The Ropes

[Goku]

Goku had recently been a wanderer, drifting from place to place in search of new challenges and knowledge. After his recent adventures in the desert, he found himself in a bustling city of Koralsir. It was here that Goku decided to delve into a new realm of skills: smithing.

The city led Goku to a blacksmith named Toren. Toren was a burly man with a weathered face, his arms thick with muscle from years of hammering metal. His forge, nestled in a corner of a market, was a hub of activity. The sound of hammer striking anvil was a constant, rhythmic backdrop to the chatter of customers and the hiss of steam.

Goku approached the forge. He had seen weapons of remarkable craftsmanship and had always admired the skill it took to create them. Now, he was eager to learn the craft himself.

"Master Toren?" Goku called out, trying to make himself heard over the din of the forge.

Toren looked up from his work, wiping sweat from his brow. His eyes, sharp and perceptive, sized up the young man standing before him. "Aye, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"I'm Goku. I'd like to learn how to smith. Can you teach me?"

Toren raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "You want to learn smithing, eh? It's not an easy craft, lad. Takes years of practice, and even then, you'll find there's always more to learn."

Goku nodded earnestly. "I understand. I'm ready to put in the work and I’m happy to pay for some beginner lessons."

[Illuvia]

It was early in the morning when Lumina left the inn to go out and headed to her house. It was a small, unassuming cottage that looked like nobody had lived it in it in months – because that was the truth. She grabbed some basic tools and met back up with Luvi at her barracks.

“Where are we going?” Lumina asked, to which Luvi shrugged.

“I figured we’d walk around the city for a bit, find a nice spot to sit down and do our lesson. I don’t want to study here – it’s way too busy.” She had the morning and evening free with the only ‘official’ business she needed to take part in being the drill session in the afternoon. Living in barracks was alright, but she would take any opportunity to experience a change of scenery.

They walked along and as fate would have it, they came across Goku talking to a smith. Luvi hadn’t even noticed him, rather she’d been distracted by the display of weaponry and only took a second glance at his face because he happened to have wings.

“Buying new weapons?” she asked him with a cocked eyebrow. “I was just looking for a nice spot to sit for a half hour or so while Lumina teaches me a thing or two.”

Toren said, “you know each other? Goku here offered to pay me for some lessons and I thought I might take him up on his offer before it gets busy. Plenty of room in the ol’ workshop if you want a place to sit.”

“That’d be lovely!” Lumina said with a bubbly smile.

[Goku]

“Fancy seeing you two again.” Goku said with a grin. “I doubt this lesson will be long. Give me an hour and we can go grab breakfast together?”

They went inside where there was lots of equipment and a forge that was still heating up. Toren didn’t plan to let Goku touch anything yet; there was much more to discuss beforehand.

Toren studied Goku for a moment longer before nodding. "Alright then. Let's get started. First things first, you'll need to understand the basics."

He led Goku around to the forge, where the heat was intense, and the air was thick with the smell of hot metal and coal. Various tools hung on the walls, and workbenches were cluttered with pieces of metal in various stages of completion. Toren called out the names of each tool which Goku tried to commit to memory.

"Smithing starts with understanding your materials," Toren began. "Different metals have different properties. Some are hard, some are flexible, some hold an edge better than others. You'll need to learn how to work with each one."

He picked up a piece of iron and handed it to Goku. "Feel the weight of it. Get to know the texture and how it feels in your hand. Iron is the foundation of most weapons and tools. It's strong, durable, and can be sharpened to a fine edge."

Goku hefted the piece of iron, feeling its heft and examining its surface. It was rough and cool to the touch, with a sense of potential hidden within.

"Next, you need to understand the forge itself," Toren continued. "This is where the magic happens. You use heat to make the metal pliable, and then you shape it with your hammer."

[Illuvia]

“Breakfast sounds amazing right now,” Luvi said, only just realizing how hungry she was. She’d been so excited to start their lesson that she had forgotten all about food.

Luvi and Lumina followed along before taking a seat inside the workshop at a cluttered table. Lumina started to go over the proper way to cut a well, but she kept getting distracted by the smith. She kept glancing over and losing her train of thought.

“What’s your problem today,” Luvi asked.

