"I best start with the axe now," thought Balthazar as he pulled out a log and used the lathe machine to make the handle of the axe. The handle needed to be in proper shape with the appropriate thickness. Else, it would end up being a lower quality work.
Shaping materials using lathe always took more time than beating metal into shape as it didn't require the finesse. If one accidentally makes a wrong shape, he could melt it again and try, but the same wouldn't be valid for materials like wood and horns. If one accidentally shaves of more than required, it will end up being an inferior product. So, most players took a lot of time with it and wouldn't be able to do it faster without a lot of experience. Balthazar truly had an advantage in this area due to his reincarnation.
He hardly took 5 minutes to complete the handle and went ahead to create the head of the axe. He softened the refined iron ore and started to pound it into the shape. Unlike swords which are usually made from casts, the axe head were treated differently. It isn't that they could also make casts for the axes. It was just that this process would allow one to make the axe head faster.
Making casts always took time that and he would still need to hammer it afterwards to force out impurities and make a better-quality weapon. And even with the use of casts, one needed to pour the metal uniformly before it cools down so that no gaps of air end up inside the cooled down metal. So, even swords made from casts would always be hammered to get rid of any potential air gaps and other things before sharpening the edges to form the blade.
With his forging hammer and the other tools available, Shadow managed to make the bring about the basic shape of the head under a couple of minutes. In a basic forging room, he would need a lot more time to do this. All that was needed, was to make a hole for the handle. He took the head to an anvil and made a hole with the use of a nail. After that he continued to thin the parts of axe which required it, by hammering.
Once, he was sure that the hammer head was up to the specifications in the design he cooled it down and went ahead with sharpening the crescent shaped edges of the two-headed axe. There were hammering and sharpening machines which he used for thinning the ends of the heads and sharpening the blades.
He quickly put in the handle into the hole and tightened it by driving a small wooden wedge that he took from the log at the top of the axe. Then he continued with further smoothing of the handle and when he was satisfied with the axe, he had it inspected by the system producing a good axe.
[Barbarian Axe] (BlackIron One-handed axe)
Level 15;
Requirement: Strength: 35; Agility: 20;
Attack power +25;
Special effect: 5% chance to cause a bleed effect of 20 HP per sec.
Durability: 30/30;
"+350 experience points, +4 forging proficiency"
"Now to try out what I had in mind," said Balthazar talking to himself. He had only bought the Barbarian Axe as he wanted to check out the method for making the head. He had already planned to improve upon this axe to create a Bronze weapon. He was nearing level 15. At this stage most players exploring new areas were already on the lookout for Secret Silver equipment. Though the number of such equipment were low, it didn't stop most of the well-known guilds and teams.
The players were already able to find a Black Iron grade equipment designs with relative ease and most guilds were focusing their searches on Bronze armaments. He already had a pair of original designs for BlackIron equipment which he could flood the guild players with and also make a decent profit from others.
The only considerably good thing that he could see in this situation was that the designs and equipment would get increasing harder to procure form level 15 onward. So, it was a good chance for Crimson Realm because of it. He already had a BlackIron level 15 original equipment which he could allow most of the trusted guild forgers to learn.
Still that wasn't enough. At this stage, bronze equipment would be the most needed to get an advantage over others. So, he took the axe design to improve it to be a bronze equipment. Moreover, a bronze weapon would allow the players to be able to kill monsters faster and get more resources and possibly designs.
His plan was to change the handle of the barbarian axe to a slightly longer metal rod instead of wood. A metal handle would increase the defence and durability of the weapon along with the attack power. He knew that from his previous experiences and also tried it out already with antelope spear.
With his experience, he knew that it would cause more vibrations if he used a metal handle and that would increase the strength requirement a bit, but that was common for all bronze equipment. One couldn't get better stats weapons without fulfilling better requirement. There was no way past it.
He quickly took out a pair of refined iron ore to make the new handle. He melted them out and made a handle about two and a half feet long. He intentionally made it a bit thicker compared to the poles of the spears as he was concerned that the heavy axe head would require a thicker handle, else it might end up with an inferior product. He also made it a bit thicker at the bottom end so that it would be easy for the players to hold. With the stamina bar up, things would become much more real and players would feel the weight of the armaments. So, with weapons like axes with heavy heads, they might slip out when swinging it. For a forger, it is essential that players using it should be able to use it effective. Otherwise it wouldn't be sold. So, he had made it thicker at the bottom.
