Chapter 138 - Easy way to make original equipment. (1/2)

Despite the contract being favorable to him in any reason, Hammer was still not convinced. He was a college student who was a law student and from his experience and studies, if anything was too good to believe, it probably wasn't. So, he was still uncertain about it. The only thing, he could see was that Shadow could fire him at any time, if his work was unsatisfactory. But that was an extremely common thing.

”Still not satisfied?” asked Shadow. ”I am only offering this to you as you seem like a good kid who has a decent character and my own personal problems due to which I wouldn't be able to spend much time in the game.”

”How about I add another thing into the contract for you?” said Shadow as he took the contract and wrote something new in it and passed it over.

”I can void the contract if you can't create a new original equipment in half hour after me signing it?” said Hammer as he looked at what Shadow wrote. ”And you will personally help me create my own original weapon design? Are you for real?”

”If I wasn't confident enough, I wouldn't put it in the contract with my name signed down there. would I?” answered Shadow pointing at his agreement to the contract at the bottom of it.

It was then that Hammer noticed that Shadow had already stamped in his agreement to the contract. ”If not anything else, at least the original equipment would be worth a lot of money,” thought Hammer. ”Just selling the designs would be me an advantage over any others,” he thought as he accepted the contract.

”Well, now that you have signed that we can proceed further,” said Shadow as he forwarded the contract to Rudra and took out a pair of iron ores and a pair of refined iron ore. He started with making the buckler shield again from the iron ores. He made it into the exact same shape as before.

Following that he took a pair of antelope horns from Hammer and used a machine to remove the ridges off it. He then sharpened the tip of the horns to a sharp edge and top half of the horn was also tapered to create sharp edges on two sides of the top half. The bottom half was left as it was and even the ridges of the horns weren't removed. Even in making the dagger or spearhead, he left only enough space for one's hand, but this time he left about double the amount unprocessed on each horn.

Then, he took the refined ore and melted it. He coated the horns with the metal and then put them aside. ”You understand what I am trying to do righ?” he asked looking at Hamacmer.

”You are just changing the material used for the claws of the buckler. Would that really end up being an original equipment?” asked Hammer.

”Of course. When you change the materials, the attributes and properties would also change. It will definitely lead to a new original which you be allowed to make as many designs as you want,” said Shadow.

”Take the Antelope horn spear. I made it from merging a halberd design and a dagger. It ended up as a new spear. We just need to make that they are fused properly and not have any defects. If you observe the materials, you will notice that the antelope horns provide more durability and are better at blocking than iron blades,” he continued as took the coated horns and began to buff their edges.

”You can do this beforehand for horns but not metal blades. When we attach the blades, the heat from welding will blunt the edges, but horns are insulator materials and in the small time used to weld it will have a minimalistic to no effect on the edges,” said Shadow.

Once, satisfied with the sharpness, he took some of the remaining melted refined iron ore to create a handle like he did before and after that joined them all. Checking that pieces were all thoroughly welded and joined, he put up for inspection.

”Make sure that all parts are properly welded. Else, the system will fail the inspection,” added Shadow as a notification sounded out indicating a new original equipment.

[_________________](BlackIron shield)

Level 15;

Requirement: Strength x 25; Vitality x 20;

Endurance +10; Defence +20;

Attack Power +12;

Special effect: Induces a stun effect for 1 second on a perfect stab.

Durability: 35/35;

”+ 350 experience points; +4 Forging proficiency;”

System: Congratulations on creating an entirely new piece of equipment in vita-nova. Obtained an additional 1000 experience points. The crimson blade stamp will be imprinted on it. Please name it.

The crimson blade stamp was also imprinted at the centre of the shield. The mark along with the shape of the shield made it look a bit a barbaric, but Balthazar was sure that the design would still appeal to a lot of players.

”Wow, the stats are better than that of the original,” said Shadow looking at the statistics of the new buckler. ”Maybe the horns have a shock absorbing effect.”

”Any suggestions for the name?” he asked Hammer. ”Antelope horn buckler seems a bit too common and someone might recognize the similarities.”

”With that print, most would start to think that this is probably an original equipment if you sell it. I doubt the naming would make much of a difference,” said Hammer as he looked at the buckler. ”You shouldn't have marked it.”

”I didn't. Your personal creations would get marked by the system automatically,” said Shadow. ”You will be asked to choose a personal mark to distinguish your creations from the one's in the system. It wouldn't appear on the ones created by others. Now, please suggest a name.”

”How about a simple Horned buckler. It is similar to the name 'Clawed Buckler' and wouldn't draw much attention to the fact about the materials used, unless someone has the clawed buckler design. At that time, a capable player would recognize it, even if we don't do anything. But most of such capable forgers have the common sense to keep their ideas to themselves. At the most, we will he helping an isolated competitor,” said Hammer.

”He has a valid argument and I knew that with my works, someone would sooner or later realize it,” thought Balthazar.