“So, you want to make yourself a better weapon?” Jori asked, “And the limitation is that it really needs to be a Great-hammer.” He sighed. “Well, I had a few ideas, but I don’t think the obsidian would be a good fit. It’s too brittle for an impact weapon, especially one you’d wield with two hands.” Jori picked up Ash’s heavy club, examining it closely. “Sure, a large piece of wood like this is fine in a pinch, but you said your last one broke at a bad moment?”

  “Yeah, I was lucky to get out alive after that.” Ash replied morosely.

  “I’d imagine. Well, this is heavier and longer than your last one, so is even more likely to fracture on impact. Especially, and I mean no offence, when its roughly shaped like this.”

  “Well, is there something better that would you recommend?”

  “I was thinking about some kind of reinforced mallet. Let me just check through the supplies.”

  Ash was a little confused, a mallet was typically something she only would use for hammering in tent pegs. Her dad had always brought one in the camping holidays when she was younger, and she remembered having difficulty on a friends camping trip during uni because none of them had brought one. Jake, one of her course friends, had taken off his boot and they had all laughed as he hopped around on the wet grass bashing in the metal pins with it.

  Jori stood up with an approving murmur and Ash quickly blinked away a tear that she realised had been forming, turning to focus on the grinning man.

  “Here we go. This should work.” He said confidently, holding up a pair of objects. One was a thick lump of wood and the other looked like a large, bent and slightly rusted nail.

  “I recon we can shape that club of yours into a decent haft for this hefty chunk of Ironwood root. It should be then densest wood around and will help it pack a punch. Then if I straighten out this old building peg, it’ll be the perfect finishing touch!”

  “Sure. I’ll follow your lead” Ash nodded and together they got to work. While Jori handled the more delicate work of carving her large club into a thinner but still sturdy shape, he set her to boring a hole in the centre of the root-wood.

  This was no easy task, with only a hand drill, she had to position the metal corkscrew point and fit a t-bar into the handle as leverage so she could twist it. Even still it wouldn’t bite into the dense wood right away so she had to chisel in a divot first. Finally, the drill began to eke into the thick ironwood, Ash straining with all her strength to make any progress while keeping the tip steady. She slipped several times, nearly impaling her arm on the drill at one point and losing a small chunk of wood in the process. Finally, the drill bit deep enough to be secure and Ash could focus on powering it deeper and deeper while a thin spiral of wood was extracted through the corkscrew drill bit.

  While Ash worked, Scholar observed, listening to any conversation and occasionally asking what something meant or what a particular tool was called. Ash had also leant Spear the set of training weights and she was busy using them outside, though Ash noticed she stayed in plain sight of the doorway at all times, frequently glancing over to check on them.

  The drilling took its toll, and Ash had to take frequent breaks, arms burning and panting with exhaustion as her stamina slowly refilled. She tried to reassure herself that it would all count towards her strength training, forcing herself to stand and get back to it each time. The process was taking her so long that Jori had already finished carving out the rough shape of the haft and was sanding it down. Ash wasn’t sure she had even gotten half-way.

  “So,” Ash asked “What do we do once the haft is shaped? Do we do anything to harden or heat treat it?”

  “Oh no,” Jori replied “We wouldn't want to heat-treat wood for a weapon like this. Maybe for building materials, but heat would just make this more brittle and likely to snap.” He patted at the wood affectionately “No, I think we’ll just apply some wax to help hold it together. This is sturdy wood and, if you keep it well, it’ll last. Besides, with this construction, the haft is replaceable. Just examine it for damage between fights and you’ll be able to tell if it’s weakened at all.”

  In the end, Jori had finished sanding before Ash finished drilling and they each grabbed a handle, twisting the drill the rest of the way through the gnarled lump.

  Hole drilled, the focused on shaping the lump next, working together with a twin-handled saw to shave chunks off the edge until it was in the rough shape of a large sledgehammer head, but one side tapering in to a rounded point.

  “Now that is where we’re going to put the nail.” Jori pointed at the rounded section. “Let’s drill a small guiding hole for it.”

  Ash let out an audible groan but was slightly mollified when Jori pulled out a much smaller drill. Together, they drilled through to the central hole from before.

  “Alright!" Jori said with satisfaction. "Now we just need to put this all together!”

  They lined up the haft with the hole, shaving the tip down until it could just about squeeze into the centre, then hammered it down until it lay flush with a section that Jori had left thicker, to bolster the stability of the head on the haft.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Now for this building stake. Jori tapped at the bent piece of metal. We can hammer it in to create a focus point for the force, add that little bit of extra weight and hopefully pin the head to the haft too.”

  Ash helped him straighten it out in the vice and later with a hammer, the rust flaking off of the old iron as they got it into a suitable shape. Finally, that too was hammered in place, sinking all the way into the hole and hopefully into the trapped section of haft too.

  “Almost there now” Jori sighed, wiping away some sweat from his brow. “Now you can carve in your inscriptions, and we can finish this beast off with the wax.”

  Ash picked up the hammer, feeling it’s heft. She was surprised by how similar it felt in weight to the heavy club the haft had been made from. Jori had clearly sheared away most of the extra weight and now the mass was concentrated at the head. She could feel how top heavy the weapon now was. She moved away from Jori and gave it a practice swing. Yes, it was definitely about as easy to get moving, but any change in trajectory was harder, she adjusted her grip, spreading her hands apart wider. She noticed the haft feeling much more comfortable to hold, the thinner wood fitting far more comfortably all the way up the length.

