Get close to that thing? Wouldn't it burn his skin off?
No! I shouldn't get caught up in that feeling! Maybe it was just a sudden flash of inspiration? Or some strange sensation from hammering an iron ingot all afternoon? The feeling vanished when the notification appeared. If I want to find it again, there's probably only one way!
He stared at the glowing red ingot before him. "Hammer it!"
Hammer it again and again, hammer it with all his strength, and search for that feeling among thousands of blows!
Bang, bang, bang!
Bang, bang, bang!
Outside the house, in the forging shed, Tetsu no Sosuke had forgotten almost everything.
He had forgotten that it was time to eat. He had forgotten to rest.
The one thing he remembered was to hammer it!
When it cooled and the impurities came out more slowly, he put it back in the furnace.
Once it was hot again, he kept hammering!
The sun set, and he lit a lamp.
When the furnace fire weakened, he pumped the bellows.
He had no idea how long it had been when he suddenly found a subtle feeling.
The feeling of forging.
The feeling of forging something wondrous with his own hands!
He did not know what that feeling was, but he kept his breathing steady and the Forging Hammer falling at the same rhythm.
[Impurities -5] [Strength +1] [Impurities -3] [Constitution +1] [Impurities -2] [Flexibility +1] [Impurities -4] [Speed +1]
The notifications sounded in Tetsu no Sosuke's ears again and again, but he paid them no attention.
He only felt as though his strength were endless, and the ingot held an endless supply of impurities.
This won't do. If you're going to get better, I have to work harder! I have to drive out every impurity before I can forge you into steel!
He did not know when that resolve had taken hold.
The Forging Hammer in his hand seemed to have become part of him. He never noticed when the skin between his thumb and forefinger split open. The blood had already dried.
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