Chapter 365: Becoming Better at Forging (1/2)

Gravis had been smelting for a couple of days now, trying out different materials, different amounts of Spirit, and different amounts of concentration. However, he had to take breaks now and then. Keeping the form of the weapon inside his imagination while doing the calculations was very demanding on his concentration.

In over 90% of cases, Gravis pulled the ores apart too soon, breaking them in the process. 5% were too high, while the remaining 5% were just right. After seeing the results on different materials, Gravis noticed that he nearly always pulled the material apart too soon.

After a couple of days of smelting, he went back to trying only one material. This material had a rank at the Initial Unity Realm. A material like this should be just right for him. After all, he was at the Initial Stage of the Unity Realm. Of course, he went back to this material because he found out the answer.

Gravis had tried some materials for the Early Stage of the Unity Realm previously. Smelting them was many times more difficult, surprising him quite a bit. He even had to move some of his other centers of power into his Spirit to keep going.

While trying out these materials, Gravis noticed that he was wasting a bit more Spirit than concentration, which required him to increase his Spirit. Judging by the time, his concentration would be about half empty if he finished his weapon. Sadly, that calculation wasn't accurate. After all, Gravis didn't know how much concentration the other steps would take.

Surprisingly, his calculations had been pretty spot on while smelting materials at the Early Unity Rank. Gravis quickly tried to find out the reason for why his calculations had been so off, but it took him a couple of more failures to finally find the answer.

When he found the answer, he facepalmed. ”Of course,” he said, ”my Spirit is way more tempered than the average cultivator. Everyone else breaks into the Unity Realm immediately without further tempering their Spirit due to the equalization problem, but that's not all!”

”I also have a more powerful Will-Aura, which allows me to concentrate more and for longer periods of time. Yet, the impact that concentration has on the material in comparison to Spirit is not nearly as strong. After some adjusting, I should be able to reach the standard that the calculations are based on.”

His father nodded. ”So, you found the answer. Good.”

Gravis also nodded. ”My Spirit is about three times more powerful than the average cultivator's. Thus, the malleability felt way easier since my Spirit has more force. I judged the temperature according to the described usage of Spirit. Yet, my Spirit is more powerful, making me misjudge the temperature. My concentration is also slightly more powerful, but that doesn't have much impact.”

”That's correct,” his father said.

After that, Gravis went back to a material at the Initial Unity Rank. He quickly shoved about 70% of his Spirit into his lightning to make his body fit the standard that the calculations were based on. He moved a little more than necessary to counteract his heightened concentration. Like this, Gravis found way more success.

By now, he was hitting the perfect temperature around 95% of the time. It was actually pretty easy to find the correct temperature now. Without the calculations' help, this would become way harder.

Sometimes, Gravis lost his focus, and the material would change into the wrong shape. Luckily, Gravis just had to regain his focus to try again. After doing this for another couple of days, Gravis was quite good at keeping his focus. Sadly, he also found an issue.

It was very difficult to pay attention to the outside while forging a weapon. Right now, this wasn't an issue, but in the future, this could become troublesome. Gravis was safe in this room, but he couldn't guarantee his safety in the middle world. Creating a weapon would be a risky affair, leaving him open to assassinations.

But that was a problem for another time.

By now, Gravis was pretty good at creating and keeping the shape of a weapon-embryo. Since he mostly used the same material, he also didn't need to calculate anymore. He had developed the feeling that the material should have when it was ready, allowing him to save a lot of his concentration.

After these couple of days, Gravis tried to create a cutting edge on the sword, but that proved more difficult than he had believed. For starters, Gravis didn't try the compression method for the edge. He first tried the grinding.

Yet, even this relatively simple method was proving difficult. The lightning needed to become more powerful to grind the weapon, but that also increased its heating effect on the weapon. If the material got too hot, it would change its composition, making it different.

These materials were specifically selected because they were perfect for creating weapons, and any change in the materials would reduce their effect. If the composition of the part that would be cut off changed, it wouldn't be bad. After all, that part would just get grinded off.

Yet, the new grinding would damage more material. At some point, the flaw in the grinding would damage the core of the edge. If Gravis didn't gain full control over this, he wouldn't be able to forge a weapon. Sadly, there were no calculations for this.