Book 4. Chapter 18: Ophelia - Crafting [Retribution]

Book 4. Chapter 18: Ophelia - Crafting [Retribution]

Ophelia parried Tandas thrust of her spear, as she kicked out with her leg. She expected to hit her leg unprotected to knock her off balance, but Tandas flap infused with auril blocked the blow.

Ophelia flapped her wings to dodge Tandas followup attack, but she pressed with a flap of her own. The twos spears met, each of them trying their hardest to best one another. Ophelia wasnt using her technique, but Tanda was able to use her auril, making their match more even.

Ophelia knocked Tanda back, then asked. Did you figure out which Technique youll be getting? You dont want to hold off on buying it for too long, you know. It takes a lot of work to progress it.

Tanda frowned. I know, but I still dont know what things will be like once my hearth wakes up. The one that can aid in turning my melee attacks into ranged ones was attractive, as it makes me able to keep up pressure at any distance easily. When I start cyclic resonance, this becomes quite attractive.

Ophelia nodded. I can see that you dont have much choice until the seed blooms. Fhesiahs Hearth lets her use small amounts of mana, and if you could do the same, that will help give you a number of options. Its hard to imagine how that will work, though. I have a hard time using my mana and your auril over energy sharing at the same time. Its like your heart beat disrupts my intent when forming my runes.

Tanda smiled as she looked at Ophelia, her tail wagging. I know youll figure it out, Ophelia! Or, Jake will. He has a few ideas, he said that runes filled with mana in his armor wasnt disrupted as much. If I can just enhance myself that way with mana, that should be enough to be valuable!

Jake was practicing with Bloodberri, still working on his Runebound states, while she practiced with her runes. Blood and Berri were getting very close to the advanced stages, which would soon allow them to do group casts by themselves. Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

The utility in combat was significant, allowing the two to accomplish area of effect spells much more easily. Some of the more powerful control spells used many runes, and being able to cast them together would be an excellent tool to have.

Fhesiah was in her cultivation chamber, pushing herself to finish her bloodline transformation. It would aid her to switch in combat much faster, and she had wanted to complete it before trying her yin-yang body tempering.

Ophelia just shook her head at the idea that having fun would lead to Fhesiah becoming even more powerful. A match made in heaven, that mystical technique and that girl. Still, Ophelia couldnt help but become a little excited. Of course, she enjoyed those activities with Jake too!

They continued their practice for a while longer, her thinking about what they had to do next. In her last major battle, her weapon had failed her. Ophelia had everything she had needed to be successful, except a good weapon or armor.

They finished their practice for the day and ate, and Ophelia immediately headed for her Hearthtree Forge, which was also sort of Tandas room and shrine to the Celtic god and goddess.

Tanda smiled as they walked into their refuge. Are we finally going to make your spear? I cant wait to help!

Ophelia chuckled. Tanda seemed to enjoy accompanying her for just about any activity. Jakes other girls were all helpful and would work hard when you needed them to be, but there was something different with asking for help from Tanda offering, and for her to enjoy it so much.

Tanda was all smiles as they entered, Ophelia matching her mood. Their sanctuary within their Refuge was something truly special. The air was filled with life, the area peaceful. Tanda had selectively added various creatures and critters to live within, to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, and without pests that they would find overly annoying.

Tanda helped her prepare her workspace, setting everything up around the Hearthtree Forge. She would need Jake later, but for now she had other pieces to work on.

When she had made her lance, she was proud of what she had crafted. She had used all her knowledge and skill, and the best materials they could afford at that time.

Unfortunately, it was just that: all that they could afford. Their Credits and CP had significantly increased since then, increasing the numbers of possibilities. Then, they had some more time to purchase more rare materials, which took more time to arrive.

The Epic+ store had gotten her enough materials for the lances head, and the metals she planned on using for her armor and the spear shaft had finally arrived as well.

Tanda said, Its too bad there arent any more auril metals out there. I just know theyd be perfect for your spearhead. Her ears went flat on her head. I know if you had my spear, it wouldnt have broken. You even had to protect me with your shield.

Ophelia said, Its fine. That moment was important for you, and despite how it was terrifying to die, it was important for a lot of reasons. Jake wouldnt have learned about his Runestates, and then

Ophelia was hugged by Tanda. I thought I was ready to die fighting for my people. But when I faced that enemy champion and nearly died, I was so afraid, and angry. I felt that same thing when that eye turned on me. When your shield appeared in front of me, it felt wonderful knowing you were there to help. I dont know how you did it without hesitation. Thanks for protecting me and Jake, Ophelia.

Ophelia hugged her back, and gave her a smile. Youre welcome, Tanda. Lets make armor and a weapon that wont let that happen again.

Tanda nodded. Right!

