [Blades] that repairs my weapons and turns them into blades if they weren’t already.”
“… so you can use this weapon with total impunity and not have to sharpen it every five seconds. Nice.” Stagr nodded at him “That being said, a regular titanium blade would take a while to make, never mind one forged from magical material. In addition, it’s going to be hell on my tools, so I might even have to wait on so replacents.”
“I see.” Isaac grimaced “But I guess it can’t be helped. Did you make any progress on that other project?”
“You an finding other people with actual crafting [Classes], as opposed to ones dedicated to working the machinery that’s replaced working by hand?” Stagr nodded “Of course, I work with people like that all the ti. I’ve asked plenty of them, but I’ve gotten back a lot of answers I didn’t like. So people got really worried at the re ntion of the [System], others got really excited and I got really worried they were going to do sothing stupid given the slightest bit of encouragent. And then there were the people who practically started drooling at the re ntion of getting to play around with monster bits.”
“I generally don’t mind working with overly eager people so long as they have a smattering of common sense.” Isaac comnted.
“But I do. I’ve seen to many people get hurt because they were too eager to play around with new toys and techniques in an environnt like a blacksmith’s workshop. Mind you, sothing like, say, sewing isn’t nearly as dangerous, but the point still stands. I won’t work with people who are going to end up putting themselves or others in danger.” Stagr sternly told him.
“I guess I’ve spent a little too much ti at a job you practically have to be crazy to do.” Isaac sighed “Look, you know more about this than I do and I value your input, but this job needs people who are willing to experint a little. Is there anyone who didn’t give you a bad vibe?”
“I found a few people who didn’t imdiately want to get a bunch of expensive materials or help with levelling and are willing to enter the sa kind of arrangent the two of us have. Here, I have a list, as well as my impression of them.”
Picking the list off the table, Isaac looked it over, noting that he didn’t recognize a single one of the nas on it. Then again, there were hardly any craftspeople whose nas he knew. But it looked like a good list with [Leatherworkers], [Jewelers], [Tailors], and so on, and so forth. A little short, perhaps, but that was to be expected.
True crafting [Classes], the ones he needed, were rare and almost exclusively found with people who produced their products the old-fashioned way, the kind who held stalls at renaissance fairs and the like.
A lot of the things that used to be made by hand were now being created by machines, and the [Classes] gained by those people reflected that, being more closely focused on empowering the machines used in the production, rather than the product itself. Quantity over quality was a perfectly workable model when producing mass-use items, but utterly unacceptable where protective, life-saving equipnt was concerned.
“I’ll look these people up on my end, I should have my selection in a couple of days.” Isaac said, then reached into one of his jacket pockets and placed the orb he withdrew on the table between them. It resembled a perfect sphere made from steel wool encased in epoxy resin.
“This is the Aspect of a Barbed Dervish, a Tier 3 tal monster. I think it would make a good base to stack your Aspect of the Forge Golem onto once I’ve gotten it.”
“Er, stack?” Stagr asked.
“Ah yes, I forgot to tell you about that.” Isaac sighed and shook his head “I recently found out that you can stick an Aspects similar to one you already have into the sa slot so long as it also has a [Skill] similar to the one you grabbed from the old one. Then the old [Skill] upgrades, turning into the equivalent from the new Aspect, and you can even pick up a second one. Slotting that one now should let you grab two from the Forge Golem.”
“That’s aweso, thanks.” Stagr said, picking up the orb and staring in wonder at sothing Isaac couldn’t see, almost certainly the item description.
Isaac just busied himself looking through the rchandise lying out. He could spot several nice pieces that were markedly superior to others also present. It made for a clear visual display of Stagr’s improving skill and increasing [Skill] Levels. Picking out a few from each ‘tier’ of quality, he returned to the counter, where Stagr had just absorbed the Aspect. The engineers would love him for giving them such a great example of how [Skills] interacted with materials.
“I’d like to take these as well.”