“His voice is so loud, it’s breaking my concentration,” Lumina said before taking a deep breath. “Basically, once you remove the pressure points from a well, you need to start cutting away at the well. You’ll slowly uncover more pressure points which you will need to tap to continue cutting until the well is in the right shape.”

“The right shape?”

“Yes, either a sphere, or diamond, whatever you want. I’m partial to rings with wells that are cut like gemstones. Anyways, here, I’ve marked some ‘pretend’ impurities on this rock. You can practice on it until Goku’s lesson is over.”

Sitting down and focusing on a little rock for more than ten minutes or so made Luvi’s hands start to cramp. It was a little like sculpting, which she had a little experience in. The difference was, that if she messed up the well was like to blow up in her face so she had to practice simple, smooth, and easy strokes against the stone.

“No, that’s definitely too hard,” Lumina would say at times as Luvi got impatient.

[Goku]

Goku continued with the lesson. Torin demonstrated by placing the iron in the forge, explaining the importance of reaching the right temperature. "Too hot, and you'll ruin the metal. Too cold, and it won't shape properly. You need to find that perfect balance."

Goku watched intently as the iron heated, glowing a bright orange. Toren pulled it from the forge with a pair of tongs and placed it on the anvil.

"Now comes the hammering," Toren said, picking up a heavy hammer. "You need to strike with purpose. Each blow should shape the metal closer to your vision. It's not about brute force; it's about control and precision."

He demonstrated with a few measured strikes, shaping the iron into a basic blade shape. Then he handed the hammer to Goku. "Your turn."

Goku took the hammer, feeling its weight in his hand. He positioned himself over the anvil, taking a deep breath to steady himself. With a focused expression, he brought the hammer down on the glowing metal. The impact sent vibrations through his arm, and the iron flattened slightly under the blow.

"Not bad for a first strike," Toren said with an approving nod. "Keep going. Try to keep your strikes even and controlled."

Goku continued for the rest of the hour, his blows becoming more confident as he got a feel for the rhythm of the work. Each strike molded the iron, slowly transforming it into a recognizable shape. Sweat trickled down his face, and his muscles ached from the effort, but he felt a sense of satisfaction with each swing of the hammer.

Before he knew it, the hour was up and Toren was collecting his coin and shooing them out of his workshop.

“Come back this evening if you want to practice more.” He told him.

[Illuvia]

Luvi hadn’t made much progress over the past hour. She was hopeless with crafts, that much had been proven time and time again. Ensorcelling was like a craft but taken to the extreme. When Toren finally kicked them out Luvi felt like she hadn’t gotten anything out of her time except for a cramp.

Lumina pointed down the street and said, “there’s a roomy restaurant down there, I’d recommend it.”

Luvi looked to Goku and asked, “shall we?”

Assuming he accepted, the ladies would make their way to a spacious table in the corner of a restaurant. Drinks were ordered and appetizers were served while Lumina continued to coach Luvi on how to properly cut the stone. She would mark a pot on the stone and watch closely as Luvi tried to tap away at it until Lumina said she could move on to scraping it.

Luvi wouldn’t ignore Goku – she would try to make small talk and ask him, “how did you like your smithing lesson? Do you really want to learn how to make weapons? Do you have any interest in trying out this tapping and cutting nonsense?”

Eventually Luvi would say, “this all feels a little excessive. Why can’t we practice on a real well? Is it really that dangerous?”

“Yes. A thousand times yes,” Lumina said with a groan. “But if you’re tired and or bored then we can move onto other things. I actually need to go soon so I will teach you a few things and we can meet up after your drill session.”

[Goku]

Goku picked at his food, his mind still lingering on the lessons he'd had at the forge. He was already tired from all the pounding on the anvil, and his muscles ached from the exertion. The rhythmic hammering had been satisfying in a way, but it had also taken its toll.

"I like the idea of being able to make equipment," he said to Luvi between bites. "It's something tangible, you know? Being able to craft a weapon or a piece of armor from scratch... there's a real sense of accomplishment in that."

"And I'm interested in ensorcelling and alchemy, too," Goku continued, "but none of that really matters if I can't apply it to some equipment. I mean, what's the point of knowing all this magical stuff if I can't put it to use in a way that matters?"

