Mythran's Master Of All

Donan sat in silence for a while after Ren told the meteor story. Teepo had been silent, too. Teepo knew some of the story, but not most of it and was just as captured in the tale as Donan had been. Ren wasn't sure what Donan was thinking about, but Ren didn't say anything in case Donan needed the silence to think.

“If what you said is right... that it was on fire and broke apart... then just trying to smelt it won't work. It will just absorb the heat and crack again.” Donan said.

Ren nodded, because he had come to the same conclusion and didn't know what to do about it.

“Then there's only one solution. You'll need to make a molten pool of iron and slowly dip it in to melt it.”

“Won't that dilute the ore?” Ren asked.

Donan nodded. “We'll have to be very careful about the amount of iron we use. Too little, and there won't be enough molten metal to make a difference. Too much, and it will dissolve and just become an impurity in the iron.”

“How are we going to find a balance?” If Ren understood the problem correctly, this task was going to be a difficult one.

Donan waved Ren into the storage area. Ren followed and Donan pointed to a big stack of stone bricks. “Obviously, the forges we have now just won't do for such a big job.”

Ren knew how many stone bricks it took to make a normal forge and took 3 times as many, just in case.

“It will have to be at least double in size.” Donan said and led the way to the middle of the shop and moved the bench that was there with little effort. The bench's legs made a loud scraping sound as Donan shoved it across the floor and next to the wall of blacksmith tools.

“Once it's built, we'll have to make a special smelting top for it, to be deep enough for the metal to stay hot enough, but not too shallow that it will spill when we add the meteoric ore.” Donan explained. “If my experience is correct, an equal amount of iron to meteoric ore should be enough to do the job.”

Ren nodded and used the plans for his Modified Enchanted Forge and built it to be just over twice the normal size. Ren had almost taken enough bricks to make it, and only had to go back to get the top ones that needed to be ground down anyways. Once it was completed, Ren enchanted it with double the fire glyphs on the sides and double the wind glyphs on the ends, to ensure that it would produce heat as evenly as possible. If more needed to be enchanted, Ren could always use the top ones that were tilted downwards.

Once the big forge was built, Donan and Ren got to work on making a much larger smelting apparatus to cover it. It too a while to figure out how to get one to fit, then to reinforce it enough so that it wouldn't collapse under the weight of so much molten metal. Hours later, they were finished and had the apparatus mounted safely on the new forge. They stepped back and admired their work.

“Is that a monster, or what?” Donan said and grinned.

Ren wiped sweat off his forehead. “It sure is! I don't think anyone has ever seen anything like it.”

Donan nodded. “Well... we might as well fire it up.” Donan said and shook his head. “I'm so used to doing so much prep work with coals and oil that just saying 'Activate' seems like cheat-.”

The forge lit up at the word 'Activate' and a blast of heat filled the shop.

“Whew!” Ren said and stepped back. “I might have overdone it a little with the enchantments.”

“Nonsense!” Donan said. The smelting apparatus glowed a bright red along the bottom and Donan nodded. “It's perfect.”

“Great... now how do we figure out how much iron to use?” Ren asked.

“That's the easy part.” Donan said and brought over one of the oil barrels they'd used to cool off the short swords. Donan tied a length of rope around the meteoric ore and the barrel cover, then lowered it into the barrel. Donan must have trimmed the cover to fit inside the mouth of the barrel. The oil rose up and coated the inside until it almost reached the top and Donan pulled out the ore and shook it.

“This isn't exact, since some of the oil will stick to what you put in, but it's close enough to not matter.” Donan said and asked Ren to get a pile of his normal quality iron ore bricks. Donan piled what he thought would be enough and lowered it in. The oil didn't get up to the same level and Ren added more bricks. Once the oil was at the right level, Donan pulled it out and they cleaned off the bricks and the ore.

“There we go. A good estimation of how much we need with almost no guessing.” Donan said and Ren nodded.

They added the iron bricks slowly, letting each one melt in turn. Once all the bricks were in, Donan and Ren skimmed off the imperfections. They let it simmer for a few more minutes and then took the meteoric ore and slowly lowered it into the molten metal. If they slipped now, all of their planning and preparation would mean nothing. The ore slowly began to melt into the molten metal and they lowered it down more.

“Easy, now. Be careful.” Donan said.

Ren nodded and lowered the ore in a bit more. Ren's arm touched the side of the side of the custom made smelting pot and he hissed, but didn't jiggle the ore or drop it. Donan heard Ren but didn't comment. After 5 minutes, all of the meteoric ore was in the smelter and was a nice, flowing liquid and a bright green color.

“I've never used this ore before, but I think we should only mix it a little bit with the molten iron and then pour. It will give the ore stability, while leaving the majority of the iron in the smelter.” Donan suggested.

Ren nodded and they stirred it only a few times, and didn't churn it like a true mixture would need.

“Now... what do you want to cast first?” Donan asked.

Ren didn't even have to think about it. “A large pickaxe.”

Donan was going to ask why that and not a sword or something, but then shrugged. Donan got the large pickaxe mold and Ren said to remove the spacer for the wooden handle. Donan widened his eyes. “Ren... no one uses a solid metal pickaxe.” Donan said. “The wooden handle helps to absorb the shock of digging.”

“I know.” Ren said and smiled.

Donan shook his head and did as Ren requested. They poured the molten meteoric ore into the mold and once it flowed out the top they stopped pouring. They watched as the overflow dried and turned into a dull green.

“Another minute, I think.” Donan said. “Just in case it's not set inside.”

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After another anxious minute, Donan popped the mold and out came a medium green pickaxe with iron swirls throughout. Ren picked it up with his slightly bent tongs and dipped it into the oil barrel. He held it there for a minute and took it out. Ren flicked off the oil and wiped it down. It was a thing of beauty. It looked like marble, except it was green and grey instead of white.

“Identify.”