"This is a horrible idea. No, scratch that. This is the worst idea I have heard in my 20 years as a blacksmith."

Egrevaht looked over the sketch of a hammer Jim drew. It was a dark grey hammer with three rocket boosters sticking out of the back of the hammer's head. He drew this hammer from memory of a game he played a long time ago but he forgot the name and the character that used this hammer.

"But also, why not?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? This is a waste of resources and my time. First off the top is too bulky, the handle is too short, and even if I get the thrusters to work they wouldn't work for long. What do you even need this for? You have a legendary hammer!"

"Oh, right. I never showed you, did I?" Jim walked over to the shelf and picked up the hammer he used on his first day. Then he equipped the weapon form he got from copying it and showed it to Egrevaht.

"You can copy hammers?!" Egrevaht exclaimed, looking over the two hammers in awe. Other than the small red gem on Jim's hammer, the two were completely identical. "So you want me to craft this ticking time bomb for you to copy?"

"Exactly. Now you're getting it," Jim smiled.

Egrevaht groaned and picked up the sketch.

"I don't think I can make it. If I make fuel capsules small enough to fit into the hammerhead, it won't produce enough thrust to do anything," Egrevaht explained, pointing to the thrusters. "Even if the entire hammer was one large fuel tank, it would simply be too inefficient."

"What if instead of turning it into a rocket, we had three reloadable gunpowder capsules where the thrusters are and have them explode to let the hammer hit harder and faster at the press of a button."

Instead of answering, Egrevaht looked at Jim as if he just said something crazy.

"How do you make something this bad even worse? While that can increase hitting speed for a moment, one, that is dumb. Two, the function can be used once, maybe twice before the hammer explodes. And three, it will probably rip your arms off."

"Not if it's a copied form," Jim pointed out, tapping his hammer. Egrevant sighed and sat down next to Jim.

"What is the point of this? Why do you need me to do it? If this backfires and blasts your hands off, the king will have my head!"

"The king doesn't have to know about this. And also, it will give me bonuses that could help me when crafting lightning based weapons," Jim lied. What he hoped for is a new skill or an extra strong hammer. And if Egrevaht made it, it would be a high quality hammer with many bonuses and better stats.

The blacksmith sighed and slammed the sketch onto Jim's table.

"Fine. But not a word to anyone. It'll take me a few days to get the resources to make it, and I assume you want it to be enchanted?"

"Yes please. What do enchants do by the way? Extra stats?" Jim asked as he began getting the forge ready.

"No, stat wise it doesn't change. It'll add extra special effects at most. And it depends on the materials," Egrevaht explained, packing the sketch into his bag.

"Just make sure I, as a level 10, can use it. Cause the castle is on lockdown so anything above level 10 is unavailable for me right now."

"Got it, got it. But you better work hard while I work on this hammer, alright? I don't want to catch you slacking off!"

Jim raised his hands defensively and smiled.

"Have I ever slacked off in my whole time being here?"

"I suppose not. You're surprisingly diligent for someone who supposedly never touched a forge in his life prior to being summoned. You're one of the most diligent students I have had so far."

Egrevaht sighed deeply as he looked at the forge. Staring at the flame with a sad expression, he seemed to forget where he was for a moment.

"Uh… sore topic?" Jim asked, causing Egrevaht to flinch. He shook his head before heading to his anvil.

"Get started. I'll have your hammer ready in four or five days."

For the rest of the day Egrevaht barely said anything other than the occasional tips on how to work the material.

]—

"I don't understand how a random hammer will help you. The limit of it will still cap out at level 10."

The shadow was once again sitting down at the forge, overlooking Jim as he crafted another ring.

"Well, it's simple really. All I need to do now is wait. Then, once Egrevaht makes the hammer, I will copy it and upgrade it as much as I possibly can. With all the monster drops I have it shouldn't be too hard. What I need now is to make a few more weapons."

"What for?" the figure asked, tilting their head.

"That is for me to know, and for you to not find out," he responded, finishing up the ring he crafted. "By the way, why do you hang around my room so much?"

"With the castle on lockdown, I'm unfortunately stuck here until then. And this and the next room are the safest and least used ones," the shadowy figure explained.

"Oh," John dropped the ring on the table. It was almost ready and Jim was pretty close to another crafting level up.

"Trust me, if I could, I would have already left. But I can't even report anything outside until the lockdown ends," the figure complained, slumping in the seat.

[75 Crafting Exp]

[Crafting Level Up]

Alright. Crafting level 20. If I keep going at this rate I'll reach level 25 or higher. This would be so much easier if I could get another quality boost or at least craft good quality weapons instead of normal.

Jim stored the materials into the back again. For now all he had to do was wait for Egrevaht to make him the hammer, upgrade it, wait till the wave is in a few hours, and break into the room with the hourglass.

]—

"I'm telling you, this is the worst idea I have ever seen," Egrevaht complained, dropping a large heavy hammer onto the table. Jim grabbed it without hesitation and watched his own hammer grow into a copy.

