"What the hell are you doing, George? Are you mad?" Finn hurriedly rushed over to where George was and grabbed his wrist, stopping George from pouring the blood and bones into the container.
"Look. I know it was unfair for that Count to steal your life work. But you can’t be !
I only went out for a few days and now you’re doing blood sacrifice?!"
George scratched his head. "It actually isn’t what it looks like."
"Then what does it look like, huh? You tell me." Finn glared at George.
"I... Sign... Look. I will show you what it is. But you have to promise me to keep it a secret, you understand?"
"What are you blabbering about, George? Just say it already."
George grabbed Finn’s shoulder tightly. "No, Finn! Promise right now! Or do not ask me any further questions."
"Alright. Alright. Geez. I promise alright. You can tell me."
"No, Finn. I’m afraid you don’t understand the dire of the situation. I repeat again. This time think it through carefully. Learning about what I’m doing may cost you your life. Do you still wish to continue?"
George lost his house and his profession. He had become an assistant for Finn. The man was not who he used to be. However, Finn knew his friend good enough to understand that George would never lie about something .
Finn’s expression softened and he looked out to the opened window. No one was around. The blacksmith of Scalize closed the window gently and whispered.
"I promise you I will bring this secret to the afterlife. You can tell me."
George nodded. He removed his smithing gloves then took out a piece of parchment in his pocket.
"You can look for yourself."
Finn’s brow furrowed.
"Dull Steel? ’A dense, dark gray steel that resists wear and impact.’ Animal Blood and Bone...
A secret recipe I see. Are you sure it will work?"
"I don’t know. That is why I am testing it right now."
Finn quickly grabbed his forge apron and put the smithing gloves on.
"What are you doing?" George said. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel•fire.net
"Helping you. What else can I be doing?" Finn rolled his eyes.
"You really don’t need to do that. I know you have been helping the Baron all day. You need some rest."
"Argh. Stop loitering around, George. I also want to see what kind of Steel this Dull Steel is. You want my help or not?"
"Alright. Let’s do it together."
The next morning, Siderius sat on the floor of his room in the Crossroads Inn. There were inns and taverns that also offered a place to stay inside Scalize. But Siderius decided to stay out of town.
In front of him was a sack of pyrrhotite. The dried body of the Firevein plant, also known as Arvena. And finally, a flask made from leather with a dark blue viscous liquid inside. It was Ferris Sanguisium, commonly known as Iron Blood, one of the side product created in the process of making Saltpetre.
Siderius didn’t throw it away after he acquired Saltpetre because it had a very beneficial use for a witch hunter.
Iron Blood could be used to treat steel. Originally, the recipe of Dull Steel didn’t use Animal Blood or Bones. That was a barbaric version of the recipe that was used thousands of years ago in Siderius’ homeland.
Alchemist had been used Iron Blood for a very long time. The content inside it could solidify the nature of the iron, infusing it with the needed carbon evenly.
Dull Steel made from Animal Blood would be significantly more durable than Weak Steel of this world.
But Dull Steel made from Iron Blood could break most of its opponents. The only issue of Dull Steel was that it couldn’t be sharpened to a high degree.
It could reach the sharpness of a kitchen knife. But as a weapon, its surface had too many grains and imperfections to create a clean cut.
Siderius took out a piece of parchment and started to draw on it. He was making a new type of weapon.
This was a new creation and had never been done before. He only had to make this because he needed more power.
Siderius needed time to advance further in the Witch Hunter rank and Alchemist rank.
Strong Steel needed rare elements that Siderius couldn’t get his hands on at the moment.
So naturally, the only way to make himself stronger without sacrificing to much was to make a new sword with the Dull Steel. Dull Steel was never used to make weapons in Siderius’ old world. Its nature prevented it to take that role.
But with a little bit of twists, Siderius could design a terrifying weapon with the materials he currently had accessed to.
"Once the process is finished, what I will receive should be something similar to Dull Steel." Siderius drew a schematic of a sword onto the piece of parchment. "Dull Steel can’t be too sharp so I should just ignore that altogether. Let’s make the body of the sword thicker so it can deliver more force."
Siderius put in the specifications for the schematic. This included the length of the sword, its overall shape and thickness, and many more. Because of Dull Steel’s nature, the sword fell onto the shorter size of a long sword.
Then Siderius designed the scabbards for the swords. This was extra important because the uniqueness of the weapon he was trying to create. There would be two scabbards. One to replenish the sword. And the other to activate it.
The two designs were quickly drafted into completion. The only thing left was the material of the sword, the most difficult part.
"The Base is Dull Steel. That is a requirement. George should be able to synthesize Dull Steel from the recipe I gave him.
The main ingredients are these pieces of pyrrhotite. They aren’t suitable to be used yet. A suppression process is needed. I will need to synthesize Yellow Salt for the suppression process.
That should be easy enough since I already acquired the spirit of salt.
The first sub reagent is this plant of Firevein here. This species stored the Fire element on the veins of its leaves. By infusing the weapon with this property, I should be able to create a pocket Fire storage.
The second sub reagent... There needs to be an ingredient that can maintain the connection between the Iron and the Firevein. What kind of material can take this role?"
Siderius spread all the ingredients in his material pouch onto the floor. There were a few plants he had collected since he came to this world. Some ores he found near the hideout. A few byproducts and residues of previous alchemical processes.