Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 7, Ch. 8]

The Guild remained silent. My point was made. While the Levels themselves might be worthwhile, any Skill relying on Ironwood was flawed. At least if Archmage Ironwood's fears were true. Even if they weren't and it remained after his death, it wasn't like it was a limitless resource. Only the amount he made would still exist.

And, of course, there was no guarantee the Skill would be of any use. It might just as easily be the ability to make my own armour and weapons grow leaves or come to some limited form of life. Living weaponry would definitely be a curiosity and sell for a lot – I could become the richest Blacksmith on Remnant – but it wasn't going to grow legs, take up arms and beat back Salem's horde.

"I still think you should try it," Blake said. "It can't hurt, and you'll gain Levels. If nothing else, you become stronger."

"Agreed." Pyrrha leaned back.

"I also agree," Ren said.

"Me too," Nora echoed.

The others were nodding along with them, leaving me to sit, the centre of attention, and question why I was so internally upset by the decision. They had a point and Levels were levels. They may not have been gained through hard work, training or heroic bouts with Grimm, but who cared at this point? I couldn't afford to be so arrogant as to turn that away.

"I'll make as many as I can in a day," I said, earning pleased smiles from each of them. "And I want to try and make you all weapons as well from them, but we'll need to keep spares in case they break."

"Doubt any of us are gonna reject that," Yang said. Even so, she looked around, and to my relief not a single person was shaking their head. "Awesome. You got enough Ironwood for that, though? Weiss' sword is a little thing, but Nora's hammer is going to take a lot."

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 7]



Unlike Vacuan Silver, which had given me some nice Exp the first time and then faded to almost nothingness, Ironwood remained a rare enough material that I continued to gain some Exp from it, even if it wasn't as dramatic as it had been the first time. Early on, I'd almost gained a whole level from making Yang's new gauntlets. Toward the end, when I was making a set of daggers for Blake, I gained less than a quarter of a level, but that was to be expected. I was twelve levels higher than I had been when I started.

"They definitely feel lighter," Blake said, testing her new weapons. "It's hard to say without putting them to use, but the balance is excellent." Twisting one in her hand, she sheathed it on her bandolier beside the more mundane knives I'd insisted she wear to accompany them

[...]

"Carry me!" Ellayne held out a hand.

Yep. There it was.

Sighing, I knelt, picking up her sword and moving to her side.

[...]

"Fine." Ellayne pouted and turned to me, bowing. "Thank you for the lesson, master, and for the weapon you made me – but you should have delivered it yourself!"

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 8]