The sword 'Tyranny' had exposed Gu Dan's limits to Ikasa. He did not hold any expectations when he showed the tal paws of the Steel Guardian Beast to the Blacksmith.
'If there are no expectations, there is no chance for disappointnt.'
Ikasa chanted the Buddhist mantra in his heart as he watched Gu Dan tinker with the tal paws. He repeated the steps he had done with the sword and flicked the tal paw.
As Gu Dan listened to the sound produced, he nodded his head. Ikasa was prepared to hear Gu Dan express his incapability. After all, he was just the lowest-tier blacksmith from a Tier-3 City.
And then the old man pleasantly surprised him!
He looked up at Ikasa and said, "I can work with it. I can at least produce a superior-grade weapon using this tal."
Ikasa did not express his joy imdiately and waited for the Blacksmith to finish speaking. But after saying he could slt the tal, Gu Dan had shut his lips.
"Are you sure?" Ikasa probed.
Gu Dan gave a firm nod in response to his question.
"I will be able to make a weapon within a week."
An approximate tiline assured Ikasa of the truth in Gu Dan's words. He then handed the book in his other hand to Gu Dan.
"What do you think of this?"
The old man used his work robes to clean his dirty hands and received the book with care.
"1,2,3….Sword Ready?"
The na was strange to his ears. He opened the book and just like that his head was surrounded by white light.
Nurous tips and tricks of how to make a good standard sword poured into his mind. How to slt the ore, when to quench the blade, the best ways to assemble the handle with the blade….
It was as if he had received enlightennt!
Seeing the many theories, Gu Dan's hands itched to get started and test them out. He imdiately picked up the tal paw and brought it into his furnace room.
Gu Dan started the fire and began to pump the bellows to get it hotter. Soon the temperature of the furnace room rose substantially. The furnace was hot enough to lt iron.
Ikasa followed the man inside the shop and watched his actions from the door of his Furnace room. When the man was about to put the tal Paw the size of his torso into the furnace, Ikasa couldn't help but remind him.
"Wouldn't that piece be too big for making a sword?"
Gu Dan stopped and looked at the large piece as big as his chest. The advice of Ikasa made sense to him. He found a hamr and chisel to break a piece from the large tal paw.
The Blacksmith put the chisel against a groove and brought his hamr down with full force. A loud clang sounded and a couple of sparks flew but there was not a single dent on the tal paw.
Ikasa watched with amusent as Gu Dan looked at the piece of tal and then at the chisel in his hand, dumbfounded. He tried the sa thing again, but it was a futile effort.
Ikasa took pity on him and took out his Serrated Sun Disc. He approached the puzzled Blacksmith and asked with a smile.
"Show the size of the piece you want."
Gu Dan looked up at Ikasa and disdainfully glanced at the Serrated Sun Disc in his hands. Ikasa simply stared him down and Gu Dan obediently pointed to the toe of the tal Paw.
"One toe should be enough."
Ikasa nodded and brought his Sun Disc to the paw. The serrated edge of the disc sliced through the thick tal as if a knife passing through hot butter!
Gu Dan looked at Sun Disc and then at the Chisel in his hands. He questioned his intelligence and life in that few breath's ti.
"Have I been using the wrong tools all my life?"
He mumbled as Ikasa presented to him the perfectly cut piece of tal. Ikasa smirked upon hearing his mumblings.
The Serrated Sun Disc was not able to cut through any object so easily. It is just that the disc was the nesis of the Steel Guardian Beasts. It could easily slice apart any of the Steel Guardian Beasts.
A few joss sticks were burned and the sun moved towards the west. Gu Dan took out the red hot tal from its mold and began to hamr the sword into shape.
"Huh?"
After striking the sword once, Gu Dan stopped. He could instinctively feel that the way he struck the sword was wrong.
It was as if he had an experienced Blacksmith in his head who was pointing out his faults. With the fault, Gu Dan also received a corrected thod to strike the sword.
Gu Dan tried to imitate the posture of the Blacksmith in his head and struck.
T-tang!
The tal imdiately bent to his will. He was almost 90% correct but the force behind his strike was inaccurate.
The forger imdiately took a deep breath and brought his hamr down with accurate montum.
TTang!
The tal sparked but nothing significant happened, yet Gu Dan felt satisfaction in his heart.
He began to strike the tal according to his instincts. As he brought down his hamr, the red-hot flas of the forge flickered with his strike.
This spectacle continued as Gu Dan continued to hamr once, twice, thrice, ten tis, hundred tis!
Only when he had struck the tal for the hundred and eighth ti did he feel it was enough. Gu Dan brought the burning hot sword near the pail of cold oil to quench it.
Just from seeing the cold oil, his heart had an instinctive rejection. He felt like it would be best if he used cold water. He changed his direction and drowned the sword in the small tank of cold water nearby.
Sizzle!
Steam wafted from the tank and hid the figure of the blacksmith in the fog. Gu Dan took out the blade and looked at it. The surface was smooth and even.
Gu Dan flicked his finger on the edge and listened to the sound of the blade using his Forging technique.
"Not a single crack…."
"The internal integrity is solid as never before…."
"Even… even the veins have ford in the blade!"
"Do- Does this an I have produced a Veined Weapon?"
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