Myne laughed joyfully seeing this and said, "Don't misunderstand, just know that the spirit and soul you impart into the weapon or armor that you artifice/smith is of paramount importance."
Grinning further at Zhen Shi's soulless face, he continued, "Since your bow is a true masterpiece, I doubt you''' be able to reach that type of level soon... or ever. So try to make slight modifications to make it suit you better."
Zhen Shi finally got himself to sit straight but continued to stare at Myne with dead disappointed eyes.
Myne frowned and slapped him out of it, "Fuck off. Do you want to learn from me or not?" causing Zhen Shi to hurriedly sit straight and listened obediently.
Myne continued to speak rather seriously, "Now let's be serious. I noticed that you are skilled with materials and appraisal, so I won't be teaching you much of that..."
He manifested two rather thick manuscripts and a small book in his hand, "Next, we have enchantments and formations which are an important part of any weapon, armor or tool.
Both of them are rather similar, but formations can be used outside of blacksmithing. Not to mention that formation masters are powerful in their own right. For instance, the Formation that is protecting this island is extremely powerful and could easily hold off the attack of a sovereign!
Enchantments, while useless in combat, can bring out comparatively greater power in artificed weapons and armor. In addition, only enchanters can grant spirits to weapons and armor, while also being more skilled in taming other item spirits."
Zhen Shi was confused for a moment and asked while bringing out his Chaos Bow, "Wait. If my bow is so amazing, why doesn't it have a weapon spirit?"
Myne was surprised and began to explain, "You don't know? Your bow is extremely new. As far as I can see it hasn't been more than a few weeks since it was created."
Pointing at the grip, he continued, "The Blacksmith has skillfully enchanted a spirit seed, but it'll be a while before it hatches and the bow gains any type of sentience..."
As Zhen Shi nodded in understanding, Myne continued, "I'll leave it up to you whether to pursue Formation or Enchantment. Personally, I have mastered quite a bit of both and found some rather interesting discoveries when I use both. So I suggest you do the same...
Either way, to help out, I'll give you these notes and collection of formation and enchantment formulae that I collected causally," and suddenly threw the two thick manuscripts at him.
Zhen Shi hurriedly caught them while thinking, 'Hey! Don't throw these valuable notes like garbage!'
Myne who was ignorant of his thoughts threw the other book as well, and said, "This is my personal artificing technique, [Druid's Cauldron]! A very high tier smithing technique with great adaptability and can manifest a divine cauldron out of pure aether once you reach the highest level, making it possible to blacksmith without a single tool!"
Zhen Shi hurriedly caught that book as well, while thinking, 'FUCK! How'd those poor books piss you off?' But how could he say that out loud when Myne was actually helping him?
Myne ignorantly continued, "As for fire, the Undying Vermillion bird flame of yours should be very suitable for crafting. So I won't be helping you much in that regard."
Next, he took out a rolled bundle of parchment and spoke out with great pride on his face, "Alright! Next, I have a rather 'clever' way of improving the power for any weapon or armor.
Back then, when I was trying to understand my eyes of fate better, I came across a strange art of divination performed by weaving cloth which was used by women in the Ice Lands up North. It involved entering into a trance-like state that the warbands referred to as 'Ohtur' and then engraving what you saw or sensed into the cloth. Based on this, I created my skill and named it
Zhen Shi quickly caught it as well, '*Sigh* I won't say anything anymore...'
Myne ignorantly continued, "Alright. Now I'll show you how to smith a simple weapon."
He flicked his hand causing a familiar dejected and rusted black furnace to appear. Myne spoke with a satisfied grin, "This was the broken furnace I got for free from the market. I took the liberty of improving it up to Soul Tier Grade 3. I figured I'll leave the rest of the fixing up to you."
Myne flicked his other hand causing the entire furnace to be engulfed in his dark blue Underworld flame, and hiss while releasing dark black smog.
Moments later, the smog formed into a small spherical blob. It cracked like an egg, finally revealing a small demonic imp with two short horns and a long curving tail. It jumped and danced around the furnace and the blue flames, seeming to giggle and chitter evilly while staring at Zhen Shi and Myne.
Zhen Shi stared at it rather curiously, because his
Myne's face had contorted strangely... but he still pointed at the imp and continued, "This is the furnace spirit that appears in furnaces at Soul Tier and above, but only if the blacksmith is skilled enough and has a good flame. Generally... They are helpers for a skilled blacksmith. Using them is much more effective than using your soul qi to control the fire, and perform the artificing directly. But they might be more trouble than help if you try to force them."
