Chapter 2. Stones

"Today had such a small work order list. The only thing of note was that I got to repair the spearhead."

Mark lamented the short day that ended just before lunch. His ability to repair most tools in the village had already reached the point that even when he took his time, he would quickly finish most repair jobs.

"Looks like I will be collecting materials today."

Besides repairing tools, the blacksmith shop was also responsible for having the necessary tools and weapons that the village would need.

Mark had already learned what to look for with the ores that were needed, and it also afforded him the opportunity to collect the oddly colored or shaped rocks that he often discovered in the mountains.

He grabbed his furs that had chains on the inside and furs from the mountain beasts on the outside to help him fend off the cold and also for if he needed to fight any of the mountain beasts while he was traveling.

Additionally, Mark grabbed a double-strapped sack to carry on his back for the ores he would be bringing back.

"Alright, it's a clear day and no one has mentioned any large packs of any of the beasts on the mountain making any moves nearby so it should be a completely uneventful day. At worst I may be getting some good materials from a stray beast."

He stopped by his work area at the forge and grabbed a spear off a rack in the back that looked quite a bit different than the rest.

The shaft was made of some sort of bone and the head was made of a silver metal that gave off a green and purple sheen when the light hit it just right.

This spear was the best one Mark had created with the best materials he could find, the metal was a mixture of two different ores he had found. One of them was light and the other one was hard.

When Mark figured out how to mix the two ores together into an alloy, he found they made a material that was light and could keep a sharp edge even when he cut rocks with it.

The new alloy spear was perfect for his hunting weapons but he could only find enough of the light ore that gave off the purple part of the sheen to make a single spearhead.

He had tried to use more of the metal with the green sheen before, but the green sheen metal was too hard and would easily break when made into a blade. 

Usually, the blade would be too inflexible at higher green sheen ratios which would work just fine at first, but when Mark exerted too much force with it to hit something hard it would either crack or shatter.

The purple sheen metal seemed to not only be able to make the blade lighter but also more flexible. It was also possible that the purple sheen metal made the alloy stronger overall but Mark was not really sure of the specific effects.

He just knew that the blade made at the right ratio was better than any alloy he had ever managed to make, especially for a blade.

"Maybe I can find more of this ore today if I come across another cave."

Mark looked at his weapon as he thought out loud of the possibilities of the adventure he would be embarking on today. His eyes then moved to the bone shaft where he was grabbing the spear.

It was the femur of a beast he had managed to kill himself before it had become aware of him.

Mark had developed a good aim with his spear and since it could pierce through stone, the beast did not stand a chance. He was not familiar with this particular beast but it had long strong legs so he figured it was fast. Nevertheless, he had slain it and brought its body back to the forge.

His father used most of the hide and the bones to make many items to sell to the merchants, but Mark got to keep one of the long leg bones as he requested for his discovery.

This particular bone was incredibly durable but also hard to work with. It took him a lot of time and effort to shape it into a usable shaft but when he was done he was left with the current 3-meter-long spear.

The main problem he had with the bone was preparing it to house the alloy spear head at one end. It was a long process that had less to do with blacksmithing and more to do with fine control of his tools.

The spear was bigger than a typical spear, but the bone and metal were both lighter than they should have been for how durable they were. The reach advantage he secured with it had saved him some time and trouble more than once when slaying a mountain beast.

After checking all of his equipment, Mark set off outside the gates of the village. The village guards just nodded to him as he passed.

Mark was about 1.88 meters tall which put him a good head over most of the guards and they knew if Mark was carrying his spear, it meant he would be bringing back something interesting.

There was no need to question him since he only ever did his job and nothing more or less.

Mark nodded back to the guards out of respect, he knew they were just farmers and their kids, but someone had to be willing to step up in case there was an attack from the mountain beasts and the village guards were the first to fight but also typically the first to get injured and even sometimes die.

Due to their willingness to put their lives on the line for the village, they had earned the respect of Mark as well as most of the other villagers.

As Mark traveled out further from the village, he began to run to an area he knew was rich in the type of ore he needed for the forge that was nearby an area he had not explored yet which could contain caves considering the layout of that area of the mountains.

It took him only a few minutes to reach his destination as his endurance had been built up over the years and he knew the mountains like the back of his hand.

He quickly attained his quota of ores that were needed for the forge and began his personal adventure a bit further north into the mountains that would begin to get cold as the elevation would rise as he continued in this direction.

The area he was traveling in was still rocky with sparse vegetation but he could tell the plants were getting less and less common which was typically a good sign for him since the mountain beasts liked to stay in areas with more vegetation.

He continually looked around his surroundings as he traveled quickly across the rough terrain, looking for any strangely colored rocks he could take back and test in the forge.

It was over an hour before he finally found a promising cave that had a small ore of the metal that caused a purple sheen.

"Yes! I knew today was the day, it's been over a week since I found a good cave. I just hate how there is usually some angry beast in these caves, maybe I will get lucky twice today."

While the mountain beasts were good materials, they did pose a significant threat to his life and Mark would rather not die before he mastered his blacksmith art.