Leveling up the World Chapter 460: Fury Forging

Gently, Dallion said as molten iron was poured into a mold.

For the achievents the furies had managed to accomplish, their forging equipnt was beyond pitiful. In fact, it could pretty much be said that they didnt have a forge at all. When he and Jiroh had co up with a plan to extract tal from ore, he thought they were thinking out of the box. In another world, that probably was true. Here, though, all furies did the sa. Once gathered, thunder furies lted the tal, then using air currents, modified it in the shape they wished. Things such as forges were exotic, to say the least. Nothing but fruit was consud, and cooking was done solely with warm air currents or steam.

Given that they had the ability to control weather pretty much, Dallion would have suggested using lens-furnaces, but for that they had to have glass, which was even more difficult to achieve.

Step by step, he thought. For the mont, he would be content with making a few basic tools, starting with an anvil.

This is a lot of iron, the thunder fury said. From his perspective, it must have seed as if Dallion was making a throne of solid gold. Are you sure you want to mix it with smoke?

Thats the only way.

How did I get myself involved in this? He asked.

Strictly speaking, he was far from a master forger. Despite being awakened, Dallion heavily relied on so many instrunts he took for granted. Individually, he could create each of them. However, creating them all at the sa ti proved a challenge. Even so, there was sothing fascinating about the way furies worked tal.

Olm increased the strength of lightning he was emitting, wrapping around the molten white ingot. Every drop that ca from it was taken by a scorching hot air current and gently poured into the mold Dallion had made using clay, sand, and wax. While it did, several streams of smoke were also mixed in, coming from a nearby log fire.

Observing from a safe distance, Dallion was extrely glad for all the pain and training Euryale had put him through. Back in Nerosal, he had expressed doubts whether he needed to know all that stuff before getting to the actual shaping. If anything, now he wished she had taught him even more. Even with his combinations of awakened skills, getting tal of a certain purity was more than a bit difficult; not to ntion that without echoes, he didnt have any do overs.

Is everyone keeping up? Dallion asked, wiping the sweat off his face.

For the mont, the thunder fury replied, finishing with the last iron ingot. Strong doubt was emanating from him, along with a hint of fear. That was all well and good, but Dallion would have preferred to know a bit more details.

Well, its ti for a break.

Olm stared at him, as if Dallion had broken so taboo.

It needs to cool down gently, Dallion explained. It must stay in the mold for at least an hour or two before its broken. Dont you shape clouds the sa way?

No, the fury replied laconically. If Dallion had hoped to get any information on the topic, he wasnt getting it. It seed that Katka was rightthey were being treated as potential enemies.

Will Ji be joining us? Or do you intend to keep us apart?

Theres nothing your friend can offer, Olm insisted. I have the sa skills she does, and we cant let you attempt anything. If what youre offering holds up, the library alliance will be all too glad to"

Cant you just make her vow not to help escape?

Vows are spoken to be broken. And thats not the only issue. You arent the only ones being assessed. So of my superiors are assessing her potential. She has been with you for three years and seven months, after all. Before she disappeared, she was nothing more than a third-rate farr. Now shes a thunder fury with vastly superior skills and attitude to match.

One didnt have to a mind reader to tell that Olm despised her, not to ntion that he felt personally threatened. The short exchange of lightning a day ago had shown to all that the two were evenly matched. If so, that ant Olms position could suddenly end up being threatened.

Is it alright if I join my friend? Dallion asked. The one from my world.

Go ahead. Olm gestured. Theres nowhere you could go.

As far as threats went, that one wasnt too bad, although after a while in the wilderness Dallion had heard a lot worse. Counting to five, he left the chamber of the mountain, heading towards the one Katka was kept in.

One would think that having no guards was a good thing, but in practice, it only created a sense of isolation. As the fury had said, there was no chance of escape. Without magic, jumping out of a mile high mountain in the middle of nowhere wasnt a good approach.

When Dallion got to her, the mage was busy reading over twenty books, all floating above the theater platform. Unlike Dallion, she hadnt been openly monitored, and instead was surrounded by a vast assortnt of food and drink. Despite that, she had barely touched any of it.

Hows it going? the mage asked, constantly moving the cloud threads around with her left hand.

Slow, Dallion replied. Im teaching them to make an anvil. Any luck on your part?

A bit. There were a few interesting bits among all the trash. An account of the early life of the goddess Minfalin patron of wisdom. She has been touted as the great enlightener that taught furies how to capture cloud creatures and build cities out of cloud. Apparently, before that, they were at the rcy of nature, living like nomads on clouds that could disappear at any mont, taphorically speaking. Katka closed a ball of fluff and pulled it away. The mont she did, it broke down and a new one erged in its place. Originally, the good goddess was nothing but a traveling storyteller, moving from tribe to tribe. At one point, she had a dream in which she spoke to the Mother of Sunrise and was taken to a far away land, where everything was different.

