Playing inventor in a cultivation world-Chapter 13: Improvement? No, perfection

"Yes. I called you to visit the smithery."

Without giving the man a chance to reply, Seraph stepped into the workshop. Yelena and Elder Cassius immediately followed him.

A wave of heat washed over their skin, and the clanging sounds of forging reached their ears.

One of the idle blacksmiths who noticed them immediately approached.

"Kids, what are you..." His eyes landed on the Clan Elder, and his tone changed. "Ah! They’re here with you, Elder."

Bowing slightly, he smiled. "Welcome to our humble workshop."

Elder Cassius nodded. Not knowing what to say, he turned to the person who had brought him here.

Seraph understood and said. "Elder Cassius wanted me to test some alterations I developed in your basic blacksmithing techniques. Can I see the ones you have?"

Although he had general knowledge about forging, the techniques used by the Moonveil Clan would be slightly different due to varying properties of their forging materials.

The man’s expression turned weird, but after glancing at Elder Cassius, he agreed.

Upon receiving the forging manual, Seraph took a seat and started reading through it. The book was thick and heavy, but he quickly grasped the crucial information in less than twenty minutes.

Once he was done, he returned to join Elder Cassius and his sister where they were touring the smithery.

He stepped beside the Elder, then spoke calmly. "I’ve reviewed the techniques." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Elder Cassius hid his mocking smile and asked. "Well, how is it?"

As much as he believed Seraph was a smart anomaly, he didn’t think the kid could actually understand the techniques in such a short time.

Ignoring the man’s veiled emotions, Seraph answered. "I’m disappointed, honestly. There are so many flaws with the techniques."

"Fault?" The blacksmith touring them overhead and frowned. "What do you mean?"

The white-haired boy shrugged. "You all focus on preserving the elements of the ores. However, you neglect the durability of the ore itself. Do you notice the clan warriors often come back with broken weapons?"

The blacksmith was dumbfounded, unable to retort. Seraph’s guess was spot-on. The warriors always complained about the durability of their equipments, always coming back for repairs.

This was a major headache for the blacksmiths since they desperately wanted to preserve the elemental properties of the ores and incorporate them into the equipments created.

However, this process disrupted the durability of the equipments and they struggled to find the perfect solution for it.

Seeing the blacksmith’s complicated expression, Elder Cassius was surprised. ’He’s actually right?’

Turned to Seraph, he saw the boy staring at the other working blacksmiths with a judgemental gaze and a bitter smile.

"Can... do you have a solution?"

The blacksmith hesitantly asked, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Well, that’s very obvious. To every issue is a solution."

Turning around, he led them to an empty forge, then sat down like an instructor.

"Let’s try the flame-type sword."

The blacksmith immediately nodded and brought out some ores. Although he had some doubt in his heart, he still decided to listen to the boy. They were like stones but had smooth surfaces and a fiery red glow to them.

"Forge the sword. However, completely ignore the elemental property and focus on the durability of the weapon itself."

The blacksmith frowned, but still complied. He brought out his hammer, lit up the furnace, and began melting the ores.

As soon as they became liquid magma, he poured the boiling ore into a container shaped as a sword. He let it cool slightly, then brought it onto the table.

While it was in the half-molten state, he began hitting it with his hammer.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Slowly but surely, under the relentless heavy strikes, the rough metal slowly sharpened into the shape of a real sword. This was not the regular technique they used, so the fiery glow of the ore immediately cooled. Very soon, it had almost become a lump of dull black metal.

At this point, a few of the other blacksmiths had become curious and came to check.

"What? What is he doing?"

"Can’t he see the sword has lost its element? That’s foolish."

"Wait. Who’s that white-haired kid? Elder Cassius is even with them."

They whispered among themselves, but still waited to see him finish.

Just then, Seraph spoke up. "Yelena, support him with your fire affinity."

"Eh? H-how?" The girl was surprised, startled even. She had been entranced by the beauty of forging, and when he suddenly said that, she was shocked.

"Just stand some distance from him and pour some fire onto the sword."

The girl pursed her lips, wondering if she was really the older sibling. Seraph’s voice carried a tone of maturity she couldn’t resist.

Sighing, she stood some distance from the blacksmith and sent a constant stream of fire toward the weapon.

The blacksmith was surprised, but continued hitting with his hammer. As soon as the fire came in contact with the weapon, glowing red veins lit up on it.

It absorbed some of the fire, the glow becoming brighter. Suddenly, Seraph spoke.

"Yelena, that’s enough."

The girl stopped immediately, cautious not to ruin his plans. The blacksmith continued shaping the weapon with his hammer, even as the red glow dimmed slightly. After a while, the glow entirely disappeared, much to his disappointment.

However, looking at Seraph, the boy wasn’t surprised. Finally, the weapon took the shape of a sword, and only needed filing to sharpen the edges.

"No need for that yet. This is just a test." Seraph shook his head with a smile, "Now we’re done with it the relevant alteration."

The other blacksmiths frowned. "Isn’t this a completely normal sword? It has lost all its elements."

"Yeah, this is a poor sword. Disappointing."

"Is that so?" Seraph asked with a relaxed smile. Turning to the blacksmith who had forged it, he told him to pick up the sword and swing it.

Although dejected, the man still had a faint hope that a miracle would happen. He picked up the sword from the table, the did a casual swing.

To their surprise, the sword suddenly glowed and left an arc of flames that followed in its wake. The ground that was lightly touched was melted, even though the sword hadn’t been sharpened at all.

"Well... is it disappointing any longer?"

The entire smithery fell silent with Seraph’s words like a heavy guillotine.