"It's so hot in here. Sam, how can you stay here for so long?" my dad asked.
Several days ago, I was finally able to get out of bed and had begun testing in the forge. Fortunately, the mineral behaved similarly to metals in the earth.
The first tests were unsuccessful; the result was either laced with impurities, making it unworkable, or so hard it resembled glass.
Neither of these methods worked, so I had to keep trying. Until now, I had finally found the temperature and purity necessary to produce something workable.
"You get used to it, Father. Through my experiments, I've noticed that it's better if the room is kept at a stable temperature, so the mineral doesn't change colour as quickly."
-"Anyway, it's better to be here than in the unbearable cold outside."-
"That's true, but be careful. So much heat can be harmful to your health," my father said as he slowly walked away.
Winter had arrived and was hitting hard, but luckily I'd managed to bring plenty of food for everyone. Right now, there was another mouth to feed, and it was certainly eating much, much more than we were.
Little Lirak had finally woken up. He'd lasted much longer than I had been unconscious, and now he seems to be catching up on the food he missed during his sleep.
Since he wasn't fully recovered yet and winter was in full swing, we hadn't let him go. Although he seems very comfortable at home, he receives the attention of all three of us and can also eat as much as he wants.
The first day he woke up, he tried to run away, but I stopped him. When he recognized me and saw that his wounds were in much better condition, he calmed down. The Lirak began to reconnoitre the house. He was very wary of Father and Mother, but they both knew he needed space.
When he finally realized they weren't a threat to him, he became much more relaxed around everyone. Now the house had a small Lirak, and Mother didn't seem bothered.
In retrospect, he looked like a land cat, the only difference being that he was a cat maybe four or five times the normal size. He got all the attention and could eat whenever he wanted. No one would say anything to him; if he wanted to leave, he could; if he wanted to stay, he could do so.
Strangely, he always wanted to be near me. I guess he's the one he's had the most contact with. Right now, he's in a corner of the forging room. He seems to like the warmth and feels comfortable in the room, or at least much more comfortable than I do.
I'm literally cooking in my sweat, but I know if I let the cold in and affect the ore, I won't be able to get what I want.
With this new experiment, I wanted to make an ingot that I could transform into a knife. I needed a tool to work with the things I had brought; daggers weren't tools for this kind of work.
The hammer and tongs my father had brought were enough to handle what I wanted for the moment.
After waiting a while for the ore to melt, I began pouring it into the mold I'd prepared. Now I just had to wait for it to cool a bit.
-"Hmmm, now we just have to wait. Nixen, let's go home. We should eat something to continue. What's left is hard work."
I had named the Lirak. My parents had warned me not to do that, not to get attached to a wild animal. He didn't belong to society and was only with us while we spent the winter. I didn't listen to them; it felt very strange to call a companion what you would call any other person or thing. Even if he walked away afterwards, he would still be a companion. I had grown accustomed to his presence and enjoyed being around him.
At least now she didn't growl at me when I approached, which was a start. Sometimes I felt like Nixen could understand me, it was like she just didn't want to listen.
Mom had already prepared lunch. Even though they told me not to get used to Nixen , he already had a place to eat in the house. He also had his own plate, which my father had made. As I knew, he always settled there and waited.
The strangest thing was that I had always thought Nixen was a male. It was only when he started to recover that I realized he was a female, something that surprised me.
After lunch, I went to check on the ore ingot. As always, it had changed colour slightly. Even in my failed attempts, they changed colour; they became darker or sometimes red with some very small grey flecks. I discovered that coating my tools with mana helped prevent them from wearing out so quickly, so I started using the coating while working at the forge. Whether it was the tongs or the hammer, I always tried to coat them, which made the work twice as exhausting, both mentally and physically.
I now had a place to hammer the ore, and now I was starting to heat the ingot to shape it. Shaping the ingot was very difficult work; some of the failed attempts were also damaged. Continuous hammering was very demanding, and I was just getting used to it, even so, it was very difficult. I had to have the right mindset, and I couldn't break the rhythm I was going for, otherwise I wouldn't be able to continue, nor would it turn out as I expected.
I began taking deep breaths, trying to stay calm and consuming as little energy as possible; the process would be long.
