Lin Liqiu spent two days folding steel. To produce the amount needed for the two blades, she combined the medium quality steel with some of the low quality stock. This increased it's durability while maintaining it's ability to be sharpened without flaking. In a moment of artistic expression, she also added some of the nickle in the hopes it would add some luster to the blade.
Another day passed as she shaped the individual components of the blades. On the fourth day she was ready to assemble the blade. The core was made from low quality steel. The folded steel acted as the faces of the blade, sandwiching the core. The tamahagane steel ran along the edge. Lin Liqiu focused her chi and began the process of fusing the pieces together by bringing the first blade's temperature up until it began to glow.
As Lin Liqiu continued to practice the furnaceless forging technique that Tomo had taught her she could feel her chi cultivation realm advancing. It seemed he was right when he claimed a deeper understanding of the elements through his science was the key to rapid advancement. She recalled his words, that fire and ice were most likely a single discipline, similar to Ku Wei's life and death elements. Throughout the fusing process she paid attention to the waves of cold that would spread through the area each time she raised the temperature of the blade.
Originally she was going to quench the blade in snow, but she felt like she'd grabbed onto the tail of something. When it was time to cool the metal Lin Liqiu focused on reversing the flow of heat. Originally she was drawing in heat from the surroundings to feed the fire elements, causing a cold wind to spread in every direction. Now she was pushing the fire elements to follow the same path. As the heat began to disperse across the clearing she could feel the ice elements filling the void and gathering on the blade.
Lin Liqiu stopped commanding the fire elements and focused on the ice elements. To her surprise they didn't feel as foreign as they once did. Through her new found understanding of thermodynamics, thanks to Tomo's lessons, she understood that heat was just a form of energy and that what fire and ice cultivators were really doing was just moving that heat around. Fire would spring to life in areas with excess heat and ice would spread across areas devoid of it.
At first the ice elements were slow to react to Lin Liqiu's commands, but as she continued to temper the blade her control improved. As a final touch, she annealed the blade using her control over both fire and ice elements to slowly reduce the temperature of the finished blade. Night fell but the thrill of exploring a new cultivation frontier combined with her passion for her craft spurred her on. As she reached for the second blade the elements danced in anticipation.
As Lin Liqiu was preparing to finish fusing the components of the second blade the morning sun arrived and with it Isamu. The camp fire had long since died so he added a few new logs before taking a seat next to it. Watching Isamu struggle to rekindle the flames gave Lin Liqiu an idea, -the blade is ready to be quenched. What if I redirect the fire elements from the blade into the logs? And at the same time I can draw over the ice elements from the fire pit and use them to cool the blade.-
Without giving it any further thought she decided to give it a try. Up til now Lin Liqiu had always drawn elements from an area or dispersed them across an area, this was her first time transferring them between two fixed points. The results caused both her and Isamu to jump in fright before breaking out in a cold sweat. The rapid transfer of energy from one point to another took the form of a lightning bolt that engulfed the logs in flames and left the blade shrouded in ice.
Tomo had been casually monitoring his disciples' progress through their Encyclopedia pages when he nearly spat out his coffee due to Lin Liqiu's action. He quickly messaged her asking for a detailed explanation of what had happened. Lightning element cultivators would release the energy from their body and often required physical contact with their target. Only lightning cultivators with exceptionally high realms were recorded as being able to manifest the element at range. It was completely beyond what Lin Liqiu should be capable of.
Lin Liqiu was still in a bit of a daze when she received Tomo's message. She did her best to explain what she had attempted and how she went about it. Instead of proceeding with tempering the second blade she moved to conduct a test Tomo had concocted on the fly. It was straight forward if inelegant, she would take two buckets of water and place them at opposite ends of the clearing. Making sure neither her nor Isamu were between them, she began lowering the temperature of one bucket while raising the other. As one bucket was about to freeze and the other boil she willed the energies to swap positions. Once again a lightning bolt tore through the space, shattering both buckets.
Isamu stared, dumbstruck by the display. Despite this being the desired result Lin Liqiu's look wasn't any less bewildered. Once she recovered from her momentary shock she quickly relayed the results and her insights to Tomo before returning to her work. She approached the anvil with the second blade atop it and began tempering it in earnest.
Despite Isamu's curious nature he was still too shocked to ask any question. As such, Lin Liqiu was able to work peacefully for several hours. The repetition of the hammer swings and the ringing of metal in her ears allowed her to calm down from the recent excitement. She settled into a form of meditation, one she usually only entered when ki forging. On instinct she grabbed the first blade and tempered it again along side the second.
The two blades were slowly cooling as they were being annealed when Lin Liqiu was finally released from her meditative reverie. Seeing that she was preparing to take a break, Isamu approached with burning questions, “How did you create lightning? I thought you were a fire cultivator. Can you teach me how to do it too?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Possibly. Are you a fire cultivator?”
“I... I don't know...” admitted Isamu with a dejected look. For a moment Lin Liqiu had forgotten this was Japan, of course he wouldn't have gone through an elemental affinity test.
Lin Liqiu pulled out her Encyclopedia page to ask Tomo for an elemental affinity assessment tool and noticed a message he'd left her. It was a reward for her latest discovery. She quickly sent off her request before reassuring Isamu, “No need to worry about that for now. Let me finish up these blades real quick and we can go find Old Man Ken'ichi. After that we'll see if you have any aptitude for cultivation.”
