Alm and Bruno were lost in their thoughts for several minutes. During this time, they didn’t notice that Ruri was beside the dwarves, away from them. She spoke incessantly, and throughout this time, the runic stars inside the temple continued to illuminate the whale in a mystical and transcendental way.
Ruri turned back, making broad gestures and looking at her standing master; at that moment, it was as if they were the center of the world. She smiled cheerfully and kept talking. Then, she drew her sword, activating her runic seal.
"HoOoOoOoOh!"
All the dwarves opened their mouths in amazement. Then, the runic seal on her dress lit up, bringing with it an unlimited power of the earth. She didn’t forget to use the hero’s rune to make all the laws around bow down, giving even more intense emphasis to it. She then used earth laws through the array, creating a luminous spectacle by combining it with mental power. The dwarves just held their jaws in awe.
A few minutes later, the whale clenched their fists, and Alm and Bruno reached a consensus. Then, they turned...
Their eyes slowly jumped to the view outside the temple. All the dwarves were kneeling, with Ruri at the forefront, swelling her chest. She noticed the gaze from behind and ran towards the whale, clinging to their arm.
"It’s done," she spoke softly, making the whale take steps outside. "Now, master just needs to show his grandeur. They’ve already accepted him as..."
"WE WELCOME THE SECOND COMING OF THE GOD OF THE FORGE!"
The dwarves shouted in unison, and the whale stopped their steps in astonishment. ’What the hell did this girl say...’ Bruno muttered, shocked.
’Doesn’t matter, our missionary is efficient, and it’s not a complete lie. Maybe we’re just below the Forge God himself, and when we reach all levels, we won’t necessarily be inferior to him.’ Alm said dryly, feeling some pride in Ruri’s devilish performance. Convincing masses is a useful skill.
The whale snorted, and their eyes chilled. "Let’s go, to the forge," they said, and all the dwarves trembled at those words.
It didn’t take long for the largest forge to be cleared for them to use. It was gigantic, and as they entered and approached the center...
CRACK!
They turned, seeing all the walls being torn away. Dwarves from the entire city gathered around the forge, making room to witness the Forge God’s second coming in action. Hammering sounds were quickly heard, and makeshift stands were erected upwards. They were surrounded by thousands and thousands, all with eyes full of expectation.
The whale didn’t mind and called the enthusiastic Vuard. He probably helped a lot in convincing everyone.
"Bring me materials with varied properties; I want to test things."
"Yes!" The dwarf responded excitedly.
Thus, various types of ores were given for them to use. The dwarves practically handed them over, begging for him to use them, forming a colorful mountain.
The whale chose the earth iron that they were most familiar with. Soon, it was placed in the fire. Then, Oldis came running in the midst of the crowd, with heavy steps to the point of breaking the ground.
She reached the whale’s side, stretching her arms and speaking. "Sir! The city’s master has handed you his hammer; everyone wants to see you work."
Alm and Bruno accepted with shining eyes; it was a high-level hammer. A specialized forging hammer, which they had finally obtained! They always used their fists in a brutal and wild manner... Physical cultivation made their fists as hard as steel, and it was efficient, no matter how incredible it seemed. Between using any hammer and their fists, the fists were preferable. But in the Dao of the Forge God, there were infinite forging techniques using the blacksmith’s hammer. Now that they had a high-level hammer, their ability multiplied automatically.
They felt the weight of the hammer; it wasn’t as heavy as the bone club, but it had everything they needed for forging.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The sounds of hammering echoed throughout the city; all the inhabitants watched the whale work in silence. And each hammer strike was followed by the heartbeat of everyone. That... was on a level of precision and technique from another world.
Suddenly, the whale stopped after preparing the two piles of earth iron. Then, they focused to use the Heaven Refinement. But before that, they took out a small stone and put it in their pocket. They couldn’t embarrass themselves in front of so many people.
Seconds passed... minutes... an hour later, the laws stirred.
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The whale then lifted a single ore pulsating with power. It radiated energy equivalent to a mountain of earth iron, but it was just a pile about two meters tall and somewhat thin.
All the dwarves felt and saw that, completely astonished. The whale, on the other hand, analyzed calmly. And they went back to hammering, now forging a weapon with it.
Half an hour later, they pulled a black saber from the water, creating a mist rising at their feet along with the awe of everyone.
’Success! First try complete. Let’s call it... Earth Saber +1.’ Bruno said excitedly.
The +1 is because they only refined it in a basic way, not risking too much. And obviously, they could refine as many times as they wanted, multiplying the chances of failure but proportionally increasing the power of the mineral. At higher levels, a single mineral of a few meters could have the density of an entire planet... of course, they were far from anything like that. ’I wonder if a Black Hole would emerge from that,’ Bruno thought.
The whale turned to the other minerals and began working on all of them. They could even refine different ores into one, but they were just learning to use refinement, and the difficulty was staggering.
However, the gains were not as rewarding in mixing ores with properties without significant synergy. Similar ores were not, in general, much more efficient than combining the same ones. If in the future, they found specific different rare ores, it might be worth a try. But the risks weren’t worth it with mediocre materials.
So, the whale spent half a day using Heaven Refinement on all the minerals and then another half-day forging hundreds of weapons. In the end, they felt satisfied with the training; all the weapons were +1.
Then, they thought of something and turned to Vuard, who watched all their movements, not wanting to miss anything like everyone else. Vuard had seen the whale work many times before, but now it seemed like they had transformed into something much, much superior.
"If I put runic seals on all of this, they will be weapons above anything on this planet," the whale said, and the dwarves listened. Soon, their hearts beat like synchronized drums. Vuard, on the other hand, looked into the eyes of the whale without words. "If I do this and hand them over to the dwarves? What will I gain in return?"
