Chapter 23 – Blacksmithing.

“Tell me what that one is?”

“This one is a… ball peen hammer!”

“Correct, now what’s the one next to it?”

“Hmm… That’s a round drift and it’s used to hit through holes, expand, and shape them?”

“You’re quite the fast learner, how about we move over to the tongs then?”

“Sure thing!”

Rusty spent hours poring over the basic blacksmithing guide and quickly absorbed every piece of information that it had in store for him. He found it surprisingly easy to absorb the information for some reason, it was as if he wasn’t learning it but re-learning something that he had previously forgotten. The floating orbs commented on this phenomenon which could explain it.

“The knowledge he is learning was something you once knew, right Hero?”

“That’s right, I remember reading through these old texts before, though I can’t recall most of it, only fragments.”

“It seems that the library has our lost knowledge, there are some books on old ancient black magic, something that I have partaken in my past life.”

Rusty wasn’t really paying attention to the two orbs that were discussing as he was examining the various togs and trying to compare them to the drawings in the books. It seemed that the library didn’t only hold the knowledge of the late hero but also the demon king. There were books on tactics and evil magic that were above his intelligence level and for the time being he was focused on producing more weapons and not magical effects.

“I wonder, could our little Rusty here learn both dark magic and light magic? Something that shouldn’t be possible?”

“He does have those elemental skills…”

“That’s quite something… but it might be better if he doesn’t showcase it once he encounters more adventurers…”

The two orbs seemed to nod at each other while having the conversation. The two knew that it was unnatural for a monster to be able to use light magic, something that only special people like a hero should be able to. The same could be said for dark magic, which was only handled by the highest demon lords and their king. It was not something a monster like a living armor should be able to use and could cause him harm once he became a target of both sides.

“Sure… but, will he even listen to us?”
“If he has my tendencies, then it shouldn’t be a problem? I would be more afraid if he took after you, hero.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Hey, could you two keep it down, it’s hard to concentrate with all that noise!”

Rusty’s voice echoed through the forge as he was finding it hard to focus on the blacksmithing tools on the ground. The two souls felt compelled to stop their banter in a strange fashion. It was as if the hollow armor had a sort of hold over them as if they were his thralls. Luckily, the gag order only worked for a few seconds before their ability to talk was returned to them.

“Interesting…”

The demon lord whispered while trying not to anger Rusty, who seemed to be in command. Now that they were quiet again, Rusty continued to flip through the simple blacksmithing guide while looking at the tools on the workbench. Under the watchful gazes of the two floating orbs, Rusty finally began to experiment with the tools laid out before him.

He picked up the hammer and after feeling its weight in his metallic hands, it was time to practice swinging it around. The rhythmic clanging echoed through the forge as he hit a cold piece of metal with it. For some reason, it felt right in his hand and after a couple of swings, it felt like it belonged there. However, hitting a cold piece of metal wouldn’t achieve anything, to begin blacksmithing he needed to fire up the forge and heat things up.

“Hm… what should I make first… a big shield? A large axe? Or maybe a two-handed sword?”

“Um… excuse me Rusty, may I offer some advice?”

“Huh? What is it? Make it quick, I want to try crafting soon!”

The white orb of light floated down towards the mess of tools that were on the workbench. During his study session, Rusty had made quite a mess. The Hero while lacking much of his memories knew the steps that needed to be taken to become a proper craftsman. Rusty might have had his memories and would learn it a lot faster but these memories needed to be awakened in a proper way.

“Sure… A wise man once said that you should learn to walk before trying to run.”

“Oh my, the hero saying something clever for once?”

The orb of black chimed in while chuckling but the hero just ignored him. It seemed that Rusty didn’t really know what he meant with that phrase, thus he decided to be less cryptic.

“I meant that you should probably do something easier, I propose you make a few simple small blades or nails first to get yourself acquainted with everything. Also, considering that we are working with bronze for now, it would be better to focus on molds and the smelter for now…”

“Ah, molds do sound simpler!”

Rusty nodded in agreement, realizing the wisdom in the Hero’s words. Starting with molds and smaller blades would allow him to grasp the basics of blacksmithing. He was also limited by his materials and only could use what was already unlocked, in this case, it was bronze. It seemed that he needed to limit his weapons to the material that his armor was made from or to the things he could absorb from the real world.

While this place looked to be similar to a regular blacksmith’s workshop, it wasn’t quite the same. One notable advantage was the creation of molds that seemed to take the desired shape of what the creator wished of them. Normally a person would need to create such a mold by carving out a wooden replica of the weapon and then inserting it into clay or sand.
Only thereafter could they start smelting bronze and pouring it into the cavity.

“A simple blade… is it this one?”

In one of the corners of the forge, Rusty found a section with various rectangular molds. They had drawings of the weapons that he desired and for the time being, he decided to go with the smallest one. It represented a small blade that was shorter than the daggers that the adventurers used. While it wouldn’t be a great weapon, it would probably be the easiest to make at this moment.

“Will this do?”

“Yes, that should be fine, you’ll be able to make a simple hunter’s knife with that one. Don’t underestimate its size, at close range, it can be quite deadly.”