The Best Way To Forge

The last part of the process was what Jien considered to be the easiest in the fact that the application wouldn't be as varied as the others. The last piece would be the blacksmithing process. The choice of which type of blacksmithing to use was simple. He couldn't smith a plant the same way he would a piece of ore without destroying the plant itself. This only left him with the use of formations to smith what he needed.

This is where things became slightly complex, but not nearly as much as the moving parts of the alchemy and formations used for controlling the end product. He needed to choose the shape of his final product and then work out the details of how to fuse the control formations into the forging process. Both of these pieces had their own complexities.

First he would need to choose the shape of his creation. It would be difficult to reforge a blade that was already as masterfully crafted as his gift from Emily. It definitely wouldn't be impossible but the chance of success for someone that had never forged anything in his life was astronomically high. He may have all the knowledge of the guide that had been given to him by Runa but that didn't amount to practical experience. Not to mention that the guide only covered forging items from scratch, not reforging what already was created.

Jien didn't wish to forge an entirely new blade for himself to adjust the fencing style. He found the idea to be a waste. Not only had he been gifted an extraordinary weapon by Emily that suited the style as she used it very well, but anything that he could create, while being his own and meeting his requirements for the updated style, would be lackluster in comparison.

This left Jien with one conclusion. At least for the time being he would have to create something that would be added onto his current weapon to enhance it. This way the blade would not be disrupted from it's optimal state and he would be able to meet his requirements for his addition. This just left the question of what form this addition would take.

This actually was the first piece that Jien started to experiment with. To understand how he would need to adapt the Serpent Vine and then what formations could best be used he would need to determine what its ultimate shape would be.

There was nothing in the book on arcane blacksmithing about how to shape a plant. Jien was sure that there may be a forge master out there in the world who had created such an art, perhaps to create training weapons out of wood, but the book was specifically aimed for processes relating to ore.

Jien had even gone so far as to ask his mentors, his father and Runa if they had heard of anything similar and though they gave him an answer it was not the one he had expected. What he had expected was denial or to be informed that there was a school of blacksmithing that did so but that he would have to learn it from a master at some later point, perhaps in the capital.

The answer he actually got was that there was indeed such an art but that it wasn't one that humans knew anything about. There were stories of the elves and halflings taking plant life during battle and forming it into a weapon that they could use if in need. However, these were only tales from those that survived battling these races on the Eternal Battlefield. Nobody in the human kingdoms knew how it worked, though they had tried to study it amidst battles.

This unfortunately meant that Jien would have to stumble around in the dark regarding this matter. It wasn't like he could just go and find an elf or halfling and discuss how they were able to do so. All races were at each others throats. There wasn't even slavery of the various races. If you were found harboring one, even as a slave, you, your family and anyone connected to you would be razed to the ground. There would be no mercy, no negotiation and no honor in the death that would be doled out.

And so Jien was forced to start experimenting with the methods he had on hand. Luckily, Runa had given him most everything an aspiring apprentice blacksmith could need, regardless of the type of blacksmithing they chose.

Jien walked over to chest of blacksmithing supplies and pulled out several items that he knew he would need after summoning forward the knowledge on one of the most basic arcane blacksmithing methods. The method would use an array to use the shape from the user's mind to control the shaping of the finished product. The trouble was that it would require more concentration and fine control of one's mana then most even three times Jien's age had. Luckily at this stage he was just trying to get his toes wet.

He concentrated on the knowledge of the formation used and what would be best used for the nodes. He found that the formation was rather complex in design, but it was as clear in his mind as it had been on the page of the blacksmithing guide. He laid out a large piece of parchment and began to draw out the formation carefully using an ink created by boiling several magic plants into a dye that could conduct mana to a degree.

After he had completed drawing the formation he moved to the supplies he had removed from the chest and picked up several small stones that were silver in color. These were made of a multipurpose mana conducting stone commonly referenced as Allstone. It was known as this because it could be used to conduct mana in just about any type of scenario. The trouble was exactly that it was truly neutral and would not hold onto any elemental inclinations. This made it useless to most in terms of advanced formations masters, but for those just starting their training it was very handy because of how common a resource it was to find.

Once Jien had placed the stones in the correct locations for nodes within his formation he picked up the last piece of the supplies he had removed from the blacksmithing supply chest, a block of red brown clay the size of his forearm. This was a clay used by training in blacksmithing as it would act akin to heated iron ingot naturally. This would mean that at all times without any adjustments it could be used to test the artisans skill in being able to shape and use iron out of the forge.

Jien smiled lightly as he placed the clay in the center of the drawn formation and placed his hand on one of the Allstones to begin channeling his mana into the formation.