Forging

Blacksmithing is not a job that can be solved with just a hammer, an anvil, a pair of tongs, and a furnace. The hammers used for forging alone are categorized into sledgehammers, medium hammers, and small hammers, which can further be divided into long-handled and short-handled versions. Techniques include light hammering, heavy hammering, decorative hammering, side-striking, and cushion-striking. The tongs used to grip the workpieces include pincers, grasping tongs, pointed tongs, wide-mouthed tongs, curved-mouth tongs, and straight-mouth tongs, not to mention various other tools like axes, chisels, and drills used for cutting the stock.

Bellowing, smelting, forging, smelting, forging—every day, William followed Singers through the same repetitive work. William's strength and control, which exceeded all imagination, left the one-eyed dwarf speechless. A person with great strength has an advantage in forging, but strength alone does not guarantee the creation of a fine object. A good blacksmith must prioritize the coordination of hand and eye, wielding force with ease—knowing when to strike hard and when to strike soft, moving with fluid precision. For an ordinary apprentice, even with great talent, becoming an excellent blacksmith requires years of accumulated experience. The long lifespan of the dwarves is a significant factor in why they are such an exceptional race of smiths. Yet, William defied common logic; possessing near-perfect control over his muscular strength, he only needed to practice three or five times to master the force and landing point of his hammer strikes.

Singers, holding the workpiece with one hand and guiding it with a small hammer in the other, felt his heart race with the rise and fall of William's heavy blows. The glowing red billet was hammered flat, flattened, and flattened again, with iron dross and sparks flying in every direction. The skin of the iron billet folded and flaked away, layer by layer, until the entire piece became smaller, denser, and of higher metallic purity. Some believe that forging always increases the density of iron, but this is not entirely accurate. Iron ore contains many impurities and has a lower density; during the forging process, these impurities are gradually expelled, which does indeed increase the density until it approaches that of pure iron (though it never truly reaches it, due to technical limitations). Once the iron reaches a high level of purity, further forging cannot expel any more impurities; instead, it causes a significant amount of surface material to oxidize and flake off, resulting in waste.

Sunderland had been busy collecting flux for smelting adamantine through various channels, while Torg prepared other necessary supplies, including those required for future adamantine mining operations. To fully process the harvested adamantine, they needed a vast amount of flux. In truth, Mirabar had plenty of flux, but it belonged to the alchemists under the command of Marquis Erastu. Sunderland did not want to expose the existence of the adamantine mine, so she could not draw the Marquis's attention to these supplies. Fortunately, as the magistrate of a trading city, Sunderland knew many people in other regions who possessed such items, and she even had a good friend within the Marquis's alchemist guild—a gnome named Nanfudo, one of the most renowned alchemists in the North.

Sunderland had already sent secret orders to merchant guilds in other regions via magic, but it would take at least a month for them to arrive. During this time, William practiced forging with the dwarves by day and studied Elvish with Aelf by night—naturally, Phinia and Mishaer were included as well. This was not unconditional; William had promised to forge new adamantine rapiers for the elf.

Elvish is long and subtle, spoken with a winding, twisting cadence that, combined with various rising and falling tones, sounds almost like singing. It was dizzying to learn. Among the three, Mishaer learned the fastest. William felt his own progress was arduous, but thanks to Phinia's performance, he didn't look too bad. Phinia had it the worst; for a female half-giant who struggled even with Common, learning the even more convoluted Elvish was truly a trial. However, William insisted that Phinia study along with them, ignoring the poor girl's indignant glares. As a transmigrator, he fully understood the importance of knowledge. Even if Phinia never mastered spoken Elvish, he was determined to force the half-giant to at least understand the language, recognize the script, and be able to read Elvish books.

Compared to the complexity of Elvish pronunciation, the written script was much simpler. As a system combining letters and pictographs, it was not much harder to learn than the foreign languages of his past life. William could not understand which idiot had decided to make the spoken pronunciation so unnecessarily complicated.

Over a month passed. The flux and other auxiliary powders from the nearest regions had arrived, and shipments from further away would follow. William's forging skills had become extremely refined; in particular, his conscious use of folding techniques resulted in a hundred-fold forged rapier that drew endless praise from old Singers. This rapier, with its beautiful cloud-like patterns on the blade, became Aelf's prized possession. With the materials mostly gathered, William temporarily ended his Elvish studies, preparing to begin the adamantine forging in earnest.

