Emerilia Box Set, page 72
part #1 of Emerilia Series
“How?”
“You send them underneath.” Malsour gave a devious smile. “Send them through sewers, through the water pipes and the cracks of the walls in your way. With enough stored Mana, metal creations can condense themselves and get through the smallest of gaps, or force their way through. Light can as well, but metal is dark and using different metals can make it simulate the look of the area around it.”
“Wow, I knew that they were capable of changing forms easily, but I didn’t think of that.” Suzy gave her four metal figures a thoughtful look.
“One’s magic is only contained by a person’s imagination and their will to push the limits.”
“Well then, I say we push some more of these limits.” Suzy grinned as an explosion rippled through the courtyard, the air rushing toward them.
“The hell?” Suzy yelled. Deia and Anna, who had been sparring, and the Dwarves in the courtyard looked over to Induca, who was jumping and dancing around in victory.
The wind calmed down and the dust and dirt from the surrounding area settled back down.
“I did it!” Induca cried out, running to Deia.
“How? What was your area pressure and what form of fuel were you using? And the dispersion pattern?” Deia asked.
“Well, it looks like we’re not the only ones pushing boundaries.” Malsour rubbed his forehead.
Suzy laughed. Malsour and Induca’s reactions to each other always made her grin.
***
“This is gold, the second most expensive material in all of Emerilia. Once you’ve got this one in the bag, then you will be qualified on all materials except Mithril.” Jesal passed Dave a green-looking piece of ore shaped into a ring.
Dave nodded, taking his necklace off and putting the ore on the necklace, showing the first material to the last that he had mastered.
Quest: Of Anvil and Fire
After meeting with Jesal, she has decided to accept you as a candidate to be a Dwarven Master Smith.
You will need to:
Master the material Stone
Master the material Malachite
Master the material Gold
Master the material Mithril
Find your Smithing Art
Reward: Title of Dwarven Master Smith
Do you accept?
Y/N
They sat in a classroom; Jesal had a case with different gold items. “Gold is pretty damned heavy as well as soft.” She pushed a chisel into the gold, making an indent. “It doesn’t rust like other metals but it’ll scratch easy. It can hold some higher-level enchantments that lesser materials would break from. Unlike ebony, it does not absorb part of the Mana that might be flowing through or around it. Its lack of reactivity makes it good for using on high-level Magical Circuits.”
Dave’s jaw worked in thought as he stroked his beard.
“Well, at least we figured they did. I had to do some tests to confirm but it does look like silver, although not able to hold the higher-level Magical Circuits that gold can—is actually better for filling in the runes of a Magical Circuit.”
“Told you.” Dave grinned.
“No one likes a smart arse,” she shot back, making Dave chuckle. “And it won’t be enough to get you out of learning about working with gold.
“Gold is primarily used for three things: Money.” She pulled out a few gold coins from different places. “Rings.” The rings were high quality, with details on them that made them seem as if they were small, curled up animals, or golden flowers and trees. A few of them had different gems mounted in them. A few of the gems glowed and Dave could sense Magical Circuits in them. “And presentation, though before your little epiphany, it was used for runes.” She pulled out an ornate dagger with a simple steel blade. Ebony, gold, and silver accents melded together to turn the weapon into something of beauty and power. It was a well-made blade that looked capable of cutting through a quarter-inch steel plate. Its sharp edges and strength was only emphasized by the workmanship that had gone into making the blade so beautiful.
“Personally, I only use the first two unless I’ve got some major piece. Even then, it’s rare.” Jesal picked up the rings. “These are the most useful things in here, so I will be teaching you the most about these.”
Dave peered closer at the rings, using all of his senses and his Touch to check out the finer details of the items. They had powerful Magical Circuits hidden in them. They might be fashion items but they were also highly protective and powerful. “Damn.”
“Indeed. We ain’t making no knockoff crap here.” Jesal grinned. “I want you to go from ore to ingot to different forms and then to rings. Once you get to rings, we’ll get to working with some of these gems. For the most part, I think you’ve got this covered after your work with your own armor.”
“Thanks, boss,” Dave said.
Jesal shook her head at him. “While we’re working with gold, we can go into the different kind of gems that you can use. From diamonds to rubies and everything in between. Unlike those Human and Elven smiths, when a Dwarf smith makes something with gems, you better take it damned seriously. Depending on the gem, it can augment your enchantments, store some energy, and can even be engraved with magical formations or entire circuits, if done properly.”
Jesal had Dave’s complete attention as he looked at the rings with a new interest. “They are just like a chipset—put in the right formation, plug it into the Magical Circuit, bingo.” He shook his head, thinking about the possibilities.
“Chipset?”
“Something from back on Earth.”
“Well, I look forward to seeing what this chipset is capable of doing.” Jesal smiled.
“Not sure if it will work, but if it does, then it could change more than a few things.” Dave rubbed his head, thinking seriously.
