Weaponsmith - Chapter 111 (Patreon)

- [Goblin-Tooth] -

A jagged, snarled tooth that once belonged to a goblin. It now belongs to you.

- Quality -

• Normal

- Quality Effects -

•  None

Goblin Affinity: NATURE/DARK

Weight: 0.1 kg

Value: 04 Obols

Hineni looks at the little goblin-tooth that he is holding between his fingers. It’s a sharp, canine tooth from one of the little, green monsters. Goblins are common things that roam the forests of the deep-south. So hundreds, if not thousands of them, have been caught in the crossfire of the war so far.

While they are close to something human, they’re not classified as anything close to being regarded as such. They’re just monsters, like any other.

“So, uh…” Rhine looks at him. “How are we going to make a weapon out of that?” he asks, looking at the tiny tooth.

“We’re not,” replies Hineni, setting the tooth down on to an anvil.

The forge is currently still under construction, as is everything else related to this new project of theirs, so at the moment, the two of them are working outside. He had set up a makeshift pavilion of sorts, using his carpentry abilities and they had unloaded all of their simple equipment here beneath it, so they could start their work.

Hineni grabs a large, flat hammer and smashes it down over the tooth, crumbling it into tiny pieces that he sweeps off into a bowl. The man bends down, picking up a small, rattling sack and sets it down, opening it up to show Rhine the contents.

Hundreds of teeth fill the bag, stained with various shades of yellow, presumably harvested from just as many hundreds of goblins.

“We’re going to be using these,” he explains. “All of them.”

“Oh,” says Rhine, staring for a moment. “…Do you think this is kind of dark, though?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” replies Hineni, setting some other teeth down onto the anvil. “It’s like we said the other day, Rhine,” says the man. “We’re all just excited about the move. It’s a big change.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” concedes Rhine. “Uh, so.” He bends down, picking up the bowl with what can only be described as ‘tooth-powder’ in it. “We’re making a paste out of this and then using that to make weapons?”

“Exactly,” replies Hineni.

Rhine tilts his head. “Do you think this can work?” he asks, looking at the powder. He grabs a pinch of it, crumbling it. “I don’t know if bones and teeth aren’t super brittle?”

Hineni nods. “We’ll use some sort of base material,” he explains. “Some neutral blend of steel and then we’ll mix the powder in with that,” he says. “That should get us something and if it doesn’t, then we’ll try something else.” He smashes a few more teeth, cracking them like walnuts. “This is all just about trying new stuff out,” explains Hineni. “We’ll see what’s good and what’s not so good.”

“Okay,” replies Rhine. “I’ll get to work on the steel then.”

Hineni nods. The two of them set to work, making the first monster-based items of their craft.

_______________________________________________

- [Goblin-Steel Bar] -

- Quality -

High

- Composition -

• Steel{Grade 333}: 59.99%
• Goblin Tooth: 39.99%
• Impurities: 0.02%

- Quality Effects -

 None

Goblin-steel is a blend of powdered goblin-teeth, mixed into a base of molten steel. It has an off, chalky color and is much more brittle than standard steel. However, it has several magical properties connected to DARK/NATURE.

• Goblin Steel: All summoning items made will attribute summoned entities with NATURE/DARK affinities
• Goblin Steel: All defensive items made will bestow NATURE/DARK resistances

Weight: 5.0kg

Value: 120 Obols

“Well I’ll be,” says Rhine, looking at the very odd bar of metal down between them. “You know, I didn’t think it was gonna work,” he says. “I figured the powder and the steel would just sort of separate and it would make a big, chunky mess when it hardened.”

“Life is an adventure,” replies Hineni, looking at the ingot. He can’t help but wonder about how many goblins are ‘inside’ of this piece of metal. The man tilts his head. “Great work,” he praises. “Let’s go grab lunch and then we’ll figure out what exactly we’re supposed to do with this thing,” he says, tapping it.

_________________________________________________

“- Harpy feet,” says Sockel.

Hineni sits there, holding his lunch in his hands as Sockel slaps a long, taloned toe down onto the table.

“Who~!” protests Obscura.

It’s not hard to see why. She shares a strong similarity with the physiology of a harpy. Hineni continues to chew his food, looking at the half-bird-person’s toe.

“We can get these for a steal,” explains Sockel. “The forest is thick with the damn things and they’re super territorial,” she says. “So they’ve been getting involved in the fighting everywhere against all sides.”

Hineni nods. He’s sure he can make something with these.

“So, what the hell are harpies anyway?” he asks. “Are they… smart? Or are they just kind of angry birds that look sort of like people?”

Obscura clicks with her mouth, pushing the severed talon back and away from herself with a finger. “The brood of harps are snippy, bitey creatures,” she says, hissing. “But they avoid trees that belong to owls. Old promises remain kept.”

“…Huh…” says Hineni, shrugging. So they’re at least smart enough to hold promises, generational ones at that.

Interesting.

“What about goblins?” he asks.

Sockel shrugs. “They’re nasty little things. But they’ll get the job done if you push them the right way.”

“What?” asks Hineni. “Job?”

