Alex jumped, letting out a rather high pitched scream.
Turning around, Alex could not help but let his fear become amusement. The once imposing figure of the snake had been reduced to miniscule spirit, that could sit comfortably on Alex's palm. The sharp, slit eyes had become round and much too big for the creatures body, its once sword like fangs had now become filed and blunt, and the once regal crown of horns now seemed childish and immature.
Alex had the sudden urge to laugh.
"What do you find so funny, you deer headed prick?" The snake spat with vitriol, however, due to the snakes high pitched voice, it came of as comedic, "when I undo whatever foul curse you have placed on me, I shall tear you limb from limb and watch with delight as you die in agony while I consume you piece by piece"
"That would be threatening" Alex said, "if A, even if I wanted to, I don't know how to reverse this, and B, you look like a fucking plushie"
"what is a plushie?" The snake screamed at him "and how dare you say that to me"
Alex turned away, ignoring the little snakes ranting.
He stared at the pile of the snakes remains.
[Do you wish to collect the materials?]
"I guess" Alex responded.
[Collecting materials
3...
2...
1...
Materials collected:
Venomous void snake muscles (50kg)
Venomous void snake skin (5kg)
Venomous void snake eye (x2)
Venomous void snake fang (x1)
Venomous void snake venom gland (x1)
Venomous void snake anti-venom gland (x1)
Venomous void snake bone (100kg)
Venomous void snake skull (x1)
Venomous void snake blood (1 litre)
Venomous void snake veins (100 metres)
Venomous void snake crown scales (x50)
Venomous void snake soul core (x1)]
Alex whistled as he looked at the screen.
"ah, I see" Alex muttered under his breath, "I don't know what this means"
As he puzzled over how this would help him, the void sagged and mixed, like wet paint running down a wall.
Soon, the dazzling void was replaced with the small and cramped smithy that was currently his only hiding place.
"So, what happened?" Nicolas asked as Alex materialised back in the smithy.
"Well, I summoned a creature, I think" came Alex's uncertain response.
"What do you mean 'I think'? Well it doesn't matter, what rank beast did you summon?"
"C-rank"
"That's great, can you bring it out"
"Nope"
"Ah I get it, you summon probably won't fit in this cramped forge, right"
"No"
"Pardon"
"I did summon a beast" Alex explained "However it became a pile of blood and guts as soon as I got a good look at it"
"Why did it do that?"
"I don't know"
Nicolas cupped his hand to his face as he muttered under his breath, Alex could not hear what he was saying but he was sure it wasn't family friendly.
"Ok" Nicolas sighed in an exasperated tone after a few minutes of rage filled muttering, "you, are going to figure out what the hell your supposed to do with a pile of beast insides, I'm logging out, I need a moment to clear my head and I'm hungry"
"Sure, take your time"
With that, Nicolas began to break into little pieces, which flew upwards before disappearing into the ether.
Alex watched as Nicolas logged out, the process looked weird and painful, but that is what most logouts felt like.
When he was sure Nicolas was gone, Alex turned around with a pissed look all over his skull.
"What are you staring at human" the floating snake spat at Alex.
All through his conversation with Nicolas, the snake had been hurling verbal death threats at him in a rather distracting manner.
"At first" Alex said through gritted teeth "it was amusing, but now, its just irritating, so if you do no shut up, right now, I don't care how but I will find a way to punt you and by hell I swear I will punt your ass from here to the ends of the earth and back again, so shut your mouth, and don't make me any more pissed than I already am, kapeesh"
After that, the snake didn't seem as talkative.
After dealing with his headache, Alex began to look at the list of materials, after gaining no real knowledge from just the name and amount, Alex selected one material to get its details.
[Venomous void snake eye
Amount: 2
Details: The eye of the venomous void snake, the eye is said to hold mystical powers that allow the void snake to see great distances.
This item is able to be effected by the skill 'property change'
Do you wish to use skill?]
Alex thought for a minute before he made his decision.
He didn't know the effect of the skill, and the eye seemed like a valuable material anyway.
After a bit of thought, he decided to test it on some of the snake's bones as he had quite a lot of it.
[The skill 'property manipulation' has been used on the item 'venomous void snake bone' (1kg)
What property would you like it to take
Available properties:
Metal
Wood
Gem
String
Leather]
"Metal" Alex said, it was the first option and he could not be asked to analyze which choice would be best.
[Choice confirmed
Activating effect of skill 'property manipulation'
3...
2...
1...
