Chapter 26

Eragon takes a quick shower at his home, though by the time he is finished Ildae seems to realize that she has something to do and leaves him, telling him how to get to the Menoa tree and where Rhunon has her forge. 

Not thinking much of it, he thanks her for her time and heads off, eventually finding himself in front of the Menoa tree, an absolutely massive tree with a trunk as wide as one hundred of the other nearby trees combined. Its roots spread out for over ten acres, making Eragon stroke his chin in contemplation. 

'That is a lot of real estate that I have to search if I want to find the star metal… As long as my material search spells don't anger the spirit in the tree I should find it within a few hours…'

Eragon recalls his knowledge of the Menoa tree, a sad tale about a young elven woman named Linnea. She spent most of her life singing to the trees, never planning on finding a mate. Then one day, she falls madly in love with a younger male elf. For a while they were happy until the man started to desire a younger lover. And one day, Linnea catches him cheating on her and stabs the two to death. Feeling guilty about her actions, she runs to the oldest tree in the forest and sings for three days and nights straight, binding her spirit to the tree. While she still exists within the tree, her consciousness has remained mostly inactive for centuries.

Shaking his head and focusing, Eragon begins subtly casting spells into the earth, searching for a variety of metals as he has an assumption but is not completely sure about the star metals composition. Eventually, he detects a large lump of metal far below the ground near the edge of the tree's root network. He carefully brings it to the surface while making doubly sure that he doesn't disturb the roots of the Menoa tree. 

Like he suspected, it is an iron meteorite, a meteorite mostly composed of iron, cobalt, and nickel. The process of the meteor entering the atmosphere heats up the metals very quickly, causing the metals to fuse and make an alloy that is commonly referred to as meteoric iron.

While Eragon wasn't too impressed by the star metal as L6 bainite steel is superior to it in almost every way, he starts to notice a strange phenomena. The star metal seems to be absorbing his energy at a slow rate. Not enough to cause any harm but enough for it to be noticeable. 

Realizing that there may be more to this metal than meets the eye, he solidifies the loose dirt in the clearing to make a small cart and starts to pull the cart towards Rhunon's forge. 

He connects his mind with Saphira's for a moment and finds her in the middle of a lesson on the history of Du Fyrn Skulblaka (the dragon war), the conflict between the elves and the dragons that eventually facilitated the rise of the dragon riders. With the lesson nearing the end, Eragon decides to wait for her to arrive before heading to Rhunon's forge.

…

As he pulls the cart into the clearing with Saphira in tow, the greatest smith of the elves who Eragon pictures as a calm and serious person, sprints out of her house at a speed that even he has a hard time reacting to. He looks back and sees an elven woman that actually looks old compared to the rest of her kind, literally salivating as she looks at the metal with a fire in her eyes that is slightly unnerving. 

"Ummm… Rhunon-Elda?"

Rhunon shakes her head and wipes her mouth with the bottom of her apron, smearing soot all over her face. She looks between them with equal parts embarrassment and curiosity. 

"Greetings, Dragon rider. I know this may sound rude, but where did you find this Brightsteel? I have scoured this forest all my life and have not encountered such a large amount in the past two hundred years!"

Rhunon gets uncomfortably close, her presence leaning over him making him feel oppressed by her presence. Eragon licks his dry lips as he tries to formulate his next sentence. 

"It… It was under the Menoa tree. A soothsayer told me that it was down there and that I would need it to forge a weapon…"

Rhunon's eyes harden. "You shouldn't have brought it here… I cannot make another blade for I am under an oath to never again make a sword."

Eragon shakes his head side to side. "No… I don't need you to make me a sword with it. I just brought it here because you have worked with this metal before and I would like to learn about its properties before I try to make my own equipment out of it."

Rhunon tilts her head in confusion. She reaches over and grabs Eragon's hands, finding the calluses of a hardworking smith. Her smile at that moment was the happiest face Eragon has ever seen. 

"It's been so long since another smith has sought me out… Let us start over. My name is Rhunon, the elven smith known for forging every blade the rider's ever swung."

Eragon lightly bows. "And I am Eragon Bromsson, last free dragon rider and my partner is Saphira Brightscales." 

Rhunon looks at his face more closely. "Ah! I see the resemblance. You have a good portion of his facial features and your stance is quite similar as well. And you, Saphira… You look so similar to Brom's dragon it's no wonder you share her name."

Saphira tilts her head down in what amounts to a bow for dragons. "Thank you, Rhunon-Elda."

