Unlike usual, where Christian was working on his androids, surrounded by the soft hum of cooling fans, the chrome arms of assembly bots, and the sterile glow of monitors lighting his face, alongside the occasional interrupting voice of Iris.
Now... now he stood in a silent room, breathing smoke and sweat.
The air pulsed with heat!
In front of him blazed a glowing forge, built not with bricks and coal, but with advanced technology hidden beneath a medieval shell. Flames flickered gold and orange, their heat so intense the fire could reach over 3,000 degrees Celsius. So, the very air shimmered.
The stark contrast between this and before made it feel as if he, who had lived in a science fiction world, had suddenly returned to ancient times. Because, despite everything in this forging room being crafted with the most advanced techniques known to Earth.
The act of blacksmithing, in itself… it felt ancient.
Topless, displaying the lean muscle of his six-pack and the sculpted lines of his chest, he stood before the forge. His eyes never looked away. Tongs clenched tightly in his hands held a chunk of glowing metal, trembling and alive with heat, as he laid it on the anvil for the final touch. A dagger.
It was almost complete. Only this one final shaping, this last decision of form and balance, remained.
Behind him, the room was built of stone and steel.
The walls absorbed heat but never grew dangerously hot. Smart vents worked tirelessly above, filtering the air and pulling smoke upward through the rafters with barely a whisper.
Beneath his bare feet lay the only place of relief, the floor, constructed with special cool materials, along a technology that constantly regulated its temperature. It was nice… if one didn't mention its cost.
But at this moment, even with sweat sliding down his back, he was more than fine with it.
All his concentration was on the dagger… on this last crucial step.
In his hand was a hammer, an old-looking thing, yet holding within it something beyond any modern tool. A gift from Olivia.
With it, he struck the metal.
Sparks jumped like wild fireflies, the iron sang beneath each blow.
But was that everything he was doing?
Blacksmithing… a tradition, and an ancient profession that had existed since long, long ago, was something he had been learning seriously. But not in its original form.
This was the essence version.
A blacksmithing path that required not only skill with fire and metal, but also high mastery in essence manipulation, and in that, at least, he had confidence.
His approach was subtle, his manipulation fine. When it came to essence itself, his technique was refined enough to be called elegant.
But in the rest, as in, in the movement of the hammer, in the shaping of the blade, and in the other skills of a blacksmith, his techniques were still not up to standard.
Even then, the fire was the biggest problem, as the heat was actually not high enough.
Even with the latest technology, where the temperature could even reach 3,000 degrees, it was still not enough!
So, he should have aided in this process, himself.
But, the problem was that he was training in a technique related to shadow, and even after he had placed blacksmithing on one of his idle slots, then, started to get some fire essence mixing with the shadow one inside his body, the process was still slow.
And so, he needed to train in a proper technique related to fire, and better also with metal.
But that brought another problem… he didn't want to change his technique. He didn't want to convert the shadow attribute essence inside his body to a fire one.
After all, he had taken a liking to shadow attribute.
But then, he needed to solve the problem of conflicting attributes inside his body.
His system, which only ever brought benefits to him and filtered anything that could be harmful, was naturally being helpful… but it filtered too much.
And while he was also learning how to mix fire into shadow through the same idle slot he assigned to learning how to become a proper blacksmith, all of that again was taking time.
So, he needed to create a technique that could help him assimilate anything together inside his body, so he could learn everything he wanted, all at once.
But now was not its time. So, he left that out.
So again… does that mean that the heat problem remained unsolved in the end?
After all, there was Sophia, who was already training with a fire technique. And with the earlier process, he had asked for her help. But she was still weak, so she couldn't help for a long period.
And that's why, at this moment, he was alone.
He was alone, drenched in sweat… sweat that was evaporating as fast as it formed due to the heat. And working hard, he was displaying an image that just didn't suit him.
But at this point in time, when his interest in his previous hobbies was slowly lessening, Christian was actually enjoying this moment.
He knew that he was not restricted by anyone after all.
The dagger was also for him, and he could finish it whenever he wanted.
Anyway, he was almost there.
The short blade, still glowing faintly orange, was laid gently on a dark slab of stone, meant for cooling the heat. He stared at the piece of steel he had been working on for a week now, and didn't rush.
Blacksmithing needed patience, after all.
He watched the color fade, from orange to red, from red to a dull gray. It was like watching the sun set, one breath at a time.
With his bare hand, he touched the spine of the blade, still too hot for ordinary people to hold, but just right for him, who had made a start as a blacksmith. Then, he finally moved it to the workbench, and the soft clink of metal against metal began ringing again.
He worked the last details of the dagger carefully.