When he first had this idea, he dismissed it right away. Far too dangerous. But if he didn’t perform well on this next monster culling trip, he wouldn’t rank up with the rest of the class. He had to try out something new. His crossbow wouldn’t cut it with the bigger monsters they would be facing on their next outing.

So he was alone in the classroom, double checking his math. When he felt like he understood the new design, and his jitters finally went away, he stuck his hands into the crafting desk. A shimmer of light and mana formed between his hands. Carefully, carefully, he created his new design. It was tricky to make something loose inside of something solid, and he was using both elements to do it.

Level Up!

Fabricate has advanced to level seven.

Once he saw the notification, he sighed in relief. It had worked. As far as he knew, his new design wasn’t dangerous yet, but he still handled it as if it was. Walking out to the archery range, he set his new design on top of a target dummy. It was a small ball made from aluminum. The middle of the ball was full of loose magnesium dust. He stuck a candle wick in the small hole on the top, and lit it with a sparker.

He ran away and hid behind the stone walls. The candlewick took some time to burn down. Hugo kept checking to see where the flame was at. Once it disappeared into the metal ball, he ducked down. Nothing happened. He peaked out to see that the magnesium had actually lit. It was spewing a small white flame. The flame was intensely bright, and shot a good five inches out of the hole in the top, but the ball didn’t explode like he had planned.

Standing up, Hugo sighed and started walking back. All that build-up, and it was a dud. A small flame like that would be useless against monsters. As he stood there, waiting for the flames to die out, he saw something strange happen. The metal shell melted, and the ball spilled out fire. Bright white flames poured over the training dummy. It was like it was doused in liquid fire. Heat poured off the archery target, enough that Hugo could feel it from ten feet away.

A few moments later the target was almost utterly destroyed, melted beyond repair. From his research, he knew better than to try and douse it with water. But even the recommended sand didn’t put out the magnesium fire until after the training dummy was destroyed.

He would have to report the damage to school property. It would probably mean another week of work for the academy after he graduated. Still, he had learned something. The magnesium burned bright, hot, and was hard to put out. Just what he needed from a weapon.

The only problem was getting the loose magnesium particles to ignite in a timely manner. The wick was way too slow, even if it was shorter. And he wanted an explosion of fire, not just a slow burning puddle.

The first thing he thought of was sealing up the hole. That would make any fire inside explosive. But then there was the ignition and air problem. He would need to have enough air inside to get the fire going, which could be solved with a larger ball only half filled with magnesium. But how was he going to ignite his little bombs without a wick?

He thought about it until night fell, but didn’t come up with any solutions. He wondered if it would be better to just pivot, and think of something new. Maybe a new crossbow design. An alloy of magnesium and aluminum would make a better crossbow with a stronger draw weight. Or he could combine his failed idea with something new, like a flaming spear of some kind.

Eventually he just packed up and left. He would ruminate on it some more. It was time to meet up with Lenna anyway. He had planned a date and didn’t want to miss it. She had been clear that she liked him, but the relationship still felt fragile to Hugo and he wanted everything to go right.

Thinking of date ideas when they couldn’t leave campus was hard. But he figured he had come up with a good idea. He visited his dorm room to freshen up and grab her gift.

It was an aluminum rose, complete with twenty-four individual petals. He had taken the better part of two days to calculate the different parts of the flower’s design. Sage Rasmus had helped him figure out a method to affix the petals and leaves as he created it, so the design was solid. It was something he thought she would really like. She mentioned once how much she liked flowers, but that she had problems getting fresh ones. Now she would have one that would never wilt.

He was a bit nervous as he picked her up from her dorm room. This was the girls dorm, and although it was still a few hours from curfew, a few girls gave him side eye as he walked in. Thankfully, Lenna was ready to go as soon as he knocked on her door.

“I made you something, I hope you will like it,” said Hugo as he brought the rose out from behind his back. He handed over with a flourish.

“Oh wow thanks,” Lenna said, “Thanks. That must have taken you some time.”

Something in her voice made him question her sincerity. “Do you really like it? It’s ok if you don’t. More of the thought that counts, right?”

“I like it. It’s fine. Thank you,” Lenna said.

Hugo held out his arm so she could take it. They walked together out of the dorm and into the quiet night.

“It’s just... It’s just that it doesn’t feel personal,” Lenna said, “I get that you put a lot of work into this, so I can always have a rose. But you didn’t ask me if I even like roses. I don’t by the way. It really feels like you gave me your homework assignment. It’s made of your element, I bet you even had Rasmus help you make it.”

