Reid sat in the forge, waiting for the old man to finish whatever he was doing. Garrick had sent out his team, leaving only the two of them in the forge lab.
"There we go" Garrick said and moved towards the standing Reid, hold an orange core in his hand.
He place it on a work desk and sat on a stool close to it, adjusting it to be high enough to reach the work desk.
"Take a seat" he said to Reid as he pointed to the stool that just rose from the lab’s floor.
"Before we begin" he took a short pause "are you going to tell where you got the research on forged beast evolution?"
"As I said, I just completed the research that had already been done" was Reid’s answer.
"You and I know that’s bullsh*t" Garrick said "but we all have our secrets to hide."
"Now, as my apprentice" The old man started "you’re expected to know everything about, forged beasts, forging and taming."
Garrick leaned forward, resting his elbows on the work desk as he studied Reid with a sharp gaze. "And that ans understanding every damn part of the process—not just the flashy end results."
Reid nodded, waiting for him to continue.
The old man tapped the orange core lightly, the faint glow within it pulsing as if it were alive. "This right here? This is where it all begins. Without a core, there’s no Forged-Beast. No abilities. No bond. Just a hunk of lifeless tal."
He glanced up at Reid. "You get that, right?"
"Yeah," Reid replied simply.
Garrick scoffed. "I know that you might know all this, but as required by the ’forgemaster’ code, we are to go through all this with our apprentices. So today, we’re covering Cores—what they are, how they work, and why they’re so important to primals, tars and Forgemasters."
Reid listened intently. It felt like he was back to the first day he fell in love with forging all over again.
"Let’s start with what cores are" Garrick said and held up the orange core "to put it in simpler terms, they’re the very essence of a Primal’s existence. Their abilities, their power source, their instincts—all cramd into one little sphere."
Garrick rolled the core between his fingers, watching its glow shift slightly. "But here’s the thing—not all cores are equal. So are weak, barely holding any power. And others are so damn unstable they’ll explode if you so much as forge them wrong."
"That’s why we don’t just forge with just any core" he continued "But luckily, most forged-beasts have stable cores".
"There are several tiers of cores, based on the tier of primal it was obtained from. The weakest being Iron tier and platinum as the current strongest".
"Now to why they’re so important to primals, tars and us Forgemasters"
Garrick placed the core back onto the work desk and leaned back slightly, tapping his fingers against the surface
"For us Forgemasters, it’s already in the na, we use cores to forge new beasts" he paused "but for both tars and primals, its use is similar".
"If a core out in the open for long, it starts releasing its energy" Garrick started explaining "this energy attracts weaker forged beasts that aim to absorb that energy in order to get stronger".
"But if the core is from a primal that’s at least two ranks above the attracted primals, then the abilities of said forged would be influenced by the ones contained in the core" this reminded Reid of the rats he first faced in the cave back at the Scrapyard.
The core had allowed them to gain ti based abilities, making them a lot stronger.
"And that’s how primals keep getting stronger" Garrick said "and it’s similar for tars, but unlike primals they don’t gain the abilities of the primals. Just an increase in their soul power."
Reid nodded, all this was knowledge he already had thanks to his forging tutors when he was still in the Fletcher family.
"And that’s all you need to know about cores and why they’re so important." Garrick finished bed looking at Reid "any questions?"
"None" Reid replied and Garrick nodded in satisfaction.
"Good" he said "now let’s look at how forged beasts are made"
With a tap on the work desk, a holograpm rose, displaying a rotating diagram of a Forged-Beast in various stages of its creation. The image shifted, showing an exploded view of its components—core placent, fra structure, energy conduits, and outer plating.
Garrick pointed at the core embedded in the center of the model. "First thing, the core is the heart of every Forged-Beast. Without it, the rest is just tal, wires, and fancy chanisms.
The core provides power, dictates abilities, and serves as the anchor for the bond between tar and beast."
He swiped his hand across the display, zooming in on the energy conduits branching out from the core. "These here?
These are what allow the core’s energy to circulate throughout the body. You ss these up, and you get a beast that’s either sluggish, unstable, or outright useless."
Reid nodded, watching as the hologram shifted again, this ti focusing on the beast’s fra.
