Forging

Smithing wasn't a job you could do with just a hammer, an anvil, a pair of tongs, and a furnace. Even the hammers used for forging came in large, medium, and small sizes, or could be divided into long-handled and short-handled ones. There were different techniques, too: light blows, heavy blows, decorative blows, side strikes, and backing strikes. The tongs for holding workpieces included gripping tongs, lifting tongs, pointed tongs, wide tongs, wide-mouthed bent tongs, and narrow-mouthed straight tongs. There were also all sorts of tools for cutting and shaping workpieces, such as axes, chisels, and drills.

Bellows, smelting, forging, smelting, forging—every day, William followed the Singers through the same routine. His astonishing strength and control left the one-eyed Dwarf marveling. Strong people had an advantage at the forge, but strength alone didn't guarantee good work. What mattered more in a good blacksmith was the coordination of hand and eye, and the ability to control one's force with ease: heavy when needed, light when called for, every strike precise and well placed. Even a talented ordinary apprentice needed years of experience to become an excellent blacksmith. The Dwarves' long lifespans were one important reason they had become such a skilled forging people. But William defied convention. With near-perfect control over his muscles, he needed only three to five practice rounds to master the force and placement of his blows.

With one hand holding the workpiece and the other guiding it with a small hammer, Singers' heart raced as William's heavy hammer rose and fell. The red-hot billet was hammered flat, then flatter, then flatter still, while iron scale flew in every direction with the sparks. Layer after layer of the billet's surface folded and fell away. The piece grew smaller and denser, and its metal purity increased. Some believed that forging made iron denser, but this wasn't entirely true. Iron ore contained many impurities and had a relatively low density. As forging gradually removed those impurities, the metal did become denser, approaching the density of pure iron—though it would never actually reach that level because of the limitations of the process. But when iron with a high metal purity was forged again, there were few impurities left to drive out. Instead, much of the iron on its surface would oxidize and flake away, wasting the material.

Sunderland had been gathering fluxes for smelting Adamantine through various channels, while Torg prepared all the other supplies they would need, including those for the future Adamantine mining operation. To process all the Adamantine they had obtained, they would need a great deal of flux. Mirabar had plenty, but it belonged to the alchemists under Marquis Erastu. Sunderland didn't want to reveal the existence of the Adamantine mine, so she couldn't risk attracting the marquis's attention. Fortunately, as the governor of a trade city, she knew many people elsewhere who had the supplies they needed. She even had a good friend among the marquis's alchemist corps: Nanfudo the Gnome, one of the most renowned alchemists in the North.

Sunderland had sent secret orders to merchants in other places by magic, but it would take at least a month for the goods to arrive. In the meantime, William practiced smithing with the Dwarves during the day and studied Elvish with Aelf at night. Phinia and Mishaer joined them, of course. But it wasn't for nothing: William had promised to forge new Adamantine daggers for the little Elf and the Dwarves.

Elvish was drawn out and subtle, its spoken form winding and difficult, with all sorts of rising and falling tones. It was practically like singing, and learning it left you dizzy. Of the three, Mishaer learned the fastest. William thought he was struggling, but Phinia made him look less hopeless. She had the hardest time of all. The female half-giant, who could barely speak Common smoothly, found learning the even more convoluted Elvish a little too much to ask. But William insisted that Phinia study with them, ignoring the poor girl's furious glare. As a transmigrator, he understood the importance of knowledge. Even if Phinia never learned to speak Elvish properly, he would make sure the half-giant could understand it, recognize its script, and read Elvish books.

Elvish pronunciation was complicated, but its written form was much simpler. It was a script combining elements of an alphabet and pictographs, and wasn't much harder to learn than a foreign language had been in his previous life. William couldn't understand what idiot had made Elvish pronunciation so complicated.

More than a month passed. Fluxes and other auxiliary powders from the nearest regions had arrived, and deliveries from more distant places would follow in due course. William's smithing had become exceptionally skillful. In particular, he had deliberately practiced folded forging, and the hundred-fold-forged dagger he made earned high praise from old Singers. The dagger, with its lovely cloud patterns on the blade, became one of Aelf's treasured possessions. With almost all the materials ready, William put his Elvish studies on hold and prepared to begin forging Adamantine in earnest.

