Master Blacksmith in Demon Slayer

As he thought about it, he recalled that sudden confession from that day.

His face felt a little hot.

Scratching his head, he felt a flicker of confusion: "Actually, thinking carefully, we've only known each other for a few days. Why did it suddenly turn out like this? To put it bluntly, starting from that night at the hot spring, have I already... Hmm, could this be what they call love at first sight? Bah! What love at first sight exists in this world? To put it plainly, it's just lust at first sight!"

But then, as his thoughts shifted, a touch of melancholy crept in: "Lust at first sight, fine, whatever. It's already like this. What else can I do? Next time we meet, I have to ask you, what are you really thinking? This stuck-in-the-middle feeling is really quite unbearable."

He patted his own face, stuffed these tangled thoughts back into the little box in his mind, closed the lid, locked it, and sealed it away for now!

He tidied up the rice balls on the table and decided to sleep.

He was already exhausted; from last night until now, he hadn't closed his eyes.

A full day of using the Breath of the Sun had brought him close to the brink of depletion.

Once he finished cleaning up, he lay down on the bed, and the next second, he was unconscious.

The next morning, just as the sky was barely light, he crawled out of bed, wolfed down a quick bite, and stepped out the door.

"Every second counts, never slack off!!!"

He stretched his arms wide; a good night's sleep had brought him back to full strength.

He glanced at the whetstone on the ground, hesitated for a moment, then walked over, wrapped his arms around it, lifted it up, and in an instant, raised it high above his head!

Effortless!

"Just as I thought."

He wasn't surprised; after all, his cheat ability wouldn't deceive him.

His physique, strength, speed, and agility were all improving.

He set the whetstone down, lit the forge, and fed the iron material, already purified of impurities, into it for heating.

"If everything goes smoothly, at most three days... I should be able to deliver the sword to her."

Focusing on the scale indicator, he worked the bellows, and flames spat forth.

Soon, he took the red-hot iron material out of the forge, placed it on the anvil, clamped it tight, picked up the Forging Hammer in his right hand, raised it high, but hesitated, not bringing it down.

"The current stage is extremely critical. The Gale Sun Hammer is too fast, and on top of that, my control is still far too lacking. I can easily lose control and cause failure. So, I can't use it at this juncture. Let me try the ordinary forging method first..."

Having made his decision, the next second, the Forging Hammer came down.

[Toughness +1]

[Sunfire -1]

With just that one strike, Tetsu no Sosuke stood frozen on the spot.

"Sunfire... decreased?"

"Why did Sunfire decrease? Is it because I didn't use the Gale Sun Hammer?"

"But if I use it, the excessive speed could very well cause this step of forging to fail."

"And if I don't use it, the Sunfire attribute decreases? Even though I still don't know exactly what kind of attribute Sunfire is, since it came from the Breath of the Sun, it shouldn't be an ordinary attribute. I've worked so hard for so long to accumulate it, and I don't have much. It would be such a waste to lose all my progress at this step."

"What do I do?"

A solution... wasn't impossible!

Tetsu no Sosuke took a deep breath: "Slow down!"

Once he used the Breath of the Sun, it would inevitably be a storm of blows.

But he had to slow down, to force his hands and feet to move slowly even as his blood raced and his heart pounded like a drum.

This would inevitably create a disharmony in his body, like the extremes of ice and fire.

A blazing fire in his heart, ice held in his hands.

"Whatever happens, I'll try! I can't let all my effort go to waste!"

He took another sharp breath, activated the Breath of the Sun again, and the next second, the Forging Hammer was raised high, but it didn't fall.

There was a strange sensation—once it fell, it would be like triggering some mechanism, and then it would be a storm of blows, impossible to stop.

"Control! I have to control it!"

He could feel the blood in his body boiling and roaring, as if a wild beast inside his heart was about to break free from its cage!

"If I can't even subdue you... what can I possibly reclaim!!!"

Tetsu no Sosuke's eyes were bloodshot, and the Forging Hammer descended slowly, as if something was blocking its path.

Roars and howls from within his heart rang out one after another, and at some point, a trace of blood had seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly, the Forging Hammer crashed down.

Ding!!

[Toughness +10]

[Sunfire +2]

[Strength +5]

[Physique +3]

Along with the prompt, a sound like something shattering echoed in his ears.

"Something... broke?"

Tetsu no Sosuke's eyes held a dazed look.

Chapter 14: Departure!

In the end, Tetsu no Sosuke never knew what exactly it was that shattered under that single hammer blow.

All he knew was that after that hammer fell, his body—which had been nearly impossible to control whenever he used the Breath of the Sun—suddenly became obedient.

The duration he could sustain it also grew longer. When he wanted his Forging Hammer to move fast, it could; when he wanted it slow, it could.

Moreover, from that hammer strike onward, the time he could use the Breath of the Sun was greatly extended.

It seemed that even Constant Concentration was no longer an unattainable goal.