Rocket Hammer N

Abilities Unmastered: "Mad Dash"

Special Effect: Lightning Resistance (Medium)

[O]

Jim swung it around a couple of times and it felt a lot lighter than the original.

It looks just like in the game. And it comes with its own skill! The stats are higher than the boss hammer due to the quality buff and overall, it's a great hammer.

"So what did it give you? Any luck?" Egrevaht looked curiously at him.

"Well, it's not a boost to crafting. But it gives me this, Mad Dash- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Jim yelled as his entire body was thrown forward at the speeds that would make roller coasters seem slow in comparison.

His body collided with the wall and left a large crack on the stone.

"What the hell are you doing?! You're gonna collapse the whole room onto our heads!" Egrevaht yelled as he helped Jim up.

"That was an accident. I had no idea what that skill was gonna do."

"What did you think a skill with the words 'mad', and "dash" would do?'

"Fair point," he shrugged, pointing to the crack in the wall. "Also, are you gonna use that hammer for anything, or can I take it?"

"Take it. That thing is a hazard to society. If you don't take it, I will destroy it and burn the whole thing. I am not risking disassembling it to have it blow up in my face. And never ask me for requests until you can make an excellent bow."

"Alright then. Thanks Egrevaht," Jim smiled and absorbed the hammer. He opened up his equipment slots on his hammer and threw the original into one. Jim thought about turning it to energy, but decided to keep it as a souvenir for now.

"Don't mention it. And I mean don't. This hammer never existed. If anyone asks, you made it." Egrevaht said. Pointing to Jim's hammer. The hero nodded and swapped out his hammer to work on new weapons. "Now get ready. You're going to learn how to make a shield today. And I don't wanna hear any complaints about your body being sore."

"Alright!"

Finally, defensive gear!

]—

"Are you ready?" the ring hero asked. His knight nodded and the two walked into the smithy.

"Ey! If it ain't my two favorite people! I got your orders right here," the blacksmith, a young man with a bright red and gold hammer on his waist. He smiled as the ring and container hero approached him.

A bunch of different containers and rings were scattered on the table for the two to copy. One container in particular stood out, as it was so large it was bigger than the shields on display.

"What do you think?" he asked as the two began picking up and swapping between the weapon forms.

"Not bad, not bad at all. You always manage to surprise me Leon. I mean, I knew you were fast, but this is just an impossible amount of things. What's your secret?" the ring hero asked. Leon just shrugged.

"A master never reveals his secrets, my friend," Leon replied with a smile.

"This one has an interesting skill. And passive charge?" the knight said. He equipped the large container to see what it did. Slowly but surely the container began to fill and glow.

"Oooooh. That looks interesting. How is the new weapon treating you by the way, William?"

"Stat wise, it's not a bad build. Having to tank damage to fight back was getting a bit annoying, but thanks to this weapon form I might no longer have to do that," he replied, lifting and lowering the weapon a few times to gauge its weight. The ring hero turned towards Leon and beckoned him over.

"Is the order I asked for ready?" he asked. Leon nodded and pulled out a small box. The ring hero opened it, revealing a small bracelet decorated by several expensive jewels. On the bottom of the bracelet was the name 'Maria' written out using tiny rubies. The ring hero smiled and hid the box onto his coat. He put a bag with several dozen gold coins onto the table. "I know I can always count on you."

"Anything for a pretty copper, 'your majesty'," Leon replied, hiding the money.

"Oh you greedy little fu-."

"I'm ready to go. There are still 11 days until the wave, I want to give this one a test drive," William called out to the ring hero, pointing to the new container weapon form.

"See you around, your highness," Leon laughed as he disappeared into the back of his shop. He opened up a secret hatch under the floor that led down to the basement, where another hatch led into a safe. He opened it up and dropped the money inside.

"Ah, too bad I can't pull a duck and swim in money, but this sight is definitely worth all the effort."

He closed up the vault and ran back upstairs. Next to the door were several boxes with dates and instructions written on them.

"Let's see. This is a sword with crystals due… tomorrow. Well then!"

A bright glow enveloped his hands and the materials inside the box began to glow. The crystals started to change their shape and soon turned into a glowing crystal sword.

"Let's see… I gave the king and his knight 4 perfects in that batch, so you shall be… excellent. Can't hand out too many overpowered items all at once, now can I?"

Several engravings appeared on the sword, and the glow seemed to only get brighter. A new effect was added and the crystal blade seemed to become even more clear than before. Finally, the glowing faded, only leaving behind a faint light inside the sword. Leon put the finished product under the counter as he prepared for the next customer.

As he lifted the empty box, he noticed a few bits of crystals at the bottom of the box and tossed them into a barrel behind his door.

"I can probably resell these later. Then again, I can probably make some random accessory with them. Eh, I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

With that he went back into the smithy and layed down on his recliner chair as he waited for the next customer.

"This is the life," he sighed to himself, smiling, as he drifted off to sleep.