After an hour of work an axe lay before Capra. Its handle was a meter and a half long, and its blade curved down half a meter from the top, it was completely made out of wood and had yet to be enchanted.

On the table beside the axe rested two finished products. One was a black wand that emitted a faint purple and yellow mist, and the other was a stone dagger with a black hilt and a glowing blue blade.

The item crafting process had quickened considerably after Capra’s preliminary essence tests and he’ made a few weapons, but other than the wand and the dagger they’d all been failures so far.

“Test shield (1), poisonous.” Capra recorded in his data log.

He had nailed a few wooden branches together in order to form an extremely crude shield, then he used the poisonous essence from the unknown fruit to essence forge it. The hope was that if used as equipment the poisonous effect wouldn’t harm the user, but that theory was proved to be a failure when he tested it and nearly lost an arm.

“Test Blade (2), not sharp.” Capra continued.

Capra had yet to use dirt essence, so he decided to test it in case it had unexpected benefits, but he was disappointed. The essence turned the wooden blade into a sort of tough clay. It was great at absorbing impact, but terrible at just about everything else.

“Test wand (1), not poisonous...” His hand scribbled midair.

Wands normally boosted magic spell damage, and allowed the caster to use very slight amounts of mana to deal damage from a distance, but using the poisonous fruit to essence forge had not given the test wand poisonous properties when casting.

Capra produced many more failures, but eventually he got the hang of things.

“Enchant, Unknown Essence Fragment (1).”

A brilliant sapphire energy floated above Capra’s right hand.

Unknown Essence Fragment (1) came from the unknown crystal he siphoned in the goblin caverns, and the tests he’d run so far on it were promising so he decided to use it as the primary component of the new axe he was making.

Capra placed his left hand over the axe blade… the blade was smooth due to being sanded down, but its wood grains were clearly visible. Then he pressed on the axe with his right hand, driving the energies from [enchant] carefully and slowly into the axe blade.

The energy suffused the blade little by little, turning it a light shade of blue, and overtime the wood became crystalline and transparent.

“That’s enough.” Capra thought, as he pulled back his hand.

He’d learned from the goblin barricades that he didn’t have to completely fill an object with essence to essence forge it. Sure the results wouldn’t be the same, but it left room for more modification.

“Enchant. Flying Horror Essence.”

The flying horror essence slowly trickled into existence above his hand, as if it was exiting a tiny imperceptible black hole, but Capra wasn’t slow to use it. He had discovered through his tests that smaller quantities of organic essences were easier to control, so he limited the amount released tremendously and quickly injected it into the axe blade before it could coalesce into a form.

By this point the axe blade looked like a carefully shaped piece of blue tree sap, but with wood grains, and a crystalline edge. Meanwhile, as the dark energy from the flying horror essence entered it, its appearance changed. The light blue crystalline surface turned darker, a more ominous shade of blue, and tiny difficult to see veins formed in side of it. Then Capra stopped.

“Good.”

Next was the axe handle.

Capra flung his hand back, his palm facing up as if asking for something,

“Enchant. Stone Essence.” He commanded, and then gray energy manifested explosively above his hand and Capra slammed it down towards his workbench.

Bang!

The gray energy quickly infused itself into the axe handle turning it a light brown, but before it could turn completely gray Capra quickly removed his hand.

“Enchant. Blue Moon Rabbit Essence.” He continued.

This time he didn’t slam down. After summoning the essence he gently guided it towards the axe handle. His fingers moved slowly and carefully, and the essence responded in kind by sprinkling down on to the axe handle like a gentle mist.

The axe turned a hint bluer, and its texture changed becoming a little more pliable like flesh.

“Good.” Capra repeated. “Enchant. Water Essence.”

A small vortex of water essence appeared above his hand. But unlike the other essences Capra made no effort to control it, in fact he waited a few minutes and let the essence coagulate until it formed what appeared to be a small stream of water.

