29: Chapter 29 I may not understand forging, but I do understand knives.

After making breakfast for Wang Gang, Lin Ye carried his Forging Hammer to his Second Uncle's house.

Second Uncle was already awake and was squatting on the ground, starting a fire in the furnace.

"Second Uncle, let me do it."

Seeing this, Lin Ye quickly put down his hammer and took the Fire Tongs from Second Uncle's hand.

The most important thing for an apprentice is to be observant.

Once the furnace fire was blazing, Second Uncle pulled out a palm-sized piece of iron from the shelf and threw it in.

"Today, I'll teach you how to forge a Dagger first," Second Uncle explained.

"Daggers are small, making them perfect for practice."

"Okay, I'll follow your arrangements, Second Uncle."

Lin Ye nodded, then sped up, pumping the bellows to make the fire burn hotter. The Iron Ingot quickly turned red-hot.

"Watch closely."

Second Uncle clamped out the Iron Ingot, placed it on the Anvil, and lightly tapped it a few times with a Small Hammer, seemingly searching for the right spot to strike.

Then he switched to a Large Hammer, and with one strike, the Iron Material immediately thinned out slightly.

After that, he switched back to the Small Hammer to trim the edges and shape it.

The two hammers were used alternately, each with a clear division of labor.

Lin Ye watched, engrossed.

This was different from forging iron blanks, which only required removing Impurities.

This involved steps like shaping, quenching, and sharpening, making it much more complex than simply forging iron.

At this moment, the Iron Material in Second Uncle's hands was as soft as dough, being kneaded into any desired shape.

"The key to a Dagger lies in its edge," Second Uncle said while forging.

"If the edge is too thin, it's prone to chipping; if it's too thick, it won't be sharp enough. This really tests a blacksmith's skill."

Soon, a Dagger, only the size of a palm, took shape.

Second Uncle threw the finished Dagger blank into the water. With a "hiss," white steam rose.

After a brief wait, he fished it out.

He rubbed the surface of the Dagger lightly with Sandpaper, and the previously dull edge immediately gleamed with a bluish light.

Lin Ye curiously took it to examine.

[Bintie Dagger, Quality: Ordinary One-Star, Overall Rating: 60]

A rating of 60 was the peak for an Ordinary One-Star item, just one point shy of crossing into Two-Star.

"Next, it's your turn."

Second Uncle said, stepping aside.

"Okay."

Lin Ye put down the Dagger, picked up his Forging Hammer, and then clamped out a red-hot Iron Ingot from the furnace.

The first strike was just right, flattening a section of the Iron Ingot without cracking it.

The second strike, the third strike.

He imitated Second Uncle, using the Small Hammer to trim edges and the Large Hammer to shape.

Although his movements weren't as fluid and natural as Second Uncle's, they were steady, with each strike being just right.

Having the Basic Forging Method at the Flowing Water Realm as a foundation gave him an almost instinctive prediction of the iron blank's changes.

With each hammer strike, the iron blank gradually changed in the direction he desired.

A quarter of an hour later, a Dagger was fully formed in his hands.

Quenching, grinding, sharpening—a cold, gleaming Dagger emerged.

From its appearance alone, it was similar to the one Second Uncle had forged.

But as soon as Lin Ye held it, he knew the two were vastly different.

[Crude Iron Dagger, Quality: Unranked, Overall Rating: 10]

One scored 59, the other only 10; the difference was clear at a glance.

Second Uncle also picked it up and looked at it, merely saying "Not bad" before putting it back.

"Continue."

Clearly, this Dagger had not received his approval.

Soon, Lin Ye forged a second Dagger, this time taking two quarters of an hour.

Unfortunately, it was still unranked, though the score did increase a bit to 12 points.

"Continue!"

The third one, unranked, Overall Rating: 15.

When forging the fourth Dagger, Lin Ye suddenly had an intuition, instinctively knowing how much force to use for each strike and in which direction to hit.

He had a premonition that this one might turn out well.

Indeed, when Lin Ye gripped the Dagger, a line of text appeared.

[Iron Dagger, Quality: Ordinary, Overall Rating: 20]

Even though it had no star rating, it was at least ranked, which was a huge step forward.

