First Forging!

Chapter 26: 026. The First Forging!

"Gag..."

After an unknown amount of time, Bear Cub lay sprawled on the mine floor.

His belly was round and full.

"Whimper!"

His small eyes looked pitifully at Mercer, appearing so full he couldn't possibly eat another bite.

Mercer found it novel.

"You really can't eat anymore?"

Bear Cub nodded his head, then stuck his right paw into his mouth and began to pull out, one by one, black, irregularly shaped cast iron blocks.

"Appraise"

[F-rank Alloy (Low Purity)]: A composite cast iron block, compressed and refined within the body by a certain organism using a special ability.

"How did you do that?"

Mercer's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected Bear Cub to be able to produce this kind of alloy iron block already.

Sticking out his tongue, looking utterly exhausted, Bear Cub let out a series of cries and gestured wildly with his paws.

Mercer stroked his chin, nodding occasionally. "So, you're saying that after you ate them, you ground all those ores into pieces and then, according to your will, mixed them together to compress and refine them?"

Bear Cub immediately nodded vigorously, blinking his eyes at Mercer. "Whimper?"

"No mistake, just like that. Keep doing it this way from now on. But can you still fuse this type of alloy in the future?"

Bear Cub tilted his head, then thought for a moment. In less than two seconds, he gave a certain-sounding "Whimper."

Seeing this, Mercer breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed to be a renewable resource, not a one-time deal.

Mercer pointed at the alloy block and asked again, "Can you eat these alloys and refine them a second time?"

Bear Cub let out a confused "Whimper," as if he didn't understand.

Mercer explained, "It's just that the quality of this alloy isn't good enough. Can you raise their quality further?"

Bear Cub understood this time.

He took several deep breaths through his mouth, then swallowed the pile of alloys he had pulled out again, beginning to chew them in his mouth.

Through his teeth, it could be seen that these alloys were being chewed into extremely fine pieces, after which Bear Cub swallowed them again.

After a short while, Bear Cub seemed to sense the right moment and pulled out more black alloy ingots from his stomach.

However, the quantity this time was significantly less.

"Appraise"

[E-rank Alloy (High Purity)]: A composite cast iron block, compressed and refined within the body by a certain organism using a special ability.

Mercer's eyes lit up.

However, with a bit of greed, he asked again.

"Can you increase the quality further?"

Bear Cub understood this time.

He quickly shook his head, howling "Awoo awoo," and explained with gestures.

After watching for a while, Mercer understood. It turned out the iron ore here wasn't of high quality, just ordinary iron ore.

Therefore, it couldn't refine alloys of better quality.

Reaching out, Mercer rubbed Bear Cub's head and thought to himself.

Perhaps it's also related to Bear Cub's strength and the development of his Devil Fruit ability. After all, Bear Cub's strength level and Devil Fruit level aren't high yet.

"Appraise"

[Overall Evaluation: E- (A magical panda! Its appearance is more noteworthy than its combat power!)]

A smile crept onto his lips. Bear Cub, who was almost three years old, though nearly 1.6 meters tall and round all over, was still a child.

And due to the Gulp-Gulp Fruit, the species he belonged to had also changed somewhat.

In this world, the lifespan of creatures was often tied to their size.

Mercer fully believed that with Bear Cub's Gulp-Gulp Fruit ability, if he kept eating, who knew how long he might live.

Coupled with learning the "Free Breathing Method," his digestive functions had also been developed.

Mercer had no certainty about what he would become in the future.

After a brief rest, Bear Cub felt he could go again and started tackling the iron ore once more.

After three more instances of nearly eating himself sick, Bear Cub finally refined a pile of E-rank alloy that was at least three cubic meters.

Patting Bear Cub's head, Mercer said, "Alright, that's enough for today. Let's go back."

"Stuff these alloy iron blocks into your belly first. We'll take them out when we get home."

The Bear's eyes widened slightly.

This was already who knows how many times today he'd eaten something only to take it back out?

His ears drooped.

Bear Cub obediently spread his arms and gathered the alloy block in his embrace, his mouth opening unusually wide.

He swallowed it in one gulp.

Unable to finish it in one go, he took three bites and swallowed it all.

"Ooh~" Mercer's heart stirred. "Looks like Bear Cub, you can be a storage warehouse for me in the future?"

The Bear's body trembled.

Bear Cub looked at Mercer with a look of horror, "Ying ying ying?"

Letting out a dry laugh, Mercer felt that his idea might have been a bit too devilish.

"Just kidding."

Bear Cub finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But speaking of storage warehouses, Mercer also thought of those Devil Fruits.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and Mercer secretly pondered, "Maybe I should try my luck when the time comes."