Skill activation complete]
Alex summoned the bone from is inventory and tapped it against the forges anvil.
The ivory bone created a clear ringing sound that was pleasing to the ears.
Looking at the bone, Alex picked it up with a pair of tongs and placed it into the furnace.
The floating snake behind him began to open their mouth, with apparent shock on their face.
Alex gave the snake a harsh glare, however, the snake did not seem to care.
"How dare you treat my body with such disregard"
"Remember what will happen if, you don't, SHUT UP"
"How very threatening if not for the fact that I could kill you easily if I was back in my old body, and like this, I can't be harmed"
Alex new that they would just argue round in circles for hours if he retaliated, so he just ignored the snake.
Fiddling with some mechanisms on the side, the forge finally sprung to life with a roar of flames.
Alex kept the bone level with a steady hand.
When Alex pulled the bone out of the fire, instead of charring and becoming a putrid black, it was glowing with a bright orange hue.
Alex moved it to the anvil and reached into one of the pockets his tool belt producing a hammer that was far too large to fit into that particular pocket. He did not know why, but he instinctually knew which pocket contained the hammer, as if he had worn the tool belt his entire life.
The hammer was raised high above his head, before Alex sent it crashing down into heated bone, creating a clear ringing, that echoed repeatedly off the walls of the cramped forge.
The sound was nice, however, it did not please Alex, compared to the sound he had hear in The First Beast Forger's forge, it was lacking.
Well, at least he new what his skill did.
He began to go through the list of materials and change their properties, the bones became metal, the muscle became wood, and the veins became string.
He kept the skin the same as it could still be worked with as is, and he didn't know what to do with the others.
The next evolution of his plan was to craft a weapon, for that he decided to choose a base material to start off with, something simple that wouldn't rely too heavily on what the material was, but more its shape, something simple for him to get a grasp of how his class worked.
Making up his mind, Alex brought the snake's fang out of his inventory.
He began to flick the fang from one hand to the other, accidently nicking his finger in the process, and brought the blade up to his eye to get a better look.
The tooth was in pristine condition, without a scratch on it, However it was at an awkward length, too long to become a dagger, but too short to become a sword.
After a little pondering, he decided it would be best to cut it a bit and make a dagger, he could use the cut off area in other weapons or armours.
The fang clattered loudly as Alex chucked it, unceremoniously, onto the anvil, as he began to search for a saw.
Once more he reached into his tool belt and produced a saw of odd proportions for where it was produced.
He measured roughly how long he wanted the fang and then began to look for a vise.
After realizing there wasn't one, simply placed the fang so part of it was hanging over the edge of the anvil and placed his foot on the fang and began to saw.
After he had sawed about a third of the way through the fang, he removed the saw and began to fish around in his tool belt before pulling out a hack-saw.
He adjusted the position of the blade, before sawing towards the ease of the fang at a ninety degree angle.
He then repeated the same process on the other side.
"How long are you going to take?" The snake asked in a forlorn tone.
"Calm down, I've only been at it for ten minutes, also why do you sound so down? You were so full of anger and spite and spite a few moments ago"
"I think I've gone straight to the fifth stage of grief"
Alex laughed slightly at the remark, but as he was about to begin sawing again, something struck him as odd.
"How do you know about the five stages of grief?"
"I know a lot of things about your world"
At this, Alex raised an eyebrow, "So then I suppose you know this is a game"
At this, Alex was sure he would get some reaction out of the snake, maybe shock at the revelation, complete ego death perhaps, but the snakes reaction was not what Alex expected at all.
Instead the snake let out a smug chuckle "That is just what a fool like you would think"
"Huh" was the only noise Alex could make.
"Well I suppose I may enlighten you if you be..."
The snake's words were cut short.
Throughout the time Alex had been with the snake, it had been arrogant, haughty and at times regal. However, now, the snake was a shivering mess.
It stuttered constantly, its pupils dilated, and it began to shake uncontrollably.
"S-s-sorry" It squeaked suddenly "w-w-wont happen again, m-my l-l-lips are s-sealed, n-n-not a s-s-sound will e-escape them"
"Hey" Alex spoke with a gin of concern "you good?"
However the snake seemed to be completely deaf to the world.
"N-no n-n-need to d-do anything b-b-b-b-brash" terror permeated every single syllable that the snake uttered.
Suddenly, the trance was broken, and the snake lurched forward with laboured breathing.
"What was that?" Alex asked with zero tact.
