The five spies for the Noble Families weren't the only ones who were interested in the Royal Carriage dropping off a young man at the smithy, and the front of the shop was much busier than usual, with customers steadily arriving right until the moment that Pops came out and flipped the sign from open to closed.
With the last customer of the night gone, they settled down into the comfortable chairs along the wall of the smithy, by a small table that was used mostly for planning the next project that Pops wanted to design.
The comfortable silence enveloped them, and Dominic took out the dagger that had dropped for him today, carefully placing it on the table so he didn't accidentally poison himself.
"The Princess told me something strange at dinner. These Common Grade magical weapons are supposedly as good as what most of the shops are turning out here in town. Are magical weapons that difficult to make? Or does nobody care about them when there is a chance to get weapons free from the monsters?" He asked.
The old Dwarf smiled and picked up the crude weapon. "Mostly the second, but the knowledge of making advanced magical weapons is a well-guarded art. You can fumble through trying to create one on your own, but you'll fail dozens or hundreds of times before you get it right, and the Master Smiths control access to almost all the magical weapon and plate armour recipes.
So, you see, even if they wanted to, and could turn out a decently made blade, the majority of the city's apprentices couldn't reliably make it a halfway decent magical one.
Most don't even know what the materials are to make a proper magical weapon.
Unless they've got an appropriately knowledgeable master and a well levelled Blacksmith Core, that is.
The apprentices of real Master Blacksmiths get access to some recipes straight from their Trade Skill Core as they level it, and at higher levels they can make magical items with a random effect, but those are Uncommon Grade and better, so they're beyond the budget of most low-level workers and commoner guards.
Of course, there are shortcuts, like the Alchemical concoction that the army uses to turn out pseudo magical weapons. But those hardly count, and nobody would give a smithy credit for items made that way."
Dominic frowned as he listened to his explanation. "So, even if I wanted to make magical weapons, there are no recipes available?"
Pops tapped his fingers on the hammer hanging on his belt as he hummed a soft song and stared at his new apprentice.
"Well, I wouldn't say that there are none at all, but I've never been fond of letting those greedy noblemen think that they can just stomp in here and demand that I work for them."
Dominic laughed. "The Princess said that you had told them that your skills weren't worthy of making weapons for Royalty, but I have seen what they were using in battle, and while it was pretty, it wasn't anything special."
Pops smiled back at him and nodded. "The really good stuff has Skill Gem level limitations put on it by the crafters. Letting incompetent children run around with your masterpiece would just be insulting to the smiths, so they build the restrictions into their designs.
Most of the ones that drop from the monsters are the same way. They will have some sort of restriction on them. Minimum or maximum combined skill gem level is the most common, but for higher grade weapons and blueprints, Skill type, species and even personality requirements are a possibility."
Dominic was fairly sure he was joking about that last part, but Pops looked serious behind that bushy beard.
Pops looked toward his forge with a wistful smile that said his thoughts were somewhere else and not in the present situation before he snapped his fingers and got to his feet.
"We've got time tonight, so how about I show you how to make a basic magical blade? A step up from the trash they give to the enlisted soldiers, but still a simple one that we can do with just monster cores, if you're willing to forego the free experience for your Blacksmithing Core."
"A few cores for the chance to learn something new? I will make that deal." He agreed, and the old Dwarf smirked at him.
"Spoken like a born Warlock. Alright, we need one monster core at grade one or higher for this most basic of weapons. Then we just need to make a weapon to put the enchantment on, and we're good to go." Pops explained as he headed for the forge.
Next to the forge, there was a collection of tool blanks, roughly formed and ready to be made into whatever they ran short on. Pops looked at Dominic and then at the chunks of metal, and back at him, before he decided on a chunk of steel that weighed about a kilogram.
"This should be about right for someone your size. Come over here, and you can stoke the forge as I work. Watch close, I will show you how to do this right, and then you can try one of your own."
Pops wasn't a big talker, and as soon as he explained the basics, he started to forge the chunk of steel into a blade a little longer than Dominic's forearm, a short sword of a long and slender variety that looked like he was making it a double-edged blade.
The material didn't seem like it was going to be enough for such a blade, but Pops kept hammering it wider and thinner, which increased Dominic's curiosity about what he was doing.
Once it was extruded to twice the width that Dominic would have considered reasonable for a short blade, he slathered it with flux, which looked like the same powdered Borax that was used as laundry soap, and Dominic pumped up the heat in the forge as Pops inserted it again and got the thin metal glowing hot.
Then, he folded the metal and pounded it flat again while whistling a happy tune.
"A magical blade isn't a farmer's scythe, we need to cleanse the impurities, and I don't have any weapons grade steel on hand." He explained, then silently went back to work, folding and heating the metal over and over until he was satisfied with the quality.
Then he began to shape the blade properly, turning it into the gently curved and narrow blade of a sabre.
That was not what Dominic thought he was planning to make at all.
But as the weapon took shape, Dominic could see that it was a beautiful blade, and light enough that even with his lithe build, he would have no problem swinging it.
Pops took a piece of flat iron and made a simple hand guard to bend over the grip, with a few thumps of his hammer to lock it in place using the hot metal from the butt of the hand guard like a rivet.
"Now, hand over the Core, and I will show you the trick to making a basic magical weapon." Pops demanded.
Dominic handed him one of the Level 5 Hobgoblin cores, one of the most precious items he owned, but he wanted the very best from this learning experience. Plus, a good magical blade would be real peace of mind next time he was out of town.
He hadn't forgotten the Princess' reminder that he needed to gain some sort of positive reputation before the intake exams.
"You had a good day on the field, I see. Alright, all that you need to do for a basic weapon is one of two things. You can either carve in the rune for the attribute you want to add, or you can randomize it with an invocation. Save the Invocations for the priests, though you might have some luck with them as a Sorcerer.
Today, we will use the Dwarven forge rune for speed."
He carefully carved a single angular symbol on each side of the blade, and then popped it back in the forge to heat as he crushed the mana core with a mortar and pestle.
Once the blade was hot enough for his liking, Pops sprinkled the powdered core over it like he did with the flux, and smiled as the blade surged with magical power.
It instantly cooled as the enchantment took effect, and the steel turned faintly silvery, while the hilt went flat black.
"That's the true sign that you got it right. A properly forged magical item will take on its own colouration, not just the colour of the metals you used." He explained with pride, before handing the blade over to Dominic.
"Now, put that away, and it's your turn."