In fact, Bai Zemin's imagination went a little crazy when he imagined an attack from him without holding back at all.
When the resulting image flashed in his mind, he was 100% certain that even if a Third Order existence appeared in front of him once his weapon was finished he would definitely have enough power to make his enemy suffer the consequences.
If another existence heard his words, especially Higher Existences, they would definitely scoff at him. A First Order existence believed to be capable of threatening the life of a Third Order existence? Even jokes had their limits!
However, if those existences were to see Bai Zemin's status window which was not at all in accordance to someone of his level, and if those existences were to see his active skills and managed to comprehend the enormous synergy those skills had with each other; they would definitely not think that Bai Zemin was joking.
…
"But before the sword, I think I should prepare the proper tools."
Until now, Bai Zemin hadn't had much choice regarding his forging tools. However, now that a good metal had appeared before him, it was impossible for his heart not to be moved.
The first thing he did was to use part of the bones from the skeleton of the Second Order ape that Shangguan Bing Xue had killed. It was perhaps a quality that only started from the Second Order but curiously, the bones of this creature had certain metallic properties so when Bai Zemin took it to the furnace and the Endless Blue Lotus Flame began to burn, instead of being destroyed the bones slowly began to overheat.
Crack…
The sound of cracking after about two or three minutes of burning caused a sigh to creep from inside Bai Zemin.
"It really won't be easy." He muttered as he looked at the broken bones.
Although they had not been useless, the current him had no way of using them to forge equipment as his knowledge of blacksmithing was still not high enough.
The Endless Blue Lotus Flame had been a flame used for combat rather than a forging flame. The memories that slept within the flame's conscience and will was destruction and annihilation, so something like 'be careful' was new to this small flame that now burned with greater ferocity in the forging furnace.
Bai Zemin had to go through a long process of trial and failure before he reached success and since he did not want to lose valuable Second Order material he began to practice with the flame using Unclassified materials.
"Burn a little harder."
"A little less!"
"…"
"A little- Shit."
" Burn."
" Like that, there you go!"
"Try to remember that feeling from before."
…
Bai Zemin continued to give instructions to the Endless Blue Lotus Flame and tried to guide it as best as possible. It was not a simple task at all as even after three whole hours, a large number of forging materials had been wasted.
However, Bai Zemin was fully aware that with the Endless Blue Lotus Flame's ability to sleep almost completely and with a barely awakened conscience, his job was no different than dealing with a newborn baby so a lot of patience was required in this regard.
Time passed and before Bai Zemin knew it, it was already 5 am. It was only another hour before the sun began to show signs of rising.
It had been about 7 hours since he had started practicing the burning process with the Endless Blue Lotus Flame and it had been something similar to "tug of war". Bai Zemin felt more exhausted than when he fought the Archaic Bear and almost lost his life in the process.
However, one's efforts rarely go unrewarded.
"That's it, that's how you do it!" he exclaimed as he looked at the blue flame that was burning furiously as if celebrating its triumph.
In front of him, the Second Order ape's bones finally reached the perfect temperature where the faint gray had turned to bright reddish.
"So proud… Is this how a father feels when he teaches his child to ride a bicycle?" Bai Zemin wiped away his crocodile tears before taking the hammer and layering it with several layers of his Mana.
Even though it wasn't perfect and a lot of training was still needed as the time required to reach the culminating point was far more than would actually be needed, this had undoubtedly been a big step for the little Endless Blue Lotus Flame.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!…
Bai Zemin hammered hard on the Second Order ape's bones and although at first it seemed that the power was not enough, it slowly showed the results. The shape of the thorax bones began to gradually mold under the constant hammering thanks to the fact that the burning temperature of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame had caused the bones with metallic properties to temporarily lose some of their hardness, turning that hardness into greater moldability.
Bai Zemin wielded the hammer from different angles, slowly giving the bones the shape he was looking for. Approximately thirty minutes later, he stopped his movements and took a closer look at what was before him.
Still burning red-hot, what was in front of Bai Zemin's eyes appeared to be a mold for making muffins or cakes. However, the shape of the mold was exactly the shape of a forging hammer and its size made it impossible for anyone to mistake it for a mold for making muffins or cakes.
With the mold ready, Bai Zemin looked toward the furnace and said in a serious voice, "Little fellow, I know it's hard for you to listen to me but I need you to focus hard this time."
The little Endless Blue Lotus Flame seemed to blink in response or maybe it was just Bai Zemin's imagination but whatever the case there was no choice but to take the bull by the horns and continue.
He took a fragment of Lapiodite and threw it into the flames that burned non-stop in the furnace. The flames engulfed the material, but as Bai Zemin expected, it was not easy to make a Rank 2 mineral heat up in a matter of seconds.
