The piece of rough iron that Pops handed Dominic for his second attempt was much smaller, so he assumed that he would be making a dagger for his first attempt.
He had made a number of edged tools already, but they had just been shaped out of the blocks that Pops had already brought up to his standard for tool making. He hadn't had to try to refine the metals before, and he was overjoyed that Pops didn't want him to try to bring the metals down from ore to a workable standard.
Four times he folded it before the crudely smelted piece of metal was beginning to look decent for use on tools, and then another six attempts before it was starting to look like a decent carbon steel, the way that a good knife should.
Then he began to work the metal into a simple dirk, with the handle and crossbar integrated as a single piece.
That was similar to what Pops had done for the sabre, to create the landing to mount the hand guard, and Dominic found that once the blade was formed into a simple wedge dirk that he actually enjoyed hammering the curved shape into the handle's grip, forming ridges so it wouldn't slip out of the hand when it was wet with blood.
It was a lesson he learned the first time that he had to help his dad skin an animal for dinner. Where he grew up, most would wrap their handles with wire for that reason, allowing the slippery fluid to flow down from the surface without impeding the user's grip.
A round of dimples completed the look, and Dominic was satisfied that he wouldn't be embarrassed to take out this dagger anywhere.
"Now for the rune." Pops instructed his with a gesture to the diagram he had made on the chalkboard by the forge.
Very carefully, Dominic carved the rune on each side of the blade, and took out a level one Goblin Core to crush while the blade heated enough for the last step.
Pops smirked at Dominic as he carefully crushed the least valuable of his cores for the attempt before taking the dagger back out of the flames and crossing his fingers for luck before sprinkling the dust over the blade.
Unnoticed by Dominic, as the item was in his pocket, words appeared on his Trade Skill Core as the enchantment finished.
[Creation Successful]
[Recipe Learned: Blade of Swiftness]
[Skill advanced] Blacksmithing Apprentice Level 2
Just like the sabre, the dagger had turned slightly silvered, with a blackened metal hilt, but it wasn't as shiny and the feeling of magic on the item was weaker.
"Not shabby at all. It might only be a level one dagger of swiftness, but the nobles would pay good money for a dagger that pretty. You have a talent for art and sculpture, apprentice." Pops laughed as he picked up the cooled metal between his fingers to examine it with a critical eye.
Dominic sighed in relief and slumped against the bench, exhausted from his work, and only now realizing that he had been at it for hours, and it was nearly midnight.
Pops handed the dagger back and Dominic put it away into his storage cube, satisfied that he had just greatly increased his combat abilities with a single evening's work.
"Just how much would this sort of weapon sell for?" Dominic asked curiously.
"Usually, a Common Weapon sells for a hundred silvers per magical level, Uncommon for a thousand a level. Anything more precious than that doesn't sell for money, it trades for something else of value."
Dominic examined the two new weapons using the magic of the Trade Skill Core, and his eyes opened in shock at the descriptions.
[Dagger of Swiftness] Uncommon Dagger Level 1
[Sabre of Swiftness] Uncommon Sabre Level 5
These two weapons were worth much more than the monster cores that he had made them with, and even if he had used more valuable materials for the blades, it would still be a large profit to make them.
"With that sort of prices, why don't you sell them?"
The old dwarf shook his head.
"Once you start selling magic weapons, you can't stop.
They'll always come to you for more and more, and they won't stop until they've worked you to the bone without so much as a 'Thank You'.
It's better that you make your own and let the others hunt for theirs. The same goes for armour, but a spell caster normally can't use plate, and I don't do leather working, it's not my thing."
"Is there some sort of book to learn the runes from to do different enchantments?" Dominic asked hopefully.
Pops' beard wiggled as he laughed. "You've got expensive tastes, boyo. The Dwarven Forge Runes are the secret to our success as Forge masters. There is no written book, we memorize the entire language and never write it out on anything permanent except on our work, where it will vanish the moment that the enchantment is finished."
He was right, there was no sign of the rune that he had written on the dagger, and if anyone else looked at it, they would only see the effect, not the rune that created it.
Pops had also erased it from the chalkboard, but after the success, the rune was engraved in Dominic's memory, allowing him to create another blade with the Swiftness aspect again in the future.
"So, learning the whole language is one of the secret requirements for Dwarven Smiths to advance, is it? I am honoured that you have taught me something so precious to you." He replied with a polite bow to his teacher, then straightened quickly as his hair nearly swung into the forge.
"You're a quick learner, and you made great progress in your Smithing. Tomorrow, we will get you a proper welcoming gift made, but for now, go to bed." Pops replied with a smile.
A warm bed sounded like a wonderful idea after spending so much time in front of the forge. The heat seemed to have seeped into his bones, and standing away from the fire felt cold. It was easy to see why the old man was known to sleep in the workshop, where it was sweltering hot. Once you were used to it, anywhere else was just uncomfortably cold.