Walking into the workshop, I am greeted by the cold atmosphere of empty workbenches and dead machines. Even the smeltery that was my destination had gone cold and was no longer working.
Thankfully, I only needed to open the smelter interface and put some more fuel into it to start the fire.
Doing exactly that, I then pull out two ingots worth of steel as a single bar out of the smelter's inventory.
This was something I knew was possible as I had done it before.
So, with the bar now in hand, I set it into the opening in the smelter to heat up the steel and make it more malleable.
With that done I took a pair of tongs and pulled the now glowing piece of steel from the forge and placed it on the anvil.
Pulling out a hammer from my inventory I start shaping the steel how I want.
I first started by flattening out the bar as there was no need to fold it, followed by tapering the bar to a point. During this, I also make sure that I leave enough steel to make a tang at the bottom of the bar.
Putting a hole through the bottom of the tang I then stick the bar back into the furnace to heat it back up.
Off to the side, I can feel some eyes on me, so I turn around to find Yuki standing there with a tray of food in her hands and not moving an inch.
Pointing at one of the open workbenchs I ask her to place the food there and to also grab me a barrel of oil.
What was strange to me was the fact that Yuki did not even blink at my second order.
Shrugging and putting that thought to the back of my mind, I pull the bar of steel out of the smelter and begin to hammer it once more. This time I was determined to finish the outline of the blade before needing to heat the metal again.
After about an hour of constant work, I finished my goal and placed the bar back into the smelter to heat up again.
Yuki was still standing off to the side and watching my every move despite bringing me the barrel of oil almost an hour ago.
This time, I asked her to bring me a few more things and then turned back to my work as the steel was almost completely heated up.
From here I started to finish the shape of the blade as well as work on the edge structure.
This was the same goal I had for the next round of heating as well. Thankfully, it would be the last one for this blade, and I was now ready to start the construction of the second of three parts.
I would have stated dispairing at this point if it was not for the knowledge that the other two parts were significantly smaller and less time-consuming than the piece I just finished.
Grabbing another half an ingot out of the smeltery, I begin to heat this one up as well so I will be able to shape it.
Soon, a wide crossguard appeared on the anvil in place of the metal that was used to make it.
I then pulled out another half ingot of steel so I could create the pommel of the blade.
While this last piece was arguably the smallest, it was also the most complex outside of the tempering process.
This took about another half an hour to make before I remembered something important.
Walking over to the tanner's bench, I open the interface and begin to search through the crafting menu. Eventually, I found what I was looking for about halfway through the list. Thankfully, I had enough leather, so I set the actual handle of the sword to be made.
I then doubled up the recipe before walking back to the smelter and starting work on tempering the different components of the sword. This tempering would need to happen multiple times and in a few different ways to take the sword from normal steel to hardened steel and finally to spring steel.
This tempering process took another two hours to finish before I was finally ready to assemble the sword itself.
It was only ten minutes later when I had a proper European long sword in hand.
This style of long sword was fairly simple, with two straight edges gradually coming to a point, a crossguard that was just barely off from being flat and also tapered to a point on either end of the guard, and a rounded pummel on the end of the handle.
The design of the sword was simple, with the bare metal and a tight, straight-grain structure, giving it the feel of a simple yet elegant weapon.
Giving the weapon a few swings to test its balance, I find that the weapon felt nearly perfect in my hand.
Placing the new blade off to the side, I was about to start work on the next one when Yuki spoke up and called my attention to the now cold food placed on the workbench.
The moment after she did, my stomach made known its displeasure at being ignored.
Walking over embarrassedly to the workbench where that food was placed, I started to eat it as Yuki walked over to me and asked, "Where did you learn to be a blacksmith?"
Not expecting to be asked any questions at the moment, I froze up for a few moments, trying to think of an answer. When I did eventually have one, I responded, "The Skill points from the system give me all the knowledge from my old world on a particular subject of my choosing. So, when I spent a few skill points on blacksmithing, I was able to get all of the knowledge that my world had on the subject."
Yuki's eyes sparkled at my answer as she asked, "So what smithing technique did you use? What grade was it?"
Her question allowed me to see the problem, so I collected my thoughts before answering, "The techniques you are referring to are what allows cultivators to channel guide or manipulate Qi in a certain way. Since my old world didn't have Qi or any other mystical energy like it, there are no specific techniques per say, only a set of guidelines and processes one has to follow.
"That also means what I just did was not using any graded technique and was only using the knowledge I had of blacksmithing to make a decent blade."
Yuki looked at me incredulously as if not believing a word of my explanation but did not question it and went on with watching me finish my meal and go back to smithing.
As I started the next sword, I could not help but think of where Raina had gone.
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(Raina POV: After dinner)
Leaving the house I make my way over to the Xia mansion as fast as I can go. This time, since I was on my own and under the moonlight was able to unleash my full strength and go at full speed. Thus I was able to be at the front door to the mansion in under ten seconds.
Knocking on the door, I was greeted by the head maid, Cynthea, who immediately stepped back and bowed to me, saying, "Greeting your Highness. What brings you here at this hour?"
Not even caring to notice her breach of etiquette, as I hated that stuff anyway, I asked, "Is Quan in his study?"
Without getting up from her bow, she answered, "Yes, your Highness."
With his location clear to me, I arrived in his office with the door having broken apart do to my quick entrance. The man that I still remember as that little boy I found looked up from his desk and locked eyes with me.
The moment he did, on top of feeling the power I was released, he immediately got up and bowed to me while saying, "Greetings, your Highness."
He was clearly using one of his observation techniques to look at me still as he shivered upon seeing the displeasure on my face from his statement.
Quickly getting up he then asked, "Sect founder, may I ask what brings you here?"
Slightly more pleased about this form of address, I then asked him, "Did you purchase Yuki from the Selvaris family?"
He looked confused for a second before answering, "That is indeed who I bought her from. They said that she betrayed the family and was thus being sold as punishment and would have to serve for life. The seal was thus made to never be able to be removed. May I-"
He was about to continue, but I cut him off and asked, "Did you do any research into her family and background yourself?"
After passing for a moment, he answered, "That was indeed something that I did. From the investigations, I found out that she is the daughter of the current head of the family and the one who sold her into slavery and that the crime she is accused of never happened.
"What was unusual is that her father went exploring a ruin, and after coming back, he didn't spare a single moment before throwing his daughter into slavery with a strange and unknown slave seal."