I sit near the input plate for the forge with my eyes wide open as the process begins. The formation of the weapon is an endeavor that deserves a lot more thought and preparation than what one day of work from a couple of people could provide, but that is what we have and it will have to do.

Jack and Li Wei stand beside the main anvil as Blackwood holds the head of the spear.

The entire smithy seems like an oven as the large hundred pound bag of enchanted coal is somehow burning without any detriment from all the wood underneath it and heating the air outside beyond what humans should be able to survive unscathed, but we don’t just survive, we thrive.

Alex reaches for the buddying Aether in the remnants of his spear and tries to rekindle it. I think of helping, but his control is getting good enough that I choose to save my limited stores and concentrate on my Qi and other aspects of the forging. Perhaps I will feed Aether to my own field, which should speed the process up and improve our chances.

My avatar steps out of the inner world to nobody's surprise and through him, I extend my will as he holds the nearly finished spear’s shaft.

“Ohh my god.” Alex cries out. “This is not normal wood.” He touches his own Aether to it and the wood imbued with my very Life and grown into something even harder than ebony.

What we will do in the next step had taken me a lot to decide upon and I even thought of not adding metals to the spears head given our limited understanding of the ’system’s’ metallurgic processes and the fact we could be limiting our future options, but Mithril is the perfect choice no matter what direction he intends to go in the future. With Blackwood’s help, the small chunk barely the size of a cocked bean is further cut with the very saw I nearly broke soon after our arrival in the instance.

The brittle mithril wire cuts the flexible and soft Mithril nugget we bought for a bargain: Just a king’s ransom, instead of an emperor’s treasury that the entire ingot would have cost.

Li Wei finishes taking the splinters of wood as Blackwood effortlessly holds the head like a vice and I unfold my creation skill, sending a thread of Qi and pushing it to the limit through my avatar. I leverage everything I learned and even spin my Aether to reach for my skills not even bothering to be subtle about it.

I still don’t trust myself to go about using Aether full time, but I have begun to find my footing as I discover who I’m in the system. If I’m careful, I shouldn’t warp myself into an Eldrich creature, not from just a few minutes here and there.

A decent stream of Aether spread over the smithy overlaps Alex’s field in a rough approximation of my natural Flow as I learn how to push my Creation skill to its limits. I drive my perception field trying to see what I’m doing and even my Avatar skill comes to the forefront of my mind as I try to go beyond the wooden robot, little more than a remote-controlled toy, I want my avatar to become a true extension of myself and my will.

Qi and all my resources flow through his strange green veins with sap flowing in place of blood and power him as I give myself to the endeavor. With an expertly aimed driving force, I trust the shaft against and Blackwood’s hands don’t even move.

In a single motion, it becomes whole again.

He twists the spear and I let go instantly. Driving the head into the fire I see two new tricks. A single mithril shard that popped on top of the spear’s spine like he is a magician doing a trick. He trusts inside the brightest coals burning no longer yellow, but a searing white that would melt even tungsten. Hotter than an acetylene torch running on pure oxygen, something that should be impossible for even pure carbon burning under a similar oxidant. But that is magic for you.

Right behind the metal head, the second surprise. A pristine wooden pole, not even warm as it is shielded by a mana barrier worthy of envy. Something that doesn’t seem to take a lot of mana, but is even stronger than what Merlin could produce.

He brings it back to the main anvil and Jack takes his own hammer, a medium-sized deep steel hammer with a short expensive strip of leather covering the handle and after a good wack, somehow, the mithril shard doesn’t go flying, but imprints into the steel, sinking a sixteenth of an inch.

Li Wei gives the second blow and moments afterward my avatar gives the third. Then my Avatar takes the handle and we wait for the master to give his own strike.

He strains and strains, as even the swaying of his arms with the hammer at his side seems to be restrained as he mentally prepares. His muscles bulge outward, and the very inception of his movement seems to have meaning deep in his soul that simply overflows to the world. Space and reality warps to my perception field now fully engaged as the system forcefully tries to butt its head in.