  With a wider grip, she lost a bit of maximum momentum but regained some control. Even unfinished she could feel how much more of a purpose-built weapon it would be. Ash burned to test the thing properly, she just needed something to hit.

  “Looks like you’re taking to it well!” Jori commented from the back of the workshop, “but don’t go breaking things with it until we’re finished. We don’t want to compromise it before you’ve had a chance to do some good with it!”

  Ash nodded, panting a little from the exertion, then placed the hammer on a nearby table and fetched the inscription tools. She moved to draw on some guidelines on the handle, but Jori stopped her.

  “Actually,” He said thoughtfully “Do you think you could manage to fit those on the sides of the head here? I imagine the haft will be a weak point in the design, whereas the head won’t care if a few grooves are cut into it.”

  “What about when I’m hitting things with it?” Ash replied

  “Well, if you connect with the tip or the back, that shouldn’t be an issue. Besides, the wood is denser and can handle a bit more punishment.”

  Ash examined the head. “Well, I suppose I can fit them. I may have to carve a bit smaller than I usually do in order to keep them away from the tip, but it can work, especially with the increase in woodwork I’ve got from today.” She considered. “Alright. I’ll take the suggestion. You’re the expert after all!”

  Ash shifted her inscribing tools to the Hammer’s head and was about to begin when a voice called out from the doorway.

  “Ah! There you both are! Have you been in here all morning?” It was Tyra, smiling at them both as she entered the workshop.

  “Sorry dear,” Jori apologised “I kind of got caught up in this new project for Ash, I should have said I’d be crafting for a while.”

  “Oh, it’s no true bother. But it would be nice to know next time. Anyway, I was actually looking for you Ash, we’re still getting you that extra meal to help you recover, remember?”

  Tyra handed Ash a bowl, removing the cloth covering to reveal a portion of the egg and vegetable breakfast they had before. It was no longer hot and Ash momentarily wished she had access to a microwave, but tried to dismiss the thought. Tyra’s cooking was good, even cold, and she didn’t want to appear ungrateful for woman’s kindness. Especially as she so desperately wanted those lost points in strength, reflex and constitution gone.

  “Thanks Tyra, I appreciate you coming to find me. And I’m sorry for stealing your husband for the morning. I really needed a proper replacement for the weapon I lost fighting the Ant Queen.”

  “Oh, it’s no bother. Jori’s willingness to help those in need is one of the many things I adore about him.” She grinned at her husband momentarily “Though yes, I heard the story of the fight from Hestia.” Tyra said brightly. “Having your weapon break mid battle like that… Well, I can image you’d want to avoid repeating the experience! So, what have you-” She suddenly spotted the hammer on the table beside them. “Oh, is this it? Wow! It looks heavy.” At a gesture from Ash Tyra picked it up. “Oh! Not as bad as I thought.” She gave the great-hammer a swing, and stumbled, Jori rushing in to catch her before she toppled into the tool rack. “Oh! Oops. Damn, it seems a lot better than the crude clubs you used before Ash, but big hammers like this are so unwieldy! I don’t know how you can do it!”

  “Well, that’s where the skill comes in,” Ash replied between bites of her lunch, “moving it generates a lot of momentum. You just need to know how to work with it. It may be a little better if I inscribe ‘eased movement’ on it.” Ash paused contemplatively “Though, I’m not sure. Maybe I should do durability, especially considering the breaking issue you mentioned. Being able to manoeuvrer the thing better is great and all, but only if it actually remains intact to be manoeuvred!”

  “Can’t you add both?” Jori asked “I’ve seen you inscribing two things on items now.”

  “Well, I could” Ash replied “But that would mean I’d lose out on the eased channelling, which is pretty essential for me to cast spells through the hammer right now. The question is do I do channelling and durability or channelling and movement?”

  “Do you think you’ll be able to add all three any time soon?”

  “I don’t know.” Ash replied “I’m, level 11 and I only unlocked adding a second at level 10.”

  “It’ll probably be level 20.” Jori said “That’s the usual journeyman breakpoint. So, it’s unlikely to be an option any time soon. I’d stick with channelling and durability for now. You seem to have enough skill in Great-hammers that the little extra speed won’t affect you too much. Whereas, with that nasty curse of yours, being without one is basically a death sentence in a fight. Any wooden weapon is prone to damage, however well it’s made. So, some extra durability will really help. I can already see the improvement on our tools. They’re wearing so much slower now. Don’t look down on durability! Even though it’s not as flashy.”

  Tyra “Well said dear. I love your confidence when you talk about your craft.”

  Ash watched while they stared at each other, smiling.

  “Okay,” She said after a few awkward moments of silence “I’ll go with your suggestion then. Perhaps push for journeyman soon.”

  “Great. I’ll leave you to it then.” Jori smiled.

  “Yes, plus you are needed to help with construction.” She said, poking him in the chest. “But first, I think we need to have a chat about putting together our house.”

  Ash turned back to her hammer as Tyra led Jori away. It was time to start inscribing.