Master Blacksmith in Demon Slayer

So, in that final moment, his arm suddenly regenerated—the whole process probably took less than a minute, right?

As he thought this, he furrowed his brow.

What he could preliminarily confirm was that the ability to suppress a demon's regeneration must come from Sunblaze!

But the differing recovery times for the two types of injuries left him somewhat puzzled.

After thinking it over carefully, the most reasonable explanation seemed to be an insufficient Sunblaze attribute.

This blade's Sunblaze attribute could restrain the recovery of small wounds, but against large wounds, its suppressive power fell short.

For demons, different injuries likely required different regenerative efforts. Logically, large wounds would heal slower, yet the recovery power they mobilized was far greater than that for small wounds.

The interplay between varying recovery strengths and the uniform suppression from the Sunblaze attribute might be why large wounds healed faster than small ones.

"But these are still just my guesses. Demons—how could a human easily understand them?"

Tetsu no Sosuke frowned deeply. "The only thing I truly grasp is the blade. To verify this guess, I'd have to forge a weapon with an extremely high Sunblaze attribute and test it. But... that's too hard!"

Chapter 25: The Price

The reason it couldn't be done was simple.

It was like toughness—during the early shaping phase, you could increase the toughness attribute, but afterward, it could only be dispersed and reduced.

The Sunblaze attribute increased most during the impurity removal step.

And it absolutely required the Gale Sun Hammer of Breath of the Sun; otherwise, it wouldn't increase at all.

The problem lay right there. Using the Gale Sun Hammer, he removed impurities at lightning speed, meaning that while he gained some Sunblaze attribute, the step ended before he could accumulate much.

The shaping phase faced the same awkward issue.

Because that unnamed Form Two was so efficient, the shaping time was drastically shortened.

So even if each hammer strike granted some Sunblaze attribute, the final amount was still limited.

Thus, to forge a weapon with an extremely high Sunblaze attribute, the best opportunity was during impurity removal—making every strike of Tetsu no Sosuke's Gale Sun Hammer trigger an increase in Sunblaze... The difficulty of that was nearly unimaginable.

And more importantly, if a weapon's Sunblaze attribute was maxed out, would it cause other problems?

Though he hadn't forged such a weapon yet, as a swordsmith, an imbalanced attribute in a blade was itself a fatal flaw.

His mind churned with thoughts, weighing the feasibility.

One arm instinctively lifted, mimicking a hammering motion, but was stopped the next second.

"Hm?"

Startled awake, he turned to see Kochou Kanae watching him intently.

A bit embarrassed, he said, "Sorry, I was lost in thought."

Kochou Kanae shook her head and said sincerely, "Tetsu no Sosuke, you're truly an amazing person."

Tetsu no Sosuke didn't know how to respond to that, then remembered what Kochou Kanae had said about the warm current from the hilt.

Even he couldn't explain that.

Normally, the Bloodforging Method allowed a weapon to ignore weight and merge with the swordsman like one body—it didn't have such an effect!

Could it be that when using the Gale Sun Hammer to forge, some attribute had been overlooked?

"Don't overthink it now."

Her voice suddenly reached his ears. Tetsu no Sosuke looked up to see the woman gazing at him gently. "I told you this so you'd be prepared when the Master questions you. Your injuries are far from healed—you can take your time to think."

Tetsu no Sosuke nodded but felt a bit puzzled. "Why wait until my injuries heal? The surprise your Nichirin Blade caused is something I can imagine. Shouldn't they be more impatient?"

Kochou Kanae nodded. "That's true, but the Master said your health is more important. With such severe injuries, even if you got up now, you couldn't forge a blade. So everything waits until you've recovered."

"He really is a gentle person."

Tetsu no Sosuke smiled, though he knew this was the most reasonable approach.

No matter how eager they were, he couldn't do anything in his current state. It was better to rest and recover first—forging blades was his duty anyway.

But reasonable as it was, the thoughtfulness behind it still warmed his heart.

As his mind relaxed slightly, a wave of fatigue washed over him.

"Rest for now," Kochou Kanae said softly.

A sudden urgency gripped Tetsu no Sosuke. "Can you stay? Here... just for a bit, okay?"

Kochou Kanae chuckled lightly. "Mm, I'll stay right here."

The room fell into tranquility. Tetsu no Sosuke could smell the faint fragrance in the air, and his drowsy spirit seemed to perk up a little.

He suddenly remembered something and spoke up. "I brought you rice balls..."

Kochou Kanae paused, the tenderness in her eyes deepening. "Thank you."

"But I didn't expect the trip from the Swordsmith Village to take this long—they're probably not edible anymore."

Tetsu no Sosuke closed his eyes and murmured, "Once I've recovered a bit, I'll make you new ones."

"Okay." Kochou Kanae's voice was very gentle. "It's a promise."

"Mm, a promise..." Tetsu no Sosuke's voice grew weaker and weaker. He was gravely wounded after all, and the forced energy couldn't last. Eventually, in a daze, he fell asleep.

An indescribably wonderful sleep. Tetsu no Sosuke felt as if he were sleeping among the clouds.

The soft, fragrant sensation gave him an immense sense of relaxation.

So much so that when he hazily woke, he still didn't want to open his eyes.

Unfortunately, his refreshed spirit seemed unwilling to let him continue sleeping, so he reluctantly opened his eyes... but Kochou Kanae was no longer in his sight.

He panicked for a moment, looking around, only to feel something strange beneath his head—it wasn't the touch of a pillow...

Turning to look, it was... a lap?