Chapter 9: A powerful weapon and a friend

This chapter will introduce the world every player awaited to visit, Tir Na Nog

I'm kidding. This is a filler chapter. This is where my character acquires a new weapon and meets my second character. This event occurs a day after the last chapter. It'll be before the actual storyline continues.

Another dream came. This one seems different than the ominous ones. It showed Gairech Hills, only the area wasn't on the surface. It was inside a cave, with a small cone of light shining. Although the site was supposed to be clear of adamantium, it wasn't. The cave has a deposit which the Fomors forgot to acquire. The ore was shining in a dark blue color, creating the illusion that the mining site is like an ocean. The light was dancing around the crystals, creating a beautiful site. The dream faded in a bright flash of light.

I woke up, feeling refreshed after yesterday's events. The sun was shining brightly with no clouds in the sky. I was oddly calm, despite what my dream showed. Deciding to have a trip to Bangor, I paid a visit to the grocery shop in Tir Chonaill and bought some bread and cheese. I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and ate my breakfast. Before I made my way to Bangor, I noticed how much gold I was storing. My large pouch was full, making me buy a second pouch. My maximum capacity for carrying gold increased to 100,000. With the leftover gold, I had about 75,000. I quickly got myself ready to head out to Gairech Hills, where my dream took place. I used the moon gate to teleport near the Dragon's Ruins.

I walked out of the moon gate and traveled to the mining region. Several kobolds were roaming nearby. They were minding their own business. They didn't seem to think of attacking. However, I ignored them to find the cave entrance. I looked everywhere for the entrance. It took several hours till the sun reached its zenith. Tired of my search, I went to Bangor to rest. The mining town was thriving with people heading to Barri dungeon, mining for ores. The blacksmith was busy, refining ore in a rapid rate. The man refining the ore was experienced on refining and blacksmithing. I decided to ask the blacksmith. "Excuse me sir. Why is the population suddenly excited" I asked. "Barri dungeon has a large ore deposit. It was full of silver and copper. We're mining our way to acquire some ore to make new weapons. I also noticed your weapon had met its times of battle. They look pretty dull. I noticed my katana and gladii were indeed getting dull. I decided to let him repair my swords. "Thank you, kind blacksmith" I said to the man. "No problem. Mind if I get to know your name, young man" he asked. "My name is Shadowfire08, but everyone calls me Shadow" I said to him. "What is your name" I asked. "My name is Edern. My daughter, Elen, and I are running this shop." Edern was a kind man. Despite his outward appearance of being a muscular person, he was kind hearted. Due to his years of being a blacksmith, it strengthened his muscles. It looked as though he trained his body, using weights. His hair was a platinum blonde, almost appearing white he stylized his side bangs into dreadlocks, despite having straight hair. His skin was tanned, almost as though it was biological. His fierce but kind eyes appeared light brown. His daughter, Elen has most characteristics of Edern. She has his dark skin, but lighter, and has blonde hair. Her hair was darker than her father's but her eyes were a robin's egg blue. The unique features of her seem to make her popular, judging by the admiring looks of the miners and townsfolk, male or female. She took notice of my conversation with her father and decided to introduce herself. "Good afternoon, sir. My name is Elen. I'm a blacksmith-in-training." Her cheerful attitude nearly surprise me, but I introduced myself. "My name is Shadowfire08, but everyone calls me Shadow" I said. "I can understand that. Some names are pretty long so they often find ways to shorten it" Elen said jokingly. I also laughed at the humorous tone. We chatted for some time, knowing about each other's talents and what we want in life. "I don't have much to plan for the future, but I'm willing to fight to protect Erinn." Elen smiled from hearing my need to protect Erinn.

