Eternal Forge: Starting with a SSS Rank talent and a Myth Rank Class

Chapter 16: Chapter 16- Inscribing Talisman on Ember touched sword.

Golden fire...

”Why didn’t you tell me you had a golden fire?” Shen asked, frustrated, pointing his shaky finger at Leo.

Heh? ...Huh?....

Leo hadn’t expected such a question to come.

Shen had been staring at his hands for a while even after the golden fire had faded away.

”Sorry... I... but... you never asked.”

Shen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened his eyes; his expression had softened.

”No. You’re right. Don’t apologize.” He lowered his hands. ”Sorry. I got worked up.”

Leo nodded.

”Three days ago,” Shen continued his explanation, ”my quest updated itself and showed me a vision — a boy with a golden flame swirling around him, his palm on a vitrified stone within a ruin. It then pointed me to Ironhaven to find the boy in my vision. I went to that ruin before I met you previously, but I didn’t find anything there.”

When Leo heard Shen’s story, he was genuinely surprised.

A vision. Three days ago, I was in the ruin and I touched the vitrified stone pillar. The timeline matches. Could it be....

He still asked for confirmation: ”Wait, wait! You have a quest related to the ruin and the golden fire? Don’t tell me it’s a hidden quest named...?”

Shen and Leo blurted out the quest name at once: ”Memory of the First Fire...”

Silence...

Leo was shocked. They both had a hidden quest with the same name, meaning they were the two keys required to open the ruins.

Shen let out a breath, as he had been searching way too long for Leo — whereas Leo had tossed the matter of the two keys to the back of his mind right after he had gotten the quest.

Shen laughed pitifully in disbelief. ”I almost missed you. You were right in front of me the whole time.”

His back was covered in cold sweat at the thought of it.

”Good that we didn’t miss one another,” Leo said with a smile.

Shen nodded. ”It’s really you.” His shoulders visibly loosened.

Leo nodded and smiled, as he had thought it would take some time to find the second key, but who knew? Fate had turned in his favor.

Shen thought for a while and looked at the sword Leo had just forged. He thought he should not ignore Leo’s effort before they could move on to the hidden quest, so he returned to the topic at hand.

”By the way, I love this sword. How should I go about paying for it? Do you want cash? Or gold?”

Leo thought for a moment; he had no urgent need for gold or cash.

He looked at the sword and then at his own Ember-Touched sword.

”I don’t need payment,” Leo stated. ”But I want you to help me inscribe a talisman in my personal sword. Are you up for it?”

Upon hearing Leo’s answer, Shen was surprised. He nodded at Leo in admiration for his quick thinking.

”Okay, let me take a look at your sword,” Shen spoke, and picked up the sword Leo had just shown him.

”Hmm... I see it’s already a rare-grade sword. Um, let’s see... Oh! It’s soulbound to you.”

”This makes it easier for inscribing, as there won’t be much to worry about in terms of damaging it,” Shen answered as he examined Leo’s Ember-Touched sword.

”Okay, I can inscribe a talisman in your sword. It’s a deal,” Shen continued.

Leo considered it. His Ember-Touched sword was already rare and had served him well, so he didn’t want to lose it. He asked again, ”Will a soulbound weapon cause any issues during inscription? Will the bond accept the talisman?”

”Don’t worry,” Shen replied. ”The soul bond is what makes the inscription possible. The steel won’t fight the runes being inscribed, as you can make it accept them through your bond. This makes it a lot easier. If it weren’t bound to you, I wouldn’t be so confident about inscribing a talisman in an already-forged sword.”

Leo placed the Ember-Forged sword on the table, and Shen started to carefully inspect the blade so he could inscribe accurately without errors.

As Shen’s needle made contact with the blade, a pulse of golden fire rippled from the sword and his hand was repelled.

The sword seemed angered; the steel didn’t recognize the foreign ink and had tried to burn it away.

”It’s resisting,” Shen said in a shocked voice and looked at Leo.

