Dragon Sorcerer 2- Interlude 17 (Patreon)

Interlude 17- Elemental Forging?

It turned out that creating a masterpiece wasn’t something that just happened instantly. Cami had been at the forge working for three days straight. Her body was worn ragged. She had shaped the metal again and again for the first two days, and each time something told her it was wrong.

She had the Black Smithing skill now, but it seemed like it was just a recognition by the system of all the months of training she had done. It felt almost dismissive that she had to wait for the system to acknowledge her. And when she did get the skill, it wasn’t even at level 1.

Black Smithing 4

It was a far cry from Daggin’s skill, but it was enough for her to try to create a class. She was attempting to combine all the aspects of her abilities into one. She was using spells, her draconic aspects which she gained from Nico, her untapped potential pursuits, and her desire to create something which lasted.

Now she was working on the project one last time. She poured her heart and soul into it and if this failed, then she just wasn’t good enough… yet. She was attempting to forge a spear made entirely of metal. It was meant to be long enough so she could use it from dragon back, but still something she could wield on the ground.

Her previous spear had a wooden shaft with a long metal blade. But she was stronger now. She could manage a heavier weapon. In fact, when they had been fighting the baloth, she noticed something. The system gave an estimation of damage, but it did a horrible job measuring the impact of mass and momentum. It was a little better with the impact of Strength, but something was off there. She wasn’t quite sure what it was.

That lead her to decide she needed to use the heaviest weapon that she could manage without using speed. It might not make the difference that Nico’s tons of weight did, but she had to believe it would help.

The only real problem was that she couldn’t afford to get any truly special metals to use. Then again, who was she kidding? She was having enough trouble with steel. She couldn’t afford to waste a fortune in mithril, adamantium, or elementium.

Blow by blow, she shaped the metal to her will. She focused on what the spear would be used for. It would save the lives of innocents. It would destroy monsters. It needed to be strong, durable, and most of all it needed to be something that could carry the power that burned within her.

She could feel it just beneath the surface. For all that Modessa wanted her to learn shadow magic as her primary that wasn’t what this was. It was the elements that sung to her. Not just the lightning of her companion, but also the power of the earth and fire. She felt it in her veins. This pursuit was important. It was part of her. The sphere had not lied.

Becoming an elementalist would have been an easy class for her, but she wanted to channel this part of her into something else. So she focused and, as she did, she felt the metal change. There was a moment when she almost dropped. Everything would have been ruined, but she felt the spear changing before her.

It was something that Daggin had tried to explain to her. An enchanter was the most versatile of the craftsmen who added magic to items. They could add an almost limitless number of effects to almost any type of item. The counterbalance was that their effects were the most costly to make and had the least raw power, not that they were weak by any measure.

Then there were rune smiths. It was a dwarven craft, although some humans had learned it. It was Daggin’s craft and the one he was most passionate about. He said he would work runes into the metal. There were some costs as he might use powered gems or such, but mostly it was just intricate work. Rune smithing had a much more narrow set of effects which it could produce in an item and it always centered around what the items base nature was.

Rune smiths could make a sword sharper, cut better, more durable, or such, but they couldn’t make a spear tip which delivered blunt damage. For a rune smith, it was all about enhancing the nature of the item, or, as Daggin said, bringing out the best that was inside it. He specialized in metal, but said there were other types of rune smiths.

Finally, there were elemental forgers. This was she was striving for. It was the connection that she felt. Elemental forging had essentially no material costs, although Daggin said he had heard of high-level forgers using rare elements in what they created. Essentially, what she was trying to do was to change the fundamental nature of the metal she was working on to add an elemental aspect to it.

So as she worked the spear, she willed it to absorb the heat of the forge, but that had turned out not to be enough. So she had begun casting spells. Once that began, she kept going.

See Flaw

She needed to monitor the spear for the slightest defect. This was her last attempt. It had to be perfect. This was about more than desire. She felt it was a necessity in her core.

Elemental Imbuement

This spell worked perfectly with her craft. It allowed her to temporarily add an elemental aspect to an object. She could literally use it to bond a Fireball to an arrow. It was only limited in that it would last for a short time.

She needed to make it permanent.

With that in mind, she cast more spells.

Burning Spheres hovered around her and their fiery power was soaked into the metal.

Call the Charge added a lightning aspect. A part of her mind screamed that she was a fool to include more than one element. She was still a novice. Yet deep with her soul she felt a compulsion. It was the same feeling which had driven her to work for three days with only limited breaks for food and water.

Following that same gut feeling, Cami tried to add an earth element to what she was doing with the only spell that she possessed, which was even close.