The stream of water essence attempted to flow into the axe blade, but Capra didn’t let it. He had long since realized that all essences had behaviors, but unlike organic essences like the blue moon rabbit’s, or the flying horror’s— inorganic ones rarely misbehaved unless he let them coagulate, which generally took a much longer time.

However, it was worth the wait as he had discovered that the resulting effect varied from the standard effect both aesthetically, and functionally when used to enchant. With a flick of his wrist the remaining water essence ceased to struggle and it floated gently at the surface of the axe blade.

System Notification: Congratulations, you have made an original item. Would you like to name the piece?

Silence.

Instead of responding Capra took a moment to appreciate the finished axe. He felt the smooth blade, watching as currents of water fluctuated along the blade’s edge, then he took a moment to feel the handle.

The handle felt alive in his hands. Like a second skin. It was soft and smooth to the touch, but textured well enough to provide a decent grip; however, when squeezed, the axe handle didn’t break, it remained sturdy like a strong arm. Capra smiled.

It seemed there would soon be one very happy goblin in the village, and Capra felt slightly like Santa Claus— with the exception that he was bringing gifts to goblins, not children.

He opened his mouth to speak.

“Baba’s Axe.”

System Notification: Acknowledged. Displaying item stats.

[Baba’s Axe (Epic)]

Lvl. 0.

Durability: 50/50

Damage: 30-40 cutting damage.

Item Effects:

[Grow]: Continued use of this item will cause it to grow more powerful, and if not destroyed it is capable of self-repair. Experience: 0/1000

[Rabbit’s Tenacity]: The blue moon rabbits of blue moon forest are known to charge headfirst regardless of the consequences. +10% Damage, -5% defense.

[Crystalline Horror]: They say no two flying horrors were ever born the same. Strikes made by this axe generate randomly horrific visions around its wielder. Attackers are 20% more likely to miss, and there’s a 20% chance to incite fear when attacking.

Streams of Terror: This axe passively stores energy of the water element. Every 5-15 seconds (depending on environment), your next two spells or basic attacks will be empowered and deal an additional 25% water damage, additionally, basic attacks will have their range extended by three meters.

A Complicated Construct: This item was made with uncommon materials which cannot be repaired traditionally.

Only its maker can repair it.

Active Skill:

[Waves of Terror]: Unleash three terrifying waves of water towards your foes, each dealing Weapon damage (+0.5 Str) to enemies who are at most 5 meters ahead of you. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

User Requirements: Axe level cannot exceed wielder’s level.

Item Description: A horrific axe made with unknown methods. It possesses tremendous potential and a significant amount of power.

Weight: 4.5 kg

System Notification: Enchant Proficiency: +10. Exceptional use of your skills has increased your magic control. [Enchant] becomes rank 4. Additionally, you are awarded +4 Intelligence.

System Notification: You are further embarking down the path of a pioneer… +5% spell control towards abilities in your discipline...

Capra shook and nearly dropped [Baba’s Axe] on his big toe.

“E-Epic?” He said. Clearly startled.

The dagger and the wand he made also gave him stat points due to being rare rated, but the extra stats didn’t shock Capra as much as the axe’s rating. Epic. It was completely possible to get an epic weapon through some hard work and dedication, but it was fairly unheard of to create said epic rated weapon at a level as low as Capra’s.

Most players didn’t have rare weapons until level 10 or 20, let alone epic.

He had expected he’d make Baba a good axe, but now that he looked at it… it was too good. So good in fact that he didn’t want to give it away anymore.

“Ugh...”

But It felt wrong to keep an axe he’d prepared for someone else… luckily he remembered being bitten miserably by the razor terrors and decided he was better off without an axe anyways.

Capra stretched.

It’d been a few hours since he started working, long enough for day to become night by his calculations, so he needed a break… suddenly a horn blared in the distance.

Aaaaa---ooooh---gaaaa!

And if that alarm was any indication his break would have to wait.

...