Chapter 83 - Workshop Complete

"Ah, My Lord!" Phrystol called out as he saw Rynold approach. "You're just in time. We're about to finish the workshop that you've requested."

Rynold respectfully nodded as he saw the dwarves continued to work. They were coordinating with Phrystol, who seemed to command respect among his peers. Even though the man had an Elven origin, his fellows respect him through his craft.

It was obvious to see that through the dwarves' constant and passionate work ethic. Rynold thought that it was nice to see them work well enough together, such that they respect each other by the quality of their craft rather than their ethnicity.

Regardless, Rynold noticed that the workshop was almost done. Waiting a few more minutes shouldn't be a problem since there were no urgent matters to take care of.

Time quickly passed by as the construction work continued. From hammering to infusing metal, the construction effort was soon finished.

The building stood before Rynold and Phrystol as they talked about the features of the place.

There wasn't really anything particularly interesting in the features of the workshop. It still had the basic elements of a workshop with the main difference being most of the equipment was extremely high-end.

Rynold consciously thought that maybe the high-end gear was completely unnecessary. He was a beginner, after all. The equipment would boost his success rate by a significant degree, but what good would that do if Rynold would only make simple gear.

It wasn't entirely useless, per se. It was just a little bit overkill.

Phrystol continued to show the different features and things in the workshop. At the end of it all, Rynold thanked the elf for all his hard work and proceeded to acknowledge the amount of effort it took to build a workshop such as this one. He certainly appreciated all of the extra features but was somewhat taken aback by how overkill it is.

"Isn't it a little bit overkill, Phrystol?" Rynold asked the elf who was satisfyingly smiling. "I appreciate everyone for working on this, but I don't think I can live up to the expectations. Especially with all the extra features and stuff."

Phrystol shook his head, but his proud smile was still there. "My Lord, despite all the extravagance, we have no such expectations of you. All this was simply a gesture to the new Lord who has gained the respect of us forgers."

Rynold sighed. He honestly doubted what Phrystol just said. But, looking at the finished product, Rynold thought that there may be some truth to it.

He thanked the elf one last time before bidding him farewell. Phrystol went back to his work while Rynold was alone in the workshop, contemplating how he'll repay such kindness.

"Rynold?" Neana knocked on the open door as she saw Rynold who was staring at the ground, silent.

"What's up?" Rynold calmly responded as he matched the girl's gaze.

"N-nothing," she answered with a timid voice.

'What's with her?' Rynold thought to himself before approaching the door where Neana was standing. "Well, if you say so," he continued, "how's Eileen?"

"Well," Neana spoke in her normal voice, "She's fine. As much as a little girl in an apocalypse could be, anyway."

Rynold slightly chuckled at her response. He had to admit that she had a point.

"You know, you could stay here," Rynold decided to open up the conversation a bit more. "By that, I mean that you could take care of Eileen for as long as you want to. You could have a peaceful life for the rest of your days without having to worry about picking up a weapon ever again."

This was what Rynold had come to after thinking of a solution to a girl who so clearly never wanted to fight. So far, he could tell that Neana never wanted to raise her hand against anyone. However, that all changed as soon as the New World emerged.

Perhaps it was a story that Rynold would uncover in the future. As for now, though, this was the best he could possibly offer her. Rynold was ignorant but never inconsiderate.

"I...," Neana hesitated once more, clearly unable to make a decision.

Rynold shook his head and chuckled.

"You don't have to decide now," he added, "Nobody here is going to force you to do anything. Take all the time you need. For now, though, you can stay in one of the guest rooms or with Eileen if you want. I gotta get some work done, now. So, I'll catch you later?"

Neana nodded in response and turned around to leave. Rynold was unaware of what she was feeling, but it was in his best interest to leave her alone for now. There were bigger things that he wanted to focus on, anyway.

With a big, eager smile on his face, Rynold whipped out his hammer.

The guy didn't even spare another thought and grabbed an iron bar and started hammering it down. Rynold continued to shape, reheat, smoothen, and refine it until he suddenly stopped.

'What the hell am I making?'

At about halfway through the smithing process, Rynold abruptly stopped. His excitement to make something overwhelmed the need to have a clear goal. It was an honest mistake, but it an extremely stupid one too.

Well, it wasn't the end of the world for Rynold to make a simple mistake like that. Throwing the iron bar back to the high-intensity blast furnace, Rynold checked his crafting menu. Something that he should have done before jumping straight into it.

'Dagger, no. Shortsword, no. Throwing knife? Nah. A trick sword for magicians? Get out of here.'

Rynold scrolled through his options and thought that nothing really interested him. Sure, he could make random weapons here and there, possibly adding another twist to it. But, all in all, Rynold sincerely didn't want to. He wanted to create something that would be beneficial to a person's strength right away.

Scrolling through, Rynold finally stopped at one of the recipes that he had gotten. One that made him get the Crafting Menu in the first place.

The Mana Rifle.

With his hand on his chin, he considered the implications he could have when he equip every fighter with a rifle. He pondered on it for a second before immediately dismissing it a second after.

Most of the warriors and mages that he's come across don't even use ranged weapons. Shoving a Mana Rifle up theirs would only lower their battle strength rather than strengthen it. The only person who could actively use one was Jack.

However, Rynold thought that he could reintegrate the same principles of making a Mana Rifle onto a different weapon.

Rynold read the recipe and focused on every single word. In theory, making a smaller Mana Rifle shouldn't be that hard. The main problem that Rynold thought of was the materials that he needed to make one.

The only Mana Rifle that he had was in Jack's hands and he doubted that he could make another one of the same quality. Then again, making one from scratch wouldn't be any easier than repairing one either. Furthermore, making a smaller one should be plausible, but theoretics has already failed him once before.

One problem seemed to multiply and worsen as Rynold thought about it.

Shaking his head to dissipate the doubtful thoughts in his head, Rynold decided that action would decide whether or not he would succeed. Words and thoughts meant nothing if he didn't give it a shot.

First things first, Rynold checked the materials he had on stock. Luckily, Phrystol seemed to leave a bunch of resources here that Rynold could make use of. From common iron bars to high-quality and rare gems, Rynold seemed to have a decent supply of resources to pick from.

Now that that's settled, Rynold knew he had to check on other things.

Instructions specify that refining materials and steps to follow. Rynold's already experienced how to do the other steps except for one big thing. The inscription of Mana lines in the weapon.

Rynold could do the other steps and instructions without problems. In fact, he could do them relatively well. All of it except for trying to engrave paper-thin lines to a weapon with extremely careful precision. Suffice it to say, dexterity was never his strong suit, especially with Mana Gauntlets that he couldn't remove.

Deciding not to give it any more thought, Rynold grabbed the tongs and pulled the molten iron bar from the blast furnace. To let out his frustration, he decidedly chose to make a different item with the molten iron bar, for now.

Letting his intuition be his guide, Rynold's actions soon shaped the metal into a small knife. He managed to compress a lot of the excess volume onto a smaller shape using Mana Infusion on his hammer. It was an unusual technique, but Rynold was in the mood to screw around and have fun.

Who knows, maybe the outcome would be amazing.