Time to get to Work

Appearance and Outfit:

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She had just graduated from the Jounin Academy classes, but due to taking care of things like ensuring they still had a roof over their head, Niko had been busy for a few days and hadn’t been able to participate in some of the other things that needed to be done.  So, today, she steeled herself as she walked into the market looking for some equipment and maybe some ore to buy, knowing full well that she was going to need to get to work earning some serious cash if she was going to buy her uncle’s forge back.  She had even taken some time to gawk at some equipment she wanted to buy, jotting down notes of prices and locations as she did.  But then it was time for the equipment.

She had been working herself almost to death, and while she did feel more groggy and weak than normal, this wasn’t all that out of the ordinary for her, and she still was extremely confident in her throwing weapon accuracy.  Some Senbon and Kunai would need to be purchased… and she might as well get some raw materials while she was at it.  She didn’t own her own forge, but she had ensured she had an agreement to where she could use the damn thing and it was here in the Market, so win win..  After looking at a few shops, she found some that looked decent on quality and price, and made her purchases quickly and effectively, as well as a pouch to hold them all in.  She had decided to get some steel wire as well, as it was an extremely effective tool if used right in almost any mid to close combat scenario.

She wasn’t exactly dressed for work at the moment, a flowery shirt and a pair of jean shorts, but she hardly expected the ever-paranoid Mako to come up and tell her it was time at the last possible second.  The red haired woman had always been quick to get ready for whatever tasks might come her way, and she wanted to be comfortable while she was out with other people.  Besides, this clothing would be fine when she was in the forge, so no big deal.  Meeting up to the mining part of the market, she couldn’t help herself; she quickly found the Ebony metal; the highest grade metal she could buy outright, and bought 10 pounds of it, along with 10 pounds of regular steel.

A very content smile on her face, she marched back to the forge and unloaded.  She would use the bought weapons as a blueprint for making her own, and considering things, she thought she would start with Senbon.  Looking at the sunbeam coming in through the window for a moment, she nodded, knowing she should have enough time.  Mako should be back soon and then they could talk about the mission while she worked on making the weapons.

Grabbing the steel carefully, she hummed a happy tune as she twirled a single senbon between her fingers rapidly, walking into the forge and kicking on the furnace, getting the fires burning.  Putting a large pot onto the heat that she had cleaned the night prior to a pristine shine, Niko placed the steel ingot into it carefully.  She could always pour it back into an ingot cast once she had what she needed, but it would take time to melt into its liquid form.  She took advantage of that time and grabbed a casting block; a super soft piece of wood that she smashed the senbon inbetween, creating a mold of the one she had purchased.  She had no thoughts in her mind that she would be able to replicate this quality… yet.  This was going to help her shake off the rust.

The first one, poured into the casting block looked shoddy at best, but that was to be expected.  It had been years since she forged, and she was going to take her time and get her skill back up without rushing things.  Setting the first one aside, she focused on the next, glad she was using the far cheaper steel rather than her Ebony to start things off.

Items Bought/Created:

[1]

Niko frowned as she twirled the Senbon; sure, it was durable being made out of steel, but it was far from perfect. Frustrated, she set it aside and pulled her casting over, taking a closer look at it in the sunlight. Of course it was messed up; she had rushed the casting and that was going to make less than great straight out of the gate. Pulling up a new piece of wood, she took the senbon she had used before and carefully laid it on the wood, then ensuring she applied pressure evenly across the senbon, pressed it into the wood, creating a new mold.

Senbon were easily the most simple things to forge, only really requiring a good cast but the problem with it was that they also couldn’t be improved all that much to her knowledge, but as usual, Niko wasn’t satisfied with that. Part of the problem was in the mold itself; the soft wood couldn’t apply any pressure to the Senbon, and she would need to see if she could come up with a solution to that problem, but the first step of course was to get the method of molding right. The problem with the last one was that she had applied the pressure more on one side than the other, causing it to be lopsided. Still worked as a weapon, but if you weren’t ready for the flaw, you wouldn’t be able to throw it.

Pouring the next bit of steel into the mold carefully, she waited patiently for it to set, and then picked it up with a fine pair of tongs, dipping it into the cold water to harden it. After a few moments, she pulled it back out and inspected her work and frowned. The tips were not very sharp, and while they certainly would still stab a hole in someone, it was hardly the precise tool it was meant to be and more of a knife. With a sigh, she set it aside, looking at her mold and contemplating a solution to the problem once more.

Crafting: Created 1 D Rank Steel Senbon, 18 left from materials
10 EXP bonus, reduced from 3 posts to 1 post from UA time req

That was when she was hit with a stroke of brilliance; she needed to craft a mold for the senbon out of metal, and not use the wood.  Then she could apply pressure directly to it, but it would be tricky.  To make sure she did it right, she would need one more Senbon to make sure that her method was working properly, and she tweaked the wooden mold so that the ends were a bit more pointed, sharper and more closely resembling the one she had purchased from the market, actually using the Senbon to help carve the points for the Senbon Mold.  The irony was not lost on Niko as she smirked to her own amusement.

