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Chapter 73 - Rhythm Forging
🕑 Added 2024-07-08 20:00:06 +0000 UTCDeep concentration marred my face and the only thing that mattered was the pounding of my hammer in the forge. I had been at this for a while and nothing had worked so far. It was mildly frustrating.
I was so focused I didn't hear the door open and someone enter into the forge. Nor did I feel it when a small high-pitched voice called out for my attention.
It took two small hands making physical contact with my back that broke me out of my thoughts while forging.
The unexpected physical contact scared me shitless and I nearly jumped over the anvil in fright, letting out a manly scream.
I turned to see Anna laughing behind me trying to form words.
"Hahaha, you scream like a little girl!" She said before giggling more.
"You do realize that you, yourself, are a little girl and in saying so, I scream like you," I said back sagely ignoring the fact I did just scream like a little girl.
She scrunched up her face at that comment and after thinking about it for a moment, stuck her tongue out at me. Like that was a perfectly understandable response.
"What are you doing in here sneaking up behind me?" I asked moving on from the jump scare.
"I wasn't sneaking! You just couldn't hear me." She defended herself from the accusation.
Thinking back, she could have been right. I didn't remember hearing anything but that didn't mean that she didn't try to get my attention.
"Well you have my attention now, what do you need, sweetie?" I asked.
"Whatcha doin?" She drawled out in an imitating tone.
After showing her one of my favorite cartoons as a kid she started copying a certain character from the show. Seeing how that didn't answer my question I thought of ignoring it to get back to my work.
After thinking about it, I decided not to. I could use a break and I hadn't been giving her enough attention as before and I felt a little bad about it.
"Well, I'm trying to do what Cousin Vinny did and make my own style of forging," I answered.
She looked down at the project I was in the middle of and seemed to think about what I said for a minute before responding, "What does that mean?"
Well, shit. I knew what it was but I didn't know how to explain it to a child.
"Uhm, its like... uhh." Huh, I couldn't think of anything. If I told her that I was hammering in a specific way she would just ask why and we would be right back where we started.
"You know when we are playing and I do something wrong and you have to correct me?" I said, starting my explanation.
"Yeah," she said nodding.
"That's like your style of playing. You know how everything is supposed to go and in what order and you have to correct me when I do something wrong. What I am trying to do is find my own way of playing that I like best. Find what and which way works best." I said.
She thought for a moment, "How do you not know? It's just what feels right."
She said with the confidence of a child.
"It's not that easy. I have to find which way works best and produces the best result. That takes time and effort trying everything out." I said.
"You said it was like playing, but that sounds more like when mom makes me do things her way because she says it's more ef - effic - efficint" She worked to sound out the last word before looking up at me to see if she got it right.
"Efficient." I corrected slightly, but what she said stuck a cord in me.
I was trying to find the way that produced the best results instead of the way that felt best for me to use. If I was going to create my own style then it needed to feel good to use not something that just produced the best results. Something that came instinctively.
My first thought was to incorporate cold forging into my technique and focus on bring my affinity into my craft. I had success and I made decent gear, but it still felt like I was missing something. Something more fundamental. It worked, it just wasn't what I was going for and produced Low Common-tier tier results.
What I wanted was something different.
I would eventually find a way to use my affinity while forging but that wasn't what I wanted my style to be. I wanted something more fundamental than that. More encompassing than just my affinity.
Thoughts and ideas came to mind and I wanted to get to work right away but I still hadn't gotten to the real reason Anna came to see me.
"Alright spill it, why did you come to get me?" I knew she didn't come just to ask me what I was doing and she just used that as an excuse to ask me questions.
With her cover blown, she said the real reason, "Mom said to tell you that the procedure was happening ahead of schedule."
After processing what she said, there was the option to ignore it. I had wanted to be there for it to make sure nothing went wrong, but there was nothing realistically I could do. I was no healer and I had no skills like it to help in any way.
The only thing I could do was freeze the person but I doubted that would be very helpful. There would be 4 healers there to make sure that nothing went wrong and I could afford to miss it.
Missing out on watching the process was a bit of a bummer but I could always wait until another underwent it. It wouldn't be that big of a problem if I missed the first.
I was curious about the schedule change, but not enough to go and ask about it. Anna probably wouldn't know as she was only the messenger.
I was about to get back to my project and start working on the idea that Anna's statement brought up before I stopped.
"Do you wanna watch me forge?" I asked. Anna was still in the forge wandering around looking around at all of the tools on the wall and finished products off to the side.
She was young, only 8, so we tried to limit her exposer to the violence. She knew what was happening and what we were fighting, but we did everything we could to shield them from it. Let them be kids for a while longer. According to the 'system' they wouldn't gain access until their day of majority which for humans was at 14. I was of mind to have them train with weapons now but Abigail vehemently disagreed.
She didn't want Anna anywhere close to the weapons. She had been forced to alter those views the longer we were here but it was slow going and only the older kids got to train. Only lightly at that too. Some of the parents were looser with their rules but Abigail was still holding on the the delusions that it was unnecessary. That she would be able to protect them forever. It was a source of argument between her and Jonathan because he was of similar mind to me and wanted their kids trained young.