Our conversation lasted for a while. It gave me the spirit to search the area, only to explore. I enjoyed the conversation with Edern and Elen. I left the mining town to continue exploring around the now-empty adamantium mines. Outside of Bangor, I looked at the sites, only to realize the areas haven't dug too deeply. If anything, the entrances were too short, suggesting a goblin or an imp was involved. Unexpectedly, the ground I was standing on was unstable. My body's weight caused the ground to collapse, creating a sinkhole. A small cave was opened. I noticed a faint, blue glow in the cave through the sunlight. Deciding to explore, I went deep inside. I channeled my magic to use Firebolt, using it as a source of light. Using the fire, I looked around the cave, only to be shocked of what I discovered. "This cave... it's an adamantium deposit! How lucky can one be? This is unreal" I said in complete surprise. I quickly rushed back to Bangor.

I went to the blacksmith shop meeting with the owners. I asked for pickaxe that I can purchase. "Why are you looking for a pickaxe, Shadow" asked Elen. "You'll see when I bring the ores" I responded. I was still in shock of discovering the adamantium deposit. I had to hurry though. 'No telling whether a Fomor would find this site or not.' Much to my luck, no Fomors were nearby. I equipped my pickaxe and began to mine the adamantium out. It was a tedious task, due to the hard metal making a ringing sound each time I struck the ore. I mined through the dirt to get the ore. A few ores were brought out. I continue mining for more, cleaning off the cave. It was sundown when I finished mining. I had over 20 adamantium ores.

I went back to meet with Edern and told both him and his daughter on what I discovered. He was shocked of what he just heard. "A-ADAMANTIUM!? You discovered a cave by accident and found adamantium ores!? You have the luck of the Goddess with you, young man" he said. I showed him the ores I collected. "If possible, the cave still has its deposits of the legendary metal. It's in Gairech Hills, at the outskirts of Bangor, near the now abandoned Fomor mines." Immediately, like a chain reaction, everyone ran off to find the cave to find the adamantium. "Excuse me, Edern. Do you mind crafting a katana made from adamantium" I asked. "It's not an easy job to refine the ore, let alone make a sword. However, I'm willing to do so. The issue is shaping the ore into a weapon. To do that, it has to be heated till it reaches its melting point. Once it reaches melting point, I can shape the metal into a weapon. What's unique of adamantium is, no matter how much you use your weapon, it'll never get dull. It can even destroy magic." I was excited to have a weapon made from the legendary metal.

I helped Edern with refining the metal. It was no joke, it took almost an hour to refine the metal. We managed to make several adamantium bars. By then, Edern heated the adamantium up to shape the metal. He began hammering the ore. The loud clanging sound of the hammer ringed across the town with the adamantium glowing red. The adamantium was starting to take shape of a katana. It took 2 hours to make the weapon. After a few strikes, he cooled the blade down by dipping it into water. The blade gave a dark blue glow. It looked elegant and more deadly. I thanked Edern for his help. "It's always a comforting feeling for me to create weapons and repair them. Now the price for the job is 45,000 gold. 'Good thing I saved over 50,000 gold' I thought jokingly. I paid him the gold, giving time for Elen to arrive. "What was all the commotion? You guys were totally excited about something" she asked curiously. I decided to unsheathe my sword slowly and gently planted it on the ground, without cutting anyone. "Wow... I never seen a katana like this. What ore did you guys use" she asked. Edern and I both said at the same time "Adamantium". She stopped and had a look of shock. "C-come again?" Edern could barely hold his laughter. I was trying to hold my laughter as well, only to fail and snicker. We both said to Elen "This sword is made from adamantium." Needless to say, she fainted from shock. We were laughing so hard we fell to the ground, holding our abdomens. It was a hilarious sight. When Elen came to, she looked at my katana in complete awe. "W-who was the lucky person to find an adamantium deposit? We had our adamantium mines empty for months" she asked. Edern pointed his hand towards me. I was nervous of what to say. "You are one lucky person in Erinn. If you managed to find that cave, it's possible that there may be more adamantium deposits nearby." She looked at my weapon, which gave a dark blue glow. "I think Bangor will have a decent amount of people coming here to find the legendary deposit. It might cause the income to improve." Edern looked at me with a proud smile. "You're right, Shadow. This'll be a major historical event. Still, we need to ensure the Fomors don't cause any problems with the mines we now have." I couldn't agree more with him. "It was a surprising event, but I must leave for now." Although they insist I stay for the night, I told them that some people need my help. They asked if that was the reason why I requested for the smithing of my katana. I nodded, saying that it involves with a problem grave enough to threaten Erinn. As thanks for Edern's help, I let him have my old katana for him to look at. "Thank you, Shadow. Perhaps, we can craft these kind of swords to make them more elegant" said Edern. I said my goodbyes and left Bangor.

