"The dwarves have an impressive level of control over flames, I can see the massive lake of boiling rock but I can not feel the heat at all."

It seems like the first one who was able to speak after seeing the caldera was Aelfraed who began complementing our mages, who were not golems this time but were instead the few other magma smiths within the mountain. Since they were the only ones other than myself that could control the heat well enough to protect our human guests.

"Welcome to the heart of Brimstone Mountain. King Traisan, what weapon do you feel most comfortable wielding?"

"I am trained in the art of many weapons, but the most experience I have is wielding longsword."

"Very well, as a token of our goodwill towards your Kingdom for our upcoming negotiations I shall craft a longsword made of orichalcum, the rarest metal in our mountain. Good Smith Reinhart, please feel this ore and confirm it is the same material that made up one of the ingots we gifted to your King."

I handed the ore to the smith, it was still hot from being stored so close to the lake, so I could see him begin to sweat as he inspected the metal.

"It appears to have more impurities and be weaker than the ingot my King received, but it contains the same shine and Ether repelling properties that the ingot does."

"Oh, so you noticed that the metal repels Ether? Well noticed."

I turned back to the King.

"King Traisan, this metal has a unique property that only we dwarves can utilize. As the ore will not melt from any level of heat that can be achieved through furnaces heated by coal, wood or Ether alone, magma is required to smelt it. Once the ore has melted however, the property of repelling Ether is reversed and it begins absorbing Ether like dry soil on a rainy day. Any Ether injected or used on the material during this process will strengthen the resulting metal significantly, but it will only continue to absorb Ether for as long as it is kept at its melting point."

The King's facial features slowly change from impressed to stunned.

"Truly a marvelous metal, does it have a limit on the amount of Ether it can absorb?"

"Even I have not yet found the limits it can reach, which makes orichalcum stand on its own given that even the other rare metals we forge here do have a limit I can reach while reinforcing their inherent properties."

He nods thoughtfully, probably lost in thought on if he can acquire orichalcum arms or armor in decent amounts. To be fair, it would be the common thing to think of as a ruler. The more powerful men you can outfit with power equipment the easier you can win in a battle.

"I will advise you not to think that we would be willing to sell armor or weapons crafted from orichalcum. Not only is it very rare, but there is also only one within this mountain who is able to perform the task of refining and smithing it. It requires fine Ether control of numerous different aspects of the process simultaneously, making it difficult for any but me to maintain the expenditure without collapsing from Ether exhaustion before finishing the work."

"Ah, it is as you suspected as I was indeed considering how we might leverage arms made of orichalcum to our Kingdom's advantage. Thank you for the advice, it has saved me the time it would have taken to consider costs and benefits."

"We would of course be willing to trade goods made from more common metals, but those discussions can wait. The forge waits."

I lifted my arms so the apprentice smiths could assist in removing my armor, as it would get in the way. Before long I stood shirtless before the refinery. In order to instill the most amount of awe into my guests I decided to call on a feature of my dungeon I recently unlocked in the Core Settings menu.

Once I did so, a bright red square-patterned tattoo began to appear on my body, originating from my chest and extending all the way to my extremities. These tattoos were a symbol that represented my Ether link with the dungeon's crystal that I had stored within the lake, it was not visible at the moment but if it was we would see the same patterns covering its surface. This link allowed me to funnel the vast stores of Ether from the dungeon and through myself for casting, but more importantly forging!

I could hear the slight gasps from behind me as the tattoos spread across my body, but I ignored them as I floated several pounds of orichalcum into the furnace, moved magma into the heating chamber and worked the bellows all at the same time to get the heat and air moving within the furnace.

—————

Roughly two hours later I was finishing the process of polishing a rather normal sword. Sure it had an intricate set of wings for a cross-guard, the coat of arms for the Traisan royal family etched into the rain guard and a royal blue sapphire set into the pommel but the rest of the sword was not out of the ordinary from a standard long sword.

"And for the final touch, Godly Craftsman's Eyes!"

Sword of Kings:

A sword crafted in the heart of Brimstone Mountain for the King Reynard Traisan the twelfth by King Anwirn Gemmolder Brimstone. The blade has been rendered immune to fractures or chips due to the properties of Ether infused orichalcum.

Imbued Skills:

The King's Will: S Rank

The King's Dignity: S Rank

The King's Blood: S Rank [Locked]

Oh boy, I have made something monstrous. Funny how the first item I used this skill on was a sword I made for another King. I should stop putting off checking my own equipment and have a look at them after all of this is over. I know that imbued skills are equipment specific and can only be used when in possession of the equipment with the skill, but I don't know what these specific skills do and that blood one looks ominous.

The King's Will: Increases the Charm constitution by 10 points. Prevents moral damage from impacting the Instinct constitution for the King and his allies.

A nice skill for a King to have when interacting with others or leading on the battlefield, this will earn me some good grace in our negotiations.

The King's Dignity: Renders the King immune to Ether attacks on their Instinct constitution. Increases the likelihood of enemy surrender dependent on the difference in the Charm constitution between the enemy and the King.

And another point for me, making it impossible to inflict mental damage on the King makes for a bad combination with the other skill preventing his allies from being demoralized as long as the King is around. So these skills would force you to remove the King from the battle with physical force before you can weaken his army's fighting spirit.

The King's Blood: Only those of blood relation to the owning royal family, and who have not spilt the blood of their kin, may wield this blade and its skills in battle. Wielding the blade or its skills against another without meeting this condition will drain the wielder of their Vigor and prevent them from releasing the sword until death claims them.

If this skill is invoked by the reigning monarch of their own free will, it will allow them to register a replacement bloodline for continuance of the crown in the event of a lack of successors related by blood. After activating, a drop of blood is required from the old and new bloodlines. This skill will not remove any previous bloodlines registered within the Sword of Kings.

[This skill is locked due to a lack of registered bloodlines. Provide the initial bloodline sample to unlock.]

"King Traisan, I must speak with you regarding a skill imbued within this sword. It will apply a condition in order to wield it if activated, do you have one among your party who is able to view the status or skills of an item?"

"I am able to myself, all royals in the Traisan line are forced to train in acquiring the Eye of Judgement skill. A King must never allow himself to be easily fooled, else he will lead his people to ruin."

Hmm, an interesting skill. I wonder if it allows him to view the status of people and items.

"Incidentally, I can not view the status of others who are above me in power or racial status. Since you are an evolved Elemental who themselves evolve from an Elder Fairy, I can not view the status of yourself or the kin related to you. Even Fairies, who are two evolution's below you, are outside of my ability as they are of a higher racial status than humans such as myself."

"Ah, thank you for that information. Please, review the status of this sword closely."

I handed him his new sword and waited patiently while wiping the sweat off my body and being assisted back into my armor.

"This... I have never seen even one item with an S Rank skill attached to it, yet this has three! On top of that it can be bound to my bloodline and prevent any others from wielding this power?!"

Well, looking a little less like a King with your mouth gaping like that, your majesty. I chuckle to myself.

"This is what the dwarves stake their pride in King Traisan, we will never settle for anything but the very best in anything we craft. We are craftspeople to our very core, what say you?"

"King Anwirn, I would like to request that you allow us to begin peace and trade negotiations immediately!"