Thousands of mana points flow in the formations all around and I can see the impossibly complex runes under the smithy fighting off the system for just a brief instant.

Before I react, he teleports from standing nearly still to having his hammer striking the steel and rebounding.

A booming rung, sparks, power, energy, Aether and all the system’s resources mixed into one explode as thor’s hammer, Mijolnir, hits the strongest shield ever conceived.

Sky drops and all the defenses are nothing before the system. Thunder falls boring a hole through the solid stone ceiling and hitting Blackwood.

I’m surprised, nearly shocked into a popsicle, but even as I assume he is dead for the briefest of instants, I hear a bellow from his throat that strikes a primal fear into my bones.

A sliver of his real self shines through to my natural perception field and I see the mane of a two legged lion.

=====================

Blackwood’s POV

This is bullshit.

The system doesn't even let me wield a percent of my actual skill for a single blow. This is a proper weapon dear to a true warrior’s heart. Let me give a proper start even if I need to pound it into scrap afterwords.

Uhh.. but those thunder strikes hurt.

I try to hold on against the damage to my core and all my curses go unanswered as I watch the others beautifully take over.

Li Wei and Jack have finally taken responsibility for their growth as craftsmen. To discover not just the heart of their hammers, but to actually put it to practice. They stopped being reactive to my prompts and are seeking to improve not just a little, but aiming for the stars.

It would take thousands of years banging metal day in and day out for them to even approach my experience, but they had a deep seated talent beneath their boyish and inflexible ways.

I almost regret Nash even being here and my having offered him an apprenticeship. But the system’s measurements and the fastest way to improve was not in actual blacksmithing, but the quite arbitrary decided mana control. Important for real blacksmithing sure… but not the heart of the craft.

The council hadn’t corrupted everything, but most aspects of the integration instance were warped.

They had a chance to reach the needed level in blacksmithing for me to adopt them as my apprentices through the actual shaping of metal. But they would need a lot more coin than was available in the tides every end of the month. In practice, they only had a shot if Nash pulled another miracle to extend their stay.

I pay Nash good coin and that number would only increase, but as weapons got more expensive and they stopped buying the ones I did produce, my treasure chest would slowly dwindle until I didn't a bent copper to pay. Even emptying every coffer in the instance may not be enough, let alone just the one’s that they can realistically tap into.

I stand back recovering my organs, after the punishment that would have killed even a cockroach like Nash a thousand times over and just watch as they start to make something even beyond my expectations.

My first blow was precise. With Nash’s and Merlin’s mana input ad the Mithril, the system would let me just barely forge a +11 weapon, but they were going another route.

If I could have struck just a hundred of these blows, no, just 13… I could forge a spear that could cut without even having to touch the beast. But the cost would be dire, each subsequent warning from the system would be stronger and I didn’t want to risk my life just for a half-formed spear. I would be patient.

Even as I nearly regret my first strike, hope blooms in my heart.

I thought it was impossible, but the system is not interfering with them even by withholding its help as they work around my first blow, not destroying it, but enshrining it as the work of a master craftsman. Their very movements imitate my innate and executed will. Each of their hammer blows works the metal back and forth leaving only the single flat spot that I hit without any changes.

The familiar and ever-present flow of Nash’s Creation skill kicks up a notch and his avatar expertly turns the spear for the successive blows as my smile just widens.

If hit the right mark they can rise above all expectations and make a weapon that is worthy of a true warrior…

They have begun to put into practice the correct use of helpers in the forge. The person holding the piece is just as important that the one actually wielding the hammer, and that would only become more clear as they improved. If they can split the job with no downsides they can gain a small edge in producing better weapons, even if each will be more labor intensive and therefore expensive, the learning opportunity and marginally better items make the effort worth it.

They need this edge if they hope to revive this named weapon to its full glory and push it further.

The funniest thing is that if the system hadn’t interfered with such zeal I would have destroyed the work of my first blow, with only a memory of it left behind, barely an imprint of the true weapon’s potential in its memory. Now they are working around my rough, but masterfully rendered first blow and drawing its power with impossible capability.

