Loyal Guardian

Lei Mingxing sat on one of the chairs around the break table, relaxedly carving away at some wood to create more arrow shafts.

The tea on the table next to her had already gone cold, but she still drank it, scrunching her nose for a moment because of the bitter taste.

Jing Jiang had prepared this herbal tea for her earlier.

Her drained appearance after forging the dagger had thoroughly frightened him, so, while supporting her and caring for her the best he could, Jing Jiang couldn't help but lecture her about 'understanding your limits and that failure is okay' for almost half an hour with a concerned expression. He only continued with his work after Lei Mingxing assured him that she would quietly rest.

Honestly, Lei Mingxing felt almost uncomfortable with this level of concern from another person, especially when she met it face to face. In the past, only her friend worried about her and even then he could only comfort her with his words. So, someone bringing her tea, worrying about her well-being, asking her to rest, was almost strange or even suspicious.

Lei Mingxing shook her head at these endlessly revolving thoughts.

Excessive suspicion wasn't good, it made one blind to actual threats. Same went for excessive trust, but that wasn't really something she worried about.

Anyway, to not waste time when she rested by doing nothing, Lei Mingxing used the downtime for some easy manual labor, like carving wood. A skill needed to become a true artificer in the future, and it was better to start early than late.

Several hours passed, in which Lei Mingxing finished all her usual chores after recovering enough of her strength to walk around again. Checking the state of her inner Qi every so often, impatient to complete the unfinished dagger lying on her part of the counter.

Finally, Lei Mingxing's inner Qi recovered to about half and she couldn't bear waiting any longer, so returned to her furnace.

Jing Jiang realized her intentions immediately.

"You want to complete your dagger? Are you sure you have already rested enough?", he didn't hide the worry in his voice as he observed Lei Mingxing, watching her closely in case he caught even the slightest hint of weakness.

"I want to finish the dagger today."

From the tone of Lei Mingxing's voice, Jing Jiang realized that he wouldn't be able to persuade her no matter what he said.

So he just sighed helplessly and picked up his unfinished dagger to continue the demonstration.

"Well, what do you think is still missing from the dagger?"

Lei Mingxing pondered for a moment before answering.

"The thing you hold onto and the part that separates the blade from it?"

Jing Jiang nodded.

"Exactly. The thing you hold onto is called a hilt, and the thing that separates the hilt from the blade is called a handguard. The latter is very important so the user's hand won't slip onto the blade, or an opponent's blade reaches the wielder's fingers."

He grabbed a sword he had finished earlier and acted out the motion for Lei Mingxing to see, highlighting other important aspects for Lei Mingxing to remember.

For example, the handguard shouldn't interfere with the user's grip and handling, you had to mind balance and weight, also, not every blade needed the same elements of a handguard and they should be adjusted accordingly.

In the case of most daggers, the ability to catch the opponent's blade wasn't actually that important as they were usually the last resort in a fight.

Lei Mingxing attentively listened to Jing Jiang's words, this was the first time she had truly considered the functions of parts other than the blade.

Before that, she just thought it was a matter of aesthetics with no real consequence, but now she really began to wonder.

What would the hand guard and hilt for her dagger look like?

But Jing Jiang had already started forging.

He heated another steel ore, refined it and quickly shaped about half into the simplest slightly curved guard, cooling it in the water bucket. The other half, he put aside before refining one more ore. Ultimately, combining them and creating a simple hilt.

The last step was to securely connect the three parts and wrap some leather around the handle.

Now, it was Lei Mingxing's turn.

She also grabbed two steel ores and started the refining process.

This time, she had a much easier time and manipulated the steel's form. With her eyes closed, the steel twisted for a bit, and as soon as it stopped moving Lei Mingxing quickly drowned it in the water bucket. She didn't even look at the handguard before moving on to the hilt.

Due to her prior over-exhaustion, Lei Mingxing's control over her inner Qi was still a bit unsteady, so she wanted to finish the forging process as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, the hilt was even easier for her to forge than the handguard.

She cooled the hilt in the water before expectantly combining the pieces and...

Lei Mingxing was left speechless by the pure, unapologetic wickedness her dagger radiated.

The blade itself had already somewhat resembled a writhing snake, but it wasn't too noticeable at first. Now, with the addition of the hand guard and hilt, it wasn't just a vague resemblance anymore.

The hand guard, if you could even call it that, consisted of four slender, fang-like spikes with rugged barbs at the top. As for the hilt beneath, the steel twisted in and around itself creating the impression of two snakes in tight entanglement.

All in all, looking like the weapon of an evil cultivator.

In other words, extremely twisted and wicked.

"..., it looks pretty... good?", Jing Jiang hesitantly complimented Lei Mingxing's dagger.

Lei Mingxing: "..."

How come all her creations had a slightly sinister air about them?

Silently, Lei Mingxing chose a strip of white leather to wrap around the hilt to maybe lighten its grim appearance, but it barely did anything.

"Anyway, let's test it first."

Jing Jiang gently took Lei Mingxing's dagger, examining it from every angle, even using his Qi to look inside, only to see all the impurities removed and the different metals almost fused to perfection.

"The quality is very good, as usual," Jing Jiang encouragingly smiled at Lei Mingxing and passed her the dagger again.

"Here, you should keep this dagger, as a memory for later when you look back at the start of your artificer career," Jing Jiang said, while taking out a worn-out scabbard with a small dagger inside, even smaller than the one Lei Mingxing made.

"This is mine, and I even named it," Jing Jiang paused before correcting his earlier statement, "Well, more like a friend of mine named it, but that doesn't matter."

He showed the words stitched into the leather scabbard to Lei Mingxing, 'Loyal Guardian'.

"You also have to make a scabbard for your dagger, you can choose any of the harder leather here."

Lei Mingxing rummaged through the leather, finally choosing one in a matching white color as the hilt.

So, Jing Jiang started instructing Lei Mingxing on how to cut and sew leather according to her needs, watching for a bit before judging that Lei Mingxing probably didn't need his help and returning to his furnace.

The sewing of the scabbard was going pretty smoothly after a few initial, clumsy stitches and just as she finished her last stitch, the bell at the forge's entrance sounded, along with slow, limping steps that ultimately entered the workshop.

Lei Mingxing turned around to greet Chang Liuyun but halted when she saw his gloomy expression.

A bad feeling rose inside her and she quickly put the scabbard down, excusing herself to Jing Jiang before going upstairs with Chang Liuyun to talk.

As soon as they were in their room, Lei Mingxing broke their silence.

"What happened?"

Small theater:

Dagger: *sparkles cutely*

Lei Mingxing and Jing Jiang: *feel a sudden chill run down their spine*