Chapter 362: Weapon Forging Workshop — Flash Blinding and the Upcoming Journey North

Jier looked troubled, but he still decided to listen to the other craftsmen; after all, listening to advice means you won't go hungry.

Although the edges on both sides of the Long Sword had not yet been sharpened, the Pastor Craftsman had very skillfully used a hammer to beat out a thin, sharp edge, looking like a sharp Long Sword that only needed a little sharpening.

To show his seriousness, Jier held the Long Sword with his dominant hand against his chest, lifting it with both hands. He largely ignored the Blessing Prayer of the Sun God Church on the blade, focusing instead on the entire Long Sword.

The surface of the Long Sword emitted an intense light that others found hard to bear, but Jier felt it was fine; although it was a nuisance, it was not blinding.

"If you have a Spirit, then please restrain your light. If you recognize me, then please do as I say and accompany me in battle, no matter how powerful the enemy is." After saying this in a low voice, Jier looked at the Long Sword expectantly.

A miraculous thing happened; just as the craftsmen had said, the Long Sword, which had been emitting light, quickly restrained the various powers it was releasing.

"It's done!" The craftsmen clapped and congratulated each other, while the Pastor Craftsman handed over the scabbard of the reforged Hunting Longsword: "Only when the sword and scabbard are together is it a complete weapon."

"Thank you." Jier thanked him, took the scabbard, and inserted the Long Sword into it.

Clang.

It was a bit difficult, and Jier looked at the craftsman.

"That's normal. The Long Sword hasn't been sharpened yet, and there's some resistance at the edge of the blade. It will be fine once you sharpen the weapon later."

"Then how about now? You have every tool here." Jier pointed to a pedal-operated grinder in the room.

Unexpectedly, the Pastor Craftsman waved his hand: "That thing won't work. It's not that I won't let you use it, but your weapon is not an ordinary steel weapon; it is mixed with Magic Material metal, and its hardness is astonishing." As he spoke, he laughed: "If you use that kind of ordinary stone wheel grinder, you won't be able to finish it even after an entire afternoon. Wait here, I have a special set of grinding tools, I'll sharpen it for you right now."

After speaking, the Pastor Craftsman returned to the room where he previously stored valuables, and soon brought out a Wooden box from the corner of the room.

The Wooden box was covered in quite a bit of dust, but he didn't mind, and a young craftsman nearby eagerly came over to wipe it clean.

Opening the Wooden box, the contents made Jier somewhat disappointed; he had thought it would be some marvelous tool, but it turned out to be just a stone wheel. However, what was slightly different was that this stone wheel was black in color, and when light shone on it, it reflected many tiny glints.

Without touching it with his bare hands, the Pastor Craftsman put on a Glove and introduced it to the other craftsmen: "Everyone pay attention, this thing is a type of Volcanic Hard Rock. It doesn't look like much, but it actually has many sharp, hard teeth on its surface that are hard to see with the naked eye. Moreover, this thing is not ordinary rock; its hardness is much greater than steel."

As he spoke, he took the black stone wheel out of the box. Jier saw that the edges of the Wooden box containing the stone wheel had many rough scratch marks.

A craftsman had already removed the stone wheel from the ordinary stone wheel grinder earlier.

The Pastor Craftsman installed this stone wheel directly, fiddled with it, and it was set. He took off his Glove to show the others; the Glove had only moved the black stone wheel so simply, yet many of the tough, fine threads on the surface of the Glove had already been scraped and broken, leaving a fuzzy, frayed surface.

It had clearly been a new pair of gloves just a moment ago.

"You must never touch it directly with your hands, otherwise wherever you touch, it will be sliced open by its sharp surface; it could even shave off your palm prints," the Pastor Craftsman explained to the other craftsmen.

The others nodded in agreement, indicating they would not be careless.

Jier recalled his previous life, where laboratory teachers would give students the same earnest instructions, repeatedly emphasizing dangerous actions and asking them not to imitate.