"Hmm, this one's pretty good." Second Uncle handled it for a while, finally nodding.

"Alright, you've pretty much learned Daggers.

Next, the weapon I'm going to teach you to forge is a saber!"

Saying this, he pulled a long strip of iron from the shelf, about three feet long and half a foot wide.

"As the most common weapon, the saber also has the greatest demand.

Once you learn to forge sabers, you'll never starve, no matter where you go."

Second Uncle casually threw the Iron Material into the furnace fire.

"There are many types of sabers, among which the Straight Horizontal Saber is the most practical and relatively simple to forge."

Once the Iron Material was red-hot, Second Uncle clamped it out and immediately began swinging the Large Hammer, his movements much more unrestrained than when forging a Dagger.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three strikes later, the Iron Material was flattened into a long, thin sheet.

Then he switched to the Small Hammer to shape the spine of the blade.

He switched back to the Large Hammer to forge the edge.

At this moment, the iron sheet in Second Uncle's hands seemed to come alive, flipping, folding, stretching, gradually transforming into a four-foot-long, three-finger-wide long saber.

The blade was straight, and the tip was sharp as a peak.

He threw the finished saber blank into the water for quenching. After fishing it out, he rubbed it a few times with Sandpaper, and the edge instantly became cold and gleaming.

[Exquisite Long Saber, Quality: Ordinary Two-Star, Overall Rating: 80]

Clearly, compared to forging Daggers, forging long sabers was Second Uncle's specialty.

"How about it, dare to try?"

Second Uncle saw Lin Ye curiously stroking the blade and challenged him with a smile.

"Why not!"

Without another word, Lin Ye put down the long saber and started forging himself.

This time it took a bit longer, a full half an hour later, a not-so-straight long saber slowly took shape in his hands.

[Crude Long Saber, Quality: Unranked, Overall Rating: 1]

"Cough, cough!"

Looking at the score that was almost zero, Lin Ye felt a little embarrassed.

"This one wasn't in the right state, let's start over."

Casually tossing it into the scrap heap, Lin Ye clamped a piece of Iron Material and continued forging.

Second Uncle merely twitched his mouth when he saw this, but didn't say anything, letting Lin Ye mess around.

Some things, only by experiencing them oneself, can one truly understand their difficulty.

It was also time for this kid to suffer a bit.

Soon, the second saber was formed, Overall Rating: 2.

There was progress, but not much.

The third one, Overall Rating: 2.

The fourth one, Overall Rating: 2.

"Heh, I don't believe it."

Lin Ye, who refused to believe it, was about to forge the fifth saber, but Second Uncle interrupted his next move.

"Alright, haste makes waste. Let's stop here for today. Go back and ponder carefully where the problem lies..."

"Uh, okay."

Lin Ye knew he had been too impatient.

Because Daggers were small, their feel was not much different from hammering Ore, which gave him the illusion that forging finished weapons was not that difficult.

Little did he know, if forging weapons were truly that simple, the profession of blacksmith would not have such a high social status.

Even with his cheat, trying to get rich overnight was unrealistic.

In the afternoon, Lin Ye came to the Martial Arts Training Ground to spar with Zhao Shanhe, but his mind was still on forging, making him somewhat distracted.

Zhao Shanhe also seemed to notice that Lin Ye's state was a bit off today, so he stopped and asked with concern:

"What's wrong? Did you encounter a Bottleneck in your Cultivation?"

"No, it's about forging."

Lin Ye briefly explained the situation.

He wasn't expecting Zhao Shanhe to offer any insights; he just wanted someone to talk to.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Shanhe smiled after listening.

"Why are you laughing, Captain?" Lin Ye asked, puzzled.

Was this funny?

"Haha, it's rare to see you in a predicament, kid."

Zhao Shanhe chuckled, teasing him, then changed the subject.

"However, I think I roughly know a bit about the reason."

"Oh? Does Captain also understand forging?" Lin Ye was slightly surprised.

Zhao Shanhe shook his head: "I may not understand forging, but I understand blades!"

Saying this, he got up, returned to the house, and took out a Wooden Box.