This blade seemed like the toughest he had ever done so far, and no problems occurred from the forging. This could indicate that he forged them together through the use of his knowledge, technique, and skill. Another possibility was the hidden threat of the wrong heat treat itself. From the first moment he put his hammer on the metallic slab right from the furnace, Allan had no idea if he made some form of a fatal mistake. He did at first, but he fixed it. But what if it caused some internal troubles with the metal?

Though, if that would have been the case, those little problems could later lead to problems in the 1st folding. It didn't show some structural imbalance, and Allan was quite sure that he wasn't as clear as how it should feel. He at least knew the basics of them from the examples and a few illustrations from the first order of the mixing. It could have been a mistake where he folded it in the wrong way, too little, or when the metal wasn't properly hammered. After all, each fold had to be flatted as best as possible.

With that image, Allan had still chosen to continue for the sake of the experience. No amount of knowledge would come without any specific amount of tries, and loss would be another forging experienced wasted... “No! Nothing is a waste!” Allan extinguished his pessimistic mood.

Remembering this small saying from one random book he read, Allan stopped with his rest and made up his mind about what he wanted to do.

He decided to make the short sword since nothing better would come from this anyway. A dagger? Knife? It didn't matter either way, and this was long too big to call it a knife. Dagger could be fine as well as the general lengths varied a lot. Being around half a meter could be considered as a short sword, while anything beyond half a meter, and appearing with a handle, straight blade or not, was a sword in peasants' eyes.

Another follow for the short sword would be a guard that would be a straight line of some metal. That one would wait for forging separately later. As for the source of the sword itself, the blade is the most important. Down below, Allan made a portion that would go to the handle. A universal kind that only needed some polishing and then work with wood was all it needed.

The design was something else, and he decided to make a curved and rather simple blade. The kind he had seen once made from his spying endeavors. Tough and wide at the bottom of the layer, it was curved almost like half of a crescent blade on his spear. Appearing thinner and thinner until it hid the curving tip, which could pierce anything. Although it was used for the bigger kind of blade, Allan thought it might as well work with his current work, too. Metal was metal, and designs made of them were kind of universal across the board. Even though some designs were better for some swords, while there were hundreds of variables, if not thousands.

“This could be great if tempered with the part of the blade around the guard in the right parts. Making it thinner around the edges but remaining the density in the lower part. This could lead to lesser mass, but the toughness of the blade is more than fine. The sharpness of it would be excellent because of the sharpening of the black whetstone.” Allan talked to himself out loud, and everything was decided in a couple of minutes.

Not paying more attention to anything else, he got up with the rough plate in hand and pulled his black whetstone underneath the table.

With the black whetstone on the table, Allan was free to think of the next thing he had to do. The design of the blade was fine by this point, so the remaining thing will be the handle.

Walking to the storage of the wooden parts, Allan grabbed a lot of options from crates, which didn't even have the carved name. He didn't need them for the wood, which wasn't as essential, so he had chosen something interesting. The kind, which was something he would have never known if it wouldn't be for Sarey. In his hand was a smaller kind of bamboo, but different from the previous one he used for his spear.

This one had almost no differences from the ordinary tree, for the most part. It was still round and right for the human hand's grip.

It almost felt like it was made exactly for this purpose. Not even Sarey knew the exact reason for this kind of material's existence, but who would? Allan asked her about it a few times, but she was unable to tell much about something like that. The general information about them was the best she could describe, and Allan appreciated that.

“This piece could work well, but I had to understand it a bit better. This isn't like the Bamboo of the Red River, but a somewhat different breed, I suppose. I won't do the usual handle, but make the hole for the handle into this bamboo. That could work. Right?” Allan asked himself, and before deciding on something new, he went with the first idea.

Making the handle was quite an intricate process as well. It was a part where the last touch usually happened and the whole sense of touch with the weapon happened. It needed to be firm, and right for the hand's grip. The surface was also good, so it wouldn't slip or be uncomfortable. The best would be a carved wooden kind of handle that would follow the natural placement of the fingers, and hand in general. In this sense, Allan used these ideas for the handle of the glaive he made some time ago. One which would be comfortable to use with the right hand only. Though the benefits of that were great, it felt magnificent to wield.

“I've never done this with this, but you learn every day when you betray your expectations and say no to yourself.” Allan thought to himself and took this seat at his worktable.

Placing it side by side with a blade, he tried to figure out the method which could be the least painful for him.

“With a carving knife, polishing the wood seems about right. It's about 20 centimeters long and good for a hand. The insides are full of something, so I guess I need to figure out the right way to make the blade secure there. Order then that, the middle parts, according to the handle, seem like the best choice for it. First, the handle needs some sanding and figuring out the inside. Wait... that won't be great. The end of the blade needs first attention because of the insertion. I don't want to have it loose or too thin.”