“I’m sorry. I should have thought this through better,” Hugo said morosely.

“Oh don’t pout. I really am thankful. I will keep it on my nightstand. It’s a great gift. I shouldn’t have said the other stuff. Sometimes I just talk and talk without thinking first. I am sorry. Please forgive me?”

Hugo smiled, “Gladly.”

He led them to the next part of their date. As they walked, she squeezed his arm tight, and leaned up against him. He started to feel a little better. Their next destination was the auditorium. The same room that Marta held her classes with the entire first year student body.

Unlike most nights, tonight the auditorium wasn’t empty. The student choir practiced here on second days and fourth days. They were here to listen to free entertainment.

Hugo stopped at the top of the stairs, suddenly realizing that they wouldn’t be able to talk to each other if they went in. Oskar said that a good date involved a lot of talking. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“This was my idea, just to listen to them practice. But we don’t have to go in, we can do something else,” Hugo said hesitantly.

“No, this is a great idea. I love music. I would have joined the choir myself, but I have a bad case of cat’s tongue. No one wants to hear me sing, but I do like listening to others.”

They sat down together halfway down the auditorium. Lenna snuggled in close to Hugo as they listened quietly to the choir. Soon, he forgot the uncomfortable feelings and wrapped his arm around her. The music was quite nice. There were occasional visual effects when they sang loud enough. It must have been the result of a ritual. One that apparently wasn't working right, since they kept stopping and starting over.

...

“Today we will be discussing alloys,” Sage Rasmus said, “Everyone has ranked up to eight by now and selected their second element. We are going to define an alloy as the combination of any two elements. For example, copper and tin makes bronze. That’s an alloy. Spider silk and resin can combine too, and although they aren’t metals, we will call that an alloy in this class.”

“Not every element can combine into something useful. For example, glass and wood cannot alloy.”

“For elements that can alloy together, you need to find the correct ratio to create something great. Many of you in this room have chosen iron and carbon as your first two elements. But if you try and create an alloy with half iron and half carbon, it will be terribly brittle. You have to have the correct ratio, otherwise it will be useless.”

He went up to the board and started writing out an equation. “Does anyone know the correct ratio for hardened steel?”

Oskar said, “2% carbon?”

“Close, but not quite right. As with everything in the formation domain, you must be terribly exact. The correct ratio is 1.82% carbon,” Rasmus said and continued to write out the equation on the board. Once he was done, he said, “That right there is the ideal ratio for steel armor. The ideal ratio for a sword is a little lower since you want your sword to be slightly more flexible. I recommend you do a few experiments with ratios so you can find what you like.”

“But that’s on your own time, for now I want you all to create a bracer using an alloy of your two materials. Use the design on the board. Even for those without iron and carbon, I think you will find that ratio a useful jumping off point,” Sage Rasmus said and sat down while they practiced.

An hour later everyone had managed to create a bracer. Alloys were harder to create than pure elements. Hugo resigned himself to more practice with the new technique. He bet that it would make a better bottle, so he decided to kill two birds with one stone and switch all future bottles to the alloy. At least the complicated design leveled up Fabricate. He was now at level nine. The irony was that the higher leveled skill would make solid aluminum bottles easier to make, but he wasn’t going to make any more.

Rasmus walked up to the front of the class and said, “I am sure some of you are already excited to make your own suit of armor. If you already have a design thought up, go ahead and start working. If not, feel free to peruse the books I have on my desk. We will be spending the next two weeks on armor design, so make sure you have a solid design before you jump right into manufacturing.”

Hugo and a few others walked up to the desk and grabbed a book. He flipped through the book, seeing detailed pictures and designs for various types of armor. Dragoons, knights, brigands, hussar and the list went on. Each section had several variations. The amount of choices was staggering.

“One note on armor design,” Rasmus said before they could get started, “I am requiring a design with quick releases. You need to be able to quickly remove any piece of armor. Sometimes the healers need to be able to get at an injury, and sometimes you need to be able to run faster. Particularly those with steel armor. I know you all feel super strong with your extra strength stats, but trust me when I say there will be situations when you need to shed an extra hundred pounds and run all out.”

Hugo leafed through the book as he thought about what kind of armor he wanted. He wanted full coverage while still being able to move. He didn’t have to worry too much about weight because of his elements. That didn’t really narrow down his choices though.