Master Of None

”Hmm so with those training ideas you should have a better idea of what to do. Now lets go over to our personal forges. I want to show you the effects dragon fire can have on what our blacksmiths can produce. We have a very strong deal with the forges here in this kingdom, they value strong gear and weapons. I am sure you saw the coliseums. This means we can always create unique equipment with Toro’s flames that is constantly in demand. We make the majority if the entire guild’s funds here,”

This was an amazing feat, Walker knew that the adventurer’s guild made funds for the actions of the adventurers and those who placed requests. The tamer’s guild could do that but most if the time needed to rely on other means. Some had unique monsters that could use rare skills to heal, grow food, clear areas, battle, many things. This usually made their members great to hire as mercenaries as well. They would also often go out to explore so they could work on improving their tamed monsters of finding more rare ones to tame. This was all a constant challenge they themselves gave to each other. 

Pointing towards the nearest forge where a blacksmith seemed to be about to forge a sword, Ribbolt pushed for Toro to stoke the fire. The blacksmith seemed rather excited at this quickly grabbing a collection of items to change the composition he was using. The caves were massive and each blacksmith was required to hunt down their own materials. This made them much harder working, but most made their output of gear or weapons more consistent. 

”Now when a dragon flame is used on a forge their affinity is spread throughout their fire. This means that if the blacksmith is using the right materials then they can trap that specific affinity in to the item they are making. Ore dragons are very important in this sense since when bronze is present in the item the earth elemental mana fused into the item increases much more.” Toro had gone behind the little forge to a small opening the blacksmith had opened, seeing Toro fill his chest with air they were prepared to witness true dragon flames for the first time. The party was holding their breath waiting for the moment to come. With a large swoosh sound the air was sucked towards Toro right before blinding orange yellow flames spat from his mouth causing the forge to burn the same color. The feeling of the heat became much more intense.

”You see dragon flames also burn much hotter, a blacksmith can work much more easily too” Laughing again at their amazed expressions Ribbolt knew that this was one of his favorite things to show off to younger guild members. 

The blacksmith was furiously mixing small bits of different ores and powders in to a melting metal, the metal was glowing white hot and seemingly absorbing everything in to it as it was added. Once the blacksmith was ready he grabbed a large pair of tings pulling the super heated metal and starting to slam a hammer down upon it, The entire party watched the process for who knows how long. They were too engrossed, even Midnight was watching carefully, she herself had not realized she would be able to assist in something like this since she learned more about her own fire. Within her the desire to become stronger was growing even more powerful. She was seeing Toro as a rival to surpass and not just some other dragon to steal territory from. 

Ribbolt had pulled up a stool and somehow ,managed to nap sitting up but not a single person had noticed this. Eventually Toro started to break flames in to the forge less often and the blacksmith started the cooling process. Going in to many different oil baths at varying temperatures the blacksmith tapped here and there straightening out small details. By the time the blacksmith had the sword blade cool enough to tough they could see lines of bronze that traveled up and down an iron blade. The unmistakable earth mana that radiated from the blade was beautiful. 

Toro had stopped breathing flames and used his tail to softly poke Ribbilt awake, even though they two seemed a bit rough around the edges Walker could tell from that small gesture that they really cared for each other. Unlike when Laurence woke him up Ribbolt calmly stretched and stood up, Seeing the completed blade he took it from the blacksmith. ”Perfect perfect, another success. You know when we first started experimenting with this we had unbalanced swords that would crack at a glance, now? They are fought over in all four coliseums by some of the top warriors. If only other dwarves would crawl out of the rocks and take a look they just might learn something for once.” His laughter echoed making the blacksmith smile much more. It was rare for the dragon to help out the lower ranked blacksmiths like him but today he had struck gold and the guild master himself had shown up giving him aid, this was a major boost in experience. ”Finish this up and have it sent to my office, I have plans for this one.” Nodding his head the blacksmith took the sword blade and headed off to another part of the caves. 

”Now that we’ve got that worked out let’s go check in on what else is happening up top, I am sure that fire creation of yours has been having a decent amount of fun.” Ribbolt was the only one who had any sense of time underground. The blacksmiths had lost it long ago becoming embroiled in their work over worrying for time. The blacksmith had spent four whole hours shaping the blade alone. The melting process had taken two. Cooling had spent one and a half. Overall they had spent the rest of their day underground, no meals or anything. They had been so entranced by the entire process not focusing on anything. 

Following Ribbolt they went back to the large elevator. Ribbolt sent Toro back to where he was when they entered and Toro seemed more than happy to have his alone time back. The party was still fairly unsteady on their feet as the elevator moved upwards. Midnight seemed very lost in thought, she had seen many things she was not yet capable of. Since she had never really had the chance to learn from another dragon before she was understandably confused by her abilities in comparison to Toro’s. Walker was also a bit lost in thought, he had not for a minute believed Midnight would be able to forge weapons, not only would this be a massive boon for the party to get higher leveled gear but also great training. 

Walker had not considered trying to pick up a forging skill because he did not believe he had enough time or ability to properly utilize it, but now he was considering learning one. Although he did know it may be better to have a higher level blacksmith visit their mansion’s forge to train with Midnight and create gear for them. There was also the added benefit that a blacksmith may lower their requested pay just to forge with such a unique fire. Besides forging there was also the spring to begin thinking about, soon they would be planting and growing many herbs that he and Remey could experiment with to make potions. Things would get very very busy once they got home. 

 Finally making it back to the surface Ribbolt headed through the massive doors and out in to the now star filled night. Surprisingly there were many tamers out and about still training. Many seemed to be training monsters with the darkness affinity. Easily spotting Stella and Elise training still, Elise had brought out Avela to watch and learn from Stella. The flame doll Walker had created seemed well unkempt by Laurence who seemed to be watching carefully next to a large pile of straw. 

”Elise finish everything up, Stella has done enough today! Laurence clean that mess up, it’s in the way!” Laurence looked like he had just been slapped, he worked so hard to get all of this here and now he needed to clean it all up. His life was rough but he had been the one that caused Ribbolt annoyance so it was unavoidable. Riley was still nowhere to be found and was most likely going to be off training until someone went to tell him to stop, this was the power the guild master had over them. ”Once Laurence cleans up his mess I will have him bring you somewhere to sleep. Tomorrow you can train here or head in to the city, I don’t mind either way, just don’t cause any trouble or I will make sure you are banned from and place with a tamer’s guild headquarters.” His words were not to be overly rude but as the guild master he valued the reputation everyone worked hard to uphold.