Chapter 580: My Turn to Forge
The young blacksmith was drenched in sweat, every muscle in his body straining as he worked the bellows with everything he had. It was obvious he’d already reached his limit. Even so, the Blackflame Ice Flower Sword blank only glowed a deep, searing red. It refused to melt any further, as though the material itself had decided that this was as far as it was willing to go.
The old blacksmith was practically fuming. "Come on, you useless brat! Put your back into it! Are you trying to kill me with frustration?"
No one had expected the blade blank to be this stubborn. They’d finally seen a glimmer of hope when Marcus’s catalysts had started affecting the weapon, only to find themselves stuck again at the most critical moment. After five days of effort, with a Divine Artifact hanging in the balance, how could anyone not be anxious? Marcus was getting anxious too.
"Old man, how much Strength do you need? I’ve got 1,000. Would that be enough?"
"1,000 Strength?" The old blacksmith froze in the middle of his tirade.
For a moment, he simply stared at Marcus as though he’d misheard him. A Knight below level eighty possessing that kind of Strength was absurd. Even an experienced blacksmith with a lifetime of forging behind him would have trouble reaching such a figure. But there was no time to dwell on it.
"Lord, anything above 800 will do! Please, take over!" He immediately turned toward his son. "You heard him! Get over here and help, you brat!"
At that exact moment, a system notification rang in Marcus’s ears.
Ding!
[Player Stonehaven, you have joined the forging process for the Blackflame Ice Flower Sword. The outcome will be affected by your participation.]
"Perfect!" Marcus’s eyes lit up.
He’d finally gotten a chance to participate in forging a weapon himself. Even if he was technically only assisting two professional blacksmiths, this wasn’t some ordinary weapon. This was a Divine Artifact, something that most players would never even have the opportunity to touch, much less participate in creating.
’My turn to forge.’
Marcus activated every available buff, pushing his Strength beyond 1,000, then stepped up to the furnace and took over the bellows while the old blacksmith and his son prepared themselves for the actual forging process.
"Lord, you’re incredible..." The young blacksmith couldn’t help staring in amazement.
Blacksmiths could increase their Strength through the forging process, and Ironstone was already an impressive example at 630 Strength. Even his father, a master blacksmith who had spent his entire life working with weapons and armor, had only slightly more than 900.
Yet Marcus had casually surpassed 1,000. Stoneheart had no idea what kind of monster he was looking at.
Marcus began pumping the bellows. The difference was immediate.
Two pulls were enough to send a tremendous blast of air into the furnace. The flames erupted upward with a deafening roar, surging higher and higher as though a tidal wave of fire had suddenly crashed through the workshop.
"Yes! That’s it!" The old blacksmith shouted in excitement.
The furnace temperature climbed rapidly. Within three minutes, the glowing red blade blank finally began to melt properly, its rigid form collapsing into a thick, viscous mass that flowed sluggishly under the intense heat.
"Lord, I’m about to begin forging!" the old blacksmith shouted. "Keep the temperature at least this high! The hotter you can make it, the better!"
Marcus didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled the bellows even harder, pouring his immense Strength into every movement and driving the furnace’s temperature higher still.
The old blacksmith watched the flames and felt a surge of confidence. ’No problem. This is going to work!’
He quickly picked up the Water Dragon Jade and the Heaven-Cleaving Explosive Stone and placed them on opposite sides of the molten blade blank. The two precious materials immediately began to melt under the furnace’s terrifying heat, their liquefied forms flowing into the viscous metal and gradually merging with it.
Then the old blacksmith gave a roar. "Ask Heaven Six Strikes!"
The Mythic-grade forging scroll activated. Golden light erupted from the scroll and surged into the old blacksmith’s arms and hands. In an instant, both arms were covered in a brilliant golden radiance, making them appear almost solid gold. The sheer power surrounding him was so imposing that Marcus could almost imagine the old man towering ten feet tall.
The old blacksmith thrust his left hand directly into the furnace. The golden light around his arm protected him from the flames, allowing him to reach into a furnace hot enough to melt Divine Artifacts without suffering any damage. His hand closed around the molten blade blank, and with a powerful pull, he dragged the glowing mass from the furnace and placed it on the anvil before him.
"Water!" The young blacksmith reacted immediately.
He grabbed a jug of Flowing Cloud Spring Water, which had been supplied from Marcus’s Jade Purification Vase, and poured it over the red-hot blade. The water hissed violently as it struck the molten metal, filling the workshop with steam before being absorbed into the weapon almost instantly.
The old blacksmith didn’t give the blade even a moment to settle. He raised his right hand. A massive hammer, almost the size of a wild bull and wrapped in brilliant golden light, appeared in his grasp.
Then it came crashing down. BANG! BANG! BANG!
Marcus could barely follow the hammer’s movement. In less than three seconds, the old blacksmith struck the blade three times on one side, flipped it over with astonishing speed, and delivered three more blows to the other side. The hammer itself was larger than his entire body, yet he wielded it with such speed and precision that the movements seemed almost impossible.
’That’s the mastery of a true craftsman.’ Marcus watched in amazement. ’There’s no way I could pull that off.’ Then again, the Ask Heaven Six Strikes scroll was clearly doing a great deal of the work. Without its assistance, even someone with Marcus’s Strength wouldn’t be able to reproduce those movements simply by swinging a hammer around.
"Incredible!" The six blows had been both lightning-fast and devastatingly powerful. After only that first round of strikes, the molten red blade had already returned to its original pitch-black color, its shape once again resembling a finished sword. And that had only been the first strike of the technique.
The old blacksmith immediately picked up the newly formed blade and placed it back into the furnace.
"Lord, stoke the flames as hard as you can! The faster we get the blade molten again, the better the final result will be!"
Marcus grinned. ’You’re talking to someone with more than 1,000 Strength.’ He threw his full strength into the bellows.
The furnace roared. Flames surged toward the ceiling, and the temperature climbed at a frightening pace.
Meanwhile, the old blacksmith took a second bull-sized hammer from his son. The golden light continued to ripple around his arms as he stood beside the furnace, watching the blade and waiting for the precise moment when it would be ready for the second round of blows.
Ask Heaven Six Strikes was an extraordinarily brutal forging technique. Every hammer strike sent showers of hot metal shavings flying, and the force required was so immense that each hammer could only withstand a single strike sequence before shattering. That was why six enormous hammers had been prepared in advance.
By the time the sixth and final strike was completed, all six would be destroyed.
Marcus watched the process with a new appreciation for what it actually took to forge a Divine Artifact. ’Forging a Divine Artifact really isn’t a joke.’
His 1,000-plus Strength had completely changed the situation. With the additional boost from The Ascendant’s Domain, the blade blank was molten again in less than three minutes.
The old blacksmith and his son looked practically giddy with excitement. For the first time since they’d begun, the forging process was progressing exactly as they’d hoped.