Book 2 - Interlude 2 - Ophelia - Crafting and Training

Book 2 - Interlude 2 - Ophelia - Crafting and Training

Ophelia hammered the molten alloyed steel with both strength and focus, sandwiching it between the anvil and her heavy hammer. She focused on watching the steels heat levels through her gnomish goggles, able to discern the difference in temperature with every blow.

Sparks flew with every strike against the metal, and as the temperature began to lower, she recast her [Runic Forging Flame] to raise the heat back to her desired yellow-white color, never stopping her blows. Ophelia empowered the strikes with her very [Technique], her strength, stamina, and holy mana coalescing into powerful blows, stronger than even the power hammers Jake had told her about.

Her [Runic Smith Hammer] enchanted by Jake coalesced the mana, hardening and reinforcing the steel in ways she did her best to try to understand. While her smithing had recently reached [Advanced Smithing Level 1], she was only beginning to understand and use the sub-skills contained within. She knew if she was going to craft equipment that was going to keep up with her familys usage, she would need to master [Magic Metalworking], [Essence Infusion], and [Essence Transfer].

Ophelia quenched the hot metal in the barrel of mana-infused water, and handed the finished plate to Berri Wait, Berri?

What are you doing up, Berri?

Berri gave a somewhat downcast smile at Ophelia. I got woke up bywell I think Jake and Fhesiah are stillenjoying themselves?

Ophelia gave a small grimace. Jake did his best to be considerate by cutting off the bonds emotions and thoughts at times like those, but sometimes the demonesswell, when she initiated in the middle of the night, he was taken off guard and would forget, partially because everyone else was sleeping for their own emotions and thoughts to not remind him of it. It was for this reason that she was here forging in the middle of the night. Apparently, even Berri received the errant emotions, and woke up too.

Often Ophelia would just prod him and he would apologize for his mistake, but it was certainly easy for him to get lost in the moment. Other times, he would notice the errant thoughts and emotions even in the moment, and fix his mistake. He likely knew Berri was awake by now.

You couldnt go back to sleep?

Its fine. I was... thinking about things, and I realized you were awake too. While the sound isnt loud, I can feel the vibrations of you forging through my body. I need to keep working on getting better, too.

Ophelia knew Berri was nearing the [Advanced] level on her [Leatherworking] and [Armor Crafting] skills. Their plan was for them to work together to make armor for their family. While Ophelia had the [Essence Infusion] skill, Berri had the [Essence Extraction] skill on top of that.

Berri could extract the monsters essences from equipment, allowing them to then be infused into metals, leathers, and clothes. The extraction skill was difficult, and Ophelia thought that one of the reasons Berri was so good at it was because she was monstrous herself. Ophelia had much better luck with [Essence Transfer], but found the skill to be too limiting.

While Berri could extract the essence she desired from a material, focusing on only the aspects she wanted to take from the special monster materials, essence transfer did more like it sounded: it moved all the essence of what made the monsters material powerful into the other material. It did this by more or less merging the two materials together.

Monsters often had weaknesses, and essence transfer would ultimately transfer that weakness over to the desired material. It became impossible to transfer conflicting monster essences, and while it was possible to transfer more than one essence if you found the right balance, it required you to be much pickier with the ingredients, which was not always an option.

Essence extraction allowed Berri to take the best parts of several materials rather than just one, and then she or Ophelia could infuse those essences into equipment while it was being forged. Once they got the hang of it, anyway.

Berri took the offered plate and began working it into their current item: a drakescale armor with plates. They were more or less trying to recreate their current armor, to finally catch up and match what they were wearing. Once they matched they could surpass it, as they knew that the skills they were training were only barely used to improve the equipment they had purchased. It appeared those sold on the market were not made by masters of their Tier, and were more mass produced to be sold. Most likely, the truly skilled only made it for their own Guild, or managed custom orders.

Of course, they didnt only make armor. Ophelia also planned on making weapons and shields, and she knew she was only a few weeks away. Unfortunately, she did not think they would have much ready before the [Fortress Assault], but she didnt think she would be very far off. If she pushed hard on improving her skills now, rather than item results, maybe she would have enough time to make something before they reached the contested world they decided to go save.

Ophelia started working on the next alloyed-steel plate and said, Youve improved so much in such a short time. I know Jake is happy that you are so driven.

Berri smiled as she added a small curvature to the metal plate to make it slot better into a particular section of the armor. You think so? After seeing how hard you work, I couldnt help but find myself working hard as well. Besides, making this armor is fun. I love seeing all the small pieces come together. Knowing that one day I can make my own armor is exciting. Up to now, I have only been able to repair it. I never imagined I would be able to surpass it, but I think Im almost there!

The Framework really makes it possible, right? Its only been a few weeks for you, and youve nearly caught up to me.

Ilike to think its Milord, instead. His bond, and his desire to make us stronger, betterI feel like with his help, I can do anything.

Ophelia laughed. That might be true, but you should take pride in what you accomplish as well. I know Jake is proud of you, and I am, too. I know you think youre cursed, but I bet youve always been special. You deserve appreciation for what youve always done.

Berri began to tear up, Oh, thank you sister!

They worked through the obstacle course with body plates, and a goal of theirs was to purchase more magical means of increasing the difficulty, such as increasing the gravity, or a magically enhanced resistance suit. She hoped that these things werent some kind of placebo effect, them being sold on the market having some sort of impact. Between Fhesiahs alchemical supplements and their core, it was hard to tell if their gains from all their efforts were really accomplishing anything or not when it came to building muscle or strength.

The obstacle course did help with their balance and agility, though, and they did make sure to do squats and other lifts on a balance board to make sure they were getting at least something out of it. One thing she had no doubt at all in her mind, though, was that their weapons training and sparring absolutely helped them. The muscle memory gained from using her spear or defending against attacks with her shield were unquestionable, along with the skill gains from [The Framework].