He didn’t catch Jesal’s growing smile. She’d learned a lot over the past couple of weeks. Whenever Dave talked about something that was from Earth, it nearly always meant that he was going to make something interesting.
“Jesal, I was wondering if you would be able to look at two weapons for me? They’re pretty damaged but I was wondering if you would be able to repair them,” Dave said.
“Well, let’s see them.”
Dave pulled out the Daggers of Demons Ruin from his bag and handed them to her. Josh had given them to Dave in order for him to see whether there was anyone able to fix the blades. Dave had forgotten about them as he had bent to the task of getting his final materials before being allowed to touch Mithril. The thoughts of runes and circuits had made him think of the complicated daggers.
“Where did you get these from?” Jesal’s voice was almost reverent as she studied the daggers, turning them over in her hands and admiring them.
“My friend gave them to me. He wanted to see if there was any way to get them repaired.”
“They’re in bad condition but they show that they’ve actually been used. These things are not supposed to be out in the world. They’re Weapons of Power. Where did he get them from?”
“A raid against an Xelur Demon Lord?” Dave said, hoping to get some more information out of her.
Jesal put the blades down, her face pale. “Then it may be time to open the vaults.” Her voice quivered slightly.
“Vaults?”
“We Dwarves were given a sacred duty: to protect and hold the Weapons of Power. They are not all weapons like this, but might be something similar to your armor. We have made a great number of items ourselves that rest in those vaults. We believe a creature calling itself Lo’kal created the duty, giving us special vaults which hid the weapons from the outside world and then contained their power, not allowing them to be transported to a new location to be found by a new wielder. If this was found in Emerilia, then it might be possible that other weapons of great power will return.”
Jesal looked at the ceiling in thought, not seeing Dave’s wide eyes or the cold sweat that fell from his brow.
What the hell have you been up to, Bob?
“I can have a look at the blades, but I don’t think that I have the necessary skills to look after this blade. I know of one who might be able to. We will wait until we find out your smithing art before doing so.”
“You keep on saying smithing art. What does it mean?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Now put these away and get working on those rings!” Jesal said, trying to put some emphasis on her words. But the recent revelations made her feel distant.
***
Making the ingots wasn’t too hard; it was a matter of smelting the gold down, getting rid of the impurities, and then placing it into a form.
It might have been difficult for someone who hadn’t been doing it for months already. Dave had worked with multiple metals that were formed into ingots before being used. Working with stone and glass had been difficult but not impossible.
He’d had to adapt what he knew and what he could find out to get his previous results. Even with the gold, he spent time looking up different facts. He didn’t want to mess up what was about a thousand gold coins’ worth of solid gold.
Dave grunted as he moved the gold ingots around. They might be soft but they were heavy as all hell.
“Now time to turn you into something useful.” He grabbed different tools, working on cutting a sliver of the gold from the ingot to reheat it and pour it into a ring form.
He looked around after a few minutes, forming a dagger in his hands and slicing through the gold easily. His conjuration ability had increased in leaps and bounds. He was not only making items down to the molecular level—his creations could have different aspects augmented to make them better. Combining his knowledge of builder, smithing, and maintainer, he could easily make a blade that cut clean through gold.
The blade disappeared as he moved the refined gold to a crucible that he’d been heating up. He put it in, adding a bit of fire to the base and increasing the melting heat. He moved to the forms, using what he had learned from other metals and the malachite. In fluid motions, he poured the gold in—not too much or too little—moving to the next easily. There was no time for hesitation. Waiting or pausing could mean that he messed up the entire thing.
Dave watched the crucible. By the time that it would cool in the crucible, the poured gold would be sorted.
As he waited, he played with his magic. No one was around, so he worked with making different things. They weren’t anything crazy, just a few tools here and there. He started making things and added runes into their creation.
Simple items he could make not only identical to their physical counterparts, but he could change their very makeup so that they were actually better than the normal item. At this stage, he only thought that he could eke out maybe a ten percent improvement.
With enough time and more knowledge, I can hopefully improve that.
He knew that he couldn’t even make a perfect copy of more complicated things, like Cassie’s longsword. Josh’s daggers, he couldn’t even make half as good as the originals. They were just so powerful and well-made that they were leagues ahead. He might be able to repair them marginally but the skill needed to recreate that through his mind was not his yet.
Dave moved the crucible around. The gold inside didn’t move as it was now hard. He moved to the form, cracking it open.
“Well, let’s see if we can’t make a damned ring.”
Chapter 25: Private Discussions and Public Promises
Jesal pressed her hand against the magical mirror, getting transported to the meeting room of the Dwarven Master Smiths.
“How goes the new student?” Quino asked as she appeared.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jesal grinned.
“Well, I got a chance to check out those runes that he told you about. Ingenious! I never thought to go in that direction. Here I was, trying to imbue spells with more power and try different metal permutations and instead he was developing a condensed inter-layers runic platform! I am making plans to come visit. The boy interests me greatly.”
