Chapter 166: Weaponsmithing (1)
Su Yu was kept very busy with all his classes. That was especially true since he was the class monitor. He barely had any time to rest. Even so, he still spent some time visiting the Weaponsmithing Faculty on the 8th of August. The faculty was within the same district, but it was still quite far away.
...
"You finally found the time to come?"
When Su Yu arrived, old man Zhao Li was busy doing something in his research center.
He had previously said that Su Yu could visit him on the 8th, 18th, and 28th of each month. Su Yu had not forgotten that.
He awkwardly said, "Teacher, I..."
"There is no need to explain yourself." Zhao Li waved his hand indifferently, "It's normal to be busy during this period of time. That was why I said that if you're going to minor in this path, you can only treat it as supplementary knowledge. You won't have the time to go too deeply into weaponsmithing."
Zhao Li smiled and continued, "You arrived at a good time. You still don't know about the basics and I can't be bothered to teach you all that. You can attend some basic classes when you have time. But without the basics, you won't be able to learn anything else. For now, I'll let you watch at the side and witness the art of weaponsmithing."
He then started heading deeper into the research center. Su Yu hurriedly followed him.
...
After a while, they entered an underground floor.
Ahead of them was a large hall. There were quite a lot of people already waiting there. Some were old and some were young. Not all of them knew Su Yu. When they saw him, some started asking about him. None of them said anything when they learned that this was a student from the Character Faculty.
They were all aware that the academy was now allowing the students to minor in another path. However, none of them expected any student to achieve much in the path they were minoring in.
"Senior Zhao!"
"Teacher Zhao!"
...
Numerous greetings rang out, but Zhao Li only nodded without saying anything.
Only when he arrived at the center of the hall did Zhao Li speak. "Today, I am going to forge a low-tier profound-grade cultural weapon. Profound-grade cultural weapons are suitable for those in the Skysoar and Cloudbreach Realms. Meanwhile, yellow-grade weapons are suitable for Great Strength and Infinite Strength cultivators. Of course, cultural researchers will generally only use yellow-grade weapons at the Mental Tempering Stage.
"There is no need to mention earth-grade weapons. Only Mountainsea experts can use weapons of that level. As for heaven-grade weapons...the Knowledge Seeking Realm might have some. In any case, I've never heard of those weapons appearing anywhere else."
Clearly, he was saying all that for Su Yu’s benefit. Standing in the corner, Su Yu listened attentively. He did not know anyone else in the room. Even if he had any questions, he wouldn't ask them now. He had not expected that Zhao Li would be forging a weapon today. No wonder there were so many people here.
"Some of you might be curious. Why are weapons split into martial and cultural weapons? What is the difference between cultural and martial weapons?"
...
The crowd was speechless. They started looking at Su Yu curiously. Clearly, this was a lesson for Su Yu alone. After all, all of them were already well-versed in the basics. Some of them were the researchers of the Weaponsmithing Faculty, some were instructors, and some were the geniuses of the Weaponsmithing Faculty. None of them was unaware of what Zhao Li was explaining.
However, Su Yu was clearly unaware of all that. It was clear that this lecture was meant for Su Yu alone.
Zhao Li ignored the crowd and continued, "The biggest difference between cultural and martial weapons is the structure. Martial weapons are solid and can take in source qi. The more source qi they take in, the harder they become, and the higher their grade would be.
"Warriors would frequently fight in melee range. They would mostly hack, slash, and stab in combat. For them, the harder and the sharper a weapon is, the better it would be. It would be even better if the weapon could take in all their source qi and unleash more power.
"But none of that matters for cultural weapons. Cultural weapons do not take in source qi. They take in Divine Characters and willpower. We don't care if the cultural weapon is hard or not. If you need a hard cultural weapon, you only need to have the corresponding Divine Character. Your willpower will determine the strength of your cultural weapon.
"When forging cultural weapons, there are a few points to take note of. You need to ensure that the weapon is compatible with the wielder's Divine Characters and character abilities. In that case, you need to take the materials into consideration as compatible materials will be required as well.
"Simply put, a cultural weapon might only be compatible with a single wielder. A martial weapon, on the other hand, can be used by many. That's the difference between martial and cultural weapons. Each cultural weapon is tailor-made for the wielder, so the price between weapons can vary largely. The materials used will depend on the Divine Characters and willpower of the wielder.? Standard design cultural weapons do not exist."
"Additionally, there are also different categories of cultural weapons. Cultural weapon forging generally involves forging a mold or forging a finished product. It is obvious enough what a finished product is. A cultural researcher would supply the materials or merit points for a weaponsmith to forge a suitable cultural weapon. This is a one-time deal.
"Cultural weapon molds are different. A weaponsmith can provide a basic mold to the wielder without any special materials. The cultural researcher would need to fuse their own materials into the mold and nourish the mold themselves by keeping the mold inside their sea of willpower. The mold can be grown with blood essence or other precious materials.
