I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With - Chapter 77

WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 77

──────

Spirit Magnetism

* * *

Having spent a fair amount of time with Ruby, and having watched her closely the whole time.

If I had to describe Ruby in one word.

She's basically a quirky, sentimental cat.

"Hehe. Honestly, I never really liked the old book much."

"Is that so."

Hear that, Dolores? Heh heh.

She seemed to be enjoying the moment, purring as she took my hand.

"Hmm-hmm-hmm."

Another thing about her, she loves holding hands.

- Squeeze.

Ruby's hand was faintly damp with sweat, probably from her workout.

Hand in hand like that, we walked into the workshop.

"Here."

I'd never actually restricted anyone else from the workshop, but somehow a culture had formed where nobody but Dolores ever came in.

Honestly, I had no idea why that was, but either way, this was basically Ruby's first time visiting.

"Wow..."

Ruby whipped her head around, taking in her surroundings.

I led Ruby up to the workbench.

On it sat some rough prototype weapons I'd thrown together, just to check shape and weight.

"These are really just simple mockups, nothing more."

Even though the staff was already my top pick in my head, I had no intention of forcing it on her.

This was going to be Ruby's weapon, after all.

"First up, the gauntlet."

I picked up the iron glove sitting closest to me.

"You hit things with your fist?"

"Exactly."

A weapon that puts Ruby's raw strength to direct use.

Wrap mana or a spirit around your fist and just smash whatever's in front of you.

"It's iron for now, but the material can change."

I explained and moved to the next one.

"Second, the spear."

"..."

Same basic idea, wrap it in mana or a spirit and go stab, stab.

Ruby nodded again.

And then, the long-awaited last one.

"...Third is the staff."

Ruby, who hadn't shown much interest in the gauntlet or the spear, immediately grabbed the staff.

And then, out of nowhere.

- Whoosh, whoosh.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...!"

She started spinning the staff around.

Wait, nobody had ever taught her that, right? How was she spinning it so well?

I quickly ducked to dodge the staff.

Ruby, spinning the staff like a helicopter blade, held it out to me and asked.

"Can you add weight plates to this too?"

"..."

So that's why she was so good at spinning it.

As if that would work.

Unfortunately, I hadn't built in any function like that.

"...So, the staff, then?"

"Yeah, I like this one."

Good.

Corrupting her into a Battle Mage, phase one complete.

Now that the frame was decided, it was time to carve out the details.

I had Ruby stand against the workshop wall and pulled out a tape measure.

"Okay, arms together, I'll measure your height first."

"Like this?"

"Yeah."

I measured her height first.

Strangely enough, the units of measurement in this world were identical to the ones back where I used to live.

- Zzzip... click.

The number on the tape measure was, unbelievably.

"...160?"

Ruby's height had already blown past my expectations.

How was she growing this fast.

"You've really grown, huh?"

"Hehe."

From the way she smiled, she clearly already knew.

After noting her height, I measured shoulder width and arm length.

Wrist thickness, palm size, I measured all of it.

According to the Sun Dwarves' manual, a staff was a weapon where balance mattered enormously.

Even deciding the length and thickness required extremely careful attention.

Ruby was in the middle of a growth spurt, so it seemed right to set things up expecting a bit more height.

'Rather than thin...'

A thicker build was better.

At least Ruby wouldn't be lacking in grip strength.

"This time, try holding this again."

I handed her the sample iron staff.

"Hold it comfortably. And spin it slowly, slowly."

I didn't particularly want to get clocked by the thing.

- Fwoosh...

I watched the arc the staff traced and calculated the right length.

Okay, I had a rough feel for it now.

"Good work."

Oh, and there was one system I was introducing for the first time with this build.

"So, is there anything specific you want, Ruby?"

Hearing the user's own requests directly and reflecting them in the design.

Since this was custom work, I figured I'd take the same approach with other people down the line, and with Dolores too, folding in what they actually wanted.

Ruby was just the first test case.

"Weight plates?"

"No, not that."

"Mm..."

Ruby planted the iron staff on the floor, hugged it, and started thinking hard.

I put away the leftover gauntlet and spear.

"Mmmmm..."

But even after some time passed, Ruby just kept groaning without coming up with any ideas.

"Okay, it's fine if nothing comes to mind."

It seemed better if I just suggested something myself instead.

"You're close with spirits, right, Ruby?"

"Well... I'm the one who plays with them."