Her skin was slick with a sheen of sweat, but Niko hardly seemed to notice; she was used to the heat, and to the redhead, it was very comforting.  What she couldn’t stand was the cold, which is why the only place in the room that was allowed to be cold was confined to the contents of the bucket.  The cold water was important though because it helped harden the steel once it was shaped properly, allowing it to be used as a weapon without breaking easily.  It forced the metal to rapidly compress and gave it a true toughness, one of the basics of Smithing that she had learned many years ago, and something she would never forget.

She had made the final Senbon and while it too was not of the greatest quality, it was a means to an end at the moment.  The rest of the metal was being stirred as she prepared to make a mold out of it to create a far more superior senbon, and after using a file to sharpen and perfect the shape of the Steel Senbon she had made, she put them into the cold water; the colder they were, the better for this next part.

Crafting: Created 1 D Rank Steel Senbon, 17 left from materials
10 EXP bonus, reduced from 3 posts to 1 post from UA time req
CRAFTING LEVELED UP!! - Capable of C-Rank Weapons

But now that she thought about it, the steel mold would have to wait.  She didn't have confidence in her skills to make it correctly, and screwing it up would just be an absolute waste of metal.  Considering she didn't have a Furnace or Crucible yet, she knew that mistakes now weren't something she could easily just fix and redo... although she definitely jotted down the notes of what she had come up with so she could investigate the real possibility later.  For now, she would focus on what she had... but how best to tackle it and make things better?  There weren't a ton of options really...

Perhaps a harder wood?  Putting the wood on both sides of the mold and squishing it together?  A bit of filing while it was still hot an moldable?  Niko pondered this for a few moments and decided what she could do was try to make a Senbon with each method and see how it turned out, to include figuring out which cost the least in regards to materials and time to make them.  These were, after all, her experimental batch, just something to shake off the rust and get herself back into shape when it came to actual blacksmithing.  She would still need to work on Armor and tinker a bit with her Gadget ideas, but those would wait.  Weapons were where a lot of money could be made, and right now, she needed the funds more than anything else.

It was unfortunate that she would have to rely on the fact that she could carry things around and offer them to others in order to make a sale though… Hopefully not for too long.  She would do some missions, not bothering with anything that didn't make a decent amount of Ryo, and if she operated with her team or another person, she could make good money relatively quickly.  A fellow Jounin named Shimiko came to mind, and she considered the possibility that they could tackle something substantial together.  Considering she was a brand new Jounin herself, it would be good to talk with someone who was experienced with those higher end missions as well as a safety buffer.

C Rank Weapon Crafting: 1/3

It took only a couple of minutes to find some spare regular wood that she could use for the next mold, a much harder wood to try to make her next Senbon out of. It was going to take a great deal more pressure to make the impression into the wood though, but anything was worth a shot at this point. Grabbing all the Senbon out of the ice-bucket, and set it next to the heat of the forge for a couple of moments just so she could take the chill out of the metal and then set them aside. They were all lower than even market quality, but she could see the imperfections and hopefully improve on their design a bit.

Pulling the Senbon that was bought from the market, she slowly lined it up with the grains of the split wood and began to press into it… and then she pressed in harder, as initially it didn’t do anything. Slowly as she started to increase the pressure, it began to indent into the wood and she grew more slow at pressing into the wood. Too much force and she would split the wood, something she knew she was more than capable of with her bare hands, so this part was very precarious.

Once it was in place, she set to work perfecting it, using the lower grade Senbon to press out the imperfections she could see before taking the Market grade Senbon out of the mold and using it to scratch the points a bit, giving them more of a sharp angle within the wood. Now that the mold was finished, Niko took a breath and sat back for a moment, admiring her work, and she peered out of the window. How long had it been since she started this project? She wasn’t entirely sure, but hell, she was making progress; she could feel it.

C Rank Weapon Crafting: 2/3

Niko took a breath before grabbing the large tongs to grab the pit that had the molten steel in it, and brought it over towards the mold she had in place on the counter.  Ever so carefully, she poured the liquid into it, noting how the molten metal burned the wood as it filled the indentation she had made, and once it was full, slipped it back onto the hot coals so that she could keep it hot for the next one.  She was tempted to try to implement the ideas she had before all at once, but dismissed it quickly; if she discovered that it didn’t work, she wouldn’t know where she had made the mistake, but doing it individually, she would be able to find out quickly and efficiently what was the best method.  Maybe it was all of them, or maybe none of them.