So, Allan got to the work, and the black whetstone was already out. Placed his both hands across the surface of the blade, he pulled it at the slightest angle across its surface. Not a screech sounded from this small touch, but the slight sound formed a tiny smoothened surface on the edge of the blade.

“I like these barely noticeable movements. When one is gentle, this could be great, but not that productive. Taking the sharpening and smoothing longer isn't bad, since I am in no hurry.” Allan mumbled as he touched the edge with his thumb. Feeling delighted in his time, she went at it again and again.

Slowly but surely, Allan angled the blade against the whetstone itself in many positions. Edge was getting into the shape he wanted to, but he didn't notice the difference in the texture as well as the color of this blade. The parts of the mixing weren't noticeable in the sharpening, so he can't guess, but feel good? He have no idea that the sight underneath the sharpening could reveal something mind-blowing to him. Right now, with dozens of movements later, the distinct color of red could be seen from the smallest dust which fell into the black whetstone.

Sword's edge surface was smoothed first before Allan moved toward the end of the blade. There, he pushed and went with a steep declining curve into the shape point. handle part of the blade. Choosing to go with a rather wild edge, where the steepness of it was quite distinct. It was about 5 centimeters thick in the section where the handle would start.

For the upcoming 35 or so centimeters of the blade after that, the curve went like a crescent moon, where was a tip. This would cause no particular problems when making it at all. It was all about the right technique of sharpening, which made the biggest and highest amount of waste. Allan didn't know this particular design, but it made a clear visual transformation. Frankly, he was really impressed with the different and unique methods that people can come up with.

The right angle was the most important and Allan went with shaping that curve for a long time. Longer than the work with the forging or the handle combined. He spent well beyond 2 hours running this hard surface against the black whetstone. Patience was a virtue, and he wanted to succeed to make it robust. This build could lead to the next reason.

As he polished the lower part, not as sharp angles were there as he anticipated. It was right beyond the handle, but it was a choice he made. Many times, he piqued the blade to feel it without the handle, as a try to figure out the best ways to do the mindful design. The thickness of the blade wasn't wrong in the handle part, where it receded above.

“Good. This went beyond my senses!” Allan shouts out loud and this time, sounded convinced and out of patience to think otherwise. He always questioned this and that. It made him nervous for no reason since the shape was coming through one way or another.

In all this time, he completely forgot that the nervousness of the mixing completely disappeared. Nothing happened with that, texture, or the layers inside of the metal. It was as if the blade was a regular dense metal, similar to some he worked with in the past. At least according to his feeling, touch, and knowledge.

Touching it once more, he felt nothing wrong with the finished and polished piece. The shape and texture were smooth as the metal could get, because of the black whetstone. The cold composition of the metal left a certain impression on him, as the weight was much lower than before. It was like this since he smoothened out quite a bit of metal. He removed a lot to make the right curve, but it remained rather heavy regardless of his removal.

“Perfection!” Allan shouted as he put the blade beyond his head. As if he pulled a prank on the gods which wanted to take his gift.

In truth, even if they wanted to take it, he wouldn't be willing!

As for Zigmund, he wouldn't give this to him as well. This was something he want to keep for himself. Be it the personal use or just a thing to remind him of the mixing and his father.

Shiny, yet not the kind of normal blade was in his hands.

Sarey couldn't notice the small hint of textured layers which were visible from a close distance. She was more shocked by the sudden display of Allan, who seemed like a freak who wanted to sacrifice his new masterpiece to the gods of the unknown.

It took her a while before she regained her composure and was a bit away from bursting out laughing. Not the same could be said of Allan, who acted as if nothing happened.

This was one advantage of being more or less clueless when he was in his gears as the blacksmith. Nothing would cease his heart or mind to go off the rails when he was in this sort of working element.

Sitting back at his table after being done with his cheers, he grabbed the piece of bamboo from before. Carving knife in hand, he took his thumbs and made a dot in the very middle of it.

Then he exchanged the carving knife for one which had a rectangular-shaped tip and was straight as a pole. Allan started to remove the middle of the bamboo, with small bits of it coming from the swirling motion of this special carving knife. It had no particular name, apart from the basic special functions and design.

Its texture was smooth and when removing the insides of the wood, it would be smooth and straight. With this, Allan had to be careful of its use since he already made part of the metal that will go inside.

Although, there was also one crafty problem that he wasn't aware of. One had to be careful about the moisture in the woo, and the bamboo was no different. The same problem could happen with it, similar to the cases of the woods. Cracking because of imperfections was rare, since the majority of the bamboo had a different texture, and was more smooth than the wood. There could be cracking or breaking since it would be hard or imperfect when it was growing up. It could happen, even though it was rare.

After all, it was the case with weapon making, so the use of the right material for the handle was very important. No one wanted a cracked handle, as it would endanger the user. The same would be if it would become loose. Even softening and moisture of the bamboo went with the handles. It could cause disaster when hitting the enemy, but Allan assumed that this bamboo was rightfully made for the blacksmith to use. At least that's what he remembered him saying, or it was Sarey? He couldn't remember.