I traveled through Gairech Hills, admiring the scenery. Sunset was slowly turning to night. During my adventure, I noticed a person being attacked by bears and bandits. The person appeared human, but was wearing what appeared to be a large wizard hat. His clothing was made for males, suggesting the person was a guy. He wears wearing what appears to be a special armor that's light and easier to wear. The armor has a small hood, making it versatile for both combat and weather. His clothes were giving a large shining effect, making the impression that they're changing colors from yellow, orange and red. Deciding to help the person, I quickly dashed towards the enemies. I hacked the attacking bears down by giving them a sharp slice to their paws. The cut wasn't deep enough to dismember them, but it made them whimper and leave. The bandits turned their attention me. "Leave us alone, kid. We have business with this elf." By hearing that crude sentence I could tell they were planning to kill him. It agitated me to hear such insulting words. My anger slowly manifested a fully charged bolt of fire. I launched it to the first bandit knocking him down. Without warning, I quickly unsheathed my katana in laido style, cutting the bandit down. He had no time to scream and fell lifeless to the ground, bifurcated. The bandits got angered from my actions and proceeded to attack me. The elf quickly took aim with the bow and shot two arrows at the same time to a bandit. One arrow hit the abdomen, while the other hit the neck, suffocating the bandit to death. I teamed up with the elf to deal with the last bandit. We quickly dealt with them by me slicing their weapons down, while the elf finishes them by shooting at their legs, bleeding them dry. "Whew, thanks for the help. These bandits are troublesome for my kind. Always harassing others just because we look mostly human." That got my attention. 'Mostly human? He looks human to me. Wait a minute' I thought. "They mentioned you're an elf right?" The man nodded, wary of what I might say. "I never seen an elf. If they look as human as you guys are, I don't see any reason why they want to harm you." The elf was surprised of my response. "They mostly wanted me for my power. Elves have vast knowledge of magic and archery. We usually don't resort to melee combat due to lack of physical prowess, but some of us do. I'm no exception, since I learned how to use martial arts." The elf felt complied to explain his talents. "It doesn't mean that your kind is less human. Judging a person's race is a completely foolish thing to do. Of people pick on others just because of appearance, they just turned to the eyes of a fool. I don't know much about them, yet they are a race that can be well-respected." I reassured the elf's nervous and worried behavior. "I see. Many people know of our kind, but I never thought I met someone who didn't knew about elves. My name is Lightfire09, but everyone calls me Light." He introduced himself. "My name is Shadowfire08, but everyone calls me Shadow." We engaged in a short conversation. I noticed Light never took his hat off. Seeing my curiosity, he took his hat off. He had long white hair, tied to an oriental ponytail. What surprised me was his hair color and tribal markings on his face. Unlike my dirt blonde hair, his hair color was white as snow. Yet he looks 17 years old. The markings on his face looked as though he was raised in a region far off from Uladh. They had a unique pattern on his face. The color was a near indigo to violet. His eyes glowed a vibrant green in the light. His ears were longer than a human's. However, the ears didn't frighten me. Rather, they made me curious. "Um... It's impolite to stare" Light said, slightly irritated of my staring. "Sorry about that. I was curious, although I didn't mean to stare in an obsessive way." We stared at each other for some time till we ended up laughing. "We have our ways of being different Light. It's a way of nature" I said to him. We laughed again, harder than usual before collapsing due to laughter.

