Chapter 15

In a place where like attracts like, as a blacksmith, Longyi had no great interest in other hobbies. The three of them went their separate ways, and soon Longyi arrived at a blacksmith's shop.

From a distance, he could hear the clanging of hammers, a sound he had heard since childhood over the past eighteen years. From this sound, it was clear that the hammer wielder was very strong, and the hammer was certainly not small, but it was unknown what was being forged.

"Golden Hammer." Longyi looked up at the sign and knew this must be a shop run by a dwarf. Only dwarves were so obsessed with gold and gems, even using them as their surnames. This dwarf called himself Golden Hammer, which meant he had inherited the Golden Hammer craft from ancient times.

The shop was small and unattended, and Longyi easily made his way to the backyard, where the sound of metal clashing grew louder. Finally, Longyi saw a dwarf whose face was almost entirely buried in his beard, raising a hammer as large as a small oak barrel.

Clang!

The hammer fell, and sparks flew from the object on the anvil, landing on the dwarf's beard and immediately filling the air with the smell of burnt protein.

"Hey! Brat! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and help!" the dwarf shouted loudly without even glancing at Longyi.

Longyi chuckled, feeling a bit itchy after not forging for a few days. He grabbed a hammer from the side and walked over.

The dwarf's hammer was large and heavy, but it was just right for Longyi. As the dwarf struck, Longyi followed with the second hammer. The rhythm was a bit chaotic for the first three strikes, but after that, Longyi was able to match the dwarf's rhythm perfectly.

Longyi had learned his blacksmithing skills from his father, and now he had become an excellent blacksmith capable of working independently. This skill of coordination was second nature to him.

The dwarf said nothing, and the two of them hammered away for a full hour. A rather imposing prototype of a Dragon Slayer sword began to take shape.

The dwarf picked up the sword, about to quench it in the water trough, but Longyi suddenly raised his hand and said, "Wait!"

The dwarf was taken aback but really stopped.

Longyi reached out with a pair of tongs to pick up the heavy Dragon Slayer sword and called out, "Pigsy, medium heat."

The plump Abyss Dragon Pigsy waddled out, lazily spitting out a mouthful of fire, turning the Dragon Slayer sword a dark red. Then Longyi ran to the water trough to test the water temperature, slowly touching the blade to the water, and after several tests, he let the water slowly cover the entire Dragon Slayer sword.

"Brat, tell me what you're doing," the dwarf asked, his eyes hidden in his beard flashing with light.

Longyi smiled and said, "This Dragon Slayer sword is made of black iron. Quenching it in warm water at this red-hot temperature can greatly increase the hardness of the blade while ensuring the body of the sword has excellent toughness. You are a Golden Hammer blacksmith; this is a small issue, and you must know it!"

The dwarf laughed heartily and said nothing more, reaching into the water trough to retrieve the cooled Dragon Slayer sword and casually drawing another finished Dragon Slayer sword from the side and laying it on the ground.

Clang!

The Dragon Slayer sword on the ground was cut in two.

The dwarf laughed heartily at the sight of the Dragon Slayer sword breaking in two.

"Good brat! It's rare to find someone like you among the students of the Dragon Knight Academy! I thought they were all a bunch of idiots with their heads in the clouds! A group of boys are advancing this year and want to order a batch of Dragon Slayer swords from me. I'm Golden Hammer! Do they think I'll treat making Dragon Slayer swords for a bunch of kids like making artifacts?"

Longyi also laughed and said, "This is just a basic method of metal heat treatment. If I had a way to measure the temperature precisely, I could achieve perfection in metal heat treatment!"

Longyi wasn't boasting. In his time, metal heat treatment was a separate discipline. Countless engineers had devoted a great deal of effort to it, conducting one failed experiment after another to obtain precise values.

One could say that in that world without magic, human methods of processing ordinary metals had reached an extreme, something that couldn't be surpassed by the experience of the eyes in this world.

Longyi was a pilot, and he had also studied mechanical repair, then mechanical processing, and subsequently, metal processing, metal heat treatment, and a host of related disciplines.

One could say that if given a precision machine tool, Longyi might not be able to manufacture a jet aircraft, but he could easily rebuild a piston-engine propeller aircraft.

However, in this world with dragons, such oil-burning machinery was useless.

Moreover, Longyi couldn't even make a precision machine tool.

Hearing Longyi's bold words, the dwarf laughed heartily.

"Brat, you're quite confident! I see your hands; you've been holding a hammer for at least ten years. Who was your master?"

