The day passed quietly within the city. By morning, Ruri, Corin, and Loeus were recovered; they all joined Vuard and went to see the whale. He handed over all the superior Daos and Cultivations he had for the four of them; thus, the four began preparing for the event.
Alm and Bruno had to wait for Almin to prepare everything and study the pill recipe, something of a very high level for their current skills. It would take some time for him to get it right. Once they gave him the orders, they went to the forge.
The events and deaths that occurred here initially had no relation to the second seal. Not to mention, three bodies and two demon souls were at the crime scene. The four families would take their time investigating and would have a few days until the enemy knocked on their door.
Regarding the third level of the Forge God’s Dao, Alm and Bruno had already studied everything. To their initial disappointment, there was no new runic seal. But soon after, they became excited; much deeper knowledge about forging materials and even immortal cores existed. This knowledge significantly improved their chances of success in refining the heavens and many other areas.
Wisdom was a silent power that made a difference in countless situations. Now, Alm and Bruno were confident they could analyze the enemy’s weapon and easily find a flaw; this indirectly increased their power. This level provided them with much; in the end, it was a fair trade.
The Celestial Steel they found near the monolith was used by them. After purifying the metal, there was a reasonable amount sufficient to create eight katanas. However, they only needed one, so they used celestial refinement; four parts of Celestial Steel +1 emerged.
From this point on, making a +2 always represented a 50% chance, even using lucky charms. But now, with extreme confidence after assimilating the entire third level of the Forge God’s Dao, they estimated their chances had risen to almost 90%.
They got everything right, and two parts of Celestial Steel +2 emerged. However, they weren’t satisfied and felt they could go further. They knew that if they failed, they would lose everything, but in their minds, creating something incredible for Ruri to use was the only thing that mattered. The two took a deep breath and began the process calmly and confidently.
Crack!
’Failure...’
Bruno muttered, stunned. The natural energy of Celestial Steel began to evaporate before them; everything was lost, and the two parts started to disintegrate slowly.
’Shit! Try the tattoos!’ Alm spat dryly.
The natural power of the metal was directly linked to Yin and Yang; in theory, they could do something. However, celestial refinement, when it fails, destroys the physical part and the laws. This causes everything to revert to the most basic and minimal form. The two used all the power of the tattoos to try to prevent the properties of the metal from completely draining away. But it was like trying to block sunlight with a sieve.
They tried everything, but it was clear they wouldn’t succeed. Until Alm had an idea, he opened the spatial inventory and put all the remaining material inside it. His last hope was to seal everything in the inventory; it was a desperate measure.
Bruno found it a senseless measure, but at the moment everything went in, they both felt a pulse. Surprised, they looked inside and saw that sprout that was once a seed of chaos react.
All the material inside began to be drawn towards the sprout and floated around it slowly. It seemed like the two were trying to connect, but something seemed to be missing.
’The laws of chaos are the fundamental properties for the existence of everything... the failure in refinement turns the material back to the beginning; it becomes something more primitive than atoms and returns to the earth,’ Bruno murmured in awe. ’They are compatible; we can control it with this chaos sprout!’
Alm and Bruno jumped with joy. Immediately, they used their divine souls and tattoos to the fullest, pouring everything into the sprout. Although it looked like a small grayish plant, it had no minimal consciousness or action; it seemed like an inert body that Alm and Bruno were forced to move. They had to feed it and control it for everything to happen. They didn’t even have the minimum knowledge of how it worked; it was exhausting work, and the cost of resources was too high to experiment with. That’s why they had put it aside. But now, an interesting opportunity has arisen.
Suddenly, the chaos sprout trembled, and Alm and Bruno focused to the maximum, channeling all their QI through the tattoos. In seconds, the remnants of the Celestial Steel began to come together... in minutes, the bluish mineral returned to its original form!
Although they had lost a significant amount of the original material, which consisted of two Celestial Steels +2, they could now consider having only one. The two observed the final result, taking a deep breath. The cost was high, using all their QI and a large amount of power from the divine soul. However, this method opened up many future possibilities.
’Wait! If we can reconstruct, we can do the reverse. What if we use celestial refinement along with this chaos sprout?’ Alm quickly thought.
