“Alright,” Archie muttered under his breath as he finished soldering a Cold Iron cap onto the end of what remained of Aoife’s right cybernetic arm, sealing off the exposed gears, wiring, and neural connectors from the debris outside.
Giving it one more look over, Archie eyed the Cold Iron cap to find any deformities in the metal or along the Greater Physical Resistance runic script and Self-Repair rune he placed inside it. Seeing no issues with it, Archie handed back Aoife her now sealed-off cybernetic right arm.
“Sorry again,” Archie said as he watched Aoife carefully align her cybernetic arm with the socket in her right bicep. She pressed it into place until an audible click confirmed the connection, and after waiting for a few seconds for the neural connectors to properly set in, she tested them by moving the remnants of her cybernetic forearm up and down.
“For both destroying your arm and shield and being unable to make you a new one,” Archie continued, watching Aoife move her arm up and down. “The cybernetics you have are honestly the most complex thing I’ve seen so far, and I have no idea where to even start with them.”
“Thank you, M… Archie,” Aoife replied as she finished calibrating with what remained of her arm, catching herself from calling Archie, Master. “With the improvements you’ve added to it, it is no different from that of a buckler, I just need to get used to the depth and spacing difference when using it as my shield.”
“Hopefully you won’t need to use it for too long,” Archie sighed as he picked up a Cold Iron bar with his new Adjustable Steel Tongs that came with the Basic Workshop and held the bar over the Forgesmith’s Flame
“If we’re going to explore this Multiverse for what it's worth, then we need to make sure we’re properly equipped,” Archie said as he saw Aoife out of the corner of his eyes about to retort. “And besides, I’ll see about purchasing a couple of the cybernetics myself to see how they’re built and reverse engineer them, so we don’t have to purchase them from anyone else.”
“I can make do with…” Aoife replied before trailing off, going silent as she became lost in her own thoughts.
Out of the corner of his eye, Archie noticed that Aoife had once more become lost in her thoughts - something he learned that she did quite often, and if anything, it only increased after she had calmed down from her uncontrollable burst of laughter hours earlier.
he decided.
Sure, he’d offer his advice on what he thought was best, but he wouldn’t push any further than he already had. Anything beyond that wouldn’t be helping - it would be stifling both her newly gained voice and freedom.
Once she decided what she wanted to do, he’d respect it. Even if she chose not to get better equipment, he wouldn’t argue. It was her decision, and Archie wouldn’t take that away from her.
The crackling and hissing of Forgesmith’s Flame
“…Yes, I would like that,” Aoife answered, her soft yet resolute voice piercing through the ambiance of the desert and the forge.
“Alright then,” Archie smiled at her response, his back still turned to her as he regulated the heat of the forge, rotating the Cold Iron bar within.
It was slightly shorter than before when he managed to convince her that the potions he’d left on the living room table in the bedroom were for her to drink and that yes, he did have more stored away.
, Archie smirked.
Looking over his shoulder with Gaze of the Forgefather
When he’d first deployed the Explorer’s Tent, aka flooding it with mana and tossing it on the ground, following the instructions it came with, it grew from the size of a baseball to that of a medium-sized modern camping tent. And while that grew a grin on his face when he deployed it the first time, the real kicker that made his grin into a full-blown toothy smile was when he unzipped the front flap and walked through it. Revealing a two-room log cabin that was ten times the size of the tent it looked from the outside.
, were his first words as he looked around, his normal mana reaching out and touching the different mana that skirted the edges of the cabin.
However, it was practically empty when he first entered, with only a couple of floating lanterns and a singular table in the middle of the place he deemed as the living room, which he then moved into the bedroom along with the Sigil Ridden Bed he rightfully earned from the Shaman dungeon.
Spatial Expansion was undoubtedly going to be the most frequently used spatial-type runic script in his arsenal - once he actually learned how to make it, of course. It was simply too useful to ignore, and disregarding it entirely would be stupid.
After all, how else could he possibly fit all the upgrades he’d planned to add onto his bike? Where would the hover wheels or all-purpose terrain wheel go when it transforms into a spacecraft? How else would it be able to transform into a mech?
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Where would he put the popcorn machine?
Archie was pulled out of his thoughts as the sound of boots crunching under the sand and wind being displaced.
Looking up, Archie saw Aoife performing a variety of different thrusts with her lance at an imaginary enemy, reminiscent of when he saw Xelgar training in the Assistant village…
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Archie decided to create a bit of small talk as he tempered the Cold Iron bar. “So, what Profession do you have? Is it crafting-focused?”
Stopping mid-thrust of her spear, Aoife replied, “I am level-.”
“Woah! Sorry to cut you off, but, uh, never mention to anyone what your levels are, nor anything of the sort,” Archie interrupted. “If someone asks, don’t answer. They have no business knowing your personal information. In fact, beat them up, and if anything happens that you’re worried about, give me a call. While I may look like a crazy, dirty junkie who wears cool armor, I have connections.”
