1.
The instant the tongs fell, I sensed that something was wrong.
No, rather than wrong, I suppose I realized something was strange.
Right now, this.
Was this really a dangerous situation?
Why?
[The flames reaching the ceiling... aren’t doing anything at all...?”]
Just as Yuna reported.
The flames had reached the ceiling, yet they weren’t burning anything.
The tongs had just melted. If iron could melt that quickly, then theoretically, the moment I got anywhere near it, I ought to have become grilled Lionel...
But right now, I didn’t feel hot at all.
That thing. That thing right there.
The anvil supporting the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore like that.
That was made of iron too.
"Shouldn’t the anvil be melting too?"
Yet the anvil hadn’t changed either.
And I wasn’t hot.
If only the tongs had melted...
It was enough to arrive at the reasonable conclusion that it was selectively igniting things.
This was a fantasy world to begin with. If a four-star material was picky even about what tools touched it, there wasn’t much I could say.
"..."
After considering it for a moment, I cautiously reached out.
It was only possible because it wasn’t hot, and I was being as careful as I could.
[Wait, what are you doing?]
"Checking."
[Checking what?]
[Don’t check it with your hand!!]
If she truly needed to stop me, Yuna would have thrown an absurd fit.
Which meant she didn’t understand this situation either.
And it meant this was the most reasonable choice.
I couldn’t feel any heat even standing nearby, anyway.
I was wearing gloves too, so it should be fine as long as I didn’t touch it directly.
But then.
"...Whoa."
The closer I got, the farther I stretched out my hand, the weaker the flames gradually became.
I could see it plainly. Their size was steadily shrinking.
[It’s... it’s getting smaller...?]
Then the tips of my gloved fingers finally touched it.
The remaining flames seeped into the ore, and the fire died out completely.
"...It’s warm."
I gripped it.
This really was a fantasy world.
It tore iron to pieces, yet meekly settled into its owner’s hand. What a temperamental mineral.
You little thing, you’re pretty feisty.
Wasn’t taming ore like this the more fun part?
So, if I had to roughly interpret what it meant...
‘Hold me with your hand. Not tongs.’
Wasn’t that it?
For now, the white flames had been drawn back inside the ore.
Perhaps because awakening the flames had affected it, its formerly hard surface had become subtly softer as well.
Squeeze.
I put some strength into my grip.
It was surprisingly soft.
Not quite jelly-like or anything, but it felt exactly like melted metal.
Squish, squish.
Clenching an extravagantly luxurious stress ball made of Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore, I fell into thought for a moment.
What material could possibly suit this childish little material?
I couldn’t make the hammerhead out of this alone.
No matter that it was four-star, a single material would inevitably have overly extreme properties, and above all...
"A soft hammer is a little..."
I needed something to keep it in check.
The moment that thought reached me—
"...Hm?"
A material came to mind.
I turned my head toward the sacks of ore in one corner of the workshop.
The ores Dolores had procured for me.
Among them was exactly one I still hadn’t touched.
I had treasured it more than anything.
They were precious ores Mama Dolores had given me for the first time, after all.
Of course, I hadn’t thrown away the note yet.
[Ice Crystal Ore x1 (This is quite a precious ore, so I only brought one for now. If you need more, just let me know!)]
"..."
An ore that contained white flames, and an ore that could trap fire because it did not radiate heat.
If I could control both cold and heat at once...
"So, this is my idea, okay?"
If I controlled fire and cold simultaneously.
I could handle both heating and setting the shape in just a few strikes.
Without having to put cooled iron back into the crucible furnace every time to heat it again.
I could pound it with this hammer, then harden it with cold without needing to cool it separately.
"Obviously, I don’t mean flash-freezing it. It’d break if I did that."
I would regulate the temperature by only as much as necessary.
Or if neither was needed, I could simply use it as a hammer.
"What do you think?"
Ice Crystal Ore? If I didn’t use it here, I’d probably end up passing it down to my children.
Let’s get this underway immediately.
[In theory, it’s not impossible...]
Yuna hesitated for a moment.
[Wouldn’t that just be a lukewarm hammer?]
"Hmm..."
[No, no, no, I’m not saying you’re wrong, it’s a reasonable idea, but...]
[What I mean is, can you actually control it freely...?]
Whenever I offered some fanciful idea or spoke based on instinct, Yuna was normally the one to correct it.
She refined it into a realistic form.
We had repeated that routine throughout our doctoral program.
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean."
She was right.
It would be meaningless if I couldn’t control it freely.
But things like this were usually...
[🔑][A Textbook for Heirs of Fire Who Have Become Formal Blacksmiths]
─────────────────
[Chapter 16. How to Harmonize Two Opposing Energies.]
─────────────────
If I looked in the textbook, someone had done it before.
How many years of history did the Heirs of Fire have?
Someone had to have walked this path before me.
"As expected of the Heirs of Fire."
There was nothing they hadn’t tried.
I carefully read Chapter 16.
The opposing energies our ancestor had handled here were not fire and ice, but lightning and water.
Put simply, electricity and water.
The item he had been trying to make was a spear.
