Jopp watched quietly, the bells on his neck making soft, thoughtful sounds.
When I placed everything in front of him, he bowed slowly in gratitude, and his four red, luminescent hands spread out. Each hand began to collect the items, carefully, with the precision of a hand that had seen thousands of forges.
The flames in the forge began to change, shifting from orange to deep emerald to a clear, almost white color.
The air hummed with increasing heat, and the walls of the forge began to reflect the flames, as if they were mirrors themselves.
The entire room was now filled with magic, smelling of molten metal, salt, and misty petals.
Jopp stood by the massive furnace, his luminescent hands moving with filigree precision. Every movement was like a part of an ancient ritual, not just a craft, but an art passed down through generations.
He jingled the bells on his wrist, and the sound echoed in the walls, as if the metal itself was listening to the command.
First, the [Flower of Mist] was thrown into the flames. When the bud touched the heat, there was no smoke or ash; instead, a cold breeze blew from the fire.
A silvery mist swirled around the furnace, and a soft, misty halo appeared over the molten metal, where ghostly petals floated.
They touched the fire and did not burn, but instead intertwined with the metal, making it as flexible as the breath of the wind.
Next, Jopp added the [Green Poison Ant Salt Crystal]. With a crack, the crystal shattered, sending out green sparks that looked like droplets of poison frozen in the air.
These sparks settled on the walls of the furnace, leaving behind ancient runes that glowed with a soft light.
Finally, with almost ritualistic care, Jopp picked up the [Mist Leaf], a slender dagger with a smooth shape that seemed to have been forged from the breath of the clouds.
He held it in his hands a little longer than he should have, and the bells rang out more quietly than usual. Even Mor Adelina noticed it.
—He can feel the structure of the weapon.
She said softly.
—Fairy smiths have not just hands, but the ear of the heart. They do not work with metal, they speak to it.
When Jopp lowered the dagger into the molten metal, it did not hiss or flare up as I had expected. Instead, everything around me fell silent.
For a moment, even the fire seemed to hold its breath, and a soft ringing sound, like a distant bell, echoed through the air, and ripples spread across the surface of the molten metal, like waves on water.
Fritte snuggled closer to me and whispered:
—Don't be afraid. This is a sign that the alloy has "accepted" the weapon. If he had rejected, the flame would have turned black.
Adelina watched the plague with a faint smile. There was no doubt in her voice, just calm confidence:
— Everything is going right. Jopp is engaged in remelting through aura matching. This process is rare, and can only be done by craftsmen who once trained in the distant mountains where giants rule and dwarves forge.
The flame suddenly flashed brighter, so that for a moment it blinded everyone. A whirlwind of light spun out of the furnace and rose to the ceiling, turning into a rain of small sparks.
I instinctively closed my eyes, but I felt no danger in the light, only warmth and the vibration of power.
As the glow faded, the furnace hummed softly with a steady, peaceful sound.
Jopp made a few short gestures, and Fritte translated, turning to me:
—He says the process is going perfectly. The metal is responding well.
Jopp, without saying a word, made a few deft gestures, and in the same second, his orange aura flared up more strongly, flooding the hall with a warm amber light.
Fritte whispered softly in my ear:
—The process of 'Metal Birth' has begun. He does it without tools, only through his aura.
Two bright streams of light erupted from Jopp's hands, swirling into the shape of giant, ephemeral arms, semi-transparent yet tangible.
They moved in sync with the master's movements, like shadows of his soul. Each flash carried a sense of tension, focus, and the strange grandeur of a craft elevated to the realm of art.
Jopp lifted a vessel filled with a molten substance, a blend of metal, magic, and rare materials, and slowly poured it onto the blacksmith's smooth, gleaming table.
The hot slurry spread out, forming a pulsating, puddle-like heart that beat as if it were alive. The surface flared with internal impulses, as if a mind were awakening within it.
The massive auric hands rose above the table and began to rhythmically strike the molten metal.
CLIN!
The first strike was delivered, and it sent a vibrational response through the walls of the forge, as if hundreds of tiny bells were ringing in unison.
CLIN! CLIN! KLIN!
Each next blow was accompanied by a new ringing, and this ringing was not just a sound, it was the music of the blacksmith's soul.
The ethereal copy of Mor Adelina, standing next to me, watched quietly, her face reflecting the orange glow of the flames. She spoke softly, but her voice was drowned out by the ringing.
—He's not just forging metal. He's forging memories. Every sound of the bells represents his feelings, his thoughts, his story.
On the floor, one by one, magical circles began to appear, thin lines that looked as if they had been burned by an emerald flame. They intertwined, forming patterns of ancient writing and seals with the emblem of the Fairy Kingdom.
The metal on the table glowed more intensely, first with a soft orange light, then with a golden-green hue, and then began to refract, as if it were turning into a crystal.
Fritte leaned against my shoulder, whispering softly, with a mixture of excitement and slight fear:
—This... this is more than just forging. This is the creation of a weapon with the soul of a fairy woven into it.
Jopp's bells no longer sounded chaotic, but rather like a melody, deep, ringing, and multi-layered. As the melody grew louder, the aura surrounding the blacksmith intensified.
