"Better?" They said collectively said, sharing their disbelief.
The two nodded, then Chet said, "It was Von's idea. We didn't know what happened to Greyfurr, but the three of you were completely silent, so he wanted to try again. I eventually gave in, but we and I hope you three will be pleased with the results."
The small boy looked at Chet then the three elders and back to Chet. "They have to be pleased, Chet. It's not every day that two journeymen make a set of four legendary items."
Grimdon laughed. "So, you think they're legendary, do ya? We'll see. Oren, do you have the scale in your forge? You know the kind I mean."
"I keep it upstairs. I don't often use a heart which will create a legendary item, so I don't need it often." Eying the two in front of them he added, "Do you really think you've made four legendary items from a common tier beast heart?"
Vorolen looked to him from the corner of her raising her eyebrow and pulling in her lips as she did so. "Please go get the balance." With this, Oren passed into the shop and opened the door leading upstairs to his living quarters.
In the few minutes Oren was gone, they remaining smiths examined the rings in the box, all the while maintaining contact with the other in order to have a private discussion. Slowly and carefully they reviewed each of the three rings and compared each to the original, Greyfurr. During their mental talk, Von and Chet watched as the two nodded several times and their eyes widened as they looked often between the journeymen and the rings.
After three minutes, Oren reappeared in the shop with a very large blackwood box. Inside was a carefully packed balance arm scale. With meticulous movements, he assembled it within a frame on the shop's counter by the back wall with one arm hanging over the edge of the counter. Once put together, he removed a second locked dark jade box from within the larger box. Unlocking it, he lifted the lid before removing a number of jade boxes and two cubes of some dark material.
Taking the two cubes, he placed one on each pan of the balance before examining the center marker closely. After turning the thumbwheel at the top until the knife was perfectly aligned with the middle marking, he removed the two cubes from the pans and watches as the beam returned to level and the knife was again pointed at the center line.
"May I borrow Felinblade?" the old elf inquired of Von.
Von walked to the workbench and retrieved the dagger before taking it into the shop and handing it to Oren. He then watched as Oren removed one of the small jade boxes from the larger jade box and removed a silk-wrapped square white cube which looked a lot like an unusual beast core. The old smith placed the cube on the balance on the side over the counter before adding Felinblade to the other end.
"This cube is the equivalent essence of a common core as used to make Felinblade. By placing the cube on one side and the dagger on the other, we will be able to determine the relative essence value of Felinblade compared to a standard beast heart. If it balances perfectly, the item created is of standard ability for a common heart. For each line it swings toward the dagger, it is of one category higher: uncommon, rare, very rare, legendary, and finally god-tier. I suspect it will be legendary just based on the properties in your artifact."
He placed the dagger on the end which lowered significantly past the center. Looking at the lines, it had moved between the fourth and fifth lines, well into legendary, but not yet god-tier. Oren replaced the cube with a slightly larger one. "This is an uncommon tier cube, just to see if perhaps we guessed wrong on what tier heart the bogstrider cat might have been."
The beam on the scale didn't move in the slightest which caused Oren's eyebrows to furrow and his head to move to the side in response. Again, he replaced the cube with the next larger, the rare one. While the arm moved slightly, it stayed between legendary and god tier. As everyone's attention was gathered on the knife between the lines on the balance, he replaced it again with the beast lord cube. The arm moved closer to the legendary, but not to the point of touching it.
Grimdon smiled at the old elf before saying, "Allow me. He picked up the beast king cube and held it for a moment until it glowed. "Okay, this is definitely a beast king heart." He removed the beast lord cube replacing it with the beast king cube. The marker on the beam moved to just to the right of legendary, but still remained barely between legendary and god tier.
Oren looked in satisfaction at the human smith before grinning. "See, it's not me." He then returned the tried cubes to their respective silken covers and to the box before removing a larger cube from a box labeled "Beast Emperor". Placing it on the pan of the balance, the needle swung to sit directly on the legendary line before falling just enough to put it on the very rare side of the line. The three smiths pushed on both sides of the balance to no avail. It wouldn't budge.
Returning the emperor cube to its box, there remained three untried cubes. Taking the next labeled "Demon Lord", Oren placed it on the tray. This time, the marker moved to sit directly on the uncommon line. Swapping it for the "Demon King" cube caused the beam to swing to the other side indicating a severely flawed item.
"Well, Von, you definitely created a legendary item with Felinblade. Do you want to check Marshfang?"
"Sure!" the boy replied removing the dagger from the scale and sheathing it. He gently placed Marshfang onto the raised pan and watched it fall to nearly the center although still on the flawed side despite still having the demon king cube sitting on it. Oren placed the Demon king cube back into the box, knowing the weyr queen was likely a rare beast and place that cube onto the measuring pan. The arm swiftly moved to sit past the god tier mark.
Replacing it with the beast lord, it remained past the god tier mark, but closer yet. The beast king cube was enough to move the marker to the line, while the emperor moved it to the far side of legendary. "Perhaps, I should start checking my hearts before sorting them. The core may have been stronger than I suspected." The remaining two smiths nodded.
"I suspect you have another legendary tier artifact under your belt Von. Congratulations! Now for the rings." Waste of Time measured with a common heart cube showed a level of a rare-flawed item far below the center of the beam. Not enough to be dangerous, but not very worthwhile in most cases.
Next was Mischief. This ring moved the balance right to the edge of legendary with the mark touching the line, but it failed to pass the mark or even cover it fully, after much discussion, it seemed too strong with its myriad abilities to leave it with a grade of very rare, and since it was so close to be almost touching the line, the three smiths agreed it should be legendary.
Greyhunter, Greyfang, and Greyrunner were brought in to be measured next. Although their abilities were identical, only Von knew this exactly. Thus, they were each weighed individually. Greyhunter was first and move directly past the legendary mark. Not enough to clear the line, but just enough for the point to be barely touching it. It too was legendary. Of course, the remaining two rings, Greyfang and Greyrunner scored precisely the same when measured against the common cube.
"Vorolen, for my skilled friend's tutelage of you journeyman, aiding him in creating four legendary rings, I could say you owe my adept for his time, true?" Oren asked the dwarf.
She shrugged knowing this to be true, but not seeing where he was going with it. "Of course. I don't understand what you want though."
The elf replied. "Von wanted to make a protective item for his king and something special for his mother. If I remember, you still have a core from an armorback turtle in your collection, true?"
The dwarven woman nodded again. "I do. I have two, to be honest. I was thinking of making armor from them, but being only uncommon, they're not going to be as strong as what I would normally use for such a thing. On top of that, it would take both of them to make a shield, so I didn't want to waste them on the chance they aren't compatible with each other. I suppose you want them?"