Legendary Shelter Survival Guide

The hammer remained under Barney's skill, and its durability increased steadily until it was nearly at full health.

"I'll take it now, thank you, Barney," Lucas said as he swiftly grabbed the hammer.

"No problem," Barney exhaled deeply, relieved that he had successfully done his part.

"Now, from the moment I take out the ingot, I need you to keep the hammer's durability stable. Got it?" Lucas asked, inspecting the ingot closely.

"What? Uh, I guess I can try…" Barney replied hesitantly. Lucas understood the weight of his request and responded with a reassuring smile and a thumbs-up before making the ingot float back toward him.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The rhythmic sound resumed, drawing everyone's attention to the glowing ingot. Their expressions turned serious as they watched the process unfold.

Lucas struck precise, pinpointed locations on the ingot, avoiding any random strikes. So far, there hadn't been a single moment where the ingot showed signs of cracking or falling apart, which only heightened John's admiration for Lucas's craftsmanship.

Lucas continued striking the ingot with precision until he paused, moving the hammer behind him while his other hand manipulated the floating ingot. This time, he made the ingot stand upright.

Barney had already understood his role and channeled his skill's energy into the hammer while it remained in Lucas's hand.

Lucas nodded in acknowledgment and used the now-reinforced hammer to strike the side of the ingot.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The sound rang out again as Lucas continued compacting the ingot. This time, he targeted the corners and then the center of each side, compressing the metal further with each strike. Gradually, the ingot began to take the shape of a hammerhead.

Lucas flipped the ingot once or twice, delivering final strikes near the corners to give it a clean, square look. At last, the ingot's transformation was complete.

He made it float toward a bucket of water positioned near the furnace. As the glowing ingot dipped into the water, an aggressive sizzling sound filled the air, accompanied by clouds of steam. Thankfully, the steam was quickly absorbed through the ceiling's ventilation holes.

"We're done. With some sanding, this will be good enough to use for almost anything we need to make right now," Lucas announced, his left hand swirling in the air as he controlled the floating hammerhead.

"That was a marvelous display, Lucas," John said. By now, he was beyond surprise—he was fully focused on learning from Lucas.

"With this, I conclude today's smithing session. Everyone can rest now. I'll complete the hammer and join you later," Lucas declared while placing the hammerhead on the elongated slab by the furnace.

Barney headed upstairs to rest, and John joined him, eager to start working on calculations for the huts. Sean retreated to his workshop to work on runes, while Sarah stayed by Lucas's side, refusing to leave even for a moment.

They didn't exchange many words as Lucas became fully engrossed in polishing the hammerhead and crafting its hilt.

For the next hour, Lucas worked tirelessly, making sure the crude sanding paper did as much as possible.

Finally, the hammer was complete.

He placed it on a small rock slab in his workshop and turned to see how the system would rank his creation.

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Dumatite Hammer

Rare

+2 Strength

Active Skill: Heat generation according to the user's need

A hammer forged from pure dumatite ore by a master craftsman who poured his heart into its creation, granting it an active skill.

Durability: 1000/1000

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'I've finally managed to get a skill embedded in one of my crafts,' Lucas thought, letting out a relieved sigh. He had always been more accustomed to creating items with unique abilities rather than ordinary products.

He turned to the side, smiling softly as he noticed the rhythmic sound of light snoring. Sarah was sitting cross-legged against the wall, her head tilted back with her mouth slightly open. The sight was almost comical, but Lucas could only chuckle.

Despite his efforts to minimize the noise, Sarah hadn't been disturbed at all.

He sat down beside her, closing his eyes. Lucas needed to meditate—there was still a long day ahead, now that he had a proper hammer. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Twenty minutes later, both Lucas and Sarah stirred awake. After a brief conversation, Lucas suggested she go hunting near the shelter to gain some levels.

All this time, he had been involving her in smithing and pottery, but her true role in the shelter was different.

As a special soldier, Sarah's level was too low to provide adequate protection. While her skills had improved greatly, she still needed to level up to build a stronger constitution.

There were many missions for the special soldiers and most of them were to subdue monsters that had gotten more stronger than they had in the territory under the system's eyes. Lucas knew that Sarah was not weak in comparison to the people around her, she was even one of the most powerful ones.

But what he wanted her to surpass were people like his Dad who were so strong both in skills and levels that it would be even hard for Lucas to take care of them.

While Sarah was away, Lucas made use of the remaining ingots, crafting several tools to aid his lumber work.

The most work he did was in the improvised saw which if made, could help him complete most of the work that would usually take hours to only a few minutes. Lucas had to go into the storage and look for many claws and teeth of the monsters that were durable enough.

After getting them, all he had to do was to attach the claws deep in the molten hot ingots to help solidify their position in the saw. Lucas did all that work with a smile on his face and why wouldn't he? Crafting was the one thing that helped sooth his mind and take it off the chaos.

Yet, among all the products he created, one item stood out, even managing to surprise him—a craftsman who had achieved some of the rarest creations in history of the Quest world.