Knives & Levels - Chapter 124

When Nate returned to New Nashville, the first thing he did was to square himself away in his forge. He let the others rest, processing their day's experiences to build a stronger tomorrow. For him, though, it wasn’t so simple. He’d dragged back a problem, the type of problem which sat in your mind and niggled away there until you addressed it. The Celestial Seed shell was a surprisingly light but durable material.

All the way back to Nashville, he was trying to figure out the best way to use it. The material was strong—he knew as much from his many attempts to crack into it during the fight—which is why he took as many chunks of it as he could.

To think that a treasure like this had been his one reward from the dungeon meant that it had to be worthwhile, especially when he put it on the scale of what the others received.

Since entering New Nashville, he’d rushed down here. The second he reached his forge, he’d begun to stoke the fires, set out his tools, and check the temperatures. After that, knowing things were heating up, he began to test the new metal. First, he started with a light hammer tap, hearing how the metal reacted. After that, he set it on a scale, recording the weight, then displaced water, recording the volume.

Then he tested it with his Edict—difficult, but much easier than when it was attached to the seed. Back then, its life force fought back against him. He’d tried using his Edict to bend the metal and make his way inside. If he were perhaps stronger, then it might be a different case. But given that his forge was still of a Lesser rank, it hadn't been strong enough to overcome the metal’s natural resistance when attached to the Celestial Seed.

Nate withdrew the piece of metal from the water and made a note on his sheet. Some simple math later, and he saw the density was quite light.

Light and strong.

Then he set the metal on the anvil and took his bigger hammer, bashing it against it thrice. Small dents only. Even while using all of his strength behind each swing. And he’d had quite a lot of strength, honed both from the forging of his body and his physical state. For it to be this tough meant several things. That the boss they had defeated was strong, and mostly that it was a metal from outside their world.

He tried to Inspect it again. All it referred to was ‘Celestial Shell.’ 

There were so many mysteries in this world and things that had left him scratching his head and questioning his fate. But he was determined to answer the mysteries one after another, to find his own way and solutions.

Now all he had to do was find the best way to use the metal. Given that it had been his ‘reward’ and his allies had seen things like advancing their Edicts, and he’d dragged this to the portal when he left, he got the impression that normally he’d be unable to bring it with him, which added pressure. Whatever he did with this chunk of metal had to be worth the reward. But now, with it deep within him and his forge, he had time to test it. He shaved off a bit, taking quite some time to break free any of the metal, and then tested it further, running it through different strength and durability tests he could think of. He tried using his Edict on it without heat and saw no progress whatsoever.

Whatever this thing was, it was strong enough to resist his manipulations. He felt it as he concentrated, the heat of his forge and the strength of everything around him highlighting his abilities; yet it barely budged without further nudging. It was naturally resistant and laden with its own Edicts.

He looked over to the claw of a Yeti—one that Colt had left him and asked him to work on as well before wandering off to the bathhouse. That, too, he felt, had a natural aspect of Edicts to it. The materials were naturally laden with power; the only other special material he'd worked with, the Skysteel, could conduct Edicts in the end.

But the Edicts didn’t always correspond to what they were from. The Edicts from the Yeti claw felt like it, but the Celestial Shell gave off a durability and protective quality that had nothing to do with the Celestial Seed itself.

 Nate hummed to himself as he worked, setting aside the special metal and moving to normal steel. From there, he threw it in his forge and blasted it with heat until it was a red-hot glow. From there, it was easy, take it out, strike it with the hammer to shape it, using his Edict to facilitate the process and make it far easier than it should’ve been. He worked this into a piece of plate, manipulating the edges and rounding, getting closer to his eventual goal.

Before, he’d never bothered with this design. Part of him entertained the idea of making armor out of iron and steel. But then he’d seen Colt. The man could sheer through an entire building—and other monsters could do the same. Such conventional materials didn’t seem worthwhile. Until now, he’d focused his defenses on reforging his own body, which had its own benefits. It made him harder to hurt and his skin far more resistant, becoming close to steel itself. But it was a far cry from invincible.

Nate got lost in the flames and molten metal for a while, his attention wrapped in the hot glow.

The molten metal of the normal steel he worked with was a familiar friend who comforted him. As he slowly shaped it, inch by inch, elongating it, using the power of his Edict to shape it and draw it closer to his final vision.

When he quenched it, he’d finished the shape: a steel pauldron.