Hearing that she was willing to teach him perked Isamu right up. He quickly moved over to the anvil and began examining the blades and handles that were sitting there. Before he could ask anymore questions Lin Liqiu presented him with a dark pair of goggles that she'd retrieved from a curious bag covered in stars. “We'll need to wear these,” she said as she donned her own pair of goggles.
Tomo's reward came at just the right moment. Arc welding used an electrical arc to liquefy a filler metal and super heat the base metal to create a weld pool. This method could not only be used to join the blades and handles, but it would also serve as valuable practice for Lin Liqiu's control over her lightning. She motioned for Isamu to grab some slag steel to use as filler, meanwhile she slotted the blades into the grooves at the end of the handles.
Lin Liqiu focused on two points near where the blade and handle met and began gathering fire and ice elements. It took her a bit to find the concentration of elements needed to produce an arc strong enough to melt the slag. After that it was just a matter of rapidly switching the positions of the elements while adjusting the angle between the two points to hit the next weld joint. While the process was relatively simple once she got the hang of it, the execution, however, was incredibly demanding.
Mentally exhausted, Lin Liqiu wanted nothing more than to take a quick nap, but the excited look on Isamu's face as he prepared to lead them down the mountain convinced her otherwise. The excitement turned once more to shock as he watched her stuff the anvil into the small bag from before and then nonchalantly walk off with it as if it weighed nothing.
The path through the forest leading down the mountain was gentle and before long they could see Kerakawa on the horizon. They made their way to the eastern edge of town where Ken'ichi's forge was located. From there Isamu pointed out across the plains at a cluster of fields with a small farmstead nestled among them, “That's my parent's place. When we're finished here I'll introduce you and you can join us for dinner. We even have a room for rent if you're tired of sleeping in the woods.”
Isamu lead the way as they entered Ken'ichi's forge. His familiarity with the place was obvious as he headed straight for an office in the back that seemed to double as Ken'ichi's living quarters. Ken'ichi looked up from his bowl of noodles as the two entered, seeing Isamu he asked, “Hey runt, is this that the friend you were telling me about?” while glancing in Lin Liqiu's direction.
“Sure is, old man. You got a problem with that?” Isamu shot back. Seeing the two smiling, Lin Liqiu took note of their close relationship.
Turning to Lin Liqiu, Ken'ichi inquired, “So what have you got to show me? The pipsqueak said you'd be bringing a show piece for me to inspect.”
Lin Liqiu brandished the two kamas but withheld them. “They aren't quite ready yet. I didn't have access to a grinding wheel to put the final edge on. I noticed one on the way in, could I borrow it for a moment?”
Ken'ichi nodded. Him and Isamu followed Lin Liqiu into the other room. She gave him one of the kamas to inspect while she started working on the other. As he watched her work Ken'ichi seemed pleased, but when she exchanged the sharpened kama for the one in his hands his expression fell. “I can tell from the blade that your skill with a hammer is great and...” using the sharpened kama he cut through a nearby piece of cloth for emphasis, “you've put a fine edge on this. Even the decorative details are exquisite...” he paused to admire the waves of nickle revealed in the hamon[1] after sharpening before continuing, “However, I can tell from the striations that you didn't manage the temperature of your furnace well. What good are you as a blacksmith if you can't control your fire? Teaching someone like you is too much of a hassle and I'm too old to need a piece of eye candy hanging around here. You and the runt should leave.”
Ken'ichi started heading back to his office, but Lin Liqiu continued to sharpen the second kama. Her ignoring his words seemed to irk the old man and he began to shout, “I said get out! There's no point in sharpening such a shoddy blade! I could snap this one with one strike!”
Ken'ichi grabbed a hammer and swung. As the blow was descending the hammer head was intercepted by a hand covered in aura. Ken'ichi could feel his feet momentarily lift off the ground from the force of that hand. Then a quiet but chilling voice entered his ear, “I knew the kid called you old man, but I never would have come if I'd known you were actually an old bastard[2]. These kamas aren't yours to do with as you please.” Grabbing both kamas, Lin Liqiu approached Isamu and bowed while presenting them, “Thank you for the introduction.”
Lin Liqiu quietly left the forge after that. Isamu turned to Ken'ichi and admonished him, “You idiot! I told you she's been working out in the woods this whole time. She didn't even have a sharpening stone and you think she had a proper furnace. What an idiot! She forged these using her chi.”
“That's, that's not possible,” Ken'ichi stammered, but he could tell from the look in Isamu's eyes that he was telling the truth. “Bah, fine. Go. Bring her back here.” Excited at the chance to help Lin Liqiu, Isamu took off running while hold his kamas which made Ken'ichi pale. “Don't run with those, you brat! It's dangerous!” he yelled.
Lin Liqiu hadn't gone far and was waiting for Isamu out at the road, partly because she had no where else to go but mostly because the promise of a good meal was too hard to pass up. Seeing the boy approaching with a wide smile, she could tell he was quite pleased with himself.
It wasn't long before the two returned to the forge. Ken'ichi didn't bother to apologize and just stated bluntly, “The little rascal convinced me to take you on. Be here at sunrise tomorrow. And if you call me old bastard again you're fired.”
Lin Liqiu just smirked, “Whatever you say, old man.”
Author's Notes:
[1] The hamon is a wave pattern near the edge of a blade created by multiple layers of folded metal
[2] In Japanese the word for guy can mean bastard when used with an insult so Lin Liqiu is doing a bit of wordplay here: old man → old guy → old bastard