The Weapon Refining Union as the heart of all weapon refining naturally had a large library filled with wisdom. Normally however, one had to use union points to access it, but part of Minos's deal with Okrum included unlimited library use.
"What are your plans Zatiana?" Minos asked before heading to the library.
"I'm just going to go make some weapons. I still have to pay off those two Nux Stones I owe you." Zatiana joked.
"Well good luck, and if you need any help, just ask." Minos said, waving a final goodbye before entering the library.
As he walked into the massive library he couldn't help but take in a deep breath, appreciating the smell of knowledge.
Whenever he entered a place of wisdom, he couldn't help but feel like a fish back in water, as if he had entered his natural habitat.
Browsing through the large bookshelves, he began looking through the many books to find something at his own speed.
After a quick inspection, Minos couldn't help but feel glued towards one book labeled 'Hammering Techniques - The Types, Forms, and Usages.'
Having just created his own hammering technique, he couldn't help but feel this book was made for him. Picking it out, he found a comfortable seat and began reading, soon finding himself absorbed by the book's words.
The book was exactly as the title described, opening up an entire new world to Minos. He wasn't aware that hammering techniques were so essential, but this book showed him how wrong he was.
Often-times, the difference between being a weapon refining master or not came down to the hammer technique, and made a massive difference in the weapons quality.
Even Minos's basic hammering technique increased the grade of his weapon's by quite a bit, so you could only imagine the difference high-grade hammering techniques would make.
In fact, different weapon refining lineages were usually distinguished via their hammering techniques, and the mastery of it is usually the critical decider of who will become the next leader.
As Minos realized this, he further understood how little he had yet to understand about weapon refining. Just a few months ago he didn't even know hammering techniques were a thing, yet now he's realized that they were critical.
The book also slightly mentioned other weapon refining techniques, which included polishing techniques, smelting techniques, etc.
These techniques were known as the 'Pillars of Weapon Refining' and other than strength, they are what separated mortal refiners from cultivator refiners.
Minos couldn't help but exclaim in wonder, having the strong urge to now learn some of these 'pillars.' As long as he mastered some, his weapon refining would undergo another evolution.
Unfortunately for Minos, the library was separated into two areas, the knowledge area, and the technique area. While he could enter the knowledge area as he liked, the technique area wasn't part of the deal.
Since he couldn't learn these techniques directly, he decided to do the next best thing and just learn about them. It was possible that if he learnt enough he could create his own techniques, similar to his hammering technique.
With that goal established, Minos quickly finished up his book before heading back to the bookshelves, looking for what he needed.
It didn't take much time, and Minos quickly found a book labeled 'Smelting Basics.' Taking it out, he once again sat down, reabsorbing himself back into the book.
As Minos read through the book, he soon learnt that smelting with heat wasn't the only way to do so, in fact, some materials don't deal with heat well, forcing the weapon refiners utilizing them to come up with different methods.
Among these included the 'Ice Smelting Technique' which used cold instead of heat. Minos found the idea of this hard to believe, but considering where he got the information from, he had no reason to doubt it.
The most important thing Minos learned from the book was the fact that every material is different, and true weapon refiners can decide which smelting technique works best based on the material they were using.
It's said with touch alone, some extreme masters can instinctively know the best way to go about refining the material.
Minos couldn't help but think back to Okrum's 'Tapping Technique' which Minos managed to learn and rename 'Vibration Sense.'
However unlike the master's mentioned in the book, Minos's Vibration Sense only allowed him to slightly feel the impurities within the ore, and was far from letting him do what they did.
Putting those thoughts to the back of his mind, he refocused on the different smelting techniques mentioned within the book.
One technique that Minos found most useful for his current situation was called the In-Out Smelting Method, and required the user to pull the ore in and out of the smelting furnace with a very specific pattern.
Among all the smelting techniques listed, it was the only one he could really attempt given his current circumstances.
Since he still had a month left and his weapon refining had reached its current peak, he decided to practice this In-Out Smelting Method, despite only really knowing the very basics of how it worked.
With only a month of unlimited resources left, he decided to brute force it. If he couldn't learn the technique directly, he would fail until he mastered it himself.
…
Having established his goal for the next month, Minos immediately got to work. Locking himself back in his refining room, he got right to work.
The hardest part of utilizing smelting techniques was about knowing the material itself. Some material benefited most from the most basic smelting method, so using other smelting methods would actually lower its quality.
Minos didn't have the ability to know the materials' smelting preferences from touch alone like the masters, so as usual, he used the tried and true method of doing something until it worked.
Activating the furnace, he got right to work using the In-Out method, which naturally resulted in a sub-par weapon after his first attempt.
Thinking back, Minos couldn't figure out whether his technique itself was off, or if the material he was using just didn't benefit from such a method.
Since he had unlimited resources, he didn't even bother to think much, and instead just tried again.
However, Minos was only rewarded with failure after failure, making him begin to think this smelting method itself didn't suit the material he was currently using.
With no other choices, Minos decided to just keep trying. He began constantly coming up with different patterns in which to pull the material in and out with.
The days passed as Minos tested hundreds of different patterns, causing him to come close to giving up.
While the technique was getting better and better, arriving closer to the quality of a weapon he would refine using the basic smelting method, it still didn't offer any advantages.
Finally, Minos decided to give the technique one more day, and if he failed again, he would look for a different path.
With the final day beginning, Minos got to work, testing new patterns. On his fourth attempt of the day, Minos finally noticed something different.
Compared to before, the weapon's quality had actually improved slightly, causing Minos to be filled with excitement.
With this result, it proved his past week hadn't been wasted, and this method actually had potential. With this success reinvigorating his spirit, Minos jumped back into work.
Having established the right direction, Minos soon began pushing the technique further. The initial slight improvement in quality quickly became a small improvement.
The small improvement then evolved into a large improvement, however after that, Minos once again hit a wall, realizing this was the limit of this method.
However the result was already far better than Minos originally expected. While the Plion-Sword itself was only a One-Moon Weapon, Minos managed to push its quality up to Two-Moon with both his hammering technique and new smelting method.
To refine a weapon beyond its grade was a sign of either a master or a genius, and while Minos was far from claiming a title as master, his genius was undeniable.
Also with this result came the end to his three month deal with Okrum. While there was still more Minos wanted to do, he was satisfied with the end result, and was already confident in his victory over Okrum.
As Minos hung up his hammer and tucked away his Two-Moon Plion Sword, he exited the room.
As he was walking towards the front desk, he noticed Okrum, who seemed to have been waiting for him.
"There you are, boy, I've been looking for you. It's about time you show me what you've done in these last three months." Okrum said with a smile as he twirled his beard. He was still quite confident in Minos, so he had no worries that he failed.
"Here you go, this is my best so far." Minos said, handing his freshly made Plion-Sword to Okrum.
"Still warm, you must have just finished this. Let's see." Okrum said, as he began inspecting the sword.
However, after his iconic flicking technique, he couldn't help but freeze, his eyes blinking rapidly as if he didn't believe the result he had just come to.
"B-boy, what grade is this weapon?" Okrum said, swallowing heavily.
"Two-Moon." Minos answered succinctly.
"T-two Moon!" Okrum exclaimed in shock, nearly tumbling onto his rear. It was only after a few deep breaths did he seem to come to terms with reality.