The Forge

I spent my days mostly relaxing in the sun and observing the new guys from afar. I Cultivated a bit as well and trained in my various techniques, but mostly I just lazed around. Having no desire to party, I patiently waited until the summer solstice celebration was over so I could finally visit The Vault. I mean the library.It was called The Vault because that's what it was. An overly guarded stone structure buried beneath the mountain that contained all the accumulated knowledge the Sect collected over the centuries. The old records and ancient secrets were also there, but those parts were not for the public. Only the Grand Elders and the Sect Master could enter.The rest of us had to satisfy our curiosity with a small wing where the more advanced knowledge of Cultivation was stored. I did speak with my other friends during the week, and a conversation with Che Erie, my stonemason friend, pointed me in a direction that might help me find what I needed to upgrade Tiny.I asked him about the rocks and various stones used for creating powerful golems, and by chance, he knew a few things about it. Having Seniors who discussed such things was apparently really good for catching a few interesting tidbits here and there.Anyway, there was supposedly a Forge the stonemasons used to reinforce their materials when building permanent Formations. I didn't get any specifics, other than it was called The Forge. A machine that could imbue stone with great power. And so I was on my way to The Vault to find some information on The Forge.[Elder.]I greeted the man at the front desk with a bow and cupped fists."Disciple. How can I help you?"[I'm looking for information on something called The Forge.]The Elder lifted an eyebrow. "The Forge?"[It's supposedly a Formation for reinforcing rocks. I think.]"Try the Mineral-Blacksmithing section. Or perhaps the Stone Formations section." The Elder suggested. "If it's not there, try asking one of the other Elders roaming the library, they should be able to help.[Thank you, Elder.]I made my way down the short hallway down to the grand halls of knowledge. It cost a Spirit Stone to enter, but then you could read whatever you wanted. The Vault closed for the night, so at most I had 16 hours to read. I had to make sure to spend my time well.In a short few minutes, I familiarized myself with the layout and found the sections I was looking for. The library had large sections that encompassed a wide range of topics, such as blacksmithing, formations, or combat, and then that was divided into smaller subsections such as those the Elder mentioned previously.I slowly browsed through the shelves of books and scrolls. There were many interesting techniques about all kinds of things, most of which I had no use for.What did I care about the steps required to build a kiln for baking enchanted pottery? Or the exact steps required for forging a mithril-gold alloy.Similarly, techniques for boosting my compatibility with the Fire Element were also useless to me, as I was quite literally a creature of flames.I did find a Body Cultivation manual for blacksmiths though. Obsidian Bones it was called. Bones hardy enough to resist the heat of a volcano, yet hard as diamond, capable of resisting even the strongest hammer blows.It was clearly a technique made for smiths, but as long as it was about defense, it would take it. And so I did.I sat at a table and began reading. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered these manuals were also written with way too much filler and flowery content, using double meanings and metaphors whenever possible. It was clear to me that the time I had would barely be enough to learn one technique, let alone several, as I had previously planned.The stupidity of confusing writing forced me to find an alternative. And it just so happened that I had the perfect way to gain more time. I let Qi flood my brain, and everything slowed down.Century in Blink.Time stretched into near stillness, and I began to study. Luckily I had drastically more knowledge than the previous time I visited the library, so deciphering the technique was much easier. Still took some time though. I glanced at other Disciples reading nearby, their concentrated, frozen faces focused on the scroll or book in hand.I internally wished them luck and focused on my task.Mentally going through the motions, I went over the technique and the pathways my Qi would have to take to change my bones over and over. I would be transforming into something different. Something better.My skeleton was already changing all on its own, becoming like a black crystal, and spreading outward from my core. Nearly my entire ribcage already transformed, and the change was accelerating. I could feel the changes in my body, and with the detection abilities of my Golden Core Realm, my body was laid bare in my mind. Every cell, every strand of flesh, I could see in extreme detail.I knew exactly how the Obsidian Bones would affect my body. It was actually a technique to shift the nature of bones to a more stone-based Element. For other Cultivators, it would mean they would have to consume many rare minerals to create them, but for me, that just sped up the transformation already going on and then strengthened it as well.The black crystal somehow carried similar properties to my Dantian, making it nearly indestructible. The only difference was that it didn't store Qi. It contained some, however, the density inside was less than 1%.The transformation accelerated, and in a few short months, my bones would become nearly unbreakable. Even more so than they already were. I decided to combine the two techniques, Tyrant