Using that flow of energy as a base, I pictured the pattern I’d engrave into the sword I was going to give Grandfather.
Draw a circle, let the Eight Trigrams radiate out in eight directions, and breathe the energy of Heaven into the center. Carve in the energies of fire, earth, and metal so Grandfather’s martial art gets amplified.
The diagram came to me in an instant.
I’ll call this Heavenly-Extreme Martial Ring.
What kind of power would come out if Grandfather unleashed Heavenly Martial Divine Art through a sword engraved with Heavenly-Extreme Martial Ring?
I was really curious.
I’d find out when we sparred later.
The thought of hurrying over and making it with my own hands made my body itch.
Just then, the middle-aged man spoke to me.
“You said working with metal is your hobby, right? How exactly do you work with it?”
“Reforging is my hobby.”
“Ah! Reforging! Then do you have weapons ready to reforge?”
“No. I don’t. I’ll have to get some.”
“Hahaha. In that case I’ll get you a few. Up to what kind of metal have you reforged?”
I’d worked with every kind of metal there was, but he probably wouldn’t believe that, so I tossed out something casual.
“I’ve reforged up to refined steel.”
“Oh! If you’ve reforged refined steel, that’s quite a level. Let’s see. What weapons do we have made of refined steel...”
What the weapon was made of didn’t matter.
Once I engraved a patterned formation infused with the energy of magic arts, the nature of the metal changed anyway.
Into the strongest substance in the world.
“I’ll bring you the finest weapons so you can enjoy yourself to the fullest.”
“I’d be happy just with the thought, but if you do that, I’ll gladly accept.”
“Hahaha! You refused any reward, but seeing you accept this so readily, it seems you really do love it.”
“I do.”
“Understood! I’ll do my very best to make sure you can use a good furnace.”
“Thank you. By the way, is there some special reason you need that much refined iron?”
“Ah! Heavenly Martial Castle just took in a large number of new people, and we have to finish making their swords before their training ends. At the completion ceremony, it’s tradition for the Lord of the Castle to personally bestow swords engraved with the name of Heavenly Martial Castle. We absolutely cannot be late.”
“Then to make the schedule, don’t you have to mobilize every furnace? It sounds like there won’t be a furnace left to assign to me.”
“Hahaha. Not at all. Every weapon used in Heavenly Martial Castle is made exclusively at the main furnace. The other furnaces are used for miscellaneous work, and the auxiliary furnaces are mostly for trainees to practice, so you’ll be able to use them as much as you like.”
“I see. I’d rather not cause Heavenly Martial Castle any trouble because of me.”
“Do you like Heavenly Martial Castle?”
“Yes. I do. I like the Lord of the Castle, the Heavenly Martial Emperor, even more.”
“Hahaha! There isn’t a soul in the world who dislikes our Lord. You’re not even a martial artist, yet you know him well.”
“I’ve always been interested.”
“How about becoming a martial artist yourself? With the strength you have, you could easily shake the world.”
“I don’t have a lower energy center. So I can’t learn martial arts.”
“Ah! I—I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of me.”
“It’s fine. You didn’t know. I get it.”
He really did look apologetic.
To someone who yearned for the martial world but had to give up because he had no dantian, he’d dredged up memories best left buried, so he felt even sorrier.
He silently vowed to get me weapons of the highest quality, so that while I was at Heavenly Martial Castle, I could enjoy my hobby to my heart’s content.
When we reached the main gate of Heavenly Martial Castle, I couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Wow. This really is impressive.”
On the massive, oppressive red gate was carved a coiled dragon, its presence so vivid it looked ready to move.
Above that hung a plaque with “Heavenly Martial Castle” engraved in gold.
When I voiced my admiration, the middle-aged man lifted both shoulders proudly and spoke.
“This is just the beginning. Once we go inside, you’ll be even more amazed.”
His expression made me snort a laugh.
As we neared the gate, armored warriors in black stepped out to block our wagon.
The middle-aged man held out a token and spoke.
“These need to be rushed to the Heavenly Forge.”
They checked the token, then the refined iron loaded on the wagon, nodded, and let us pass.
Once we went through the massive gate, a straight road paved with neat blue stone stretched out ahead.
In the center of the road, the words “Heavenly Martial” were engraved.
“This road is called the Heavenly Martial Sword Road. Everyone who belongs to Heavenly Martial Castle walks this road, and those words were carved personally by the Lord of the Castle as a reminder that they should always reflect on Heavenly Martial Castle’s purpose and the role they must play here.”
Hearing that Grandfather had carved those words himself made them feel even more familiar.
Following the road, we came to a large lake.
The clear clouds reflected on its surface blurred the line between sky and earth.
Past the lake, grand buildings stretched on without end.
“Once we pass there, we’ll come to Heavenly Pillar Pavilion, where the Lord resides.”
It felt like he’d taken the long way around on purpose.
“Did you take this route because of me?”
“Oh dear, you noticed? Since this is your first time in Heavenly Martial Castle, I wanted to show you as much as I could.”
I appreciated the thought.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve properly seen Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“I only regret that something urgent came up and I can’t show you more. Next time, I’ll set aside time and give you a real tour.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
We circled the lake and passed through a wooded path. In the distance, I could see buildings with smoke rising endlessly from them.
