Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Chat and lessons

"A good habit to have. Makes networking easier I imagine." I said and Ogun nodded.

"We are not a large familia and like to only associate with like minded people. For example I recall that Hroldar said your Goddess was Hestia correct?" Ogun asked and I nodded.

"In truth I am the first and only member of the familia at the moment and we are still getting a firm foot under us." I said honestly.

The god smiled "I know of Hestia from my time in heaven but haven't met her personally though what I heard of her speaks well. As for getting a foot under you Hroldar has asked permission to help in this regard."

"Aye lad. I noticed your weapon yesterday and figured I might be able to give some help on using it since I use a heavy weapon myself with my axe here." Hroldar said showing me his battle axe that was quite heavy looking indeed.

"The help would be appreciated since I have been winging it with this thing after I designed it." I said with a smile.

"Really? I admit the weapon had me a bit confused at first, how's it work roughly?" Hroldar asked and Ogun also looked interested.

"The blunt end here is for anything that a cutting edge might struggle with and the wedge side here works in about the same way as your axe head does. I know that most weapons like this would have a longer handle but I wanted something that wasn't so unwieldy in tight spaces." I explained proudly.

"Sounds like a versatile weapon, lots of utility. Mind if I give it a few swings?" Hroldar asked and I handed my weapon over.

He stepped back a bit and gave the weapon a few swings in various stances using both the hammer side and axe wedge side. Unlike me he clearly knew what he was doing and the weapon certainly moved exactly how I imagined it would in the hands of someone with a higher level. Once he was done Hroldar smiled and nodded at the weapon in approval before walking over and handing it back.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"The potential for the thing is limitless so long as you can deal with the weight playing hell on your wrist and shoulder. I imagine as you level up you'll be upgrading to better materials and greater weight right?" he asked and I nodded.

"Was thinking goliath teeth for the next version. A bit expensive to buy from the market but I think well worth it." I said with a smile.

"Ha! You sound like those smiths in the Hephaestus familia." Hroldar said with a chuckle.

"I'll take that as a compliment since I am a craftsman myself though a bit different than those lot I believe." I said pleased.

"A craftsman not affiliated with a crafting familia? That's quite a rarity, are you any good?" Ogun asked surprised.

"Depends on the situation but so long as drops are involved and you don't want added effects I guarantee that my work is the best in the city. Sounds arrogant I know but I am willing to let you compare any of my works to any other level one smiths and prove my claim." I said proudly.

"You truly seem to believe what you say which is the only reason i am not dismissing your claims as rubbish. That said the world is a wide place and it is never good to claim to be the best at anything lest luck conspire to prove you wrong. Give me a few days and I'll put forth a test to see if your claims are true." Ogun said wisely and I agreed since I was quite confident.

After that Ogun left and Hroldar spoke up "Lets head into the dungeon so I can show you a thing or two about how you might use that piece there." he said with a grin and I followed behind him.

We didn't go far, only the first floor where we found a goblin so Hroldar could see how i used my weapon first. I didn't have any issue dispatching the goblin and my companion looked on with a serious expression.

"You've got the makings of a good style going but you are ignoring a part of what makes that weapon special, it's nimbleness. You are using it exclusively like it was a normal battle hammer or axe but it's not with a handle that short. You might try and use the thing to parry since it's nimble enough ands got the heft to redirect an blow. Lets find another goblin so I can show you what I mean." he said and I agreed.

We searched for another thirty minutes seriously before we found another goblin and Hroldar borrowed my weapon to demonstrate what he was talking about. The goblin had a spear and went to stab at Hroldar but he moved his right hand that was holding the weapon in such a way that the spear was thrown to the side as it slid across the hammer face missing him completely before the blunt head accelerated right into the goblins face. I was excited to see this as it proved that my weapon was usable in various ways that even I hadn't thought of.-

"Now we need to find another goblin so you can give it a go. Other than that you only really need experience and to work on your stance a bit to be set from here on." Hroldar said honestly.

"What's wrong with my stance?" I asked confused since i had copied a standard foot placement from all the martial arts movies I saw on earth.

"Not a thing if you used a spear or halberd where being rooted in place was a good thing. That weapon is not the sort that gains anything from you sitting still though, it's a fluid thing meant for hitting while on the move. Don't get me wrong lad it's a perfectly usable stance when you need to stand your ground but for what you want to accomplish it's rubbish. Bend the knees like this, no a bit higher." Hroldar said as he began to show me a better stance to take.

The final result felt awkward but I had to admit it was certainly much more fluid than what I was doing before. Hroldar made it clear though that this was a stance purely for combat as otherwise there was no point in using it. After that we went on to hunt another four goblins before calling it a day and Hroldar didn't even want any of the stones or couple teeth that dropped naturally since I wasn't willing to use my technique while there was an audience. Not to say I didn't trust Hroldar as he had plenty of opportunities to backstab me while we were down here already but had been nothing but helpful and even taught me willingly but I knew that my technique was REALLY valuable.