Tripping Vines

Even as the stone floor sprouted vines up, they began to sizzle and then burn away from the extreme heat being poured into the spear. Cami knew she had to act quickly if she didn’t want it to all fall apart but on a whim, she cast a spell which wasn’t technically elemental in the earth, air, water, fire, sense but then again neither was lightning.

Venom of Silence

Then, to seal it, Cami yelled for Daggin to get back. She had lost all sense of time and didn’t know exactly where the half-dwarf was. It wouldn’t do for him to get caught up in this next part.

She triggered the dracomorphic breath with Nico had shared with her. She had considered this all along and planned to use lightning because that was her companion’s element, but it just didn’t feel right. At the last second, she shifted to use the new poison breath.

A heavy, noxious cloud of green gas spewed out of her mouth. The spear was wrapped in burning vines, but both the vines and the spear seemed to pull it in. The power within her work was thrumming, not beating like a heart. It almost felt alive.

She could have stopped, but she needed power to be Nico’s equal. She wanted to be more than a pest clinging to his back. She wanted to be a partner. A deep, searing pain ripped down her middle, and it was almost as though a portion of her was being dug out.

That pain was mirrored in her hands as even the tools and gloves she wore started to melt. On instinct, she transformed her hands into scaly claws and then felt that power be sucked into the weapon as well.

A notification flashed before her eyes.

Imbue a fragment of your soul into this weapon?

The words should have scared her, but her mind was too numb. She was all drive and no thought at the moment. So she accepted, screamed, and then fell over.

___________________________________

Daggin came running in as soon as he heard Cami scream. He was old enough to be her grandfather thanks to dwarven blood and almost felt like he was. She’d worked so hard. She was the apprentice he’d never had before and he couldn’t be prouder of her.

She was very young to try for a masterpiece, but he understood the drive. It was how he had ended up as a Rune Metal Smith, a rare quality crafting class. With the gifts she had, Cami might even be able to push for an epic quality class. It wouldn’t make as much difference as a with a combat class, but it would definitely make higher end crafting easier.

What he hadn’t told her was about the other perks. A common crafting class was trash and only those who had no other choice settled for that. An uncommon one might add a stat point every three or four levels. His rare class gave him one stat point each level which was surprisingly useful. His had been split between Strength and Durability as was only natural given what type of crafting he did.

If she could manage an epic class, then the rumors he had heard about the masters were that they could gain two or three stat points every level. It was the dream of any crafter and even more for an adventurer who could make those stats count for more than just their trade.

When he heard her scream, he thought his heart would stop beating. He raced as fast as he could. Ruben was too slow, so he left the enchanter where he was. When he entered the forge, it was filled with a wispy green smoke that made him cough. His adventuring days weren’t so far gone that he didn’t recognize poison.

Daggin pulled out a cloth from his belt, fumes were something a smith knew about. He wrapped it around his face and then ran in and scooped up the girl. He was coughing fiercely as he laid her down on the table and checked for a heartbeat.

Sure enough, she was alive even if her breathing was shallow.

Ruben was a good fellow, that or he was afraid of losing his connection to a wild dragon who seemed as intelligent as the legends said, but either way he quickly produced a healing potion which they forced down her lips. Color returned to her cheeks, but she didn’t wake up.

Daggin went running then to find Lisella or any healer really, but given all of Cami’s secrets it was best if he found the priestess who already knew her. It took some time and even after they got back Lisella pronounced something he had never expected.

“Her body isn’t hurt, or if it was, the potion has healed her. She is exhausted and no potion will fix that, but she has a deeper wound to her soul.”

He asked, “What does that mean?”

Lisella said, “This is very rare. There are spells for this, but they aren’t ones that I normally use. I will have to implore Miseria to grant them to me.”

About then, the two of them turned as they heard the sound of metal clanking from the forge. Ruben came walking into the back room. “I think it has to do with this. I couldn’t help the girl, but I found what she created.”

The spear was solid metal with a smooth shaft set with different grooves for various hand holds. The head of the spear was a good eighteen inches long and razor sharp on one side as well as decidedly pointed. It almost looked like it could be used as polearm of sorts too.

“Impressive looking work, especially given her low skill level and lack of experience, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Identify it then. You surely have a skill for that.”

Daggin snorted. Of course he did. What kind of craftsman wouldn’t, let alone one who had been an adventurer?

Unnamed Soul Weapon Quality: Growth

Weight: 16 lbs.

Restriction: Soul bonded to Cami Westfork

Elemental Adaptations

Fire- XP: 0/100

Lightning- XP: 0/100

Plant- XP: 0/100

Poison- XP: 0/100

This spear is simple but filled with boundless potential, like its creator who imparted a sliver of her soul to create it. As she grows, so too, will it.

Daggin simply whistled. Cami and Nico were going to be the death of him, he just knew it, but it sure would be exciting while it lasted.