The blast furnace heated the Silent Lady until it glowed orange-red throughout.
When Balin lifted the longsword out with long-handled tongs, a wave of heat struck Renato in the face, making him instinctively step back half a pace.
As expected of the Deep Hammer Tower's magical furnace, its temperature was astonishingly high.
This was the first time Renato had seen the Silent Lady stripped of its hilt and glowing red-hot.
As a Runesmith, Balin did not begin enchanting it straight away. Instead, he first wrote formulas on parchment, calculated proportions, and infused some adamantine and mithral into the metal.
"The human smith got it right by accident. There's too much iron in it."
By readjusting the proportions of the three metals, Balin further strengthened the sword's spine and increased its hardness without compromising the alloy's resistance to high temperatures.
After repeated trips into the furnace and rounds of hammering, the adamantine and mithral had fully fused with the blade. Its sheen remained unchanged, but looked deeper and more uniform.
Next came the demon ash. Balin uncorked the glass bottle and sprinkled the fine gray powder evenly over the scorching blade.
Renato had no idea what this step did, but since the dwarf disliked being questioned, he simply kept his mouth shut.
Like hot oil meeting fire, bright yellow flames instantly erupted along the blade. They leaped nearly a foot high, licking across the dwarf's thick arms.
Balin's hands remained rock-steady as he continued sprinkling the powder slowly and evenly.
A mingled smell of sulfur and ozone filled the air.
Once the fuel was spent, the flames died. Balin laid the Silent Lady flat on the anvil and took out the Antimony Bar engraved with runes.
The Antimony Bar was about two fingers wide. The "negation" rune etched into its surface