NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70
“Copper is one of the only metals that can occur naturally,” I said as I threw a piece of copper ore up and down with my left hand. With my right, I pointed to the hill. “That hill is probably hiding a lot of raw native copper. There’s only a little bit on the surface, but it’ll be enough for what I want to do with it!”
“What could you possibly do with these rocks?” said Noel as she picked up a greenish piece of native copper. “I mean, I guess they look and feel different from other rocks.”
“Maybe we could make them into necklaces,” said Kelser. “We usually make necklaces with bones, but people might like wearing something new. Maybe we could give these out as gifts at the festival.”
“I don’t think you’ll want to give these away as gifts after I show you what I’m going to do with them,” I said. “Come on, help me gather some.”
After gathering a small pile of native copper near the base of the hill, I recalled the methods of copper metallurgy used by pre-Columbian native peoples in North America. Surprisingly, I’d learned these specific techniques from two sources: documentary videos and my course on prehistoric cultures and traditions.
I grabbed a large looking piece of copper and used a hard piece of cobble, sometimes called a hammerstone, to break off a usable chunk. I separated this small chunk from the rest of the ore and put it on top of a large stone. I asked Noel and Kelser to look closely, because I was going to ask them to help me out later.
I used my smooth hammerstone to slowly shape the piece of copper into a point. But instead of cold-hammering it for a long time, I cast fire magic on it to ensure it wouldn’t end up weak and brittle. Then I cooled it off and started working on it again. After repeating this process a few times, I was able to shape the copper in the way that I wanted to.
Next, I took a few suitable stones from the area and started sanding down the sides of the copper to give it an even sharper edge. I had to run water over it sometimes, and switched between a bunch of stones, but after some trial and error, I had a pointy piece of copper!
I grabbed a thick stick that was lying around the ground and cut a couple notches on one end with the newly shaped piece of copper. I inserted the piece of copper inside the notches, but they wouldn’t stay in place. So, I went to the wagon and grabbed some sinew, which I used to tie the copper to the end of the stick. I swung it around, but the spearhead was so loosely held in place, I wasn’t sure if it would be very effective.
In the end, we had to use rawhide glue to stick the metal ends to the wood. I shaved off some pieces of monster hide and put them in a clay pot. I made a real fire underneath it, and put in enough wood to keep it going for a long time.
Then Noel, Kelser and I spent a considerable amount of time hammering, shaping, and sanding various pieces of native copper ore until we had some pointy bits and sharp edges. By this point, it was late at night. I put out the fire underneath the pot and tipped out the liquid into another container. I then let the liquid cool for a while, until I had warm, liquid hide glue.
We used the hide glue to join the copper to the wood, letting it dry once the pieces were inserted tightly. The spearheads weren’t pretty, but they had a sharp point. I put one of the sharpest pieces on a small stick to make a knife.
“This is pretty cool,” I said, “this will definitely help the hunters fight monsters more easily. It should make it easier to stab people, too.”
“But if you just need to stab someone,” said Noel, “aren’t our flint tools good enough?”
“Of course they are,” I said as I picked up a piece of flint, “the first time.” I smashed the piece of flint against a rock, shattering it into pieces. “Copper is tougher than flint,” I said as I wielded the copper knife like a dagger. “The edges may not be as sharp, but it holds its shape a lot better because it doesn’t shatter. We can also use it to make tools, like this knife, which can be used for all sorts of things. In fact, we can make tools like hammers, which could help us make even better tools and weapons!”
I made another couple of knives, one each for Noel and Kelser, and we went to the Roja tribe’s camp. We brought along the crude spears and arrows that I’d made, and showed them everything. After convincing them that the copper would be worth some extra effort, I convinced them to help us gather some more in the morning.
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The next morning, the tribesmen helped us collect the copper ore. I taught some of the flintknappers how to split the ore and then how to shape it. We spent the entire day making copper daggers, knives, spears and hammers. There wasn’t enough time to make any armor, and since this was pure copper ore, I wasn’t sure if there was any point in turning it into armor, but I still gave the tribesmen a basic idea of how to make some. If they were interested, they could grab some copper on the way back from the festival, and make some for themselves!
This kind of pure copper wasn’t actually all that much better than stone or bone tools. It was reusable, but the edges weren’t very sharp and would become dull after some use. The best thing we could do was to take some copper with us in case we came across some tin.
Tin was pretty rare back on my Earth, but since this was an entirely different world, I figured we could find some if we were lucky. With tin we’d be able to make bronze, which was much more useful and could propel us far above the other tribes we were going to meet at the festival.
However, I wanted to prove the value of copper weapons, so I asked some tribesmen to follow Noel and I around. We were searching for a monster to hunt, and were able to start tracking one thanks to the hunters of the Roja tribe. After following the monster’s trail, we came to a small watering hole.
I noticed something shift in the corner of my eye. A massive brown beetle was sitting lazily next to the water. It sipped at the water’s edge, sending ripples out in every direction. I signaled to the Roja to start backing up slowly. Noel gave me a confused look so I pointed to my forehead and then pointed at the monster. Noel looked at the monster’s forehead and began backing up too.
A lone red gem sat on the monster’s forehead. It was only a one star monster, but we didn’t need to risk a difficult battle just to prove our new weapons worked a little better. Finding a starred monster was just bad luck. The Roja tribe’s hunters must’ve also been this unlucky before, because they followed our lead and tried to leave before the monster saw us.
But the beetle turned its head before we were out of view. The beetle’s wings began to beat, and the earth began to shift underneath it like a rock slide.
Wait, a flying monster that could control the ground? That was cheating!
I ran forward and threw my spear at the monster. The monster brushed aside my spear with its exoskeleton. If we wanted to get through, we’d have to get close and pierce its weak spots. And with the beetle monster about to lift off of the ground, getting to those weak spots would soon become impossible! That’s why I took a deep breath and cast my still-life magic!
The hunters rallied behind me and Noel sent out a ball of fire. Some hunters still had flint weapons, since we wanted to compare their performance against the copper, and the case for copper weapons became immediately apparent. All the pieces of flint that crashed against the monster’s exoskeleton shattered. The copper weapons that hit the exoskeleton also became dull and therefore, less lethal, but they were still usable.
Noel’s fireball burned the weaknesses in the beetle monster’s defense. Some copper spears and daggers found purchase in those weaknesses and soon, even before I was unable to continue holding my breath, the one star beetle monster was dead.
The case for copper was closed. Humans had arrived in the age of copper before they had even invented agriculture!