"It would be best if I could get one, but if not, I could just kill the user and wait for the fruit to respawn?"

"Forget it, I'll see then. After all, we have no grudges right now."

Mercer considered his own moral standards to be quite acceptable.

He walked out of the mine with Bear Cub, and the sky outside had already begun to darken.

Mercer inwardly cursed his bad luck.

"I didn't say how long I'd be out today, Doctor Doriel might get worried."

He flipped onto Bear Cub's back.

Mercer said, "Let's hurry home."

Bear Cub let out a low growl.

With his feet turned inward and his rear end swaying, he quickly ran home along the path.

He moved like lightning along the way.

Bear Cub wasn't running slowly, he just crashed into a few trees.

But fortunately, Mercer was agile and anticipated the impacts, dodging them in advance.

Before the sky completely darkened, Mercer had returned home.

As soon as he entered, he heard Kureha's voice.

"Where did you run off to today?"

"Can't see you people all day long."

"Do you think your wings have hardened just because you've turned a year older?"

In the kitchen.

Kureha walked out and looked at Mercer and Bear Cub, who were covered in black soot, her mouth twitching fiercely.

"Did you two go into a coal mine to dig for coal? Or did you get caught in a black powder explosion?"

Supporting her forehead with her hand, Kureha said wearily, "Both of you, get going and take a bath. Then you'll explain everything to me properly."

"Okay, fine."

Mercer quietly agreed.

It was worth mentioning that the fireplace in the house was used daily for heating.

So bathing was also very convenient.

Bear Cub first went to a corner and took out the alloy blocks from his belly, arranging them neatly.

Mercer took Bear Cub into the bathroom, and they washed up and scrubbed each other's backs. It didn't take long.

Mercer dried himself with a towel, while Bear Cub was very simple, easily solving the problem of wet fur through self-digestion.

At the dinner table.

Kureha glanced at the shiny black alloy Tekkai in the corner.

"So, you two were busy all day and all you managed to produce was this much alloy?"

"Yes."

"What do you plan to do with so much alloy?"

"Are you planning to open a blacksmith shop?"

"Umm, to feed Bear Cub?" Mercer thought about it and decided against it, lest he scare Bear Cub. "I've learned a new skill recently."

"It's forging."

"I plan to forge our weapons ourselves in the future. Bear Cub is incredibly gifted at refining ore.

Right now, I feel like I could even hand-craft all our future experimental equipment for you."

Kureha said, "Then work hard. I'll wait for that day."

Mercer nodded with a grin, eating Kureha's cooking heartily. Bear Cub was also eating heartily.

There was no sign of them being unable to eat more.

Perhaps their tastes had changed, or their stomachs were empty again.

After a tiring day, Mercer and Bear Cub went to bed early after finishing dinner and washing the dishes.

The next day.

After breakfast.

Mercer took Bear Cub out early again.

Mercer and Bear Cub arrived at the foot of the nearest Drum Mountain to the east.

Five hundred meters in the air.

A cave in the rock face.

Mercer and Bear Cub appeared here.

The place Mercer and Bear Cub were currently in was a cave with a length, width, and height of ten meters each.

A total area of one hundred square meters.

This was also what Bear Cub had gnawed out over the past few months.

Standing outside the cave, at an entrance with a diameter of two meters.

You could see more than half of Drum Island.

This location was hidden from human sight, making it extremely secure.

Bear Cub took out the alloy blocks stored in his belly and piled them in a corner.

Based on the principle of ventilation, a long ventilation duct with a diameter of half a meter was also gnawed into the ceiling near the inner side of the cave. It extended upward for a hundred meters, connecting to a point a hundred meters away from the cave entrance to the right.

Thus, air convection was established throughout the cave.

Near the ventilation opening, a simple furnace was gnawed out.

It was made to the standards of an external blacksmith shop.

Currently, high-temperature charcoal was burning inside the furnace.

Several alloy iron blocks, glowing red from the heat, were inside.

Beside the furnace, on the crafting table, there was an anvil measuring 1 meter long, 0.5 meters wide, and 0.3 meters high.

Next to it was a large vat filled with clear, cold spring water that Bear Cub had obtained.

The water came from a spring in Bear Cub's hometown, the Purple Bamboo Forest.

A forging hammer and a pair of iron tongs were present. All the necessary tools for forging were completely prepared.

Bear Cub lay quietly to the side, napping with his eyes half-closed.

Mercer, wearing a professional blacksmith's outfit, used the iron tongs to pick up a fist-sized piece of alloy from the furnace and placed it on the anvil.

As his breath rose and fell, his entire being became calm.

