Chapter 11: Crafting The Basics Part Two
Once Misaki was finished with her prep work she could only wait for the coals to be finished next. That would be when the real work would start. "I still need something to use as an anvil…" Misaki knew that in order to fashion any kind of weapon she would need to pound the ore into shape. Misaki inspected her coal mound to be sure it would not cause any fire before heading out to find a strong sturdy flat rock she could use to make her weapons with.
Misaki searched high and low trying to find something that could work. But mostly what she found so far was either too brittle or could not hold up to constant hammering. She had brought her primitive forge hammer with her in order to get an idea of what she could use. But sadly so far she was not able to find anything. She had pushed deep into the forest where the monsters were around level fifteen. Well, all except the large tree that stood fifty meters tall and was walking around causing the ground to shake underneath.
[Area Boss: Treant King]
[Level 150]
Misaki wanted to cry! How was it that she had just started this game and she had already run into two world bosses!? She was hiding behind a large tree trunk holding her breath. She was not dumb enough to try to engage this boss. She had no decent weapon and no advantages like she did with the Golem King! All She could do was wait for the Treant King to move along! Misaki's heart was pounding so much it felt like it would jump right out of her chest. She was even afraid of breathing in case the sound of her breath would attract the Treant King's attention! She was very afraid of dying right now! If she died her whole weekend would be gone!
In Eternal Phantasy, death meant being locked out of the game for Forty Eight hours. This might be strange but in a game where players rule, a lot can happen in forty eighter hours. Kingdoms could fall even whole areas could be destroyed. Her stuff could even get stolen! She had not placed her things into her inventory! She did not want to have to spend more time rebuilding her forge and hut! When she decided to fight with the Golem King she did not mind the penalty of dying. Mainly because she did not have anything going on at the time and also because it was a once in a lifetime chance she could not pass up!
Two hours of in game time passed and finally, the Treant King moved onto a new area. Misaki breathed out a sigh of relief. She came out of her hiding spot and looked over at the area the Treant King was before. She let out a sigh and was about to turn to leave when she saw a glimmer of something out of the corner of her eye. "What's that!?"
Misaki cautiously made her way over to the spot where she saw the glimmer of light. What stood before her was a large stone slab that sparkled under the sun that peered through the treetops. "It's just about the right height and large enough. But is it strong enough?" Misaki took out her forge hammer and slammed it down on top of the stone slab with all her strength.
*Clang!*
A clear crisp sound rang out when the hammer hit the rock slab and recoiled back. Misaki was very excited since this was the first thing she had found that could hold up to a beating! "Looks like I found what I came for!" Misaki pushed on the rock slab to make sure that it could be moved. She pushed hard and the sound of the ground underneath the rock slab being torn up could be heard. Hearing this Misaki smiled and then collected the rock slab into her inventory. She looked at the rock slab in her inventory and realized she never inspected it. She tapped the icon to bring up its information.
[Starlight Ore]
"Oh? So this is not an ordinary rock slab. It's too bad, I do not have the equipment to break it apart just yet. Otherwise, I would make a sword with this instead. At least, for now, it can be used as my anvil to forge my new weapons." Misaki thought as she closed her menus and headed back to her camp.
It did not take long for Misaki to return to camp. When she did she saw that the coal mound was finally done. She opened it up and gathered all the coal into a pile. "Now it's time to get to work! To think I would actually be this excited to forge a weapon. If this was the real world I would probably find this very uninteresting. But because it has something to do with a game I can't help but feel excited!"
Misaki clapped her hands together and went straight to work. The process was a little tedious since it required Misaki to continuously fan the flames in order to make the fire hot enough to soften the ore. She wanted to go for a copper Iron mix so she stuck two pieces of each ore into the fire. She had made a clay bowl to hold the ores so that they could melt into a pool and mix together. She had made the clay bowl very thick to allow it to hold up to the flames. Now all that was left was the grueling process of keeping the flames hot.
A few hours of in game time passed and finally, Misaki was holding a bowl of hot liquid mixed copper and iron ore. She quickly poured it into an already prepared clay rectangular cask to form her first copper iron bar. After another hour of time, the bar had hardened and Misaki broke away the cask and gazed at the copper iron bar in her hand. She had a very big sense of accomplishment as she felt the coolness of the metal on her skin. "Now, I will just need to make at least three more of these!"