Slimes & Magic

29. Advanced blacksmithing

Talking at the table while eating May explains their plan to stay in Daromir for the next day, as well as the various magical applications that they discovered for blacksmithing. Agreeing to teach them the next day Liz closes the door behind them as they leave, muttering about the potential of magic weaponry. Having regained some energy Alex is now peaking out of the pouch that may is carrying them in as they walk back to the inn to spend the night.

After a quick breakfast provided by the inn Alex and May head right back to Liz's workshop. After knocking on her door she opens up letting them inside. "*I got up early today to prep to teach the two of ya.*" Liz says as she goes back inside to the things she had set up, "*If I remember right you said you ain't have the blacksmithin skill yet. Now'd be the time to get it.*" As Liz eagerly watches Alex gives one of the skill scrolls to May to read and spreads out the workbench to read it themselves. Liz lets out an amazed 'oooh' as both scrolls turned blank.
[Skill gained; blacksmithing]
"*There, now we should both be able to do anything at a good basic level*" May says handing the empty scroll back to Alex. "*Hold up Alex, you got a form in which you can even hold on to a hammer?*" Liz asks looking concerned. "*Oh well I could use my snake form and hold the hammer with my tail*" Alex explains turning in to a large snake and coiling their tail around a hammer lying next to them, "*But I won't be able to hold on to the metal like this, so I'll use my slime form instead. I think I have enough control over my body to be able to swing a hammer.*" Alex demonstrates again, making two slime arms, the right one holding on to the hammer. swinging the hammer up and down in front of them it seems like they will be just fine. "*Huh. Well, lets not waste any time!*".

Before starting with the actual forging Liz briefly explained what they would be doing. They would be making an ingot of iron and steel, folded over and over to increase the durability of the final weapon. Liz also explained that this method of forging is technically available to everyone, however the blacksmiths outside of the dwarves have all forgotten the method as they deemed it too bothersome. Turns out that with their longer lives compared to humans and most other demi humans, the dwarves liked to spend more time and effort on the craft. To start of their process Liz would be showing and May and Alex would each be following along with their own pieces. First thing they do is take several flat, squared pieces of the iron and steel that had been prepared earlier. Stacking them on top of each other, iron-steel-iron-steel, to make a total of 10 layers, 5 of each. Then using some wire they very tightly wrapped both ends of the stack to bind the layers together. Placing the stacks in to the hot forge Liz explained that they would be hammering the layers together while they are as hot as can be to make sure they stick together. Once her stack is glowing really hot she takes it out of the forge with a pair of long tongs and starts hammering down on the layers on one end of the stack. Making sure to start from the middle she hammers down in an outward direction as to not trap any air bubbles between the layers. turning the stack around she does the same with the other end and puts the stack back in to the forge while May and Alex both do the same. With guidance from Liz the both of them are able to complete the first step. For Alex to be able to reach the anvil properly they pile up a couple crates for them to sit on while hammering. Finding it slightly strange, Alex is able to make perfect use of the blacksmithing skill even though they aren't using a proper form with arms and hands. The technique that would take a lot of practice to learn from scratch was right there available to the both of them from learning the skill, so Liz only had to direct them in the process. Once the stacks are heated up again they take off the wires and hammer down on it again until its about half of its initial thickness. Following Liz's example they fold the stretched out bar in half hammering from the fold while bright hot. Stretching the bar out in length again they repeat the folding process 3 more times, each time making sure that no metal flakes would get caught inside the folds. Now having folded the initial stack of 10 layers 4 times the completed bar would have a total of 160 layers. After having completed the last fold they spent some time adjusting the bar of metal for forging it in to a knife. Liz explained that this step was technically only for aesthetic purposes as the pattern of the layers would become visible once finished. Finally they reached the stage where the rest of the job was turning the bar of metal they had each created in to a knife. Stretching out the material and shaping it to create an edge and a thin handle, once happy with the form they dunk the hot knives in cold water to harden the metal quickly. Then to complete the forging they would warm up the blade to a lower temperature than before and leave it to cool down naturally. These two steps would make the blades harder, but not brittle so that it can be used properly. After taking a meal break while the blades cool down enough touch them by hand they got down to the final step on the blade itself which is using a wet-stone to sharpen the edge of the blade. Liz told them that she would take care of fixing up their knives with proper handles at a later point.

