endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 49

The two stood in the awkward atmosphere for a while before Hephaestus moved to a corner of the room and grabbed a package wrapped in a green ribbon. She handed the package to the confused Vahn and explained the reason behind it.

"It's a gift to celebrate your joining of the Familia. Go ahead and open it..." Hephaestus felt awkward giving him the gift after everything that had happened.

Vahn opened the package and was surprised to find a strange looking hammer on the inside. He pulled it out and inspected it more closely. The body of the hammer was made of a cool metal wrapped with a fire-resistant cloth. Vahn gripped it and noticed it fit perfectly in his hand, almost like the hammer was an extension of his arm. The head of the hammer was a combination of magisteel and a dark red crystalline metal that Vahn had never seen before. The two different metals twisted around each other before converging near the striking area of the hammer.

"This is a hammer I personally forged using the magisteel ingot you had created and Hihi'irokane metal. The combination of metals makes the hammer incredibly durable, and since it was partially constructed with magisteel you had tempered yourself, it is extremely receptive to your mana." As Hephaestus began explaining the functions of the hammer, she started to become a bit restless. Giving a sidelong glance at Vahn, she continued. "I crafted this hammer to represent my desire for you to become a capable blacksmith in the future. It is the culmination of your first success and my hope that you will one day forge a weapon that can satisfy me..."

Vahn continued handling the 'familiar' feeling hammer as he listened. When Hephaestus mentioned him forging a weapon that could satisfy her in the future, he nodded with confidence, unaware of the hidden meaning in the words. After she saw his affirmation, Hephaestus revealed a pleased smile.

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"Okay, Vahn. Now that you have a new hammer, I want you to try creating another ingot. As you've seen for yourself, there have been some changes to the 'eternal flame' since your last visit. I want to see if you're able to properly control the flame since the changes were a result of the 'eternal flame' assimilating your mana." Hephaestus dragged him towards the forge and had him sit down; she wanted to test her theory as soon as possible.

Vahn had some inhibitions about working metal using the 'eternal flame', but he believed that there wouldn't be any issues unless he tried infusing his perception into the area immediately surrounding the location of the flame. He quickly began to work after taking some magisteel from the solution next to the mouth of the forge.

Even though he had yet to activate [Will of the Emperor], Vahn had almost no difficulty refining the metal. Though he could tell the heat from the flame was much stronger than his previous visit, it seemed to be much calmer in comparison. The strangest thing was after the metal reached a critical state, the flames seemed to automatically redirect the heat away from the metal.

Due to the 'cooperation' of the flame, Vahn managed to refine the metal while retaining 85% of its total volume. This was even more than when he had used [Will of the Emperor] in his previous attempt. From the side, Hephaestus was watching this entire process with bated breath. Her belief that Vahn descended from a divine lineage based on forging was now firmly cemented in her mind.

Vahn continued the process of shaping the ingot but had minimal success since he hadn't been using his skill to forcibly shape the metal. He wanted to try using his own ability to form the ingot, but after 13 failures he ended up activating [Will of the Emperor] so that he complete the process. This time he avoided the situation of having a clash with the 'eternal flame' because he hadn't tried inserting his spiritual sense within the flames dominion.

After he was finished, Hephaestus inspected the ingot before giving him an approving nod. "This is very well done considering its only your third time creating an ingot. After you increase your knowledge and improve your techniques, you'll be able to begin converting the ingots into weapons and armor."