The sound of metal clashing against metal, generated by the hammer in my hand and soon overtaken by the sound of Mingten striking the body of the blade with the sledgehammer in the area I used the hammer strike as an indication. This process was repeated over and over again, until I was satisfied with the saber.
After that, I take the still hot blade to one of the oil tanks to harden the steel while it cools.
"Why the multiple cooling oil tanks?" Mingten asks as we wait for the steel to harden.
"Didn't you ask if I use Synchro in any of the processes? Here is one of its uses, I can reduce the time it takes to cool or heat the metal by Synchronizing the cooling tanks or the forges themselves." I lightly tease the brat for forgetting her own question and continue with the answer, simplified but honest.
"By synchronizing the cooling tanks, it is possible to drain more heat from the blade and be sure that the sword is being cooled evenly since they are synchronized to the main tank, and the same goes for heating the metal?" Mingten realizes what I left out of the explanation on her own, unsurprisingly it's a basic use of a Synchroner's abilities, and throws one more question at me.
I take the now cold sword out of the oil tank and respond "Yes, I still have one more trick to show you." Yes, I'm being a little courteous to the brat, after all I'm using lessons from Hodd, my master blacksmith, and as an extension of my respect for him I try to be a little more good with words when I'm in a forge.
"O.k. what's th e other trick?" Mingten asks, out of what appears to be mere curiosity rather than impatience. I think that interest in the job is the only thing we have in common outside of the training agreement.
"Wait a little longer, I'll show you my next trick as soon as the saber is ready." If the brat tests my patience too much as if she were, well, a brat, I might end up forgetting the being cordial part, which, oddly enough, I don't want to.
**********
As Kaz explains to me some uses of Synchro in forging I can't help but notice that most of his techniques are direct improvements to common forging methods or ways of speeding up the processes involved in metalworking.
Which is incredible in its own way, but at the same time disappointing when compared to what was in the Order's arsenals.
Which shouldn't really surprise me since many of the weapons and techniques that the Order keeps are basically divine relics. Not that I have access to these divine weapons as a fugitive.
A little less than an hour after we started working on the saber, now ready, Kaz brings another saber of the same size but without the nine rings on the blunt side.
"Why the second saber?" I ask without containing my curiosity.
Kaz gives a smile that doesn't seem to contain a threat, what a miracle.
"Didn't I tell you I had one more trick to show you?" He returns the question.
"And for this one you will need a second saber with the same measurements?" Interesting.
"An extra saber and two 'blanks' actually." He responds, still without showing anger or impatience, the sudden contrast is starting to scare me.
Setting aside my discomfort with Kaz's sudden calm, two 'blanks' were thrown into the equation, translating two lapis stones that can store a state of synchrony rather than having one naturally.
"Okay, and what are you going to do with all this?" I ask the old monster.
"Synchronize the physical integrity and shape of the two sabers, even if in some situation you place the blade of the saber you are using under greater stress than it is supposed to withstand..." You've already made a saber focused on durability and you'll still find a way to increase this aspect even further. "As long as the spare saber exists you will be able to continue using the saber normally for a while."
Not only did it increase the saber's durability, it also provided a way to prevent it from breaking in combat.
Could it be that the old monster is traumatized by his weapons breaking?
Luckily I managed to keep that question to myself, while I'm having these idle thoughts, someone knocks twice lightly on the door.
"Come in, Baha." Kaz responds without showing anger, yet.
Is this perhaps the calm before the storm?
Baha enters, nervousness on his face, looks around and asks:
"Are you done here?"
"Almost." Kaz and I respond almost at the same time, which makes Baha look at us with an incredulous face.
I bet he's holding back from teasing me because of the impression of a human beast that Kaz left on us.
"What's missing?" Baha asks after managing to erase the mocking smile from his own face.
"A contingency plan." Kaz responds, probably knowing that doesn't explain anything without context.
And with that name, if he gave this technique a name, giving more credence to my idea that he has trauma with weapons breaking at critical moments.
As we spoke, Kaz was already placing both 'blanks' on the saber pommels and then he took them both and placed them on top of each other, holding them with his hands, carefully so that the blades do not collide, I felt a slight vibration that made my sixth sense activate briefly.
On it I saw silver lines, not exactly, they were actually small vibrant dots that came together into lines and the lines intertwined to create the silhouette of both sabers. Before I realized, subtly, a ripple passed through both line sabers, changing the frequency of their vibrations and making them exactly the same.
Synchronizing them.
