Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

"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.

"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.