Longyi replied, "I don't have a master, but my father and you have a good relationship."

The dwarf finally looked at Longyi carefully. "I don't have many human blacksmiths with a good relationship, and those who have such a big kid... Are you Longyi?"

The dwarf Golden Hammer finally remembered the child he had once seen, but he didn't expect him to have grown so much.

Longyi smiled and nodded. "Uncle, hello, I'm Longyi."

The dwarf looked at Longyi's shoulders and then his hands, nodding in approval.

"Brat, since your old man died, you've been out of touch. Now you suddenly become a Dragon Knight and write to me about some good news. You're not here to brag, are you? I, Golden Hammer, have been playing with red-hot iron for seventy years. If you brag in front of me, be careful not to burn your tongue!"

Dwarves' mining and forging skills were the best in the world, and no one doubted this. Every year, countless humans aspiring to become master blacksmiths would travel with devout hearts to the dwarves' underground city, the Forgehold, the largest city in the dwarf world and the holy land of forging! There, the world's most famous Dragon Slayer sword, the Hundred Dragon Slayer, was forged. It was a powerful weapon forged by dwarves, refined by elves, and enchanted by several dragon mages.

According to legend, this sword had cut off the heads of a hundred dragons in succession without any loss of sharpness. It was the owner of this sword who ended the large-scale wars among the seven kingdoms, forming the relatively stable world order of today.

Seeing the dwarf's disbelief, Longyi was not angry. He knew that you could talk about anything with dwarves except their mining and forging skills. Especially this dwarf, who had the surname Golden Hammer, was even prouder than other dwarves because Golden Hammer was the surname of the blacksmith who forged the Hundred Dragon Slayer!

So if he couldn't present convincing evidence today, Longyi felt he would be thrown out by the dwarf.

"Since that's the case, I'll show you, Uncle Golden Hammer, something I made myself."

Longyi reached for his waist.

"Alright, alright, if you can show me the quenching skills you mentioned, I, Gett-Golden Hammer, will make you a free Dragon Slayer sword today!"

The dwarf grinned, but his eyes showed disdain. This brat is quite talented, but if he wants to challenge me, he's still too young!

However, when Longyi pulled out his weapon, the dwarf's eyes widened.

It was a curved short blade, a large dagger. The blade was made of a single piece of dragon bone, with black wood handles on both sides. The lines were smooth, and the blade was seamless, with no breaks or disharmonious bends. The entire blade was polished to a mirror finish, even the edge. When viewed at an angle, the blade had a hazy blue color!

Damn!

This thing!

It's too damn beautiful! I love it!

So beautifully made, could it be an elf's work? No! This is not an elf's work! Elves love to do meaningless things, even decorating a short knife with all sorts of elven patterns. This dagger is sleek and grand, with no unnecessary decorations, a weapon that prioritizes practicality!

When held in one hand, the handle fits perfectly in the palm, giving a sense of fullness.

"Damn! Don't think that just because it looks good, you can fool me, Golden Hammer!"

Saying this, the dwarf Golden Hammer raised the dagger and stabbed it into the Dragon Slayer sword he had just made!

Clang!

Crack!

The Dragon Slayer sword was actually pierced by the dagger!

The dwarf immediately pulled out the dagger and carefully examined the damage, finding that the tip of the dagger had collapsed under the impact, but the entire blade remained intact!

The metal is not up to standard!

The dwarf immediately saw the problem. This short knife used second-grade blue steel, while his Dragon Slayer sword used top-grade black carbon steel. Theoretically, blue steel is better than black carbon steel. However, second-grade blue steel is softer, while top-grade black carbon steel is very hard. To pierce a Dragon Slayer sword made of black carbon steel and specially quenched with a short knife, the heat treatment of this short knife is indeed excellent!

Can I do it?

Golden Hammer asked himself.

He estimated that maybe, perhaps, he could.

But he couldn't make it so beautiful!

"Brat, how did you make it so, so beautiful?"

The dwarf Golden Hammer spoke hesitantly, not used to the word "beautiful" coming out of his mouth.

Dwarves liked high-end, grand, and powerful things, but they disliked beauty. In their view, those who liked beauty were elves, sissies! Dwarves wanted strength and power, not beauty!

So when the dwarf Golden Hammer saw a weapon and first thought of its beauty, he was deeply shocked.

When Longyi saw Golden Hammer's expression, he knew he had achieved his goal.

"This, actually, I made with some small inventions of my own."

Longyi replied.