The very same slippery surface underneath the bark appeared when he removed the bark after being done with the first section of the middle. The texture of the wood under the bark will be sanded for a better grip with some work. It will be the same as the Bamboo of the Red River in this regard, which pleased Allan, who worked with this different bamboo for the first time.

With the first section done, Allan tried inserting the lower end of the knife into the bamboo. Previously, he made a rectangular shape in metal that made the handle. He was occasionally putting it inside the bamboo to see how far off he was.

It took him around an hour before the handle was secured into the bamboo. Like this, the sword looked quite simple, yet smooth, with no additional clutter. Once inside, William was sure he would have a very difficult time taking it out. So, to make things even more secure, he made more adjustments. For example, putting a small amount of sap into the smallest crannies of the rectangular shape handle.

Simplicity was also a power that Allan considered. Yet the flashiness of different kinds of blades was equally interesting to him. If he had to choose, nothing would come to his mind that would be better than making something extravagant.

After all, there exists no perfect blade in the existence, and not a worst one too. Well... the worst one would be questionable to tell, as there were plenty of options to tell a bad blade. Build, smoothness, sharpness, feel, and so on were important to make a good weapon.

That was at least what Allan believed from his father's words and his own learning session, and his spying.

With this done, Allan felt quite good about himself and decided to finish this handle to the bitter end. Smoothening everything with a few strokes against the finest whetstone he could find, he also put two stripes of leather and 3 rounds of rope to both ends of the handle. It was his esthetic choice and at last; he was finished with this blade in the next 15 minutes.

In his hand was a curved blade of a rather exotic nature for normal standards. The wide start of the blade went upwards and was thinner and thinner within the curve. It was about 35 centimeters long in the part of the sharp blade. Adding the handle, it was about 55 centimeters long, since Allan made the handle longer than necessary. It looked nice, but the eyes of the maker couldn't appreciate it. While he was at the handle, of course, he didn't forget to make some normal kind of guard that he made faster than normal. It went into it before he inserted the bamboo so it wouldn't butch. Wrapping some leather around it would be about it.

“Oh, right? I forgot to add protective oil to the blade itself.” Allan forgot himself and applied a few drops into the edge and gave it a few strokes with some towel he had around. There was also the option to use it with the black whetstone, so he did so since he already made some experiments with it. After all, the whetstone could be used with some form of liquid. Water or oil was usually the case for them, and with oil already in hand, Allan went with it.

In a few gentle and rapid moments, the shine intensified even more as the texture of the waves was jolted up from within. Lines and some curving layers were instantly visible much more than before. It was no longer unnoticed by the sight of Sarey, who was much more shocked to see something strange.

“What in the world has he just made? That blade has veins within them!? What sort of metallic blade is that?” She exclaimed in her heart, but before she had any other choice, a voice woke her up right across her.

“So? Anything interesting happened here, Sarey?” Allan asked with a grin on his face as he touched the blade with his fingers. Showing it to Sarey was the most obvious choice for getting any kind of visible feedback.

“W-what do you mean happened? You made your work look like a work of a lunatic, that is all it is to it.” She reluctantly said. Not faulting him, nor agreeing with him, since it involved some sense of pride within her or something else as well.

“What about this blade? How does it look?” Allan better voice his question, since it seems she didn't get it the first time.

“Great, I suppose. It has a strange curve, but it looks quite exotic. Like something out of the southern tribes, or some kind of weird saber. What is it made of?” she asked out in the window.

“Are there some layered patterns in there?”

“Patterns? Do you call it those strange veins? I guess I could say so as well... patterns, or veins. It more looks like some wavy hair, but there is more to them.” Sarey tried to express herself as she jumped inside the forge. She walked closer to take a better look at his blade since he asked for it.

“Ohhh! On the other hand, this looks quite fascinating! It almost looks like some kind of artwork made from wood and colorful plants or something.” Sarey lets out a surprise while taking the blade from his work as quickly as she got closer. She found it heavy, but not so much to make it uncomfortable.

“So it is visible... Not bad. Not bad. This experiment could be called a successful one for sure!”Allan smiled and said in a good mood. Nothing would stop it since the hardest thing he could manage was done and even successful at the same time. It was definitely a case of cheerfulness and happiness.

A smile won't disappear from his face for a long period of time.

Sarey, seeing him so happy, dirty, and tired, felt some sort of relief and happiness for him as well. It was a little bit contagious when it come to such a passionate situation.

She helped him clean up the mess he made before doing whatever else he wanted. It was already getting late, with a rather rare late spar coming around the corner.

Zigmund and Allan used to have some minor misunderstandings when the time was up for the spars. They could either do the small kind of spar or the killing one before the majority of the day was still up. It didn't need to be in the day, since Allan found it the same.

Allan wanted to finish the mixing experiment, and it took him a long time. It was already night, so the spar waited until he finished everything that he wanted to do.