Chapter 114 – Time To Craft.

Rusty stared at the display in front of him. On it was the image of a gloomy-looking girl – the summoner he had interacted with earlier. Her picture was grayed out, leaving him uncertain about its significance. Fortunately, Alexander seemed to have some understanding of these strange contraptions, so Rusty decided to ask him.

“Do you know what this might mean?”

“Hm… It could be that after you successfully complete the quests, you can be summoned again by a summoner you’ve interacted with before. Though, I might be wrong…”

“Is that so? But it doesn’t seem to be working right now.”

“Well, she probably needs to attempt a summoning first. But it might also just be some kind of record of summoning missions and nothing more. We’ll probably have to wait and see.”

“Was there any mention of this in that manual?”

After Alexander shared his speculation, he turned to Aburdon, who had previously gone through the entire manual.

“Hm, there wasn’t anything like that mentioned before. How strange…”

The three decided to revisit the manual. When they brought up the interface, to their surprise, an additional section had appeared. The new section confirmed Alexander’s theory: after a successful mission, the connection with the summoner would be saved, and future quests involving that summoner could become available.

“How interesting, this means that if you, dear Rusty, complete multiple missions with a particular summoner, you may form a deeper connection – something akin to a bonding contract.”

The manual was somewhat vague on the details, but it hinted that Rusty might be summoned to battle monsters on behalf of the young girl. While the prospect of fighting for her didn’t particularly interest him, the potential quest rewards certainly did. However, Rusty couldn’t help but wonder how this arrangement would work, especially given his limited access to the Soul Forge, which was only possible during evolution.

“Hm… I think there might be nothing more for me to do here…”

The summoning chamber was vast, but there wasn’t much Rusty could interact with beyond the console and the now-dimmed summoning circle. For a moment, he wondered where exactly he had been summoned to and whether the time spent in the summoning chamber still aligned with the Soul Forge’s temporal flow – or if more time had passed in the real world, where Gleam was waiting for him.

With those thoughts lingering, Rusty made his way back to the main forge chamber, where the three lifeless bodies awaited him. There he noticed one oddity, the summoning chamber sign was also dimmer now, probably indicating that it was out of order. Soon, he headed not to the smith part of the soul forge but to the library instead.

Rusty was now permitted to use twilight steel as his primary resource for crafting new bodies and weapons. Previously, he had created a lankier version of himself and a larger, heavier variant. This time, he planned to do the same, making only marginal improvements to the designs since he hadn’t had much time to study.

He reminded himself that the library offered new guides and knowledge on advanced smithing techniques. With access to these resources, he could likely level up his basic smithing and forging masteries – perhaps even evolve them further.

Rusty entered the library, his metallic footsteps echoing softly against the polished stone floor. The vast chamber stretched out before him, with towering shelves of books and manuals. He noted that this place had become larger than before, with bookshelves that he had not seen before and it seemed that he had his work cut out for him.

He approached a section that used to contain crafting manuals and noticed that another case had appeared which contained new crafting manuals specifically dedicated to Twilight Steel. The shelf gleamed faintly as if resonating with the energy of the material it detailed. Rusty scanned the titles quickly, picking up one labeled “Fundamentals of Twilight Alloy Forging” and another titled “Mastering Blacksmithing Techniques: Twilight Steel and Beyond.”

“These sound oddly specific, different from before.”

The instructions were more about handling the new alloy and how to shape it correctly and went past the fundamentals that he had already studied before. He settled at a nearby table, its surface already equipped with tools for note-taking and sketching designs. Rusty opened the first manual, its pages illuminated by the soft candle glow of the library.

Aburdon didn’t say much as he immersed himself in the books, scanning through their pages. Meanwhile, Alexander remained outside, inspecting the forge and taking a keen interest in the newly improved smithing tools.

Rusty, however, stayed focused on the fundamentals of working with twilight steel. These detailed guides explained methods for achieving balanced forging with this advanced material. Twilight steel, he learned, was still based on iron but included an essential addition called high-carbon. This alloy was created by combining iron with altered carbon in a process involving something called a blast furnace.

Although pre-prepared ingots of twilight steel were readily available for his use, Rusty recognized the value of understanding the entire process. He couldn’t always rely on the system to handle everything for him – mastery of blacksmithing required a deep awareness of every step of the craft.

“The melting point is a lot higher for twilight steel than regular steel, interesting…”

One thing quickly became apparent: his new body would still surpass regular steel in strength. From what he knew, steel-based Living Armors would be somewhat weaker than his old iron body, while this new form made with twilight steel could rival even a D-rank monster at least when it came to durability.

He was eager to begin crafting weapons and his new suit of armor, but he understood the importance of thoroughly reviewing all the books before experimenting. Rusty recalled his earlier attempts at working with iron, which had resulted in multiple failures. This time, he was determined to approach the process with greater speed and efficiency.

Rusty absorbed the crafting manuals like a sponge, focusing on every nuance of twilight steel forging. Each page revealed new complexities about the alloy – its propensity for retaining enchantments, its resistance to extreme conditions, and its compatibility with mana infusion. This point in the manual stood out the most as it implied that this alloy was well suited for enchantments but this was not something he was capable of doing, as for that he would require mana skills similar to Gleam’s.

‘The mana conductivity will still increase my twilight skills though

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The manuals offered step-by-step instructions for advanced forging. Rusty paid particular attention to the section on tempering methods, noting that twilight steel required a precise cooling technique to stabilize its mana-conductive properties. Cooling it too quickly or too slowly could result in brittle fractures or diminished magical resonance.

Rusty paused at a detailed diagram showcasing a forge setup designed specifically for working with twilight steel. The illustration depicted a secondary bellows system, which introduced a steady stream of infused mana vapor into the forge’s flames. This innovative design ensured that the material remained malleable without sacrificing its innate magical properties. It was fascinating, and Rusty made a mental note to recreate something similar when he eventually built his forge in the city.