Chapter 131: Forging the Staff
While explaining the situation to Gu Xi, the blacksmith handled the recently broken vine.
With each step, the blacksmith would explain the reason for the process to Gu Xi. After about ten minutes, the three-meter-long vine was reduced to about two and a half meters.
Putting the vine aside, the blacksmith looked at Gu Xi.
Gu Xi knew it was time to take out the other materials.
So Gu Xi took out some of the materials he had obtained since his job change.
[Catastrophe Souls], these were in relatively large quantities. Since they couldn't be considered proper souls, they could be used as crafting materials.
[Corrupted Head], Gu Xi's initial off-hand item, but it turned into a gray item due to an interrupted upgrade process. This was considered a top-quality material.
[Broken Birch Fragment], from the battle at the small building in Victoria City. Since he wanted to make a staff, Gu Xi decided to use this item.
[Broken Scythe Fragment], obtained when Gu Xi first encountered the leader of the ghouls. At the time, Gu Xi was considering using a scythe as his main weapon, but now he decided a long staff would be better.
[Ice Power Unit], this was dug out from another one-eyed stitched corpse. The blacksmith had mentioned needing a power source, and this was a perfect one.
[Twisted Spine], Gu Xi took this out to make up the numbers. It was very long, a full five meters, and was meant for making two-handed swords, whips, or spears.
Gu Xi didn't think the blacksmith would use such material.
However, to Gu Xi's surprise, the first thing the blacksmith picked up was the [Twisted Spine].
"Very good, among your materials, some are of blue quality, and some are green but with strong potential. There's no problem in making it.
Now, you have two different choices.
First, with these materials and this vine, I can try to push it to purple quality.
But keep in mind, this purple won't be the best, and purple effects come with penalties, which you know.
I can't guarantee the severity of the penalty; it's entirely up to luck.
The other option is to make it blue, but you can slowly upgrade it later, even potentially pushing to purple quality. Whether you can or not depends on your luck."
Gu Xi was silent for a moment, then decisively said, "Make it blue with growth potential."
The blacksmith smiled, "I knew you would choose that. Rest assured, my growth equipment has an 80% success rate; it never fails."
As he spoke, the blacksmith dismantled the entire [Twisted Spine].
The five-meter-long spine and tailbone were broken into pieces.
Each piece was soaked in molten iron and then forged by the blacksmith's apprentices.
Then the blacksmith took the [Broken Birch Fragment] and called an apprentice.
"Grind this into fine powder. Also, soak these souls in water until they turn into liquid, then soak the powder in it."
The apprentice went off to work, and Gu Xi asked.
"Master, what do you intend to do with these?"
"You want a long staff, so the forging techniques can't be too many.
The souls you brought can be boiled into glue. Once the spine is ready, we'll use the glue to stick the pieces together."
Listening to the blacksmith's explanation, Gu Xi was surprised. He didn't expect weapon-making to work like this.
But this blacksmith was a master after all, always able to come up with different methods.
Gu Xi could only trust the master blacksmith's choice.
Soon, the processed twisted spine was laid out, looking like a series of silver metal pieces.
The blacksmith master personally inscribed each piece with runes using a metal pen.
Gu Xi, with his extensive magical knowledge, couldn't decipher the runes, but he could tell they conveyed a sense of coldness.
It was clear that the master had considered the attributes of Gu Xi's long staff.
After inscribing the metal pieces, the blacksmith took out the [Broken Scythe Fragment].
He personally melted this fragment and reforged the metal.
"What kind of appearance do you want? A scythe? A hand, or something else?"
"Can it be a dragon's head?"
Gu Xi proposed his idea.
"Interesting, but wouldn't that look too fancy?"
The blacksmith didn't say if it was possible or not, just continued forging.
Then he took the vine and compared it to the hot iron, adjusting as needed.
Sometimes after the comparison, he would place the inscribed metal pieces next to it.
At this moment, an apprentice brought over a large basin of ghostly blue liquid.
This was the melted catastrophe souls. Gu Xi felt a sense of death from it.
It seemed those souls weren't entirely useless; they were useful now.
"Alright, the materials are ready. The next step is crucial. Drop a drop of your blood in."
"Can it recognize a master?"
"Of course not, but it adds a ritualistic feel."
The blacksmith smiled at Gu Xi.
For the sake of the weapon, Gu Xi complied.
He cut his left palm and let a few drops of blood fall into the ghostly blue liquid.
As the blood dropped, the blacksmith immediately threw the [Ice Power Unit] into it, then plunged the vine into the large basin of liquid.
Under the blacksmith's mysterious incantation, the liquid started swirling around the vine.
The blacksmith quickly threw all the freshly crafted pieces into the liquid.
Gu Xi watched from the side, noticing that as the ghostly blue liquid swirled faster, its appearance changed, eventually taking on the form of an ice-breathing bone dragon.
"Pretty cool, right? Many necromancers who come to me for staff-making choose bone or ghost dragons for their staff design, so I'm familiar with this."
As he spoke, the liquid around the staff was absorbed, and the long staff slowly descended in front of Gu Xi.
It was a pale yellow staff, two and a half meters high, with the shaft embedded with tiny ice-like crystals.
The top of the staff had a fist-sized ice mountain, with a finger-length metal bone dragon coiled around it.
The blacksmith then threw the [Corrupted Head] onto the top of the staff. With a wail from the [Corrupted Head], a thumb-sized skull ornament hung beneath the ice mountain.
"It's done, give it a name. It's your staff now."