Chapter 23: The Trial of Fire (2)
The scene in front of him took Samuel aback, causing him to stare idly at the forge in shock. "Now, now, Sir Thornberry, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves, should we? I'm feeling quite ill and we don't have anything to forge right now, do we? And..." Samuel rapidly fired off excuses one after another like a machinegun using lies as ammunition.
" Don't even think you can escape this lesson! Clumsy birds take need of early flight lest they get comfortable in their lazy ways. It's clear you mustn't be as desperate as I thought... Maybe I should just give up on you. After all, there are hundreds of other residents in this town who would sell their soul to the Devil to be my apprentice." A slight frown appeared on Yorn's face as he performed this act.
Although Samuel knew this was all a ploy to get him to be more resolved in his teachings, he couldn't;t take the teacher's words lightly or else he may be thrown out onto the street to tell his prideful father of his disdainful performance in the trial. That was one thing he would swear not to do in this lifetime. He had failed to see the importance of his parents in his first life and he failed to save his parents in his second life. It was all up to this third and possibly final lifetime to atone for his sinful actions and pay back the debt he owed tenfold.
Lightly sighing, Samuel knew that this was inevitable for progression and, since the system hadn't notified him of the quest's completion, he had yet to be fully accepted by his new teacher. He approached the billowing flames of the scorching forge, eyeing the nearby tools. Being an introvert in his first lifetime, he, of course, approached the topic of smithing through videos online and was almost a backseat driver when it came to criticising the works of professionals.
Despite this advantage of slight knowledge, he could still feel a pricking at his spine, surges of icy winds enveloping him as he doubted his own chances of success.
"The more I sit around idling, the less I'll progress. If I want to make a difference in this lifetime, I mustn't adapt to my procrastinative past. With this step, I'll shed my past self and forge myself a new future!" A golden flame flickered in Samuel's eyes as his resolve soared through the skies, piercing the Heavens.
He strode towards the forge, holding a large ingot of pure iron. However, before he started the heating process, he suddenly realised something.
"Hold on, sir, but what am I supposed to make? You haven't given me any objectives on what to forge..." He inquired, tapping the steel tongs on the anvil as if playing the drum.
Yorn Thornberry was taken aback by this sudden change of personality as he threw a few bones and the skin of a recently-deceased animal. "Here. As you may have guessed, I lost my primary weapon - my battleaxe - during my process of saving you from the Lightning Tiger. Use these bones and the pelt I took from the Lightning Tiger cub we fought and forge me a new battleaxe."
"Huh? So that was what the flash of light and the subsequent cursing was about... This seems like a waste of materials if I forge using them since I'll fail multiple times. However, if you insist, I'll gladly repay you this debt of taking me in as your disciple by forging you a fine battleaxe!" Samuel thought back to the day before when he met this mysterious elder in the forest. He felt as if this esteemed elder was treating him too nicely to be true. After all, he had only saved his life and that debt was paid off immediately afterwards when he was saved by Yorn Thornberry. However, now he was accepting him as a disciple and giving him such precious materials for a failed weapon? Something seemed very fishy but no one would waste an opportunity when it presented itself to them.
Despite his suspicions, he thought carefully about his plan going into forging this battleaxe. In his first lifetime, he only learned about forging with metal and even that was lacking. How would he know how to forge with bone and skin? Was it even possible? A myriad of thoughts flew through Samuel's mind, causing him to have trouble to stand up straight as he felt dizzy.
He quickly swatted these thoughts away and focused on experimenting with the materials. Even if he had no clue how to forge using bone and skin, there was no point in doing nothing. He made a makeshift plan of forging the bones like ordinary metal and using the pelt as a handle grip, much like leather grips.
He grabbed the steel songs firmly, ensuring he had a strong grip on the bone he was heating up. He knew how fragile bone was and didn't dare drop it lest it shatters into dust. It really was a mystery of how bones could be as strong as steel and yet as brittle as dried clay. Nonetheless, he shoved the bone into the ferocious flames and waited for it to heat up. In shows documenting the process of forging, they constantly spoke of the amber glow of the metal when it was fully heated. Thus, he chose to wait for that sign to appear as he decided to explore the way the forge functioned.
Judging from the garden decorations he had seen in his manor, he understood that the current advances in technology were limited and they had to use roundabout methods to create the same effect as mordern-day items. As he had expected, he quickly identified a ring of chalk and vermillion gems scattered around the utmost edges of the room.
A formation? Although he understood the meaning behind the chalk lines which represented the formation used, he couldn't;t fathom the use of the specific gems scattered along the ring of chalk. Checking the bone's progress, he decided to ask Yorn about it.
