Dungeons and Dalliances

5.18 – Blacksmithing II

Shara led Natalie off the street and deeper into her forge, giving them space to speak. She crossed her arms, leaned against the wall, and tilted her head inquisitively, indicating she was listening.

Natalie cleared her throat, seeming hesitant. "So …" she started. "How much do you know about unique ores?"

Shara's attention sharpened at the unexpected opening.

Unique ores? The vast majority of smithing was done with the same common materials. In the early levels, that meant mostly iron and silver: iron for standard armor and weapons, and silver for jewelry, accessories, or certain magical equipment.

She was aware, however, that the dungeon couldn't be neatly categorized. While it mostly spat out the same old deposits, there were rarer materials to be found. Sometimes, the dungeon fabricated entirely new resources. Ores, or plants, or whatever other materials, that were completely unique.

"I know of them," Shara said carefully. Her heart started beating faster in anticipation. At the implication. Why would Natalie bring this up, except if she herself had run into such a deposit?

Shara didn't need to clarify that she'd never worked with a unique metal. Even some high-level craftsmen never got the opportunity. Because unique resources were just that: unique. More than rare, enough to be called one-of-a-kind. Not something a journeyman would ever have access to.

And—this was just hearsay, as anything rare related to the dungeon—but unique resources were supposed to grant enormous experience to the craftsman that handled it. Refining and forging entire cartloads of iron wouldn't be half as valuable for Shara's progression as getting to work with something like a unique material. Hence her excitement.

But Shara might be getting ahead of herself. She waited—with anticipation—for Natalie to explain.

 "I think we found some," Natalie said, making Shara's heart jump with the confirmation. "Well, kind of. It might not be technically unique, because I think I can get more of it. But it's not an ore I could find any information on. Even the mining guild was useless."

Well, if even Tenet's mining guild didn't have information detailing what the ore was, then Shara herself certainly wouldn't know anything about it. And the identifier of 'unique' would be at least half accurate—if perhaps not at the most technical level.

While curious, Shara knew better than to badger Natalie about the situation. These sorts of topics were trade secrets: Shara herself, and Master Lee or anything blacksmith of repute, hoarded information as greedily as anyone. A practice standard across the world. So, Natalie would offer whatever on the topic was relevant, and Shara wouldn't be nosy and press.

"I see," Shara said with what she hoped was a cool, considering nod. "What's the name of it?"

There was a brief pause before Natalie answered. Shara could guess the reason behind her hesitation. Natalie hadn't fully made up her mind on whether she wanted to give the task to Shara. Shara honestly didn't know why she would come to her with this. She didn't think of herself as a poor blacksmith, but working with a rare resource was an insane opportunity; why not take it to someone better suited to the task?

"Erotite," Natalie finally said. "Ever heard of it?"

Unsurprisingly, Shara hadn't. She shook her head in a negative.

"It's pink. Kind of lustrous. Here, I'll show you."

Natalie scooped out a small glass ball from a pouch on her belt: a monster core. With a mental command, a thick lump of the mined ore separated from the orb, materializing into Natalie's hand. She passed it over. Fascinated, Shara took the chunk of rock.

It was as Natalie had described. The lump of ore in her hand was a lustrous pink that seemed to glow with an inner light. She turned it over, inspecting it from every angle with an expert smith's gaze. It felt pleasantly warm, warmer than made sense, seeing how it'd been sitting inert inside the monster core. Gazing at the material, she felt a sudden urge to curl her fingers protectively around it. For a second, the rock's soft glow seemed to brighten, and Shara got the impression, almost, that it was blushing. She was struck by a strange sense of connection, an affinity she had never felt towards the mundane ores she'd spent so much time working with. There was potential here. Shara sensed it. The ore was special. It held a promise of something intangible, but significant.

She shook her head to clear it, the impression coming on suddenly and intensely. With an oddly strong reluctance, she forced herself to hand back the clump. Her heart was racing.

"And you need someone to refine it?" Shara asked, still trying to keep a calm, professional demeanor, though it was becoming harder by the moment. Did Natalie even realize what kind of opportunity she was giving her? As a Tenet student, she had to; Tenet students were the last category of people who would be clueless on how the dungeon worked.

"Yeah. And make something with it, too."

"Oh? What were you thinking?" Then, hesitating, Shara realized she couldn't, in good conscious, accept the offer without clarifying. "And I might not be the best person for the job." The words came reluctantly, but Shara had to say them. It wouldn't be right, otherwise. "For a unique ore, you could have a master smith take the job—for free. Hell, they'd pay you."

"Yeah, probably," Natalie said. "But I want you to."

"Why?"

"Because of that," Natalie said, her lips quirking in amusement. "That disclaimer you just gave. I did a bit of shopping around, and you've got a reputation for being straightforward and honest." She hesitated. "And I want this to stay on the down-low. For no one to know about it, besides me and you. If that's fine?"

Shara blinked. She bit her tongue to stop the questions from coming out. Why would Natalie even want it to be a secret? For what purpose? Possibly to keep it from being stolen, but Natalie was a Tenet student. She hardly had to fear someone would come after her. Nobody was that stupid. Tenet was famously protective of its students. Some would say excessively, gleeful-in-their-retribution, so.

Though the questions only kept piling up, Shara simply said, "Then I won't tell a soul."

Natalie nodded, seeming relieved.

"I'll need some details, though, working with an ore I've never seen," Shara said. "And you didn't tell me. What do you want from it?"

"Not sure. Whatever it's good for. Can't you feel that out? As a craftsman?"

There was a significant amount of intuition that came with crafting classes; that was what Natalie meant. Oftentimes, it felt like Shara's skills and class guided her more than her many years of experience.

"We can. But it'd still be nice to have a general idea. A starting point."

Natalie shrugged. "I guess a breastplate," she said. "Or other armor. But really, I just want to see what you can do with it. Have plenty, anyway, and I think I can get more. So it's not a huge deal."

Shara certainly would have thought a unique ore would be a 'huge deal'. It felt like Natalie was acting far too blase about the situation. But it was hardly on Shara to question her, however intrigued in the details. But really, a unique ore that Natalie felt confident she could track down again? How strange.

"Then I'll do my best."

"Is a rush order fine? Can I come back tomorrow?"

Shara nodded. She was being offered the opportunity of a lifetime; a rapid turn-around for the task was the least Natalie could ask of her. Shara would stay up all night working on it if she had to. Hell, she probably would have anyway; she'd be restless until the task was finished.

"Perfect," Natalie said. "Well, okay, I'll see you then."