The sound of hamring rang through the camp in the early dawn light. Tallheart examined the piece of iron that he was working on, then returned it to the fire to heat again. It wasn’t quite ready.
As he waited, he inspected the large tal crucible that he had been working on the day before. Now that the tin had fully cooled overnight, he wanted to make sure that the enchantnts were still holding. The tal would have shrunk slightly as it cooled, and if there was any flaw in his work, the entire thing would be destroyed the mont he tried to use it. He needed to make sure that the contraction hadn’t disrupted any of the pathways he’d painstakingly arranged within the tal’s matrix.
He stepped back, satisfied. It looked good, but the true test would co in a few minutes, once he finished the piece he was working on. He sighed. This next part would be labor-intensive.
Such primitive thods.
He retrieved the circular piece of iron from the fire and placed it back on his anvil. He struck it a few more tis, finalizing the shape, then held it up to his eyes, peering at it in the dim morning light.
“Hey Tallheart. What are you working on?”
Tallheart looked over as Rain joined him in his makeshift work area. He considered. Answering Rain was dangerous. It tended to encourage him. Finally, he decided he didn’t mind. If Rain was interested in the working of tal, perhaps he could teach him enough for him to be useful.
“A filter,” he said, holding up the circular piece of iron for Rain to see.
“Sorry, what?” Rain looked confused.
“Once I inscribe the disk, the center will beco perable to mundane iron.”
“What?”
“Watch.”
Tallheart placed the circle of iron on his anvil and set down his hamr. He withdrew his Telscribe from his pouch and inspected the tip. He’d have to replace it soon, but it would be good enough for this. Working quickly, he started carving a line of runes, forming a border of flowing script about half-way out from the center of the tal disk.
“This is basic rune script,” he said, knowing Rain would just keep asking questions if he didn’t explain. “These are locator runes.” He indicated one of the repeating symbols. “They concentrate the enchantnt on the center of the disk.”
The inner ring completed, he started carving a larger rune outside, near the edge. He linked it to the circle with several supporting chains of symbols. “This is a heat resistance rune. It will not last long. This is mundane iron. It will keep it from lting for long enough for it to be useful.”
Rain watched silently as he carved the intricate symbol. Tallheart humd contentedly, enjoying himself, despite the primitive thods he was forced to use.
It is good to work with tal again.
He repeated the rune four tis, hooking in each of the inscriptions to the locator ring with the sa tiny chains of linking runes that he had used on the first.
“This iron is impure. No better than four parts in five. I must repeat the rune multiple tis across the ring. The enchantnt cannot propagate well with the impurities. I would do it anyway for redundancy. Still, it will be weak.”
Tallheart flipped the disk, starting to carve the targeting ring on the opposite side. He made no asurents. He was going by the feel of the enchantnts as they started to take effect on the tal, his carving naturally following the line of script on the other side.
“This is crude work. I prefer to lace the enchantnts into the structure of the tal itself, beneath the surface. I cannot do that without pure materials, so I must use such thods.”
“It doesn’t look crude to ,” Rain said. “Honestly Tallheart, I’m barely catching half of this. I still don’t see how heat resistance makes this a filter. It’s still solid tal, not a sh or anything.”
“It does not. This will,” he said, starting to etch a large rune of perability within the confining circle. “This is not a basic rune. It allows things to pass.”
“Tallheart, slow down, you lost .”
“Be patient.” He continued carving. “Now, I will layer a rune of homogeneity on top of the rune of perability, combining the aning.”
“Tallheart, I don’t even know the words you’re using,” Rain said, a slight note of exasperation creeping into his voice.
Tallheart paused. Oops.
“Sorry,” he rumbled, resuming his carving. “Homogeneity. It ans: things that are the sa. Perability. It ans: things may pass through.”
“Oh. I think I get it. So when you combine them, only things that are the sa can pass through? You’re carving it in iron, so does that an…only iron?”
“Yes,” Tallheart rumbled contentedly. He understands.
“A filter for iron? Why the heat resistance?” Rain asked.
“To prevent the filter from lting. It will not work unless the iron is liquid. The impurities would prevent it. I need pure tal if I am to work…properly.”
“So you’re building a filter so you can make so. I think I understand.”
Tallheart smiled as he worked, adding in more linking runes as well as a few for durability and binding. He didn’t think he’d get more than one use out of it, but it was worth the effort to at least try and make it last. He finished just as the tip of his Telscribe shattered in a puff of white light.
“Woah, what was that?” Rain said.
“The Tel has been consud. Its strength is now within the runes. Co. I require your assistance.”
He was fully capable of continuing on his own, but he enjoyed the company. Plus, it would keep Rain out of trouble. Listening to the story of how he had almost died had been…distressing.
Tallheart softly humd a few notes of an old tune as he picked up his crucible and set it in the fire. It had tal legs that would allow it to stand over the flas. Tin would lt in a campfire. Iron would not.