"Nope. It's too hot in here." She said before walking out.
Well, at least she was honest. I couldn't feel the heat much anymore because of my fortitude, but for her, it would be blazing in here and that was without me actively using the forge. After my initial failures of Cold Forging, I had turned back to using the forge.
With the forge now empty of people, besides me, I got to work.
The idea I had was getting clearer and I was excited to get to work on it.
In physics, and my earlier music classes, we were told about frequencies. It had been a long time since I thought about playing an instrument, I had quit only a year into high school.
Most of what I knew about frequencies came from physics classes. Both in college and in high school we went over how different frequencies could be used for different effects.
In college, we had to watch a documentary on a bridge that collapsed because of the wind due to frequencies; Resonance Frequency we were taught, and it was something every engineer was lectured about and what it did.
Engineers in Canada went a step further and got rings because of it. No, I wasn't jealous.
If something's resonance frequency was introduced onto it, catastrophic failure would soon follow. We were told different methods to mitigate and remove this possibility from occurring.
What would be a catastrophic failure in buildings, could help me in the forge. I could change the frequency I hit things with and introduce different things to the system. By system, I meant the metal of the part.
I began by trying to find the right frequency for the metal I was working with, Flow Steel. It was a water-attuned metal that was more flexible and malleable than normal steel. My initial attempts were using it as well. I could probably make a better quality weapon if I used Ice or Cold aligned metal but the best product wasn't what I was after. It was the process of forging I was after. How good the end product was didn't matter.
Flow Steel wasn't the best material to work with and was terrible for blades because it couldn't keep an edge, but perfect for staves and rods. Abigail had a Water affinity and she needed a suitable weapon.
It was a bit biased of me to make my sister a weapon before anybody else but they could all pound sand. Well, she wasn't the first I had made a weapon for but the same thing applied. Vinny was working through everyone at a blazing pace as it was, I could take some time for my sister's weapon.
Being a healer meant she didn't have many spells that she would use, but she did have quite a few buffs she could throw out. Ranged, non-ranged, and specialized healing was what took up most of her skills.
She still had a few spells for offensive purposes and I actively trained her in their use. It would be stupid for her not to know how to fight. She mostly went around buffing and healing during the waves but there were times when her offensive skills came in handy.
Since Flow Steel was already quite malleable, it wasn't the best metal to try this out on. What I was attempting was to make the metal deform more because of the frequencies I introduced into it. It was difficult to accomplish that if the metal absorbed the shock of the blow and left little excess force to create said frequency.
Switching the metal I was using, I grabbed the more common Enriched Iron we had left over from Jonathan's shield. It would be fine for what I needed. I still couldn't use the steel we had on hand because it would just crumble and I used up all the Cold Iron I bought earlier.
I extended my [Sense Metal] skill throughout the piece and deep into the anvil. Cold Forging required me to start with it room temperature the metal and that was what I did. Every hit solicited a loud angry clang. Having not been heated, the sound was more grating on the ears.
I felt as the force of the blow traveled through the part and into the anvil. Then watched as it left and dispersed into the earth. Within a few seconds, the force was gone. Some of the heat created still remained in the part but that wasn't what I was going for.
What I envisioned was a shockwave from the force rebounding back into the metal so I could continue to build on top of it. Like waves in the ocean that crested together and created more together than apart.
Sensing something missing, I ran through different ideas in my head of how to fix it.
Isolating the system so there was nowhere for the force to go would work but I had no easy way to do that. There were probably Runes and other magics that could do it but I didn't have access to them.
I spent a few minutes working through different ideas before I settled on one. What I wanted was the exact opposite of shock absorbers. I wanted something that wouldn't diminish the force of my swing and rebound it back into the anvil and part. It wasn't a long-term solution but it was enough to test my idea. My first idea of putting something hard under it would have to do for now.
Attempting the same with my ice didn't work. My Ice wasn't the best for rebounding the force and shattered if I didn't use enough.
Getting an idea, I sprinted out of the forge and ran over to where Jonathan was. Without giving him much time to gather himself, picked him up and ran to the pylon.
He was sputtering and trying to ask me what was going on but I couldn't hear him. After setting him down in front of the obelisk, I stated my demands.
"I need a sheet of the hardest metal you can find about 5 feet by 5 feet and at least a foot thick. It can be bigger but at least that size." I blurted at him.
He took a minute to work through the sudden change in scenery and my request before clarifying what I wanted.
"You need a slab of metal and you couldn't have just asked normally?" He asked
"No, not just any metal, the hardest metal you can find. And yes, it is important and I am in the middle of something." I clarified for him.
He used his merchant skills and sorted through the shop with my specifications in mind before pulling up a list for me to see. Some of the prices were outlandish and I had to begrudgingly scroll past them.
Working through Jonathan to shop had its perks and the search feature was just one of them. I could search the shop as well but his skills were easier to find what I was looking for.
He also got more information about the things listed. Where I would just get the metal name and quantity, he got size dimensions, descriptions, and common metal descriptors like: Hardness, malleability, and yield strength.