It was no longer just light; it began to show.
Images appeared around Jopp, ghostly and transparent, as if projected onto an invisible screen.
In these visions, you could see something resembling memories. At first, they were blurry: the silhouettes of mountains, a desert of metals where the sky reflected the mirrored sands. Then the image became clear.
I and the others saw a battle.
A massive lizard, resembling a metallic dragon, stood amidst the lava cracks. Its body shimmered with steel, and its eyes glowed with a cold, electric light.
Against it stood the figure of Jopp, still young, his eyes burning, his hammer glowing with blue fire. He struck at the monster, but each blow only produced sparks.
Barnadat roared, and a wave of silver lightning swept across half the valley.
—The Metal Lord...
Mor Adelina said softly, staring at the vision.
— It was back when Jopp was still a wanderer. He wanted to prove that metal obeys the will of the soul, not the power of a monster.
The vision intensified: Barnadat opened his mouth, releasing a wave of light, and at that moment something could be seen reaching for Jopp.
Silver threads, thin but durable. They touched his face, then his tongue... and the flame inside his mouth died down. At the same second, the bells on his arm rang for the first time.
I shuddered, it was the moment when he lost his voice. It's strange, but I feel like this is another unique clue that I don't intend to explore yet.
The aura around the blacksmith exploded in a flash and everything disappeared.
The visions faded as if they were wiped from the surface of the air. The ringing became muted and finally ceased. The magic circles faded, crumbling into dust.
On the table in front of Jopp lay a finished weapon, renewed, imbued with his history and pain.
More Adeline made a slight gesture with her hand and silence fell around them again. She spoke softly, with a touch of solemnity in her voice:
—The weapon has been reforged... Now he can give it to you.
Jopp, standing amidst the sparks and steam, looked at me in confusion. His eyes shone like the metal under the last blow of the hammer.
He smiled shyly but sincerely, and carefully holding each of the weapons, he handed them to me. His hands trembled as if he were not handing over weapons, but a part of his soul.
Mor Adelina approached, examined the weapons with a keen eye, and said with reverence:
—Disava's blades... have awakened. They are no longer just steel and enchantment; they now have a name.
She paused, as if imagining the ancient spirits that had awakened within the blades:
—[Awakened Morna] and [Sleeping Scarlet].
As if in response to her words, a soft light emanated from the blades: green, like the morning's verdant foliage, and crimson, like a dewdrop on a rose petal.
Then Jopp, with the same soft jingle of bells, held out a third object: a massive, now-upgraded pair of brass knuckles. Tiny, petal-like spikes shimmered on their surface.
— [Rosehip Strike], they're not only striking now, but they're also singing their song with you.
[Awakened Morna ]
Type: Light Weapon (One-Handed)
Level: 22
Damage: 26 – 43
Attack Speed: +20%
Element: Mist / Poison
*Dagger forged from the wings of the Misty Leaf-Bearer and awakened by the breath of Morna Lunn, the ancient spirit of the mists.
*The blade has been reborn: It has become translucent, flexible, as if woven from the night's breath of the swamps.
*Inside the blade, a glowing emerald crystal slowly pulsates, a remnant of the Poison Ant's Salt Stone, neutralizing toxins and enhancing the connection with natural magic.
As the wielder moves, a thin smoky trail follows them, and the sound of their footsteps fades away.
+8% chance to dodge in foggy, gloomy, or swampy locations
+10% resistance to poisons
+5% chance to deal "Fog Strike" a critical strike that deals double damage if the target is blinded, poisoned, or disoriented.
[ Sleeping Scarlet]
Type: Melee Weapon (Dagger)
Equipment Level: 23+
Specifications:
Damage: 22-34
*Each 3rd attack casts a "Scarlet Bleed" that causes 10 damage. damage per second for 5 seconds.
*When attacking a poisonous enemy, there is a 20% chance to activate the Poison Resonance effect, causing a wave of scarlet poison to strike the target and nearby enemies within a 2-meter radius.
*When killing an enemy, there is a 10% chance to restore 3% HP (the effect does not stack).
Attack speed: +10%
Crit. Chance: +12%
Crit. Damage: +25%
Durability: 100/100
[ Rosehip Strike]
Type: Melee Weapon Knuckles (Fist)
Equipment Level: 20
Damage: 26–38
Attack Speed: Very High (+20% to Combo Speed)
*Every 3 consecutive hits inflict the Rotting Blood effect (−8 HP/sec, lasts 6 seconds, can be stacked up to 3 times).
+15% Poison Resistance due to the Ant's Chitin.
+10% Chance to Counterattack when Blocking a Melee Attack.
Durability: 120/120
[Pain Bloom] (Passive)
When the owner's HP drops below 30%, they enter the "Blood Berserker" state:
Damage is increased by +35%
Each attack restores 2% HP
Duration: 12 seconds
Activates once per battle.
I was very surprised to see how powerful the weapon was, and I now had a pretty good resistance to poison, as if everything had been arranged so that I was almost on par with the Fourth Apostil.