A Bronze Sword?

The next morning after the coming-of-age ceremony had concluded, Xing, and Lei were once again, making their way toward The Stockpile. This time, however, the two did not enter, but walked a little further, until they came upon circular rows of tents.

Umbra was not with the pair as she had opted to remain within Xing's personal tent. Falling into a deep slumber, for what she claimed was for digesting the cores she had eaten.

Both inside and outside the tents, tribespeople of both genders were working hard at a multitude of tasks. Some were weaving hemp into one of its many forms such as; tents, and clothes. Others were processing leathers into protective armors, or they were fashioning stone spears, axes, and clubs. The place was a craftsman paradise.

The pair came here for the purpose of getting someone with expertise to make them their own personal spears, using the tusks from the boar they had fought within the jungle.

However, as they passed through the mass of working craftsmen and women, they skipped over the weapon making station where all the weapons were crafted and maintained. The two obviously wanted the best and Xing's mother, the Great-Warrior had referred them to her personal craftsman, who also just happened to be the most experienced one in the Xia Tribe.

Eventually, they made it to their destination, right at the center of the rings of tents, stood a large round tent. Thick black smoke was billowing out of holes in the tents upper sides, which looked like open-air windows, with bangs and clangs echoing out from within.

This surprised Xing, as the sounds he was hearing sounded like metal being hammered, and he had never seen such a pitch-black smoke plume in this world before. It reminded him of what he would expect from a blacksmith's workshop and not a stone age weapon-maker.

'So humans have discovered metals? Why isn't it used to make weapons and armor then?' Xing was immediately curious about this new discovery.

Upon entering the tent-workshop Xing and Lei were confronted with the sight of numerous roaring blazes burning brightly, rocks containing metal held within, drops of molten metal dripping out every so often, leaking down into heat-proof clay pots. Stone slabs layout in rows, on top of which were various colored rocks, different ores, and completed metals.

Within the center of the tent, a big and burly man with a bald head could be seen, and heard, hammering away at a piece of metal on top of one of the stone slabs with a stone hammer. Sweat glistened on his brow as he focused all the muscle in his massive arms into each downward swing.

But what really caught Xing's eye within the workshop, was what sat upon one on the stone slabs nearing the center of the tent. A sword. A bronze sword to be exact. It was just sitting there in all its technological elegance amongst the stone age weaponry that was lying around it.

The sword had a weird length, however. It was too long to be a dagger, yet too short to be a sword- not even a short sword. Another peculiarity was the grip, too big for a child's hand, yet too small for an adult's hand. No, this sword did not appear to be designed for human use.

'What is up with this sword? If we had the ability to make these, then why aren't we using them?' Xing thought

Noticing the pair entering his workshop, the man gave one last swing before looking at his work and sighing, "Haah, another failure…"

Throwing down his stone hammer and wiping the sweat off his face, the man walked over to the guests and asked, "And what might I be able to do for the Great-Warriors son and disciple?"

"We want personal spears made, old man Xun," Lei pulled out her boar tusk, "using these."

The man did not look offended at Lei's choice of words, instead, he reached over and picked up the tusk from out of her hand, "The tusks of an F-Rank Raging Boar, they would make a fine spear point."

Xing handed over his boar tusk as well saying, "Sorry to bother you when you're so busy, but we wanted the best and mother told us that you were, so…"

"It's no problem. As you may have heard me say just before, I've failed yet again and I'm in need of a break," The man walked over to his workstation and began, "These won't take too long to make. Stay and watch if you want."

Retrieving two previous made spear poles, the man began fastening the boar tusks to the tips, using hard leather straps.

While Lei was watching the creation of her weapon eagerly, Xing continued to look around the workshop, noticing what appeared to be failed sword prototypes which looked like pieces of trash compared to the masterpiece on display.

'So he is trying to recreate the sword but is obviously failing, I wonder why?'

Xing couldn't take the speculating anymore and decided to just ask him, "Hey, what are all these?" He asked after he caught the attention of the craftsman by picking up one of the failed products.

"They are my attempts at recreating that shiny metal weapon on the stone bench," Craftsman Xun pointed a thick finger at the bronze sword. "It's called a sword and it's made from some unknown metal which is what I am trying to figure out; just which metal is it made from."

He carried on with his work on the pair of boar tusk spears while explaining, "That weapon is called a sword and it was given as a gift to your father by a visiting tribe. They acquired the weapon through a trade with another race, some short yet stout bearded humanoids who call themselves Dwarves. They've been traveling around handing them out to all the major tribes around in hopes that someone will be able to figure out how to replicate them."

'No wonder the sword looks weird, its made for small Dwarves. Why am I not surprised about them being in this world, and even having their talent for metal and ores. I bet they live under a mountain or something.' Xing thought to himself.

'But what is strange is that the human tribe just casually gave out these weapons instead of keeping them for themselves. Is human greed not yet a thing in this world? Or is it just because humans are so low on the totem pole, that they need to work together against monsters and other intelligent species.'

By the time Xing had awakened from his pondering, Lei had moved to pick up the sword, inspected it, and had started swinging it around. "Hey old man Xun, this is a good weapon, sharper than even the boar tusks, very light, and it can both pierce and slash. I can see similar ones scattered across the place, what is wrong with them?" She shouted.

"Well no matter what ore that I have around here and use, it is either impossible for me to get temperatures hot enough to melt the metal out of the rock. Or the completed metal is too flimsy and soft, making it useless for weapons. All those failed swords around you suffer from that, none of them would be able to do much damage, and they would break quickly." He said as he neared completion of his work.

'Isn't bronze made out of a combination of copper and tin?' Xing looked over the room, searching the various metals and ores, 'But what do copper and tin even look like? I can't exactly ask, in case they have different names. At least I can give him a suggestion, since having metal weapons will make my whole life a lot safer.'

'And thus speed up the coming of the Bronze Age.' Xing thought a little smugly, while his face remained neutral, "What about mixing different liquid metals together? Maybe that will harden the final product?"

Craftsman Xun had just finished with both of their spears and was checking his work when he heard Xing's suggestion. He stopped what he was doing and stared dazedly into the sky, mumbling every so often, "Mixing... Mixing… Mixing metal."

After a minute of nothing, his eyes lit up. "Yes! That just might work!" He handed the completed spears to Xing and Lei each, "Here are your spears. Now, if you'll excuse me I have more tests to run!"

Practically running over to a fire, the man started throwing different ores in, no doubt beginning to try out Xing's suggestion.

Xing and Lei looked at each other and realized that there wasn't anything more to be done here, so they quietly exited the large tent, being careful not to disturb the now crazed stone age blacksmith.

As they were leaving Xing took another look over all the various metals and ores, before a bright light popped up within his mind, 'Wait, isn't this a great opportunity to try out the Soul Archive within my Mindscape? Can't I use it to figure out just how bronze is made? No not just bronze! Why not all metals! Or why not just skip bronze working and go straight to iron working?

This prospect excited Xing, 'Won't I be able to turn into something like a Technological Gap novel main character, where I'll bring advanced knowledge into the world and stomp over all the cavemen with gunpowder? I'll try it out when I get home tonight!'