Jonathan's skills were an all-around better experience than fumbling around by myself, hence my abduction of him.
I settled on one in my price range that I thought would work and purchased it. It was more expensive than what I would have liked, but there was nothing I could do. It had the highest hardness of what I could afford to spend on my project. My manic behavior made me completely forget I could of asked him to buy more Cold Iron.
Jonathan's discount made it cheaper but still a lot. After purchasing it, the aforementioned chunk of metal appeared beside us and thunked into the earth.
By the way it sank into the ground with ease, it was extremely heavy. I didn't get much time to look it over before I heard Jonathan's sharp intake of breath.
"What did you just buy? I got so much experience from that. I even gained 2 levels." He said absentmindedly while looking at nothing in front of him. Looking over the screens only he could see.
I had a lot of points saved up and I spent more than I should have on the piece. Apparently enough to give him 2 levels in his merchant profession.
Declining to answer him I made to pick up my prize. I dug my fingers into the dirt and hefted, only to barely pick it up. Even flaring [Barbarian's Fury] wasn't enough.
"Jonathan, help me," I grunted from trying to lift it myself.
Jonathan broke out of his reverie of his screens and jumped to help.
With his aid, we moved my prize toward the forge before running into another issue. It wouldn't fit.
The metal was too large to fit into the building. With spare time, Scott and Brayden had built us quite the structure. With every level, their skills got better and what they made became proper buildings.
We were long past the tents and lodges we started at.
Not wanting to lose my momentum, I pointed to a clear spot near the wall for us to put it. Jonathan nodded and we heaved the metal to the indicated area before dropping it.
With my foundation set, I ran back and forth between the forge and metal slab to move everything I needed over. Anvil, hammer, metal pieces, and miscellaneous tools were scattered around on the hunk of metal by the time I was done.
Jonathan tried to question me but I ignored him. I didn't want to lose out on my idea.
With everything set up, or as set up as it could be, I got to work.
The metal slab worked to send the shockwaves back but some still dispersed into the earth. It was annoying, but there was nothing I could do about it. It rebounded enough for me to work with.
With [Sense Metal(C)] I felt every hammer blow add to the crescendo. The piece started to heat up and began glowing a dull red to which I cooled down with my affinity. I could have probably used [Frostbite(Un)] on my hammer swings to keep the heat down but I hadn't thought of that. I was entirely focused on watching the force spread with [Sense Metal(C)].
I wasn't hitting fast enough to heat the piece up completely but I wanted everything perfect.
I wanted to get the timing down before I started in earnest.
Minutely adjusting when I swung changed how the force reacted and I found the rhythm I was looking for. It wasn't the perfect rhythm for the metal like I was aiming for, but close enough to get started.
Keeping time with the frequency I found, I began my song. Putting more force into my blows, the metal glowed brighter and began taking shape and I had to use more of my affinity to keep it cool.
The forces bouncing around flowed through the piece aiding me in the process of creation.
One hit of my hammer carried with it the force of ten. The timing was everything and I had to make sure my blows were constructive interference, not destructive.
I might have been able to accomplish the same using [Heavy Blow] but that wasn't a style, that was only extreme force. It didn't have the grace of a style and would quickly run into problems with anything of greater strength than my swing.
As I got the hang of it, I worked faster than before. The metal shaped into a sword quickly and was soon ready for the finishing touches. Swords came easily to me because of the sheer amount I had made.
By this point, the metal was singing like a tuning fork and I had to find a way to end it without ruining what I made.
If I took it off the anvil now, I wasn't sure how it would handle the residual energy flowing through it. I didn't know what would happen if I hit it with an off-beat blow to cancel out the energy.
Without a better idea, I leaned on my intuition and pulled on my powers. Ice and frost built up on everything close to me as I used my ice mana to weave what I wanted.
In a split second, I pulled the piece away from the anvil and used everything I had to freeze it. My mana, Law, and skills all worked together to freeze the piece. My intent was enough not to shatter the metal completely. Leaning on my willpower, I urged the very force moving through the blade to freeze.
Usually, a drastic swing in temperature would shatter the blade but I had enough control to mitigate that.
The operation worked twofold to quench the blade and freeze the excess waves moving through it. Well, it would have quenched it if it had been hot enough.
There were places it didn't go so well in the metal and I could have been better at uniformly cooling the piece, but it didn't explode and that was what I was going for.
The piece itself was terrible, barely High-Crude. The mixture of Earth alignment in the Iron with the Ice I used to forge it lowered the quality. Plus, my shoddy workmanship of both a new style and cooling technique only made it worse.
But my idea was solid. I only had to fine-tune it.
How I knew it worked was from the chime of the system giving me a level and letting me pick a new skill. A new skill I was glad was there.
Forging Style: Rhythm Forging(Uncommon)
It was unique too. Creating my own made it start at a higher rarity than the Common style Vinny bought.
Comments
Alexander C Hyde
My manic behavior made me completely forget I could (have)of asked him to buy more Cold Iron.
Alexander C Hyde
My first thought was to incorporate cold forging into my technique and focus on (bringing)bring my affinity into my craft.