Jier drew the Long Sword from the scabbard and handed it to the Pastor Craftsman.

The other party first inspected the area to be ground, then sat on the chair of the stone grinder and pedaled the bottom treadle with both feet, causing the stone wheel above to immediately spin at high speed.

He brought the edge of the Long Sword that needed grinding close to the stone wheel, and upon the first contact, a large amount of sparks flew out.

"Don't be nervous, this is a normal phenomenon. The two of them are struggling against each other; although your Long Sword is very tough, my stone grinder is specially designed to handle it. Haha." The Pastor Craftsman was highly skilled, actually joking with Jier while working. The other craftsmen did not have this kind of skill, especially when grinding weapons; if apprentices were not careful, they would scrape their palms or fingers on the high-speed spinning stone grinder.

At best, a piece of skin would be scraped off; at worst, fingers would be ground off. It was very dangerous.

The other craftsmen were unwilling to disperse, so they sat around the room, tidying up casually. They first extinguished the furnace, then took out the unburnt coal, and used heat-resistant ceramic pots to take it outside for the apprentices to use.

The unused coal and charcoal were all collected into sacks, which they personally carried to the workshop's storage room. They checked and wiped down all the other Forging Tool Sets they had used previously.

While grinding the sword edge, the Pastor Craftsman directed and praised the other craftsmen: "That's it. After using things, you must organize and place them back in their original spots. This is not just a rule, but an excellent principle implied by excellent craftsmen accumulated over a long time."

He continued: "Only by returning things to their place after use can you easily find them the next time you use them. Unexpected things occasionally happen during the forging process. When they do, if the necessary tools are where they should be, you can find them at the fastest speed and use them to deal with the emergency."

Several young craftsmen voiced their agreement, while the middle-aged craftsmen shrugged, indicating it was an obvious matter that didn't need to be said.

Afterward, the Pastor Craftsman rambled on about many rules and codes of conduct in forging, making Jier feel like he was listening to gibberish, his head swelling; he wanted to say to this Pastor Craftsman: Big brother, did you know a guy named Tang Seng in your previous life?

After finally scraping the tip of the sword a few times on the stone grinder, the Pastor Craftsman stopped his feet, and the stone grinder gradually came to a halt.

He held the Long Sword in his hand, examining it from different angles, and after finding no problems, he smiled with satisfaction: "It's done. Jier, take it and have a look."

Jier took the Long Sword, first looking at the edge of the blade, and found that it was not very refined.

Seeing Jier's puzzled expression, the Pastor Craftsman explained: "There is a limit to stone wheel grinding. Generally, this level of sharpness is the limit this big guy can achieve. If you want it sharper, generally speaking, you can only use a whetstone for fine grinding."

Seeing Jier about to speak, the Pastor Craftsman stopped him and continued: "I know what you want to say, but I can tell you it's impossible. Because your Long Sword is no longer made of ordinary steel, the whetstones used to sharpen ordinary weapons cannot sharpen this Long Sword. It is already good enough now; even if you use it to hack at stones or other weapons, its edge will not have the slightest wear. It will only leave traces of wear when it collides and rubs against materials of the same level of hardness and toughness."

Jier understood: "You mean that I can rarely need to grind or repair it later?"

However, the Pastor Craftsman did not answer Jier's question, but instead used Jier's question as a test to quiz the other craftsmen on the spot.

Although the young craftsmen looked troubled and couldn't answer, the older craftsmen gave the answer: "You don't need to do grinding or rust prevention, but you still need to deal with things that are corrosive to metal as soon as possible."

"Very good, then let's go out and see how powerful your Long Sword is now." The Pastor Craftsman led the way, and Jier hurriedly followed: "I have the same intention; I can't wait."

They didn't go far, as they were still inside the Weapon Forging Workshop.

Since it was a place for forging weapons, there was certainly a place to test the performance of the weapons. After the group walked out of the special forging room deep in the workshop, they turned a corner and arrived at the entrance of the workshop.