What they are trying is dangerous in its own way, but if they can make effective use of it... Considering the small chunk of Mithril I cut off from the bar, most limitations placed upon their craft lifted by Nash’s new-fangled Qi, and Merlin’s expertly wielded Mana, along with the talented smithy’s even as the three who have access to Aether all spin it freely.

They have a chance. Admittedly, a small one, but they can push this weapon even further than I could by myself while in the instance.

Each hammer blow melds the soft Mithril over the nearly melting deep steel even as the smallest of flakes are slowly absorbed into its structure. Jack carefully extends and folds the edges on themselves until it approaches the sharpest it be made.

A work of art beyond any I have ever seen from such young people. Not in magnitude or in actual power, for in both of those criteria any random product of mine far surpassed anything they could do. But in their youth, the lack of black canvas, with pure gold and mithril oil paints or expensive unicorn hair brushes do not hinder their art. You only need your intent to begin the path, the pureness of purpose and that is how they are slowly bringing this weapon to life.

I extend a tendril of my will out heading for the spear, something that I purposefully keep in check to not affect the environment usually.

My eyes widen and I nearly fail to restrain myself, but… the shaft is actually alive similar to the way the weapon had been brought to life by Alex and it is connected to the small sentient plant in Alex’s body. Damn, Nash really doesn’t leave anything to chance. He really wants the protonic form of Aether to assimilate and develop.

In the future, there is a chance...

I stop speculating, better to keep my hopes down. Even if they succeed on everything going through my head, doesn’t mean they will do so on their first attempt, let alone their first millennia.

==========

Nash’s POV

An hour and a half later I’m still part of the mesmerizing scene. A beautiful orchestra in which I may not be the maestro but my role should be around third, just after the concertmaster. Though there is no perfect chair to represent my place in this.

Creation flows through my veins guided by my Aether as I expertly yield my avatar that perfectly twists and turns the spear on the anvil for the next blow, and the next, and the next. The powerful and meaningful strike from Backwood sits undisturbed and ever so slightly warped by moving the gran of the metal to its proper form on the rest of the spear. Mithril has melded over well enough to form its rough diamond shape and that is when Li Wei and Jack move over to the whetstones and take turns even as me and Alex release our physical hold over its shaft. But our other ways of connecting to it just have a larger gap to overcome.

As the very front edge, two melded mithril pieces form a V shape and take it all the down and sharpen the very edge into an even finer point than the best steel could hold, razor sharp is simply an understatement. That is not even counting that weapons tended to be blunter edges than the best sharpening possible for practical reasons like protecting their internal structure.

But the pure mithril piece, if hard to sharpen, could probably hold a line only a few atoms wide with no problem as long as it didn’t come across another mithril weapon or something equally impressive.

Even as the edges are polished and the mithril dust is carefully collected, the first blow sits without a single pass with the corners meeting the shaft as the dull ball of grey of steel contrasts with the polished edges.

Finally, Li Wei gets a sheet of paper for a final test of the edge. Simply putting it against the spear the very weight of the paper drives it downward.

Our Aether reacts as Alex and I realize it’s finished, at least this iteration of it.

That is when the system recognizes the weapon as finished. With nary an effort of will, the system seems almost insistent we all gaze at this creation that my avatar sees.

Spear of the Wielder (1 Reforging)

Attack +13

Agility +13%

A named weapon made for the Wielder of the Spear.

That’s…. the very simplicity of the whole thing and the briefest of explanations tells me a lot if not quite everything.

We pushed a lot further than I could have ever hoped.

I step forward and touch the silver laced runic handle and turning around, I put it in the hand of the starry eyed Spear Wielder. Even the loose Aether from our village in the air just builds its own momentum and commands all to show respect for the last piece of the puzzle for our warrior comes into place. Alex takes a step back contorting like he was a ballet dancer and with a sharp moment, turns around swiping at a single wooden log standing ready for the fire.

The cut is sharp, his arm barely slows and the pieces don’t even move knock over. What is visible with my perception field however shocks me and can’t help but to exclaim:

“That is a perfect cut! Like anime swordsman perfect.”