Watching everything unfold from afar, Valyr witnessed the man expand his combat force from a small group of 5, to a few organized groups that would fight against the orcs in shifts. Though the way they fought against the orc was less skilled compared to the man that would be known as the First Forger, they were still able to make progress in eradicating the orcs from the settlement, eventually turning the settlement into one that accepted humankind.

By the time the man and the humans he had saved had transformed the orc settlement into a human settlement, the memory sped up its passage of time once more. At this point, hours had turned into seconds, while days had into minutes.

Fortunately, after his bouts of experimentation during the start of the memory, Valyr could fine-tune the speed at which the memory progressed, allowing him to see what the man and the others had specifically done after taking over the orc settlement. Unsurprisingly, once the human settlement was established, the first thing of note they did was to agree upon their language, with the more knowledgeable among them being able to speak a few dialects of the orc language.

Though the man was also well-versed in the orc language like the others, he and the others decided to create an entirely new language from scratch, taking elements from the dialects of orc language they knew before putting a few unique touches to it. With that, they made it so that only humans could understand what was being spoken after hearing the language.

While they took the time to disseminate the newly created language to the other humans within the settlement, Valyr watched everything unfold with a pensive expression, the words being spoken by the humans lingering in his mind. Unlike the orc language he had been listening to for most of the memory so far, the human language the man and the others had created reminded him of the language he used to converse with others in his daily life.

Sure, the language the man and the others were speaking barely had a resemblance to the language that was being spoken today, but Valyr could still intuitively understand the meaning behind each word spoken by them. Then again, whether or not that was the memory helping him out, he was unsure.

Nevertheless, with the establishment and the proliferation of the human language, the human settlement began to expand outward, with the combat forces the man had created heading to other nearby orc settlements to free the humans that were held captive there.

Similar to those the man had freed before, the captive humans were afraid that they would only fall into the hands of another orc after seeing the humans move out as a force. Fortunately, the latter assured captive humans hundreds of times over that the orcs’ reign of terror would be ending, and that it was humanity’s time to fight back.

With that, days turned into weeks, while weeks turned into months. By the time half a year had passed, the first orc settlement the man and the others captured turned into a small yet bustling town filled to the entirety with humans. A small portion of them were focusing on non-combat tasks, such as agriculture and textile work. However, most of the humans were still part of the combat force, the feeling of getting stronger with every kill they made bringing them immense euphoria.

At this point, the man known as the First Forger had become the de facto leader of the town, with a great portion of the issues going through him as a last step to make sure the decision was for the betterment of the entire town.

On one fateful day, one of those participating in the combat force entered his room, causing the man to look at her with a slightly curious expression. “What made you come here, Minara?”

“We have a small problem with our situation regarding combat equipment, leader,” replied Minara, an expression of worry flitting across her face. “Though we have obtained a ton of equipment from looting the fallen orc settlements, almost all of them would instantly break whenever the strongest in our force wielded it.”

“If we don’t solve this problem, the strongest in our force would have to be forced to fight against the orcs bare-handed,” she continued. “Does the leader possibly have a solution to this?”

‘I guess this is where the First Forger would finally be born.’ Hearing the conversation going on between the two, Valyr kept his eyes and ears peeled for everything that would next, getting a faint idea of where the conversation was heading.

“We could attempt to invade larger orc settlements in the hopes of them having stronger weapons, but even our strongest does not have the necessary strength to fight against their leaders,” said the man to Minara, scratching his head as the gears in his mind turned. Just as he was wondering what other possible solutions they had to solve the problem, the man’s eyes eventually fixated onto a lone building that seemed to have been neglected by the others.𝒪𝓋𝓵xt.𝓬𝗈𝓂

“I think… I have a solution.” With his eyes widening in realization, the man slowly headed out of the building he was in, with Minara swiftly following behind him. “Neure told me a while ago he was collecting shiny looking rocks that became incredibly sturdy after being heated. Could you tell him to come bring those shiny rocks to me and head to the stone building at the far south of town.”

“I will relay those words to him as swiftly as I can,” said Minara in response as the two of them continued to make their way to the building the man had seen. Eventually, after walking through town for a few minutes, the two of them arrived at the building the man had mentioned, with the latter faintly smiling as he saw that a great portion of the equipment the orc that lived within this place had been mostly left untouched.

Staring at the tools that were strewn at the front of the stone building, Minara recalled the words the man had said to her before, readying herself to call for Neure. “If I might ask, leader… what should I tell Neure if he asks why he needs you to come?”

“Just tell him the shiny rocks he’s collecting might have a greater use.” The man smiled in response. “If I’m not wrong…”

“Those shiny rocks could be used to make a weapon.”

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