They finished their workout, and she put on her equipment and helped Jake put on his with glee. As always, she just couldnt wait to fight. One of Jakes states really made him unstoppable! Another was boring to fight, and the other was only a slight improvement. This last state, she wasnt sure how often he would end up using. It didnt really match his play-style, he said. Still, having it as an option would be quite powerful.

Some of the runes on his armor lit up with a different color than she expected: red. While she knew his weapon normally would too, they were using their training weapons, which werent really enchanted. However, his shield was. But she noticed that it did not light up at all, not even a little like it normally would when they flooded their runic enchantments with mana. He noticed Ophelias attention to that detail.

Thats one of the costs of this state. I cant really use my shield with it, and any defensive runes are not activated.

He stowed away his shield. Sometimes, they trained with their spear two handed for the odd case where they could potentially lose it, or where the extra reach of a larger spear might help. When facing such massive opponents, if it werent for their inertia dampening option, there wouldnt even be value in having a shield at all.

She felt the limit for their shields inertia dampening was currently for creatures Berris size or slightly below, otherwise it was much smarter to dodge or use a barrier, even with their shields. Maybe Jake could improve the enchantment and change that, as she knew when they reached Tier 2 the creatures they faced could be much more massive.

Jake charged at her, and she used her [Ride of the Valkyries] to meet him with her shield much earlier than where he likely would have wanted in his thrust. Just as she was about to meet his body with a thrust of her own, a runic wave of force slammed into her like a monsters fist to the gut, blowing her through the air a dozen meters.

She recovered rapidly, not even needing to flap her wings to have magic control over her momentum. She caught herself and flew right back at him. She felt the telltale signs of more mana being released and furiously pushed her own into runes to form her own spell: [Runic Barrier].

A large spear of flame blazed towards her, and she was shocked at the power of it. It was covered in the runes used to make it, and she could tell it was being empowered by his Technique, similar to the one that was boring to face. She knew he chose fire to keep things relatively safe because, as powerful as that was, the fire would not harm her nearly as much if she could not stop it. Their affinity through their goddess protected them.

Her runic barrier shattered, and she braced her magically infused wings to her shield as she pushed through towards Jake. The runic spear of fire slammed into her, and she was shocked as she was blown careening backwards, the spell being even more powerful than she had thought. She had planned on her momentum and magical defenses to allow her to bypass it. She could feel Jake a little worried, it seems he was surprised at the efficacy as well.

Still, she righted herself, and this time took a more circuitous approach to Jake and to dodge rather than simply eat the next runic spear if she could. He launched two runic spears of a much smaller size this time, aiming one where she was headed and one a little to her right. She went to the left, only to find two more of the same, cutting her off.

Ophelia maneuvered easily between the two, but then she realized that this was his goal in the first place, as a third one was released shortly after. Even with her ridiculous maneuverability, she wouldnt be able to avoid this one. She grinned as she cast a runic barrier that she had empowered, now knowing what to expect from his runic spears of fire.

She sped up as the spear was intercepted, and Jake back-pedaled as he released a wave of frost that slammed into her. It slowed her, but she still struck out with her spear, aiming for his shoulder as she filled herself with the flames of Hestia to counteract the cold. Jake parried, and Ophelia was surprised to find herself being shocked with electricity, or thunder magic, she realized. Her arms holding the spear spasmed, but she managed to hold on and move herself backwards as Jake returned with an attack of his own.

Ophelia only barely managed to block his blow with her spear, only for her to be shocked once again. So, Jake had managed to infuse his weapon with the elements, as part of this state? Ophelia was able to infuse her spear with the flames of Hestia, but she was interested in being able to do this with any element. She could sort of do the same due to the fact that her spear was also a staff with a focus like Jakes by firing a spell while in melee combat, but this appeared to be different.

Jake continued on the offensive, but once again now that she knew what to expect, she blocked the blow with her wing infused with mana, and kicked him in the gut before slamming the butt of her spear into his helmeted temple, knocking him off of his feet.

She held her spear at his throat, and he just had a wry smile on his face. I had made that state to mostly be supported by you girls, like the more defensive one. The shock effect would be much greater on my Champions Spear staff with the right runes. I dont see myself using this state very often, but I know having a more offensive but less limiting option is good to have. What do you think?

Ophelia thought about it. Was there some reason why you didnt try to lock me down or control me further? The frost spell was the right idea, even if it doesnt work well against me

Jake sighed, Control spells are just weaker in this state, too, I will have to rely on it being a side effect from offensive frost spells. Once Im able to have a fifth state, I think that will be my next one: one that improves Control spells. This one is called [Wrath], and the idea was to make myself able to cause a lot of damage with magic to one or many enemies, at the cost of defense and the ability to cast heals and barriers. Between you and Berri, its not as much of a problem.

Jake grinned, Plus, thanks to you, I can cheat. Theres many shenanigans Ill be able to pull off thanks to your Chosen specialization. Thanks to you, I can be much stronger and not give anything up. Well really be able to take down powerful enemies together.

Ophelia was filled with excitement imagining the fights and glory that they would gain, destroying outsiders and saving people from ruin. She pulled Jake up and kissed him on the lips, surprising him slightly. He had gotten used to how excitable she was during training, and had started expecting kisses and hugs almost as much as he expected being properly reminded of his flaws.

Thats what you call it in your mind? Reminding? I wish being reminded didnt resemble being beaten.

His words were full of complaints, but his feeling of fondness and love didnt go away. He knew the value of her lessons, and she was filled with pride knowing how strong hed become working together with her. They had a long way to go, but they would continue to work hard to be the best they could be.