章 11: Blacksmithing and Formations

"The strength of an artifact depends on three things, the materials used, the craftmanship and the inscriptions inscribed on it. Most inscriptions are simplified formations so for today you will only be making various weapons through forging. After you have a basic grasp over formations we will begin to make inscribed weapons. An evolved form of the inscriptions would be runes, a rune isn't a simplified formation but it derives on the fundamental laws of the universe and imbues that within either the artifact, pill, talisman or formation you are creating. For now you will be forging simple iron weapons and tools."

Lucius listened to Acacias lecture and nodded along as he knew it would be foolish to carve in inscriptions to a weapon that wasn't that great. He would first have to become adept at making weapons before he could inscribe them as even if he did inscribe a weapon he made for the first time the inscription would only amplify the base weapons ability. So if the weapon was only slightly sharp then a sharpness inscription would make it sharper but it wouldn't be as sharp as an originally sharp weapon could become.

He threw a heap of iron ore into the cauldron and used the tier 1 blacksmithing flame that his mother had just taught him, this was a much more powerful flame as the ores would require a much higher temperature than the medicinal herbs would. He began to burn off and eradicate the impurities as he tried to make the iron as pure as possible. Even though pure iron would be a lot softer and weaker than slightly impure iron, it was easier to carve inscriptions and channel energy through pure iron so the higher the purity of the metal the more smoothly the energy travels through it and the higher the level of inscriptions that can be applied. He then shaped the molten iron into a long bar and let it cool until it was somewhat solid but still hot enough to be bended and hammered. He then brought out the iron using tongs and hammered it on the anvil into the desired shape of a sword, making it thicker in the middle than the sides and lighter on the tip. He then sharpened the sword using a whetstone. It only took him around an hour because he could hammer with more power than a regular blacksmith and with his trained control over the years, sharpening a sword was quite easy. He then proceeded to make a spear head, a pair of daggers, a shield, some arrow heads and an axe head. He assembled the spear on a long branch he had sanded down and lacquered, it looked quite basic but it was sturdy and well sharpened. The shield he made was diamond shaped and he sharpened the rim so it could be used offensively. The axe was a simple woodcutting axe and the daggers were simple too. Lucius had preferred functionality over appearance hence his simple yet highly effective tools. By the end of the session Lucius was able to make the weapons quite well and his skills had improved.

The next day he was sat down in front of the large purple wood table and was taught about formations which were basically techniques and runes mixed together and put onto another medium outside of the body. The tier 1 flames he used were a technique were he shaped his qi and used it to create fire, formations were ways to utilise qi within the atmosphere or from a power source to initiate a technique. This could be seen as the first formation his mother taught him was the tier 1 alchemy flame formation where instead of moving his qi into the 4 ringed fire he would have to carve/draw that into another medium. Although it seems simple it is not actually simple to turn a three dimensional diagram into a two dimensional diagram. It took him a while to get used to but after 4 and a half hours he had already created formations for both alchemy and blacksmithing flames that he first drew with pencil then went over with pen. He would then draw onto some wood with a pencil and then use the carving knife to follow his lines. Once he filled the wooden diagrams with his qi it shone with a brilliant white light and let out the flames.

Over the next months Lucius trained his alchemy, blacksmithing and formations until he was used to it. He would inscribe formations in smaller and smaller shapes so that he could inscribe inscriptions on the weapons as he would be applying multiple inscriptions to multiple parts and he would have to learn to overlap formations without having them lose their functionality. After three months from when he began he had created a sword with 3 inscriptions, sharpness on the blade, sturdiness on the hilt and comfort on the handle. By 4 months in he was able to overlap 2 inscriptions on the blade, sharpness and heaviness inscriptions. By 8 months he was able to inscribe 9 inscriptions, three for each component.

It was at this point that he began to think about inscribing inscriptions on the Spiders Embrace Prototype. As it was a cloth body suit he would be inscribing with thread instead of carving it in, he would use golden spider silk for the inscriptions as it was a more concentrated and energy full material ( 10 normal spirit silk strands weaved together and then enriched with qi were used to make each strand ). He would inscribe swiftness inscriptions on the whole thing, ventilation inscriptions on his armpits, power inscriptions on his arms, hands and feet. He would also inscribe gripping inscriptions on his hands and feet. He would inscribe a tier 1 qi gathering inscription on the back , he would have to upgrade this in the future. In the end the pitch black Spiders Embrace was now covered in golden patterns . The Spiders Embrace Mark II was created.

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