As Orrin entered the Catanzano’s library, he inhaled deeply. Despite being in a different world, the scent of the surrounding books still hit the same. It revitalized some part of him deep down and calmed him at the same time. Exactly what he needed after the minefield of a conversation with Madi they had just left.

“What do you want to look for first?” Orrin turned back and noticed Daniel backing up slowly. “Oh no, you don’t. Get back here. If I have to research different types of metal, so do you.”

He grabbed his friend and dragged him into the room.

Daniel sighed in defeat. “You try to look up anything on relics. I’ll try to find Lady Catanzano’s blacksmithing books. I’m kind of excited to find out exactly what Gertrude is made of.”

Orrin grumbled. Of course, Daniel would volunteer himself for the easier task. They’d already read most of the normal primers and nothing he could remember jumped out as a good starting point. How exactly do you look up magical items in a world where magic is the norm?

Daniel started stacking a small pile of books from a corner of the library within ten minutes. Orrin was still searching book title by book title, at least for the books that were labeled, when he had an idea.

He used [Analyze] on the next untitled book.

The first half dozen times he used the skill, all he got was:

Book

Orrin almost gave up but he had to fulfill his daily quota for the skill anyways. After a few more attempts, something new did appear.

Book

Subject: History

Orrin pulled the unmarked book out and leafed through the first few pages. A History of Agricultural Development Efforts in Veskar. Flipping through a few pages, he realized it was a history book in the vaguest sense only. The book chronicled multiple leaders’ attempts to develop large swaths of Veskar for better farming. It also went into detail about why each separate attempt failed, for reasons ranging from banditry to what sounded like a plague.

Orrin put the book back and then tried again.

Book

Subject: History and Agrarian Sciences

Title: A History of Agricultural Development Efforts in Veskar

Summary: Failed farming attempts in Veskar, detailed by year and leader.

The jump in information was drastic after he read a few pages.

“You find anything?” Daniel asked from directly behind him. Orrin spooked and jumped.

“Don’t do that!”

Daniel chuckled.

Orrin shook himself and answered his friend. “I’m not finding anything on relics. Just farming in other countries.”

Daniel gave him a look. “Why were you reading it so long then?”

“I’m working on [Analyze]. I was hoping that if I get it working right, I might be able to just browse and see exactly what’s in the book before even reading it,” Orrin explained. “It’s a slow process though.”

Daniel gestured to the table. “Wanna split the books and figure out what we should steal from the Guild?”

Orrin shrugged and joined him at the small reading nook. Of the six books, two were easily discarded. The titles noted they were advanced blacksmithing books. Orrin picked up the next one.

Daniel put his book down after ten minutes. “This is a dud. It just goes and on about the different methods of quenching and hammering steel and iron but nothing about different metal types.”

Orrin closed his book. “This one is the same. It’s just schematics for different types of weapons, tools, and such.”

They opened the last two and almost immediately, Daniel cheered.

“Found it. An entire chapter on different metal types and the best applications for each.”

Orrin waited and watched Daniel slowly read. “Are you going to read it aloud?”

“Nah,” Daniel muttered. “You can read it when I’m done. It’s only a few pages.”

Orrin rolled his eyes and went back to searching for anything related to relics. He noticed the [Analyze] skill had evolved a bit and was still giving the subject tab on her book. Silas had organized the books in a manner; however, [Analyze] gave the occasional odd different reaction. The section he’d been in before was mostly marked history, but sometimes he would also get a biography. One time, [Analyze] marked the book as fictional history. Orrin pulled that one out to check the title. The Life of Grandmage Devrus.

The library also had a section that returned subjects of architecture, math, philosophy, sciences, classes, magic, and politics. It was in the sciences section that Daniel had found the blacksmithing books. Mapping out the library gave Orrin a small sense of achievement, even if they hadn’t found anything on relics.

“I’m done,” Daniel said and waved Orrin over. “There is a lot more than just Mythril or cold iron.”

Orrin read through the few pages quickly. Mythril was a rare metal mined primarily by the dwarves. It had a few different uses, but the main one was creating an alloy that strengthened any other metal. The book noted that Mythril alloys were nearly impossible to break without extreme circumstances. It also noted that working with the stuff was annoyingly difficult. It set quicker than any metal and a blacksmith would have mere minutes to get the shape correct and beaten to perfection.

Cold iron was a black iron found in small veins in the deepest iron mines. It was actually rarer than Mythril but easier to work with. It could also be separated out again from a mixed metal alloy and reused over and over. The biggest use was in weapons or machinery that needed to keep an edge. A cold iron blade never needed to be sharpened. It also would slowly ‘regrow’ if a piece was broken off if another metal was introduced. The blade would slowly lose this ability as the cold iron percentage decreased over time, but a sword made with cold iron would still last decades longer than a normal steel or iron blade.

