Chapter 131: Sword

Tang! Tang!

The loud and sonorous sounds of metal being manhandled could be heard through the air as the shadow of a figure was seen standing before a blazing forge that let loose its scorching heat. A hammer could be seen in the figure's hand, as it was lifted into the air and sent down with force onto a crimson-colored bar placed on the anvil.

It had been four days since Tristan first came to the blacksmith and one could say he had spent his time there ever since. At first, there were natural difficulties as he forged through the craft of blacksmithing. However, he now could proudly say he successfully reached the second stage of Katra and was currently making his way over to the third stage.

It took him quite a long time to memorize, understand and get used to the third set of words for the third stage of Katra that was taught to him by Master Laril. 

Hence, in order to reach the third stage of Katra as soon as possible, Tristan once again submerged himself in the craft.

At the moment, Tristan was working with the fabled material he had seen in movies back on Earth. Mithril.

Mithril was truly a top notch material as it possessed much more strength and durability compared to the elven steel he worked with before when it was made into finished equipment.

As he had already finished the horseshoes days ago, Tristan wanted to try making a different equipment. Because he was still considered a beginner, not even an amateur, he opted for the most basic form of blades, the sword.

When making a sword, the normal pounding and bending techniques he had used on horseshoes were simply not enough at all. Heck, one could even say those were inadequate to create the base of a sword. After all, what Tristan was going to make was a weapon, which certainly involved many other techniques other than the former two.

Therefore, Tristan gave his all as he began to learn other techniques of blacksmithing, such as drawing, tapering, upsetting, spreading and so on. Those were the basic techniques to shape metal.

However, the most important technique Tristan learned, which in his opinion was also the most exciting, was the hardening. 

It was a process consisting of several steps that would end in hardened metal, or in Tristan's case, hardened mithril.

First, one had to remove the impurities within the metal they wanted use.

By soaking the mithril in a certain liquid that looked like oil before throwing it into the forge, it would give Tristan an easier time when he had to go through afterwards. When the mithril was glowing red, he had to pound it multiple times, which then created a layer that could be peeled on its surface, which were the impurities of the mithril that were forced out.

This process had to be repeated until there was no more layer formed, which indicated the completion of the step.

The second step was called folding.

A process where the metal, that was free of impurities, would be folded into two before pounded into one and thrown into forge once more. This also repeated multiple times until a much stronger metal was made.

This technique wasn't needed when one made horseshoes, but it was crucial for weapons, especially swords. In addition, all of this was done while making sure the metal was fired until its maximum crystallization.

After the metal had gone through the above mentioned steps, that was when it was ready to be shaped into its desired shape.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

That piece of metal had never been out of Tristan's hand the whole day.

From the amortization process, the folding process and, finally, the forming process itself, the Mithril went through all this as Tristan focused his entire concentration on the craft.

He did all of the steps while chanting the third stage Katra in his mind. At the end, Tristan felt his Katra had improved the moment he finished the blade. Alas, it was still far from enough to let him reach the third stage.

Thinking that tomorrow was already the time for the Gauntlet to begin, Tristan just hoped his second stage was enough to compete in it.

At the end of the day, Tristan only managed to finish one sword, which was considered slow, as other disciples could easily make two or three swords a day.

He could only shake his head and sigh at this. Tristan knew very well of the massive gulf between them.

Even so, Tristan's speed of accomplishment already received fair recognition from Master Laril. Apparently, his strength, which was a cut above other elves, greatly helped in the process, which was supposed to be difficult for a beginner like him.

Seeing the first weapon he made on his own and receiving acknowledgement was definitely a satisfying feeling. Much to Tristan's surprise, a notification appeared in his mind as he appreciated the sword in his hand.

[Sword - Mithril - tier 3 weapon]

[Length 0.9 meter, weight 3.5 kilogram]

This reminded him of the first time he held a weapon, which was the claymore that was currently stored in his interspatial ring. Tristan took out the massive sword and compared the two's stats.

[Claymore - Meteorite - Tier 4 Weapon]

[Length 2.2 meters, weight 42 kilograms]

Shockingly, the claymore was still a higher tier weapon when compared to a Mithril weapon, which was already considered very precious by the Vanyar Elves. This fact made Tristan wonder how Cursaac managed to lay his hands on this weapon.

The sight of the massive weapon attracted everyone's attention, as the five blacksmith disciples as well as Master Laril herself crept closer to Tristan, very much interested in checking it out.

Noticing the keen look on his master and fellow apprentices, Tristan asked in a polite tone, "Master, I wondered how big is the difference between the material of these two weapons..."

Master Laril, whose gaze locked on the claymore, looked at Tristan and flashed a smile.

"Why don't we just give it a test?"