The snake continued its laboured breath for a good minute, before replying with a shaky voice, "the fang needs sawing, can't wait around forever"
Alex looked the name dead in the eyes and stubbornly said "Not until you tell me what, the, FUCK, that was"
"We should really get back to the weapon"
"Not until I get an answer"
"I think-"
"I don't care what you think, only what you know"
"But-"
"Tell me"
"DON'T ASK FUCKING QUESTIONS, JUST GO BACK TO PISSING ABOUT IN YOUR FORGE, DESACRATING MY REMAINS AND DONT. ASK. FUCKING. QUESTIONS" the snake erupted suddenly.
"Bit touchy, aren't we" Alex drawled mockingly, however he backed of after that, giving the snake some space.
He finished the sawing by connecting the two cuts he had made.
When he was done, the fang had been cut to a more reasonable length, and there was a small rectangular protrusion at the base.
Alex looked at the fang with satisfaction, the first part was done.
Next, he pulled out a lump of muscle, with the property of wood, and began to cut a dagger handle from the wood using the saw, a chisel and hammer, and a carving knife, all of which he produced from his tool belt.
It took about two hours just to get the basic shape done.
After it was roughly how Alex wanted it, he began to rummage around in his tool belt, looking for something to smooth the wood.
What he found was a block of decomposed lime stone. Though he did remember reading about it, he never really thought he would have to use rottenstone.
As there was nothing else to use, Alex began the long and arduous task of sanding the handle to smoothness.
Two hours in, Nicolas logged back in.
Seeing Alex hard at work, Nicolas strolled over and began to watch with interest. After ten minutes, that interest had become boredom.
"How long will this take?" He asked.
"No more than an hour" Alex replied, without taking his eyes off of his work for a second.
"How long will it take to use all the materials you have?"
Alex was silent for a moment, still refusing to stop sanding, before answering, "bout an in game week, so just under two in game weeks if we factor in breaks"
"You expect me to sit on my ass for close to a fortnight?"
"No, you could be useful"
"How?"
"Your class is a production type as well right, you must have some starter materials on you, use those to level up"
Nicolas pondered Alex words for a minute, before lightly tapping his forehead with his wrist, creating a dull 'thunk' against his wooden mask.
"Course, I should have thought of that"
And with that, he moved to a corner, what he did after that, Alex didn't know, he was too concerned with his work.
This was why he liked to work with his hands, he lost himself inside his own world, nothing outside mattered, just him, his tools, and his work. In his little world, there where no distractions, no worries, nothing to bring him down.
Here, he was at peace.
An hour had passed, but to Alex, it felt like seconds. The handle was based on an old Persian design, its shape was simple and cylindrical, however the end curved back on itself, creating a convenient grip shape.
While the handle was sanded, it was still not done, the decorations were next.
Alex began to use the carving knife, ever so carefully, to began to carve an effigy of a snakes head on the end f the handle.
Another half an hour passed while he cut away carefully at the wood.
When it was done, he twirled the handle in his hands, it had a good weight, not so heavy that it would become unwieldy when the blade was Attached, but not so light that it would have no impact when stabbed forward.
As a final touch, he made a small groove at the the top of the handle and poured a small amount of blood into it, then he immediately changed its property to gemstone.
The effect was a sparkling red jewel slotting nicely into the slot.
Now it was time to bring it all together.
To start, he placed a pot over the furnace and threw a little metal bone into it, as he had no adhesives or glue, this was the best he could do.
Lighting the furnace, Alex turned his attention back to the fang.
He activated the skill 'property change' and changed it to metal and placed the end into the furnace for a few seconds so it would heat up.
After the metal had melted everything was in place, though he had to work quickly and carefully so as not to damage the handle too much.
Using some slabs of wood muscles, Alex propped the handle so it was sticking up vertically, then moving quickly, using some fire proof gloves provided in the beginner set, he picked up the pot and poured the molten metal into a hole in the handle top.
Despite wearing fire proof gloves, it still burned, but Alex did not think of an alternative though they was most likely a better one, so now he had to go through with it.
After the molten metal was in the hole, Alex threw the burning pot to one side and grabbed the fang as quickly and plunged it into the angry, red, liquid that filled the small crevasse in the handle.
Once it was secured, Alex dug through his inventory and pulled out a chisel from his starter set.
Using this chisel, Alex scraped the overflowing molten metal off and threw it onto the floor.
With a final check that the Dagger was secure, all that was left was to wait for the metal to cool to the point of solidity and then dunk it in some water, his first creation was finished.