Finally, I arrived at the building where the teachers and instructors work and stay. I entered the large, white, stone building. I explained to a woman working as a receptionist why I had come here. The woman moved mechanically, pointed to my bracelet indicating the location I needed to go to and wished me a good day. I felt as if I was talking to an NPC. I stopped thinking about that and headed towards the blacksmith's forge.
The interior design resembled the dormitory we were staying in and several floors had been built underground. The forge I was looking for was on one of these underground floors. I was sure I would get lost in this huge building if my bracelet didn't indicate the location. Fortunately, after a few minutes, I managed to find what I was looking for.
And this place was much larger than my old workplace. The familiar warmth had spread everywhere. It was about two and a half times bigger. The forge was also large because more than one person needed to work there. I counted about five people inside. All of them were burly men. If they squeezed the stone, they could get all the water out of it. Two of them were waiting at the forge, holding their tasks and waiting for the metal to heat up. One was holding a straight sword and dipping it into an oil quench to cool the metal. The other was sitting by the grindstone, sharpening an axe.
The last one, the largest and oldest-looking among them, seemed to be overseeing them and was designing a bone handle for a sword. I didn't know what kind of bone he was using but I thought it didn't belong to an ordinary creature. Not wanting to interfere with the others' work, I approached this man. He must have been in his forties. His body looked like it had been worn down from years of work. Despite having very short hair, his hair was already graying, and he looked at me with his purple eyes.
"What are you doing here, kid?"
He seemed to be a rude person. Thinking that if I irritate him, he wouldn't let me come here again, I decided to be polite.
"I'm like you. I needed a forge to make a sword and they directed me here."
"Aren't you got anywhere else to go that you came here?"
"I could have gone to my old master's place but I want to handle my affairs within the Academy's borders."
The man looked at me carefully. Although he was intrigued by someone like me showing interest in this profession, he soon turned back to his work and continued talking without looking at me.
"Whatever you plan to do, do it after we leave and don't break the tools. Each one is worth millions of kane and I keep you here to pay off that debt. Do you understond?"
"Un... Understond…"
I looked around again and saw that the man was indeed right. It was obvious that the blacksmith I was working with didn't offer nearly as many opportunities.
"By the way, can I examine the ores and ingots?"
There were ores piled up in a corner and some ingots were stacked beside them. Since the man didn't say anything, I took it as a yes and walked along the edge of the work area toward the ores I wanted to examine.
The ores were haphazardly piled up and their types varied. I had also seen a few viridyum ores among them but one in particular caught my attention.
It was pitch black in color, about the size of an orange. 'Wait a minute, I think I noted this down somewhere.' I muttered to myself and pulled out my notebook from my bag. In the eesource class, only not viridyum was mentioned. Other minerals had also been discussed and I had briefly noted down the ones that interested me. After verifying the situation with my notes, I couldn't help but crack a small smile inwardly. "This is definitely a calteus ore." I told myself.
Calteus is a very rare mines. It is found nowhere else except outside the desert region in the center of Heiben. The other name for this mine is "black silver". Aside from its color, its structure is identical to silver. I thought I could use it because the piece of ore I had was small. For such a tiny piece, I wouldn't have to pay a fortune.
"How many kane is this calteus ore worth?"
The blacksmith's head looked at the ore in my hand for a few seconds and then said:
"40,000."
I was about to drop the ore in my hand.
I couldn't believe that this tiny thing was worth this much money.
I had to leave the calteus ore. I couldn't spend most of my money just for this. I took one of the viridyum ores and asked about its price. When the man said 30,000 kane, I felt as if a knife had been stabbed into my heart. After placing the ore back, I felt the urge to check my argent.
Account Name: Nell Warden
Amount of Kane: 45,090
It was said money would not always stay in the same place. Over a few days, I had spent several thousand kane on the cafe and other things. In fact, I could have made a sword without spending any of my money. I had the materials for it but Zui had completely let me do whatever I wanted aside from the sword design. She only told me that it was just the weapon itself and that her wanted to carry the finished sword with her as a decoration.
"The weapon itself is her…"
I muttered this to myself. I don't think the blacksmiths, all busy with their own work, heard me.
I muttered these words once again.
And then, a light bulb went off in my head.
I shouted internally, 'How did I not realize this, Nell Warden?!' to myself. She was already not very skilled at fighting, so why should I just make a slaughtering sword? Doing so would also decrease the value of this sword. If she weapon itself...
"I need to make her sword compatible with her magic."
This time, I wanted to say it out loud and start working. To avoid disturbing the other blacksmiths, I pulled aside to the corner where the ores were and took out two steel ingots from my bag. I also took out the gold powder and some small iron ores I had.
The carbon content of the steel ingots I had in my hand was different from each other. I selected the ingot with the lowest carbon percentage and put the remaining materials back into my bag. Right now, I was benefiting from a power called "science," which I referred to as within my own world.
Magic is truly amazing. Without it, our lives would probably be much more difficult. In my previous world, this task wouldn't have been handled by magic.
Instead, there was something called electricity.
Electricity, by its very nature, is a conductive. The human body can feel electricity because of its structure. That's why we can say that magic is also a conductive. While magic travels freely through the air, we all draw it into our own bodies.
I didn't want to repeat the workings of magic any more than necessary, so I focused on my work. Since Zui's magic was a weapon, the sword must be considered an "extension" of her. It should have a high natural conductivity and be sturdy enough to withstand the power of her magic. I was sacrificing strength by choosing a low-carbon steel ingot because conductivity was my top priority. That's why I needed to add something to ensure the sword's durability. Choosing the safest option was the best move, so I paid 6,000 kane for three chromite ores from the blacksmiths. Chromium would provide the strength I wanted and wouldn't create a hole in my pocket due to its low cost. Still, it wouldn't be smart to keep the ratio too high.
Therefore, I decided to use half of the three chromite ores. I split one of the ores in half, so I was ready to add about one and a half ores' worth of chromium. Since I didn't have much time left, I needed to melt these metals in a forge and finish my work. I placed the low-carbon steel ingot and the chromite ores into a spare pot and waited for them to mix and melt together with the other blacksmiths' metals. My mind was still fixated on viridyum and calteus ores. It was very frustrating not to be able to use them because I truly wanted to work with these mines. I would settle my score with them when I made my own sword.
The alloy formed, and I poured it into a cube-shaped mold, then waited for it to cool. After it cooled, I added it to my inventory. This gave me a chance to check the items in my inventory.
Inventory:
- Academy Uniform
- Academy Axe (Tomahawk)
- Cultist Dagger
- Poison Vials
- Alloy Cube
My newest item truly felt like a "quest item". It seemed like something created solely for completing a quest in a game. I stopped thinking about that and hurried to the meeting with my friends so I wouldn't be late.
Still, I was the last one to arrive.
However, I had a bad premonition.