Smithing A Sword, Learning A Spell

At the back of the store was a large forge where several men were hammering away at anvils. Seeing them, Frame walked a bit closer before he was stopped.

"And what do you think your doing here lad?" A burly man with a bright red beard stepped in front of Frame.

"Exploring, Sir. And by the way, are they blacksmiths?" Frame asked.

"Aye, now that you've seen it its fine right?" the man gruffly responded.

"Can I watch? I won't disturb anyone, I promise."

"Ah, fancy yourself a blacksmith eh? Fine, but don't disturb them." the big fellow consented and left.

With that matter settled, Frame took a seat on a stray barrel and watched the smiths work. He watched how each one refined the ore, what method was used to beat the metal into shape, where they hammered, and other processes as well. Frame also looked out for when they were satisfied with their work, comparing it with the quality of the other swords to find the best methods for each step.

{[] Passive Skill [] Blacksmithing lvl 1 [] Acquired []}

Frame raised his an eyebrow, not all to surprised due to his absurd passives. When one of the smiths was about to take a break, he walked over and asked to try the forge.

"Eh, well I can't let you use the good stuff, I can get you some scrap iron if you really want to try." the smith, who introduced himself as Willis, stated.

Nodding, Frame watched Willis walk off, before coming back a few moments late with a crate of scrap. Hearing that he could practice, Frame was euphoric and got to work straight away. First he heated up the furnace to the desired temperature, he carefully placed a chunk of scrap iron in the furnace, only taking it out just before it started to liquefy. Frame then placed the searing iron on the anvil before hammering it into shape, striking from the top down to push any excess material towards the handle. After quenching the blade, Frame slowly reheated the furnace with the blade in it before doing another round of hammering and then waiting for the blade to cool on its own for a bit.

"That little bastard." Willis chuckled, along with the others who stopped to watch the young man work. He had used the same techniques they were best at, each from a different person and for a different part of the process, the only thing that wasn't from them was the last bit.

After carefully monitoring the blade for a bit, Frame took the still slightly soft blade to the grindstone before sharpening it. After quenching, he gently ran his thumb along the blade, testing the sharpness. His thumb received a light cut that made Frame, who was experiencing pain for the first time, jump slightly. Grinding the blade once more, Frame then hammered on the hilt.

{[] Item [] Common Sword [] +19 ATK [] Durability: 300/300 [] Created []}

"Pretty good for your first try, you were even using scrap iron as well." Willis praised.

When the burly man from before came back, he was apparently the shop owner, he was surprised and told Frame to keep the sword and keep practicing. After Frame left, he checked his stats as a message had popped up.

{[] Player has spent a long time smithing their first weapon. [] +1 STR [] + 0.5 VIG [] +0.5 DEX []}

Looking into the sky that had turned dark while he worked on his sword. Thinking about something to do before sleeping, as Frame was now tired for the first time, Frame chose to go to the magic library. Heading over he saw players looking at his sword in incredulity. Curious, he walked up to the players and asked them what was wrong.

"Nothing, it's just that we were surprised to see that someone actually had a proper sword already. Most of us are just using clubs or knives at the moment. I know that you worked for it, so I won't try to buy it off you, but can you tell us if there's a way we can get one too?" One player asked, desperately hoping for a better weapon.

"Go to the weapon shop tomorrow and ask if they'll let you try to make something. But I'll warn you that you're gonna have to bust your ass making it." Frame replied, thinking back.

After thanking him, the group of players logged off while Frame went to the library. In the building entrance was an elderly woman sitting at a desk, who looked up as Frame entered.

"What are you doing here this late at night?" She asked rather directly.

"Studying. Can you please point me to where the basics are?" Frame replied.

After being told the location of the books he needed, Frame thanked the librarian and went off to read. Much of the content was about how to use the mana in ones body and put it into basic spells, the rest was about how the elements worked and were usually in line with how one trained. With an idea in mind, Frame went to the testing grounds just outside, where a few players were testing simple spells.

Frame strode up to a training target before drawing his sword. Putting his hand on the blade, Frame imagined all six standard affinities, water, wind, earth, fire, light and dark coiling together around the blade before violently clashing and merging together into a chaotic storm of unpredictable energy. A surge of wild crimson and grey magic surged across the sword, ripping apart everything around the blade while keeping the weapon perfectly intact.

{[] Active Skill Created [] Chaos Blade lvl 1: +60 Chaos Damage [] Cost: -60MP -5MP/min []}

{[] You Can Now Create Skill Books For This Spell With Magic Materials []}

The peanut gallery's jaws dropped as they witnessed the blazing grey flames with a crimson center, they couldn't imagine that such a spell was in the library. As his audience started to desperately search the library for the spellbook, Frame booked a room at an inn and went to sleep.