"What are you trying to make?" Brad and Reese had been ditating in the forge while Ralh had started to work. He had a large stack of books around him that he had been careful to keep well away from any forge flas at all.
"I have been making ingots with my partner. He can already lt the iron and keep it from being brittle. That's just how great we are." Ralph's bragging was just enough to make Reese and Brad both shake their heads.
"The issue is when we try to shape it afterwards. I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing with it." This was the crux of where Ralph found his issues. Because of his molten boar, he could not have molten tal or heated tal at a call. But when it ca to making it in to anything that wasn't so basic ingot, he was lost.
They had sent a letter to bring the blacksmith that they had t in. Unfortunately, that had gone poorly since the blacksmith had locked himself away to learn about how to forge eternal ice. The technique would change the way that everyone looked at eternal ice. Let alone make the blacksmith one of the top blacksmiths in all of Nebula.
"Yes, but what do you want to make? You have three books about axes even though Clark gave you a new ax just yesterday. But you also have armors books and that one about making tal bows. Why do you want to make a tal bow?" Reese wasn't sure why Ralph wanted to make anything other than swords. But that was just it. He was stuck on swords.
"Do you really think that the girls will be able to use normal bows when they train to get stronger? All those big fancy families have tal or extrely rare wood bows. They are the best of the best materials and the sooner that I can make them the better." Ralph's response was smart and Reese had no rebuttal. He even felt a little dumb for not realizing it.
"You can make temporary armor. It just needs to be training armor. The heavier the better. If it is rough that's fine, it doesn't have to be perfect." Brad saw the pause in the conversation as the ideal ti to ask for sothing.
"You just need it to train your muscles more. I thought you were here to help your possessed helm with more tal energy since a lot is released while forging. But now you want heavy bad armor?" Ralph was mocking Brad a bit but he was also thinking. The books around him were enough.
Since Ralph had already read the main book he had first received from the blacksmith they t, he was certain that he could focus on heating and cooling. Shaping was another matter.
"Just stand there and watch break this piece of tal. If you hate it then I can lt it again." Ralph wondered for a second if it would be fine to lt and heat tals constantly. But he didn't have the ti to worry about that. Every second was valuable.
The fact that everyone had understood the massive degree of ti that separated them when it ca to training was impressive on its own. All of them knew that when it ca to the greatest and them in the taming world, it wasn't so simple as materials. It also ca on ti.
With ti, soone could find the right materials. They could get stronger so that they could take the energies from the world that they needed. They could learn a skill from the lowest of the totem pole and climb that skill to the very top. Ti could change a lot of things for better and worse. So with ti, Ralph knew he could learn how to be a real blacksmith.
Leaving the dwarven forged ax next to him, Ralph picked up one of the iron ingots that he and the molten boar had worked on. Instead of placing it in the forge, he let the molten boar hold it. With ti, the molten boar had learned to direct heat and fire much better than before. Therefore, the flas on its body that sprouted due to its control focused on the iron ingot it held in its mouth.
"If I look at how this ax is forged, I might be able to learn sothing. If we have the basics in the books, then the best of the best is in this ax." Ralph's idea was similar to many artists that took inspiration from their peers. They saw the hidden ssages and took that as a guiding light to create similar styles or evolve a style in to a new form. It was a goal but also a hurdle to surpass.
Right now, Ralphs was looking at his largest hurdle. Forge better than a dwarf, a race known for being the best at forging in any universe.
"So, what's he doing?" Reese had stopped his attempt at ditation now that he had realized that Ralphs was actually getting to work rather than sitting and reading or making more ingots.
"He is trying to forge that in to sothing I can wear. The book he just opened is about forging bracers. They would have been good for you and I in our last battles. You have a close combat style just like I do. If you are attacked and you deflect an attack, it could still hit your arm. Then you are weaker because you have one arm." Brad had a good point, but his focus was still on Ralph.
The intense focus proved that Brad was prepared to use anything that Ralph made. But even more, that he was now running the battles in his head. How he would alter his fighting style with a set of bracers and without them. Sothing so small that many people would just see as a basic accessory when it ca to a full armor set. But for Brad, it would be a main function.
This could be described by his style. Reese would just have so additional arm protection. It would also help brace his wrists and arm so that when he attacked it would be stable. Or at least slightly stronger overall. But for Brad, he could lose his shield or his sword. His head on fighting style would need that defense.
Being able to deflect weaker attacks with his arms instead of a shield could change the flow of battle. Not many people would risk this but so people had heard of the elven fighting style that used thousand wood bracers to deflect energy. Specifically magical attacks that would create elental projectiles. Dangerous and amazingly unique.
The real question would be, could Brad emulate that sort of style that he had never seen? That he had only heard of in rumors and gossip.
"Be quiet while I work." Ralph growled out these words as he used tal tongs to pull the red hot iron ingot from the molten boar's grasp. He was ready to start following the procedures that he had read about. It just would require focus. The more the better.
As the first ring of tal on tal ca through the forge, Ralph felt that his blood vibrated with it. As if he had waited a long ti to hold a hamr in his hands and stare down the heat of sothing unfinished and waiting for his guidance. It was a very good feeling.
The dwarven ax sat nearby almost mocking his lack of experience and skill. That was why the next hit had much more force. Why Ralph didn't notice that with every swing the forge fires had begun to tremble slightly? He had learned to channel the fire energy too. It wasn't the sa as a beast would do it, but when Ralph moved, so did the fire.
He could channel the heat slightly just as any blacksmith could.
This skill was the sa thing that many new apprentices would need weeks to be able to do. It was also similar to the style that Clark used to manipulate the ice type energy within the eternal ice. The only difference was that this was the strength that Ralph gained from his partner. Not a given skill from the system that just needed action to appear.
Having a fire type beast of any form would make so things easier. Alchemy, forging, and even general things like cooking. But Ralph had bonded closer and closer with his boar. The two had gone through a great trial when Ralph took on pain to help his partner beco a molten boar. Now, the fruits of their hardship was shown.
The two combined could heat and cook things as they saw fit. Manipulating those tal heated parts would seem to be second nature. All Ralph needed was ti. And ti, they had. One year of traveling or forging and Ralph might make Brad and Reese more than just armor. More than sothing basic such as iron.
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