We took a breather after laughing so hard. Light decided to look at my sword. "That sword... It's not made from ordinary steel, isn't it" Light asked curiously. "Indeed. It's not made of ordinary metals. It's made from a rare metal" I responded. "What kind of metal" he asked. "It's adamantium" I stated. He quickly stopped, petrified in a statue-like state. "C-come again" he asked nervously. "This sword is made from adamantium" I stated to him slowly. He flipped upon hearing the name. I barely held my laughter. My cheeks were ballooning and turning red. Light got his bearings together, questioning me on how I found a source of the metal. "It's over there, where the miners are." I pointed to the direction where the miners were located. They were swarming out of Bangor with mining equipment, carrying loads of adamantium. "You have the luck of the Goddess, my friend" he complimented. "I heard that one before" I said jokingly. "With that large deposit, Bangor won't be economically challenged. I would say that the ore won't run out." True to my word, the adamantium deposit seemed to magically regain the lost ore. It quickly regrew faster than the eye could understand. Before our very eyes, the adamantium crystal from a distance, grew back to its normal size. We were baffled on what we saw. "Leave it to nature for making things that seem impossible come true" I commented. Light couldn't agree more and nodded his head.

I began to question Light on his arrival in Uladh. "So Light, what are you doing in Uladh" I asked curiously. "Well... I'm searching for someone" he stated, albeit reluctantly. "Mind if I ask who it is" I said curiously. "The Goddess whom we all know, Morrighan." Upon hearing that, I questioned him immediately. "Did you had a dream where she requested help from you?" He nodded. "Did the dream took place in a cave with a small cone of light shining to her?" He nodded again. Seeing his answers proved my suspicions correct.

"You're not the only one who had a dream of the Goddess." I explained my tale to him. From the very beginning, to recent events... I told him everything I knew. He was shocked from what he heard. "Shadow, to hear that you're a Milletian, it seems either fate or destiny has pitted us together. Like you, I'm also a Milletian. We both came from the Soul Stream before coming here in Erinn. I guess we were chosen to find the Goddess. You might not realize it, but it won't take a single man to protect Erinn. How can one man or deity bear the burdens of the world?" It was a shocking, yet calming revelation. Who would've thought the elf I met is a Milletian like me? He was wise for his age. I felt compelled to be friends with the elf. "I know. One man or deity cannot handle everything, but with help, anything's possible. I will continue to train to become strong and protect my comrades." Light felt my spirit when hearing those words. "You have a strong, yet calm spirit, Shadow. I'm sure you're capable of doing so." I asked if he could join on my journey. "I'll be glad to join ok your adventure, Shadow. Perhaps, you can show me around Uladh. Maybe one day, I can show you my home" he said. "I'll look forward to seeing the world of Iria. I may not know much about Uladh other than the eastern region. However, if I have the chance, I'll be willing to see your home, Filia." Light was glad that he met a fellow human who was interested on his home world. "I'm sure you have a homestead there" I asked. "Yes, I own a small house in Filia. From what I heard from the people in Uladh, the people who create their homesteads use a special type of teleportation magic called space-time magic. Their homesteads are in a separate region, but they are hospitable, due to the warm climate." I nodded, opening a small rift that leads to my homestead. We went through the rift, teleporting to my homestead. Light was curious of the landscape around him. "It's rather nostalgic of my home. This place has fertile soil, but some portions have a desert outside." I nodded, noting his brief explanation of his home. We began to talk on what type of combat we learned so far. "So Light, you mentioned that elves are proficient on archery and magic. What made you want to learn martial arts" I asked. "It's more of a personal choice. This helps deal with a particular weakness for any person doing ranged combat. It provides a sense of control all around the battlefield. Although archery and magic have advantages on range, it's dangerous up close. By learning martial arts, I have the knowledge to essentially fight off enemies in hand-to-hand combat. How about you, Shadow" Light asked. "My talent is being a warrior. I specialize on sword combat, though I'll think about martial arts some other time. I'm also able to use magic, but I use basic magic to provide a sense of training on mana flow training. I'm trying to make the mana flow more controlled, allowing usage of mana without using it all up for one spell. It's easy to augment nature with mana, but shaping it, is difficult" I explained. Light felt the need to explain some principles in magic. "It's indeed hard to manipulate the change of shape of using mana. With elemental augmentation, you can easily manipulate the mana's shape and elemental. Perhaps this technique will assist you with mana control. The amount of your mana pool is pretty large, rivaling that of my kind. This technique will take advantage to help improve your spells. To start the technique, surround your body with your mana. Picture it making yourself invisible. The mana will respond and make your body appear transparent; the appearance of spirits. It's a decent trick, one that can be used to sneak in areas. This technique is called Elven Hide. Anyone would be fooled by this spell. It's one of the fundamental skills that an elf would learn. It takes practice, but worth the effort." He demonstrates the hide technique, making himself invisible. He appeared next to me, startling me for a moment. He laughed when I got startled. Remembering what Light told me, I focused my mana throughout my body. It was creating a fair blue glow. Before I knew it, my body was completely transparent, even my clothes.

