14: Chapter 14 A Nest of Q

The next afternoon, Yue Yun arrived as scheduled.

The Old Master squatted in a corner of the red brick house, wearing an old man's tank top and military-green shorts, looking relaxed in his straw sandals.

Yue Yun asked excitedly, "What are we learning first? Is it some kind of incredibly powerful kung fu, the kind that can kill someone with just a few punches and kicks?"

The Old Master let out a scoff upon hearing this.

He glanced casually at Yue Yun. "There's no need to learn any kung fu. As long as your strength is great enough, you can kill someone just the same."

Ignoring Yue Yun's strange expression, the Old Master turned and walked toward a corner. After a moment's thought, he pulled out three iron rods.

"Learning blacksmithing at night would disturb the neighbors, so follow me this afternoon to learn the craft. I'll teach you some combat techniques at night."

"Why do I need to learn forging?"

Yue Yun asked, somewhat puzzled.

A thousand years ago, during the early stages of the Strange Beast War, humans did not hesitate to deploy nuclear weapons to counter the menacing Strange Beasts, and later deployed thermal weapons on a large scale.

Nowadays, the Beast Tamer system has become very well-developed.

The feedback ordinary Beast Tamers receive from their Pet Beasts' power is limited, and their physiques remain fragile. If a hit can be landed successfully, high-powered sniper rifles are still the best choice for assassinating Beast Tamers.

If weapons were truly needed, thermal weapons were clearly the superior choice, rather than outdated cold weapons.

"If you don't want to fight Strange Beasts with your bare hands, then honestly learn the craft of forging from me!"

The Old Master glared and placed the three iron rods in front of Yue Yun. "Take a look. Can you recognize them?"

Yue Yun weighed them in his hands a few times.

As a layman, he naturally didn't recognize them at all. No matter how he looked, he couldn't distinguish the materials, let alone tell their quality.

Seeing Yue Yun shake his head, a flash of regret for his lack of knowledge crossed the Old Master's eyes, but it was mostly replaced by approval of his honesty.

"Not bad. At least you're not pretending to know what you don't."

The Old Master took the iron rods and began to introduce them. "This is Soft Iron, this is Drill Steel, and this is 52100 steel..."

The Old Master explained the characteristics of the three materials. Yue Yun, clearly having learned something, nodded repeatedly, his eyes lighting up with sharp focus.

"Are you going to make a divine Sharp Weapon?"

Yue Yun asked curiously.

The Old Master laughed and shook his head. "There aren't that many divine Sharp Weapons in this world. The kitchen knife at home is broken, so I'm going to Forge one to show you my craft.

I told her I'd make one, but she insisted on buying one..."

At this point, the Old Master couldn't help but start grumbling.

Yue Yun watched him with a silent smile until the old man snapped out of it and, pretending nothing happened, tossed the iron rods into the Forge.

Whoosh!

High flames surged in the Forge, and what came into view were burning coals as red as the sun, continuously transferring terrifying heat to the three iron rods.

The Old Master stared intently at the Forge.

Yue Yun also stood straight by the Forge, learning seriously and absorbing all kinds of knowledge.

As time passed, the parts of the three iron rods in the fire turned glowing red and began to soften and become malleable.

The Old Master picked up the Soft Iron. "Drawing the billet from the Soft Iron."

Without any hesitation, he placed the red-hot Soft Iron under the Power Hammer and stepped on the lever to begin hammering.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Power Hammer fell rapidly, continuously striking the red-hot Soft Iron, flattening it amidst a spray of scalding sparks.

Sparks landed on the unprotected Old Master, but they were either brushed off by his thin clothes or shaken off his bare skin by an instinctive twitch, never staying on him for even half a second.

Only then did Yue Yun notice that the Old Master was covered in scars, but his exposed arms and the tops of his feet only had minor singe marks.

There weren't the severe wounds he had imagined!

Yue Yun asked the reason with a proper student's attitude. The Old Master nodded, seeing him as a teachable pupil, and his expression became serious.

