God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Working around the properties of a material was something Cain had learned to do almost instinctively as he continued to create items and weapons.

There was not just the physical aspect to consider, but also the magical as well.

What type of runes would resonate best with the materials he uses? What type of elemental affinity would he affix to the runes, which would also have to resonate with the materials?

The general shape of the item or weapon made. In more complicated cases like making a firearm, how the different parts would interact with one another, both physically and magically, and how the runes and magic circles inscribed onto these parts would resonate to produce the desired effect as a whole...

His face settling into a serene, yet serious expression, he began hammering faster, working delicately, yet quickly.

Magical metals like these behaved rather different from normal metals in the same conditions. Some cooled off faster, while other retained the heat and could maintain their molten form for way too long.

As he concentrated, the {Burden of Xicina} began to do its work. It was as though his eyes had been opened and the veil that hid all the truths was lifted.

'There is a scientific nature to crafting. Rules and procedures that must be followed and governing concepts. It all should be linear and straightforward.'

But it wasn't...

In fact, it was far from it.

The {Castille Steel} was rapidly cooling off, dispersing the gathered heat back into the air and becoming stiff once again.

Although he couldn't keep hammering down, there would be slight deformities in the lattice structure of the metal, which would cause the result to be inferior.

'I need more fire.'

He stopped hammering for a moment and took a step back. With but a thought, he poured mana into the magic circles in tej forge and flames began to pour out of the dragon maw.

Bathed in the magical light of the flames, Cain felt the sweltering heat rise immediately.

After a moment, the sword-shaped metal block became red hot again, although not to the point of losing its shape.

Cain began hammering again, a crisp sound produced everytime the hammer struck the metal.

Once he was done and satisfied, Cain quickly plunged the newly formed blade into a vat of water beside him.

A plume of steam rose up.

Pulling it out after a while, Cain observed it briefly, then nodded in approval.

He was satisfied with this one.

Then he placed it down and began inscribing the runes. Once he was done, he prepared the guard and the hilt for the blade. Once he was done with that, he pulled out a gem from the pile on the floor, gave it a look before nodding and affixing it into the hilt.

In less that an hour, he was done with the blade.

Giving it a look, he couldn't help but admire it...

***

{Fury Longsword}: (Special, Tier 1)

Description: Crafted from pure metal treated with dragon flame by a nameless blacksmith, a weapon created for the sole purpose of killing.

{Fury Longsword}: (Special, Tier 1)

Attack Power: 200.

Attack Speed: 1.5.

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Durability: 2,500/2,500.

Skills: Fury Strike, Lacerate, Heavy Blow.

***

'The attached skills are just enough that the material doesn't get overwhelmed, meaning the weapon will last a fairly long time if taken care of well. They are also quite powerful.'

In the matters of crafting, it was always important to achieve balance.

When he used ordinary materials, he absolutely couldn't use complicated runes that needed to draw upon a ton of mana even if the result was that the attached skills would be far more powerful. Doing so could very well cause the weapon to explode in battle.

And since most of the attached skills worked passively, it meant that mana was always interacting with the materials that made up the weapon, meaning the durability would always drop.

Having that thought in mind, the {Fury Longsword} was a very good piece.

Without hesitation, Cain dropped it to the side and began working on another one.

Thanks to Haru and the others helping him out with sorting materials, bringing him what he needed and continually melting all the metals in the furnace, and even taking over the crafting of the ammunition and bows, they were able to work rather fast.

Cain was so confident of meeting Gilead's request because of the advantage the {Draconic Blast Furnace} provided him; the much needed time dilation.

Which was much needed, as he would not be making just swords.

Polearms, firearms, shields, arrows, bullets, armor pieces, he would be making all that and more. All to outfit a thousand men.

It was a tall task indeed. It would be a challenge, but he had already mentally prepared himself.

As the hours passed, the forge grew hotter and hotter.

Fearing that Haru and the others would burn out due to exhaustion and dehydration, he allowed them to take breaks in between.

Slowly, the hours turned into days, then days into weeks...

Of course, time went by ten times slower in the forge compared to the outside world.

After a long time, Cain finally let go of the hammer.

With a grimace, he touched his palms, only to find out they were covered in hard calluses.

Even with his remarkable healing, they had managed to leave some lasting damage.

He felt sore all over and thoroughly drained as well.

He sighed, then began taking stock of all the items he had forged over the last three weeks.

"Two hundred axes and swords, a hundred spears, two hundred kite shields, fifty tower shields, five hundred bows, seventy guns, a hundred sets of armor, a whole bunch of bullets and arrows."

Cain frowned.

His plan to conveniently arm a thousand men was to make at least seven hundred axes and swords, five hundred spears, five hundred kite shields, two hundred tower shields, two hundred guns, a thousand sets of armor, and at least ten times more arrows and bullets.

He grimaced.

Although they still had a lot of time, the rate at which they were working was not enough at all.

And to make matters worse, they had run out of materials.

Haru and the others lay sprawled down on the ground, their eyes rolled back into their heads in exhaustion. With nothing to do for now, they took advantage of the lull to get as much rest as possible in.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

'Let's see if it works...'

The title {Beastmaster} was rather convinent, as it allowed him to summon any of his contracted creatures, anywhere they were into a pocket dimension.

From there, he could call upon them again.

Meaning, he wouldn't even have to leave here to get the materials from Pudding.

'Will it work?'

He quickly looked around him.

Even if he managed to summon the beast, Pudding was a rather large creature.

Eventually, he shrugged.

It would be stuffy for a bit, but it could still work.

With that in mind, he invoked the power of his title.

The space around him became volatile rather quickly.

With a frown, Cain took a step back.

There was a faint, yet distinct rumble, and before he could register it, Cain found his vision filled with the sight of chitinous armor.

Haru's eyes tiredly fluttered open.

He caught a glimpse of the terrifying eldritch nightmare of a beast that had somehow entered the forge.

He blinked then sighed and shook his head whilst closing his eyes,

"I really am exhausted. I must be seeing things..."

Wanting to protect the sanity of the others, Cain ordered Pudding to throw the goods up.

The nightmarish worm quickly did as told before disappearing back into the pocket space.

Cain looked at the mountain like pile then nodded,

'This should be enough for the rest.'

Perhaps because it didn't have to go around looking for variety, Pudding had managed to collect an incredible amount of what he had asked for in what was just three days in the outside world., which amounted to what he would need to make the rest of the items.

It was beyond impressive...

Waking the others up, they quickly resumed work.

Thanks to the {Burden of Xicina}, he was able to keep relatively focused, not because of it had some magical ability to soothe the soul, not that at all.

It was because of the whispers.

The more he forged with the strange, mystical hammer, the more the whispers grew and the more strain him mind was subjected to.

Much to his displeasure, that meant that so long as he held the hammer, his mind was unable to lose focus, and in turn, rest.

He would be able to go on swinging for a hundred years if need be.

Cain shivered, 'What a scary thought...'

In the end, because of that, despite his exhaustion and dwindling physical state, he managed to push through.

After a bit over two months in the forge, the doors were finally opened...