Seeing that even after five minutes the Lapiodite showed no signs of melting, Bai Zemin gritted his teeth and threw two First Order Soul Stones. As the flames engulfed the two First Order Soul Stones Bai Zemin felt as if his heart was about to bleed.
Fortunately, throwing fuel on the fire proved to be the best option.
The Endless Blue Lotus Flame burned far more fiercely than before as it savagely absorbed the power of the new Soul Stones just as if it were a thirsty man in the middle of the desert who suddenly encountered an oasis. Under its constant oscillation, the Lapiodite fragment quickly began to show signs of giving way.
Bai Zemin sighed a sigh of relief in his heart and hurriedly took the tongs. Here came the crux of success or failure.
"Try to focus all your heat on one point. Try to ignore everything except the metal." Bai Zemin patiently explained his intention and the Endless Blue Lotus Flame seemed to understand as slowly the temperature inside the workshop began to drop.
As the surrounding temperature dropped, the speed at which the Lapiodite fragment heated up increased as a result of the heat focus. Bai Zemin realized that he had to hurry so he hurriedly took the mold and dipped it into a large container of cold water.
Steam shot up to the ceiling as the temperature of the mold dropped abruptly after coming into contact with the freezing water. Bai Zemin grabbed the tongs and quickly carried the now cold instead of fiery red mold back to the dancing flames.
The cold water not only helped to keep the mold's temperature lower but also served to temporarily battle against the blue flames that had lost ferocity as the Endless Blue Lotus Flame focused on the Lapiodite fragment which at this point was already completely fiery red.
Bai Zemin took a fire poker and hurriedly rolled the burning Lapiodite fragment into the mold, which was rapidly showing signs of overheating. Next, he took the mold back to the flames and instructed the Endless Blue Lotus Flame to increase the temperature around the mold but to focus primarily on the mineral inside.
A few minutes later, the Lapiodite fragment was completely melted under the Endless Blue Lotus Flame's constant oscillation and Bai Zemin wanted to shout for joy. However, now came one of the most important points; a process in which he had little or no power.
"I hope the mold can withstand the temperature of the Lapiodite or else all my previous efforts will go down the drain." Bai Zemin prayed to god, the devil, dragons, even ghosts.
The now completely melted Lapiodite fragment had adapted to the shape of the mold, so that before Bai Zemin there seemed to be a forge hammer burning with little flashes of lightning amidst the gurgling lava.
Unfortunately, luck did not seem to be on his side as approximately twenty minutes later, the mold began to show signs of not being able to withstand anymore.
Bai Zemin hurriedly picked up the mold again and took it back to the cold water basin, dipping it in as quickly as possible. The steam rose uncontrollably and the workshop soon seemed to be enveloped by a white cloud.
More than a hundred liters of water were evaporated in a matter of seconds, but the temperature of the burning lava hardly dropped at all. Even so, this served to prevent the mold from silting up so quickly.
However, Bai Zemin was not happy at all and instead had a grim expression on his face as he thought about what to do next.
The cooling from before had only bought him several seconds or maybe one or two minutes if he were lucky. Besides, judging by how the Lapiodite in a liquid state still burned so brightly, Bai Zemin believed that even a river could be evaporated before it cooled down completely so submerging it in water didn't seem to be a really viable option either.
Just as his expression sank deeper and deeper, he felt the door to his workshop gently open, and when he looked in that direction, his expression brightened as he muttered aloud, "My ray of light in the midst of darkness has come at just the right time."
* * *
Shangguan Bing Xue had gone to look for Bai Zemin at his villa as she wanted to ask him something important. However, when she got there, the maids who had just awakened told her that he was apparently sleeping.
She found this strange so she went to knock on the door of his room, only to find that no one was actually there. She was quick to judge the place where he might be so she immediately went to his forge shop.
Not to her surprise, she felt several sounds coming from inside. However, when she opened the door, a large cloud of steam assaulted her. Just as she was about to ask Bai Zemin what he was doing to cause so much steam and why he kept the door closed without letting it out, she heard words that startled her.
"My ray of light in the midst of darkness has come at the right time."
Her blue eyes stared at the man several feet away and for a moment she didn't know what to say. However, she didn't have time to think things through too much at all either.
Bai Zemin ignored everything in the world and hurriedly moved forward, crossing the distance between her and him in an instant.
"Hurry, I need your help here!"
Shangguan Bing Xue, still shocked by what she heard earlier, unconsciously let her feet carry her as Bai Zemin pulled on her arm urgently.
Both of them did not notice that as the events unfolded a distinctly unnatural blush appeared on the face of the cold and indifferent ice princess.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3