I took out the ingot; it was red due to the temperature. With the hammer and the mana-coated tongs, I began to hit it continuously. Looking for the spots where the material looked most discontinuous, I hit it for a while, barely managing to flatten the ingot a little. I placed it in the forge and began to regulate my breathing. In this moment, nothing else existed; it was just the ore, the fire, the hammer, and me. When I saw the colour I wanted to hit, I picked it up with the tongs and continued hitting it.
I had repeated the process of pounding and reheating several times, finally managing to form a thick, somewhat long plate that I would be able to use for two parts.
The plan was to first make a curved knife with a sharp edge on the shorter side, which would be used to shape the wood and make it easier to trim the skins. With what remained of the material, I planned to cover the tips of the bow's limbs, so they would be more sturdy and could connect the bowstring. For that, I would need to make a thinner plate and be able to shape it to the wood, but that would be done after I finished trimming the wood and knew its size and shape.
With the material already warm, I began to cut it; all I had to do was bend it a few times, and that would be enough. I kept the part that was suitable for the knife and began to shape it into a curved point.
I followed the same process for a long time. I'd already lost track of time, but I was still focused on finishing the first job of this kind.
I achieved the shape of the point and body of the knife I desired; now all that remained was to make the tang. I would make the handle out of wood, so I needed a thin, sturdy tang and to leave a slightly wider section between the handle and the beginning of the knife for the guard.
When I finally saw the complete shape of the knife, I felt like I was on cloud nine. It was beautiful, and I was proud of my work. The still-hot metal gave off a reddish glow, which dulled over time. But the shape and size had completely met my expectations.
When I finished observing him , I tried to take a step back; only to feel so tired that I fell to the floor. Now all I could see was the ceiling of the forging room. I felt like someone was approaching me, and I could only turn my head slightly. At that moment, I felt a little uncomfortable. Nixen was staring at me. I felt an inexplicable pressure in her gaze. I was in a state of total weakness and vulnerable in every way.
I was even more surprised when she started to lean toward me. She placed her head close to mine, as if trying to sniff me, and lay down beside me, not too close, but not too far either.
It was as if she was saying: Don't worry, I'm here too.
After resting for a while, I was finally able to stand up. My whole body ached, the worst being my shoulders and arms. They were shaking like jelly.
When I walked into the house, dinner was ready and served; my mother had left food for the two of us.
I suppose they came looking for me, but they saw I was so caught up in my work that they decided not to call me. Thank goodness they didn't; I would have lost all concentration and ruined the material I'd worked so hard on.
We had dinner, and I went to finish the day with my usual nighttime meditation. Nixen had settled into a section of the room, I suppose for when winter is over. We'll miss her presence.
The next day. After breakfast, I started looking for a small piece of wood to serve as a handle. I decided to leave it without a guard and make the handle wider in the section closest to the edge. That way, if it slipped, it wouldn't cut my fingers.
I left the handle ready, with a bit of wolfskin wrapped at the end for safety. The knife turned out beautifully; the combination of the black wood, the reddish metal, and the wolfskin was a sight to behold.
I had decided to take a few days off. I would go to the village to explore and see what things would be useful or what I could learn again.
As the days passed, the cold had begun to lessen, and now Nixen allowed herself to be petted occasionally. She couldn't overdo it either; it was just minimal caresses, and only when she wanted them.
In a few days, the cold would have subsided enough for her to go down to the village. She was very curious to know what they were selling, the prices, and what the tools were like in this world. It would be great to make some and sell them to Grandma.
As the days passed and with nothing much to do, I had managed to focus on meditating and increasing the mana in my body. Now I was at my limit, and every time I tried to increase it, the pain returned.
Just today, it was an unbearable pain; my abdomen burned, and I felt a lot of pressure in my head.
Even so, I continued applying more pressure, trying to compress the energy so that it would become denser. Like last time, the pain arrived, and there was an explosive heat inside me. I thought I would really explode. From one moment to the next, the heat spread throughout my body, beginning to sink into all my bones. It was as if they were melting and rebuilding. It was an unbearable pain; I had never felt anything like it; the heat was much greater compared to that of the forge. It continued like this for a while, when suddenly I smelled the bitter musk and the fetid odor that always accompany the process.
I was stunned for a long time. My bones hurt so much that I didn't want to move even an inch, I couldn't even scream from the pain. When the physical and mental pain finally began to subside, I was able to move a hand and chant "Mundatus" to make the smell go away. I would really appreciate a hot shower.