This wasnt much to go on, but it did sound like a conversation with a Moon.

According to the text, the goddess went to sleep one morning in the middle of the tribe and was gone the next morning despite none of the guards noticing anything. She returned a decade later, unchanged physically but with great wisdom and brought many changes to the world. Poetic embellishnt aside, I think that describes the process pretty well.

That still doesnt say how she got moved there. For that matter, Dallion had no idea how he himself had been transported to the awakened world. The only thing he knew for certain was that it had coincided with his doppelganger awakening; thats why he had mories that had never been. Since he was taken out of the world in an unexpected fashion, however, the way to go back had to be different.

Nothing so far. Once again, there the sensation of lies emanated from the mage. Its a start, though. We know that its happened, we just need to be persistent and fast. How long do you think you can keep them occupied?

A few weeks, maybe more, Dallion replied.

It should be enough.

You think?

Dal Katka gave him an annoyed look. If we dont find a way by then, it would no longer matter.

The discussion went onto more trivial matters, after which Dallion finally went back to the forging chamber. Work resud.

The slab of tal had turned out adequate. Dallion had the thunder fury use air currents to shape it up a bit, after which he proceeded with making the head of a hamr. That process was considerably quicker, though Dallion still refused to use them with so vague excuse that they had to remain a day unused. That seed to satisfy Olm, and more importantly his superiors, so Dallion was taken back to Jirohs house. The following day, the process continued.

Each morning, a team of furies would co to take Dallion and Katka to the secret forging facility, while Jiroh was sent to one library or another. From what she had shared, while officially her goal was to select the books for Katka to read, in reality, she was undergoing a long interview process. It seed that Olms fears were well founded.

By the end of the first week, Dallion had pretty much helped create most of the basics of a proper forge. Fury lightning remained the main driving force, though fire was also starting to be used, mostly for the carbon. The resulting tal was of a much lower quality as anywhere else, but compared to what Flora had produced in the past, it was a veritable industrial revolution.

All that was good and well, but Dallion seed no closer to finding a way back to the awakened world. What was worse, the orange patches on his skin were spreading.

Every night Dallion tried to have a conversation with Dararr, and each night the Moon refused to appear in his dreams. Whatever he was trying to do, he had to do alone.

Put this on. Olm tossed Dallion a crude ring mail shirt. It was outright scary how fast the furies had learned the basics of forging, especially since they had no prior knowledge.

So kind of reward? Dallion asked. Spending ti in this world, he too had started looking at tal as so sort of valuable commodity.

The library alliance has been exclusively working on this for a while. Itll allow you to interact with clouds.

Sea iron? Dallion wondered. Concentrating, he could feel faint traces of the tal, as if soone had made an allow between it and iron. The result could be described as a waste, though with dark undertones. There was no way that the local inhabitants could have achieved this by accident. Soone had to have told them of the tals properties.

Youll be covered with static clouds so your actions can be copied and displayed in the theater.

Dallion tried not to smile. They were putting him in the local equivalent of a VR suit. The notion was utterly fascinating, but also terrifyingit suggested that Dallions usefulness was coming to an end. The mont they stored all his actual actions, there was little more he could offer. The only ace up his sleeve was the fact that he had a way of finding tal ore deposits. If they ever found that such an ability couldnt be taught, the library alliance was going to drop him. In a best-case scenario, Dallion was going to be cut off from their resources and information.

Cool. Anything I need to do?

Limit sudden movents as much as you can. Thats it.

The weight of the chainmail felt almost welco in this world where most things had no weight. Dallion spent a few monts moving around in order to get used to the limitations. The thunder fury waited patiently nearby.

Ready to be wrapped, Dallion said.

Olm didnt laugh. If anything, the more he had gotten to know Dallion, the more serious he had beco. One could only suspect that it had sothing to do with Jiroh rising up the ranks pretty fast. For one thing, she had already been granted enough money to buy her own place in a cloud city, and even one for her family as well.

Clouds move about, covering every inch of the tal shirt. Strangely enough, they also covered Dallions feet, knees, and gauntlets.

Anything particular you want to make? Dallion asked.

A gear, the thunder fury said.

Okay. That was a rather peculiar choice, and once more not sothing a fury would have thought of on their own.

The mont Dallion grabbed the hamr, a slight electric zap passed through his entire body. When the fury had said that those were static clouds, he had ant in terms of electric charge. It wasnt painful or particularly uncomfortable, but would need so getting used to.

Dallion, a distant voice said in his mind. Dallion, can you hear , dear boy?