Date: 105th of Vhalar, Arc 720
Weapons: None
Status: Aching
Weapons: None
Armor: None
No Current Magical Effects
Praetorum blinked slowly, looking down at the long, thin rod of metal he'd been handed. "I don't think I heard that right."
"No," Antonia said with a grin. "I'm pretty sure you did. I'd like you to turn that into wire. What, did you think we hammered wire that thin into shape?"
Prae considered that for a moment. "I'd never really thought about it before. Maybe I was thinking that you would... roll it thin?" It sounded silly when he said it out loud—metal was not like dough or clay, easy to roll down into thin, long strands. But if it was neither of those methods, Prae wasn't sure how someone could make metal wire so thin. The rod he was holding was thin, but it was still easily the thickness of a human finger. "Am I going to have to melt this?"
"Definitely not." The smith laughed. "See how one end has a bit of a taper?" Prae did—the very end of the rod shrank to a blunt point, though for what reason Prae couldn't tell.
At least, not until she pointed him towards a thick metal board, set upright in a nearby table covered in wires and pliers. It was properly anchored to the table, by the looks of it, and all across its surface was dotted holes of varying sizes; the largest was a finger's width, while the smallest... Prae wasn't even sure which one was the smallest hole, only that it was tiny enough he wasn't sure he could poke a needle through it.
"Any idea what I'm asking you to do?" Antonia asked.
"Not a single clue." Prae said flatly, then sighed. Taking another look at the board, Prae looked down at the rod of metal in his hand. "You want me to..... put this in a hole?"
Antonia grinned. Bouncing over to the table, she picked up a rather thick and short piece of wire, and neatly threaded it through one of the holes. This one too, was tapered, and Prae saw with some surprise that the hole was, in fact, too small for the body of the wire, fitting only the thinner end. Then, Antonia grabbed on to the tapered end of the wire with a pair of pliers, and pulled.
Prae's eyes widened as he saw the wire slowly start to inch through the hole, even though it was just a little too small. And then it was through, now thinner and longer. It took Prae a few moments to work through what had just happened. The hole had been too small, so when it had been pulled through... Prae would have expected the excess to simply shave off, but there was nothing like that on the ground. Combined with the fact that the wire was longer now, Prae could only guess that the metal was somehow soft enough that it had simply stretched, the metal that couldn't make it through the hole being pushed backwards to extend the rod.
Looking at the various holes on the plate, Prae had an inkling about what he would be doing—if a rod could be make slightly thinner and longer by putting it through one of the holes, then if he put it through multiple holes, each smaller than the last, he would eventually end up with a thin wire from a thick rod. In a way, Prae's idea about rolling out the metal wasn't entirely incorrect—he'd been right that they'd have to shrink the size to increase the length, he'd just been wrong about the method.
Antonia tossed the pliers to him. "I've already marked off the last hole, so give me a holler when you get to it."
That was all the instruction Prae got, as she almost immediately scampered over to another worktable, and started to stack up what looked like pieces of metal. He had no idea what she was doing, and had a feeling that was going to be a common theme over the next few trials.
Stepping over to the board, Prae tried to fit the rod through several of the holes, until he found one that almost, but didn't quite fit. Testing it out, he found that the rod poked just enough out the other end that he was able to get a firm grip on it with a pair of pliers he'd found lying around on the table.
Stepping to the side, Prae took hold of the pliers with one hand, and held the back end of the wire with the other, keeping it raised so it would be easier to pull through. He didn't bother with a rune—after all, Antonia had pulled her wire through without enhancement, so Prae expected that he would be able to do the same without a problem.
Big mistake.
"Why is this so difficult?" Prae grumbled as he shifted his stance to take a hold of the pliers with both hands, using his tail instead to hold up the other end of the rod. "You managed it easy enough."
"If it was easy," Antonia called back, "I wouldn't be asking you to do it. I was demonstrating with copper; what you're holding in your hands, my friend, is an alloy of crystalline and brass."
Prae pulled, and managed to slip the wire through by about an inch. "What does that mean?"
"Means it's a lot harder than copper. Brass seems to be a lot more compatible with crystalline than silver or gold—normally there's some weakening when you alloy with crystaline but brass seems to retain its structural integrity."
That wasn't really what Prae had been asking, but he didn't think he was going to get a clearer answer than that. Considering the inch or two of wire Prae had managed to pull through, he took one hand off the pliers, and quickly drew half strength runes of strength and endurance over his arms and chest.
He could have gone full strength, he supposed, but Prae wasn't sure how strong this plate of metal was, given that it was riddled with holes, and the last thing he wanted to do was to accidentally break something he shouldn't. He also had the vague idea that if he pulled too hard, he might end up snapping the wire itself, so half strength it was. It seemed to be enough anyways—with one hand on the pliers, one steadying the plate, and his tail lifting the back end of the rod, he was able to slowly pull the wire through.
Poking this thinner rod at the holes on either side of the one he just used, Prae found that the one to the left fit perfectly, which was to say, it didn't fit, but just barely. So he pulled it through that hole too.
And the next.
And the next.
After about four holes, the rod had become a proper, if somewhat thick wire, and Prae's muscles were beginning to complain. Setting down the pliers, Prae shook out his arms with a wince, before redrawing his runes to add more endurance. As the wire grew longer, it took less effort to pull it through each successive hole, but he also had to pull it for longer, all of which added up to sore muscles in his right arm. Actually, sore was an understatement—his muscles were starting to burn. Prae rarely ever exerted himself in this sort of pulling motion, and he was now regretting slacking on pull-ups as a youth.
Shifting positions, Prae transferred the pliers to his left hand, now using his right to steady the plate. With any luck, that would help him make it through the last few holes without his arm falling off.
"Woah, down to a ten gauge already?" Antonia appeared behind him, peering around him to examine the wire he was pulling through. "Think you could do more?"
Prae grimaced, then reminded himself he was technically paying off a debt. "Today, probably not. I underestimated how tiring this would be. Another day, almost certainly; I've got a better idea of what runes I need to use."
The wyvarnth beamed, and Prae shivered, suddenly afraid. "I'll hold you to that tomorrow."