There was a wall here specifically for craftsmen and buyers to test the performance of weapons. Many thick logs were set up against the wall, with many hacking marks left on them.

The apprentices all knew what their masters were doing today, so seeing them come out and head to the weapon testing area, they also spontaneously gathered around, wanting to see what kind of weapon the Pastor Craftsman, the manager of the Weapon Forging Workshop, had forged today.

Among everyone, only Jier was holding a Long Sword, so everyone didn't need to guess to know that this was what was forged today.

However, the exterior of the Hunting Longsword scabbard was simple, and although one could tell at a glance that the wood on the scabbard was good material, it still couldn't attract the attention of the apprentices.

Jier rubbed the Spherical Moonlight Iron at the end of the hilt slightly, wondering what he was thinking. Seeing that everyone had gathered in a circle and cleared a space for him to test, Jier was not polite; without saying anything, he gripped the hilt tightly. A green light flashed on the hilt and vanished, and Jier felt a continuous stream of power surge into his arm.

He drew the sword from the scabbard, Clang!

It was like the cry of a hunting falcon before it pounced, which not only shocked everyone but also left them astonished.

Because after Jier drew the sword, the blade of the Long Sword was not like before, appearing dull, gray, and black due to the mixed Black Iron, but was clearly shrouded in a layer of white light even in the daytime.

Jier raised an eyebrow, not expecting this weapon to be so conspicuous.

But since it was already like this, he had no choice but to accept it.

After a few simple empty swings, after the blade flashed, it left behind distinct traces of movement in the air.

Jier stood firm and thrust forward directly. With a "puff" sound, the thick tree trunk Jier was aiming at was directly pierced deeply by the Long Sword. Both the tip and the middle of the Long Sword's blade had penetrated through. Jier looked at the Pastor Craftsman, who nodded, confirming Jier's thoughts.

Jier said nothing, just stepped back and thrust again.

Puff, just like before, the Long Sword easily stabbed into the tree trunk. After doing it two more times with the same result, Jier was finally satisfied.

"How is it?" the Pastor Craftsman asked confidently, arms folded.

Jier expressed his satisfaction.

Next, Jier tried various techniques such as splitting, chopping, flicking, pointing, spreading, thrusting, and stabbing; then, holding the Long Sword with both hands, he performed a diagonal slash, cleaving another intact tree trunk into two pieces.

While swinging, Jier focused his mind, and at the moment of the swing, the blade of the Long Sword erupted with an unusually bright white light.

He himself felt nothing, but the others around him exclaimed in unison, all covering their eyes with their hands, muttering words about white light and asking what was going on.

Only after the severed tree trunk hit the ground did Jier realize the situation of those around him. Seeing everyone covering their eyes in pain, Jier wore an embarrassed expression as he looked at the fellow who had forged the Long Sword for him but had not provided instructions for using this feature.

Unexpectedly, unlike the people around him, the Pastor Craftsman's eyes shone, and he remained in his original posture with his arms folded. Seeing the situation Jier had caused, the fellow chuckled and said, "Everyone, don't panic. Your eyes are fine. Don't walk around; if you can't see, why are you stumbling about? Are you not afraid of impaling yourselves on a weapon or falling into the furnace? Everyone sit on the ground where you are."

Hearing the words of the person in charge of the workshop, the surrounding craftsmen and apprentices calmed down, and everyone sat on the ground where they were.

"What just happened?"

"Suddenly a white light flashed, and I couldn't see."

"Is it a special effect of Jier's new sword? I bet it is."

"The Pastor said it's fine, so I guess we'll be able to see in a moment, right?"

The Pastor Craftsman approached Jier and then answered his subordinates' words: "Yes, it will be fine after a while. It has no effect on the eyes; at most, it's about the same as staring directly at the sun for the duration of a meal."

As he spoke, he took a piece of well-bound, high-quality paper from his clothes and handed it to Jier.