”The sword has sentience. I need your help.” Shen called out to Leo hastily. ”The sword recognizes your fire, so use your fire to calm it down and make it accept the inscriptions. You might have to stay in contact with the sword throughout the inscription process.”

Leo immediately stepped forward and pressed his hands against the sword, communicating his will. The eternal golden flame emerged from his palm, gently heating the sword.

Shen tried again with his needle and noticed the sword was no longer repelling the ink, then his fingers started to move.

The needle traced lines after lines on the Ember-Touched sword’s surface. The lines started from the top of the hilt and spiraled all the way up to the tip of the blade.

The ink was not glowing with obsidian light as before, but was a blood-red crimson color.

Noticing the different type of ink and the shapes being carved on his sword, Leo asked, ”What is this talisman called?”

”Ember’s Memory,” Shen replied without raising his head. He continued to inscribe the patterns.

”This talisman will help the sword remember the heat that was forged at its birth. Every time it draws blood, the flames will grow, and the one who was attacked will receive a burning state.” Shen stated, his eyes sparkling in excitement.

”It sounds awesome, but are you sure there won’t be any effects that might do some harm to the sword?” Leo asked.

”Actually, if it were a normal sword, it would at most be usable for a limited time until it shattered, but your sword can handle it as it is nearly indestructible,” Shen replied while carving the patterns. After carving for hours, Shen finally rested his brush, completing the inscription work.

”As I said, your sword can handle it; your sword is special — it was forged from your special flame, and...”

Shen paused mid-sentence, hesitating.

”...I think your whole class is abnormal, so it should be fine. Don’t worry.”

”What do you mean by abnormal?” Leo asked back with a straight face.

Shen casually brushed it off. ”Now, just like before, seal this inscription into the sword permanently using your golden flames.”

Leo lifted the blade and called upon the Eternal Flame.

Soon he was covered in golden fire, and the sword was wrapped by the flames tracing the crimson spiral veins. The previous spiral vein color and the new gold color began to merge into a single current.

The blade began to absorb the eternal flames so rapidly that Leo found it hard to keep up the supply.

The sword was still in Leo’s hand; it pulsed for a brief moment.

In that brief moment, Leo saw a vision.

A shadow of a swordsman — the shadow’s hands gripped a sword with absolute stillness and swung at an angle that only an experienced swordsman could pull off, the stance of a person trained in swordsmanship for decades. That single strike seemed to be able to cut through everything, even time and space itself.

Then... it was gone. The vision vanished.

Leo looked around; he was still in the smithy. The sword still pulsed in his hand.

It had only lasted for a brief moment. Leo was left bewildered.....

What was that?

He quickly pulled himself together and focused back on sealing the talisman. He continued heating the blade until it was successfully reborn.

A new notification panel appeared.

[Ding!]

[SYSTEM: NEW CLASS BRANCH UNLOCKED]

[Runic Inscription]

[The Eternal Forge has witnessed a collaborative forging. A new path opens: runic talisman inscription integrated into the forging process.]

[You may now carve talisman runes into weapons during forging. Runes must be understood before they can be inscribed. The weapon’s quality and potential determine how many runes it can hold.]

[Restriction: You cannot create independent talismans. Runic work is limited to items you forge yourself, applied during the tempering stage.]

[Synergy detected: Soulbond + Runic Inscription.]

[Soulbound items accept runes 30% easier and retain them through upgrades.]

Leo was shocked. A new branch of his class had been unlocked.

I can learn to carve talismans and runes into the items I forge?

Although it seems I can’t carve talismans on paper like Shen.

But nonetheless, this is great.

Leo was very happy at this notification. After gaining a new understanding of his class, Leo dismissed the panel and looked at the sword that had just been completed.

[ITEM UPGRADED]

[Ember-Touched Longsword] → [Ember-Touched Longsword]

[Grade: Rare → Rare (Runic-Infused)]

[Level Requirement: 6]

[Damage: 18–24 → 28–34]

[Attributes]

Fire Damage +8 → +14

Crit Chance +5% (new)

[Effect 1 — Soulburn (Upgraded): 20% chance to Ignite on hit. Ignited targets take 12 Fire damage per second for 4 seconds. Soulbound weapons deal an additional 15% fire damage to ignited targets.]

