Many beasts have claws capable of rending flesh asunder, or maws that can crush their prey with ease. Others have the patience and reflexes to surprise even the most careful beings while yet others have poison powerful enough to make it known they are not to be trifled with.
That is the state of nature on Earth, a realm without Mana.
In a world with Mana this is even more extreme. Any natural being can use Mana to some extent, it is in their instincts. And beasts are not the only existences in such a world, there are also Creatures. Kobolds, Goblins, Trolls and Dragons all fall in this category.
They are born with Mana in their veins and a superior instinct for its use. Any Creature you hunt could turn around and breathe flames, any of them could exert enough force to swipe through a plate of steel.
That is the state of realms with Mana.
So, how did Humans survive?
Superior wits, adaptability and most importantly: The ability to create and use tools to shorten the gap.
No matter where you are, as a Human it is incredibly important to use tools. Without them we are no doubt less than many animals. Mana helps bridge that gap, but as shown by Creatures, there are also Predators that are better at using it innately than we are.
Thus, tools, weapons and contraptions are our saving grace and method of survival.
Thus, any Craftsman that can use the miraculous force that is Mana to enhance their works is incredibly sought after and the backbone of any support group.
And one such Craftsman is obviously present within the Twelve.
Noelle.
Having a need to find something to occupy herself when she could not play with other kids her age, she quickly turned towards creation. It didn’t matter in what area, she explored it readily.
She knitted and sewed beautiful clothes for herself to wear. Clothes of such high quality that it was difficult to believe that she made them purely with her own hand, basic tools and low-quality leathers and cloths. As she explored this area, she was scouted by many high-end clothing designers.
She crafted and carved gorgeous statues out of wood with extreme finesse. Her parents used to be worried about her handling a knife, but in years of using knives of many sizes, she has not once cut herself or even caught a splinter.
She even explored the realm of accessory making, brooches, earrings and other such small decorative items. Once again, her natural and trained dexterity did not allow her to make even a single mistake and any material she touched when working ended up as a wonderful decoration for her to use.
Not that she had many opportunities to do so as she rarely went out. At most her friends would come over and she would give an impromptu show of her creations. And, as she didn’t really have another use for them, gave them away to them, provided they were not a commissioned work.
That was largely how she spent her time on Earth. Of course, she tried many other areas of craftsmanship and demonstrated her talent in them, but these three… no, four, were the ones she grew the fondest of.
Leatherworking and Sewing, Woodworking, Jewellery and…
Well…
The door to Noelle’s small workshop was thrown open with no regard for its structural integrity. Well, as it was within the Goddess’ Realm there was no need to be worried about breaking anything that wasn’t meant to be broken, but it was still an action of a mannerless barbarian.
“NOELLE! ARE YOU DONE WITH MY HAMMER?” Such was the loud yell of said mannerless barbarian, Amadeus, so far the designated Tank of the party.
With such a position, the intense heat that wafted out from the room did not even bother him in the slightest. The same could not be said for the people that were trying to stop him from being a boor, however. Of course, they were not intensely bothered by it, but it was enough to make them flinch for a moment.
A squeaking sound rang out as Noelle turned around, loud enough to be heard even over the roaring of the flames that greedily devoured the fuel in the furnace as they heated a crucible filled with a bright-blue metal.
“I really hate these tiles. But to answer your question Ama, yes. It’s in the corner, with my other failures. Now stop bothering me or I’ll add pink flowers to all your shields.” Amadeus quickly rummaged through the barrel in question and found his sword. As he laid eyes on it the fact that she called this a failure utterly baffled him.
She calmly returned to her work, although slightly bothered by another loud squeak as she turned back to the furnace she was working with. She stoked the flames and fuel with a stick in one hand and operated the bellows with another. Then she put away the poker and added some more fuel before continuing this process. Not once did she let go of the Bellows.
Another Blacksmith that heard this scene would ask her why she didn’t operate the bellows with her feet, but the answer was simple.
She couldn’t.
The very reason she turned to crafting instead of playing and running outside energetically with other kids was this.
Her legs were crippled.
But while it was sometimes annoying, she quickly devised ways or created contraptions to help her when it became too much. She had always been crafty and her large amount of practice and experience became a pillar of massive support for her.
Of course, when she began blacksmithing her parents were unbelievably worried, but she simply went on to quell these worries with her overwhelming skill. Even to this day, her personal forge is still in her backyard, a place where she had many fond memories of being at peace or teaching other people.
And one of the people she taught without rest due to their unending interest in the subject matter was the very person she and the other Twelve were desperate to get back.
They were a perfect team when they entered the forge together, no disturbance created a crack in their teamwork.
And the things they produced were masterworks. Items of such a level that even with spending all three weeks in the Goddess’ Realm, using superior tools, materials and even Mana, she could not begin to replicate.
Thus, anything she created here was without a doubt worthy of being called a ‘Failure’, an ‘Inferior Product’.
But this state would not last, as she would go on to become the most renowned Artisan in many Realms.
Creating Accessories, Armour, Bows, Staves, Swords and Spear of unparalleled quality. Items that could all become fabled items, worshipped for ages to come.
She would become the ‘Creator of Artifacts’.
***
Thus, after much deliberation, he finally stood in front of a single door. A door that was so familiar to him, filling him with memories of wonderful times and a feeling of sadness and longing.
He wanted those days back.
In the past three weeks it hadn’t hit him often as he preoccupied himself with death and destruction of Goblins and Imps, but when face-to-face with places filled with memories it became impossible for him to hold back the flood of emotions and thoughts.
