125 5.14 Realm of Mind, Unite!

As we both entered our meditative statuses, we both were standing in front of furnace with a large smelting pot, a bellow, an anvil with a large hammer next to it and a mould for a katana.

"Welcome to my Realm of Mind, Sensei. Don't worry, our minds are connected and we won't get lost. However, this would be taxing for you since this is your first time. Here, time seems to move slower than usual and 3 hours here would be equivalent to our time in the real world. Don't worry, this is not my first time entering here but it's a definitely a first time I brought a person together with me." I explained carefully to Hiko-sama so that he understands.

He nodded his head as he was shocked beyond his wildest imagination as he looks around the place." So, this place is where you think if anything and it materialises in front of you?" he asked and was feeling peculiar to be transported into this Realm of Mind. He thought that I was just joking with him when I motioned him to enter the small bedroom.

"Yes, Sensei. Anything that u had contact with in the past would appear here. This is called visualisations and the first time entered here was sparring with 2 opponents during a hand to hand close quarters combat. I don't need a real person to spar with and even I killed the opponent, it will be a fragment of my memories. However, you alone would not be able to enter unless I invited you in first."

"Wow...! Unbelievable! In this case, I could show you some sword fighting arts and I will pass them to you. How if I were to spar with you here?"

"If I spar with you here, any wounds, mortal or superficial would be impacted in our real world, Sensei. It is better to deal with enemies that we formed through our minds, in that case, we won't suffer any dangers at all."

"OK, I understand a little of what you said. So shall we start?"

"Sure, Sensei... You can see the bellows right? It's needed to pump air regularly to heat up the furnace high enough to smelt these pieces of metal. Come and help me to pump those bellows since you already feel refreshed and full of energy."

"As you wished, Himura. I sure am feeling super refreshed after the shower and my body felt rejuvenated. You haven't had yours right?"

"Not yet, but will do after this. C'mon Sensei, let's work the bellows up."

"Alright then... Let's go...!" Hiko-sama replied as he helped to work on the bellows slowly. The hot coals in the furnace soon heated up as air passed through and heating it up every time and the coals glowed to a higher temperature every time the bellow was pumped.

I placed the smelting pot in place and I placed all the weapon parts on the coals first. When it turned red hot, I used a tong and dropped it into the smelting pot and adjusted the pot to be the right centre of the furnace and adjusted its position. Now the smelting pot was buried halfway inside the bed of coals. I took over from Hiko-sama as I pumped at it using short midway pumps in order to work up the heat.

The smelting pot was the same colour as the bed of coals and the contents inside began to melt slightly. "I need more power to the bellows," I thought to myself as I pumped it at full force. I visualised at the bed of coals that was turning very bright red at this moment and the contents of the smelting pot inside seem to slowly melt.

I concentrated my visualisation and soon as I took breaths the same rhythm as the air that travels from the bellow. Every time I pulled the handle of the bellows I breathe in and when I pumped, I blew my breath through my pursed lips. This way, I was channelling my chi breathing from my chakra points right into the bellows and into the bed of coals.

After some time, a gurgling sound came from the smelting pot as the contents had totally melted and it is time to pour the Molten metal into the mould I had designed earlier on.

With the watchful eyes of Hiko-sama, I picked a big clamp-like tong and removed the smelting pot from the middle of the furnace. I then tilted the pot slowly over the mould and as soon as the contents were poured, it sizzled a bit and steam rose in the air. Once I had filled the Molten metal inside the mould I set the smelting pot back in the furnace.

"It's time to get back to our real world. This Molten metal would take some hours to set in the mould so there's no point to wait here. We can do something else."

"OK, lead the way Himura," replied Hiko-sama as he trusted me as I slowly awoke myself from my meditative state and nudged Hiko-sama on his thigh to stir him up from his state as well.

He slowly opened up his eyes and saw he was back in the small bedroom. There was no furnace or any of the tools he saw before me. He looked at me in amazement and started to nod his head and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"You really are something, kid. I'm proud of you being my disciple and all and I am sure your stepmother was proud of you too."

"She never has seen me do this, I think. Since you had placed so much trust in me, one day I will let you see something that you might not have seen before in your life. One day, Sensei... But I need you to get used to the shock as seeing things seen in my own everyday life that you had never seen before."

I replied as I stood up and went to take some fresh air outside as the heat I was feeling earlier was a bit too much. I had never worked in a Blacksmith before, but this body of mine did so I have to get used to it.

Hiko-sama followed me to the furnace and brought a small kettle of green tea with 2 cups and the balance of the food from last night.