With his free hand, Myne brought out and threw another book, which Zhen Shi quickly caught as well. 'Sheesh! Throwing more books? Not that I'm complaining though...'
Myne's face contorted strangely again... as he continued, "That book contains a 'clever' skill that I came across on my travels. Furnace spirits, like weapon and armor spirits, are rather strange creatures. Even under greater power and the threat of death, they won't give in. But that skill should work on any furnace spirit..."
Saying so, he calmly materialized a block of dark silver metal, "This is black silver, a special alloy used to make basic sharp weapons," and placed it within the flaming furnace.
Immediately, the dark blue flames rose to bun it off, but the demonic imp jumped in front of it and skilfully held off the flames with a giggle.
Myne explained, "Most furnace spirits know out of pure instinct what to do, but controlling it properly is the blacksmith's job. There have been many incidents of furnace spirit's going out of control, and even killing the owner. So be careful..."
Zhen Shi warily eyed the black horned imp, who in turn eyed him back, while giggling creepily revealing a row of sharp teeth.
Myne grinned himself, as he continued the lesson, 'First, I'll be removing the impurities. Remember there is no such thing as a naturally occurring pure ore, so always purify the material!" and under his guidance, the chittering demon Imp proceeded to carefully spread the heat of the flames across the metal while removing the impure slag.
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Once Myne was satisfied with the refining, he manifested an ordinary-looking hammer with a worn head, "This is the hammer that I use to prepare the basic structure of the artifact. There are blacksmiths who use their own fists, even large sledge hammers and anvils, or sometimes nothing at all. Just find what suits you. But in my opinion, a small hammer is the best," and started to slam the piece of metal which was held tightly by the black imp.
Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew as metal struck metal, and the sound of the hammer reverberated throughout the pavilion.
Myne was utilizing physical strength much greater than Zhen Shi's current strength, and even then the demon imp within the fire seemed to be completely fine! It calmly went about maintaining the heat of the fire and shaping the metal with its clawed hands, but continued to grin creepily and mischievously...
Myne continued to explain, "Almost every weapon has a basic refining formula that has been perfected over generations. All blacksmiths follow the formulae in general, and all modifications to the weapon have to be done by changing this formula. So here is a collection of the most important weapon formulae," and threw out another book.
Zhen Shi who had long since given up complaining, quickly caught that book as well, 'Yeah! Make it rain! Just keep throwing more skill books!'
Myne ignorantly put away the hammer and directed the imp to separate the refined and shaped metal into three odd-shaped portions.
Then, he intensified the blue flames causing more black smog to form out of the cauldron. Just like before, the smog formed into a pair of blobby eggs that cracked open revealing two more identical imps who chittered mischievously.
"Theoretically, it should be possible to control an infinite number of furnace spirits. But I haven't seen anyone achieve such a feat with my own eyes... After all, once you reach the peak of Sovereign tier Blacksmithing, the limit is 1000 furnace spirits. But, of course, the furnace also has to be a peak Sovereign tier item to do even this.
Right now, this Soul Tier Grade 4 furnace can only form a maximum of four furnace spirits, but you don't even need that many to make a basic knife. Three is more than enough."
Myne turned back to the furnace and directed all three work furnace spirits to simultaneously work on making the three main parts of the knife; the hilt, the bolster in the center, and the blade.
Then, he whisked his hands about gathering blue fire qi to form into small blue talismans, "I won't be using enchantments on the weapon, because the material isn't strong enough to hold a sprit seed. Instead, I will enchant it with a basic strengthening formation. As you might've noticed, when constructing the formation I used the fire qi from the flame itself to make sure they stabilize each other," and said while the three imps got to work on combining the talismans on to the three components of the knife.
Moments later, the three parts were glowing with the finished marks of the formation.
Myne clapped his hands loudly, "Alright, now, basically the process is over! But since I only used a piece of black silver and a mortal tier formation, what we'll be getting is only a Soul Tier Grade 1 weapon. It should have been a simple Mortal Grade weapon, but the quality of the fire and the furnace helps quite a bit."
Laughing out loud, he continued, "Now I'll be using
Just as he finished talking, Myne simply stopped moving and his eyes gave off a vacant look.
Zhen Shi found this astounding because he had completely lost track of Myne's presence.