Everyone was stunned and excited. Vuard remained dazed, trying to process it. Oldis, at his side, promptly spoke, "My father will accept everything and turn them into the kingdom’s treasure. Something irreplaceable made by you, to be guarded for all generations."
They nodded, and she continued, "The reward... whatever we can give you in return, we will."
"I want mithril," they said casually, and Oldis listened seriously. "I’ll give an invaluable gift, and you’ll repay me with something equally invaluable to you. Fair, isn’t it?"
She didn’t respond, and no one dared to speak anything against the king; only his daughter could say something. The whale saw her silence and snorted, completing.
"I don’t want much, don’t be so stubborn. I want enough to make a new weapon for Ruri. She broke hers, fighting an ogre. All to save your people... you can’t deny that to her..."
The whale’s eyes became serious, and Oldis turned to Ruri, who automatically changed her expression to something upset and indignant. Oldis then sighed lightly, speaking. "My father won’t be against it. The treasures will be equivalent, and a fair exchange."
The whale nodded slightly, and Ruri became excited. Soon, while they worked on the runic seals, Oldis returned to the central city. She ran with all her might; it was an incredible opportunity for her people. Enough to make a weapon? Mithril was sacred, but it could be found rarely with the help of the dwarves’ bloodline. But those weapons with runic seals were impossible to have.
In exactly 20 hours, she returned. All the dwarves were still around the furnace, watching the whale work with the newly delivered ores. Only Ruri saw Oldis arrive and jumped to her side, receiving a spatial ring.
Ruri, in turn, handed over another ring. Inside, almost a hundred weapons with sharpening or storage seals were left. Bruno was fair, and unlike the evil cultivators, he made useful and non-suicidal seals. In the storage ones, they made Ruri work to incorporate spatial laws. They could only be used once, and then they would have to put something else, but the power of space was enough to make it worthwhile.
Then, Ruri ran to the side of the whale, handing over the ring. Inside, Alm and Bruno were excited; the king was really fair. It wasn’t just enough for one weapon; it could make a hundred of them, he gave an amount equivalent to what they gave.
Obviously, they didn’t wait to put it to use.
It was three days of uninterrupted work, and all the dwarves felt like their worlds and forging techniques had elevated dozens of levels just by watching. The whale gave multiple times more to everyone than it received, and the dwarves, now converted by Ruri, only had adoration and praise.
The whale then raised the silver katana high. They used all the mithril they had, failed almost 50 times, but succeeded in the end...
’It’s a Katana +3,’ Bruno said, looking around and spotting the numerous luck stones they used to make something like this. Even with the stones, they broke half a dozen +2 katanas with tears of blood. But in the end, it was all worth it.
A sharpening seal was placed. Unfortunately, they couldn’t test the new seal as Ruri was too dependent on the sharpening seal. And they still had to properly test the new runic seal.
Bruno didn’t forget to make a flashy and colorful scabbard, and he placed the curved blade inside with a cutting sound that reverberated through everyone. Ruri received the new weapon, jumping and putting it on her waist, clinging to their arm.
"The cutting power of the dragon glass was greater, but the refined mithril in the katana can even handle it, amplifying its spatial law. In the end, without the sharpening seal, its power is countless times better just with the laws of space." They said to Ruri excitedly.
Then, they turned to Vuard and Oldis. "Let’s go, the king must have concluded everything."
They waved, and the whale and its group set off back to the central city. All the dwarves were still standing, stunned, unable to properly digest everything they saw. It took hours for everyone to disperse. But, unbeknownst to Alm and Bruno, a few months after they left, a new statue next to the disciple of the god of forging was made. It was placed above him, and everyone could admire the second coming of the god of forging.
Of course, it was all Ruri’s doing, and the whale gained another nickname. In the future, those dwarves who visited the desert city would recognize them and convert to their religion. She thought about it from afar while her master was meditating. She knew that once her master acted, everyone would be stunned.
They returned calmly; it had been five months since they left the desert city. Eight more months until they went to the central sect. So, when they returned to the main dwarf city, they were welcomed this time as important guests.
The king presented himself again in front of the city people as if they had never met before. The news of the whale’s deeds had already spread, and now everyone saw him and waved, satisfied and grateful for saving so many women from their people. Of course, they didn’t know that their half-ogre children had been brought, but they would all leave soon, so it was irrelevant.
Right after the show, inside the now-renovated hall, the king explained everything more thoroughly to the whale and his group, and they listened attentively.
"Inside the secret tunnel, you won’t find countless moonlight crystals. Only a single one... that is almost thirty meters tall. We leave a group of dwarf miners there all the time. They use their bloodline to the fullest until they exhaust themselves, so every year, a small shard is broken off."
"The hardness and weight are immense, and we use it to break and shape many different things. It’s a treasure and, at the same time, a lifesaving weapon. We can burn our bloodline to shoot an arrow with the moonlight crystal and kill anything. But... the dwarf dies as a consequence. All the bloodline from his body is needed along with his life force."
The whale nodded gently. But internally, Alm and Bruno were ecstatic. ’Thirty meters... we can... use the crystal to make a weapon!’ Bruno thought mentally, extremely excited.
The king paused for a second and added tensely, "In the world, few dwarves sell their weapons or live outside the kingdom. You must wonder what we do with so many weapons that practically every dwarf forges daily."
"Near the moonlight crystals, there is a strange danger. Some say it’s a monster, others a spirit... I can’t say for sure what they are... no one knows. But, without an uninterrupted source of weapons and equipment, it is impossible to stay there."