They opened their eyes to the whale and absorbed an impressive amount of Yang from the environment, coming from the city and the forest. Their whole body quickly filled up again, and they began to test the idea.
An hour passed, and they emptied and refilled a dozen times. But now, the eyes of the two were shining. Thanks to the deep knowledge acquired in the Dao of the God of Forge and celestial refinement, using the chaotic capabilities of this sprout as a tool, a higher level of refinement emerged before them.
’This is above the Forge God’s technique; its potential to be explored goes far beyond. Let’s call it Chaotic Refinement,’ Bruno said excitedly. ’The cost of QI and our soul is extreme, but we can go beyond what the previous refinement was capable of.’
Alm immediately activated the array. Inside the castle, in the room, Ruri was meditating when she felt all her mental power and spatial laws being completely sucked away.
Everything was taken from her without needing to leave anything behind. It was placed in the inventory, along with various materials they had brought from the underworld. The two activated the chaos sprout again. The laws and materials began to crumble, and the recovered Celestial Steel also began to turn to dust again. Everything started to come together and merge slowly.
The two felt their souls quickly wearing out; they burned everything until only a third of the two remained. Another silent hour passed, and soon they stopped. They opened the eyes of the whale, shaking and removing it, unable to believe what they had done.
A strange steel pulsating in blue, black, and violet colors emerged. Around it, the space seemed to tremble slowly, its capacity and potential seemed incalculable.
They felt every inch of it, still not believing. Celestial refinement could fuse two different materials, but they had to be compatible, and the chance of failure was huge. Now, they merged several completely different laws and materials together... they created a terrifying abomination, and above all; there was no chance of failure anymore!
Alm took a deep breath and spoke. ’Common refinement is still useful to push the base material to the limit. Then, we can fuse everything we want into it... and we can still put a runic seal on it afterward.’
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Now, they could refine everything to the limit without worrying about losses. If they failed, they could recover at least half of the two ’lost’ materials. Thus, this material would be the basis for the new Chaotic Refinement.
’Mihkriel would be amazed at the uses we found for his technique. We’ve already merged it with another and now we’re using it for forging... it’s like it was made for us,’ Bruno said excitedly.
The whale quickly went back to its work using this new metal. A katana made of a completely unique material in infinite universes emerged. It had no fixed color and seemed like a heart pulsing with laws and power. It was bright and flashy; if it were theirs, they would feel it was too flashy; but Ruri liked exactly that kind of thing.
They analyzed the katana, and Alm concluded. ’Its compatibility with mental power is equal to that of the original material. Using the mental power enchantment runic seal will multiply its compatibility several times. And now, it will still have elevated spatial and Yin capabilities. These are exactly the elements of spatial shadow, which is your central technique.’
Bruno reflected on Fides. It is something made of crystal, created with the pure and primordial power of Behemoth. No mixture of materials from the ascending planet would be heavier or harder; Fides did not need to be rebuilt at the moment. But in the future, this would be useful for him.
They called Ruri and replenished her QI and mental power. With her help, the mental power enchantment seal was placed on the katana. She received the new weapon in extreme joy and turned to her master fixedly and smiling.
Both understood her intention and desire. Alm, who was in charge, just looked back, making it clear that she couldn’t go far. He only let it happen a third time because of the situation; he had no intention of going further.
Ruri just lowered her gaze in disappointment, and it hit Alm’s chest like a knife. He then sighed and nodded, allowing her to approach a little. Ruri calmly hugged his arm as always... but Alm let out a subtle emotion and will, which did not escape her eyes.
Bruno stayed silent, but satisfied. Before, Alm had crossed the line between master and disciple and ended up opening up emotionally to her. He couldn’t stand seeing her dissatisfied, which meant there was no turning back. Ruri had created her space inside him and would never leave. There was no disappointment in Ruri, she clearly saw a path ahead and just had to wait for the right moment to move forward.
Moved by a desire to be close to her for a little while, soon she would be away, and they wouldn’t have this opportunity for a while. They walked through the city together and talked about the future. After two hours, their and Ruri’s eyebrows furrowed. The sound of a battle arose within the formation; they finally arrived.