It was almost as if he was a corpse...
Zhen Shi's brow furrowed in deep sorrow (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`), 'FUCK NO! Bro, how can you just die like that? Who will take care of elder sister Viv--?'
But he didn't get any further as Myne's vacant eyes suddenly filled with life. In fact, he now seemed to be overflowing with energy.
He clicked both hands and materialized two sharp engraving knives. And as if he was possessed, he started scratching the surface of the flaming metal while it was held by the three demonic imp spirits, who had suddenly stopped their chittering almost in fear of disturbing Myne.
With the ever-burning blue flame, under the eyes of the silent imps, Myne's hands moved as naturally as the flowing stream next to him, slowly engraving a clear mesmerizing picture onto the knife.
Moments later, just as his hands stopped, the three furnace spirits brought the three blazing hot metallic components together.
CLICK!
With a single click, they joined together perfectly, like the piece of a puzzle.
Myne who had completely awoken from his 'Ohtur' by now, quickly poured chilling water aether all over the completed knife.
But just before the water reached the glowing hot knife, the three demonic imps suddenly jumped forward, and with mischievous giggles struck the blade of the knife with their claws, easily puncturing the blade and forming three clear holes.
HISS!
As the water aether hit the heated metal and cooled it down, a cloud of steam filled up the main hall of the pavilion. The steam mystically lingered within the central garden and above the koi-pond, before it was blown away by the wind into the afternoon sky.
But now, Myne was grinning awkwardly as he hurriedly canceled the furnace spirits, and held out the freshly formed knife forwards for Zhen Shi to see.
The blade of the knife had a mystical engraving; an old hand gripping on to a bow from which a powerful arrow had just been shot. The engraving extended up to the end of the hilt and showed this arrow cleanly passing through the loops of a dozen axe heads.
The carving was present completely identical on both sides, and Zhen Shi couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship.
Seeing the engraving, he also felt nostalgic about a legend he had read about on earth... But there were three holes on the blade, which were rather unfitting and slightly ruined the beauty of the knife.
Myne quickly wiped off his awkward grin and said, "See? That skill was able to improve it up to a Soul Tier Grade 3 weapon!"
Zhen Shi nodded in appreciation but still asked, "So why did you put in these three holes? They kind of ruin the engraving..."
Myne playfully slapped his forehead and hurriedly explained, "Idiot! Did you think I lost control or something? Do you think the furnace spirit taming skill has a side effect or something?"
He paused at his own mistake, but kept speaking to cover it up, "You're... ignorant! Did you just forget what I taught you? Appearance matters less! It is a weapon! Not a beauty to be bedded! I only did that... to give the knife, a... more aerodynamic body, so that it can also be used as a throwing knife!"
Zhen Shi nodded thoughtfully, but still had a hint of suspicion.
Myne noted the look on his face and as such quickly spoke out, "Well, that's about the gist of blacksmithing. I have given you everything you need, so you can experiment at your leisure. But you can ask me about any problems you face...or not. Your choice."
In an even more hurried tone, he continued, "Now let me show you the power of this knif--throwing knife!"
Saying so, Myne gripped the knife form it's blade and suddenly pulled his arm back accumulating a terrifying amount of qi. The strengthening formation glowed brightly and one could almost see the arrow passing through the axe handles as the engraving came to life.
Immediately, Myne threw his hand forward and the knife left his fingertips. The wind was shredded apart as the knife flew over the koi-pond quickly reaching the other end of the pavilion.
Under the eyes of Zhen Shi and Myne, the knife struck the wall and immediately ripped the bronze wall apart as it shredded forward at great speed.
Myne happily turned towards Zhen Shi and spoke out while visibly relaxing, "See? There was nothing to worry about! That was the true power of all the special techniques using in artificing the throwing knife! It's almost on par with your current attacking power when you don't use weapon intent, of course." Zhen Shi too was about to present his agreement--
But suddenly, a huge commotion was heard from outside the pavilion.
"Aarghhh! My butt--"
"Oh my gods, Lance has been attacked!"
"Are you sure...? It's still daylight..."
"Shut up! Don't you see the blood and the knife sticking out of his backside?"
"Damn, you're right! Sound the alarms!"
"Sound the alarms! There are daylight assassins!"
"Fuck! We're under attack!"
Myne's eye twitched ಠ_ಥ as he turned to Zhen Shi while shouting, "FUCK!"