Sockel nods. “Oh, yeah,” she says. “Old assassin’s trick,” she says, sitting down at the table. “When your target is going somewhere, you get to the route in advance,” she says. “Goblins are everywhere, so you just hint some information to them and they’ll be all over the place. They’re free assassins.”

“Wait…” says Rhine. “How do you give hints to goblins?” he asks. “I thought they don’t talk to people?”

“They don’t,” replies Sockel. “But if you throw a map their way, or a schedule, and pretend you lost it while they’re watching you, they buy it every time.” She shakes her head. “They’re not that smart. But that’s why they’re useful.”

“Neat,” replies Rhine, returning to his lunch.

“Right?” asks Sockel.

Hineni lifts an eyebrow. “I still don’t think you should be teaching Rhine about this stuff.”

Sockel folds her hands, resting her elbows on the table as she looks at him.

“— There’s a severed bird foot sitting between us,” she replies.

Hineni looks at her and then down at the freshly cut, still dripping harpy talon. “I mean… you put it there.”

“It’s okay!” says Rhine. “I think this sort of stuff is super interesting!”

“See?” asks Sockel. “It’s fine. I know what I’m doing,” explains the elf. Hineni isn’t so sure about that. But then again, does he?

Not really.

The man shrugs, returning to his lunch. It’s probably fine.

_______________________________________________

They’ve returned to the forge.

“So, I was thinking,” says Rhine. “Because the material is so brittle, we probably should stick to caster’s weapons with it,” he explains. “Although, because of these weird ‘goblin’ properties, maybe copper would have been a better material than steel?”

Hineni nods.

Steel is a good base metal for a lot of things like weapons and armor. But the properties certainly veer towards being more beneficial for a front-line type, rather than for any casters. So for this particular ingredient, the goblin-teeth, which seem to have caster-beneficial properties, copper would have indeed been a stronger choice than steel.

“This is why it’s important we test this stuff out,” says Hineni. “Let’s make a new one with copper then. It’ll be better for a staff than this steel.”

Rhine lifts a hand. “I would suggest that we make wands,” he explains. “Because it’s so brittle, swords and stuff are definitely out.” He taps the bar. “But a staff is also usually pretty heavy and gets hit against things a lot. A wand though, people are going to be more careful with it simply because it’s already more… dainty.”

Hineni thinks about it for a moment. It’s not a bad point. This sort of maximizing of efficiency is very important for their work. He nods. “Okay. We’ll make a new blend with copper and use that to make wands.”

The two of them set to work.

__________________________________________

- [Goblin-Copper Bar] -

- Quality -

• High

- Composition -

• Copper: 59.99%
• Goblin Tooth: 39.99%
• Impurities: 0.02%

- Quality Effects -

•  None

Goblin-copper is a blend of powdered goblin-teeth, mixed into a base of molten copper. It has an off, chalky color and is much more brittle than standard copper. However, it has several magical properties connected to DARK/NATURE that are enhanced by the copper’s attributes.

• Goblin Copper: All summoning items made will attribute summoned entities with strong NATURE/DARK affinities
• Goblin Copper: All defensive items made will bestow strong NATURE/DARK resistances

Weight: 5.0kg

Value: 150 Obols

 - [Goblin-Copper Wand]{Gift of the owl-god} -

 -Quality -

• High

- Components -

• [Goblin-Copper Wand](Normal)
• [Leather Wrap](Normal)
• [Black Cloth Wrap](Normal)
• [Black Cord](Normal)

- Quality Effects -

• +5% WIS

- Title Effect -

“Gift of the owl-god”

• +3 OBSCURANTISM
• +3 WIS
• +3 LUK

A long, sturdy wand made out of a blend of copper and goblin-teeth. It is not very durable, but it has strong magical properties.

‘Made by weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the owl god’

‘Made by Rhine, the river-wizard - Follower of the owl god’

• All summoned monsters of the affinities NATURE or DARK are summoned as variants that are one rank higher than the spell.

‘Rank D’ summons will become ‘Rank C’. ‘Rank C’ will become ‘Rank B’ and so on.

Weight: 0.123kg

Durability: 19/19

Value: 1220 Obols

Hineni nods, fairly satisfied with the item. He picks up the wand, looking at it. It turned out better than he had expected, honestly.

“The military is gonna love these,” says Rhine. “Summoners play a huge role in war zones.”

“Do they?” asks Hineni. “I wouldn’t know, honestly.”

Rhine nods. “They’re casters that, well, they summon monsters. It’s in the name,” he says, shrugging. “So it works out as free man-power. If the summoned monsters die, they can just summon new ones again for some soul-points.”

“Hmm… Interesting,” says Hineni. He’s never gotten too deep into how, well, how anything works in regards to the magic-system or military logistics or any of that stuff.

But it’s fine.

He has people to do that for him now.

The man lifts his gaze, looking out over the forest that, despite being on fire day and night, somehow never quite manages to burn down. It isn’t just the monsters that have interesting magical properties to work with here. The forest itself, the wood, the trees, the water, everything here has some form of magical property.

— Everything here can be used to make some kind of a weapon.