Sadness, longing, happiness and worry.
Desire, hope and anger.
A whirlpool of all of these raged inside him, but he caught himself. He had to calm down and work through it all before it ate him up, but later. When he had the leisure. For now, he forced himself onward. He must go on. He must grow stronger.
And thus, he opened the door, heavier than he remembered it to be.
Whether it was the hinges that rusted, or the emotions weighing him down, he could not tell.
The room was just as he remembered it, just the way they had left it the day before, when they finished a halberd, one of their best works. The celebration they held at this was a sight to behold.
Splash.
He moved on. Walking in front of the quiet and dark furnace. The coal they had used was still there, some of it barely burned at the edges, while the middle of it was heaped with ash. The tongs were still propped up in front, ready for use.
Splash.
He moved to inspect the tools. All of them were still in mint condition, as they always made sure to keep them as such. Although a small layer of dust had settled on top.
Splash.
He moved a sack of coal over to the furnace, along with three steel ingots. The materials were all still in their correct places, nobody had rummaged through anything after they finished their last work.
It was good for Ray as it allowed him to find himself in the flow of work relatively quickly again. Although it was slightly slower than usual as he frequently caught himself calling out for Noelle, only to quickly do that task himself.
Splash.
He got to work, hammering away at the heated steel to make weapons for himself. The three bars he had prepared were all the same size, carefully measured out by them to make halberds.
But instead of going for a normal weapon he was trying something else, evidenced by the burlap sack filled with magic stones he laid down next to the anvil before he began heating the ingots.
His plan was to try three instances. One where he worked Mana into the metal and wood before he began working on it. A second where he infused it as he worked on it and a third where he would try an enchanting-like approach and use Mana only on the finished product.
And he began with the first. As is clear by the fact that he had already begun hammering, it was a success up to that point. The materials easily accepted the gentle flow of Mana in their raw form and actually transformed into something else with this addition.
Materials he would for now call Manasteel and Magewood.
What he did find was that these materials were much harder to work with than their non-magic counterparts. He let the Mana flow through his body and the hammer he was using, and still it was quite difficult to get it into the shape he was imagining. The same thing happened when he began working the wood, it was much harder than regular wood. Yet at the same time, he could already feel that these materials themselves responded to his Mana.
He figured that without Mana he probably couldn’t have even made a dent in them. His Mana, filled with the will to create, softened the materials.
He finished the weapon at the end, and it gave him a decent result. Not amazing, but somewhat acceptable. At the very least it looked like a halberd and had its sharp edges and a pointy end. It was heavier than other halberds he had made, but it responded extremely well to Mana.
Of course, this did not mean he would stop here.
The next attempt, infusing while working.
It was… difficult.
Even the smallest misstep in controlling his Mana resulted in his hammer bouncing off and his arm feeling extreme recoil. It hurt like hell, to the point where he debated just giving up until he became more precise, but instead took this as his training in that aspect. However, when he did do it right, it was much easier to work than raw Manasteel. And he did improve quickly enough that it didn’t happen at all in the end.
And the wood was also very unresponsive when he made a mistake. Of course, it can’t actually be called a mistake. He was already used to it by the end of shaping the ingot, but he messed up on purpose to see how the wood would react. Plus, he had a lot more wood than steel at the ready, so a mistake wasn’t as detrimental.
Result: Too much Mana makes the material blow up. Too little isn’t accepted. If the flow is too wild, the material becomes difficult to work on, if it is too tame it doesn’t actually do anything and just leaves the item again.
And by the end of this attempt he had a second halberd, a little more refined than the first, but not by much. He looked them over and quickly realized that they were ultimately out of the same material, but something was different about the second one. It almost felt as if the weapon itself had a flow of Mana. And he quickly confirmed this suspicion.
So: The first was less complicated and more labor-intense, resulting in basically just something that is made with better materials. The second type results in something that could actually be called a ‘Magic Item’.
He nodded to himself with satisfaction, only marginally acknowledging the desire to show this to Noelle and perfect it together.
Then he began on the third. Making the halberd itself was easy, but the result wasn’t exactly satisfactory.
Not that it blew up or anything.
After infusing the Mana into the halberd the materials turned, once again, into their magic counterparts, but that resulted in their traits changing.
Among them: weight and volume. He didn’t notice when using raw materials or when actively working on it, he wasn’t paying attention to that after all, he couldn’t afford to, but Manasteel and Magewood had different densities compared to their non-magic origins.
This resulted in the balance of the weapon being completely off. Not to mention that the Magewood expanded a little, resulting in a terrible grip and the leather he attached breaking.
A complete and utter failure. Not that the other two were much better, but if he had to pick, the second experiment produced the best results. Plus, he had a feeling that that particular result would be very compatible with enchanting, should he ever learn how to do that.
Or should that feeling even be true.
Regardless, he knew what to do from now on. That is, lock himself into the forge and create a set of armour as his weapon was finished.
It reminded him of when he and Noelle actually did so once over a week, creating an entire set of plate that was one of their best works.
His eyes wandered to one side of the workshop, next to the material storage.
The light of the furnace glimmered across the polished metal of a breastplate, almost blinding. The weapon that was set up next to it, no less beautiful than this engraved and decorated set of armour. A set of plate and a single halberd, their greatest masterpieces.
Splash.
He vowed again that he would get them all back.
And then, after partying and laughing about it.
He would take Noelle and they would retreat into this workshop.
He would teach her this.
And then.
They would create an Artifact to shake the worlds.
