Spirit Taming

"What are you trying to make?" Brad and Reese had been meditating in the forge while Ralh had started to work. He had a large stack of books around him that he had been careful to keep well away from any forge flames at all.

"I have been making ingots with my partner. He can already melt the iron and keep it from being brittle. That’s just how great we are." Ralph’s bragging was just enough to make Reese and Brad both shake their heads.

"The issue is when we try to shape it afterwards. I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing with it." This was the crux of where Ralph found his issues. Because of his molten boar, he could not have molten metal or heated metal at a call. But when it came to making it in to anything that wasn’t some basic ingot, he was lost.

They had sent a letter to bring the blacksmith that they had met in. Unfortunately, that had gone poorly since the blacksmith had locked himself away to learn about how to forge eternal ice. The technique would change the way that everyone looked at eternal ice. Let alone make the blacksmith one of the top blacksmiths in all of Nebula.

"Yes, but what do you want to make? You have three books about axes even though Clark gave you a new ax just yesterday. But you also have armors books and that one about making metal bows. Why do you want to make a metal bow?" Reese wasn’t sure why Ralph wanted to make anything other than swords. But that was just it. He was stuck on swords.

"Do you really think that the girls will be able to use normal bows when they train to get stronger? All those big fancy families have metal or extremely rare wood bows. They are the best of the best materials and the sooner that I can make them the better." Ralph’s response was smart and Reese had no rebuttal. He even felt a little dumb for not realizing it.

"You can make me temporary armor. It just needs to be training armor. The heavier the better. If it is rough that’s fine, it doesn’t have to be perfect." Brad saw the pause in the conversation as the ideal time to ask for something.

"You just need it to train your muscles more. I thought you were here to help your possessed helm with more metal energy since a lot is released while forging. But now you want heavy bad armor?" Ralph was mocking Brad a bit but he was also thinking. The books around him were enough.

Since Ralph had already read the main book he had first received from the blacksmith they met, he was certain that he could focus on heating and cooling. Shaping was another matter.

"Just stand there and watch me break this piece of metal. If you hate it then I can melt it again." Ralph wondered for a second if it would be fine to melt and heat metals constantly. But he didn’t have the time to worry about that. Every second was valuable.

The fact that everyone had understood the massive degree of time that separated them when it came to training was impressive on its own. All of them knew that when it came to the greatest and them in the taming world, it wasn’t so simple as materials. It also came on time.

With time, someone could find the right materials. They could get stronger so that they could take the energies from the world that they needed. They could learn a skill from the lowest of the totem pole and climb that skill to the very top. Time could change a lot of things for better and worse. So with time, Ralph knew he could learn how to be a real blacksmith.

Leaving the dwarven forged ax next to him, Ralph picked up one of the iron ingots that he and the molten boar had worked on. Instead of placing it in the forge, he let the molten boar hold it. With time, the molten boar had learned to direct heat and fire much better than before. Therefore, the flames on its body that sprouted due to its control focused on the iron ingot it held in its mouth.

"If I look at how this ax is forged, I might be able to learn something. If we have the basics in the books, then the best of the best is in this ax." Ralph’s idea was similar to many artists that took inspiration from their peers. They saw the hidden messages and took that as a guiding light to create similar styles or evolve a style in to a new form. It was a goal but also a hurdle to surpass. Right now, Ralphs was looking at his largest hurdle. Forge better than a dwarf, a race known for being the best at forging in any universe.

"So, what’s he doing?" Reese had stopped his attempt at meditation now that he had realized that Ralphs was actually getting to work rather than sitting and reading or making more ingots.

"He is trying to forge that in to something I can wear. The book he just opened is about forging bracers. They would have been good for you and I in our last battles. You have a close combat style just like I do. If you are attacked and you deflect an attack, it could still hit your arm. Then you are weaker because you have one arm." Brad had a good point, but his focus was still on Ralph.

The intense focus proved that Brad was prepared to use anything that Ralph made. But even more, that he was now running the battles in his head. How he would alter his fighting style with a set of bracers and without them. Something so small that many people would just see as a basic accessory when it came to a full armor set. But for Brad, it would be a main function.

This could be described by his style. Reese would just have some additional arm protection. It would also help brace his wrists and arm so that when he attacked it would be stable. Or at least slightly stronger overall. But for Brad, he could lose his shield or his sword. His head on fighting style would need that defense.

Being able to deflect weaker attacks with his arms instead of a shield could change the flow of battle. Not many people would risk this but some people had heard of the elven fighting style that used thousand wood bracers to deflect energy. Specifically magical attacks that would create elemental projectiles. Dangerous and amazingly unique. The real question would be, could Brad emulate that sort of style that he had never seen? That he had only heard of in rumors and gossip.

"Be quiet while I work." Ralph growled out these words as he used metal tongs to pull the red hot iron ingot from the molten boar’s grasp. He was ready to start following the procedures that he had read about. It just would require focus. The more the better.

As the first ring of metal on metal came through the forge, Ralph felt that his blood vibrated with it. As if he had waited a long time to hold a hammer in his hands and stare down the heat of something unfinished and waiting for his guidance. It was a very good feeling.

The dwarven ax sat nearby almost mocking his lack of experience and skill. That was why the next hit had much more force. Why Ralph didn’t notice that with every swing the forge fires had begun to tremble slightly? He had learned to channel the fire energy too. It wasn’t the same as a beast would do it, but when Ralph moved, so did the fire. He could channel the heat slightly just as any blacksmith could.

This skill was the same thing that many new apprentices would need weeks to be able to do. It was also similar to the style that Clark used to manipulate the ice type energy within the eternal ice. The only difference was that this was the strength that Ralph gained from his partner. Not a given skill from the system that just needed action to appear.

Having a fire type beast of any form would make some things easier. Alchemy, forging, and even general things like cooking. But Ralph had bonded closer and closer with his boar. The two had gone through a great trial when Ralph took on pain to help his partner become a molten boar. Now, the fruits of their hardship was shown.

The two combined could heat and cook things as they saw fit. Manipulating those metal heated parts would seem to be second nature. All Ralph needed was time. And time, they had. One year of traveling or forging and Ralph might make Brad and Reese more than just armor. More than something basic such as iron.