He slotted the filter into a spout that he’d built into the bottom of the vessel, blocking it off.
“What’s that made of?” Rain asked. “And how the heck did you make it in only a few days?”
“Tin. It will lt in a campfire. Iron will not. I was able to manually purify it once it was liquid. Then, I could shape it into this.”
“Ooookay. Um, won’t it lt way before the iron does?”
“It would, but for this,” Tallheart said, leading Rain around the fire and drawing his attention to a red gem inset into the back of the tal vessel.
“That’s the Heat Cryst we got from the Kin,” Rain said.
“Yes,” Tallheart humd happily. “It is the anchor for the enchantnt I have woven within the crucible.”
“I don’t see the runes. Is that because you were able to purify the tin? They’re inside?”
“Yes,” Tallheart said happily.
“What’s it do?”
“A Heat Cryst is good for anything involving the Heat elent. I have added a twinned enchantnt of heat resistance and amplification. It will last, thanks to the Cryst.”
Rain nodded in understanding. “So it will amplify the heat of the fire, and not lt while it does it. Whatever you put in there will lt, but only iron will make it through the filter. That is so cool.”
“It is, in fact, the opposite of cool.”
Rain groaned. “Co on, I explained what ‘cool’ ans.”
Tallheart walked over to a pile of iron ore, hiding his smile. “Help fill the crucible,” he said, bending to grab a large chunk of ore, fully the size of Rain’s head.
“Sorry, I don’t think I should be moving rocks around. Aliah said I should take it easy.”
“Humm. Yes, you are right. Do not worry about it. I will manage.” He gently placed the large rock in the crucible, then went to retrieve another.
“So you’re just going to toss it in there and collect what cos out?” Rain asked.
“Yes.”
“And that will be pure iron?”
“No.”
“Oh. The filter isn’t perfect? Other stuff can get through?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the filter is not pure iron.”
“Oh. So then how can you get pure iron to make a pure iron filter?”
“Once I have removed the iron from the stone, I will lt it once more and remove the remaining impurities with Order of tal.”
“If you can do that, why not just do it to the filter itself?” Rain asked.
Tallheart shrugged. “It is not pure enough. Order of tal is ant for sorting tals. It can only be used to remove impurities if the tals are molten and already above nine parts in ten.” He indicated the filter. “Getting this small piece to only four parts in five was difficult without magic.”
Tallheart checked the crucible carefully after adding the next large chunk of ore. The tin vessel was already glowing a brilliant red, far above its natural lting point after barely a minute in the fire. Good. It is holding.
“Wow,” Rain said. “That’s really heating up fast. What are you going to use to catch the iron that cos out?”
Tallheart froze. “I did not think of that.”
“What, really?”
Tallheart shrugged and moved back to the pile. There was room for a few smaller pieces, and the first one would start to lt soon. “It will be fine. Get the shovel and dig a hole under the spout. Move quickly.” I really need to think these things through. It would have gotten everywhere.
He placed the last of the ore into the crucible and watched as the heat reached a peak. The luminous runes that he had woven into the tal were now visible, glowing with an orange fire even brighter than the tin that anchored them. It was good that he had built a limiting loop into the enchantnt, otherwise the temperature would have kept increasing. If it got any hotter, the heat resistance enchantnt would fail. Even this much was only possible because of his skills and his high Strength.
Rain returned with the shovel and Tallheart took it from him, seeing that the human was struggling with the heat being radiated by the crucible. He started digging.
“I’m pretty sure you broke Thermodynamics, Tallheart,” Rain said, standing well back to watch as the first drips of molten iron flowed down the long spout and into the hole just as Tallheart finished it.
“I have broken nothing,” Tallheart rumbled. “What is…thermodynamics?” The unfamiliar word was a struggle. Rain’s language had so very strange sounds in it that were difficult for him to replicate.
He listened with half an ear as Rain attempted to explain, but his mind was elsewhere. He walked back to the pile of ore and grabbed a few more chunks. As the rock lted, it would settle, allowing him to add more. He slowly fed the pieces into the crucible, now filled with a glowing soup of rock and tal. He reached in with his armored hand, stirring the mixture. There was a steady trickle of iron flowing from the spout now, increasing as he stirred.
“Tallheart…isn’t that hot?” Rain said, taking another step back.
“Extrely,” Tallheart replied.
Abruptly, the white light of Rain’s purification aura filled the air. Tallheart paused his stirring to look up at him.
“That will not work on impurities in the tal,” he said.
“Why not?” Rain asked. “Sothing about how tal sses with mana?”
“Yes. It will not penetrate far below the surface.”
“Oh,” Rain said. The aura didn’t fade away, however. “I don’t think you should be breathing all those fus.”
