Chapter 40 - Chap 40

\ In the Kingdom of Dragnof /

It was now 2 days after the feast that took place in the kingdom.​​

The wedding and the announcement of the Queen's pregnancy was greeted with great excitement from everyone.

A very eventful celebration that will surely remain in everyone's memories.

After that, Irene returned to work and kept busy at her job until the 7th month of her pregnancy.

*(I changed my mind, the pregnancy would be 9 months)*

But she also took great care in the preparation of her wedding.

Fortunately, she was not alone and had the help of Belserion and the citizens.

The preparations had to be quick because 1 month was not much time for a wedding of this magnitude.

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*CLANK*

*CLANK*

*BAM*

Noises echoed throughout the room and the shock between the metal and the hammer caused slight sparks.

The shocks made high-pitched but rhythmic and powerful noises.

The room seemed red and the air was hot because of the medieval oven present, which emitted great heat.

Well yes, yesterday, Shin received all the material he had asked the blacksmith for.

The material was of a fairly good quality according to Shin coming from a blacksmith from a kingdom like Dragnof and a world like Fairy Tail.

And then he will make his own material when he can.

Anyway, he didn't expect to become a very great blacksmith in this world, he wanted at least to become a 5th rank blacksmith, a master craftsman.

What was already very good and becoming more would be of no use to him in this world.

The materials of the world of Fairy Tail are not powerful enough to go beyond rank 5 according to Shin.

Blacksmiths are divided into 9 ranks:

- 1st rank (master)

-2nd rank (master)

-3rd row (grand master)

-4th row (grand master)

-5th rank (master craftsman)

-6th rank (master craftsman)

-7th rank (holy craftsman)

-8th rank (holy craftsman)

In the case of Shin, he had just started so he was only in the first row.

Or at least it should have been.

For his first try, he decided to use steel.

Having heated it in the oven, he took the pliers and put it on the anvil.

He took the hammer to the side, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

After a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes which showed great concentration on the metal in front of him.

It was just him and the metal.

Then he swung his arm in a big swing and struck the metal with precision.

*CLANK*

To become a first-rate blacksmith, you had to remove at least 60% of the impurities from the metal.

To become a 2nd rank blacksmith, one had to have the ability to refine metals a hundred times.

Hundred refining is not only about hitting the metal a hundred times, it was necessary to remove impurities while keeping the integrity of the metal and increasing its density.

It happens that geniuses jump directly from the 1st to the 2nd rank thanks to a good physics allowing them directly to use the hundred refinement.

On Shin's side, the blows increased as his concentration became central.

*CLANK*

*70 strokes*

*CLANK*

*80 strokes

*90 strokes*

*CLANK*

*95 strokes*

*CLANK*

*99 strokes*

For the last shot, Shin stretched his arm to the maximum and put a little more strength than the previous shots.

His eyes shone with a spark and his arm fell immediately on the metal.

*CLANK!!

The high-pitched thud of the shock was even more strident than the previous ones but contained the sound of success.

He had succeeded in removing impurities at a rate of 100% and had achieved the one hundredth refinement.

So he successfully became a 2nd rank master.

He smiled at his success but did not pay any more attention to taking it and putting it into his space.

At the same time, he took another metal out of his space.

This metal was much larger than the previous steel.

It was a crystal that emitted a beautiful bright light from the magical power that this crystal had.

These were the crystals that Shin had found in his cave at first and that he had taken with him because he was sure it would serve him well.

This crystal was quite powerful and very resistant, according to Shin it was surely the best material of this world.

It was with this material that Shin intended to fuse his spear to improve it.

Then with this crystal in his hand, he took the pliers and heated it in the oven.

After having heated it enough, he put it on the anvil.

Then without waiting, he took back his hammer and struck the crystal with rigor.

*CLANK*

In bȧrėly a minute, he had already accomplished the one hundredth refinement.

And yet he didn't stop there!

*CLANK*

The 101st shot!

*CLANK*

The 102nd!

*CLANK*

The 103rd!

He continued like that for a long time.

He was in absolute concentration and was completely devoted to the crystal and his hammer.

Nothing existed around him, only him, his hammer and the crystal was present in a fight.

*CLANK*

505th shot!