It pierced with the side imbued with lightning, then used the energy of water to send that lightning crackling in every direction.
"That’s some truly ridiculous greed."
It sounded like something a liberal arts major would make with their artistic sensibilities.
Like a Bluetooth showerhead.
My idea was better than that.
『Total attempts: 191』
What the hell.
It was pretty difficult, wasn’t it?
What remained after all those failures.
In conclusion, the solution—the way to control two opposing energies—was...
─────────────────
『One energy must not be forcibly subdued.』
『Both energies must possess a certain level of rank.』
『Above all, a harmonious agreement between the two energies is necessary.』
─────────────────
"...An agreement?"
Was this a joke?
Was I supposed to make them talk to each other?
Well, their ranks weren’t a problem, at least.
The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore was four-star.
And the Ice Crystal Ore...
[Ice Crystal Ore][★★★☆☆]
Dolores had called it precious.
And since she had brought only one, it didn’t seem terribly inferior in rank.
I picked up both ores.
Then.
"You two, can you get along?"
Naturally, there was no answer.
"If you don’t say anything, we’re doing this right away."
Seeing once was worth a hundred hearings.
I decided to begin immediately.
First, the Ice Crystal Ore.
This was an ore that couldn’t be melted to begin with.
One look told you that.
─────────────────
『An ore formed from frostbite, the concentrated cold of thousands of years of bitter winter.』
『It is a substance impossible to melt.』
─────────────────
In fact, that was exactly what it said.
Putting it into a furnace would only ruin the crucible in my crucible furnace for nothing.
Then what would I use?
"I carve it."
If it wouldn’t melt, I would carve it.
The direction was decided.
This one would become the core inside the hammer.
The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore would become the shell wrapping around that core.
In other words, it would be a structure where ice trapped fire inside itself.
I placed the Ice Crystal Ore on the anvil.
Clang.
After setting a chisel against it, I struck carefully.
A blue fragment broke away.
For the record, both the Ice Crystal Ore and the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore were each as large as my face.
They would remain plenty large even after carving. The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore was a little bigger, but still.
The intended final form of the Ice Crystal Ore was a long pillar.
I planned to spread the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore wide around it, wrap it up, and hammer it shut.
That would become the hammerhead.
Clang.
The problem was that this thing wouldn’t stretch like iron.
So rather than hammering it into shape, I had to remove the unnecessary portions.
Clang!
Another layer broke away where the chisel had been set.
Clang, clang.
If the angle was even slightly off, it seemed like it would go against the grain and crack all the way inside.
So I relaxed my shoulders and focused all my attention on the hand holding the chisel.
At a glance, blacksmithing seemed like something that required brute strength.
But fine adjustment was actually more important, so bulging muscles were not a major factor.
The chunk that had been as large as my face gradually grew smaller.
As its corners were carved away, its outline slowly began to take shape.
Clang.
Clang.
How long had I hammered away like that?
The final fragment fell away.
And on the anvil remained a blue pillar, about as thick as my wrist and roughly half a forearm long.
I picked it up and raised it to eye level.
Hummm...
I could feel a chilling energy flowing from it.
The workshop lights shone upon the Ice Crystal Ore.
"...This one’s done."
Now.
It was time for the remaining Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore.
I carefully set the Ice Crystal Ore down at one side of the workbench and moved the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore onto the anvil.
It was still pure white.
This process was rather different from the last one.
This time, I had to spread the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore out wide.
Wide enough to wrap the core completely... and thin.
I picked up the Earthborn Hammer.
Whoosh.
I didn’t need to put any strength into it.
Thunk.
I simply let it fall.
Fwoooosh...
White flames rose from where it struck.
It hated being touched by something like tongs with a passion, yet apparently had no problem being struck by a hammer.
It really was finicky.
Thunk... thunk...
I struck the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore with the Earthborn Hammer.
And spread it out wide.
"Give me a blueprint hologram."
[Yes, yes.]
A blue rectangle floated over the anvil, showing roughly how far I needed to spread it.
I spread the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore precisely to fit it.
Thunk.
"..."
I tidied up the edges one last time.
Now it was done.
I walked over to the workbench and retrieved the Ice Crystal Ore I had shaped earlier.
Hummm...
The Ice Crystal Ore was still a little chilly.
Still, it didn’t get angry when I held it with tongs.
The process from here was simple.
Place the core in the middle, fold the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore around it, and then...
All I had to do was shape the front and rear faces of the hammerhead.
The front would be broad and flat, the rear narrow and pointed.
As for the hammer handle... I just needed to make a hole running through the hammerhead for it.
A wooden handle on a hammer was, in the end, a consumable.
Something that could be replaced anytime.
So even if I grew more and my body changed, I could just switch out the handle.
Whoosh.
I brought the Ice Crystal Ore core over the plate.
Now.
All I had to do was set it down.
"...Hah."
I believe in you, ancestors.
‘Their ranks must be similar, and there must be sufficient groundwork for harmony.’
I had met both conditions.
And I...
Cautiously...
Tap.
Placed the Ice Crystal Ore core atop the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore plate.
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