The moment Xu Yi pushed open the door to the private laboratory, he saw Great Mage Camilla holding two steel plates in her left hand, each roughly ten centimeters long, five centimeters wide, and one centimeter thick. She held them together while her right hand slowly moved an odd-looking little tool with a thin probe down the seam between them.
From the doorway, he could not make out exactly what Great Mage Camilla was doing, but when he walked over to the workbench and watched from the front, he saw the steel around the seam rapidly melt as the probe in her hand moved along it.
Once the probe moved away, the molten steel quickly solidified again. By the time it had traveled from the top of the seam to the bottom, the two steel plates were firmly joined.
Xu Yi took the two plates from Great Mage Camilla, held them by one corner, and gave them a few shakes. Sure enough, they remained firmly connected, without the slightest wobble, as though they had always been one piece.
"Grandma, you really are amazing. You've made another technical breakthrough in such a short time. From the looks of it, this magic welding technology should be pretty much ready now, right?" Xu Yi praised her.
Great Mage Camilla sighed and shook her head. She took the joined plates back from Xu Yi, then pulled hard with both hands.
Snap!
With a sharp crack, the two seemingly well-joined steel plates immediately broke apart.
Great Mage Camilla turned the edge of the seam toward Xu Yi. "See? Right now, the melted layer can only penetrate to a depth of three millimeters at most. There's no way to weld these two steel plates together completely. So this welding technology is nowhere near ready yet."
Xu