"This would not be a one-time deal. At a certain point, the wielder would need to return to the weaponsmith to have the mold further upgraded. As a mold is not considered a proper finished product, it can still be upgraded as long as enough materials are provided."
...
Zhao Li spent over 10 minutes covering the basics. And he wasn’t showing any signs of stopping. Slowly, some of the people in the crowd started growing impatient.? They were not here to listen to a basic lecture like this. They were here to observe Zhao Li forge a profound-grade weapon.
Zhao Li had evidently sensed the impatience of the crowd as he indifferently said, "You can always learn something new by reviewing what you already know. Patience is of the utmost importance for weaponsmiths. If you don't even have something as basic as patience, give up on weaponsmithing. You have no future in this path."
Among the crowd, an old man coughed and said, "Old Zhao, don't be angry. But we're already here. Some of us might still have something to do later. Why don't...you forge the weapon first?"
Zhao Li snorted, "Feel free to piss off if you're busy. I will say what I want. What can you do about it?"
...
The old man had nothing to say. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. Zhao Li's eccentric nature was well-known enough that it was even recorded in the student manual. Su Yu had never seen this side of Zhao Li before, so this was his first time witnessing it in action. He felt somewhat awkward as Zhao Li was wasting everyone's time for his sake. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.
Zhao Li ignored the crowd and continued his lecture, "When forging cultural weapons, Divine Characters are required. In truth, the weaponsmithing path can also be considered the character path. Over the years, many different paths have been created by cultural researchers with Divine Characters as the foundation."
"Carry the things here."
With one order from Zhao Li, a few youngsters carried a bunch of materials into the room. Su Yu barely knew any of the materials. Some were colorful while some were completely black. These appeared to be some metallic materials.
"You need different Divine Characters to dissolve different materials...but since you require a lot of characters, what if some of them conflict with each other? Therefore, most weaponsmiths have some unique Divine Characters."
As Zhao Li said that, a ball of fire appeared in his palm. He explained, "This Divine Character came from the fire character of the flaming devil language. It can be considered a top-tier Divine Character when it comes to weaponsmithing. Almost 90 percent of known materials can be dissolved with this character. As for the remaining materials, you can either form different characters for them or cooperate with others."
While he spoke, the materials started rapidly dissolving into liquid. The liquid hovered in front of him.
"Weaponsmiths need to clearly understand the composition of all sorts of materials. This time, I am forging a cultural weapon for a Skysoar teaching assistant. This person is known for his stab character. I won't give you the exact details about this character. Suffice to say that he specializes in assassination.
"Therefore, this cultural weapon needs to be inconspicuous. That is the most troublesome part about forging this weapon. Fortunately, he has provided me with a chunk of concealed devil stone. With this material, a majority of the weapon's aura can be hidden."
While speaking, Zhao Li worked on the floating liquid. Before long, the liquid from the different materials was mixed together.
"You also require unique Divine Characters to fuse these materials together. The optimal choice would be the blend character from the earthfire language. Some Divine Characters will only have a fixed ability upon formation, but not everyone can form those characters. I don't have that character either, but I have the combine character of the flaming devil language."
A combine character appeared in the air. The next moment, an astonishing sight unfolded before Su Yu. The multiple colors of the mixed liquid started blending together before slowly turning transparent.
While blending the liquid, Zhao Li said, "You must be very careful when fusing the materials. Any carelessness will result in a chaotic mixture. That will result in the creation of a cultural weapon that can't be taken into the sea of willpower. In that case, the resulting cultural weapon might as well be a piece of junk. After all, if you can't take the weapon into your sea of willpower, you won't be able to nurture it and increase the compatibility between it and your Divine Characters."
Seeing that Zhao Li was busy talking while working on the weapon, the other researchers started feeling anxious for him. They were worried that he would mess up and fail the forging session. Although this was only a low-tier profound-grade weapon, profound-grade weapons had never been easy to forge.
And upon failure, a weaponsmith was expected to compensate the customer for the loss in materials. A single low-tier profound-grade cultural weapon could cost thousands of merit points to forge.
For a lot of Skysoar cultivators, that was everything they had. A single cultural weapon could very well push them to bankruptcy.
After a short silence, Zhao Li said, "For weaponsmiths thinking of leaving a backdoor in their weapons, the fusion stage would be the perfect stage for it. Therefore, be sure to inspect any weapon you get."
"Cough."
A bunch of people coughed awkwardly.
.
Zhao Li ignored all of them and continued explaining, "In truth, it is better if you're present during the forging. It is also a good idea to inspect the product after the fusion stage. For example, if I want to leave a backdoor on this weapon, I can easily cause the weapon to stop moving or self-destruct if the owner happens to use it against me one day. It would be better to not buy any ready-made weapons on the market. Using a mold is the best choice. You can slowly grow your weapon."