Rhunon returns the bow, her eyes glazing over for a moment as she seems to be thinking about something. After a few moments she shakes her head to clear it and looks back at Eragon.

"Now it has been a long time since I have taught anyone and normally I would decline to do so, but for you, I will make an exception. Follow me into my forge and I will impart my knowledge of Brightsteel to you."

Eragon follows Rhunon into her forge, Saphira deciding to leave them for the time being and return to her own training. Over the next few hours, Rhunon goes into intimate detail about the properties and effects of Brightsteel and how best to bring out its hidden potential. 

Eragon listens with rapt attention, finding out that one of his hypotheses about the star metal was correct, it can store energy within itself similar to how gems store energy. It is this property along with the forging techniques that Rhunon created through trial and error that allow the rider's blades to be so powerful.

When Rhunon asked to see some of Eragon's works, he pulled out his sword, her eyes widening as she looks over the gleaming surface of the blade, a question in her eyes.

"What is this made of? I have never seen such a metal before. While it lacks the magical conductivity of Brightsteel, it doesn't need to be reinforced as much because of its durability."

Eragon smirks. "It's a mixture of metals of my own invention, I call it bainite steel. I will happily tell you how to make some if you will teach me some of your forging techniques."

Rhunon looks at Eragon seriously. "Do you have the time to learn my techniques? I hear that the Varden are preparing for war. You won't be able to learn everything I would wish to impart to you within a few years. You should focus on your training with Oromis."

"Oh don't worry, I meant after the war is over and the traitor king is dead."

Rhunon raises an eyebrow. "You sound quite confident… I will agree to your proposal and even allow you to use my forge to make yourself a new sword. I can tell that it no longer suits you."

Eragon rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Yea, I made it before I altered my body and now it feels like I am swinging around a toothpick." Eragon gives Rhunon a respectful bow. "Thank you for allowing me to use your forge Rhunon-Elda."

Rhunon shakes her head. "You need not thank me, the knowledge on how to make this bainite steel is reward enough… We still have a few hours of daylight. Let me impart some of my sword making techniques to you before you make your new sword. You will need every bit of help you can get if you hope to fight the mad king."

Eragon smiles brightly before walking into the forge, the two working throughout the evening and most of the night before Eragon stumbles into his room and curls up next to Saphira, too tired to even take off his soot-covered clothing.

...

(Author's note)

Sorry for the delay and the shorter chapter then normal, I have been having some issues in my life that needed taking care of. I am also trying really hard not to get sick of writing this novel, I have so much planned but when you have to write the in between stuff it gets tedious for me.

I do have some questions for you guys about the future of the novel and would like to request your feedback. 

1. I feel that Saphira is going to fall behind in power level compared to Eragon. I have a few ideas for how to improve her strength when they head into the multiverse but I would still like your opinions on what I can do to help her from within the confines of a Eragon/LOTR world. 

2. I Have come to hate the Eragon magic system with a passion. High tier mage battles are just who has the weakest mind or the most Eldunari. You just make wards for anything that your opponent can do to try and kill you but have all of that prep work be invalidated by just having more energy then the other person. and all of that is inconsequential when you take into consideration that wild magic just goes through any ward you make, even if they use the true name of the ancient language. so what I am asking is, do I get rid of the ancient language and wild magic when Eragon heads to LOTR and make up a magic system that is more LOTR friendly, Or do I keep what I have until he heads into the multiverse?

3. Love interest. Who should Eragon fall in love with? I have left his options open for the most part but I could easily decide to wait until he goes to LOTR or the multiverse. If he does choose someone from here, will they follow him in his journey or stay in their respective worlds?

4. I'm like 90% sure what world I want to go to first as it will give a decent power boost for Saphira and has a better magic system that will be more fun to write about, but I still want your ideas just in case I am missing an amazing world that would fit my criteria or they could end up as the world after the first. please note that worlds with a boat load of lore that I don't know like One Piece will not be an option because I would never be able to do the original work justice.

5. if you have any other ideas that you are willing to share with me, they might just end up in the novel so feel free to leave your ideas here. 

6. in the far future, after they travel to a world or two, I was thinking of doing a joke world as a side story. Like Yu-Gi-Oh but when they arrive Saphira turns into a duel monsters card and Eragon gets a deck with custom cards with the characters, items, and locations from the novels. so your ideas for joke side stories would also be appreciated. 

Thank you all for reading my novel and supporting me. I have wanted to quit writing many times but your comments keep bring me back again and again. I would never have gotten this far without your support. 

Stay awesome! 

Undeadwizard7