Huh.

What was that supposed to mean.

"Well, you're good at magic and you're close with spirits, right?"

"I mean, if you really want to put it that way, sure."

I threw in a compliment first.

"So I'm going to build the base material itself to hold both kinds of power."

To hold mana stably, the purity of the raw material mattered enormously.

The more impurities there were, the more the mana's flow got snagged here and there, which kept it from moving smoothly.

This was something the Dwarves' manual covered too.

So the staff's body would be made from the highest-purity material possible.

And inside it, I'd embed a separate core material where a spirit's power could reside.

The core material I had in mind was exactly that, a spirit stone.

In theory, it sounded great.

The problem was...

I had no idea how you were even supposed to get a spirit stone.

Forget the auction house, the very idea of obtaining one at all was like reaching for a star in the sky.

Ever since that flex DM I'd sent the Elf Grand Chieftain, I'd kept sending them regular updates,

but every message ended the same way.

[Would you happen to have any leftover spirit stones...? Honored Heir ㅠㅠㅠ]

That was it.

Which meant, when it came down to it.

"Ruby."

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any more spirit stones?"

Give me some spirit stones.

"Do you need them, Lionel?"

"Yeah, a lot."

"You should've said something. Come with me."

What was with that casualness?

"The stick, please."

"...?"

Ruby took the staff back from me,

- Whir whir whir.

clearly quite taken with it, and walked off twirling it one-handed.

I followed along quietly for now.

Ruby headed for the mansion's garden.

"It's daytime, so it should work well."

Work well how?

I decided to just watch and see what Ruby was doing.

Ruby stopped over the flower bed and planted the staff upright.

Then she started thumping the flower bed with it.

- Thump, thump.

"Attention."

Right, attention.

Except it clearly wasn't directed at me.

A short while later.

- Rustle...

A soft breeze rose from somewhere, just strong enough to stir a person's hair,

and the grass and flowers in the garden slowly began to lean with it.

Even the sunlight seemed to grow just a touch brighter, or maybe that was just me.

And then.

In front of Ruby, something began appearing one by one among the blades of grass.

Some were palm-sized, some a little bigger, and some big enough to reach Ruby's knee.

Their shapes were so varied I couldn't really say what they even were.

They scampered up to Ruby and lined up one after another.

'Don't tell me those are spirits...?'

They looked small and cute, well, let's set the looks aside for a second.

Why were they lining up like Ruby was their boss?

"I need some rocks."

Ruby cut straight to the point.

"Oh, how many?"

That last question was aimed at me.

"Uh, ten or so?"

"I need ten."

At that, the little cuties standing in front of her started wriggling, each of them appealing for something.

I obviously couldn't hear any voices, but somehow it felt like they were pleading with real emotion.

"I haven't come by enough? Couldn't be helped, I've been a little busy."

Ruby answered, chin resting on the iron staff.

"You missed me? Well... me too."

Ruby said that with a slow, sly grin.

The charm on her was no joke.

- Hop.

- Hop, hop.

At that mischievous smile, the spirits' movements grew even more frantic.

"I'll come by more often from now on, so I'm counting on you for the rocks."

That last line must have thrilled them, because the tiny shapes bounced in place.

If I had to sum up what I'd seen so far.

Ruby clearly had some kind of magnetism with spirits.

The little cuties kept clinging to her ankles, or trailing along right behind her.

Not long after.

- Crrrk...

A strange sound suddenly rose from the garden floor.

"...?"

The dirt in front of Ruby split open, and something pushed the soil aside and rose up.

It turned out to be chunks of rock.

Colorful stones piled up right at Ruby's feet.

"..."

I checked what they actually were.

─────────────────

[high-rank Wind Spirit Stone][★★★☆☆]

─────────────────

『A gift from a high-rank Wind Spirit to a cherished companion.』

『Densely condensed with the spirit-power of a clear wind.』

─────────────────

[mid-rank Sunlight Spirit Stone][★★☆☆☆]

─────────────────

『A gift from a mid-rank Sunlight Spirit to a cherished companion.』

『Condensed with the spirit-power of warm sunlight.』

─────────────────

So these really were spirit stones.

Sky blue for wind, yellow for sunlight.

Ruby had asked for ten, but from where I stood, there looked to be a good twenty.

"Thanks, everyone."

- Bounce, bounce.

- Hop.

As Ruby thanked them, the spirits shook their bodies and hopped up and down in place.

