The Mech Touch

Forging took a lot of time, patience, precision, strength, endurance and more.

Ves had witnessed Ketis at work in the advanced forge that he had installed in his workshop. He even utilized it himself in the rare occasions he wanted to produce an item in the old school way instead of letting his modern first-class superfab pump out a product with ease.

There were many differences between utilizing a forge and a superfab.

In modern times, large-scale industrial production machines remained dominant for many good reasons. They could produce gigantic objects, they could be automated to a high degree, they cut down on the error rate, they could exert a lot more precision at the smallest scale, they could work with all kinds of non-metallic materials including certain varieties of organic ones and they could shape items that could never be made in an old-fashioned forge.

Despite all of these technological advantages, forges had their merits as well.

First off, they had a long heritage and history in human civilization that dated back many millenia. The vast amount of knowledge and techniques that countless generations of human ancestors had painstakingly developed and refined over the ages had accumulated to a frightening level.

Sure, much of this accumulation was painfully vague, obscure, difficult and low-tech, but who cared as long as it worked?

In the ages where hyper-industrialization had completely elevated humanity from a primitive planet-bound society to an intergalactic supercivilization, it may seem that there was no place for blacksmithing anymore.

That may be correct if there was not a demand for 'luxury' items that were deliberately made by hand. The human race was an irrational race, and developed appreciation for all kinds of beauty and artisanal crafts that did not necessarily bring that much of a practical improvement to their lives.

The blacksmithing profession adapted to the ages and no longer focused on trying to compete against modern industrial production methods on mass production. There was no way to beat the latter in terms of pumping out lots of low-quality goods!

The blacksmiths that stubbornly clung to their crafts and traditions in the face of rising industrialization put down their long-standing rivalries and pooled their efforts together.

The result was a comprehensive redefinition and streamlining of their profession. Traditional blacksmithing encapsulated all of their best practices as well as the aspirations that its practitioners must fulfill in order to preserve the future of this ancient and noble heritage.

Master Blacksmith Rogha Dunnerholm was one of the many sincere and hardworking disciples of this craft.

Of course, he had reached much further ahead than many other blacksmiths given the title he earned through his hard work.

No matter whether a blacksmith was a normal human or a heavy gravity variant human, they all possessed the same reverence and ideals towards their struggling craft.

As Ves started to work together with Dunnerholm to produce a new set of blacksmithing tools, the mech designer gained a much more comprehensive and intimate understanding of the finer points as well as the struggles of a traditional blacksmith.

The dwarf did not hide these aspects from him. He extended a high degree of trust towards Ves and openly shared his own perspective to the mech designer.

It was as if Dunnerholm was treating Ves as an earnest blacksmithing apprentice, which was rather absurd.

Ves did not have much interest in mastering traditional blacksmithing. Although he appreciated and respected the craft, he constantly needed to remind himself that he was a mech designer. If the teachings did not have that much practical use in his main vocation, then he was better off learning more relevant skills!

Still, he did not object to learning a lot of techniques and insights for free. Together with the borrowed knowledge that he drew from Vulcan, Ves made full use of his powerful learning capabilities and quickly mastered the basic essence of traditional blacksmithing over the course of this production run!

The speed and efficiency in which Ves quickly mastered the basic processes of blacksmithing just by osmosis over the design network was frightening!

If Dunnerholm only suspected that Ves was the mortal descendant of Vulcan at the beginning, now he became increasingly convinced that the clan patriarch was a child directly blessed by the god he revered!

It was an incredible honor for the old dwarf to not only get in touch with Vulcan, but also pass on his humble teachings to the chosen representative of the God of Dwarves, Mechs and Craftsmanship.

Dunnerholm did not hide much from his perspective anymore and shared much more about what he knew about traditional blacksmithing, including the obscure and incredibly useful techniques that were only passed on from master to apprentice.

Although much of this proprietary knowledge wasn't as exclusive as Dunnerholm thought it was, there was a major difference between passive knowledge transfers and active teaching!

The dwarf's proactive teaching attitude not only helped Ves understand the knack of blacksmithing faster, but also allowed him to understand and master the knowledge he already possessed to a greater degree!

It was only after they were halfway into their forging run that Ves eventually noticed that there was a real and practical benefit to learning the difficult craft of traditional blacksmithing.

As he was in the process of inspecting the handles of the tools that Dunnerholm had put through an accelerated tempering process with the help of one of the few advanced devices that he was willing to use in this production run.

If Dunnerholm insisted on sticking to the most traditional form of blacksmithing, then they would both have to stick around for a week or more as they had to wait for the forged objects to cool down to normal temperatures.

That was obviously unacceptable to Ves, so the dwarven blacksmith relented by utilizing any equipment that could dramatically shorten the waiting time at the cost of increasing the failure rate.

Though a master blacksmith was able to minimize these occurrences, it was still important to scan all of the items that endured a lot of stress in a short amount of time.

So far, Ves had yet to spot any fractures or deformations. The extremely high resilience of first-class materials contributed a lot to keeping it all together. While they were extremely difficult and cumbersome to work with, their impressive properties could tolerate a lot of abuse.

What Ves noticed throughout this highly educational experience was that he was actually gaining more from Dunnerholm than pure knowledge!