"Sir, I couldn't help but notice the formation set in place for this forge... However, there is one thing which I just don't understand: The gems. What are they there for?" He asked curiously. He knew that this may be commonplace knowledge and he would look like a fool asking such a question but he had no other way to find out the answer to this question in a better way.
"Huh? Do you mean those Fire Stones? I'm surprised you don't know about formations; did your parents never teach you about formations? Those Fire Stones, although only of the lower category, fuel the formation which then allows the forge to function. It is quite expensive since I have to purchase them in bulk and there's no way to disable the formation without having to redraw the entirety of the formation once more..." He had a downcast face, it was clear how much this wore out his finances. Apparently these formations couldn't be toggled on or off and were usually an inconvenience in most situations. However, those formations made the world spin and so it wasn't a choice on whether or not to have one.
After discussing that topic, Samuel checked on the bone sitting in the forge before his face sunk. Although the bone didn't melt, it didn't give any glow whatsoever and looked charred. He hurriedly brought it out to inspect. He took it to the anvil and swung a hammer down at it before it was pulverized to a paste. Samuel swore inwardly as he observed this flaw in his plans. Not only did it not keep its solidity, but the material couldn't be displaced into certain shapes. Although the outside was solid, the inside was practically mush.
How am I supposed to forge something which becomes powder? This simply doesn't make sense!
Suddenly, he thought of an idea, like a flash of lightning. He grabbed some ingots of iron which were stored in a nearby vault and put the bone inside the forge once more after pounding it to ash. "If my shady searching on the internet has done me any favours: It's teaching me useless stuff I usually think I would never need!" Samuel thought with a wide grin spread across his face.
In the corner of the room, Yorn Thornberry was taken aback by this new development. "What is this boy going to use the iron for? Didn't I tell him only to use the bones and pelt?" While he thought this, he didn't dare voice these words as he wished to see the results of the obscure methods.
An hour later, and Samuel placed a metal box in the forge, placing the soft bones into the box. While this was a gamble, it was the only way to capture the liquid bone. If the box melted before the bone, everything would be for nothing. Yet, if he was too late and the bone melted beforehand, It would make a mess in the forge and cause a lot more issues. This wasn't an easy task to estimate the timing as he had to heat the bone ash over 1600 degrees celsius for it to melt and that exceeded the melting point of iron by approximately 90 degrees celsius.
Soon later, Samuel opened the forge doors and placed the box of molten bone in front of the open flames. This was so the bones wouldn't solidify and yet it wasn't hot enough for the box to melt.
Taking the ingot of iron, he placed it in the forge until it had an amber glow. He brought it to the anvil afterwards, hammering it until it resembled the shape of a battleaxe. He finished off the iron base by hammering a tang into the bottom so it could fit into the handle with ease.
Upon achieving the general shape, he used a whetstone to manually form the bevel on the blade. Samuel found this hilarious - "They could make fountains and forges, yet they can't make a simply grindstone? Well, I guess that was asking too much from an underdeveloped civilisation." He mocked the dwarves endlessly for this, even if it was just nitpicking.
Satisfied with his final result, despite the hammer marks, he dipped the weapon into the liquified bone ashes, coating it before letting it dry on a rack.
An hour had easily passed like this and yet, as time went on, Yorn got more and more confused. Nothing like this had been done before, just how did this arrogant noble heir think of such a unique method? Despite thinking it wouldn't work, he could feel a bit of self-doubt as he watched more.
When the bone solidified, it created a solid casing stronger than ordinary steel. Samuel decided not to create a mould to pour the molten bone ashes into as it would have the same effect of the inside being mush and the outside being strong. Thus, he decided to keep the outside's strong features while replacing the insides with a more durable alternative.
However, there was no such thing as smooth sailing when it came to experimenting with the unknown as he identified several flaws: 1. The bevel had become nearly nonexistent due to the addition of the bone. 2. There were clumps of solid bone found throughout the battleaxe. 3. There were cracks and chips of bone missing from the coating of bone.
The first and second issues were easy to solve because of the use of whetstones and files. The clumps which formed bumps along the surface could be filed out to form a smooth appearance and the bevel could be remade.
However, the third issue was much more difficult to solve. This sign meant that the coating was imperfect and brittle. However, there was nothing Samuel could do about it now. He had to finish this up before the due time for his quest expired.
He hurriedly finished up the finishing touches before a memorable bell tolled in his mind.
"Ding!
Weapon forged: Cracked Battleaxe of Souls
Forger: Samuel Goldstache
Description: This unique weapon encases the primaeval techniques of the forefathers of smithing. This weapon is haunted by the soul of the Lightning Tiger it was made out of. Call upon the restless spirit to accompany you in battle as a loyal partner."
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