He paused, picking up one of the marked stones that Lumina had left for Luvi. He held it in his hand, feeling its weight and the smoothness of its surface. He could see the marks where he was supposed to tap, but the idea of having a gentle enough touch to do it right seemed almost laughable after the brutal force required at the forge.

"I can try," he said, mostly to himself. He took a small tool and began tapping at the stone. The first few strikes were too hard, and the stone chipped in unexpected ways. He sighed, shaking his head. "This isn't easy. I understand why you're having a hard time with it, Luvi."

[Illuvia]

“You do make a good point,” Luvi said, “maybe we ought to form a partnership? I can focus on ensorcelling and wells, while you work on the more mundane side of things like smithing? There’s probably little point in us both learning the same things. Though, I admit that it would probably be good if we both knew the basics.”

She pulled over another stone and started tapping while Lumina watched her with a careful eye. Luvi said, “maybe we could open a shop one day.”

Lumina chuckled, “you need wells to be able to open a shop. They’re not easy to come by, mind. Before we get any illusions of grandeur, the three of us need to go on some trips to find some wells. Which, now that I think about it, is going to be rather difficult with one of us being involved with the military.”

“That’s fair,” Luvi said with a sigh before her hand got swatted by Lumina.

“Too hard!”

Luvi scowled but then started tapping again, much more gently this time. She wondered if Goku would have an easier time with it but Lumina didn’t even pay him any attention. She wasn’t helping Luvi out of the goodness of her heart and she had no obligation to teach the man – nor could she handle multiple students. She needed to watch Luvi carefully. She swatted Luvi’s hand away then said, “you’ve got to be more patient. I know it’s boring but it’s really important. Life and death, if I’m being honest.”

[Goku]

He continued tapping the stone, but it was clear he didn't have the gentle touch required. The stone chipped unevenly, and he could tell that he wasn't making much progress. "Maybe I should find a teacher of my own," he said, more to himself than anyone else. "Or make some kind of deal with Lumina someday. But right now, I think I just need to focus on getting the basics down."

"A shop, huh? That would be something. But to Lumina’s point, we definitely need those wells first. How big of an issue is Illuvia’s military prospects? Does that limit us to a few trips per season? Tell you the truth I don’t know anything about looking for and finding wells. The few we’ve encountered have been entirely by chance. Lumina, do you have a way of finding them? If not then we might be out of luck.”

Goku's enthusiasm was infectious, his eyes shining with excitement at the prospect of this new adventure. "If you do have a way of finding then then this is going to be great. We’ve both got our strengths, and if we combine them, we could get rich.”

He tried to calm down and turn back to the stone in his hand. “I give up.” He said, passing it back. “After she does all that tapping and cutting, what’s next? Additionally, is that the end of the danger?”

The thought of dedicating so much time and effort to something only for it to fail sobered him up.

[Illuvia]

Lumina’s usual bubbly attitude was diminished by the frustrating task of teaching Luvi something that required a gentle touch. She said, “being in the military is a major roadblock. When she’s deployed somewhere she is unlikely to have hardly any time to go out and search. And while she’s stationed in the city it’s not as if we can make a week long trip. That being said, all is not lost. Wells come from Fractures and those can open up just about anywhere.”

Lumina tapped her fingers together as she thought, then continued, “perhaps you and I can go on scouting trips and we can fetch her once we find them. We might need some good maps and a little bit of navigation practice, but it should be doable. We don’t need her to look for the wells, just to obtain them.”

Luvi’s eyes were starting to hurt from squinting so much at the fine details of the rock. Some of the markings Lumina had made were hardly visible unless she looked very carefully. She held up a hand and said, “so you’re saying that wells can be found anywhere? Then why are they so rare?”

Lumina said, “just because they can open up anywhere doesn’t mean that they will. Plus, the world is vast. Take for instance the mountainstone. It can be found in the mountains, but have you seen a mountain range? Climbing atop a mountain is a multi week endeavor. And what about Glowstones? They can be found around fractures that occur in open spaces. Imagine a broad field stretching for miles and miles and trying to find a needle in the metaphorical haystack.”

“And,” Lumina asked before Luvi could speak, “wells are not created equal. They come in different classes of power, meaning there are some wells that we ought not to mess with until we are more experienced.”