I continued to practice the Elven Hide technique. It made my mana control more efficient, allowing me to channel it without wasting any amount needlessly. I kept phasing from appearing to disappearing without any trouble. Light was surprised on my mana control. "You have been training on basic magic, yet your control is amazing. You must've been using magic frequently to make your mana flow smoother. Most humans have their mana flow nearly or completely erratic. It makes control at times, difficult to even conjure a spell, using elemental manipulation." I nodded, making him curious. "Tell me, what kind of magic do you often use and what spells you know" he asked. "The spells I know for now are Icebolt, Firebolt, Lightning Bolt, and Healing. The kind of magic I specialize is both fire and lightning magic." He seemed surprised to know what magic I specialize. "A dual elemental Mage... A lightning and fire user no less... By combining fire and lightning, you would be able to create an advanced elemental magic called plasma magic. In order to create this magic, you need to learn an intermediate form of magic called fusion bolt. It'll be the progenitor of a new magic spell." Light expressed his excitement on my specialties on both magic. "Bear in mind of this, not many mages have the ability to create a new elemental spell. Meeting one is like finding a prodigy in a class. More importantly, the ability to create another elemental through using 2 separate mana elementals will be a difficult task. Many Druids attempted to do so, only for the spell to backfire. In most cases, the spell dissipates. In extreme cases, such as intermediate magic, it can cause injuries, due to the stabilized mana losing its focal point in concentration, making a minor explosion" Light noted to me. He began to ask something. "How come you can't use ice magic?" I remembered in particular when I had little control on Icebolt. "When I practiced on Icebolt, my affinity to ice was very poor, compared to the other elementals. It made my mana control so terrible, even with little mana used, I conjured giant orbs of ice, making their impact deadly. I had to minimize the orb by gathering less than the usual mana, but it was difficult, despite being able to wield it. The sensation was as though I'm forcing my mana to create something, but my body can't comply with it. My mana control was improving, but it was a tedious task, something I didn't let my teacher know about." I explained. Light understood my predicament. "While you fooled your teacher, your control is still amazing. Probably the time when you first conjured the ice spell, it went into flux, which caused it to grow large. With training, it can be easy to perform the spell, but it won't mix to form a new spell. Separately, it's easy to conjure an ice spell through shape manipulation. However, the issue is how your natural affinity is attuned to. I can help with your training on magic." I agreed with Light to train with him. We acted like brothers, despite having polar opposite names. Night has fallen with fatigue coursing on our bodies. We decided to sleep at our individual homesteads to rest for the night. I eventually fell asleep in the breezy night, under a blanket of wind blowing gently.

That's all for now. I introduced my second OC.

Note: The concept of mana is almost like chakra from Naruto. However, unlike Naruto, mana is essentially power of the mind. Also, if all mana is used, it won't kill the user, it just mentally tires the person. Please bear in mind that elemental combinations will be present. Their magic spells is the result of mastering how to fuse them. With that said, any questions asked will be answered.

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