Forging Bones, and Obsidian Bones.Tyrant Forging Obsidian Bones.If I found any more suitable techniques, I decided I would incorporate those as well. You could never have enough protection.I sighed. Having released the Century in a Blink, I realized barely 30 minutes had passed. The long hours of study turned out to have been just a fraction of the time I had on hand. That was good. I took a minute to close my eyes and relax, and when I opened them again, I felt mentally refreshed.Having a partially Divine Soul did wonders for the mind.I stood up and returned the manual, eliciting a look from one of the Elders roaming through the library. He probably thought I had given up on the technique since I returned it so quickly. He probably didn't think I could change the speed of my perception. I was a freshly minted Golden Core Cultivator, and that Century in a Blink seemed to be a very rare technique.I browsed through the various manuals of the blacksmithing section some more, and though I found some interesting Body Cultivation scrolls, they were mostly for increasing Fire resistance. Unnecessary when you were completely immune to such a thing.I came to the end of the section and realized it was not there. The blueprints for The Forge. I moved on to the Formations sections and began to carefully scour through the long bamboo tubes containing the blueprints. Every container had a name and a short description written on the plug, allowing for a proper one to be quickly found. Yet even then, with the thousands of scrolls to check, it would take a while.Fortunately, that's why the Elders were there. I asked, and with a bit of specific requests, I was pointed in the right direction.In the section on blacksmithing, Formations, and stone forming, I found it.The Titan's Forge.I took the bamboo container, opened it, and pulled out the rolled-up scrolls. They were massive. Two by two meters, folded in half and rolled tight. And there were three of them. One side had a detailed depiction of the final product, and the other had the information and description required to make it.It was depicted from multiple sides, and in various stages of construction.I intensely scratched my head in frustration. At a glance, I could already tell it was going to be difficult and expensive to make.After studying the designs, that became even more apparent. The Forge looked nothing like a forge. It was a stone cylinder, split in the middle, with a half-sphere on each piece, top and bottom, so that when it was closed, the inside would be completely sealed.The minimal size was three meters tall with a diameter of two meters, and the sphere inside should be a meter across. The structure had glyphs and arrays all over its surface, both inside and outside, as well as eight equally spaced holes for Spirit Stones, four at the top and four at the bottom, to power the entire Ten Thousand Hammers Formation. It was what powered The Titan's Forge.I wanted to curse so badly. Eight Spirit Stones were required for the activation of The Forge. That was half of the money I still had. If made any mistakes in the creation of The Forge, I would go bankrupt!Well, not really, I still had the Spirit Swords and daggers, but I really didn't want to sell those. You don't sell trophies!Anyway, the problem of financing the construction I had to leave for a later date. First, I had to make sure I remembered every little detail so I wouldn't be making any mistakes. Those could be costly, especially when working on a project like that.The entire thing required high-grade materials, especially the stone the forge would be made of. Normal rock would simply crack, or in the worst cases, explode, when subjected to the amounts of energy and pressures The Forge required.A special, Qi conducting rock was needed, called the Void Stone.I actually already knew the material. It was a weird kind of bluish rock that had the property of naturally siphoning Qi from one side to the other. It was what the Spirit Veins underneath the Sect were made of. The weird thing was, that just like a magnet, no matter how small the pieces, they kept that intrinsic quality.Back in Neloron, the continent I was previously at, the Void Stone was used in some very rudimentary Formations to recharge magical items. Some of the Royalty there also used it to Cultivate, as a chamber made out of it could concentrate Qi inside, but it wasn't very useful.It was mostly so because the knowledge of Formations was very weak, so Qi would naturally escape, allowing for at most 100X concentration of Base Qi. And that was only for one small chamber, getting fed by a Spirit Vein beneath a city of more than a million people.The efficiency of it was abysmal.Anyway, in the Myriad Beast Sect, people were a bit better with Formations and actually knew how to use Void Stone to its full potential.The entire structure of Void Stone was actually just so enough Qi could be stuffed into the outside layer of the sphere, which was actually made out of another type of material, called the Arcane Resonator.That thing could be tuned to release all the stored Qi at once, allowing for incredibly powerful blasts of magical energy. The massive Void Stone served as just the feeder as well as containment, so no Qi would escape through it to the outside. If it did, many accidents could happen, as the energy of eight Spirit Stones released at once would be immense.I really hoped I would not make any mistakes. Taking a such bomb directly to my face would be the least of my problems. I dreaded to think what damage it would cause, and if I would be held responsible for it, having to pay it back.Now that would be a disaster!