Chapter 359: Weapon Forging Workshop—The Hunting Journey, Never Ending!

That day, after Jier put his things back in his room, he performed some archery training, then went to hang out at the Table Corner Tavern, which he frequented.

"What have you been up to lately, Jier?" Todd asked, wiping a glass as he looked at Jier sitting before him.

"Bring me a mug of the best ale, and some meat. I've been trying to figure out how to repair my Hunting Sword lately." As soon as Jier sat down, he ordered some food and drink.

Todd brought the items over quickly; they were the most commonly ordered foods, so they were easy to prepare.

Jier clinked his mug of fragrant ale against a nearby patron's, then took a large gulp.

"Ha! Refreshing."

"I've seen your Hunting Sword; it's an excellent weapon. What on earth happened to it that it needs repairing?" Todd chatted with Jier about the matter.

Jier briefly recounted how, when he had previously wiped out the bandits, he fought the Bandit Leader at the bottom of a Shikeng filled with living corpses. His Hunting Sword had been heavily contaminated from slaying those ominous living corpses.

"The Hunting Sword is covered in black markings that have eroded into the blade. It looks very serious; I don't even dare to squeeze it too hard," Jier said with a shrug.

"That's incredible. I thought those legendary things were just made up by Bards. I never expected that we here in Kendall would have such terrifying things as living corpses," a nearby patron said casually. Although he appeared to believe what Jier said, he actually didn't believe a word of it; he was just making aimless remarks after drinking, saying things anyone would say.

Todd, however, was somewhat interested in the Shikeng Jier mentioned, and he asked Jier for the details of the situation.

But he heard Jier say that when Jier himself returned there, it had already been thoroughly eradicated by personnel organized by the Church of the God of the Dead from Bingxun Pass, who had performed a Divine Art Ritual.

"What a pity. You say, if I found some people to catch one or two living corpses and put them in a wooden cage for people to exhibit, would it attract people to pay to watch?" Todd said regretfully while wiping his glass.

Jier shrugged. He didn't know if anyone would watch, but he could be certain that the town's administrators would definitely not let such things into the town, and the city gate guards would not permit it either.

"Then find a farm outside the town? Or guide the curious public directly in the wild?" Todd would not give up, continuously proposing various possibilities.

On the other side, another patron sneered: "Do you think those churches are just eating porridge? The Church of the God of the Dead in the city would definitely arrest you. Don't even think about it. Besides, who would you find to catch those living corpses, if they were still there?"

Todd mentioned a few names; they were all young people he had been in contact with over the past few days—energetic, having received simple martial arts training, and equipped similarly to how Jier was a few months ago.

Jier met Todd's gaze: "They seem like guys with some ability, but really, the second time I went to that place, the church had already performed a Divine Art Ritual that blasted out a large circular pit, as if the whole thing had been scooped out of the ground with a super-sized spoon. Everything was gone, except for a pit."

He paused: "And, I heard from a Pastor who stayed behind to handle the aftermath that they would later invite those two from the God of Water to flood the place and turn it into a small lake."

A patron nearby corrected Jier: "It's the Lord of Lakes and Rivers, or called the God of Lakes and Rivers. The God of Water is a higher-ranking Great God; it's different."

Jier scratched his hair and took a sip of ale.

In the time that followed, Jier and Todd talked about the few men Todd had organized himself after losing Jier.

Jier suggested they could start with small tasks near the town.

Regarding this, Todd did have a correct understanding: "I know that, so I took a job letting them go to the Shulin outside the town to look for some herbs that only appear in winter. The price of the herbs is decent, and it's just right for training their ability to operate and survive alone in the wild Forest."

"Winter is cold, you must make sure to prepare for the cold," Jier reminded him.

The next day, after Jier tended to his horses, he followed the old Hunter for archery training.

As soon as Jier finished, he went out, saying he wouldn't be back at noon.

He first went to the tavern to buy some food and drink to take with him. After all, hearing from the Craftsman that it would take a whole day, they certainly wouldn't provide meals, so Jier had to provide his own food.

Arriving at the Craftsman District, he first greeted Ganna, who had started working, and asked how the manufacturing of the new armor was going.

After receiving Ganna's confirmation that there were no problems, Jier went next door to the Weapon Forging Workshop.

As soon as he entered, Jier could feel the atmosphere was very different. The workshop was full of apprentices busy at work, and only one young Craftsman, who had shown his face at the weapon forging competition during the Harvest Festival, was supervising the apprentices. However, he himself was absent-minded, frequently turning his head to look into the depths of the workshop, his eyes filled with envy and longing.

Jier explained his situation to this Craftsman and was guided to a precision forging bench in the depths of the workshop.

This precision forging bench had every kind of forging tool and implement, and they were clearly all high-quality goods, not the old tools outside. Even the anvil was wiped to a dark, reflective sheen.

