26. Coal dust

Well they thought they would have to fight tooth and nail to get what they wanted but to everyone's surprise the party had gained an amazing deal.

"It would be incredibly rude not to accept that offer, no matter how prepared I was to give you hell in a battle of words to get what we need," Walker responded with a firm laugh. "To be fair we will also be staying here to assist where we can if you don't mind? Unless you are all unable to begin working at this point in time?" Walker had closed the deal and even offered assistance however the smiths didn't know that it was also part of the party's quest as well.

"Yes please I'll take the help, the more the merrier I'll be making the needles and enhancing those knuckles I'll need two scales, one person to catch the trimmings I'll use for the needles, and the owner of the knuckles so I get the shape right," Rodney spoke up quickly, eager to get back to work and be done working the front.

With a nod, Gil and Remey began moving towards the door. "Hurry up kid my knuckles are itching for an upgrade so I can teach the kids a few morals back home." Remey looked like morals may mean fights but nobody dared say it out loud. With that, they could hear Rodney speaking way too fast all the way down the hall.

"From your gear I take it you will be using the shield?" Sherman asked Su directly

"Yes, that would be me".

"Good then follow Brutus and bring four of the scales, your shield will take the most due to its defensive needs. Lastly, I'll be taking two scales and a darkness crystal for the staff. We will remain here since this room is open." After that Brutus let out a hmpff and turned around while Su quickly grabbed the scales from Walker and followed.

Walker brought out the crystal and last scales along with five gold for Sherman. "Everything looks to be in order, now the crystal will be last, first we need to heat and shape those scales with some real metal. Using my combined skill they will fuse and share properties meaning I'll be able to pour and shape your staff then attach the crystal and begin attunement." Sherman laid out his plan after taking the gold and moved toward a medium sized pot that had been scorched black by years of use. "Bring those scales and drop'em in I'm adding the iron and some copper, maybe some extra carbon...or some...this too.." Sherman began adding small things to the pot mumbling to himself as Walker dropped the scales in to it as well.

Sherman continued moving around until ,"Let's add just a little of this, and slide it right into that Forge fire we'll see how long it takes to melt down but while we wait how about you tell me what you were looking for in the staff?".

"Well, my party lacks magical damage so I will be filling that role. So I will need mana, and magic attack improvement. I chose the darkness crystal to add an element to the staff instead of a non elemental staff if that is alright?" Walker knew mana would be a problem but was remembering that having elemental attacks could be incredibly useful.

There were basic elements such as fire, water, earth, and air. Some rare combination elements like ice, magma, lightning. He also knew of darkness and light elements. Some rumors existed that there were, even more, extending all the way to space and time but the rarity was so high that they were most likely just myths.

"Good, good all of those are doable and I can even promise to add the dark element to the staff without issue. Since your party seems to be young I would be willing to buy any additional darkness crystals from you. They tend to be more rare than the basic ones and I know a client who has been looking for one." Sherman confirmed but also surprised Walker by asking to buy a darkness crystal. Walker knew that the rarer the crystals the more expensive since he had heard of the basic elemental crystals selling for 80G as materials but he had no idea what darkness or its counterpart light crystals would sell for.

" I do have an extra and would be willing to sell it at market price." Walker pulled out the second darkness crystal and offered it to Sherman who smiled and reached for a pouch on his waist.

"120G is the current value due to its rarity in the area as of late. Here it is, I'm sure you'll cross paths with my client at some point as their darkness affinity is obvious in their gear and skills."

Midnight who had been resting silently was perplexed by the exchange for gold but suddenly stood up and returned to Walker side ""black food" was what Walker felt coming from her. Pulling out the final crystal Walker thought towards her "you want this to eat?"" Without a second of pause, Midnight snatched the crystal and swallowed it whole. This surprised both Sherman and Walker who witnessed a slight shimmer in her scales before Midnight returned to her warm resting place to nap.

"Well I'd like to say it's strange but if that little dragon had black crystals her element may be darkness. I guess you gave her a pretty nice treat." Sherman laughed as he returned to the forge brandishing thick leather gloves giving the pit a shake. "Move that mold toward me it's time to pour!"

Without hesitation Walker looked over at a heavy metal block with a small hole in it on wheels and pushed it with all his might toward Sherman. The second it was in place Sherman pulled the pot and poured molten white orange liquid in to the block's hole until it was full. Small black wisps came off from the metal as dust burned off.

"Get that coal over there and start shoveling. If this cools down too fast it will crack. We need to slowly lower the heat around it!" Sherman's orders were firm as he himself also threw some coal around the block and let it start to burn

The time passed slowly as Sherman would order for more or less coal and sometimes oil to be poured over the block as it could be slowly seen losing its heat. Walker was now roughly covered in black coal dust from head to foot, not surprisingly Midnight looked the same. For some reason Sherman seemed to be clean though, Walker wondered if it was a perk of his system.

More time passed and soon Sherman had stopped the orders completely and grabbed a large hammer swinging it down on the block separating it in to two pieces. The metal inside was revealed to be black iron with twists like a dragon's tail and an open claw at the top empty and waiting. Grabbing it with his gloves he lifted it up and in another had grabbed pliers. " hold the crystal in the center of that claw while the metal can still bend. I'll be attaching it there" Sherman spoke out again causing Walker to jump to it and carefully hold the crystal perfectly in the center of the claw. For every one of the five claws Sherman bent to touch the crystal it seemed to fuse more with the staff almost sinking in to it until the final claw touched causing shadows to dance in the flames of the fire welcoming the elements.

"Hahahaha perfect perfect now kid time for you to let your mana flow in to this black dragon staff. I knew the dragon claw mold would fit the crystal perfect all that's left is fitting it to your mana so there won't be any misfired spells."