Ryu had never formally learned any Blacksmithing, obviously. So, the Smithing Runes he understood were exactly zero. However, he didn't even consider this to be a problem at this moment. In fact, he felt that his own style of refinement couldn't rely on the methods of others. If he wanted this to work properly, he would have to formulate his own system.
To anyone else, this might have felt like a daunting task. But, to Ryu, it filled him with excitement he had never felt before. And, he knew exactly where he should start.
The Fundamental Runes of the world were the foundation that formulated the world. All that was, all that would be, and all that had been was structured beneath the laws of these Runes.
Ryu was quite familiar with them as he had formulated his own Visualization before in the past. It was a feat that had only taken him a few moments of thought and it had clearly displayed his skill in the matter. Right now, he felt like that matter would be no different.
With his current eyes, Ryu could observe the Fundamental Runes of the world on a whim. He could see what it was that made the snow flutter as it did, what caused water to flow so freely and unfettered, what made a mountain so sturdy and what made the skies so all encompassing.
These were all secrets he could gaze upon with a thought. Nothing could hide from him… The only question was how much did he understand?
The formulation of a Visualization, or an Alchemic recipe, or a Blacksmith's Formation, were all Foundational Runes. The question was what path was taken, what principles were used, what roads were travelled… In the martial world, there were countless methods of reaching the same destination, each one different from the last.
Functionally, there was nothing that separated the building blocks of any one of these disciplines, they all shared the same root. It was all the same… But that was exactly what made it all so difficult.
Ryu could now see an infinite number of paths laid out before him. There were an infinite number of Runes that could make this blade sharper, an infinite number that could make it swifter, an infinite number that could allow it to absorb qi more smoothly… The list was well… infinite.
Why was it that the Supreme Blacksmiths could only reach the pinnacle of forging a single type of weapon? Why was Wynhorn so focused on swords and Arcus so focused on bows and arrows?
The answer was simple, really. Trying to follow down the road of all these paths was simply impossible. A single expert couldn't possibly master them all. There was too much to learn and just the idea of trying to experience another path felt like having to rebuild your Dao all over again.
Why was Wynhorn so focused on the sword? It was because it was what she knew the best. She understood what materials worked, she understood what Runes to stay away from, she had grasped an entire system, taking some from her predecessors and forming much more of her own…
But what if you could peer into the heart of a resource? What if it whispered into your ears, telling you what it wanted to become? What if you could feel the path ahead rather than having to deduce it? What if you could cut down these infinite number of paths until just one lay before you? The perfect one?
An ancient, gorgeous pattern was drawn onto the side of the molten purple blade, shimmering with blinding lights and piercing the snowing clouds above.
Ryu tossed the blade into the skies, catching the falling gemstone at the same time as he looked up indifferently. Without the slightest flicker in his expression, a bolt of lightning the thickness of an arm snaked downward, smiting the floating blade out the skies and right back into his now one and only free hand.
Ryu looked down at the blade, rotating it in his hand. It had a perfect taper to it and its blade was as sharp as a razor before even an initial sharpening. It didn't have a handle since Ryu hadn't made one, but the vitality it pulsed with made it feel otherworldly. Just spinning through the air like it had before had sliced the apart, leaving faint marks in the snowy land it had been rotating above.
'Hm…'
The gemstone in Ryu's hand vanished as he turned a gaze toward Bru'li's corpse. The skeleton of the griffin, at least the portions not drenched in blood, radiated like polished pearls, sometimes even reflecting what small bits of sunlight it gained to reveal a hint of a murky rainbow color.
'Perfect.'
Ryu reached out a sharp claw and clamped down on the corpse, ripping a pinky toe bone out. Despite the fact it was probably the smallest bone in the griffin's body, it was still larger than Ryu's head. But, in an instant, the pinky toe bone was severed into fine pieces, leaving one just barely longer than the width of a hand.
Ryu clamped down on it, a red aura growing as the heat in the surroundings skyrocketed. The snow beneath his feet quickly melted and a rush of steam billowed into the air.
Soon, Ryu walked out from the steam with a smile on his face, a purple blade with a beautiful pearly white handle and guard now dancing in his palms as iciles danced through its body. To his bad, the pool of hot water that had been forming had already frozen over into an icy lake.
"Ryu, that…" Yaana was a bit speechless.
"This? It's just a little project. I didn't want to leave it incomplete, but it's not too big of a deal."
Ryu thought for a moment before his hand whipped outward, sending the knife slicing through the air like he had his lightning needle previously. The mountain range had long since collapsed, but what remained was not only the hardest rock, but it had also been fried and melted by Ryu's lightning earlier, refining it of its impurities and leaving even stronger rock behind.
In a world like this one, such a mountain range would have existed for millions of years with ease, the density of it all was most definitely not a joke. Every year, the peak would only get taller and the tectonics that caused it to rise in the first place would only squeeze the rock all the more.
After existing for a very long time, the Fundamental Runes of a natural phenomena would also become greatly important. Though nothing compared to Shrine Mountain, this mountain had its own comprehensions, enough to allow one to have comprehended a Natural Enlightenment from it, though you would soon come to a bottleneck you couldn't surpass.
One might say Ryu was cruel for targeting such a mountain not just once, but twice. But, the reality was his first strike had given the mountain a chance to reinvent itself. With such a dense concentration of Tribulation Lightning having reformed it, Ryu wouldn't be surprised if in another several million years, it began to form a special ice-lightning hybrid qi unique to this region. By then, those who comprehended it would definitely be more powerful than their peers.
As for this second targeting… It was just a Black Grade treasure, what damage could it possibly cause to a mountain with that level of hardness…?
PCHU! SSSS!
The blade sank down three inches, eating up a third of the knife before the rest of it began to vibrate wildly back and forth, unable to stop as though an arrow that had met its mark.
Ailsa and Yaana stood in shock. Little Gem looked from wife to wife as though trying to understand, then she too put on her best surprised expression, causing an uproarious laughter from Ryu who couldn't help but pluck her out of Ailsa's arms.
"~Gigi!"
Little Gem happily licked Ryu's cheek, still not quite understanding what was going on but being more than happy to be played with. It seemed the little one had already long since forgotten that one of her own race was lying dead in a pool of its blood.
"Alright, I guess it's about time we go. We've spent enough time here." Ryu said with a smile, ready to leave.
"Ah!"
Yaana suddenly furiously shook her head. With a wave of her hand, the knife vanished from where it had been and appeared in her hand. She was stunned for a moment about how it felt in her palm before she gave Ryu an aggrieved look.
"This is your first forge, you can't just leave it like this. My master said that it's very important to keep!"
"Oh?"
Ryu raised an eyebrow. In truth, he wasn't very satisfied with it and he could already think of many ways to improve it. Though theoretically, some time in the future, he would be able to see just one road ahead whenever he was refining something. Right now, he still saw too many and had to randomly pick one. Only when his Dao reached its pinnacle would he always be able to pick out the perfect path.
The only reason he had bothered to give it a handle was because he thought it would be a shame to not complete it. However, he had a perfect memory, he didn't really see the need to keep his failures around.
"Do as Little Yaana says. In fact, if you fight with your own creations, you'll probably feel more in tune with them and your Dao will progress even faster."
"Ah…" Ryu was enlightened. This was actually an excellent point.
Just as he was about to thank Ailsa, though, he noticed that her gaze was still absent minded.
Ryu sighed and shook his head. Women were so complicated. How could she think she was useless? She had just casually given him world changing advice just now and he had lost count of the number of times she had done so.
"Huh?"
Ailsa suddenly looked up, finding a finger beneath her chin.