And so it began.
At first, came a little tutorial on the technique Chiron had used to make the sword. This was done using any normal material like gold or silver.
All the while as Chiron moved step by step, Ganja watched attentively. Sometimes, he would look so hard that he would even forget to blink.
As Chiron worked, it was apparent from his movement that he was very new at this but the techniques he used made up for his shortcoming.
Just as Chiron had done before, another knife was made.
The task was simple. Ganja had to make at least two hundred of the knives Chiron made.
The reason Chiron gave this task was that he wanted the technique to become a part of the Blacksmith. It would be terrible if Ganja skipped a step when making his own weapon.
No matter how small the step, Chiron made sure it was followed properly.
Just like how a screw could affect the integrity of the wing of a plane, a step missed could mean a weak sword. For his own weapon, he was not going to take any chances.
In this manner, the third day passed. It was now remaining four days to the deadline.
Chiron had slept off sometime late at night to the ringing lullaby of the hammer smashing a knife on the anvil.
The habit of waking up early regardless of the time he slept was already ingrained in him.
He woke up to the sight of Emma covering her father with a blanket.
Just like Chiron, Ganja had also slept off in the smithy.
Emma turned to the sound of Chiron getting up. Even in this place, he was not going to slack off for even a minute in his training.
She stared in surprise when she saw him lift some of the heavy metals in the smithy and place them on his back before going down in squats and push-ups.
With the things she saw him do, if he told her he was a cultivator, she would definitely believe him.
She could not help but stare as he worked out. It took at least another two hours before he was done.
"Thank you," she muttered lowly as she handed him a towel.
"For what?" he asked, collecting it to wipe his face.
She turned to her father, "For him!"
Chiron raised a brow at her.
"It has been a long time since he has been this happy. Even when he was obsessed with creating the ultimate forging technique, It was not like this. This time around, he is doing it with joy. After My mother with the others left us and my brother died, I prayed day and night for a savior. I'm glad the twin moons finally answered my prayers."
Chiron looked at the sleeping dwarf. From the curve at the side of his mouth, Chiron could tell that what she was saying was true. Even though Ganja had now become Chiron's slave, he was genuinely happy.
"Hmmm!" Chiron looked away from the Dwarf, "Are you sure? Cause I won't advise you to thank me just yet. Who knows? Maybe by the time I'm done, you might hate me more."
Chiron smiled to himself. He turned and walked away to go clean himself.
As he left, he could hear her voice come from behind him, "I'll never hate you."
He paused a bit. A sadistic grin on his face and then left.
Three days had now come and gone by fast. Chiron was running low on time, but surprisingly, he was not rushing at all.
Now that Chiron was sure old man Ganja had memorized the technique, it was time for the second phase. Which was the Meteorite ore.
.....
"What's going on?" One man asked another as he also came out of his sword shop to watch.
"It's old man Ganja. It seems like he is back to his experiments for the greatest forging technique."
"Really!?"
"Yes! Just look at him. This is the third time today he is passing here with loads of meteorite Ore."
"Just let him be. At his age, he no longer has what to live for. he is just a useless old man trying to grab attention."
Many such conversations were happening all around the blacksmith market as Ganja directed the boys he had rented for their services to push the trunks load of Meteorite Ore to his home.
Chiron had only given one instruction, "The more the better."
He even went out of his way to give Ganja some money to get extra hands to bring the Meteorite Ore to the House.
The transportation of the amount of Meteorite Ore Chiron needed Nearly took an entire day to finish transporting.
Throughout that night, Ganja used the method Chiron had taught him to remove the impurities that were not needed out of the Ore.
Ganja's fingers moved better than Chiron's own when it came to forging. In the process of working, he had even entered a beautiful state of enlightenment and somewhat improved the technique. Of course, it was only with Chiron's permission did he use it.
Ganja was indeed a true talent for forging.
Meanwhile, as the two worked, Emma would come and visit them from time to time, with snacks. Sometimes, she would even stay and help out.
In no time, the fourth day passed in this manner.
On the fifth day, Chiron woke Ganja up from his deep sleep with a Sketch of what he wanted the sword to look like and its length. Other stuff like balancing, was going to be Ganja's to figure out.
However, this sketch was nothing like what he thought. For one, the shape was off by a lot. Or rather, the best word to describe it would be... Irregular.
If Chiron had been any normal eight-year-old, Ganja would have said he was crazy.
As if that was not bad enough, Chiron had specifically instructed that he wanted the sword to weigh a lot. To be precise, he asked for nothing less than a ton.