Forged Legacy

The two read through the night just like Harvey had, and he had to hold them back when they tried to rush over to the church.

“There are at least 30 people asleep in there! You have to wait.” Harvey urged.

“Yeah, 30 people I brought there. I can kick them out!” Hannah replied.

“You’re not their mother. That argument doesn’t work in this situation.” He laughed.

“He’s right, Hannah. What’s a few hours of sleep going to change? We could use the rest.” Julian consoled.

“My puppy is out in the forest somewhere just waiting for his mommy to rescue him. Are you really going to leave him out in the cold just because you’re a little sleepy?” She mocked in a sing-song voice.

“Reading a book about taming beasts doesn’t make puppies start appearing. Unless you’re trying to tame a Bloodrunn, you aren’t adopting tonight.” Julian replied.

“Maybe I will tame a Bloodrunn, then when I reach level 5 and get my first skill, I can tell it to bite your foot.” Hannah quipped, resigning herself to a sleeping bag.

He laughed as he climbed into his own, blowing out the lantern now that their books had disintegrated. His body was exhausted, but there was no way he’d fall asleep anytime soon.

The potential of his newest revelation was just too exciting.

Hannah’s beastmastery guide had something the others didn’t... a blueprint for her first skill.

Beastmastery was powerful, but its strength depended on convincing a creature you couldn’t even talk to that it was better off helping you than eating you. To solve this, the guide provided a universal blueprint that, when combined with an existing relationship with your beast, established a telepathic link.

A skill like this was miraculous on its own, but it was the components that created it that interested Harvey. So far, they have relied solely on The Loom, but this proved it was possible to guide the process.

He tried to wrap his head around it all by putting it in coding terms.

Each skill was a script he could run. Some were short and simple, not needing a lot of power. Others were long and complex, requiring most of the computer's processing power to execute. So far, they’d treated the Loom like an AI code-builder that spit out the best solution it could think of based on the prompt they gave it. Harvey had no idea what coding language it used, so he couldn’t do anything to improve the output. Dıscover more novels at NoveI[F]ire.net

That was all well and good if the entire process was some magical enigma they were never meant to understand. But, the fact a template like hers even existed meant the language had repeatable functions.

If he learned the language, he could create his own templates. Bring a blueprint to The Loom. Forge his own legacy, instead of letting The System decide his path for him.

His heart raced in his chest, the warm sleeping bag feeling like a cage restraining his boundless creativity.

He still had no idea how he was going to learn the language, but he’d done it plenty of times before as a software developer! He fantasized about all the earth-shattering skills he wanted to make down the road, but eventually drifted off to sleep.

Hannah and Julian were gone when he woke up, but that didn’t surprise him. He was sure they rushed to the Loom the second the sun's first rays hit the chapel windows. That was perfect. It let him get to work without any distractions.

Elena wouldn’t be by for a while, but that was ok. He didn’t need her help for the casting process. He could prepare a large batch of rods and ingots so they could hit the ground running as soon as she showed up.

Moving to his massive pile of raw iron, he grabbed a baseball-sized chunk and tested his skill. Only the Essence Infused material had given him a system prompt before, but now a screen popped up the second he looked at it.

Raw Iron Chunk | G Grade | Inferior

Standard Iron Ore mixed with stone. Useless in its current state, but it can be melted down into a usable product.

It was as he expected. The screen also provided a few details like its melting point, what oxide this chunk contained, and a list of items he’d created with it. Knowing it was Hematite instead of Magnetite really did nothing for him at the moment, but the built-in cookbook feature could be useful when he needed to gather materials in the future.

Grabbing a handful, he went inside and got cleaning.

His goal for the day was to create a third batch of nails, a few more hinges, and a set of basic tools for Julian. If he could make a hammer, saw, and a chisel, Julian could at least get started working on his new profession.

Harvey could just give him one of the hammers and chisels he already had, but he was loath to part with any of his tools. He’d found a use for all of them already, and giving one up felt like losing a piece of the engine he was trying to build.

He doesn’t want a blacksmith's hammer. He wants a construction hammer! Both were just metal on the end of a stick, but he doesn’t need to know that… Harvey rationalized, spitting when a stone flew off the wire brush towards his mouth.

The crucible piled high, Harvey lit the forge. It was fascinating to see the temperature skyrocket in real time, each pump of the bellows moving the firepot closer to what he needed. There were a lot of gamelike things going on around him, but the thermometer floating in his peripheral vision was right on the nose. Usually, he’d avoid staring into the fire to try and protect his eyes, but the subtle glow of the sigil protected him. He stared at the crucible, watching the heat rise.

It was hypnotic. The flash of color each time a charcoal popped, sending sparks up into the chimney. It was chaotic, yet coordinated.

This is why people used to stare at the radio in old photos. Life’s a lot different without infinite scroll. Harvey laughed to himself.

Over the next few hours, he prepped various molds and cast his material for the day. During his second batch, Elena returned and got to work on another living portrait for him. Just as he finished the third, Hannah and Julian walked in.

“We got two new professionals in the building!” Hannah cheered. “Damn, it’s hot in here.”

Harvey didn’t respond, too focused on holding the crucible steady as he poured his last batch. He’d made a mold of a few small rectangles, aiming for ingots instead of the nail rods.

“He has to focus on this part,” Elena explained for him, the trio watching the red-hot liquid settle into place. When it was done, he set the crucible on the edge of the forge, dropped his tongs on the anvil, and wiped the sweat from his face.

“Congrats! What’d you get?” Harvey asked.

“If we’re interrupting, we can come back later.” Julian offered.

“No, you’re good. I have to wait for this stuff to cool down a bit anyway. I want to hear!” Harvey encouraged.

“I was able to get a Rare one called Beast Caretaker. It was just like you said. Reading the guide was enough, but it got brighter when I added all the time spent with my horse back home and my pre-vet classes!” Hannah cheered as a screen appeared.