As it began to cool, she prepared the tweezers, twirling them in her hand a moment before plucking the metal needle out of the wood and dunking it into the ice-water with a splash of steam.  After a few moments she started to feel the chill of the tweezers getting cold, an indication that the metal it was holding was no longer hot, and she pulled it out and inspected her handiwork… not bad.  It was about the same quality as the original Senbon, and while Niko certainly saw room for improvement, she too also recognized that she was going to have to try the other methods she had come up with.  A little bit of filing and the needle was ready for use, lethal and effective as anything you could buy at the market, but made out of a superior metal; iron couldn’t compare to Steel.

Neither of them were Ebony, but then again, they weren’t anywhere as expensive either.  Twirling the new needle between her fingers for a moment, she then tossed it into the wood frame of the door, where it stuck.  One down...

C Rank Weapon Crafting: 3/3
One C-Rank Steel Senbon Created
20 EXP Bonus
1/5 C rank weapons needed for upgrade to B class.
8.5 lbs of Steel Left

Niko took a breath, thankful she was at least able to make something she could sell now… sure, probably not for all that much, but if she made it out of a better material, she could at least make something that was superior to what was being offered in the general market. It wasn’t good enough for her personal standards, but it would have to do for the moment… this was the level she was at before and she knew she could get better. She just needed to practice, as that was what would inspire her to get better each and every day, and allow her to come up with new ideas on how to improve the craft.

Looking at it now, the idea of smooshing two imprinted pieces of wood together would wind up badly; she would wind up squeezing metal out of the mold unneededly and wasting it, and that was something she couldn’t afford, literally or figuratively. So, that left the last idea… sharpening it while it was still hot. It would be tricky, but at least she had a decent mold to work with now… that would make the process a bit easier at least, but before she could use it again she would need to pick any metal that stuck the wood out of the mold and check to see that it was still useable.

After a few minutes, she took her market Senbon and cleaned up the little bits of metal that came out of the mold from the last senbon and pressed the wood to make the shape reform to the good mold it was before. Now that it was perfect again, she started setting out the tools she would need to sharpen it while it was hot so that she could easily reach them while it was cooling.

C Rank Weapon Crafting: 1/3

Niko mentally mapped out what she was going to do, knowing that her time was going to be limited to try this technique and see if it had any merit… but once she had the plan set, she didn’t waste any more time. Taking the pot of molten Steel, she poured it carefully into the mold, ensuring she didn’t waste any or missed; this was one part of the process she had learned from her Uncle directly before he passed, and something she had gotten very good at during her training with him. It was a good thing too; she didn’t have the Ryo to simply throw it around and make mistakes and be fine with it. Maybe she could try it with some Titanium next time.

Now that it was poured, it was a race against the clock as the metal began to cool. Setting the pot back down so the metal would stay hot, she quickly grabbed her tweezers, using the flat end to gently press and squeeze the line of metal so that it took a better shape, using her Senbon even to do finer tweaks… but as she continued, she realized a problem; she needed to dunk it into the ice water soon or she was going to lose the ability to make it harden properly, and she frowned.

Pulling it out of the wood, she glared at it for a moment; because it was in the mold, she had only been able to work on one side, and that was a problem… but then she had a moment of clarity as she glanced over to the furnace, and quickly moved the stand over a bit, reheating the metal held in her tweezers and then back to herself so she could keep it hot, pressing the metal with another set of tweezers as she quickly began to flake off the imperfections.

C Rank Weapon Crafting: 2/3

Niko had to say she was pretty pleased with how this one was turning out… but man did she need to get an Anvil.  That kind of item would allow her to make these things even harder than their natural state, and the thought of it made her want to go out and do some missions.  Maybe once this was all said and done she would run around and do some D or C rank missions that were simple enough for someone of her level to complete.  It would be a great way to scrape up enough cash to get herself up and running.  She was debating whether to work up and get the Forge first, or if she should work on getting the items that would make it easier first.  A furnace, crucible and Anvil would be a great idea.

She would probably have to make a whetstone… at least, the rotary version.  She hadn’t seen anything like that around in the market.  As she heated the Senbon one last time and finished working on the pointed ends, ensuring they were, well, needle sharp, and then finally dipped it into the ice-water.  She felt pretty good about this one, and the redhead pulled it out and quickly inspected the needle and frowned.  It was about the same as the last one… she would need to figure out a way to maybe combine the two methods in order to make something superior, but that was going to have to wait.  Orianna was going to be arriving shortly, and she didn’t have to rush it.

Maybe changing things up would be a good idea… making some weapons for Orianna would enable her to continue to practice and work on something other than these infuriating Senbon.  Tossing it next to the other one, and satisfied as it sank into the wood just the same, she took a breath, stood and stretched.  Cleaning up a bit she would go to find where the cat-like woman was lurking and see if she was hungry.

//THREAD EXIT

C Rank Weapon Crafting: 3/3
One C-Rank Steel Senbon Created
2/5 C rank weapons needed for upgrade to B class.
7.5 lbs of Steel Left