Grabbing a cup of water Nordri prepared for me I pour some on my brown headed self. My hair is wavy and wild.
Clearing my head I look to the heart that has stopped beating.
It has now completed its transformation into a green and white crystal sphere about the same sizes as the heart.
Now I'm only waiting on the finished body.
Waiting for the smelting process to complete was easy as all o had to do was refuel the furnace, blow heat with the new blower, and talk to guests in the interim.
As the smelter finished its process I began to refine the metal. This one was highly magnetic so purification was almost unnecessary as the metal stuck together.
Finishing the refining, this one got to 91%. Not bad I say.
Next I take both metals and insert them into the crucible. I walked outside and asked for master Nordri to assist with the Evolution flame.
All the dwarves made a face. They could tell that I was now halfway through the process and was on the alloying step.
Combining both metals and the grinded stone is all about melting all of them together in specific ratios.
The grinded stone doesn't necessarily matter since it likely won't alloy and will just be mixed in. When I refine the alloy again I'll ensure an even mixture.
The metals literally have their composite atoms make bonds with each other unlike the stone. These metals are magical metals though and go by a different set of rules. Instead of Quantity of material meaning the ratio of metals, magical metal alloying is all about the quality. These mana blessed metals each exhibit two properties so their alloy no matter the amount of each will exhibit four properties. In regards to hardness, magical metals are always reinforce by mana so their atomic properties don't matter.
As the crucible heats up in the furnace Nordri finally enters.
"Is it time?"
"Yes master Nordri, please insert the Evolution flames."
"Loki, you'll have 3 hours before these flames run out. You have to complete the alloying, decide the shape of your weapon while forging it and quench it with flames and oil before the evolution effect can be said to be complete. The Bellow has been working this whole time so the alloy should already have some speed effects."
"I know master, I'll do my best."
"Loki, after today, you no longer need to call me master. You can call me Nordri. I may have taught you, but we are now partners."
I looked at this jolly Santa Clause and thought he really wants to work together. He trusts me that much.
"If only you were a dwarf Loki, you are more than deserving to become the next Nordri."
"If I was a Dwarf master Nordri, I would never have gotten the chance to learn from you."
He looked at me and smiled while scruffying my head.
"Go build your masterpiece. We all believe in you. Prove to us your craft is worth the time to cultivate."
He then flicked the burning stone into the furnace. The furnace then quickly caught fire.
Don't ask me how a flame can make something evolve. There's so many weird objects at this point that I will never be able to find the real world mechanism to understand them.
The crucible has now significantly heated up. I can even see some light blue flames which means some left over impurities are being burned off. I never was able to achieve this with alloying before since I always refine it ahead of it. Those temperatures must be extreme.
I can see the molten metal giving of different properties. There's sparks of lightning and a chilly aura combating each other in the flames. There also seemed to be a strange gravitational force in it. I didn't expect it but it looks like the Gaea stones reacted with the metals.
It looks like I am making a triple alloy.
Looking at this, I finally steeled my heart for the shape of my tool.
I have chosen the weapon my father used, a hammer with an axe side.
I am hoping though that a small addition to it makes a qualitative difference.
This would be the ring that Alviss gave me.
Preparing the mold for an ingot. I I am going to hammer this one out then quench it in an oil box for maximum durability and grain quality.
I use my tong to remove the crucible filed with my molten mixture. I grab a quick mixing stick to stir the molten metal ensuring that everything mixed properly and the are no clumps.
Then I carefully pour the molten mixture into the molding casting it. As I finishes entering I can see something incredible, the metal began to freeze the casting. I even slightly touched it to feel a numbing effect from the clay mold.
Lifting the mold which is significantly heavier than before, I slam place it on the anvil and attempt to open it.
The mold is really sticking to the metal and not coming lose. I then pick up the mold and begin slamming it on the ground to crack it open.
Little do I know that above the mountain a lightning storm has come about.
Natural phenomena due to magical metal forging isn't uncommon but lightning is such a rare phenomena that it's hardly been seen.
Opening the mold I see a bright silver ingot radiating a cold feel which is strange since the metal is still hot.
Using my tongs I take out the metal ingot and with two hand hold the ingot over the bare evolution fire so it's hot enough to forge into shape.
Placing the heated ingot on the hammer I grab my hammer and prepare mentally.
Using a rune on the anvil that keeps the ingot still I use both hands to begin hammering out my shape. It's intricate making a whole hammer forging because usually only the head is metal but I need to have the handle have metal as well.
Focusing on the two sided hammer axe hybrid idea I begin to smash my hammer.
The hammer of Will hasn't picked up any impurities.
As I bang the metal into size, thunder starts rocking the skies above the city.
As I'm slamming the ingot into shape, Nordri and the three Brothers all walk in crowding the room to see me trying with all my might to shape the hammer.
They are astounded. I haven't even turned into a proper artifact and the magical alloy is already causing a natural reaction. Nordri quickly walked over and tossed the hot weapon into the oil box on the side.
I was mad for a moment. I still need to sharpen and properly bash out the handle. Then I noticed the crowd and got confused.
Nordri then grabbed the rapidly freezing oil box and tossed it to a willing Austri. Next Audri did something incredible. Everyone in the room suddenly disappeared.
We all reappeared at the top of the mountain. Storm clouds we raging. We were near a look out tower. All four brothers took a step back from the rapidly freezing oil box that was trembling.
"Austri get the Heart and soul!", Nordri yelled.
Austri then quickly left and returned with the heart and the soul bottle.
"Loki! You have 1 minute to fuse the soul into the heart. The natural blessing has begun. This is a rare opportunity. We must allow the heart soul and body merge together before it descends."
Magical metals were that powerful that when working with them, its normal for normal phenomena. This is true but what is happening here is beyond just the quality of material. My purification level, the unexpected inclusion of Gaea stones, the wind Bellow, and the evolution fire have all come together to create something that surpasses my skill level.
Using nature's language I can sense that nature is cheering for the arrival of an unrivaled tool.
I nod to Nordri and have him pass me both parts.
Soul blessing is not an easy process. In this case I am creating an artificial shell to hold the soul shards using mana. The reason the soul shards don't dissipate is because I use my mana to form a rune that means seat or place, ᛊᛖᛏᛃᚨ, pronounced setja. This rune prevents the shards from disappearing. The rune is set up like my tranquility rune.
Then like how the Tranquility rune is linked to the rage rune, I connect the setja, ᛊᛖᛏᛃᚨ, rune to another rune called þruma, ᚦᚱᚢᛗᚨ, on the heart or body to keep the mana shell from running out of mana.
After that I use bodily modification to ensure the weapon matches the soul shards. The thing is, how am I supposed to complete that when I'll have lightning shooting at me. Plus bodily modification is nit my strong suit.
Nordri seeing my obvious hesitation said, "the lightning will take care of everything including the forging and I'll ensure everything goes well just focus."
Hearing his words I regained my confidence and my mana begins to form a sphere in front of me. I then copy Uncle Vili's example and begin to form the chain links and rune.
This isn't my first time doing this but this is certainly the fastest I have ever completed them. I'm holding the sphere together as well with my multi thought.
Should I lose concentration the shell will disappear without my will holding it together.
When I saved Baldr, I had to hold his soul in a sphere I was concentrated on for over an hour a piece.