Chapter 174 Heaven Piercer (1/2)
CHAPTER 174
HEAVEN PIERCER
Lino was currently inspecting the tools on the third floor as the army of variety of people gathered up, standing near the edges of the vast smithy and observing him while also passing some comments over. They entered one and left the other ear peacefully, as Lino was far too immersed in his inspection.
After all, the tools here were far and above better than anything he ever encountered on the Western Continent, especially hammers, tongs, a variety of hardies, and even a couple of bellows that Lino rarely encountered on the Western Continent -- at least ones capable of being used with the Mythical Flames.
He grabbed the hammer first and held it tightly; it was much heavier than the ones he encountered before, yet also fit his hand far better as well. He swung it a few times, getting a feel for it, before similarly checking out other tools. The forge rested as the centerpiece, and was beyond massive Lino even lamented the waste of the precious stone that went into building it.
It was large enough that it was split into four sections, each capable of providing a single smith with more than enough room to operate freely. He didn't comment, though, as this was a commercial smithy after all; they had more than just a couple of blacksmiths employed who worked around the clock to provide weapons to the shop on the first floor.
After ensuring that everything was there and that he could work with it, Lino turned toward the audience which had grown quite considerably, extending past fifty according to his quick estimates. Though slightly surprised, he merely smiled at the variety of gazes coming his way.
Edward suddenly huddled his way through the crowd and arrived next to Lino, huffing and puffing, while holding a head-sized chunk of [Frosted Steel] and a few pieces of [Hardening Stone]. The former had a brilliant, cyan sheen glistening across it surface and was shaped almost like a perfect rectangular. This was actually Lino's first time ever seeing [Frosted Steel] as he knew about it purely in theory.
”Is it enough?” Edward asked after he recovered his breath.
”Aye,” Lino nodded, taking the chunk and playing with it for a moment to get a feel for the weight, sturdiness, age and purity. Rather durable... about six times the ordinary steel? Not bad... ”Is it free crafting?” he then asked as he glanced at Edward.
”Hmm... I suppose,” Edward nodded as he battled to reach the table and put the [Hardening Stones] onto it. ”But, the main rule is that it needs to be marketable, that is that it needs to sell. So, no creating some weird weapon that not even Dhralls can wield, alright?”
”What are the requirements for passing?” Lino inquired.
”Item cannot be below Level 150 and it has to be at least of [Rare] quality. Naturally, we don't expect you to forge such items on consistent basis, but as this is a one-off test, we at least need to see that you're capable of doing it. There are no time restrictions, but the longer your take the less favorable your grade will be.”
”Oh? There are grades?” Lino mumbled, smiling faintly. ”That's cool. I've never been to school so this should be exciting.”
”So, what are you gonna craft?” Edward asked.
”... a spear,” Lino said in a low voice as he glanced at the [Frosted Steel] yet again. ”No, perhaps it's better if I forge a lance. Though there's some flexibility, the spear would be too rigid. Is there a demand for lances?”
”Ha ha, but of course!” Edward laughed as other people in the room chuckled and looked at him strangely. ”You really ain't around here, are you?”
”Nope.” Lino replied honestly.
”The Empire's second-strongest Legion is composed entirely of cavalry. Half of them are archers, while others are lancers. So, yeah, there's quite a bit of demand for lances.”
”Not bad.” Lino's lips curled up in a smile as he put the chunk down. ”Can I use my own flame?”
”It can't be a Void Flame.” Edward cautioned.
”It's not.”
”It's alright then,” he nodded. ”Anything else?”
”You don't happen to have some ink and paper?”
”Oh! Right! The design,” Edward exclaimed. ”I forgot you might be such type. Hey, any one of you here carry any?”
”Here.” a rough voice quickly sounded out from the crowd as a rather old man stepped out. His face bore wrinkles of at least seventy years, yet his body was remarkably sturdy and bulky. He gave Lino a quick glance before handing over a parchment and some ink over and withdrawing back into the crowd.
”Alright, here it is.” Edward then hobbled over to Lino and gave them to him. ”Anything else?”
”Nah, I think this is enough.” he smiled. ”Just sit back and enjoy the show.”
”Ho ho, quite confident, are ya'? Alright, show us what you got kiddo!”
Edward withdrew back and joined the rest of the people present as Lino slowly sat down and began scribbling the design onto the paper. The crowd -- led mainly by Edward -- quickly broke off into chatter, almost as though they were commentators, despite the fact that Lino had done practically nothing so far.
He was, however, already in a completely different world, one where voices and noises of the outside one didn't exist. It would be his first time crafting a lance, but he was fairly confident. In his eyes it was simply a denser, sturdier and less flexible spear, and as he was crafting it without any leather, he would have to waste at least one [Hardening Stone] on the handle before inscribing an array that would make it harder for hand grabbing at it to slip.
Designing itself didn't take him long; breaking down components, he decided to go with duality; lance head and the guard would be a single part, with the other being the handle. As lances were generally considered less of a battling weapon and more as an anti-cavalry 'de-mounters', he decided to experiment a bit and add a projectile array at the top which would convert injected Qi into sort of metallic-like needles with freezing properties due to the base component.