The Achievement Junkie

Chapter 639 First Day of Smithing

"Okay... Then I hope he’s got some worthy credentials!" barked Gasnon, eyeing Moranti.

The God of Space smiled and took out his scythe. "Is this good enough?"

"THAT?!" The weaponsmith almost lost his eyes as they nearly popped out of their sockets. "This... You made this?! What level?!"

"Lv. 95... It’s the only weapon I’ll ever use, no matter how hard it becomes to upgrade."

"Why would you need anything stronger?!" questioned Gasnon.

Leaving that question unanswered, Jack chimed in again, "Moranti is here to help me during the powering process. He understands making a personal weapon, so I thought his insight might help."

"MORANTI?!" Gasnon immediately bowed and altered his tone of voice to show more respect. "Please forgive me for questioning your credentials."

"Think nothing of it, now let’s get started."

While those two were talking, Jack was already at the only cleared table in the room. Guessing that Gasnon had cleared it for Jack’s use, the hero retrieved the rapier and laid it across the table. This caught their attention again but Jack ignored them as he found some scratch paper to scribble on. Spotting some leather rulers, Jack grabbed one and measured the rapier from end to end.

"Jack... are you really going to hallow that out?" asked Gasnon.

"Of course... How else will I get it to upgrade?"

After noting down the appropriate length and width, Jack retrieved a long, thin rod of lustrous, black steel.

"That... What is that?!"

"Refined roxite... I thought you would’ve known that much," joked Jack. The hero then eyed the rod carefully as it wasn’t going to be the easiest thing to work with. "Moranti, how confident are you in cutting this to size?"

"If I can cut through Halmut’s defenses, then I can cut your little stick," Moranti chuckled.

Showing him the paper with scribbles on it, Jack handed the rod to Moranti. "I don’t want it a millimeter off, so get it right the first time. Any smaller or larger and it won’t fit after annealing."

"Simple enough."

Gasnon was in awe as the God of Space lobbed the rod straight into the air, throwing it perfectly so that it wouldn’t teeter or spin around. Gracefully, Moranti swung his scythe twice. Then, Moranti teleported to stand ninety degrees to the left of where he was, letting him cut twice more to have the rod cleanly cut on all four sides.

Moranti caught the long piece of metal and smiled. "How’s that?"

Jack immediately measured the piece of roxite. "It’s perfect. Nothing less from the best..." After returning the thin strip of roxite to the table, Jack sighed and took out a stack of schematics. Once he found what he wanted, Jack sighed, "Now... to anneal it... Gasnon, mind if I make a sandpit?"

"I’ve already got one," replied the weaponsmith, pointing to the corner of the room where sand replaced the concrete ground.

"That sand may not last against the heat... I’ll use just use this." Jack took out an out-of-ground tub and plopped it down in the nearby corner. Then, the tub began to fill with sand that occasionally glittered like jewels.

"You’ve got sand from the Desert Labyrinth?" Moranti asked in surprise.

"To be more specific, it’s from the labyrinth’s throne room. It’s a staple item for any hero making weapons over lv. 80. Without it, using refined roxite is impossible." Acting like it was no big deal, Jack finished filling the tub and went back to the table. "Now the fire..."

Picking up the rod and stepping away from anything flammable, Jack doused the rod in a thin layer of black and white flames. He made sure to not let pure black flames out in case it harmed the room or accidentally overheated the rod before Jack could stop the heating process. With the flame being mostly white, Jack felt quite comfortable controlling it, despite Gasnon fear after spotting the unique flame.

Glancing back to the schematic of choice, Jack rescinded the fire and buried the heated rod into the precious sand bath.

The annealing process was a gradual but necessary process of slowed cooling, something that would likely take all day. With that in mind, Jack thumbed through his schematics and found the other items he was intent on creating.

Moranti looked over Jack’s shoulder and immediately dropped his jaw to the floor. "Jack, what are you--"

"Calm down, I know exactly what I’m doing and what I’ll be getting into," Jack stated, already knowing exactly why Moranti was worried. "Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, but that’s just--"

"If you trust me, then you won’t tell anyone else about what I’m making. This is a surprise and will only be used on special occasions. Is my secret safe with you?"

"But this... If the others knew you were--"

"That’s why we won’t tell them. Now, can I trust you or not?"

"... Fine... But I don’t get why you want to make that. I thought you wanted to make a personal weapon?" questioned Moranti.

"What’s wrong with making personal armor first?" argued Jack. "If my armor is better, then I’ll be able to last longer in fights."

"But that armor is--"

"Unique and happens to be my favorite. And now, I’ve got a way to use it properly. I’ll be making the entire thing out of refined roxite and not just in portions. That should allow it to store enough energy to make it at least lv. 90, right?"

"Yeah... That’s one way to do it... It’s either roxite or the bones of a high-level beast..." mentioned Moranti.

"But bones will take too long. I’ve got three days to make this armor and finish the rapier. So we’ll have to cut some corners..." Jack started to chuckle ominously.

When Jack retrieved a mound of refined roxite ingots, Gasnon fell in love. He picked one up and caressed it, feeling it’s weight and admiring its natural sheen after refinement, a stark contrast to the dull matte surface of regular roxite. But Jack snatched the ingot from Gasnon’s hands and heated it in the same fashion he did the roxite rod. At the same time, Jack retrieved and placed a roxite anvil with a platform in front of him. He was practically a traveling forge.

With haste, Jack retrieved a diamond-crusted roxite hammer and went to town on the hot ingot. However, Gasnon’s delight was instantly shredded as Jack smashed away with little to no care for the ingot.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Pausing, Jack blinked and smiled, "What’s it look like? I’m smithing!"