“I just wanted to know what your Profession is, you don’t even have to mention the name, I was just curious about what you do,” Archie continued.
Aoife fidgeted for a moment once more before nodding, taking Archie’s words to heart before she continued, “My Profession is called Gifted Miner of the Depths.”
“Nice,” Archie commented with a nod of understanding, placing the slightly orange Cold Iron bar atop his anvil and grabbing his hammer. During his Profession Evolution, he was offered a Profession with the Gifted tag as one of his options for his E-Grade Evolution. From what he remembered, it provided a significant boost to his stats. According to the ‘General Information Pamphlet about Class & Profession Evolutions’, the Gifted tag was one of the best tags to have for an E or D Grade Class/Profession, as it offered the best stat allocations without any restrictions.
“You must be insanely talented at mining,” Archie complimented. “Do you enjoy mining? Find it fulfilling at all?”
“…It’s…” Aoife replied before pausing, collecting her thoughts. “…soothing.”
“It was hard at first, but I’ve learned to appreciate its beauty,” Aoife softly spoke, lost in her own thoughts as she wistfully stared at the ground. “Mining… I like it.”
“That’s great,” Archie replied, smiling at her answer. He’d also liked forging; every time he picked up the hammer and tended to his forge, he’d learn something new, and he wasn’t referring to the random faint whispers that would come from Whispers of the Forge
For example, something he’d learned over the past three weeks or so while experimenting was the difference between tempering and annealing in forging.
Annealing is done by heating a metal to or near its critical limit before allowing it to cool slowly. This process softens the metal, making it far easier to shape compared to tempering. However, unlike tempering, annealed metal is significantly more brittle.
Tempering is done by heating a metal to a temperature slightly below its critical limit and keeping it there for a period of time before letting it cool. It increases the toughness of the metal and its durability compared to annealing.
Another thing that you could do is quenching, which is normally done by taking a tempered metal after it has been shaped and placing it in a vat of liquid to quickly cool it. It increases the overall hardness and strength of the metal.
Both Tempering and quenching are perfect for armor, weapons, and a large variety of other bits and bobs that need to be strong and durable.
While annealing is typically used to make metals more ductile, for example, he used annealing on many of the inner components of his bike to act as the wiring when the Molten Web braids were considered dangerous to be around.
Unfortunately, Archie had forgotten to purchase any water or liquid in general, other than potions to quench his metals in. Neither did Laer, so until then, he’d be either tempering or annealing his tools and equipment and letting them come to temperature by themselves.
While waiting for it to cool down was a pain in the ass, letting it air dry after tempering still gave him results that, in his opinion, weren’t bad at all - just annoying when it came to finding a place to let them cool properly.
Steel Chestpiece of Protection (Uncommon):
A sturdy chestpiece made from reinforced steel, forged by Archie Gracefield, an E-Grade Novice Forgesmith. The armor is highly resistant to physical attacks. Effect: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair, Greater Physical Resistance. Provides: +80 Vit, +80 End & +25 Str. Status: Perfect. Requirements: Lv 80+ & Humanoid Race.
He combined a brand new chestplate with the sleeves from his previous chestpiece and reinforced it, creating a completely new chestpiece. Along with that, he had also forged two sawblade wheels as well as soldered numerous Cold Iron plates and angled paddles together.
They took much longer than usual, but the results were pretty good.
“I shall make sure no creatures approach us for the night so you may work in peace,” Aoife suddenly declared, pulling Archie out of his thoughts.
“I’ll be counting on you to keep me safe while I continue forging,” Archie said with a smile - one that only grew as he noticed Aoife’s nervous, awkward grin before she hurried past him, her lance fully deployed.
Watching her rush off, Archie chuckled.
Turning back to his forge, he decided it was finally time to check the system notifications he’d been ignoring.
*Your Class has reached Lv 86 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points**Your Race has reached Lv 82 – Points allocated, +3 Free Points**Your Profession has reached Lv 78 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*Your Profession has reached Lv 79 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
, Archie mused before opening and checking his status page for the first time in a while.
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human E-Grade Lv 82
Class: Nature-Attuned Pugilist Lv 86
Profession: Novice Forgesmith Lv 79
Health: 11434/11434
Mana: 4771/4771
Stamina: 10206/10206
Stats:Vitality: 847 (1143)
Strength: 1069 (1603)
Endurance: 729 (1020)
Agility: 437 (568)
Intelligence: 420 (546)
Wisdom: 367 (477)
Willpower: 194 (271)
Perception: 459 (596)
Free Points: 23
General Skills:
Class Skills:
Profession Skills:
Bloodline:
Affinity:
Blessing:
Titles Collected:
“Nice,” Archie smirked as he got back to working on his Mana Bike.
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