"Tell me more about yourself that you had never told to anyone before. You had never failed to surprise me and I believed every word you say even though you may try to bullshit me."

"Haa...haa...haa...Sensei, you sometimes are so naive. I won't explain to you but I'd rather show you instead in my Realm of Mind. So tell me first, what are your plans for the day, Sensei?

"Doing nothing, of course. I better wait around for you to bring me back to the Realm of Mind and see you worked on the katana that you had moulded earlier."

"You wanted to get back in so fast? It would take one hour here, how about this... Maybe I bring you into the Realm of Mind and then you can teach me your sword moves? It's hard to practise here since there is not enough space and the space behind the house needs to be cleared if you intend to make this place a dojo."

"That's right, you are, Himura. Why don't we enter your Realm of Mind after lunch and after a short nap? It's not close to lunchtime and there would be lunch delivered from the inn and also from the sake house right?"

"Yes, Sensei... There's going to be deliveries later to this house so we will go to the Realm of Mind after a short nap after lunch."

"Ok then, you do your activities first while I go to my secret chamber," he said and walked into the house. Earlier he used to call it his secret storage room but he now calls it his secret chamber. Well, as long as he is happy to call it whatever he wants.

Since I had done my tasks for the day, I looked for some gardening or farming tools around the house but found none so I asked permission from Hiko-sama that I would be wandering around the village for a while to get acquainted with my surroundings.

Hiko-sama gestured me off and I changed into my blue coloured kimono, my white hakama and wore my zori as I went out of the house. I had just washed my face earlier when doing my laundry and put off my shower later in the evening.

I asked for some direction from the passing villagers as I went from one household to another and getting to know my way around Hiko-sama's comrades as tomorrow would be the day I start to do the general cleaning of their houses.

Their doors seemed to be shut and when I reached Kami-sama's house, the sliding door was open and I could see him smoking in front of his terrace.

"Hey, kid! What are you doing at this time of day? You started to do cleaning yet?"

"No, Kami-sama, tomorrow is the official starting day. I'm here to familiarise my way with the rest of your comrades' houses. By the way, can u ask a favour from you?"

"Sure, what is it kid?" he replied as he stubbed his cigarette on the ground.

"Do you have a spare kurisagama I could use? It's for clearing the land behind the house. We intend to use it as a training ground and it's full of tall grasses. If you do have a rake, I would also like to borrow from you."

"Ah...you've come to the right place, young man. I have those that you mentioned and it's at the back of the house here. Wait here, I go and fetch it for you. They are all placed in the kitchen area." He disappeared inside the house and came back later with a kurisagama and a garden rake.

"It's still winter time, the ground would be still hard as there would be snow and ice on it. These tools won't be of use until the next season which would be around in a months time."

"Don't worry Kami-sama, even though its winter and the ground is hard, to me anytime would be the best time to clear it. As long as put in extra effort and not putting off things that we can do today for tomorrow or the next season, I am sure it would reap benefits right?"

"Hee...hee...hee... No wonder your Sensei thinks highly of you from the first time he sees you. He is right, you are full of potential. Ok, I might swing by the house after this expedition and see what you had done to the plot of land behind the house then. Off you go now, I'm going to rest some more before lunch."

I thanked Kami-sama for his lending me the tools I need. I then headed straight to the house and went to the back of the house to inspect the piece of land further. After moving around the house, I found out that the plot of land that the house sat was exactly 10 meters by 10 meters.

Its perimeter had a thin bamboo fence about the height of 3 feet from the ground and was interlaced with each other so that it looked like a small diamond shaped fence from a distance. It's just a formality to mark out the space between each house.

The ground was true as said by Kami-sama. It was hard and cold, with a thin layer of sleet and ice as well as loose snow on it. Little could be done by the sun that was shining in the sky as it doesn't melt the ice and sleet away. The temperature was still slightly 10 degrees Celcius and its still winter time.

However, tall grasses seemed to flourish in these harsh weather. I went back to the house and changed to my yakata. I had something up my sleeves as I think of these tall grasses and weeds as I held the kurisagama in my hand.

I injected a small amount of Kamehameha energy into the kurisagama as I swung at the tall grasses as I held on to the stalks near the base of the ground. It was small energy and no one would be able to notice it. The heat that transferred into the blade of the kurisagama made the slicing of the tall grasses seemed easy.

Villagers who were passing by looked and gestured at me as I worked through the fields one square meter at a time, slowly slicing away at the tall grass. I smiled at them and slowly worked my way through.

