28. New Weapons

Mark quickly made his way back to the village gates after his successful test with the battleaxe.

The guards were all curious about the results of his testing but Mark just pushed through the gate while giving them the news of a positive result and a promise to begin forging some new weapons that everyone would be able to purchase.

'It would be good for the guards to have some of these weapons but they are just there to scare off the beasts. The best thing I could do is get these weapons into the hands of the hunting parties to see how well they do in actual battle.'

Mark then began to take inventory of the different things he could make into weapons with his newly minted knowledge as he finished his journey back to his forge.

'Let's see, I should have a couple more rear leg bones from the chimeric mountain panthers so I could make more of these battle axes, but I do want to try out a greatsword. Hardly anyone in the village has wielded a greatsword due to the weight but with the bones, I could reduce the weight enough for some of them to use one. . . if not then I am sure the traveling merchants would be interested.'

Mark's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden realization that he had no idea when the merchants would be coming to the village.

'I guess I should ask around to see if anyone is keeping a schedule of those guys.'

With his plans for the merchants taken care of mentally, he got back to his important thoughts.

'Ok, so there are also horns I need to figure out how to use. I guess that one-handed hammer pick will be a good learning experience in utilizing these new materials. Geez, that will also make for a lighter weapon now that I think about it.'

Mark set the battle axe over his right shoulder as he caressed his smooth chin with his left hand in thought.

'I hope having lighter weapons won't be a problem in battle. . . though I suppose it would be better for prolonged battles.'

"Gah! That's not my problem! I just need to make the weapons, the users will let me know if they suck or not!"

Mark made it to his forge before he was able to make plans with all of his materials but it helped him get back on track to see the actual materials so he could decide what to do with everything.

"The fangs could be made into daggers or something but they would only be good for stabbing. Maybe I should just make one of those types of daggers and see what people think of it."

Mark then placed the battle axe on the anvil as he made his way into his workspace. He grabbed his hammer as he walked around the anvil to get a good angle before starting the work needed to finish the axe.

Since part of the fifth step was compressing the edge of the blade in order to ensure a more durable edge that would last much longer, Mark had the purple crystal hammer in his hand as he began to work on the axe.

He soon found the sweet spot in rhythm and power needed for each strike of the hammer and he was soon lost in the soft ping given off by the metal-on-metal contact which was accentuated by the purple blasts of light that lulled Mark into his typical trance state.

The smell of blood filled his nostrils as the taste of sweat and fear entered his mouth. His heart began to beat wildly with the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins in response to a vicious battle. Screams of terror entered his ears and he felt his hands gripping the bone shaft of the battle axe as it was swung into the sturdy body of some beast. The strike was fast and powerful, turning the area of impact into a bloody hole as the axe made its way all the way to a vital spot on the enemy which resulted in a mortal wound.

While Mark was experiencing some sort of battle in a vision, he worked meticulously on the axe without ever losing his rhythm and even began to slowly increase the speed with which he struck the weapon without causing any damage or imperfections to appear.

Soon, the white blasts of light that came out of his hammers when he was in a deep trance started to mix with the normal purple blasts of light from the fifth step process.

Runes appeared and disappeared with each strike of the hammer, visible only to an astute observer though there was none around to see.

He worked on both sides of the blade of the axe and even finished off the counterweight pick while in his trance and as he finished, the battle axe flashed with a beautiful array of white runes across the surface of the weapon. The runes would have been a sight to see for any random person that could have walked by but, again, there was no one to observe the phenomenon and Mark was still in his trance.

After the flash of the unknown runes, Mark was soon brought out of his trance as his work was finished.

"Thunk!"

Mark was a little startled when he was suddenly brought out of the intense battle he was just in. It took him a few seconds to get his orientation this time around.

"What the fuck was that?"

He had experienced similar visions before but they were much more muted and easy to forget when the forging process was over.

Nevertheless, he picked up the battleaxe to observe it while he carried it over to the whetstone.

"Why does this thing seem like it is so much better than before the compression stage?"

As a skilled blacksmith, Mark had his intuition for the potential of a weapon and right now his intuition was telling him that this weapon was many times more potent than it was just earlier in the day.

"Meh"

Mark shrugged and began grinding the newly compressed edge of the axe to make it sharp. While he could tell it was a much better weapon than earlier, he was not too concerned with it. He was just glad to have made a good weapon.

When he was finished he gave it one more last good look over before setting it on a shelf for new products. He would eventually find someone to buy it or he would sell it to the merchants.

"Damn, I forgot I need to ask around about those pesky merchants. . ."

Mark looked over at the sun and could see that it was beginning to set behind the top of the mountains. While he still had light for the next hour or so, it would be best for him to leave the village people alone.

"Everyone is probably preparing for the evening, I should just wait until tomorrow before I go bothering someone."

With the investigation of the merchants' schedules put off, Mark looked at his piles of beast parts. 

"I should make another big weapon first, the greatsword would be a fun one to do and it might take a while so I better get started."

He pulled one of the bigger sturdy femurs from the chimeric mountain panthers out of his pile of bones and set it on the anvil. Then, he prepared a similar alloy to the one he used for the battle axe and got it melted in the forge while he carved out the necessary bone for the bonding process.

Following the fifth step procedure he had developed with the battle axe, he managed to bond the metal with the bone down the entire length of the weapon so he could do a 'slip-on' for the blade.

Basically, he would make both sides of the blade at the same time but the middle would be a hollow ring connected in a pattern that would complement the pattern on the bone so another layer of metal could be added after the initial bonding process was complete to ensure the stability of the blade.

This weapon would be much heavier than the battle axe he had created but it would be significantly lighter than a normal great sword.

With the preparation work completed, Mark set aside his project and smothered the coals before heading back home for the night.

He stopped by his favorite night spot to observe the valley below to let his mind wander.

The view was tranquil as ever and a bit of mist was coming of the river as it meandered through the valley.

Once Mark was done looking at the ethereal sight, he made the rest of the trip back home. Before he went to bed he ate some monster meat since he had not eaten much during the day.

As he lay in bed trying to drift off to sleep, he only thought of the new weapons he would be making the next day.