Chapter 313 Necrosmith
Blue filled a few bones with mana, causing a sphere of liquid bone to float above its hands.
Next, it tried to mold it into a flat, rectangular shape, which Jay guessed was arm or leg armor.
Jay watched patiently, but after a few moments it slowed down, and soon, it couldn't mold it further. While it could form swords easily, this was a skill it had not learned and was creating itself, so every part of its shape needed greater concentration.
a�?Seems like Blue knows what it wants to do, but it just can't quite get there...a�? he thought.
After a few moments, Blue gave up. The curved piece of bone plate fell to the ground.
a�?Damn, I guess it needs to practice.a�?
Jay crouched down and picked up the curved bone plate from the ground, but it gave him an idea.
Still crouched and holding it, he pushed the plate into the mossy ground, making an indentation in the moss.
a�?Could it work...a�? Jay wondered.
(Blue, watch me craft something. You can try it next, and then teach the others.)
Blue nodded, stepping by Jay's side.
Jay used Blue's bone plate as a hand shovel and tore through the moss until he got down to a dirt layer. In the dirt, he dug a shallow trench, about the same size as the bone plate. He then pressed the plate into the dirt, making the dirt like a mold of the plate.
a�?I should have done this age ago.a�? Jay thought, a�?that Helvetian blacksmith did the same thing with ingot molds. I'm betting it could do it with swords, too.a�?
Jay tossed the bone plate aside and added some new bones into the dirt mold, then filled it with his mana. Some of his mana disappeared into the earth, but the bones absorbed most of it.
The bones all melted together into a thick white liquid. It took little mental effort to push along the middle of the mold and force the bone liquid up the sides of the mold.
Yet Jay wasn't exactly sure what Blue was trying to make, so he ended the demonstration there, dispersing the mana in the mold as the new bone plate formed.
a�?Ah, here we are.a�? Jay smiled, holding up the new plate alongside the old one.
a�?The front of it is identical at least, and it takes a lot of mental strain away when you don't have to hold it in the air... Damn, I could craft way better items with this technique. Freeing up more of my concentration will let me do more intricate designs.a�?
(Here.) Jay handed the two plates back to Blue.
Blue placed its sword down and held each for a moment, glancing at both of them, its head turning left and right as it compared each.
It looked at Jay, and Jay thought he could see praise and wonder in its eyes, but then it quickly grabbed some bones for itself to craft, dropping them into Jay's dirt-mold.
(Ah, no. Blue, you need to dig your own mold so you really learn it yourself.) Jay said, kicking some dirt back into the mold he had dug.
[8 Exp]
a�?Eight exp? Hmm, they must have killed a fog critter.a�? He thought, glancing into the wall of fog.
Jay glanced back at the giant tortoises and the fur centipede. They were pretty far away and each of them were like tiny fleas, so he wasn't worried about it following them.
Blue easily clawed through the moss and dug itself a curved rectangle hole. It stamped its bone plate into it to make the dirt compact and flat, yet this time, it also made the mold slightly longer.
Blue tossed some bones into the mold, but before it melted them together, it covered the front of its bone plate with a handful of dirt.
a�?Hmm, I didn't teach it that...a�? Jay raised a brow.
Blue then let its sickly green necrotic mana flow from its skeletal hand, filling the mold and melting the bones.
It became liquid, but before Blue molded, it dispersed some of the mana which made the bone liquid more thick and viscous, more similar to mud than honey.
Blue then used the dirt-covered bone plate and stamped it into the flowing bone, pushing it up either side of the mold.
It then quickly stamped it again higher up and made some slight modifications.
Holding the dirt-coated bone plate in place, it dispersed more of the mana and removed the dirt-covered plate.
a�?Huh, so it used the dirt coating to stop it from sticking to the molded bone, and it stopped the liquid bone from melting and deforming by dispersing some of the mana. Blue is smarter than I gave it credit for.a�? Jay nodded.
He had used both concepts when crafting, but didn't think to apply them here. Using the dirt-covered bone plate was an abstract way of using dirt to help mold it, and Jay realized the skeletons would use all of his teachings and techniques at all times.
a�?Seems like they may surpass me someday, even if my scrimshaw skill is higher.a�? He thought.
Blue completed its design and pulled the freshly molded bone from the hole, dusting off the dirt.
(Give it.) Jay immediately ordered.
The bone plate was rectangle and curved, and was about half as long as Jay's arm from his elbow to fingertips. Its thickness was nearly perfectly uniform across the entire piece, which is what made it hard to scrimshaw without the help of the mold. After wiping away more of the dirt, there was still a dark line going along the middle, slightly mixed into the bone.
a�?Hmm, must be the impurities. Usually these would fall out, but I guess the mold trapped it in.a�? Jay thought, analyzing it.
< [Tiny Spectral Bone Plating] > (Basic Bones)
[Common]
[1 armor]
[1 health when equipped by undead]
a�?Not as good as a piece made specifically for a body part, but it's better than nothing.a�? He nodded.
a�?It will be easy to mass produce, but how will they use it as armor? There's no way to wear it... hmm... I guess it could mold it onto the skeleton?a�?
Jay handed it back to Blue. a�?Nice work.a�? He whispered and watched the skeleton.
Blue's four sub-construct skeletons were scouting with Lamp and Handy, but the one which remained stood before it at attention, holding its arm out.
Blue grabbed its arm and held the bone plate over it, releasing some mana. Part of its arm and part of the plate became molten and Blue pushed them together, welding the bone plate directly to its skeleton.
a�?Thought so.a�? Jay nodded. a�?I wish I thought of that sooner, too.a�?
a�?So, now it has one extra health.a�? Jay thought, checking the junior skeleton.
< [Feeble Creature - Level 1] >
(Sub-construct of Blue) b𝚎𝚍no𝚟𝚎𝚕.c𝚘𝚖
[Type - Undead]
HP - 11/11 (+1, Equipment)
<[Skills]>
[Undeath] (Passive)
[Shade Vision] (Passive)
<[Description]>
[An abomination, its existence spits in the face of life and death. Execute with extreme prejudice.]
a�?Excellent.a�? Jay thought, a�?But I think it needs more armor plates.a�?