At this moment, it was very lively here; many weapon Craftsmen were checking various items under the command of that Pastor-Craftsman.

Whether the charcoal and high-heat coal were prepared properly, whether the Forging Tool Set had been maintained beforehand, whether the furnace was already heated up, and whether the bellows operated by multiple people had been checked and repaired to ensure long-term blowing work.

All sorts of things like this, and many more.

Seeing Jier arrive, the Pastor-Craftsman introduced Jier to the other Craftsmen, but clearly, compared to the weapon about to be forged, Jier, the owner of the weapon, was not the focus of the Craftsmen's attention; most just glanced at him.

Jier shrugged; who told him to be too young.

The Pastor-Craftsman went to the room where Jier had paid earlier, and after a while, he brought out Jier's Hunting Sword and the things that needed to be forged this time.

The Craftsmen all paid attention to these items and discussed how their chief Craftsman was going to handle these rare Magic Materials in a moment.

Some Craftsmen had already been exposed to the forging of Magic Material Weapons, but their experience was scarce, the level of weapons they produced was very average, and the Magic Materials used were also very small in quantity.

And the various Magic Materials Jier had spent a fortune to purchase were not only numerous in variety but also significant in quantity. What was even more eye-catching was that it wasn't forging a new sword from scratch, but repairing an ordinary fine steel Long Sword that had been contaminated, and then strengthening it.

An all-around strengthening.

On this point, the Craftsmen were all very curious and wanted to see how the Pastor-Craftsman did it so they could learn.

As a Pastor of the God of Crafts, this Craftsman who was handling the repair and strengthening of Jier's Long Sword had intended to use this opportunity to let the other Craftsmen learn.

After a while, all items were checked, and the Pastor-Craftsman stretched his body and began the repair and strengthening work on the Long Sword.

Picking up the tools, the Craftsman first disassembled Jier's Long Sword.

The Sword Sheath was taken apart, and the handle and Sword Guard were also removed. On the handle, he left the leather grip on the outer layer, then removed the wooden handle inside, took out the Magic Material—the wood core blessed by the Agricultural God Church—and used a sharp small knife to cut away the excess outer wooden part, leaving only the essence of the core of the core inside.

He compared the differences between the two and then carefully began to carve the shape of the wood core.

At the same time, he also directed other Craftsmen to put the Red Copper and Black Iron from the Magic Materials into the stone pot in the furnace, and directed other Craftsmen to start pumping the bellows to blow fresh air into the furnace.

There was also a Craftsman specifically responsible for the furnace fuel; this person had to ensure that the furnace always had sufficient high-heat premium coal.

Jier leaned over to take a look and found that the two Magic Materials put into the furnace were melting very slowly. He asked the Craftsman and only then learned that this was a normal phenomenon.

Many metal ore Magic Materials were like this; at normal temperatures, their properties were stable, and it was difficult to change them. Only under high-temperature conditions would they be easier to change. It was said that stimulation by Magic Power could also make them enter an active state of changing form more easily, but regarding this, the Craftsmen had no way.

After all, they weren't Mages. They could only rely on the basic method of long-term high-temperature heating to do it.

The Pastor-Craftsman heard Jier's question, and he had another answer: "Actually, advanced Alchemists can also use some peculiar techniques to make two conflicting Magic Materials come into contact, which can easily make some Magic Materials enter a state of changing form."

Jier nodded, indicating he had remembered.

The traditional methods of Craftsmen, the Magic Power of Mages, the conflict of Magic Materials of Alchemists.

It seemed there were many ways to do it.

Upon seeing that the temperature of the furnace had reached its maximum, the Craftsman sent the entire blade of Jier's disassembled Long Sword into the center of the furnace.

Jier leaned over to look and found that his Long Sword quickly heated up and turned bright. Those evil, contaminating forces that had been eroding it all this time were now, in the high heat, turning into green smoke and drifting away from the red, glowing Long Sword.

Although these wisps of blue smoke were few, they were as pitch-black as ink; surrounded by high-temperature flames, they twisted and transformed into individual human faces, making wailing expressions.

Then, they completely turned into scattered smoke and dust, disappearing along the flue above the furnace.

Jier looked in astonishment at a Craftsman tending to the furnace flames nearby: "Did you see it? The things that were eroding my Long Sword just now?"

The Craftsman nodded with a grave expression: "I saw it. What did this sword hack into?"

"Heh heh, just some living corpses, nothing much."

The Craftsman shrugged and said nothing.

Nearby, the Pastor Craftsman cut that piece of wood core into the shape of Jier's original Long Sword handle. Next, he collected the excess wood core and other cut-off wood, and began to piece them together according to the shape of Jier's Long Sword sheath.

The Pastor Craftsman's hands were very skillful; it was likely that while cutting the wood core just now, he had already considered the use for the other wood materials.