“Mmm,” Tallheart rumbled. The aura did seem to be canceling out the plu of pungent gasses that was escaping from the molten soup. He removed his arm from the crucible slowly, the tal and lava dripping from his enchanted armor.
He continued adding ore to the crucible until it was full to the brim with molten stone and the flow of iron had slowed to a bare trickle. He lifted it from the flas and set it off to the side, careful not to spill the contents. He turned to look at Rain, who was standing well back from the fire.
“Co,” he said. “Use your cold aura.”
“I can’t do that,” Rain protested. “I’ll hit you too.”
“I will be fine. Co.”
Rain looked around, then activated Refrigerate, the cool wind of the aura clashing with the radiated heat from the crucible. Tallheart watched as the raw mana reacted with the tal of the chain shirt Rain was still wearing.
Humm. I will have to keep his armor thin. Too thick, and the mana will start to be absorbed as it is shaped by his spells. The unshaped mana is being disrupted, but not dissipated. It is good that he does not need to aim. An armored mage… Yes, it could work.
As the wave of cold reached him, his own armor shone with a blue light as the mana was drawn in like water to a sponge. The damage was well below the dissipation rate of the tal. He could tolerate this level of mana indefinitely, even without the added enchantnts that protected him.
The heat of Tallheart’s slter had lted a large bare circle in the snow that had fallen the previous night. Frost was spreading from where Rain was standing, encroaching on the fire. Rain slowly approached, the radiated cold battling with the heat of the rapidly cooling tal.
“Wow,” Rain said, staring at the puddle of tal in the bottom of the hole as it solidified. The cherry-red tal faded to yellow as the blue light of the mana was sucked into it. He looked up at Tallheart. “Why does tal do that to mana?”
“It simply does,” Tallheart said, staring back at him. “You may stop. I do not wish for you to extinguish the fire.” Rain dropped the skill, mumbling sothing in his odd language.
So inquisitive. It is good, but not for those who need to answer.
He moved over to the crucible. The large plug of lava was still mostly molten, protected by the heat-magnifying effect of the vessel containing it. He lifted the crucible and walked over to the side of the ore pile to dump it out, the molten rock flowing slowly.
If we are here long enough, I will build filters for the other base tals. It would be good to make one for the stone as well. Tallheart sighed. I hate working with stone. It is so brittle.
“What now?” Rain asked, as Tallheart placed the crucible back over the fire. The flas were slowly regaining strength after Rain had nearly extinguished them. Tallheart didn’t answer, simply bending to dig his fingers under the chunk of raw iron that was sitting in the hole. He dropped it back into the crucible.
He removed the iron filter and inspected it. Ruined. As I expected. He tossed the spent filter aside to be recycled later. He’d make a better one once he had pure iron.
Malleability.
He concentrated, placing his hand on the crucible’s drainage spout. He needed to close it off for what ca next. He pressed on the tin with his palm, forcing the tal to telescope up into the body of the crucible. He pressed it flat from the other side, shaping the tal like soft clay while preserving its internal structure.
Planarity.
The tal between his palms flattened, becoming uniform in thickness. He used his fingers to shape it back to match the curve of the bottom of the crucible, then removed his hands. The iron was already starting to lt again.
“Tallheart…what the actual fuck?” Rain said.
“Pure tal is easy to work with, especially when it is hot,” Tallheart said, watching the iron closely as it lted.
“If you can do that, what do you even need the hamr for?” Rain asked.
“For stronger tals, and for alloys,” Tallheart replied simply. He placed his hands back in the crucible, touching the partly molten tal.
Order of tal.
Working quickly, he isolated the iron from the other trace tals. The remaining non-tallic impurities resisted, but with the tal nearly molten he was able to work around them. He pressed them out of the tal’s matrix as he fed more and more mana into the skill. He smiled as the iron beca easier and easier to work, his rate of purification increasing as the impurities fell away. He withdrew his hands, holding a liquid sphere of molten iron, held in place by his skills.
Wonderful.
He smoothed the sphere as it started to solidify, stepping back from the fire. “Rain, Refrigeration,” he said. The human obeyed, and Tallheart carefully flattened the sphere down into an ingot as the tal rapidly cooled. Finishing it with Planarity, he walked over to where he had left his anvil and set the perfectly rectangular brick of tal upon it. He would shape it into a filter for pure iron later.
The purified tal would hold the enchantnt better, lasting for at least a few days. He would take the ti to add the capacitance runes to allow the enchantnt to be recharged. Having a permanent filter would be worth the effort. Order of tal took far too much mana to be practical for the quantity of tal he required.
Humm. Rain could help with that too. He could restore my mana, and his Purification aura might actually work if the tal were molten and he used it for long enough.
…
No, making filters will be better in the long run.
He walked back over to Rain and removed the crucible from the fire. Rain was watching him with a disbelieving expression.
“Magic is fucking insane.”
Tallheart smiled. “Co. I am hungry. Are there any potatoes left?”
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