"Done." Kaz speaks, breaking me out of my trance and hands me the two sabers, the one with the nine rings with artificial lapis and the one without the rings but which still maintains the perforation to facilitate synchronization.
By the way, the lapis I chose are: dust, heat, light, electricity, magnetism, vision, hearing, oxidation and wind.
Yes, the last one is redundant but the idea is that to make my life easier instead of having to create small currents of wind with my momentum or breathing.
"Now that Mingten has her prize." Baha starts speaking as soon as I finish my reflections, since he didn't speak earlier he must also have seen the process of synchronizing the sabers.
"For beating a total newbie." That last part was a bit unnecessary. "What happens now?"
Good question.
"We found a weapon for you and some defensive equipment for both of you, and then" Kaz pauses slightly at his sudden response. "We prepare our bags for field training." He adds smiling.
A sadistic smile.
************
When the monster in human skin answers my question, a chill runs down my spine as soon as he finishes speaking.
Back to hell.
No, he let us skip some of the training to get to the Tower faster.
Deeper into hell then.
"Let's go find some equipment for you brats." Kaz speaks, heading towards the forge doors without waiting for our answers, and Mingten follows him, placing the saber in an unadorned sheath.
By the way, where did she get that from?
And as neither of them bothered to check if I was following them, I ended up having to take a quick jog until I caught up with them.
"What floor is this equipment on anyway?" I ask as soon as I reach them.
"In the warehouse on the third lower floor." Kaz responds to me in a monotonous way which almost scares me more than when he is being openly aggressive.
Now that I think about it, Kaz used to work here and gets along well with the boss and founder of the place, why did he have to leave?
Personality issues, probably.
Despite my fear, I decide to take advantage of the fact that he's a little calmer than, well, the calmest I've seen him so far, to satisfy my curiosity.
Yes, I have many.
"A little earlier I asked Talavar..."
"Who?" Mingten interrupts me before I finish speaking and Kaz gives a brief look that makes it clear that he doesn't recognize the name.
"The guy who guards the entrance to the Tower." With this they must understand who it is.
"Ah, the sloppy one." Mingten seems to have recognized him and Kaz nods slightly in agreement.
After this small exchange, which took all my self-control not to palm my face, I finally managed to ask my question.
"Back to the subject, I asked Talavar if he could train me and he refused saying that our attributes don't overlap at all." Which I could even understand if it weren't for the disregard that Kaz shows regarding the difference in attributes.
Unless he has the same attributes as me and Mingten. It's a possibility that hadn't occurred to me, but I still think he wouldn't make a distinction between similar attributes or not.
"But you don't seem to care much about that, why?" I ask the question that is occupying most of my mind right now.
"Baha are you human?" Kaz asks without looking back as we climb the tower stairs.
This one came out of nowhere.
"Yes." I answer without knowing what to think about this question. And again he doesn't respond directly.
"And what is the first attribute you synchronized?" Another question instead of an answer.
"Fire or combustion." I respond, doing my best to contain my exasperation.
"No, the body itself is what every Synchroner has as a common attribute." Kaz responds clearly this time "Or have you already forgotten your training?"
Impossible, although I want to forget.
But ignoring my trauma... it's impossible.
Trying to ignore my trauma, technically I already knew I could use my body as a means for Synchro, but it never occurred to me that this is a common delimiter of all Synchroners.
Which in retrospect should have become obvious when I started using my heart rate as a filter.
As we talked, we approached the third floor, my doubts still not satisfied.
"If the body is a common attribute, why does Talavar specifically ask for metallic attributes?" I ask once again.
"Maybe he doesn't train his body very much." Mingten speaks, giving a tentative answer. And disappointing enough to make you roll your eyes.
"Maybe, but he's probably simply hyper-specialized in attributes that share many characteristics with metals." Kaz gives his thesis which sounds more convincing than Mingten's, but doesn't deny it. "Which makes it almost impossible to train your in anything beyond the basics like: physical, control and cultivation."
"Got it!" I speak with the satisfaction of a child who has solved a puzzle that was only missing one piece.
Kaz is already training our physiques, too much, control is something that depends a lot on the practitioner's experience and cultivation only increases over time. Apart from these three, all that remains are specialized techniques, of which Talavar's minimum requirement is an attribute with metallic features.
When I finally have my answer we finally arrive at the warehouse.
"And now?" Mingtem asks.
"Now, Baha is going to test some weapons against your saber."
Kaz responds with a smile that goes beyond sadistic.
Devilish.