Sitting in their room at the Inn, Mike and Wu Hai would swap between the scroll and the Book, or just discuss the theories from the Blacksmith. The Night passed pretty quickly, they went straight from dinner back to studying the material they had to be familiar with.
'When striking the hammer, be the Hammer, bring the Hammer down. Soft Hammer, Hard hammer, Big Hammer, Long Hammer.' Mike was going over the scroll while Wu Hai kept chanting the books' contents like a nursery rhyme in his head.
'Soft Hammer, Hard Hammer, Big Hammer, Long Hammer.'
'Soft Hammer, Hard Hammer, Big Hammer, Long Hammer.'
'Soft Hammer, Hard Hammer, Big Hammer, Long Hammer.'
Over and Over Zao Wu Hai repeated the phrase, Quanli Jigui had called it a creative learning device.
He would repeat something until it was impossible to forget it, no matter if it was a mnemonic device or a mantra the result was the same. To learn something, complete immersion would be important. Immersion was necessary because its was impossible to discern the reality from the perception. Mike would have lost his concentration if he had done it aloud and so Wu Hai just kept nodding and chanting it in his heart.
Mike was curious and asked Wu Hai's opinion about an obscure phrase he was stuck on. "Brother Wu, is this legitimately how people craft in this world? The monkey wanted to play so the trees bowed down and made rope?"
"I read that piece a few times as well" Wu Hai ran his finger over the passage that Mike had just been reading. "I think it means to feel with the blow. If I overthink it, my brain hurts.. but for some reason I think it means something closer to how a monkey, as benign as they can be to the forests.. when they play in it, the trees are used as rope. The vines, branches and barks of the trees often times become damaged. The cost happens whether we interfere or not. I think its better to know the cost of the blow."
Wu Hai continued, "I think the Hammers blow has a cost-benefit relationship on our bodies, the anvil, the project and the energy within. All things have a reason and reaction, its the cost most people forget."
Waving his arms a bit, Wu Hai tried to dispel the 'deepness' of his statement "sorry, these are just my musings... I think a lot about strange things."
"Why couldn't they just say, 'Feel the pressure of the blow as it lands'? Or.. Every blow has a cost you cannot easily measure, or quantify." Mike had a mostly legitimate question.
"Because then they would miss the subtleties of the swinging motion, you can charge them with magical power and drive your abilities or energy into the weapon. Leaving traces of energy creates magical weapon enchantments. For example. Remember, this is just the introduction." Wu Hai was starting to get a pretty good understanding the scroll, but the book was filled with formulas.
"If you're wanting to add additional powers to your weapons, multiple masters would have to put their time and power into the creation. Just look at this short sword recipe... it calls for 7 kilograms of metals, but its undecided which metals, that's because each metal is different. It also calls monster cores and skin to leather the handle." Wu Hai pointed out some mechanics of creating a sword, he was sure that with their resources would come in handy.
"I'm going to read for another half hour and get to bed, we have to be at Gefést's before the second sun rises. I'd like to be there before the first one is completely up. Don't stay up too long." Kicking off his boots Wu Hai laid down in his bed and kept reading the book of recipes.
'The force of the flame hardens all, the coals wet penetrate and venerate until they break. Expressed in Temper, the violent endowment casts a shadow.' Mike kept reading his books and every now and then he'd have more insights.
"I suppose this is what it means when you add carbon or other materials to the metals." Mike never had a clear interest in the art of blacksmithing on Earth, Magic just didn't exist there.
On Earth, in order to come into contact with a Blacksmith... with the exception of special circumstances, most people would only meet one in a game. The concept of creating a weapon was similar to how video games would contribute monster parts in the forging process and so Mike was very happy to take up an active interest in practical application.
'this is going to be overly complicated' Putting the scroll away, Mike turned out the light and began to rest.
"Maybe I should just buy my weapons and take them from big monsters" heaving one last sigh, Mike went to sleep.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Reaching the Forge before dawn was pretty easy, Wu Hai and Mike had the Dragoons this time and were quick to arrive. They waited outside the forge for Gefést to open the doors but he never came, after a while they decided to check the exterior for other ways inside.
Entering the backdoor they found Gefést bleeding on the floor. "Teacher, What happened." Wu Hai pulled the crusher out, then a potion from his private storage and quickly fed it to Gefést.
The potions from the Weapon were not potions that Wu Hai created, the majority of the contents were already inside of the weapon when Wu Hai obtained it. The age of the potions was unknowable but they certainly seemed powerful and had never failed him before. Despite having only a limited amount of them, Wu Hai was not about to watch his new Teacher bleed out on the floor.
Wu Hai didn't want to reveal the Dice at any cost, to anyone. The Crusher was already a big thing to have taken out.
