Forged Destiny [Book 4: Ch. 16]

"Welcome to the Vault," Ozpin said. "As you can see we've amassed quite a collection."

That… that was one way to put it. The first thing that struck me was the reflection of light, even if it was only off the torch I held. There was so much metal, so much of it gleaming, that it almost blinded me. Weapons, armour, trinkets and so much more – even piles of lien in some cases, just strewn on the floor and spilling across the place.

"How is there so much…?"

"Much of this is left or donated to us," Ozpin said, stepping past to put the torch in a sconce on the wall. "There are many people who are trained through Beacon. When they pass, for whatever reason, it's not unusual for them to pledge some item, or items, to the academy. Much of what you see here is that, gifted to us by those who have departed but wish to help the school in some way."

[...]


It was a finely crafted breastplate, its frame solid on both the front and the back, with linked plates forming down on either side of the thigh. It shone a faint blue colour, only visible when the light from the torch washed over it, and although there was no real decoration or emblem, I knew from touching it that it was no mundane material. It felt unbelievably soft and cold, almost icy, and as my fingers traced over its surface I felt them grip and stick. Some kind of enchantment, or maybe a rune. I couldn't tell with so little light, but it was clearly magical in some way.

[...]

Taking armour and making it into a bar of metal wasn't quite as simple as some might have believed. I couldn't just reverse time, let alone mimic all the materials that had been lost, but what I could do was shatter and place the pieces together, and then forge them into a billet I could make into a sword. I could also take Crocea Mors, made of Vacuan Silver, and shatter that blade as well – even if it hurt me to do so. Combining the two gave me more to work with, but even for a skilled smith it would have been all but impossible. Only a Blacksmith could achieve this, using Stoke the Forge to reach the perfect temperature, and an instinctual understanding of metallurgy to know exactly what to do and when.

It had been a long and careful process...

But now I had a new sword – and more than that. I had enough material left over to make a chest-plate for myself. Both were of powerful material, far stronger than anything I'd had before, and both had granted me vast swathes of Exp.

—Forged Destiny [Book 4: Ch. 16]