After making the knives Liz decided to show them how they would be able to mark runes on to their weapons. Apparently the usual cold engraving methods would be detrimental to the weapons so instead Liz decided to teach them something that looked more like stamping than engraving. According to Alex's instructions Liz quickly made 3 tools that would be used to stamp in the runes. The runes are made of straight lines, curved lines, and dots, one stamper for each so that they could be combined together to stamp runes in to the warm metal. For this Alex decides to prep the bit of magic ore that they took with them within their stomach using the creation skill, using a little bit of magic to blacksmith a small bar. Giving the bar to Liz to use she shows them that while the metal is hot, the stamp tools can be used to indent the metal to create the runes.

Colling down the little bar of metal with water Liz puts it down on the anvil for them to look at. "*there ya have it, like this you should be able to write all sorts of things. Now how bout you show me some magic with this.*" Liz steps to the other side of the anvil so that Alex can come closer. "*Alright, all I have to do now is direct some of my magic in to the runes on this bar and if all goes well a flame should appear.*" Alex says reaching towards the bar with a slime arm and letting a little bit of their magic flow in to the rune. "*WOAH*" Liz shouts jumping back in response to the massive column of flame that jumps out of the bar. "*You tryin to burn ma hair off?!?*"
"*Sorry... I really did let in a very small amount of magic...*" Alex says worried. "*I think your magic is too strong Alex... I remember something along those lines from your evolution. Here let me try.*" May says thinking back. Stepping back to the anvil this time May puts some of her magic in to the rune and it produces a nice and small candle flame. "*Hmm I think your right May, from what I can tell you put in just a bit less magic than I did.*" Alex tells them slightly impressed by themselves. On the contrary Liz is looking at Alex with a strange mixture of amazement and fright, "*Jeez if thas true, then with your large magic capacity the damage you could do would be insane...*"
"*I haven't tested my limits yet*" Alex replies hoping Liz doesn't get worried. "*Anyway, I'm glad everything worked out well today.*" Liz walks back around to Alex and pats them on the head, "*As am I. Glad to be workin with ya.*" May stands up and picks up Alex "*I'm happy to have you too. It's getting late so we best get going. Make sure you have all the things you want to take with you prepared tomorrow morning. Alex can store it away when we pick you up in the morning.*" she says walking towards the door. "*I'll get right on it!*" Liz replies waving the two of them off.

Back in the inn they have dinner and take their time cleaning off in the bath. While May washes herself Alex bobs up and down in the water messing around a bit. Paddling with little slime arms Alex is able to turn and swim around in their slime form. Messing around with the water Alex sucks in some water and spews it straight out the end of their arm like a sprinkler. Aiming at May Alex giggles as she tries to protect herself, "*Alex! Hey, stop it, trying to clean myself here. you cheeky.*" Sucking up a whole bunch more water Alex points one of their arms forwards and the other backwards in to the water. Shooting out the water Alex quickly starts spinning, "*Woah I'm getting dizzy this was a bad idea!*" This time May is the one giggling at the spinning Alex "*Alright come here you!*" she says grabbing Alex on the sides stopping the spinning. She sinks down in to the water up till her chin and pulls Alex closer, splashing some water and soap over them. After their bath May puts on her pyjamas and gets in to bed, Alex following her as a tiger, hopping on to the bed Alex lies down next to her.

Bright and early in the morning they eat up a last breakfast in the inn and May pays their lodging fee with the dwarf at the front desk. Walking back to Liz's place for the last time they find her with the door open waiting for them. Storing up everything that Liz had prepared in a pile, which amounts to everything in the workshop and some personal belongings, they set out towards the main gate. Walking past the guards they walk for about half an hour again before taking to the skies. This time around before taking off Alex splits in two, to carry May and Liz separately. Getting some help from Liz and May they modify the old creature armour in to a better saddle with some extra leather scraps Alex still had in their stomach. Once complete May helps Liz get strapped in to the old saddle on Alex's back before strapping in herself on the other. Up in the air flying over path through the mountains Liz seems quite excited, "*Any other dwarf would say that I'm crazy to be enjoyin this!*"