He assembled these discarded wood materials into the shape of a sheath, then directly cast an unknown Divine Art, causing these wood materials to come into tight contact and rely on each other.

Next, he took the original disassembled sheath parts of Jier's Long Sword and installed them onto this new sheath.

The new sheath had a wooden exterior; not only did it not appear low-grade, but because those wood materials were faintly glowing, it actually looked quite high-grade and elegant.

"What is its name?" the Pastor Craftsman asked Jier.

Jier was watching right beside him, and upon hearing the question, he answered directly: "Hunt! It has always been helping me hunt my prey and enemies."

"Simple and direct, very good. At least it's much better than some nonsensical name like Isola Morning Light." Saying words Jier did not understand, the Pastor Craftsman wiped his hand across the wooden surface of the sheath, and the name in the Empire's common script naturally appeared on the sheath.

"Is there anything you want to say to it? Or a goal you want it to achieve?" the Pastor Craftsman asked again.

Jier thought for a moment; although he didn't understand, he figured there must be some benefit. So he pondered a bit, though he had no particular goal he needed a sword to achieve, but words he wanted to say to it?

"Hmm, a journey of hunting, never ceasing?" Jier said after hesitating for a moment.

"Hah, sounds like it won't be easy. It might get very tired; just this?"

"Just this, after all, a Long Sword is a weapon and also a tool. Isn't the mission of a tool just this, right?"

"Young man, you are still young. Weapons not only represent a tool that has been created, they also contain too many meanings; you will understand later." After finishing, the Pastor Craftsman reached out again and wiped the back of the sheath, and what Jier said, 'a journey of hunting, never ceasing', remained on the faintly glowing wooden surface of the sheath.

Jier picked up the completed sheath; the faint light on the surface of the sheath fluctuated, but it was still slowly strengthening.

His heart stirred, and he rolled up the sleeve on his wrist; a wooden bracelet on his wrist also emitted a fluctuating blue light, just like the sheath.

However, compared to the faint light on the sheath, the blue light of the bracelet was much stronger.

Raising an eyebrow, Jier put down the sleeve on his wrist, then placed the sheath on the stone table.

On the other side, the Pastor Craftsman checked the melting situation of the Red Copper and Black Iron, nodded, and then he used tongs to take out Jier's Long Sword, directly smashing it into the middle of the Long Sword with a hammer.

There was no expected metal collision; the Long Sword heated by the high temperature was very soft, and with one hammer blow, it bent directly into a U-shape.

The hammer struck again, and after a few times, Jier's Long Sword was beaten into a square mass of molten iron.

Putting this mass of metal back into the furnace, the Pastor Craftsman pulled a mechanism on the furnace, and then all the heat of the furnace concentrated toward the center.

Taking out a high-temperature-resistant mold, the Pastor Craftsman had other Craftsmen pour the molten Red Copper and Black Iron into the high-temperature-resistant mold in the center.

The molten metal mass of Jier's Long Sword was also placed inside.

Very quickly, they all gradually melted together, but they were still distinct from one another.

The Pastor Craftsman took out this high-temperature-resistant mold and placed it in front of the furnace. Then he let the Craftsmen working the bellows rest, only needing to ensure the furnace did not go out.

Next, he took out a metal rod and began to stir this mass of mutually incompatible metals.

The metal mass was in a semi-molten state, just like a mass of magma emerging from a volcano, incomparably viscous, and very strenuous to stir.

He stirred clockwise for a while, then switched with another Craftsman to take over.

When the metal temperature dropped, everyone worked the bellows again to heat the furnace, heating the metal mass once more.

Heating, stirring, heating, stirring.

Until noon, Jier ate the things he brought, and the other Craftsmen also ate the very salty, watery thick soup in turn.

Drinking soup was to replenish water, and eating salty food was to replenish the salt lost through sweating.

The Pastor Craftsman had been watching the situation of the metal mass the whole time. While watching, he ate bread with fatty meat. The bread was not the coarse-grain bread that ordinary people ate, but delicious bread made from finely ground flour mixed with milk, fully fermented, and baked.

This kind of bread with fried fatty meat was very fragrant.

This food was even brought in from outside by an Apprentice Herdsman of the Craftsman God Church. It seems that becoming a relatively strong Church Pastor, whether in terms of power or treatment, is far better than ordinary people.

Jier thought this while eating the food he brought.

"Attention, everyone come over and look." The Pastor Craftsman suddenly spoke, attracting the attention of everyone present.

After everyone approached, this Pastor Craftsman pointed at the metal mass and said: "Everyone look closely, the state of this metal mass now represents that they have all mixed together."

Jier didn't see anything, but the other Craftsmen seemed to have more or less relevant experience, so some had sudden realizations, some said nothing, and all saw something.

At this point, the Pastor Craftsman began the next procedure.