I worked with such fervour that Hiko-sama called me for lunch as the delivery of the bento meals had arrived from the Inn. I looked at my shadow and found that it had already midday. I smoothen my yakata and washed my hands and feet from the tap at the water tower and walked to the terrace of the house.

We both sat down at the dining area and opened up the bento box and the sight was very welcoming and the dishes were tantalising. I had worked up a sweat and my stomach had already protesting earlier when I was working at the fields behind.

We ate and chatted during our meals. Hiko-sama asked me where I went and told him I familiarise myself to the houses that belong to his Comrades so that I will officially start cleaning them from tomorrow.

He nodded on acknowledgement and we soon finished our lunch time. Hiko-sama said that he would like to rest some more and he will enter the Realm of Mind and see my work on the katana which had been set in the mould. I replied and said I would finish up my work in the backyard and burn the grasses once it's done.

He entered the bedroom as I cleared away the bento box and leave it at the terrace to be picked up by the delivery person later. I stretched a bit and went back to work in the backyard. I injected the same amount of Kamehameha energy and soon resumed my work. Even though the sun was high, but it is still not too hot to work outdoors and as soon as I had finished cutting every single blade of tall grasses, I set them into clumps of 3 each per row and used the rake to assist me.

The idea of making these into 3 clumps per row is that I would burn them in the late evening and the burnt grasses will act as compost. All I need now was a hoe to dig up the land and make it loose despite the ground being hard at this moment.

So I placed the kurisagama and the rake at the side of the house near the clothesline and noticed that the laundry was slightly damp. Now it's time to return to the Realm of Mind to finish up my forging this time.

I went into the house and took a shower, just to get rid of some of the soil and dirt that had attached itself when I was done with the clearing of the patch of land.

When I emerged from the bath, Hiko-sama was already waiting at the front of his bedroom and I signalled him to proceed into mine. As usual, I told Hiko-sama to enter his meditative state first followed by me.

A short while later, both of us had emerged into my Realm of Mind and there stood an anvil and hammer, a furnace and bellow and the cold and hardened metal on the moulding set.

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Hiko-sama watched me closely as I pumped the bellows and this made the coal flare up a little and turned red hot. I knocked the piece of metal that was set in the moulding set and examined it. It was straight and flat and was slightly shorter than 3 feet in length. Soon after hammering, the length would be slightly longer with a hilt and a place to insert the handle later.

The long piece of metal was then placed into the bed of coals and I started to pump the bellows using my coordinated chi breathing. After some while, the piece of metal that was in the coals started to heat up substantially and I removed it and placed on the anvil.

I raised the hammer and coordinated my chu breathing as I concentrated and visualised the hammer to be a part of my arm as well as the hammer being as hot as the coals. I started hammering once, five time, ten times and then one hundred times. When the metal I was hammering was cold, I placed it on the part that was not heated up by the coals and started pumping the bellows.

I continued the process until I had properly hammered the piece of metal. Now it has already become slightly thinner and the length has exceeded the one that had been set earlier.

I continued until I have reached the hilt and the end where I would be inserting the handle later. Then I repeated the process from the tip to the handle part for about two more times. The whole process took nearly 3 hours and after the forging process, I submerged it into a tub of water after I had heated it up.

The water sizzled immediately due to the heated metal and there was a loud hissing sound followed by a cloud of steam. I was totally drenched in sweat and my arm that was used for hammering were sore and I could not lift it to hammer another one more time.

I took it out from the tub of water and examined its straightness and the evenness of the blade. I'm thoroughly satisfied with the end results and laid it to rest at the side of the anvil.

Hiko-sama approached the masterpiece and measured its length and weight. He had watched intently as I hammered each section of the blade for a total of one hundred times per foot which means I had hammered it three hundred times for three successions, a total of one thousand times including the hilt and the part where the handle would be.

The blade was straight and it balanced slightly off centre as there was no handle yet. The next step was blade washing to even it out more and sharpen it at the same time. Also, it would increase its hardness and durability thus making the katana survive longer and more lasting than usual.

"Let's go back to reality, Sensei. I'm so tired that I can't lift my arms. I need to take an energised shower." I spoke as I lay my hands in front of me. Then I slowly stirred up from my meditative state and saw the Hiko-sama had done the same too without me nudging him this time.

I looked at myself and true enough, I was drenched in sweat from the head right to the yakata I was wearing. I cooled off my body first with the balance of the green tea made by Hiko-sama, drinking it together with him at the terrace of the house.

Once I had cooled off and the sweat had evaporated off from my yakata, I went to the bathroom to take a shower.