The more he hit, the more the metal came to life.

Each blow breathed vitality into the crystal.

The crystal was refined and improved, the impurities had long since disappeared.

A connection seemed to have been built between Shin and the crystal, the metal received all the wishes, the feelings of Shin that it accepted.

*CLANK*

1000th shot!

And after what appeared at one moment for Shin, the thousand refinement was finished!

Shin wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked at the crystal with pride.

This crystal now had half a spirit.

The refinement mile is also called half spirit refinement because blacksmiths give life and spirit to their metals.

And after this stage, there was only one more step to give complete life and spirit to the crystal.

Now that the formation of the spirit of the crystal was done, all that remained was to refine it.

This step was called "refining the spirit" and it was the step that led to becoming a 5th rank blacksmith.

But Shin decided to stop for now before venturing on this step.

He wanted to think about it because, after all, it is a crucial stage in which very few blacksmiths succeed.

It gave life and intelligence to a metal, it was not something to be taken lightly.

So for the time being, Shin was a 4th rank blacksmith.

To become a 4th rank blacksmith, you have to be able to do the refinement on two different types of metals in a row and on good quality metals.

Shin had not done it but he knew he could do it so he already considered himself as such.

And he was sure that crystal was a good quality metal.

Especially crystals that stayed in contact with its magical power for months and were able to absorb it.

So for the moment Shin left the crystal on the anvil and walked out of the room.

He knew what he wanted to do before going back to the forge but before that, he decided to go take a shower since he had perspired during his forging session.

Fifteen minutes later, he came out refreshed and then went to Irene's office.

When he arrived at her office, he opened the door to fall on the view of Irene at her desk.

The mere sight of Irene was enough to soothe and soften his heart and clear his mind so that he thought of nothing but her.

Irene heard someone come in and looked up to see her future husband at the door.

A smile instinctively appeared on her face as he approached her.

Shin wrapped her in a warm embrace and then gave her a little kiss on the forehead and stomach.

"So there is no jealous ~" said Shin with a dreamy look.

Irene sneered at Shin's gesture and joke.

He shifted his gaze to Irene to give her a beautiful smile.

"How is my future dragon lady ~?" Shin said in a childish and teasing tone.

Irene blushed a little at his statement then smiled ironically and looked at Shin with amusement.

"How is my future husband Phoenix ~?" Irene said teasingly in turn.

Her teasing worked well as a few small rashes appeared on Shin's cheeks and he felt a little shiver on his body from being called that for the first time.

But it was a pleasant feeling.

They both laughed at their childishness.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm going away to look for something, I'll be back in several hours".

Irene drew a questioning face, wondering what he might be looking for but did not decide to ask and let him.

Even if she knew when to force it a little, he would tell her, Shin would tell her everything with a little forcing, he couldn't hide anything from her.

With a last kiss, Shin left the room and headed for the unknown.

Going to his room and then to the balcony, he jumped up to catch fire and turned into a Phoenix.

He flapped his wings and went in a random direction.

He was looking for a powerful dragon, at least in AA (High) to get its scales.

Dragon scales were very strong and powerful materials, and the stronger the dragon was, the stronger the scales were.

The object that Shin wanted to create with the crystal was very important so he wanted to create it with the best materials possible.

The magic crystal was the most powerful and resistant material and it also had a great amount of magical power.

If magic crystal was the best material in this world, then dragon scales would surely be the second best material.

So merging these two would give an object of gigantic strength and power, and could even become one of the most powerful objects in the world of Fairy tail.

And that's also why he had to improve himself at the forge and stopped at the half-spirit refinement.

It was actually necessary to forge an alloy of two materials, the more materials there were, the harder it was to do it.

He had only two materials to melt but quite powerful materials so the difficulty was not less.

There is also the rate of harmony to be taken into account, this determines the number of metals that can be added. The higher the harmony ratio, the better the alloy.

In his case, it is a basic alloy of two materials, so the alloy itself is not complicated but the steps before will be.

Then when the alloy is finished, he can start the refinement of the spirit.

In short, he is concerned at the moment with finding a dragon that is up to the task.

With a flutter of his wings, he suddenly accelerated, causing vibrations in the air as well as shaking.