A part of the dwarf's less tangible feelings and insights towards metals flowed to Ves.

As a mech designer, Ves already possessed a good feel and instinct towards metal, but his own efforts were incomparable to a master blacksmith who hammered and worked on many more varieties of metallic substances over his lifetime!

Ves was highly sensitive towards his own state and condition. This was why he eventually noticed a change in his spirituality.

His affinity towards metal was improving by a small but extremely significant rate!

This was a remarkable event as the metal attribute was much broader and more difficult to acquire than the mech attribute that was derived from the former!

Although Vulcan had already developed a small but strong affinity for metal in advance, that was because Ves forcibly integrated his external incarnation with some of the high-level metal energy released by Cassandra Breyer.

Ves always thought it would take a long while for him to transform his mech domain into a broader and more inclusive metal domain.

However, by taking advantage of Blinky's design network to intimately learn and work together with a genuine master blacksmith, Ves was able to acquire a fraction of all of the core accumulation of this respective craftsman!

This also included Dunnerholm's unique and powerful affinity and feel towards metal!

Although this was a fantastic development, Ves had to temper his excitement by reminding himself that the dwarven blacksmith's affinity was colored by his own biases and specialization.

What Dunnerholm understood best was the acoustic properties of metals.

In other words, he knew how to manipulate metal so that they produced the right tones and attained a specific harmony. He also knew how to configure different variables so that they produced specific forms of acoustic resonance.

Though Ves only became exposed to a part of this deep and extensive field, he already had a suspicion that he could start with making simple metallic products that would sound good when struck in a specific way!

"Well, if I ever get run out of the mech industry, I can still earn a living by making musical instruments, I guess."

No matter how weird it was to develop a better sense on how to produce melodic tones from metallic objects, Ves accepted it all as there was no such thing as useless knowledge.

Of course, Ves was not the only person who benefited from this exchange.

Just as how Dunnerholm shared much of his extensive understanding of blacksmithing, Ves also shared his own insights on totems, living products and even a few basic secrets about design spirits.

Though Ves did not share as much as Dunnerholm, the value was still high because his teachings were much more exclusive and difficult to acquire!

Though Ves wanted to repay Dunnerholm for his generosity, there was not much the old dwarf could learn about living products because of his many limitations.

Ves only contributed enough knowledge for the dwarf to make better use of his new blacksmithing tools to make more effective totems with the help of Vulcan.

Even so, that would definitely put the master blacksmith far ahead of his peers in this specific application!

Perhaps in time Dunnerholm may even be able to teach other artisans how to produce totems. It all depended on how well the dwarf was able to adapt what he learned from the mech designer into his own work methods.

"We are nearing completion." The old dwarf announced.

Several hours had already passed by, but the incredibly fruitful exchange benefited both participants so much that they hardly felt the passage of time!

Ves and Dunnerholm began to assemble the forged and rapidly cooled pieces. They also polished the surfaces and inspected their work for any misalignments and other faults that could still be corrected.

They gradually slowed down their pace until they finally put together the last pieces.

A dozen or so black gleaming tools of excellent quality neatly rested on a large work table.

Their appearances were remarkable. They not only incorporated the solidness of Vulcanite engineering, but also acquired the aesthetic symbolism of living products.

Ves had carved each of these tools with a modest amount of decorative elements that were based on Vulcanite cultural artwork.

Together with their strong and unified connections to Vulcan, the entire relic equipment set looked and felt as if they had been sanctified by the god himself!

Over half of them consisted of hammers of different sizes and weights. Dunnerholm would almost always have the right tool for the right hammering job with this new and wonderful collection.

A subtle sense of harmony and resonance suffused these tools, especially when they were placed next to each other. Both Ves and Dunnerholm could clearly sense that they were meant to stay together!

There was only one exception, though.

Dunnerholm slowly reached out and grasped the smallest and most delicate-looking hammer.

It clearly stood out from the crowd due to how much less functional it appeared compared to the other tools. There was no way it looked as if a strong and physically imposing dwarf could maintain a proper grip on the silly looking tool!

Nonetheless, the dwarven blacksmith held it with utter reverence as he inspected it for the final time.

Once he was satisfied that the toy-like hammer met his strict quality standards, the dwarf rested it on his palms and extended out his limbs as if he was serving a dish on a platter.

"It is my honor to present you with this gift, my lord. Please accept it with all of the sincerity of my heart."

Ves twitched his lips but did not bother to correct any of the misconceptions that Rogha Dunnerholm had formed over the last hours.

He simply snatched the beautiful hammer from the dwarf's thick palms and tested its weight and balance for a moment.

As he held it in a proper grip that just barely fit in his more normal human proportioned hand, he turned towards the metal work table and studied it for a moment.

He could feel his new hammer assisting his efforts with its intrinsic abilities.

Soon enough, Ves found what he sought for and began to strike a specific point on the work table with his new tool!

Ding!

A beautiful melodic tone spread throughout the air as the strike caused the table to sing in a way that seemed impossible through ordinary means!

As the table sounded a note, the other tools resting on the table seemed to vibrate as they resonated with the very same tone!

"Remarkable!" Ves gasped. "I am going to like this new hammer!"

Although the capabilities of the tiny hammer weren't all that powerful, it provided him with a glimpse of the wonderful world of harmony and resonance!