He first waited for the metal mass to cool down a bit more, and after it solidified slightly, he used iron tongs to start beating the glowing metal mass with a hammer.

First, he beat the metal into a mass, then beat it into a long strip shape.

Next, he first forged the sword root, then used iron tongs to hold the sword root and put the front sword body into the furnace to slowly heat it.

After the sword body was heated, he swung the hammer again to beat out the basic form of the Long Sword.

Generally speaking, the Long Sword was about the same as before, but because new Magic Material metal was added, the overall weight increased significantly, while the volume only increased slightly.

After the forging was completed, the color of the surface of Jier's Long Sword became very strange.

The original fish-scale indentations were gone, becoming flat and smooth, while the sword body turned into a mixed metallic luster. Overall it was gray and dull, but as long as light shone on it, one could see the conspicuous Red Copper luster.

Jier saw the Pastor Craftsman forge the root of the sword body to be slightly flatter; the Long Sword as a whole was slightly wider at the root, and then from the middle, it began to thin, suitable for the Thrust that Jier used relatively often.

Afterwards, it was heated all over again, then taken out and put into the quenching oil prepared by other Craftsmen.

It was not taken out until the temperature of the quenching oil dropped and the Long Sword inside had also cooled slightly; then this reforged Long Sword was taken out and cleaned.

After cleaning, the Pastor Craftsman used iron tongs to hold that most expensive Sun God Church blessed metal piece and placed it into the blazing furnace. The metal piece scorched by the flames emitted a hazy white light, moving restlessly left and right in the iron tongs.

The other Craftsmen all watched curiously, not daring to make even the slightest sound; they had also roughly heard of the price of this thing, and it was truly expensive.

Until the amplitude of the metal piece's shaking was difficult to control with iron tongs, the Pastor Craftsman moved it out of the furnace and placed it above the sword body on one side of the Long Sword's root.

Suddenly, his hand no longer gripped the iron tongs, and the metal piece, emitting white light like a small sun, broke free from the tongs' grasp and flew straight toward the sword body like a swallow returning to the forest, sticking to it with a *clang*.

Immediately, the entire Long Sword began to vibrate along with it. The white light that had originally shrouded the metal piece began to spread along the blade to the entire Long Sword, and blinding white light radiated from the Long Sword.

Everyone squinted their eyes, not wanting to miss a single moment of this.

Soon, the white light converged and disappeared. Everyone rubbed their eyes and looked, discovering that the original metal piece was gone, and on the blade of Jier's Long Sword, at the base, there were now fine, dense characters extending from the base to the middle of the blade.

The characters grew a bit larger, and it was slightly easier to see what was written.

Jier leaned in and read a passage: "Light and fire are both held by the gods. Light is the root, the body. Fire is the leaf, the surface. Do not blindly pursue the flame; you should pursue the light. Look up, the light is in the heavens, and the great god is also in the heavens."

Inexplicable.

The Pastor Craftsman seemed to dislike Jier continuing to read, so he picked up the brand-new, no longer hot Long Sword and began to assemble the Sword Guard onto it.

Next was the core of the wooden hilt.

The two pieces of the wooden core closed together on the base of the sword, and then the leather strips removed earlier were used to wrap around the hilt, finally winding at the bottom of the sword base; the Pastor Craftsman picked up the Spherical Moonlight Iron that had not been used yet.

He whispered a prayer, his hands emitting a red glow; he held the base of the Long Sword in one hand and the Moonlight Iron in the other, gradually bringing them together, and then the excess metal at the base of the sword changed and split, opening its mouth like a living thing to bite down on the Spherical Moonlight Iron.

*Ding! *

With a soft sound, the entire Long Sword trembled.

The Pastor Craftsman held the Long Sword up in his hands, inspected it, and then smiled confidently. He then handed the Long Sword to the other assisting craftsmen for inspection.

When the Long Sword was in their hands, it was well-behaved and did not move at all, but finally, when it was handed to Jier, the Long Sword trembled, the blade emitted a strong white light, the hilt emitted a thick cyan light, and the pommel emitted a soft, yet visible, glowing moonlight that could be seen no matter how bright the light was elsewhere.

Jier squinted his eyes, illuminated by these lights, and asked the Pastor Craftsman: "What is going on? Although it looks very nice, it keeps shining, and I can't see anything."

The Pastor Craftsman wiped his palms and arms with a damp cloth to remove some of the metal shavings and soot that had stained them.

He smiled: "Your sword, don't ask me. You can try telling it your requirements and thoughts."

Jier said with a look as if he were looking at a fool: "You want me to talk to it?"

"Give it a try," the Pastor Craftsman said again.

The other craftsmen also chimed in: "Hurry and try. A precious sword has a Spirit and can generally understand its master's words."

Jier looked troubled, but decided to try anyway.