The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Forging 101: Evolution
“I think I’ll upgrade it a bit more and sell it to the military” Reid made his choice.

Five forged beasts were already more than enough for now, adding one more to the mix might just clutter his combat style instead of enhancing it.

As much as he’d like to hoard as much forged beasts as possible, he chose not to do so in favor of having an efficient fighting style.

Besides, his current Forged-Beasts already covered every aspect—attack, defense, and even support.

“Then we’ll use it as a base to test your evolution theory,” Garrick stated. “If we can evolve it to at least Silver-tier, it’ll be worth a lot more.”

He then glanced at the digital clock on the work desk before looking back at Reid. “It’s currently 2 PM, and you have four hours before your duel. We’ll try to evolve it within two hours, giving you an hour to rest before the fight.”

Reid blanked for a moment when the fight was mentioned. It took him a few minutes to recall that he had been challenged by a cadet and had agreed to fight that evening.

Honestly, you couldn’t blame him—so much had happened. He had spent the entire morning learning about forging, and the duel had completely slipped his mind.

“You heard about the duel?” Reid asked, his master look like someone who hardly left his shop, so it was a surprise that he knew about the duel.

“You’d be surprised how fast news spreads in the military,” the Forgemaster said in a gruff tone, “especially when it involves the leader of the fastest-promoted cadet team.”

“Now that you’re my apprentice, you better not even think about losing.”he completed.

“I won’t, master” Reid answered.

“Good. Now, let’s move on to evolving this Forged-Beast,” Garrick said, gesturing to the wasp that was still perched on Reid’s arm.

“We’ll start with why it was impossible for Forgemasters to evolve their created Forged-Beasts, and then we’ll test your evolution theory.”

Garrick began explaining, “The reason Forgemasters struggle to evolve their creations lies in the very foundation of a crafted Forged-Beast.”

“When a Forgemaster creates one, its body is specifically designed to handle the power of its original core. If we try to replace it with a stronger core, the beast won’t be able to withstand the surge in energy—it will break down.” he took a pause, allowing Reid to absorb what he just said.

“Replacing the entire form is the same as forging a new one” Garrick continued “that’s why a forged beast is immediately scrapped when it is considered a failure.”

“Then, why not just take the core out, put the metals in a forge and rebuild the Forged beast until the desired rank is achieved?” Reid asked.

Garrick huffed at the question, but he was clearly pleased that Reid was thinking critically. “That would be the ideal solution, wouldn’t it?” he said. “But it’s not that simple.”

He gestured toward the wasp perched on Reid’s arm. “Once a Forged-Beast is completed, its body and core undergo a fusion process, binding the two together on a fundamental level.”

“The materials used to build it are shaped and reinforced by the energy of the core itself. If you take the core out and try to reforge the body, the energy pathways become unstable, making the materials far less effective than they were originally.”

Reid frowned, processing the information. “So, you’re saying that once the fusion happens, the structure of the body changes in a way that makes it nearly impossible to reforge properly?”

“Exactly,” Garrick confirmed with a nod. “Even if you melt it down, the materials retain some of the residual energy from the original core. That interference makes them weaker, meaning the next Forged-Beast wouldn’t be as strong as one made from fresh materials.”

“What about the core?” Reid asked again “won’t the core still be useful to forge other beasts?”

Garrick stroked his beard, nodding at the question. “Yes and no,” he replied. “The core itself is still functional, but it’s already attuned to the previous beast.”

A core isn’t just a the battery—it shapes itself to the body it’s fused with. Just like with the body, when you remove the core, there’s leftover energy residue from the original form. That interference makes it much harder to integrate into a new Forged-Beast without complications.”

Reid nodded his eyes. “So, if you try to use the same core in another body, it won’t be as effective?”

“Exactly,” Garrick said. “It might even cause instability, making the new Forged-Beast weaker or defective. That’s why most Forgemasters don’t bother reusing cores—they just scrap the whole thing and start fresh.”

All this was knowledge already known to Reid, thanks to the information uploaded in his head, but he needed to hear it from a master’s perspective. There was always a chance that practical experience differed from theoretical knowledge.

“Now let’s take a look at what your evolution theory says” Garrick pulled out the files that had been previously handed to him by Reid.

“I have been studying it the entire night” he took a pause “and thanks to it, I was able to create your skinny teammate’s forged beast.”

“Skinny teammate?” Reid asked.

“The blue haired one” Garrick added.

“You mean Ethan?” Reid asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, whatever” Garrick answered “according to ‘your’ research, instead of building the body of your forged beast to handle just the power of a single core, why not just build a body that evolves.”

“The techniques to doing this is similar to the ones used by blacksmiths in my home town” a distant looked formed on Garrick’s face before he quickly hid it, but not before Reid noticed.

“So I ask again” his voice took a softer tone “how did you come up with your evolution research?”

“As I said…I just had a theory,” Reid said carefully. “The idea came to me while analyzing different Forged-Beasts and their compositions. Using the already existing research, I was able to come up with this.”

He couldn’t tell Garrick about Evo, not even if the old man was his master. Not with a spy for the cult running around the military.

“I see” the old Forgemaster went quiet, before he got back to speaking.

“So it states that instead of using wires, we use runes on both the core and the body of the Forged-Beast,” he paused, waiting for Reid to continue. After all, this was his research.

“On the cores, the runes can be programmed to absorb other cores while still retaining its original abilities. This allows the core to keep evolving.” Reid said.

Garrick nodded. This was exactly what was written in the his research but the process wasn’t done yet.

“And how do you ensure the body can keep up with the increase in energy?”

“That’s where the second set of runes comes in,” Reid explained. “The body needs to be made of a special alloy that can adapt and restructure itself. By embedding evolution-based runes directly into the frame, we give it the ability to reinforce itself over time, mirroring the evolution of primals .”

And that was exactly what Garrick did. He used research handed to him by Reid to create Ethan’s slime forged beast.

But instead of embedding the core with an evolution rune, he used his already existing knowledge on runes to program his own core, effectively creating the first ever artificial core and a forged beast capable of transforming into anything.

“Have you worked with runes before, master?” Reid asked. There was no way he could master it overnight otherwise, so he had to have worked with runes before.

Garrick hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. “Yeah, I have,” he admitted, his gruff tone carrying a saddened tone”Not here, though. Back in my hometown.”

“Your hometown,” Reid repeated, watching the older man closely. “Where was that?”

Garrick let out a dry chuckle. “Somewhere far from here, kid. And before you start prying, let’s just say the place isn’t exactly easily accessible.”

Reid noticed the subtle shift in his master’s expression. Whatever happened or was happening in Garrick’s hometown, it wasn’t a pleasant memory. He decided not to press further—for now.

“Alright, master,” Reid said, nodding. “We’ll focus on evolving the wasp first.”

Garrick seemed relieved at the change in subject and grunted. “Good. Since you’ve already grasped the theory, let’s move on to application.”

He reached for a heavy metal case and placed it on the workbench. With a press of his fingerprint, the case unlocked with a hiss, revealing a neatly arranged collection of rune-engraved metal plates, specialized carving tools, and several glowing cores of different sizes.

“These are rune engraving tools I created last night. We’re going to start with the core,” Garrick said, picking up the wasp from Reid’s arm and placing it on the bench. The metal insect buzzed slightly before going still, its red optics dimming.

He then proceeded to take the core out and handed it to Reid along with a rune engraving pen.

“Let’s begin,” Garrick said, his gruff voice filled with anticipation.