I became a legion lich

185 Dwarf knowledge

They would be much more useful when they worked for him willingly and Athos could finally begin his magical training.

‘This is not the time to think about it.’ Athos shook his head to clear his mind of random thoughts and entered the forge, being welcomed by absurdly hot winds on his face. Athos was forced to cover his face to avoid being burned.

The forges were exactly where the anthill had been, after the dwarves had adapted the place to be of use to them. The dwarves used earth magic to shape the underground tunnels, hardening the earth to create furnaces and boilers..

Athos had brought the blacksmith’s equipment from the fortress, so all they needed to start work was adequate space.

“Hey, you shitty dwarves! How many times have I told you to be careful when separating concrete? Divine metals are very valuable and you need to take care of them like a son!” An angry dwarf’s voice came from within the forge.

A dwarf skeleton holding a silver hammer and wearing a leather apron was yelling at the other dwarf skeletons, sometimes even hitting them in the head when they made stupid mistakes.

He was the best runesmith among the dwarves and Athos put him in charge of all other dwarven runesmiths. Athos had given him some tasks besides melting common metals into weapons and then enchanting them.

The dwarves discovered that son earth ability could inject corrupted mana into metals and keep them permanently corrupted, so most of the dwarves spent the last few days since they camped corrupting all of the army’s weapons.

The number of runesmiths among the dwarves was just over two hundred, but everyone could use mana after becoming skeletons and using their racial abilities.

.....

Those with runesmith experience were tasked with undoing the enchantments on the mithril and dark mithril plates.

It was impossible to use the mithril plates they brought from the fortress, which were created using outdated techniques that could only be activated with a control room, so they would have to redo everything from scratch and in a size suitable for their small camp.

Instead, the dwarves would use their technology to create equipment that would remotely control large-scale spells.

The plan was for the dwarves to also slightly change the dark mithril plates so that they could be carried by a single skeleton and activated even when the undead marched again.

The dwarves were able to create magical connections between distant items, so the idea would not be impossible, but it would be something new for the dwarves and they needed a few days to create the blueprints for the project.

It would be a national-scale and revolutionary project for the human kingdoms, but it was a possibility for skilled dwarves. The only reason they hadn’t created something like this until now was that they lived hidden in the mountains, so they had no reason to do something like this.

That’s why they called Athos here. They had finished blueprints for the project and created the first prototype, so they needed his input to make design changes or continue production.

“If you’re done scolding them, I’d like you to explain why you called me, Dwarvin.” Athos crossed his arms and asked when he noticed that the dwarf did not stop shouting at the others.

“Oh, you’re here master. I thought you were still out hunting. Come on, I’ll show you what we’ve got ready.” Dwarvin hadn’t noticed Athos until now, but he wasted no time on pleasantries and dragged him deeper into the forges.

Athos saw several skeletons hammering weapons and melting metals, but most were focused on corrupting weapons. Strangely, he didn’t see anyone working on the concrete mixed with divine mithril, even though he heard the chief shouting at the dwarves a moment ago.

“I heard you yelling at skeletons about separating the divine metal from the concrete, but I can’t see the wreckage we brought up anywhere. Is it in other tunnels?” Athos did not keep his curiosity to himself and asked.

“Oh, about it. We only brought a few pounds to test if we could separate the two, but it was a headache to do that. I don’t know what kind of technique humans used to mix two such different materials, but it was almost impossible to recover the metal.” Dwarvin spoke with an irritated snort.

“If I’m not mistaken, they mixed the divine mithril powder while preparing the concrete.” Athos spoke as he remembered Astrus’ words. It was the method used in the fortress and probably the same as the order used.

“Anyway, we were able to separate the metal by melting the concrete and using air magic to collect the fragments.” Dwarvin went on to explain.

“How did you use wind magic to separate metal? Wait, how did you use wind magic? Dwarves don’t have an affinity for wind.” Athos was even more confused by the explanation.

“We asked a skeleton mage with the affinity for help. Although we don’t have an affinity for wind, we dwarves have studied enough to know that it is possible to attract metals using electricity in the right measure. It’s a bit complicated to explain and requires a bit of prior knowledge, but I would be honored to teach you in the future, master.” Dwarvin spoke.

“I think I know what you’re talking about, but we can discuss this at a later time. Is this what you wanted to show me?” Athos asked as he looked at two dark mithril plates in front of him.

The plate was the size of a tower shield and nearly eight inches long, but mithril was a light metal, so even a child could lift the plate with no trouble.

It had a simple design, with slightly flattened edges and a skull with an open jaw in the middle. There was a leather handle and a stand on the back, so it really should have been used as a shield.

“Are already enchanted?” Athos asked as he lifted the shield with a single hand and fitted it to his right arm.

“Yes, but the enchantments are different from what originally used. We’ve kept the mana barrier, field of the dead and forced teleportation, but the detection spells will be useless when we’re marching.” Dwarvin spoke and began listing the shield’s enchantments.

“As we decreased the amount of metal, we also had to reduce the amount of enchantments, but we added a dwarven specialty. Kinetic Energy Absorption.” Dwarvin spoke in an excited tone, clearly proud of his work.

“Kinetic energy? What does it do?” Athos had never heard of the term before, so he didn’t understand what it was about.

“It’s the energy needed to move any object, but it’s easier said than done.” Dwarvin said and picked up the other shield, before activating the enchantment. “Attack me with all your might.”

Athos did not understand his words, but he asked no more questions and punched the shield with full force. He didn’t fortify his fist with mana, but his brute strength would be enough to dent iron armor.

But he wasn’t able to even scratch the shield. There wasn’t a hard impact as you’d expect, the feeling was more like punching a fluffy pillow.

“Did the enchantment mitigate my attack? Like an impact dispersion enchantment?” Athos questioned him, misunderstanding how the enchantment worked, but Dwarvin wasn’t done yet.

“Attack me again and you will understand, master.” Dwarvin continued speaking in the same excited tone, refusing to explain anything.

Athos punched the shield once more, but the moment his fist touched the shield, he received an impact that made his bones tremble. He looked down at his wrist in surprise, noticing that his knuckles were slightly darkened, the equivalent of redness for a human being.

“I think you already understand what the enchantment does.” If Dwarvin still had a face, he’d be grinning from ear to ear right now.

“It absorbed my attack and then sent it back? How is that possible?” Athos asked in shock as a light of understanding flashed through his eyes.

“As I said before, kinetic energy is the energy used to move any object, and by absorbing it, I absorb the force behind the attacks. When I released the absorbed energy, you received the full force of your first punch and both blows canceled.” Dwarvin puffed out his ribs proudly after he finished explaining.

“So you absorb attacks and then release them? That’s amazing! How many attacks can the shield absorb before reaching the limit and how long can it keep energy stored?” Athos began to pepper him with questions as he realized how incredible was the enchantment before him.

He knew something so powerful had to have limitations, but it was still very useful.

“Make no mistake, master. This enchantment does not absorb attacks, only the force behind it. Whether it’s a slash or an impact, even the kinetic energy behind spells that can physically touch objects like corrupted mana, earth magic or ice would be absorbed.” Dwarvin quickly corrected Athos before he got the wrong idea.

“When I release the accumulated energy, it doesn’t matter the nature of the attack absorbed, only the force behind the attack.”