"Alright, I'm heading off now, everyone."

- Hop, hop.

Ruby came back to me with an armful of stones cradled against her chest.

"Is this enough?"

"...Yeah. That's plenty."

Even ten had been a generous estimate.

This was more than enough to work with.

We headed straight back to the workshop.

"Wait, Ruby... what was that? You're really close with spirits, huh?"

"They like me."

"Yeah, I could tell."

So this was spirit magnetism, this was what spirit affinity looked like.

It had only ever been something written about in the Elves' records, but seeing it firsthand, I guess this really was what affinity meant.

Ruby set the spirit stones down on the table and came over to me.

"Make my staff well, Lionel."

"Leave it to me."

"Hehe, okay."

She nodded, satisfied,

- Hug.

and hugged me once without a word.

"?"

"..."

- Dash.

she darted straight out of the workshop.

"Cute."

Seemed like she was copying Dolores. She's at that age where she picks things up.

I let out a short laugh and looked at the door Ruby had just gone through for a moment,

then turned toward the workbench.

I had the materials, I knew what she wanted, and I had her measurements.

"Well then..."

Since her expectations seemed high.

it was time to live up to them.

* * *

- Blargh...!

The sound of retching, like she was emptying everything in her stomach.

"...Just hold on a little longer."

The woman in the white coat gripped Yeomhwa's shoulder with one hand and rested the other on her back.

A blue light flowed from her palm and sank into Yeomhwa's body.

- Flinch.

Yeomhwa's body convulsed once more.

- Guh...!

The woman heaved up blood again.

"Oh, wow... Camilla, am I dying, by any chance?"

The red-haired woman, Yeomhwa, wiped her mouth and asked with a crooked grin.

"...Shut up before you actually die, you're throwing off my focus."

"Yes, ma'am."

Camilla.

A former healer of the Apostles of Dawn and Yeomhwa's old teammate.

Still counted among the Tower's top healers today.

She spent a while smoothing her hand over Yeomhwa's back, settling the mana surging backward inside her.

How much time had passed.

"Haah..."

Yeomhwa, having finally stopped retching, collapsed limp onto the bed.

Camilla held onto her wrist and closed her eyes.

'...This is bad.'

Her mana circuits were swollen in multiple places, and mana that hadn't been discharged in time had bunched up around her heart.

A little longer and the circuits might have burst.

'Why is this happening all of a sudden...'

Yeomhwa was, without question, one of the most iron-willed people Camilla knew.

The very concept of getting injured felt distant from her.

And yet Yeomhwa had ended up like this in just a few months.

There had to be a cause, without question...

'Cause unknown.'

Not knowing was the biggest problem.

If there was one thing worth pointing to, it was that Yeomhwa's form had shot up dramatically lately.

Maybe she'd overdone something in the process.

"Have you taken any drugs lately, or... changed up the magic you use?"

"Nope... I'm all natural..."

"..."

Her condition was sinking deeper into a labyrinth.

Just then, Yeomhwa raised a hand as if something had occurred to her.

"Oh... I did buy this one thing..."

- Jingle.

Yeomhwa held out the piece of gear hanging from her wrist.

"Bought it at auction, ridiculously fucking expensive..."

Camilla unclasped the Ether Circle from Yeomhwa's wrist.

"Let me run it for a second."

"You can't break it, okay? I'm passing that down as a family heirloom..."

"Shut up. What good is a family heirloom if you're dead?"

"Guess you didn't know, an heirloom can only be passed down once you're dead..."

Camilla channeled mana into the Ether Circle.

- Hummm...

"...!"

A clear, crisp energy. The moment she activated it, blue light spread out and mana began circling round and round inside the piece.

There was almost no loss of mana itself. Analyzing the structure, it seemed to assist in recovering mana before sending it back into the body's own circulation.

It even had the effect of preventing mana from pooling in one spot or surging backward.

At the very least, there was nothing wrong with the gear itself. If anything, it was actively helping ease Yeomhwa's current symptoms.

"...It's not this."

"Phew..."

"If anything, it's good for your body right now."

Which meant the cause really was a mystery.

"Ugh... I think I'm dying, doc..."

Yeomhwa sprawled out on the bed, groaning theatrically,

and Camilla looked at her for a moment before closing her eyes.

It wasn't as if she'd never seen a similar case before.

Dolores.

The one teammate she'd never managed to cure.