[Effect 2 — Ember’s Memory (Runic): Each successful hit within 5 seconds increases fire damage on the next hit by 2%. Stacks up to 5 times. Resets on miss or out-of-combat.]

[Effect 3 — Guardian’s Echo (Runic): Once per combat, when HP drops below 30%, the blade releases a pulse of embers that knocks back nearby enemies and restores 15% of max HP.]

[Skills Granted]

[Ember Strike (Active): 25 MP, 6s cooldown. A focused thrust that deals 150% weapon damage as Fire damage. If the target is already Ignited, the cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds.]

[Inscribed Runes]

[Ember’s Memory (Rare — Crimson Tier) Description: Upgraded through collaboration with a Talisman Warrior of the ancient bloodline. The gold veins of the original Ember touched sword now carry crimson runic channels, allowing the blade to grow stronger with each strike.]

Shen also looked at the sword’s description, sack-jawed. ”Hey, that’s fucking insane.... This is abnormal.”

”Well, it’s because I have a special class which is way more abnormal. Just look at this, and you’ll think the sword is pretty much normal,” he said, showing his newly unlocked class branch with a cheeky grin across his face.

Shen’s expression turned strange as he read, and when he finished reading, his face had turned pale. ”That’s possible??” He stopped.

Grabbing his hair with one hand, frustrated, he started again, ”Heck! If that’s possible, there won’t be a need for talisman crafters anymore. Your class just learned how to carve runes. Do you even understand what’s happening?”

”Not yet, but I will figure it out soon,” Leo replied with a shrug.

”FREAK,” Shen muttered.

”You said something?” Leo asked.

”No, nothing at all...”

They walked out of the smithy and headed toward the inn.

The evening air was still fresh; the street lights were flickering, making the street glow with a yellow hue.

The murmurs from the market had started to dim down.

As they were walking, Shen suddenly asked, ”So, do you know what’s in that forge?”

”No, I don’t have a clue either. I only know it’s related to my class, and I have a feeling that most of the mysterious things happening to me will be answered there,” Leo answered, his voice somewhat dazed.

He seemed to be deeply thinking about something.

Shen turned his attention to the pendant hanging on his chest; he grabbed it in his fist and told his story. ”This pendant dropped from the quest that gave me my class. It’s supposed to belong to some sort of guardian clan from thousands of years ago that was protecting the ancient forge. I got the class at level 1 and have been through many class quests, and almost all of them mention the ancient forge, but I don’t have a single idea what this ancient forge really is, despite it being mentioned so much.”

”I thought it was just a story from the past, but the forge seemed to have stirred three days ago, and my quest updated, telling me to come here. Then this thing started to glow crazily at the same time,” Shen spoke with some frustration over the random glow emitted by the pendant.

Leo studied the pendant; he could feel the familiar warmth from it — almost the same as the Eternal Flame.

Leo added, ”The forge requires two keys to open. I’ve been there, but I couldn’t open it alone, and it told me to find another holder. So I guess you are the second key. And your quest has also led you here to find another key, which is probably me.”

Leo thought for a moment and asked, ”So, did you get any sort of bloodline — the one you mentioned before, the part about being related to some ancient guardian clan?”

”Nah, I am a player. How would I gain a generational bloodline of an ancient clan, right?...” Shen said it with confidence, but as he thought more, it seemed not impossible to gain a different bloodline in games, so he added, ”Well, I don’t have a bloodline yet, but maybe there will be some chances in the future to acquire one.”

Leo added, ”Have you ever wondered why you were the one to receive the class out of millions of people?”

”I was lucky? I don’t know, but I think it’s somewhat a kind of destiny and fate,” Shen replied with a laugh.

They reached the inn as they continued their chat along the way. The ruined forge was still out there, waiting for them.

Leo looked at Shen and said, ”So tomorrow we go exploring this hidden quest?”

Shen nodded seriously, gripping the pendant. ”Tomorrow it is.”