He gripped the forging hammer in his right hand, raising it and bringing it down.

Clang--!

Blinding sparks flew, and the alloy was dented by the hammer blow.

As soon as he started, Mercer felt a strange sense of familiarity. He swung the hammer, striking with all his might.

Clang clang clang clang clang. Clang.

Using a special technique and rhythm, in a state of Unity of Heaven and Man, combined with Observation Haki, Mercer sensed the aura emanating from the alloy and its internal grain.

He hammered along the grain.

This made its structure more compact.

He hammered the alloy into a long strip, then folded it and hammered it again, repeating this process. With continuous swings, the interaction of forces kept the alloy at a suitable temperature.

Since it was already a mixed alloy, no other materials were needed.

Through constant hammering, Mercer also analyzed the properties of this alloy.

Its hardness and toughness were both excellent, making it suitable for crafting weapons.

The forging technique Mercer used this time was fold forging. Since there was only one material, there were no saw-tooth patterns, only fine, ring-like textures.

By continuously folding and hammering to refine the internal structure, Mercer could clearly perceive the change in the metal's aura as he forged.

The internal network's reconstruction and connection, a faint spirituality quietly gathered.

As time passed, a dagger shaped like a short sword appeared, and Mercer worked on the bevel of the blade.

After completing all these steps, he picked it up with iron tongs and placed it into the water tank.

"Quenching."

Sssssss!!!!

Intense white mist billowed up.

The dagger's temperature rapidly cooled, and Mercer sensed that the dagger's spirituality had suddenly become complete at this moment.

A unique aura appeared at this time.

Mercer picked up the dagger and examined it. Its overall lines were smooth, and the silver-white blade had fine, ring-like patterns.

"There are still a few more steps, let's finish them all at once."

"Tempering."

The quenched dagger was placed back into the furnace for moderate heating.

This step was completed.

"Grinding."

Mercer took out a whetstone and began to grind the blade. With a "swish-swish" sound, the blade gradually became smooth and sharp, possessing a deep luster and a piercing cold glint.

The final step was to attach the hilt of the dagger. Mercer used a wooden handle made from bamboo material refined by Bear Cub.

There was also a scabbard of the same bamboo material.

After everything was done.

A delicate short sword-style dagger appeared.

The total length was 33 centimeters, the width was 3 centimeters, and the thickness was 0.3 centimeters.

Everything proceeded smoothly as if it were all natural.

"Appraisal."

[D-rank Dagger (Fast Swords): A freshly forged Fast Swords dagger with astonishing hardness.]

Mercer sheathed the dagger.

"As expected, the quality of Fast Swords is D-rank."

[Detected item with legendary characteristics.]

"My thoughts were correct, famous swords can be used to refine Merit Points."

A smile curved Mercer's lips as he played with the dagger in his hand. With the scabbard on, the dagger looked like a blade of grass-green wood.

It appeared very ordinary.

"Let's call it 'Bamboo Tube,' a dagger hidden within bamboo. Hmm, for the first one, I'll let it go. I won't extract Merit Points."

Mercer tucked the dagger "Bamboo Tube" into the small of his back, stood up, and stretched slowly. He glanced at the sky outside.

"Hmm, being too focused makes it easy to lose track of time. It's already afternoon in the blink of an eye. Let's go home."

"Bear Cub, let's go home."

Bear Cub beside him opened his mouth, his eyes full of joy.

Mercer added coal and sealed the furnace fire, leaving only a small gap to ensure it wouldn't go out easily.

He took off his work clothes and changed back into the clothes he had arrived in.

Together, they descended the mountain along a narrow mountain path.

Breathing in the outside air, the two strolled through the snowy forest.

Mercer was in a very good mood.

He glanced at Bear Cub beside him, a smile appearing on his lips.

He released his Observation Haki, sensing the surrounding environment. At one moment, his heart stirred.

"Let's go, we're going to catch a delicious prey."

"Ying?" Bear Cub's eyes lit up, and he immediately let out a happy "ying ying ying~" sound from his mouth.

Before long, Mercer spotted a yak with snow-white fur, a local specialty, a Snow Yak. He immediately charged forward, and Bear Cub excitedly followed closely behind.

As they got closer, Mercer held a Surgical Knife in each hand. Under the fierce resistance of the Snow Yak, he severed its carotid artery in just a few seconds.

Then he retreated to avoid the yak's death throes. A moment later, this large yak, nearly three meters long, was hunted.

[Obtained F+ rank Soul Crystal *1]

A grain-sized Soul Crystal appeared and was collected by Mercer.

New author, new book! Please follow!

Please recommend! Please vote monthly! Please invest!