Just as Jier was about to speak, the Pastor Craftsman made a gesture for silence, so Jier did not speak; he simply took a quick look at what was written on the paper and tucked it into the inner pocket of his clothes.

Among the intricate patterns embossed and printed on the front of the paper was a detailed explanation of the Sun God Church's Blessing Prayer ability.

After a brief inspection, Jier realized that this thing was actually quite complex to use, not at all like he had previously imagined.

No further tests of the Long Sword were conducted; Jier smoothly sheathed the Long Sword and hung it on the left side of his belt.

He did not leave either, staying in place with the Pastor Craftsman to wait for the other craftsmen and apprentices whose eyes he had suddenly flashed to recover. Once they could see again one by one, they curiously examined the Long Sword at Jier's waist.

However, Jier declined their requests to take a closer look one by one. Everyone didn't say anything, just feeling a bit regretful, but since Jier was unwilling, there was nothing to be done.

After everyone had recovered, Jier thanked all the craftsmen who had participated in the re-forging of the Hunting Sword again, apologized to everyone whose eyes had been flashed by his weapon, and then returned to the Hunter Stronghold, stroking the hilt of the Long Sword like a treasure all the way.

In the evening, he lit an Oil Lamp in his room and carefully read the church's blessing ability instructions given to him by the Pastor Craftsman several times.

Only then did Zhao Ji discover that, besides the ability to suddenly flash the blade to blind those around him, the Long Sword that had received the blessed metal piece also possessed other abilities.

For example, when concentrating his energy and holding the Long Sword, he could use the Long Sword, which emitted a faint white light, as a lamp for illumination.

If you don't mind the fatigue of holding the weapon up the whole time.

Also, for example, Jier could identify companions he trusted so that they would not be attacked by the ability under the blinding flash. Jier just needed to be careful when using the ability.

Furthermore, under normal circumstances, as long as Jier held the Long Sword, the blade would emit white light, and all abilities would be in a ready-to-release state. Jier could actively hide the blessing ability or put it into an energy-saving state.

However, after entering the energy-saving state, if he wanted to wake it up again, Jier himself would have to actively wake it.

Besides releasing white light to blind enemies, the instructions written by the church also stated that one could release the blessing power hidden in the Long Sword in a high-output, continuous manner at once, but afterwards, the Long Sword would need to be exposed to sunlight for many days to recover the Sun God Divine Power, or taken to a local Sun God Church to have a Priest infuse it with Divine Power.

Alternatively, if the user themselves possessed Sun God Divine Power, they could replenish the blessing ability on the Long Sword with Divine Power at any time.

Additionally, at the end of the instructions, it also said that if none of these worked, one could find a certain number of Sun God believers to quickly hold a simple ceremony during the day to guide the power of the deity to support it.

As for how to conduct this so-called 'simple' ceremony, this instruction did not write it down, only saying that the user could go to local Sun God Churches to inquire, but they must first have their identity recognized by the church.

Zhao Ji tossed the instructions onto the table, leaned back in his chair, and muttered: "After all that, for a guy like me who has nothing to do with the Sun God Church, doesn't it still mean I have to obediently let my weapon bask in the sun? Hmph, the instructions are full of ways to rope people in and show bias. It seems the church isn't handing out this kind of blessing ability for nothing."

"Users who accept this kind of weapon, whether they like it or not, as long as they use the weapon, they can't cut ties with the Sun God Church. Tsk." Zhao Ji curled his lips in annoyance.

But annoyance aside, he still drew the Long Sword from his waist.

Just by holding it in his hand, the blade of the Long Sword emitted a faint white light in the room. Zhao Ji exhaled and blew out the Oil Lamp, but the sealed room with closed doors and windows did not fall into darkness.

Looking at his surroundings, then looking at the text on the manual on the table, Jier nodded with satisfaction.

With a thought, he followed the method in the instructions and silently recited the words in his heart.

Soon, the white light on the Long Sword receded and disappeared, with only the text of the church prayer at the base of the blade emitting a faint white light like a firefly.

