Luminous Iron Dust was the official name by which this special substance circulated in the world.
Among many Dwarf Clans with ancient legacies, it also had another, older name—one that struck fear into those who heard it—
"Sunlight Shards."
As for its origin, it naturally came from its exceptionally dazzling, radiant appearance.
In its normal state, Luminous Iron Dust was an extremely fine powder that gave off a faint glow. Overall, it showed a deep, dark-gold color, like solidified dusk.
And when subjected to heavy blows, high heat, or the stimulation of Magic Power, every tiny grain in the powder would instantly burst with a blazing golden-white radiance like the Blazing Sun at noon.
Each fall of the Forging Hammer was like striking a miniature sun, filling the room with piercing sunlight.
Luminous Iron Dust was not a naturally formed mineral. Instead, it was refined from a raw ore known as Sun-Ion Stone through some ancient and complicated ritual.
Sun-Ion Stone usually formed only in extreme regions where the Elemental Plane and the Material Plane overlapped, such as the lava core of some dangerous volcano, a vast magma pool deep underground, an inextinguishable flame pit formed by the fall of an ancient meteor...
This ore, whose surface bore natural corona-like flame-gold patterns, was already exceedingly rare on the market because of its extreme formation conditions.
And to refine Luminous Iron Dust from it required a magical ritual as complex and demanding as an Arcane experiment.
A high-ranking dwarf blacksmith with Mastery over the forging techniques of Fire Elemental products, at the fiercest noon hour of the day, on the peak of a towering crag closest to the heavens and without the slightest obstruction, would offer devout faith to the God of Craftsmen and Minerals. Then, within an expensive magic circle