Chapter 124: Steel Forging
2014-12-14
Author: Floating Tower (Author)
The blacksmith shop was bustling.
The Elven Blacksmith’s eyes were bloodshot, but his expression was very excited as he shouted at the apprentices to work busily, occasionally urging them to raise the furnace temperature. Various rare materials were nearby, not all of which were extraordinary items; many were simply rare mineral materials. Forging was not just about embedding or simply mixing materials together with spells to complete the process. In this world, forging is a high-level craft, absolutely one of the most difficult basic skills to master!
In some aspects, it is even more sci-fi than the steel forging process of the interstellar age!
Special materials were used as items similar to “carburizing catalysts,” and rare minerals were meant to introduce trace amounts of other elements during the hammering process (similar to spring steel forging). The Holy Water beside him was the core material for secondary quenching, along with some peculiar items that Soren himself did not know much about. The extraordinary weapons of this world were hammered out piece by piece; spells were only a subsequent enchanting process, and the equipment from the Abyss was also forged in volcanic furnaces.
Soren took a quick look and realized that he truly wasn’t skilled in this area!
The Elven Blacksmith was hammering away with his iron hammer, the force and rhythm filled with a strange cadence. After hammering a hundred times, he sprinkled a bit of ground powder and then repeated the hammering and refining process. The elements from these mineral powders would seep into the fish scale-patterned steel, driving out impurities during the forging, allowing the weapon to be hammered a hundred times to become an extraordinary weapon!
Only then could it remain intact in fierce battles.
Without pure gold and mithril as rare materials, the best weapon effect could only be pursued in this manner.
Such steel ingots also existed in ancient times; in the Central Plains, they were called “bing steel.” In some regions, they were called “uz steel,” and others preferred to call it “Damascus steel ingots,” with forging techniques basically similar to the Elven fish scale-patterned steel and the Dwarven “Titan Steel” that they liked to boast about. Few people in the entire world could afford to forge with pure mithril and pure gold, often requiring the combined strength of half a nation to achieve it. Therefore, most of the time, these few special steel ingots were used for forging.
For some reason.
Soren felt a bit excited watching the other party’s focused forging; he had a strong premonition that this time, the weapon being crafted would definitely not simply be a first-tier extraordinary item.
It might produce the ultimate effect of forging common iron!
There had been blacksmiths capable of forging common iron to approach the effect of pure gold infusion. Soren felt that the Elven Blacksmith before him probably had more than 200 points in forging skill; just by looking at his hundred-fold steel forging technique and his focused state during the forging, he might reach close to 300 points in skill.
The other party might be near a master-level blacksmith, with the only drawback being that he hadn’t learned alchemy!
He probably didn’t even know that he was close to master level because it seemed he had been forging in this village for many years. Skills were completely built up over time.
Soren stayed there for a while and then left without disturbing the focused Elven Blacksmith.
The other person seemed to be in a slightly frenzied state, his expression quite fervent. He likely felt that his skills were about to reach a breakthrough point.
After decades of iron work, he didn’t expect that an order for an extraordinary weapon would take him to the critical point.
………………
Soren returned to the inn and began learning spells.
The more spell nodes and circuits he mastered, the faster he would learn other spells in the future, and the easier high-level spells would be to comprehend.
For mortals, master-level forging was basically the limit.
Going further was spell enchanting, along with very science-fiction-like elemental collapse. Everything actually has a large spatial void; atoms and molecules have vast spaces, while protons and electrons have even greater spaces. Elemental collapse means collapsing those voids. The Arcane Empire period studied this deeply because the legendary strongest Neutron Star Golem was said to be constructed from materials of elemental collapse. Soren had once discovered some peculiar ores on the edges of the Abyss, at the contact point of planes and space.
Only the size of a fingernail, it weighed around three kilograms!
This was the substance of elemental collapse, an important material for legendary-level weapons. Weapons crafted with it were almost indestructible!
It was also the only material that could counter supernatural spell-enchanted weapons.
A pure warrior, in the later stages after entering the Legendary Domain, would forge a weapon exclusive to himself. The substance of elemental collapse would be the core infusion material for their forged weapons. There was still a battle axe in the Abyss that even a hundred-armed giant couldn’t pull out. If Soren remembered correctly, its strength value should be around 45 points.
That kind of strength was enough to move mountains and fill seas!