The book also mentioned Citrandish wood, an elven tree used in the construction of their bows and wooden weapons. Harder to break and giving twice the pull to a bow, the wood was rarely found outside of an elven hand. The author went into detail about what had happened to the few people who had stolen bows in the past. Orrin felt very grateful that he hadn’t chosen the path of an archer. He could see the temptation for a stronger bow outweighing the common sense of a person. Being planted in the ground and having a new tree grown through you while alive did not sound like a pleasant way to go.

Another was Adamantine, which was so rare that royals of the past had been able to afford a knife made with the same. It was the only metal that refused to mix with others. Small pendants or rings could still be found but the exact nature of the advantages of the metal was unknown.

There were also irons that had absorbed characteristics from their surroundings. Skymetal was basically meteors that had fallen to the ground and been found. The owners would swear the blades moved faster. Red iron was found near flowing lava. It gave a red sheen to any blade and had been proven by the author to have a visceral reaction to cold. When pressed against ice, it cut as if warmed from within. The book noted that some ancient shields of red iron had been known to turn ice magic aside if made with a high enough saturation point of other metals; however, that recipe had been lost to time. The author theorized that other irons were possible in high-density magical areas.

“So, your sword won’t break and doesn’t need to be sharpened,” Orrin said as he finished reading and looked over the chart of saturation points and mixture percentages for different metals. “That’s handy.”

“She’ll also regrow if I chip her on something too hard,” Daniel added. “Like if I tried to hit your head.”

Orrin rolled his eyes. “Good to know, I guess. Nothing that would help either of us too much, though.”

Daniel shrugged. “You need to keep learning all the things you can if you don’t want to tell Madi. I can get away with the I’m ignorant act but unless you come clean and – “

“No,” Orrin cut him off. “I trust her a bit, but that’s too big a secret. Just pay attention. You saved me today. Keep that up.”

Daniel picked up the books and moved them back to the shelves. “So, tell me more about the people we are going into this dungeon with.”

Orrin leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. It had been a long day and using [Analyze] wore him out. He was getting better at pushing the skill further and further but he still felt a small wave of exhaustion hit him once he used it too much. Physical skills suck, he thought.

“Tin is really nice. She was the one who answered my request to find you back when…” he trailed off. “Anyways, she invited me to lunch and introduced me to the other two, Emily and Garret. You’d like Tin. She’s good people. Emily is more reserved but smart. You can tell just from talking to her. She also has an evolved class. She found some magic item that let her upgrade from [Fire Mage] into something else that I can’t remember the name of. Honestly, I think if she’s on the team, she’ll be the easiest to convince to use our strategy of working together.”

“What’s Tin’s class?” Daniel sauntered back over and plopped in the other chair. “The [Fire Mage] I worked with before was powerful.”

“She uses a spear and water magic, I think.” Orrin looked up as he tried to remember the conversation from weeks ago. “[Waterspear], maybe? She’d be good at the frontline with you.”

“And the third one?” Daniel asked, pulling at a string in his shirt. He wrapped the thread around his finger once and yanked.

Orrin remembered the flirtatious archer. “Garret. He’s an archer with earth magic. I didn’t really get too much about his skills.”

Daniel looked up. “Why are you blushing?”

Orrin stood quickly and went back to searching the library. “Not blushing. It’s just hot in here. Where do you think we can find more on relics?”

Daniel followed right on his heels. “It’s not hot in here. Are you sick?”

Orrin ignored him.

“Orrin, what is it?” Daniel asked with genuine concern. “You didn’t cycle too much, did you? I thought you had a better handle on your limits.”

Orrin sighed. “He kind of hit on me last time we were all together.”

Daniel blinked twice and then laughed.

“This is why I didn’t tell you,” Orrin muttered and pulled another book out from the magic section. It ended up being a list of different types of obscure magic used in Veskar.

Daniel put his hand on Orrin’s shoulder. “Buddy, I’m sorry. I just…Well, I thought you liked my sister.”

Orrin threw up his hands, knocking Daniel’s hand off. “I do…did. I don’t know. I’ve never had someone actually hit on me. It threw me a bit and I’d rather just not think about it.”

Daniel gently placed his hand back on Orrin’s shoulder and turned him until they faced each other. “You know I’m your friend no matter who you like, right?”

Orrin nodded.

Daniel’s face turned evil. “Is he hot?”

Orrin boosted his own strength and pushed Daniel. He rolled backward and came up laughing.

“I’m going to bed,” Orrin announced. He stormed out, with Daniel’s laughter echoing behind him.