Minutes passed inside the forge, and that white light that resembled a small sun emanated all its glory for everyone to admire. Until finally, the alchemist’s Qi and fire laws were consumed, and everything went out as if it had never happened.
No one could speak, so the most experienced alchemist turned around. Immediately, the doors opened, and a figure appeared. It was a female alchemist with long golden hair tied at her back. She had a middle-aged appearance, but her life energy was barely felt. She was definitely extremely old but chose to maintain that appearance, even if it reduced her life expectancy.
Everyone bowed toward the woman and greeted her with respect. She was the leading alchemist who commanded the entire city, along with everything and everyone. Everyone there respected her, but unlike the patriarchs of the evil sects, they did not kneel or show fear and submission. This was the main difference between evil cultivators and ordinary ones; the evil ones gained positions of power through their own strength. Ordinary cultivators, on the other hand, depended a lot on the situation; even people without capability could inherit important positions, which was common among them.
The woman looked intensely at the whale and then at the furnace. With a step, she reached the side of the furnace and touched it; in a few seconds, her expression changed before she turned to the whale again.
"Great, you’re hired. I will pay according to the level and quantity of the furnaces... no, I’ll pay double, as we really need you," she said calmly, and the whale nodded.
"My name is Doara. I will immediately provide everything you need and all the furnace plans we have available." She added as a ring floated in front of the whale, inside it a large quantity of spiritual crystals, the currency used by ordinary cultivators.
She left as quickly as she entered, and Alm and Bruno felt that she was thinking seriously about something with enthusiasm and a sinister air. ’She’s definitely not someone to trust,’ Bruno said mentally, sighing.
The whale then turned to all the alchemists who were standing still. "Bring all the materials and information on the furnaces you have. I’m going to start working for real. No more playing around."
Everyone listened in shock. Was he kidding? Everyone thought. But no one dared to answer. This whale was truly someone they should respect, or they would have problems. So, immediately, they went out to fetch everything.
The whale approached Almin, Alnia, and old Detue. Soon, the woman seemed extremely distressed, but the whale simply ignored her, as before, as if he didn’t even care about someone as small as her.
"Nice to meet Valmin’s childhood friend. You seem as talented as Valmin is. Your forger name is FatFluke, right?" Detue spoke lightly.
The whale turned with piercing eyes to Almin, who felt a sweat running down his spine. He wasn’t good at choosing names. So, he just gave a name that everyone outside immediately associated with this figure... but it seems he didn’t like it much.
The whale replied with a sigh. "My friend is a bit clumsy, but take care of him." He waved to the old alchemist and turned away. At that moment, several alchemists returned carrying everything quickly.
The whale then turned to the small forge, receiving all the rings. Old Detue smiled lightly and stood up, leaving; soon, his two disciples followed him quickly.
In the following days, he dedicated himself to building dozens of furnaces, becoming something beyond an expert and raising the standard even higher. A considerable part of the dwarf furnace plans remained, and they studied and tested everything, always with an alchemist in the forge ready to assist him in finishing the furnace. In one day, they forged a dozen furnaces at a frightening speed. There were always one or two yellow-white level, which was one level below white, but most were white level. Quickly, in fifteen days of work, a superior level emerged, Blue-White level.
A commotion occurred when that blue-white color appeared. It was a dark night, and all the alchemists seemed to feel it and ran to the forge to marvel at that unbelievable furnace level.
Almin was with them and spoke. "As per my research, there are only three furnaces at this level, and all belong to alchemists from the Three Extremes Sect."
All the alchemists inside the forge sighed. He said he had never made a furnace before; what kind of madness was this? He managed to evolve to this level in a few days, so will he eventually reach the maximum level, creating one of a light blue divine level?
After creating that Blue-White furnace, the leader of the alchemists, Doara, who also commanded the entire city, called him for a meeting.
The whale snorted and was guided by another alchemist to the meeting. ’If we had better material and an alchemist of equivalent level, we could reach the maximum level,’ Bruno said resentfully. To assist them, there were only mediocre alchemists, and they had to perform a miracle to reach this level.
It was dawn when they entered a gigantic room at the highest point of the central building. Inside, they realized it was Doara’s private place, who was waiting for them. There was no one inside, and a strange feeling permeated the air.
They approached cautiously and sat on chairs. Soon, Doara approached and began to speak. "You must be aware of the problem we had with the dwarves, right?"
The whale nodded slightly, and she continued. "Since you’ve proven capable, take a look at this."
Suddenly, a small raw metal with a meter in length appeared. Its color was a shining silver, and immediately, all the laws seemed to converge on that metal.
"This... is mithril?" The whale murmured in admiration.
Doara nodded, satisfied. "Yes. For the dwarves, this is a sacred and divine metal." She stored it, and all phenomena ceased. Then she continued. "I spent half my life searching for this metal and spent an incalculable amount of crystals. Finally, I managed to find it and secretly mine only this small amount."
The whale sighed in admiration. This metal was widely known and rare in its previous universe; even on Earth, there were legends about Mithril. Of course, on Earth, only the name and color matched reality. But this metal was extremely pure and connected to the basic elemental laws like no other. The basic laws were powerful up to a certain point; at higher cultivation levels, more pure forms of Yin and Yang, or time and space, were used as they were more comprehensive. That’s why Mithril was rare and seldom used, but still very useful; and dwarves were practically the only ones who used it, precisely because they considered it sacred.
"I’ve carefully planned a furnace to be made with this Mithril for centuries. So, when I finally got it, the dwarves, because of their stupid religion, refused to use it." Doara spoke with some irritation.
She then threw a ring to the whale, and they caught it, feeling the contents and momentarily shocked before turning to Doara. Inside were the complete furnace plans and the Mithril itself.
"You can do it. And even if you can’t, the dwarves will be captured and forced to help you." She spoke slowly as a malicious gleam appeared in her eyes.
’What kind of luck are we having?’ Alm said mentally, incredulous.
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In the next second, the entire room lit up with black runes, and the whale seemed to petrify. Soon, Doara laughed hysterically... clearly a laughter very similar to Alm’s.
"Now I have a talented forger in my hands. I won’t make the same mistake as the dwarves. No one will escape and ruin my plans." Doara said sinisterly and waved her hand.
The whole room trembled, and the black runes concentrated around the whale, covering him completely. In minutes, the runes faded, and Doara saw the expressionless whale and narrowed her eyes. But in the next second, a black rune appeared on the whale’s forehead, and she sighed in relief. The slave rune was successfully implanted.
"Dedicate yourself to studies and use less time to forge other furnaces and practice. When you are absolutely sure you can use the Mithril, I will arrange for Detue to help you. He has the same level of alchemy as me but is much more experienced in assisting with furnaces, whereas I am much better at commanding." Doara spoke confidently.
The whale then calmly stood up and bowed. Doara nodded, and the slave rune on the whale’s forehead was covered and disappeared. Without saying anything, the whale turned and left in extreme submission.
Upon reaching the forge, the whale approached the furnace expressionless. He was alone, so the black rune appeared again on his forehead. With a blink of an eye, the rune immediately turned to dust and vanished. Soon, a subtle, sinister smile appeared on the whale.
’What a wonderful and unexpected gift.’ Alm commented, extremely excited.
Then Bruno, who was reading all the furnace plans, sighed, saying, ’No wonder the dwarves refused and caused a violent commotion. This furnace... it can clearly make pills, but its main use is different. It can imprison and gruesomely refine living things.’
’Stupid religious dwarves. Well, it was great for us.’ Alm laughed like a villain. Bruno sighed, though. With just a few minutes between them, Bruno had heard the same type of laughter again.