While Highlands auril metals were undoubtedly special, Valtor had helped her identify a metal that should work well enough in its place. Perhaps even better, for Clan Harts purposes. She had planned on using it as part of an alloy, as on its own, it was not overly strong.

[Harmonium] was known to be able to transmit most energies, and Valtor was able to confirm Auril was included. Then, mithril was both strong and was excellent at holding mana. Neither was expensive for the amounts she would be using, and some of the latter was used in her original spearhead.

The new material, a single ingot had cost nearly 5000 CP and 50,000 T1 credits from the discounted Epic+ store was called [Seraphite]. It was highly compatible with Ophelias holy mana and her flames of Hestia.

Valtor and Amara suspected that it was one of the main metals used in her shields construction, but it was a combination of metals forming an alloy that was well beyond what a frontier sector had access to.

Shed love for her entire armor to have [Seraphite], but it was beyond their ability to afford, for now. She would have to use [Radiantsteel], which was simply a refined version of magical steel combined with mithril. Ophelia could make some now, but purchased some to save some time.

Ophelia and Tanda gazed at the Hearthtree Forge.

Tanda said, Its grown a lot since last week! Its really happy here, I can tell.

It had grown a lot from Brigids gift, but Ophelia thought it had grown even larger, the hearth flame more powerful than before. She had done some trials before today, and was more than happy at how it helped her forge magical metals.

Ophelia looked over to the deathly tree of Cernunnos. It looked like a ghastly willow tree from out of a swamp of nightmares, but she didnt feel any danger or ill will from it. Somehow, it had even moved a distance from the other trees as it grew.

Ophelia asked, What about that thing?

Tanda looked over at it with a wry smile. Its happy too. I dont know why, as there is not much death here, but death is like the other side of the coin for life. The hearth must be supplying it with the deathly energies. Cernunnos punishes the wicked in the afterlife, perhaps it is feeding off that within the world, since the Refuge is docked here?

Ophelia shrugged as she placed each of the four metals in a crucible, and put each inside the Hearthtree for now in order to melt them. Here, they would gather the energies contained within the forge. While too much magic would break down forged metal, while it was in the melted state this was not a problem.

The excess magical energies would be released as the metal cooled, the oils meant to quench the metals absorbing them to accomplish this.

Once the radiantsteel melted, she began the process of combining the mithril and harmonium metals to create her alloy. This process had many steps, adding magical alloying agents and removing the impurities.

Tanda meditated, finding harmony in their refuge. She drew the spare auril of the area, which were just as significant as deep within their jungles of Highlands. She infused it into the metals as they were forged, and Ophelia smiled as she could tell her new alloy could transmit the energy well.

It was not quite as good as Tandas original spear before the upgrade, let alone after, but it was definitely at the level of the wood or bones used for many of their weapons. She completed many ingots, needing the metals for both her armor and the shaft.

Tanda wiped down the sweat from Ophelias brow with a towel, causing her to smile at the raven-haired woman. Thanks. The heat coming out of that tree is immense now. To think it was like a candle before.

Blood frowned, as she looked at the hauberk. What are you on about? You helped us with all of this. The end result is in thanks to your help, you helped mold and twist the bones, as well as empower the leather as it was cured. One could say that the end result wouldnt have been half as good without you.

Tanda laughed. Oh yeah! I cant wait to try this on.

Ophelia returned one of Tandas many hugs with her own, Youre a big help, Tanda. We really couldnt have done it without you, thank you.

Im happy to help! This was a lot of fun. This stuff youre making is really neat. I do want to make something like it someday, even if its with help

Blood said, You may be able to later. Your druid powers can probably make special things with auril plants or woods, then there are other things in this world that appear interesting. The Naga had those odd weapons made of ocean stones, then the coral armor covering their bodies. Perhaps you could even work with those things.

Tanda nodded. Thanks, Blood. Youre right, even if I dont make armor or weapons, there are plenty of neat things for me or us to craft with the help of the Framework.

Berri said, I know youll figure something out. Lets get stitching!

Ophelia watched as Blood floated some needles, and Berri had a number with her spools of auril wool thread. She watched on in near confusion, at how easy Berris large hands held the tiny needle, but with precision and ease thread it through the small holes rapidly.

Blood did the same with her telekinesis. The two made quick work of wrapping the hexagons around the hauberk. Mostly to get the size appropriate for each girls shapes, as she had already accomplished this for these.

Ophelia returned to what she was doing, finishing up her last billets, as Blood and Berri worked on their task. After she completed her last billets, it was time for her to work on her lance head.

She had decided to shift from the winged lance now that she would always be using her weapon two-handed. Slashing attacks became much more attractive than just thrusts, and so she would make a lance with an axe blade, like that of a halberd.

The lance, or spearhead portion would be more pronounced than most, but she figured she could manage the odd balance of the weapon thanks to her control over her momentum with [Ride of the Valkyries].