"I'm just afraid of sparks landing on me. For one thing, they'll ruin my clothes, and for another, if they really catch fire, there's no time to take them off... In our line of work, safety comes first."

He set aside the forged Soft Iron, turned, and grabbed the Drill Steel—also glowing red—to flatten it under the Power Hammer.

"Producing the steel billet from the Drill Steel."

The Old Master repeated the previous operation.

He held up the flattened Soft Iron and Drill Steel to show Yue Yun, then measured and cut them with a cutting machine.

"Watch the stacking of the steel carefully."

The Old Master deliberately slowed down his movements so Yue Yun could see clearly.

He aligned the Soft Iron, laid a layer of Drill Steel, then Soft Iron, another layer of Drill Steel, and finally covered it with a layer of Soft Iron.

Five layers of steel of the same size were perfectly stacked.

The Old Master used neither flux nor steel adhesive; instead, he took out a pair of iron tongs to clamp the steel together.

"Three layers of Soft Iron, two layers of steel. Into the fire!"

The Old Master thrust the tongs into the Forge.

He stood motionless by the Forge, the orange-red light reflecting off his face as the scorching heatwave swept over him relentlessly.

Once the steel was set, the Old Master stepped back and, like Yue Yun, watched silently from the sidelines, only occasionally flipping the tongs to ensure the steel underwent Fusion better.

The Old Master didn't forget to impart knowledge: "Automatic bonding at 1,200 degrees..."

Seeing the steel beginning its preliminary Fusion, the Old Master signaled Yue Yun to step back further while he stepped forward to pick up the red-hot stacked steel.

The Old Master placed the steel on the Anvil and swung his hammer in a rhythmic beating, making the steel fit together more closely.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The steel was struck by the Old Master until sparks flew everywhere, gradually beginning to undergo Fusion as the gaps between the five layers slowly disappeared.

The Old Master stuffed the steel back into the Forge, and once it was red-hot, he took it out to continue forging, repeating the previous steps twice.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Under his persistent forging, the five layers of steel underwent Fusion completely, hammered into a single, solid piece of thick iron.

He picked up the still red-hot thick iron, placed it under the Power Hammer for mechanical stamping, drew it out straight, and then tempered it again.

Taking out the red-hot iron block, the Old Master secured it with a bench vise and took out a twisting wrench to start making Twisted Damascus.

The Old Master decided to give Yue Yun a sense of participation, so while twisting, he reminded him: "Add water."

Yue Yun's eyes widened in surprise.

Twisting water quenching—it sounded ridiculous!

But he knew that as an outsider, the last thing he should do was interfere, so he chose to follow the Old Master's instructions, picking up the bucket and slowly pouring water under his guidance.

Beautifully curved threads appeared on the iron block.

Yue Yun: "Holy cow, hand-twisted Rebar!"

"Not done yet!"

The Old Master chuckled, stuffed the twisted iron block back into the Forge, and after it turned red, used the Power Hammer to stamp and draw it out straight.

The cutting machine started up again, cutting the twisted iron block to size, and then he took out the 52100 steel that had been heating.

He forged and flattened it as before, then cut it to size.

He laid down the twisted iron block, added three layers of 52100 steel strips, covered it with another twisted iron block, and clamped them with tongs.

Still a five-layer stack!

The Old Master repeated the steps, never forgetting to impart various bits of knowledge to Yue Yun, his movements fluid from start to finish.

Out of the fire, forging, tempering, Fusion.

Stamping, drawing the billet, and directly forming the knife shape.

"Starting the quenching!"

The Old Master used a hand hammer to adjust the details, cut off the excess parts, and once again sent the knife billet into the Forge.

Normalizing, quenching, annealing, and tempering.

Finally, sharpening the blade and attaching the handle.

Looking at the kitchen knife with its shining edge, sharp enough to cut a hair, Yue Yun shook his head in shock. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought you were making a divine weapon to conquer the world!"

"Why can't a kitchen knife be a divine weapon?"

The Old Master glanced at him.