He made the axe head in the same way as he did before, but before sharpening the blades, he welded the handle to the centre of the axe head. With a handle made of refined iron ore, he couldn't use the same method that he did for the barbarian axe. Once the handle was welded firmly, he continued with the rest of the job sharpening the crescent shaped cutting edges of the axe on a machine. With that done, he went ahead and put it up for inspection.
[________________] (Bronze One-handed axe)
Level 15;
Requirement: Strength: 40; Agility: 20;
Attack power +40;
Special effect: 10% chance to cause a bleed effect of 20 HP per sec or cripple the opponent for a couple of seconds.
Durability: 40/40;
"+ 450 experience points; +4 Forging proficiency;"
System: Congratulations on creating the first new piece of bronze equipment in vita-nova. Obtained an additional 2000 experience points. The crimson blade stamp will be imprinted on it. Please name it.
"Huh, thank god," thought Balthazar as he looked at the specs of the hammer. With the increase in weight of the handle, he was very afraid that it might end up being a two-handed weapon. With that it would no longer be a bronze equipment but a black-iron one again. The crimson blade imprint was set at the base of the handle which hardly anyone could see, but that wasn't much of an issue for Shadow. He had already thought of keeping the axes that he created within the guild and that place where it is hardly visible is the best spot that he could ask for.
"Let me name this as an Iron axe. Completely made of iron one, it is not a bad name. It is easier than finding any other name," thought Balthazar and typed it in. He didn't care for the name. As long as it is useful, it will surely be bought and that is all that he cared about.
"With this, I just need another black iron original equipment and proficiency to become an intermediate forging apprentice. Proficiency is easy. I just need to think of third black-iron equipment," he thought. "But first let me try to reach level 15," he thought as he had to make up for not being in the game the next day. He checked the time and found that he had spent a bit more than an hour.
He had spent about an hour total trying to make the four pieces of equipment. It was clear that the rate at which he was making them is not enough for him to hit level 15 by the end of the time which he thought to log out and prepare for the next day's excursion.
"Let me just get as much experience as I can. I can worry about the other things later. With the headgear that I received today, I can still attempt the dungeon during the travel," thought Balthazar as he continued with making the new equipment for the remaining five hours that he had.
After that he exited the forging association, he made a bunch of forging designs of the new axe and buckler and decided to meet Rudra. He contacted Rudra and found out that Hammer had already been out of the forging room an hour ago. He had created a few original equipment.
"There is level 15 black iron shield and he told that he was able to create its designs. He also had a claw and a glaive weapons made, both black iron and lower level. I have already put up a few in the shop. What happened between you two, that he suddenly managed to create all this?" asked Rudra clearly excited by the advancement.
"It is nothing. He was a good forger player. It is a good than that he is the head forger," said Shadow.
"Yes. It is good. Now that he could also create original equipment, it will be a lot easier for the shop. With you being unable to spend your time here, it would have been really hard if you were made head forger," said Rudra.
"Yes, can deny that," said Shadow in a slightly sad and sarcastic voice. He also enjoyed playing the game a lot, but he had responsibilities that he couldn't shirk away, else it would probably result in his death or that of his family.
"So, why did you call?" asked Rudra.
"I have made a few new equipment and I have new designs," said Balthazar.
"Great more designs, it is a good thing that we have more designs but there is already talk going on that the guild is monopolizing a secret resource for the designs. Some guilds have already contacted me for it," said Rudra.
"Tell them that we will sell the designs in auctions if they want and that I can't give out the detail due to system restrictions," said Shadow.
"I already had discussions with them about selling the designs. Else, they wouldn't have calmed down. Auctioning them tomorrow, so that they could collect money," said Rudra.
"Ok. You can add the black iron design that I will give you to the auction, if you want, but keep the bronze design with you. Give one to Hammer and Tongs and maybe some you know well and are close to. Don't let this out right now. It would be quite useful at level 15. Best keep it among our members tell that, we only found two or three of these designs. The guilds wouldn't make much of a fuss with that excuse. It is quite reasonable," said Shadow.
"You made a bronze original equipment?" asked Rudra in surprise as he heard Shadow.
"Yes," said Shadow agreeing to him as he sent a picture of the stats of the new axe that he created.
"Ok. I will keep this among us, but later we might need to sell the weapon if not the design," said Rudra.
"That will be fine. We can't avoid that," said Shadow.
"So, you are coming now? I am at the engineering association," said Rudra.
"I was hoping you were there," said Shadow. He wanted to see how the guild was faring and also wanted to know if Rudra and others managed to get any new engineering designs. He also wanted to create the rifle crossbow. It would take a lot of effort, but it would be quite useful.