Garrick smirked. "This is where most rookies screw up. The fra has to be built to complent the core, not the other way around. Too sturdy, and you restrict movent. Too light, and you compromise durability."
He leaned back and folded his arms. "Now, the tricky part—integrating the core without causing rejection.
A core isn’t just slapped into a beast like a power battery. It reacts. If you don’t calibrate it properly, it can reject the fra entirely, causing a backlash that could destroy your work—or worse, explode in your damn face."
"Luckily, you already know your way around forging and I can trust you not to destroy my forge with stupid mistakes" Garrick completed and paused, letting Reid absorb everything he just said.
"Now, once the core is stabilized and integrated, we move on to the body," Garrick continued. "The materials you choose determine not just durability but also synergy with the core. You don’t just slap on any damn tal and hope for the best."
The image zood in, highlighting various alloys, each with different properties. So pulsed with energy, others shimred faintly.
"For example, if you’re working with a core that channels fire-based energy, you’d want a fra that can withstand high temperatures without lting into a puddle of slag. But if you’re dealing with unstable concepts like a ti or void-based core—" he paused,
"—then standard materials won’t cut it. You need alloys that can handle unstable energy without breaking apart." He finished.
Reid nodded, absorbing every word. Even though he already had forging experience, hearing it from soone like Garrick—one of the best Forgemasters alive—was invaluable.
"The final step is synchronization," Garrick said, swiping his fingers. The hologram shifted again, showing energy waves radiating outward from the core and flowing through the beast’s fra like a circulatory system.
"This part is what separates real Forgemasters from amateurs. Just because everything is assembled doesn’t an it’ll work. The beast and the core need to be in sync—like a heart beating in rhythm with the body. If there’s even a slight misalignnt, the beast will be inefficient at best. At worst? You get sothing that tears itself apart the mont it activates."
He folded his arms and leaned back against the desk. "And that’s the basics of forging a beast. Any questions, or are you still pretending you already know everything?"
Reid chuckled. "None, you explained it well enough," he said.
Garrick let out a satisfied grunt. "Good. Then we move on to the fun part—actual forging."
He stood up, grabbing the orange core from the desk and tossing it to Reid, who caught it effortlessly.
"Since you’re my apprentice now. You’re gonna make a forged-beast from scratch." Garrick said.
Reid smirked. "Sounds easy eno—."
Garrick interrupted before he could complete "without a blueprint."
"Without a blueprint?" Reid repeated in surprise.
But Garrick wasn’t done yet "and you’re not allowed to use any tech, only crude tools, molds and the alloy furnace".
Reid narrowed his eyes at the old man. "You’re ssing with , right?"
Garrick grinned. "Do I look like I’m joking?"
Reid glanced at the forge, then back at Garrick. No automated tools, no pre-designed blueprints, just raw forging skills.
There was only a few Forgemasters who could claim to forge without tech or blueprints. Garrick asking him to do so only ant one thing.
"You’re trying to make this as hard as possible, huh?" Reid muttered, rolling the core in his palm.
"Exactly," Garrick said. "If you can’t forge with the basics, then you don’t deserve to use the advanced tech. A real Forgemaster understands every step of the process, from raw tal to a fully ford Forged-Beast."
Reid exhaled sharply. He wasn’t about to back down from a challenge, no matter how hard the old man made it. "Fine," he said, stepping toward the workstation. "What materials am I working with?"
Garrick tapped the work desk, and compartnts slid open, revealing a selection of raw tals and alloys. "Pick what you think is best," he said. "And rember, once you make your choice, you stick with it."
Reid scanned the materials, his mind already working. He had to consider the properties of the orange core—it radiated heat, aning it likely ca from a fire-based Primal.
That ant he needed tals that could withstand high temperatures but still allow for flexibility in movent.
He reached out and selected a dark red alloy infused with traces of obsidian and tungsten. "This should do for the fra," he murmured.
Garrick watched silently, arms crossed, as Reid continued gathering materials. He chose a lightweight yet durable plating material, sothing that could conduct the core’s energy efficiently without overheating.
"Alright," Reid said, rolling up his sleeves. "Let’s get started."
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