The room went dark, but in an instant, the hilt and the pommel at the end of the hilt both emitted light.

Jier smiled; he hadn't expected these two parts to start showing themselves after the white light on the blade receded.

Switching the Long Sword to his other hand, he wore a wooden bracelet on his left hand, which was a gift given to him by the Agricultural God Church. The power of the hilt and the wooden bracelet came from the same source, so after switching hands, Jier found that his energy actually increased significantly; the power brought to him by the hilt changed from a small water pipe to a small stream.

Jier felt that in the intervals of battle, he could try switching hands to hold the sword, and the recovery speed of his stamina and energy would be much stronger.

As for the Moonlight Iron similar to a pommel, although Jier knew this thing had magical power, firstly, unlike the Sun God Church's blessed metal piece, it didn't have an 'instruction manual' to guide and explain it. Secondly, it wasn't like the blessed wooden core used as the hilt, which could clearly exert its effect, letting people know what benefits and enhancements this thing could bring as soon as they used it.

This thing only emitted a glowing light similar to moonlight at night; speaking of it, it was said to have the ability to drive away bad luck and evil spirits, but Jier found it difficult to test, so he had to set it aside for the time being.

If he happened to encounter some dirty things like living corpses, whether it was good luck or bad luck, he could try to see if this so-called Moonlight Iron had any magical power.

It became lively downstairs; judging by the sounds, it seemed other old Hunters had returned to the Jiedian. Jier put away the Long Sword and walked downstairs.

After talking for a while with the other three old Hunters who had come over, and having another old Hunter who had been training his archery recently explain his practice results.

Sure enough, as Jier expected, the four old Hunters had received notification from Lanisha today that all members of the Hunter teams were to go to her home before noon tomorrow to prepare for a meeting to discuss this year's crusade against the Wolf Pack.

Originally, when a Knight handled affairs, there was no need to discuss them with subordinates. But after all, Lanisha was young, and secondly, she herself had suffered defeats when dealing with the Wolf Pack alone in the past few years.

However, ever since she followed the advice of her elders—Kendall Baron and Kela—she had recruited the most excellent Hunters from villages and farms throughout the county to form a Hunter team specifically for dealing with the Wolf Pack in the north of the county.

In the years since, they had had many victories. Lanisha would deal with the exceptionally powerful Wolf King in the Wolf Pack, while the other large numbers of wild wolves would be lured and held back by the Hunters, not only killing a large number of the Wolf Pack each time but also allowing Lanisha to focus on dealing with the Wolf King with less interference.

As for daily life, the Hunters could roam near the villages in the female Knight's territory to hunt scattered Wolf Packs, not only disrupting the Wolf Pack's hunting and growth but also keeping the Wolf Pack's range of activity outside the main areas of Human production and activity.

Last winter, after gradually becoming familiar with coordination and discussing various means of dealing with the Wolf Pack, their group not only dealt a heavy blow to the Wolf King but also killed a large number of the Wolf King's subordinates.

Hearing the old Hunters talk about it, this year was the best opportunity in many years. The Wolf Pack reproduced and grew rapidly; they suffered heavy losses last winter, and this winter was just the time before their newborn wolf pups had grown up.

If one were to say when the possibility of victory was greatest in recent years, it must be this year.

Jier nodded, feeling it should be so.

However, he still lacked experience in fighting large groups of wolves. Although he had fought against Wolf Packs and goblins southwest of Doraerlin Village before, it was ultimately a matter of picking up scraps, resulting in the fisherman benefiting from the snipe and clam's struggle.

Now that he had joined the Hunter team and had to coordinate with the long-range shooting Hunters, Jier had no confidence in his heart about coordinating with them.

However, the Hunters were very reassured; Jier just needed to do his own part well. After all, the Knight and the old Hunters valued Jier's excellent melee defense and combat ability. As long as Jier wore armor and held a Shield on the front line, he could bring them great help.

Jier scratched his head, not having expected his role to be so simple; he just had to hold the line?