In the underwater ruins, there was a document recording part of the data on the Neutron Star Golem, standing only five meters tall, with a body size similar to that of an Iron Golem, weighing 300,000 tons, almost immune to any physical attacks and spell attacks. Only one was manufactured during the entire Arcane Empire period, and due to some mishap, it caused a continental shelf to sink, ultimately leading to the complete disappearance of the Neutron Star Golem. Only within the legendary-level Golem manufacturing techniques was there any record of the legends regarding the Neutron Star Golem.
Soren would surely have to visit the Abyss eventually.
Because the materials he needed to forge supernatural weapons could only be found in places like the Abyss, the substance of elemental collapse could directly block many spell attacks.
Because spell energy could not penetrate through!
………………
Time passed bit by bit.
Soren’s patience seemed very good; he practiced the White Crow Sword Technique at regular intervals each day, then studied spell constructions, and occasionally trained his casting techniques. He had a premonition that he was about to master the Specialty of “Spell Manipulation.” The innkeeper’s attitude toward him had become much friendlier, partly due to Gind, and partly because she felt more familiar and didn’t think of him as a dangerous character.
In fact, Soren looked quite refined.
As long as he wasn’t in a combat state, he appeared gentle and somewhat like a scholar.
The bloodshot eyes of the Elven Blacksmith grew more numerous, and his spirit became increasingly exuberant, leading Soren to be asked to purchase over a hundred Gind worth of special materials—liquids extracted from Divine Techniques combined with Alchemy, used for forging unknown materials for Holy Power weapons. Regardless of the uncertainty surrounding it, Soren bought it without hesitation because his customized curved blade was nearly taking shape.
Three days passed quickly.
The Elven Blacksmith had hardly slept, his eyes were blood-red, and two apprentices had already collapsed from exhaustion.
When Soren arrived on the fourth day, the Elven Blacksmith finally revealed a hint of a smile.
Clang!
A curved blade adorned with small fish scale patterns, looking very exquisite, appeared before Soren’s eyes. The hilt looked quite simple, not quite in the Elven style, merely leaving faint patterns, somewhat resembling a unique mark of the blacksmith. The blade had been unveiled overnight by the Elven Blacksmith. He glanced at Soren with a joyful smile before directly swinging the knife down towards an iron mat beside the furnace!
Bang!
The iron mat was directly severed at an edge, the thickness of the cut close to five centimeters.
The other party appeared not to have used much strength at all, yet just like that, directly severed a corner of the iron mat, the snow-white blade showing no signs of notches, looking still as it originally did.
Armor-Piercing!!!
Soren’s pupils shrank suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and he quickly approached.
“Hahaha!” The Elven Blacksmith laughed maniacally, then presented the smoothly curved blade to Soren.
Soren, with a serious expression, extended his hand to receive the curved blade and slightly bowed to show respect.
This truly was the limit of common iron forging!
Only the armor-piercing attribute could achieve such an effect; this was nearly approaching the strongest first-tier weapon forging.
“Item Type: Curved Blade +1 [Unenchanted]
Item Level: [First-Tier Extraordinary Item]
Item Description: A weapon crafted using hundred-fold steel forging, infused with other substances during forging, made from the Elven fish scale-patterned steel ingots, and forged with second-time quenching, the curved blade exceeds the range of other weapons in all attributes.
Equipment Requirement: Above 12 points of Strength.
Equipment Effect: Fish scale steel properties, +3 Sharpness, +3 Penetration, +1 Toughness, +1 Armor-Piercing.”
………………
Soren’s expression was somewhat excited.
He extended his finger to stroke the exquisite blade of the curved knife, feeling the tiny fish scale patterns rubbing against his fingertips. Soren lightly flicked the blade with his finger, and a crisp sound could be heard, as if it possessed a hint of magic, causing him to unconsciously murmur, “This knife is worthy enough to slay dragons!”
The Elven Blacksmith’s weary eyes suddenly brightened, excitedly saying, “That’s right! It can definitely pierce the scales of pureblood dragons!”
“So I named it—Dragon Slayer!”
Soren suddenly went dumbfounded.
As the creator of this curved blade, the blacksmith in front of him indeed had the right to name it; however, that name was a bit too cringy, wasn’t it?
He suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to slap himself. (To be continued ~^~)
