Chapter 2240 Give That Man a Hammer
--- Kutruph ---
Kutruph brought the hammer down again. The sound of it hitting the metal chunk that was meant to be armour rang throughout the area. He was no dwarf, and no blacksmith... but this was something he could do. For while he might not be a blacksmith, his father was. Back in Grershic his father had been the only blacksmith in town. Kutruph did enjoy the work... but it wasn’t like his father was dying soon and plenty of his father’s time was spent just messing around with spare metals as it was. No sense competing... and the adventurers life had always called to him.
Well apparently blacksmithing was calling right back. Deep in the dessert of the Summer area Kutruph had stumbled onto a gauntlet filled with traps and more than its fair share of lava. Making his way through, and scorching some of his scales along the way, Kutruph eventually found the end. At the end was a massive dwarf. Kutruph was pretty sure some sort of magic was involved, because the bastard was MUCH taller than him. Standing nearly seven feet tall, but with the same proportions and of course, a glorious beard.
He named himself Heph, and invited Kutruph to work the forge with him. Kutruph saw no reason to decline, at least, not on the first day. Especially not with his own customised set of armour on offer. Now sure, his armour was good, but some of the metal bars in that workshop were worth more than his entire fucking suit!
So of course he took the offer... what he didn’t realise at the time, not when requesting the suit anyway... was that he’d be the one smithing the damned thing! He was lucky that Heph had a bunch of throwaway orbs to keep him going... but only perhaps three days’ worth. So those would run out eventually. Kutruph wondered who else could possibly manage this. Then he remembered there was an entire team full of dwarves.
"Put yer back into it!" shouted Heph. "I’m giving you soft metal to practice, and you can hardly shape that! How on earth are going to make me something proper from abyss steel." Kutruph grunted as he slammed the hammer back down. Thankful for his scales meaning he didn’t need gloves to do this. Still... why did he just abyss steel for his armour?
It was probably the best for his uses, and edging into Rank 3 material... but it was extremely hard to work with and he wasn’t certain he could do it. Kutruph was a hobbyist blacksmith not a professional one... and this was the sort of stuff his father would struggle to work with. Then again, that was in part due to the strength of the flames needed to melt the stuff.
And Kutruph couldn’t even touch it next. When Heph had informed him he was the one smithing it... well he hadn’t backed down, but he had gone over to the ingots section to get started and when he reached for the abyss steel... Heph had slapped his hand and said, "Do you even know how to hold a hammer? Why are you trying to run before you can even make baby noises. Start with a dagger just to show me you can smith anything!"
Sadly for Kutruph he could not in fact ’smith a dagger’ according to Heph’s standards. Which was insane by the way. Kutruph was confident even his fast dagger would’ve held up under the strain of use for years let alone the next dozen where he was actually trying. That had been a full day ago. He’d managed to make a satisfactory dagger eventually... and then was upgraded to swords.
Kutruph had then spent most of the current day on those before finally, finally working on his first bit of armour. The breastplate. Important sure, but much less fiddly then the gloves, helmet, or greaves. Kutruph was not looking forward to that... and honestly if he only walked away with a abyss steel breastplate after a few days then he could accept that. Perhaps be annoyed because he wasn’t quite sure how much time he was going to have, especially with the orb supply getting used up... but part of him thought it would be worth running out the clock here.
It was a silly thought. He was willing to concede like that. Perhaps if he had a chance to talk to his other teammates about sticking around to learn smithing tips would’ve been acceptable. For all that Heph was a massive ass and a brutal teacher... that didn’t make him a bad one. Brutal and exacting he may have been, even for ’barely adequate’ work... it was still greater skill then Kutruph’s father. A man with a lifetime of experience in the subject.
*Then again. Not like dear old dad is the best blacksmith around. He’s happy to make what the nearby villages need, a few bits of armour for the occasional adventure, and some little trinkets to mess with. He never seemed to want more than that, and wasn’t exactly devastated when I decided not to take up the family business.
Pretty sure he just wants to keep working with metal, makes him happy, and knowing I don’t want to kick him out of the job was probably relieving. Honestly, he’d probably love being here. I’m not sure if that makes me want to do this properly, or simply a bit sad. It really would be an amazing chance for Dad but I’m rushing to get an acceptable breastplate done just for a bit of armour. A chance to work with one of the best smiths I’ve ever seen or heard off... and I’m rushing through it.*
"Bah, useless, start again," huffed Heph. Kutruph didn’t even hesitate as he threw the metal back into the forge. He’d been distracted. The breastplate was probably quite useable... but he’d been distracted. Best just to let it go without a fight and start again.
Heph started to explain the many, many issue that cropped up while he was hammering the plate. Such as letting it cool too much, not keeping it moving so that it cooled evenly, allowing a crack to form even if he hammered that out later. It was a tiny one, barely hairline. Then there was the fact that he wasn’t hammering properly, apparently, and that all of this was just a normal steel breastplate. Nothing fancy about it.
Which was sort of annoying. Kutruph knew why. Well, he’d asked first and Heph had answered, "Do you give everyone wanting to be an adventurer a live blade? Of course not. You also don’t send them out to fight monsters without any training. You think that the abyss steel won’t fight you? That it won’t come for you fucking soul if you try?"
That had been a while back actually... Heph might actually answer if he asked for more details. "So... you said a while ago, this morning I think, that the abyss steel would fight me. What exactly did you mean?"
Heph laughed "You think crafting with something called ABYSS steel isn’t an experience? It cause hallucinations in the crafter as well as sapping the mana from you as you craft it."
"What! How are you meant to fight that!" hissed Kutruph.
"That’s why you practice!" insisted Heph with a grin. "If you can do this well enough then you can manage to craft half blind! Which is a necessity, because you will be!"
Kutruph stared at the ’dwarf’ for a few moments before turning his gaze back to the fire. *What the fuck. My dad didn’t ever talk about this... then again I don’t know if he’s ever touched Rank 2 materials. What the heck? No wonder he wants me to get so good at making these then. He’s trying to train me to ensure that I can make them blindfolded... but then why did he accept my knives? They weren’t bad, they were quite good...
But crafting blindfolded is a different manner. I mean... well I suppose it’s a question of how much of my vision is going to be distorted or hidden or... whatever. Shit... do I even have enough mana? That’s a thing I should probably ask right?* "Do I even have enough mana?" asked Kutruph.
Heph shrugged, "If you’re fast enough sure. Though not for the whole set at once, there’s basically no chance of that. Technically it would be better if you COULD manage the whole thing in one session, but I’m not expecting you to manage something like that. As I admitted, mana will already be an issue with just the breastplate."
Kutruph growled at liquid metal as he tried to remember the last time he’d really tried to expand his mana capacity instead of just letting it happen naturally... and he couldn’t find a good answer. He was more interested in training his body, and it had served him well. Perhaps... it was best not to be too harsh about it. If he’d wasted more time on his mana, then he might not be strong enough to hit the damned things.