“Well, he will probably be interested in your assistance. He just showed me the Daggers of Demons Ruin.”
Quino’s exuberant energy seemed to fall away as if his entire reality took pause to understand those words. “I will be there on the first teleport pad!” Quino practically exploded.
“Wait. First, we have a good many things to discuss, then you can head to Benvari,” Sola, the Dwarf who had been picked by random to be this month’s mediator, said.
Quino looked as if he were about to argue as several other masters looked at him, forcing the old Dwarf to sit down, muttering to himself about meetings and old codgers keeping him from his work.
“Hey, you’re one of the oldest here!” Endur said.
“Well, it’s not my fault I have more spirit than some of you darned rocks! Damn rock pounder!” Quino accused but there was a grin to his face. He had been Endur’s teacher, after all.
Such an odd combination: a Dwarven master with Hammer Blows and another with Mind’s Razor. Jesal grinned to herself as the two of them bickered about the other smithing methods.
“Damned metal punching ape! No class—just beating up your metal!”
“Better than staring so hard at the metal that I get hemorrhoids!”
“You couldn’t even think your way out of a form!”
“Shows how much I didn’t learn from my teacher.”
“Why, you ungrateful sprite!”
“Who’s the sprite, you damned wisp?”
Jesal tuned it out after a while, moving to Kol.
The others were still gathering for the bi-weekly meeting. Although Endur and Quino would yell at each other for a few hours, it was a way of them affirming their old relationship and new as fellow Master Smiths.
“Master Kol,” Jesal said in greeting. They might all be Master Smiths in this room but Kol was one of the most powerful, having forged several Weapons of Power by himself, destroying them as soon as they were completed, as if they were misshapen nails.
“How is my errant smith doing?”
“Well, he seems to have made some more breakthroughs that I’ll be revealing. He is an interesting smith to work with.”
Kol grunted but Jesal thought that she might have seen the hint of a smile on his ruined features.
“How did his tests go?”
“So far, he has blown them out of the water, using new or different techniques to combine knowledge in different ways.” Jesal shook her head.
“He truly is a man of great drive and different ideas,” Kol said as Sola hit the table with a hammer.
The master Dwarves took their seats as Sola looked out among them. “Does anyone have any issues that they wish to bring to the attention of this meeting?”
Jesal raised her hand. “I do not have an issue but some new techniques and discoveries to be entered into the records.”
“Do you have the information copied down?”
“I do.”
“Very well. Give it to me at the end of the meeting and I will have it passed out to everyone by the next meeting. Anyone else?” Sola looked around, nodding to herself as no one indicated they had anything to say.
“Very well, to the issues at hand. The dragons have indeed reappeared on Emerilia. We have had a number of them come to our different mountains. Most have moved to their old homes. Others have created new ones. We have communicated with Denur and she will look to deal with any issues that our people or the dragons have with this council,” Sola said.
There were nods of agreement and deep grunts of respect. Having a good relationship with the dragons was good for everyone involved. The Dwarves had kept their secrets for lifetimes and would look after the dragons’ homes, even if they left and went traveling the world in their different forms.
“We have also received a message from Lo’kal,” Sola said. The previous ease turned to tension.
“He sends word that the lords and ladies are able to not only take paladins but also Creatures of Power.” Sola looked around the table. “We all know that neither the lords of Dark or Earth are too happy because we told them to fuck off after attacking our people. I ask that everyone keep an eye out and look for any sign of these Creatures of Power or new paladins. We need to know what the powers of these creatures are and where they will appear. As we are connected to the Dark and Earth by where we live, we must be watchful for things that lurk in the depths of our mountains.”
“Did he say anything about the Weapons of Power?” Jesal asked.
“He did not. Why do you ask?”
“I was asked to repair two Weapons of Power—the Daggers of Demons Ruin. They were found during a raid by one of the Player groups.”
“I have also seen a number of Weapons of Power. It seemed that the Lady of Light got them into the hands of those who were considered her followers so that she could have them open the portal to the Alturaran lands,” Kol said.
“You say they were considered her followers. What of them now?” Sola asked.
“After the fighting at the citadel, the guild known as the Golden Sabres has started to integrate themselves with the People of Emerilia. It seems that the events affected their view on the world greatly. The Stone Raiders guild has actually bonded to them in such a degree that I think the two guilds might merge at one point.”
This sent a ripple of mutterings and whispers through the gathered Dwarves. It was early days of this generation of Players, but the two guilds had already shown their strength by taking on Boran-al Citadel, even with their low levels. They had been around long enough to see a few iterations of Players as they rose and fell. Few felt that the Stone Raiders and Golden Sabres were weak.
“They did have an issue with people from other Affinities in their ranks betraying them. As the Pantheon’s abilities increase and they are able to reach more of their followers, then the Golden Sabres would become weakened. If they are to join the Stone Raiders, then it would strengthen both groups.” Sola voiced the thoughts of the other Dwarves in the room.