When the larger wounds closed up, their new Teacher started laughing as he spoke. "Its a good thing you showed up. Mike, go get the Hammer from the furnace.. let me know if it stayed together or burst apart."
Gefést laughed up a bit of blood, so he laid on the floor with his arms spread out. He was giving the potion time to work.
Mike went to the mouth of the furnace and grabbed the handle of the hammer, it was searing hot. The steam flash burned his arms, if not for the frost aura slowing the pain he probably would have dropped it. "Wow, I can feel the heat. Teacher, there is a large crack down the side."
"Damn. .." Gefést whined and muttered some more under his breath.
Gefést stood up and realized that all of his Injuries, even the old ones were gone.. "Hey, that potion was pretty good. I bet it wasn't cheap. Many thanks."
"So, it was too much power for the materials again?" Leaving complicated looks on Wu Hai and Mike yet again, Gefést got up and approached the Forge.
"Okay.. Today all you're going to do is watch me fail at this hammer I've been working on. While you watch, you're to sort the Ore. I want you to sort each of them by purity levels." Gefést grabbed his favored Hammer and brought it to the furnace's base.
With another kick, the Furnace whirled to life again and flames started to rush up from the grates. It took only five minutes for the flames to get so hot that the walls of the furnace were glowing red.
Mike and Wu Hai watched as Gefést threw a large piece of Ore into the furnace to soften it up.
"The Hammer Falls." Gefést had lifted his hammer as he pulled the glowing raw ore from the the coals.
With a confident strike the hammer fell without much rebound, the kinetic energy was absorbed by the metal and its shape started to change. The Ore body slowly flattened and molded together, the gaps that existed were slowly mended and pressed into each other.
"The Hammer Falls." Gefést turned the ore block again and brought down the hammer even harder than before.
Each swing he would yell again, "The Hammer Falls."
It felt like a mantra more than a necessary technique. A way to keep him focused on his desire to shape the metal.
Wu Hai and Mike watched eagerly for a few minutes. It became very repetitive, which was probably why they were told to sort Ore while they watched, but watching the process was different than doing. Gefést took a small stick and pushed the metal around while he hammered it again and again.
The Forgemaster's hands worked fast and every few strikes he would turn the Metal over. When he was done with one side he tossed it back into the furnace and grabbed another piece of tempering ore. It didn't take long for him to grab the another piece of ore from the furnace and start on other portions.
Mike was sorting ore when he saw Gefést pull a monster core from a storage device.
It wasn't a ring or a Bracelet. The Storage Device was his glove.
"I wonder what he's going to do with the Core, Wu Hai are you seeing this?" Looking back at Wu Hai almost cost him his glance at the process.
Gefést took the monster core and gently set it on the still glowing ore for the briefest of moments before he took it away and hammered a similar size pocket into the one side of the hammer face. Grabbing the other half of the Hammer from the furnace and putting the side he had just modified back into the flames, Gefést made the same alteration. His movements were organized and had meaning. Each strike brought a change to the weapons design, each change in its shape was calculated in Gefést's mind before the Hammer fell.
When the depression was made for the second time and reheated to match the temperature of its twin. Gefést then took the Core and placed it in the recess of the molded hammer faces, rested the Core between the two, and placed it back into the fire. When the Core reacted to the steady heat of the furnace, it gave off a buzzing sound like electricity.
The Core was the Lightning Hammer's power source.
Gefést couldn't repair the hammer so he was making a new one. Hollowing out a place within the weapon was an easy way to incorporate any Core's traits into the weapon without destroying it. If the weapon was ever destroyed, the core could be reused. There were downsides, but there were always downsides to everything.
Gefest explained.
"Long Ago, Smiths use to mix the core into the Metals. The process was long and involved; If the weapons ever broke, repair was nearly impossible. Of course, these weapons now are not nearly as strong or powerful." Gefést could see the lingering looks of his students and felt a need to explain why the Core was just stuck inside rather than incorporated into the weapon.
They both had read the texts that Gefést had given them. From their understanding, he was doing it wrong.
Yet..
When he fished the hammer head from the coals a small glimmer of light from the core could still be seen but it quickly vanished with the first calling of "The Hammer Falls."
Wu Hai had gotten use to hearing it already, but Mike's ears perked up every time in expectation of new knowledge. Wu Hai was also listening in, but he was reaching out with his spiritual sense that had been enhanced with soul magic. He could literally feel every change in the metal, in the fire, the breathing pattern of Gefést and the sweat that ran down his back.
"Mike, take the iron ore that's closer to Taconite and move it closer to the forge.. that way he won't have to look for better quality ores. Discerning the Arentore and Illenius from Maxcillium proved to be more difficult, they were so close to each other in density and color. All of them reacted differently to temperature changes. They were important materials to make high grade weapons from, but only in exacting amounts.
