Chapter 65- Warg Shadow Boots
"Come on, let’s go."
Leo urged Hugh forward. The path was clear. Only trees and shade. No players, no bandits, no beasts.
"Half a mile," Hugh muttered. "You said it was half a mile. Just around the corner. We’ve already walked more than a mile."
Leo gave him a wry smile and kept walking.
The trees thinned out.
The woods opened into a clearing filled with old ruins. Broken walls and scattered stones covered the ground.
"This is it."
Hugh looked around. "This is it?"
Leo walked ahead without answering. He led Hugh between the ruined walls until they reached a large flat stone set into the ground. Leo pressed his palm flat against it. Lines of light spread across the surface. He grabbed Hugh’s wrist and pulled him forward.
"What are you doing—?"
The light swallowed them.
They stood inside the forge dimension.
Hugh’s eyes went wide. His mouth open.
The room was large and open. The ceiling was high and dark, with small points of light scattered across it. In the center stood the main forge. Three flames burned inside the hearth—one gold, one green, one black. They twisted around each other in a steady rhythm. Workbenches lined the walls. Tools of different sizes were arranged on them. The air was warm and carried the strong smell of hot metal and stone.
Hugh took a few steps inside and set his pack down carefully on the floor.
He walked toward the central forge and stared at the flames for a long time.
"This flame... it seems special."
"It is," Leo said. "You can use it anywhere inside this dimension. It raises forging efficiency and burns impurities out of the metal better than normal fire. You’ll learn the rest while working."
He paused.
"If you need information about anything here, ask him."
Leo raised his hand. A ball of fire formed in the air. It had two eyes and a mouth.
Hugh looked at Leo, then at the fireball, then back at Leo again. He did not speak.
Surtr floated there, clearly unprepared for the sudden summons.
"This is Surtr," Leo said. "An ancient flame. He is sentient. He has existed for a very long long..... time."
Hugh straightened and gave a short, formal nod. "Greetings, Lord Surtr."
Surtr’s eyes widened slightly at the title. Leo had treated him without much respect for a long time, so the sudden courtesy stood out.
"Ohh..." Surtr’s voice swelled with pleasure. "Now this is a respectful man. You recognize this lord and show the proper deference—unlike this ungrateful brat. Good. Good."
He repeated the word with obvious satisfaction, smugness radiating from him in visible waves.
"I shall take good care of you. Have no fear. Should you encounter anything beyond your knowledge, simply ask. I have existed long enough to know more than a thing or two."
Hugh nodded once. "Thank you, Lord Surtr."
A notification sounded.
[Ding~]
[Forge Sight – Passive Scan]
Detected 30 people within a 500-meter radius of the ruins.
Leo opened the interface and switched to the external view. A group of players was moving through the ruins above. Several of them were the same bandits he had killed earlier. They had already respawned and returned.
"Are they from before?" Hugh asked, looking at the display.
"Yes. Tch...Let them search." Leo clicked his tongue and closed the screen.
He walked to a workbench and began laying out materials. Bars of Umbra steel. Starfall shards. Several smaller pieces of ore and reagents. After arranging them, he took out a dark stone and set it on the table.
"Want to see a legendary material?"
Hugh’s breath caught. He had spent decades at the forge and never once laid hands on anything of legendary grade. Leo pointed at the Aegis Shield Stone that sat on the bench like a quiet accusation against every limitation he had ever accepted.
....
Leo picked up a mid-sized crucible.
"First I need to combine the Starfall shards with the Umbra bars."
He placed the Starfall pieces in the center of the crucible and packed the Umbra shards tightly around them. Then he called the Eternal Flame.
The three-colored fire poured into the crucible. The heat rose quickly. After a short time the crucible began to crack. Thin lines spread across the surface. Before the metals could fully melt, the container broke.
Leo looked at the main forge. Inside the hearth sat a much larger crucible. The Eternal Flame already burned within it. The large crucible showed no cracks or damage.
Leo transferred the solid pieces and the half-melted metal into the large crucible. He increased the heat and adjusted the flame carefully. The metals slowly sank and mixed. After several minutes both materials had fully melted into a single dark pool.
The melting was done. The next problem appeared immediately.
"Ahh... Hugh. Any idea how I’m supposed to get the metal out of this thing?"
Hugh looked at the massive crucible, then at Leo, then back again.
"Why are you asking me?"
"You don’t know?" Leo asked again.
"How the hell would I know?" Hugh shot back. "It’s your fucking smithy."