Phinia, who had been living in "deep water and scorching fire," was finally liberated. Without the man's supervision, the woman was effectively "put out to pasture." Only Mishaer remained unable to escape Aelf's "clutches." Given the grievances she had suffered previously, the elf finally found her chance to shine in her role as a teacher, reducing the little girl to tears every day, which occasionally escalated into "localized violent resistance" and full-blown brawls.

After several days of rest and preparation, William and the two dwarves officially began the adamantine casting. Since natural adamantine is almost pure metal, it did not require refining; the key was to shape it into the desired form in the shortest time possible. First to be forged were the elf's rapiers, followed by the handle for Phinia's battle-axe. Due to the half-giant's hand size, the handle needed to be thick and long; using pure adamantine would be inappropriate, as it would be both a waste of material and make the handle excessively heavy.

Phinia's Frost Giant Axe was forged from a single block of Cold Star Iron. Cold Star Iron is a special metal found only in the extreme north or on the peaks of snow-capped mountains. Infused with cold energy and naturally capable of dealing cold damage, it is the best choice for crafting ice-elemental weapons. Aside from having poor toughness, its hardness is significantly superior to steel. In fact, weapons made of Cold Star Iron are not the most suitable for Frost Giants, as the cold damage they inflict is ineffective against Frost Giants and other sub-arctic creatures of the North. If they had a choice, Frost Giants would prefer equipment that deals fire damage. However, in the polar regions, Cold Star Iron is the most accessible high-quality metal, and its chill provides a sense of comfort to its wielder.

Combining Cold Star Iron with adamantine creates an alloy that possesses both the cold effect of the former and the toughness of the latter. Smelting Cold Star Iron also requires special magical reagents, as the metal inhibits the burning of flames and cools down too rapidly. It requires a combustion-promoting agent and a retardant to slow its cooling rate; in practice, the blood of a Frost Giant is the best agent for both.

The casting site was not chosen within the city of Mirabar, but rather at the foot of a small hill about ten miles east, near the River Mirar, where a tunnel connected to the dwarves' underground living quarters. Six large furnaces were lit in sequence. When smelting ore, ordinary blacksmiths usually use charcoal or better-quality black oil coal. Only when calcining top-tier metals like adamantine do they use expensive white charcoal, a fuel with high combustion value that offers the advantages of high temperature, low impurities, and long-lasting, stable heat. In one of the most refined furnaces, amidst the glowing red white charcoal, the purple-black adamantine gradually shed its impurities to reveal a pure, purple-gold metallic body.

Only when the adamantine body is heated until it becomes a crystal-blue, translucent mass does the flux take effect. However, adamantine is extremely resistant to heat and requires a long period of rising temperatures to change color. Four small pieces of adamantine were heated in the main white charcoal furnace, while the largest piece was scorched in another large furnace using black oil coal. Beside another furnace, Singers slowly poured in a bottle of thick, blue-black liquid (it was unclear if it was the blood of Phinia's kin), and the furnace fire roared to life, nearly scorching the only half of the beard the dwarf had left. The grey-white axe was placed into the flames, and the Cold Star Iron gradually began to shine, as if countless starlight flickers were igniting within it.

By evening, Sunderland arrived at the forge with a short figure—a gnome no taller than three and a half feet, with a hooked nose and a bald head, save for a sparse ring of white hair around his ears and the back of his skull. The gnome's arrival left Singers and Torg extremely displeased; the relationship between the two races was strained, especially since they were currently preparing to forge with adamantine.

Singers said angrily, "Little Sunderland! Why bring a gnome here? I hate gnomes! Damn it! Do you want everyone to know we're messing with adamantine?"

"Shut up, Singers!" Sunderland scolded with a frown. She turned to explain to William, "Nanfudo is the most renowned alchemist in the North, and he is my friend! Nanfudo will help you control the smelting of the alloy!"

"No! I absolutely do not need the help of a hateful gnome! It will ruin my work! Gnomes are the most unreliable!" Singers roared in refusal. Fortunately, Torg was not there—the commander had plenty to do in Mirabar—otherwise, there would have been two roaring dwarves.

"Shut up! You half-bearded fatty! Do you want to fight?" It seemed this gnome was not a good-tempered fellow either. As he prepared to argue with the dwarf, he inadvertently caught sight of the adamantine piece, which was larger than a human head. "By the gods! By the wisdom of Garl Glittergold! Is that... is that adamantine?! My god! How could such a large piece of adamantine exist?" Nanfudo climbed onto the furnace platform in excitement, reaching out to touch it, but William quickly stepped over and hoisted the suicidal little runt into the air.