“Sure, sure.” Stagr waved him off, currently playing around with a floating cloud of tal scraps.
“Ok, I’ll pay later, then.” Isaac said.
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Stagr said “This Aspect is worth a million tis more than those.”
“Thanks.” Isaac flashed the man a grateful smile that went unseen. As per their agreent, the Aspects were given in exchange for highly preferential treatnt and a massive discount for services, not direct monetary compensation. Isaac could afford to shift away his target for levelling to sothing that gave the specific Aspects he wanted to give away but very few people were in a position to buy them at the current prices.
Stagr had therefore essentially gifted him his purchases even though he hadn’t had to, and Isaac appreciated it.
“Do you have a rough tiline on when you’ll be able to get an Aspect from a Forge Golem? I know fighting a Tier 4 monster is a big deal and I don’t want to pressure you in any way, of course, so just a rough guesstimate would be nice. Week, month, you know.” Stagr asked, sounding incredibly apologetic.
“Rember, that bone on the counter ca from a Tier 5 monster. Fighting the Forge Golem isn’t going to be a problem, it’s just that with this kind of material list …” Isaac waved a hand and opened the relevant page “… all anyone can imagine is a humanoid form made from tal that is so degree of molten and that makes it a bloody fire hazard.”
Summoning List (Elental, tal and Fire Subtypes)
Na
Material Cost
Mana Cost
Forge Hazard
Tier 1 Circle, Coal Dust
10
Slag Slug
Tier 2 Circle, Slag
50
Molten Beast
Tier 3 Circle, Molten Iron, Photo of an Animal
100
Forge Golem
Tier 4 Circle, Slag, Iron, Coal, Steel
150
Crucible Warrior
Tier 5 Circle, Crucible, Coal, Iron
250
Thermite Avatar
Tier 5 Circle, Aluminum Dust, powdered Iron Oxide
350
…
“Yeah, I can see that.” Stagr whistled as he looked the list up and down “You know the Crucible Warrior sounds pretty cool and useful as well.”
Then, he blanched “Sorry, my mouth went a little too fast for to think better of it.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m interested in seeing what new monsters look like as well.” Isaac grinned.
“Can I help figure out a safe way to fight the Forge Golem?” Stagr asked.
“Hm, I don’t think so. We’ve already got a closed off summoning room without any flammable materials inside, but I’m afraid filling it with a molten mass of slowly cooling tal would pretty thoroughly ruin it … and probably get a hit put out on from my colleague who has to fix it. If nothing else, Karl will likely soon reach a point where he can make that room impervious to the tal and then I can use it to summon the Golem. Or maybe I’ll co up with sothing before then, who knows? Point is, I should have the Aspect for you in a few weeks at the latest.” Isaac promised.
“Hey, just don’t put yourself into danger for my sake.” Stagr told him earnestly.
“Danger’s practically in the job description.” Isaac shrugged “I’m still alive, though. I know what I’m doing.”
“Overconfidence gets people killed, you know.” Stagr warned, suddenly seeming quite a bit older than before, reminding Isaac that the man across from him had at least ten years on him.
Well, this tiline him. Including the life erased by his jaunt through ti, Isaac was actually the older of the two, but no one knew about that.
“Oh, I’m keenly aware of that. I train every day so I’m able to clean up after those people when they summon sothing they can’t handle.” Isaac told him, voice deathly serious “Despite what it looks like, I am careful.”
“And I believe you, but it never hurts to remind soone of the dangers. The master I apprenticed under had us recite the basic rules of the safety every single day. It got on my nerves after a week and I got very close to snapping at him that I knew all that a couple of tis, but then I saw the aftermath of an accident at another shop. And then I realized that the old man actually had a damn good point.”
Isaac shrugged “Safety regulations get on everyone’s nerves, but gods know we’d be in a world of trouble without them.”
“Exactly.”
They spent another half hour or so talking about future expansion of Isaac’s crafting network, and then he headed out to go back ho.
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