Phinia, who had been stuck in "deep water and scorching fire" for all that time, was finally free as well. With no man around to keep her in check, the woman was "turned loose to graze." Only Mishaer couldn't escape Aelf's "clutches." Having suffered so many grievances before, the little Elf finally got even as a "teacher." Every day she lectured the girl until her eyes grew misty with tears, and every so often it turned into a "localized violent revolt" and an all-out brawl.

After several days of rest and preparation, William and the two Dwarves began forging Adamantine in earnest. Since natural Adamantine was almost pure metal, it didn't need refining. The key was to shape it as quickly as possible. They would start with the little Elf's dagger, and they also needed to make the handle for Phinia's battle-axe first. Because of the size of the half-giant's hands, the handle had to be fairly thick and long. Making it entirely from Adamantine would be unsuitable: it would waste material and make the handle too heavy.

Phinia's Frost Giant Axe had been forged from a single block of Cold Star Iron. Cold Star Iron was a rare metal found only in the far northern wastes or on the peaks of snowy mountains. Infused with icy energy, it naturally dealt cold damage and was the best choice for making cold-based weapons. Though it was less resilient, it was considerably harder than steel. In fact, Cold Star Iron weapons weren't the best fit for the Frost Giants, since their cold damage had no effect on Frost Giants or the other cold-resistant creatures of the North. Given the choice, Frost Giants would rather use equipment that dealt fire damage. But in the polar region, Cold Star Iron was one of the few excellent metals that was relatively easy to find, and Frost Giants found its chill quite comfortable.

An alloy of Cold Star Iron and Adamantine would retain the former's chilling effect and gain the latter's resilience. Smelting Cold Star Iron also required special magical potions, since the metal interfered with combustion and cooled too quickly. It needed an accelerant and another additive to slow its cooling. In fact, Frost Giant blood was the best accelerant and cooling retardant.

They didn't choose a site inside Mirabar for the forging. Instead, they picked a spot beneath a small mound about ten miles east of the city, near the River Mirar. A tunnel there connected to the Dwarves' underground settlement. Six large furnaces were fired up one after another. Ordinary blacksmiths used charcoal or, if they could afford something better, black-oil coal to smelt ore. Only the highest-grade metals, such as Adamantine, were fired with expensive white charcoal, a fuel with an exceptionally high heat value. It burned hot and steadily, with few impurities. In one of the most refined furnaces, the purple-black Adamantine gradually shed its impurities amid the white-hot coals, revealing a pure, violet-gold metal.

The flux would only work if added once the Adamantine had been heated until it became a translucent, crystal-blue mass. But Adamantine was extremely heat-resistant, and it took a long time to bring it up to the temperature needed to change color. Four small pieces of Adamantine heated in the main white-charcoal furnace, while the largest was heated with black-oil coal in another large furnace. Beside a separate fire, Singers slowly poured in a bottle of thick, blue-black liquid—who knew whether it was the blood of one of Phinia's kind? The flames roared up at once, nearly scorching the Dwarf's only remaining half-beard. The gray-white battle-axe was placed in the fire, and the Cold Star Iron gradually began to glow, as if countless stars were flickering across it.

At dusk, Sunderland arrived at the forging site with a short figure. No more than three and a half feet tall, with a hooked nose and a bald head, the newcomer had a sparse fringe of white hair around his ears and the back of his head. He was a Gnome. His arrival displeased Singers and Torg greatly. Relations between their two races were strained, especially now that they were preparing to forge something made from Adamantine.

"Little Sunderland! Why did you bring a Gnome here? I hate Gnomes! Damn it! Do you want everyone to know we're handling Adamantine?"

"Shut up, Singers!" Sunderland snapped, frowning. She turned to William and explained, "Nanfudo is the most renowned alchemist in the North. He's my friend! He'll help you control the alloy's smelting!"

"No! I don't need help from some detestable Gnome! He'll ruin my work! Gnomes can't be trusted!" Singers roared. Fortunately, Torg wasn't there; the commander had plenty to keep him busy in Mirabar. Otherwise, there would have been two roaring Dwarves.

"Shut up, half-bearded tub! Looking for a fight?" The Gnome didn't seem any more even-tempered, and he was ready to argue with the Dwarf. Then he caught sight of the piece of Adamantine, larger than a human head. "Great Garl Glittergold, god of wisdom! This—this is Adamantine?! My goodness! How could there be such a huge piece of Adamantine?" Nanfudo excitedly climbed onto the furnace platform and reached for it. William hurried over and snatched the reckless little Gnome up before he could touch it.