“That over there is the Heavenly Forge, where all of Heavenly Martial Castle’s weapons are produced. Its master, Master Smith Cheon, is one of the Three Great Artisans of the Central Plains, alongside Weapon Hundred-Craftsman and another. Of course, Master Smith Cheon is the greatest of the three.”
His respect for Master Smith Cheon practically shot through the sky.
“The beloved sword the Lord of the Castle uses now was also made by Master Smith Cheon. What do you think? Isn’t our Master Smith Cheon incredible?”
“He really is.”
“Hahaha! Once you see a weapon he made, you’ll be amazed. Ah! Even the weapons he failed at making are tremendous—I’ll bring you some to look at.”
“Even if they’re failures, they’re still made by him. Is it really all right for me to just look at them?”
“Failed weapons are nothing but scrap. I’ll bring them to you so you can reforge them and experiment as you please.”
I was curious.
“All right.”
Talking about Master Smith Cheon, we soon arrived at the Heavenly Forge.
“What are you thinking, showing up this late?!”
Someone came running out, shouting. The middle-aged man bowed and explained the situation.
That a rockfall had smashed their wagon, which caused the delay.
And that thanks to my help, they’d barely managed to arrive on time.
A bearded old man walked up, cupped his fists, and offered his thanks.
“I am the Master Smith here at the Heavenly Forge. Thanks to you, we can meet the deadline safely. My thanks.”
“It was nothing. I’m glad I could be of some small help.”
“Haha. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a proper young man. I hear reforging is your hobby—is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Hahaha. How unusual. Most people dismiss that sort of work as menial. Judging from your build, you look like a scholar. Am I right?”
“Yes, you are. I passed the Provincial Exam this time, and I’ll be sitting the Metropolitan Exam next year.”
“Oh-ho! Hahaha. So you’re hammering iron to blow off everything that piled up while you were studying?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, there’s nothing like pounding metal to empty your head.”
He nodded, then called out to the middle-aged man.
“Yongmyeong. Let this gentleman use whatever weapons he wants from the storage, without limit on quantity.”
“Understood.”
After giving Yongmyeong his orders, he turned back to me.
“You may take as many of the weapons you reforge as you like.”
“Are you sure? What if I end up loading my wagon to the brim?”
“Hahaha! Do it. It doesn’t matter. They’re all defective anyway—we were going to melt them back down.”
Laughing heartily, he clapped me on the shoulder.
“May your flames never falter.”
In other words, he hoped my reforging would go well.
“I’m busy, so I’ll be off.”
He took his leave and immediately started shouting again.
“You slugs! Move it, move it!”
“Please follow me, sir.”
“All right.”
The first place Yongmyeong led me to was a storage building.
Inside, barrels were packed full with every kind of weapon, and those barrels carpeted the floor in numbers too ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) great to easily count.
“You can take out and use any of the weapons in those barrels.”
“Thank you. Mind if I take a look? I’m curious what kind of flaws the Heavenly Forge rejects.”
“Hahaha. Go ahead.”
I pulled a sword from the nearest barrel and examined it from every angle.
Yongmyeong quietly watched me from the side.
“The outer layer is hard enough, but the core isn’t right. You botched the force when you were forging and then failed the quenching.”
“Oh! Exactly right. Hahaha. I see now—you weren’t just dabbling as a hobby.”
“No. I just picked up a bit, watching other people work from the side.”
“If that’s what you got from just watching from the side, then I ought to go die. Hahaha.”
Seeing that I could accurately read the iron made Yongmyeong like me even more.
He wanted to assign me a good furnace.
Let’s see. The furnace that brat Yeomhwa manages was the best, wasn’t it?
Once he’d decided which furnace to take me to, Yongmyeong spoke.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you to a furnace.”
“Thank you.”
*****
Heat shimmered in the air from the dozens of furnaces blazing here—this was the cluster of auxiliary furnaces belonging to the Heavenly Forge of Heavenly Martial Castle.
This was where the trainees usually practiced working iron.
One of those trainees, Yeomhwa, was inspecting the furnace he was responsible for.
He was grinning goofily as he watched the beautiful red flames rising from it.
“You’re beautiful again today.”
With loving eyes, Yeomhwa gazed at the fire.
He was enjoying his time when he sensed people approaching.
He frowned and turned his head—then jerked upright in shock and bowed.
“Trainee Smith Yeomhwa greets Elder Metal Inspector!”
The person he was greeting was Yongmyeong.
Yongmyeong’s official position was Metal Inspector, responsible for checking the state and quality of the iron.
Since the quality of the iron directly determined the quality of the weapons, it was a very important post.
“Yes. The flames of your furnace are beautiful today as well.”
“Thank you.”
“Offer your greetings.”
He pointed at me as he spoke, and Yeomhwa tilted his head and asked.
“May I ask who this is?”
“This is Young Master Jeok Wigang, who’ll be using this furnace for a while starting today.”
“What? Someone else is going to use my furnace?”
“This brat? Since when is this your furnace? It’s a Heavenly Forge furnace. The Master Smith has already granted permission, so quit whining and make sure Young Master has not the slightest inconvenience while he’s using this furnace.”