"Its fantastic that we get to see this process, I was curious when I saw the broken weapons yesterday. I want to see what he can do with crystals and essence in the future." Wu Hai was still paying close attention to every move that his teacher was performing. If Wu Hai could have a mental link, he would have been reading Gefést's thoughts at the time as well.
Mike picked up some Arentore and then some of the Maxcillium. 'what is the difference between these that can make it easier to identify them.' Staring from the ore back to Gefést, Mike decided he should just ask his teacher. "Teacher, what is the best method to tell the difference between Maxcillium and Arentore."
"Arentore has almost no residual Bauxite, and its got square patterns in the metal. Maxcillium has rectangular swirls. If it has glowing blue cells anywhere on the body of the ore its Illenius." Gefést was very fond of making new discoveries, so it was fun to share them when people asked.
"What makes Arentore different than Maxcillium? I know you said that one has rectangular swirls and one has squares but after hammering aren't the squares turned into rectangles?" Mike wasn't getting it.
"You make an amateur analysis.. When you hammer the Maxcillium you'll know the difference because Arentore doesn't change the square shape, it holds the square pattern no matter how much you melt it. It makes good for stability, Maxcillium is better for burst effects that draw on the body." Gefést gave a juicy bit of information and Mike felt like a noob for a moment then realized that it was a good thing he asked.
The distinction between the two ores wasn't in the book they had read.
When Gefést finished answering the question he went back to hammering "The Hammer Falls. Light Hammer. Heavy Hammer. Soft Hammer, Long Hammer."
The bashing seemed like a rhythm, slowly tapering near the final shaping process. He edged the sides of the hammer head with a protective talisman, If Wu Hai's thoughts were correct it would provide a barrier.
They were at the forge to learn so Wu Hai spoke up "You added a barrier to the Hammers Capability?"
When Gefést heard Wu Hai he paused with the Hammer above his head. "How long did you say you had been forging?"
'The Hammer Falls.' with a few light slamming motions the Mysintree handle sank into the hammer's head. "Yes, I was adding a barrier. It was holy magic barrier, it will protect its wielder from minor spiritual attacks without activation. When its activated, it will use the energy of the wielder to reflect up to three attacks before it shatters entirely."
"You did well to see this without my explanation. How did you know it was a barrier?" Gefést was quenching the Hammer before he would polish it.
"We've read up on some talisman designs in my homeland that closely resemble what you engraved into the hammer sides. What an interesting usage of protection circles." Mike and Wu Hai both took a step back when Gefést pulled the still warm and vibrating hammer from the oil vat.
When polishing a weapon, usually hours would be taken.. assistants would be used. It was a more than time idling, it was time consuming at its worst. The weapons were finished at that point, but if they weren't polished, the finished product could be damaged easily. Polishing was a type of magic that kept abrasion and non-magical damage to a minimum.
Some weapon effects directly target a weapons durability or bypass it entirely, ultimately the differences between weapon materials could be a deciding factor in a battle of similar talents.
"Is that so, do youunderstand what that protective barrier is originally for?" Gefést was now interested in what his young disciples had learned before they arrived.
"Its an anti-demon barrier, meant to ensnare and trap." Wu Hai was very familiar, if it wasn't for that formation he would have died at the hands of Elder Gong.
Staring with disbelief, Gefést saw the determination in Wu Hai's eyes and sat down on his chair.
"Draw the barrier on the ground for me." Gefést didn't believe his student and wanted to test him.
Wu Hai walked across the floor and swept a pile of dust up. Grabbing a stick he started to draw the formation symbols. When he finished Wu Hai dropped a drip of blood off his finger and the formation came to life briefly. After all, he didn't have the support of people feeding it energy, it only had the energy from his drop of blood that had fallen on the formation seal.
"I want you both to study these books along with the one I already gave you." Pulling a book from his storage glove he presented it to Mike, pulling another he passed it to Wu Hai.
"These are books on magical cores and formations they support. Its pretty fantastic that you can activate a formation like that, I haven't seen someone do that in many years. Don't disappoint me." Sending Wu Hai and Mike off after their duties were over, Gefést redrew the formation on a piece of paper and kicked the dust to keep it from being reactivated.
"These disciples are very peculiar.." Grabbing the hammer he'd just forged, Wu Hai had surprised him so much he hadn't even polished the hammer.
Tossing it on the table and walking to his study in a grit of frustration, Gefést pulled his chair and sat down looking at a book about materials. The passage he was looking at was on Maxcillium, it had the most comprehensive written accounts about the materials usefulness and practicality. There was no passage about the differences between it and Arentore.
"Bright indeed." Crossing his fingers, Gefést wrote the details into the book.
It crossed into a study of metallurgy that he had not written down and thus sucked at his attention like a sponge to water until he could finish.
Gefést was meticulous, methodical and relentless in his studies. He earlier disappointment with his new students dissolved like it never happened.