Nate stared at it for a long while. It was a rough thing. He hadn't exactly taken forging or smithy classes before the world ended. Though he knew things like blacksmiths existed, some of them were in the Renaissance fairs in areas he liked to go to on occasion. But he’d found that the first couple of tries were usually rough when working with metal, and having no idea how to do it aside from vague memories, his Edict, and some basic books he’d only had a few hours to skim.

This time, though, it felt different.

Even looking at the rough shape of his pauldron, Nate felt compelled to move on and work on this new metal. There was nothing for it. If he had a year to sit here and practice his skills and improve them, he’d love to. But he didn't. This much work had already taken an hour and a half, greatly sped by his ability to use his Edict to make everything go smoother. It made the metal heat quicker. It made his hammer strike better. It shaped the metal more than it would otherwise. It was almost like a superhuman ability in and of itself, ignoring all of the various other skills and abilities he had going for him that drove it even further.

Nate grunted. It would be better to be diligent and try to make another… Then come back another day and make it then.

It would be… But he couldn't help himself. He moved over to the bulk of the black steel that had been the shell. At a hot enough temperature, it would melt. But not naturally. He needed to watch over it and coat it with his Edict, coaxing the metal to cooperate with him. It took minutes, but he chunked off a good portion of it, slightly rounded, and brought it over to the furnace.

Then watched. Deep in concentration, feeling the swelling of inner peace within him. Everything in reality resonated for a second with Nate as he worked, falling into a pattern as he pulled it, then began to shape it, then set it into the flames again, and repeated. Again and again. He made a repetitive motion as he worked it with the hammer and the fire. Both of them coming together. It was one, even if they came from separate sides. Together, they could create. And that was the essence of forging, and the essence of what this place was.

His power swelled within it. His Edict ran rampant as he let himself free.

So long in the cold and away from a place like this. He hadn't the time to be himself, expressing himself through his hammer and through the steel as it melded and molded to his designs. This was him, and had it not been for the collapse of the world, he’d have never found this missing piece of his soul. The hammer was a familiar friend, the metal that he coaxed into shape a puzzle to solve.

Nate lost himself in the act of creation, but in the end, he had another pauldron. This one was blackened steel made from Celestial Seed Shell—the design more refined than before, but still far from pretty. Nate never considered himself an artist; as long as it was functional and looked like it would be, he was happy.

He set it down, grabbed his hammer, and lifted it high into the sky.

Here goes nothing.

The hammer crashed against the metal with a BANG; yet it didn’t dent. Nate let his hammer hit the ground and ran a hand over the metal. Stronger than before, even. A smile came to his lips. Yes. This was functional. He'd bet it would even hold under a couple of Colt's cuts, which was a good metric to compare to.

Then, he got a notification.

———

Your understanding of the Edict Forge has evolved. Forge (Lesser) has become Forge (Greater)

———

Nate bowed his head before it and looked at the rest of the broken shell he had brought out from the dungeon. He could get a good few pieces of armor out of this. And that could go a long way towards protecting his life.

If he was going to put himself on the front line with a hammer and be unable to dodge like Colt, the next logical option was to give himself the right defenses to withstand even the strongest attacks. However, as he looked around, realizing that hours had slipped by and feeling tired in his eyes, Nate knew that his time for work today was up. He stifled a yawn, standing up and getting out of his forge, slowly ascending from the maze down below New Nashville. And then reaching the top where it was daylight, he blinked, surprised. 

He’d lost track of time down below, but surely it hadn’t been that long?

"There you are!" someone said, calling to Nate as he entered from the White House mazes below. He flagged him down as he got onto the streets. “They're looking for you. The meeting is supposed to begin in 20 minutes."

Nate swore. How had he lost so much time down below? He hadn't had any rest at all, and now he was going to be rushed into a meeting with everyone else. He thought it was okay to take a break and be able to work in his forge. He’d spent days dreaming of the warmth while shivering in that cold—but it had caught up with him.

He looked back behind him, back towards the stairs that led to the forge—that even a part of him was calling to right now, wanting to work the rest of that shell into usable pieces of armor and see what his new level in Forge brought. But he had a duty to attend to. Nate wiped the sleep from his eyes, leveling his expression, and giving a nod to the man who had been so kind as to flag him down and tell him that the meeting was about to begin. "I'll be on my way then. Thank you for the warning," Nate said, pushing past the tiredness.

He had spent days with exhaustion like this. What was another couple of hours after that? After the meeting, he would finally settle down for rest. He indicated that the man would lead him forward, and he followed behind, not so diligently. Nate would not miss these meetings once he’d excised himself completely from these kinds of things.