Chapter 634 – Soul Smithing Continued.

Slow, steady footsteps echoed through the star-filled void as a lone figure moved forward. He walked with the confidence of someone who had been here before, and the moment he reached the center, the memories returned in a rush.

“I have done all of this already. Boss’ magic is really working.”

Bernir had come back to the ascension space, and the trial was underway once more. This time, he did not waste a moment trying to decipher the phantom hammer. He moved smoothly between the smelter and the colossal anvil, one hand solid and the other a half-visible outline of shimmering white light that gripped the soul-bound tool as if it had always belonged to him.

He halted only when the platform ahead rumbled and a new pedestal rose from below.

“All right then. Let us see what you want from me this time.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow and stepped closer. The silhouette engraved into the stone was unmistakable: twin crescent blades, long haft, weight distribution favoring brutal cleaving power.

“That is a great axe. As certain as the watered-down ale in the tavern.”

The platform shifted beneath him in what felt like approval. Above, the cosmic sky shimmered and distant stars went dark one by one until they formed the same countdown he had witnessed before. This time he felt the weight of it at once. He knew now how ruthless that timer could be and he had no intention of losing seconds again.

“No time to lollygag.”

He nodded as he spoke. The two temporary skills he had received last time were granted to him almost instantly, and with that much time saved, he knew his chances of success were much higher.

“Let’s do this right.”

The Soul Sense within him pulsed, and the surrounding materials answered like a choir. He had spent days preparing for this test, using the fragmented memories to guide his understanding of what it required. The previous attempt had been a mess. He had stumbled through the process, unable to fully grasp what his skill tried to tell him. Now he approached everything with clear intention.

“This one looks promising…”

He picked up a chunk of dull black ore lined with faint silver veins and tapped it with the white hammer.

*Thump*

A deep note rang out. It was steady and heavy, perfect for something that needed weight and force.

“Aye, good for the head.”

Next, he lifted a shard of pale blue crystal. When the phantom hammer touched it, the crystal vibrated and revealed what he needed to know.

“Aye, you will hold the edge nicely.”

Finally, he examined a curved splinter of strange wood. The moment he held it, he sensed a presence that resonated with the other three materials.

“For the haft… but I’ll need ta treat ya first.”

Bernir rolled his shoulders and looked over the forge again. The entire setup remained annoyingly spread out with the smelter on the far left, the sanding wheels and quenching basin on the far right, and the anvil in the center. Whoever designed it had no interest in efficiency.

“Still the worst layout I’ve ever seen, but I can’t say the same about the quality.”

He glanced at his phantom hand. Deep within it, he could feel something stirring. Soul energy was calling out to him. Over the last few days, he had gone through Roland’s notes. They described various ways of harnessing magical energy along with related forces.

There was some kind of unified energy theory buried in the text that he still could not grasp, but one thing was clear. The method he was using was not very different from what Runesmiths and Enchantsmiths practiced. It was simply another way of transferring energy into metal to produce an enhancing effect.

Soon, he fed the chosen ores and the crystal into the hungry smelter. His soul sense guided him more clearly than before. Each material sang to him in strange notes. It felt as if he were composing a melody while crafting, and suddenly the pattern made sense. The smelter rumbled to life. Pale flames that looked almost silver surged within the chamber and cast ethereal shadows across the star-covered void.

“Easy now, keep the flames steady.”

Some new instinct had awakened. He could feel the melody within the smelted mixture reacting to the temperature. By listening closely, he managed to keep it within a range that would not disturb it.

He adjusted the heat using the controls built into the smelter. The flames stabilized and began to swirl in a slow spiral that drew out impurities in ribbons of black smoke.

“Melt properly, my little ores.”

Minutes passed in the strange timelessness of the trial space. The ore mixture eventually liquefied and reached the proper consistency for ingot casting. Once that was done, he let the metal cool while he turned his attention to the wooden haft. This part of the process was the simplest for him, as he was already proficient in woodworking and carving.

Eventually, the time came to work on the main part, the axe head itself. Shaping the weapon was not the difficult part. He had years of experience with this kind of work. The true challenge was learning how to infuse it with soul energy.

He marched toward the anvil, each step steady and practiced. The moment he set the ingot onto its gleaming surface, the soul hammer in his phantom hand reacted on its own. A soft, ghostly glow seeped from the tool as if it recognized the metal. If he remembered correctly, he would not have more than one chance to do this, so he had to make it count.

In theory, the process was simple. He needed to use the white hammer to shape the ingot into the axe blade. With each strike, he had to feed a precise amount of soul energy into the metal. The materials already held a good amount of soul energy, and he needed to bring that energy in tune with his own. Once both aligned, the desired effect would occur, and the weapon would gain something similar to a magical enchantment.

In practice, this was an exhausting task. A new resource bar floated before him and it shrank with every hit. As it dropped, his body strained harder. If he pushed the limit, something bad would happen. He did not know what exactly, but his body remembered the warning from the previous trial. This energy was tied directly to his soul and draining too much too quickly risked harming it. Fortunately, the materials were saturated with their own energy, so he would not need to rely heavily on his own reserves.

“All right then.”

He raised the white hammer.

*CLANG*

He brought it down. The sound reverberated across the void. Stars flickered out in response, and the process of shaping began. One blow, two blows, and then the third. The process was quite tedious because he constantly needed to take breaks to heat the metal in the forge again. Yet after some time, he realized that the design of this forge carried a purpose.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“This soul-infused metal… it does need pause to settle.”

After a few hammer strikes, a short reprieve was required. When it was time to return it to the heat, he felt a strange connection between the souls within his craft, and it seemed as if the weapon carried its own emotion. Each time he struck it, he stripped away the negative ones and focused on the positive ones until they fused into a single whole.

“Haaa… This is… astonishing…”

Bernir wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked at the nearly finished axe head. It felt different than before. The work was not yet complete because it still needed to be sharpened and attached to the handle, but he could already tell that he had succeeded.

“This cannot be it, though… It still needs more oomph.”

It was time for the finishing touches. Bernir lifted the half-finished axe head, its surface shimmering with particles of silver-blue light that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. Even without Soul Sense, he could feel a strange power emanating from it.

“Aye… still missin’ the edge and the handle.”

He glanced up toward the star-covered void. Only a few remained, which pushed him to hurry. He turned toward the platform on the far right and rushed to quench the axe in the special basin. The liquid inside was neither water nor oil but a strange solution that complemented this new method of soul craft. The moment he dipped the axe in, the substance began to shimmer.

“Ack, my eyes!”