The weapon would be similar to Tandas, only that her blade wouldnt curve inward, and there would be only one. There would be a hook on the opposite side of the blade, allowing her options to capture or direct an enemys weapon.

She made her alloy once more, this time with seraphite instead of the radiantsteel and quakeshell carapace. The latter would actually decrease the effectiveness of the seraphite, it being far superior of a material. Most likely, they would need a powerfully rare Tier 2 corpse to benefit from inserting the essence.

In a way, Seraphite was a Tier 2 material. At the peak of the Tier, things tended to blur somewhat. It was a Tier 1 material with a rarity far above most Tier 2 materials, but without being empowered by a superior mana source, it could not bring out most of its power. This weapon would still be powerful well into their second Tier, as they powered it with their powerful cores.

The harmonium she added was minimal, as it would weaken the overall alloy. But when adding the folding technique, it would have a large effect, making the seraphite more compatible with auril.

She finished her folding to form her block of a billet, finding the seraphite more difficult to fold or hammer into shape, without her infusing holy mana into it. With it, the molten ore became much more pliable and easy to work with.

Her folds completed, it was time for her to hammer it into the desired shape. Holding onto it with her holy mana and magic metallurgy skill, she hammered on it at a rapid pace.

She kept the metal hot with her runic forging flame, never stopping her blows. She pushed with her mana to mold the block billet into the desired shape, using both her holy mana and the hammers blows to accomplish this.

Ophelia created the shape of her halberd-lance-head, forging the metal around the magical focus; a high-quality gem.

She kept the metal warm, waiting for Jake to arrive. Bloodberri and Tanda waved at his arrival, but they knew from their communications that he needed to act. He reached out to the odd halberd head and activated his skill, [Manaweave Reinforcement], while pushing the flames of his Divine Hearth through it. As he did, she pushed her own flames of Hestia into it.

She watched and felt with her magical senses in amazement as Jakes flames met her own, each pushing their love and affection they had for one another into it. Jake too had been affected by her weapon failing, and he pushed hard with everything he had to empower her once more.

Something within the material shifted, and her hold over the mana within the item did as well. The object grew brighter as it pulled mana and auril from the surrounding area, and she pushed what remained of her flames of Hestia into the item, along with Jake pushing more flames within.

Ophelia quenched the head in oil, cooling it. Excess mana was released out of the item, but the rest was trapped inside.

Jake whistled. That metal did feel special. Not quite as good as our Mythic items, but close. It was easy to reinforce the structure using the mana within. I should be able to put powerful runes on it now.

Jake moved on to use his skill on the other metals. He had only needed to be there to reinforce this metal during forging, as it was special. Jake was able to latch onto the inner structures, and reinforce them on a different level.

Their Mythic-level equipment already had this step done to well beyond his own skill.

The lamellar plate coats were finished, being fitted over the leather hauberks. The hexagonal plates created overlapping bands covering the chest and neck, and creating a sort of skirt to protect the thighs all the way to almost the knees. There, greaves were worn, the space between covered by chain mail and the auril beast hide underneath.

There were shoulder plates, and a long armored gauntlet would leave only a small gap between the shoulder to the elbow, which was covered by chain mail once more. The armor had a path of hexagonal plates connecting the pieces, allowing the runic pathways to connect. The interlocking mechanism was something they could engage or disengage while they put the armor on.

Jake said, You really outdid yourself, Ophelia. These are amazing. They weaker than our Mythic equipment, but they are probably as close as you can get without using the borderline Tier 2 materials.

Berri said, These are really cool! You girls are all going to match.

Tanda hugged Ophelia. Thanks so much for making this for me! Itll take me some time to get used to the armor, but I know itll be worth it.

Jake said, I got a lot of enchanting work ahead of me. About the only way you girls can help is by drinking mana water, except you, Tanda.

Ophelia still had some sharpening to do along with finishing attaching the head to her shaft she had crafted prior. An amberwood core, covered by a thin layer of radiantsteel. Her runic functions were carved into the wood and metal near where the head connected, allowing her to connect her functions to the magic focus like Jakes.

Tanda asked, What are you going to call your new weapon? It definitely deserves a cool name!

Ophelia shrugged. I might only use it for a few months at the pace were going. Ill name it [Retribution].

Berri said, Can we play for a bit first? Ive been crafting and training all day. I think Im going to see runes in Bloods dreams.

Blood groaned. Id be dreaming about them because teaching you is like Ophelias smithing. I have to hammer them into you repeatedly until they take shape.

Tanda stretched. You can see her dreams? You two are so weird. What will we play?

Ophelia looked at them fondly as they talked about choosing a game, and looked at her new armor and spearhead. She would make Jake a new shield as well, improving the materials shortly.

Like her father, she would protect her family even in this way. She would now be able to protect her family better than ever now, their equipment no longer being insufficient for the task.