"Tch. Brainless fools, both of you," Surtr muttered. "There should be a release mechanism near the base. Look properly."
Leo crouched and ran his hand along the lower part of the crucible. He found a thick lever set into a slot. He quickly brought number of cube molds.
He pulled the lever. A gate opened and the molten metal flowed out in a steady stream into the mold underneath. The liquid metal filled it smoothly.
He waited until the surface cooled enough to hold its shape. Then he quenched the pieces and removed it from the mould. A solid rectangular billet of dark metal now sat on the workbench. It was still hot.
Leo took a fine carving pen and began etching channel runes across the surfaces of the metals. He worked carefully, following the same pattern he had used on his hammer. The lines sank cleanly into the metal.
When the runes were finished, he picked up the Starfall Hammer.
He reheated the billet and placed it on the anvil. The first series of blows flattened it. He turned the piece, rolled the edges, and folded it over. Then he reheated it again and repeated the process. Flatten. Fold. Hammer. Reheat. He continued this cycle many times. Each fold mixed the two original metals more thoroughly. Sparks flew with every strike. The residual heat from the Eternal Flame continued to burn remaining impurities out of the alloy.
After a long series of folds, Leo stopped and examined the billet. The color was even. The grain looked consistent. Umbra Shard had started as epic-grade material. Starfall had been rare-grade. After the repeated folding under the Starfall Hammer and the purifying effect of the Eternal Flame, the combined metal had risen to epic grade.
Leo repeated the entire melting, pouring, and folding process with the remaining material until he had enough matched billets for a full pair of boots.
Then he began shaping the individual parts.
He took the first billet, reheated it, and began drawing it out into a wide plate. He worked from the center toward the edges, thinning the outer sections while keeping a slight thickness through the middle. When the plate reached the correct size, he placed it against the rounded horn of the anvil. Using controlled downward strikes, he bent the plate into a gentle curve that matched the shape of a sole. He checked the curve several times against a wooden last he had prepared earlier, adjusted the shape, reheated when necessary, and continued until the sole plate sat correctly.
He made the second sole plate using the same steps.
Next he worked on the heel cups.
Leo cut a square piece from one of the billets and heated it until it glowed orange. He placed the hot metal over a shallow bowl-shaped swage that he had bolted to the foot of the anvil. Using hammer, he began sinking the metal into the dish. The first blows only created a shallow depression. He continued striking in a circular pattern, moving outward from the center.
Gradually the metal took the curved shape. He paused to reheat whenever the steel cooled too much. When the cup reached the proper depth, he quenched it to set the form, then reheated it once more to refine the edges and smooth out small irregularities.
The toe caps were made the same way, but with a smaller swage and a tighter curve. Leo repeated the heating, sinking, and refining steps until both toe caps matched.
For the calf guards he used a different method. He drew out longer plates, keeping them slightly tapered. Then he placed each plate against a heavy iron mandrel and hammered it around the curved surface, forming the shape that would fit along the front of the lower leg. He checked the fit against a wooden leg form and made small corrections as needed.
Hugh had moved closer by this point. He watched the mandrel work without speaking, his eyes following every strike.
Assembly came next.
Leo laid out all the finished pieces: two sole plates, two heel cups, two toe caps, and two calf guards. He began fitting them together. The joints did not line up cleanly. Each piece had cooled with a small amount of distortion, so the edges sat unevenly.
He did not force the fit.
Instead, he reheated one joint at a time. He clamped the overlapping edges with tongs and hammered them together while the metal was hot. The repeated blows forced the surfaces to merge. He worked slowly, checking the alignment after every few strikes. When one seam was solid, he moved to the next.
The process took time. Some joints required multiple reheating cycles before the gap fully closed and the metal fused into a continuous surface.
After all the metal pieces were joined, Leo turned to the leather lining.
He cut pieces from a roll of treated hide according to the inner measurements of the boots. Using a heavy needle and oiled thread, he stitched the lining into place. Each stitch was pulled tight. He used the wooden end of a hammer handle to press the seams flat. The leather would protect the wearer’s legs and reduce noise when walking.
When the last stitch was finished, Leo set the completed boots on the workbench and stepped back.
The pair stood side by side. The dark metal had a uniform color. The curves were even. The weight distribution looked balanced. He picked one up and checked the interior, then the other. Both were solid.
Leo placed them back on the bench and exhaled.
The physical forging was complete.
Now he only needed to forge a soul into them.
.....