Dimensional Descent

Leonel dunked his creation into a vat of water, and a sizzling steam shot into the air. When he pulled it out, it rippled with a slight pull of Force before it vanished.

’Not bad. Still need some work!

One would have thought that Leonel had made a blade he could finally use, but it was actually a brace.

The moment he picked up the hammer, he had decided to make one. That was because he calculated that if he swung as hard as he wanted to, he would eventually harm his wrist. If he wanted to make progress, he was going to have to find a way to protect his health first; then he could handle the rest.

Kammy came over from the side and looked at the brace.

”Why did you waste precious metal on this shit?” He seemed exasperated after breaking free from his shock.

He had realized somewhere in the process that Leonel was actually quite skilled. He did things in ways that didn’t make sense to Kammy, but he was still a true blacksmith nonetheless.

The way the metal shined was definitely a clear sign of this, even though it had only happened for a moment.

It was said in their world that metals refined to perfection would be able to emit a light of their own. Metals that were close would shimmer like that for a moment.

In their city, there were only three men that had reached this standard before, and Kammy was one of them. Now, Leonel was the fourth.

The good news was that Leonel definitely hadn’t lied. The bad news was that he had wasted such precious metal like this.

All of the metal in the forge had to be accounted for. They had a small quota for screw-ups, and Kammy was actually giving up a small portion of his to let Leonel have a go at it. Considering how scared everyone was of the city lord, this was undoubtedly a shocking thing.

”A waste?” Leonel cocked an eyebrow before smiling. Using the tongs, he slipped the brace onto his wrist.

”What are you doing?! It’s still hot!”

Leonel didn’t react to these words and just flexed his wrist.

Hot? Not at all. This wasn’t because of his Fire Force affinity, but rather because he had forged the metal so that it had properties of both steel and aluminum. It was as tough as the former and as light as the latter. In consequence, it also transferred heat just as fast as the latter as well.

The brace had long stopped being hot.

Kammy blinked in confusion when there was no smell of burning flesh. Considering half his baldness was due to fires, he was very intimate with that scent.

Leonel walked to the side and picked up another metal.

”Hey! I already let you—!”

Leonel tossed the rusted metal into the forge again.

”You didn’t even let the forge cool first! That metal might look the same, but it’s-.”

Leonel began to crank levers and pump in air.

”You wait for the forge to cool after every time? You’re wasting coal. The temperature might be too high now, but it will be perfect by the time the metal is ready to reach its melting point.”

Kammy’s lip twitched, being left speechless for the first time in maybe his entire life. He obviously knew that the metals would take time to come up to temperature. But the problem was that it... who could tell?

The temperature of the forge itself was just a sequence of levers and a ratio of air pumped. But the metal would have a variable range.

It was often best practice to set a proper temperature for the forge first and then leave the metal in for longer than you had to.

After all, because of the laws of physics, the metal couldn’t overshoot the temperature the forge was set at. At most it could match it. So it was a safe bet no matter what.

But Leonel was calculating ahead, measuring not just the forge’s temperature, but the metal’s temperature at the same time.

How was that even possible?

Trying to put one’s Internal Sight into that forge would lead to all sorts of problems.

It had to be remembered that Internal Sight wasn’t just an extension of sight; it was an extension of all five of the senses.

Sight would be overwhelmed by the bright fire, touch would be burned to hell, smell would give you no proper feedback in return... there was simply nothing to gain.

And yet...

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leonel repeated the same process again and again, moving smoothly and assuredly. He brought the metal in and out of the forge, cranking levers and pumping air as though he was controlling the forge as an extension of his own body. Kammy was so distracted that it took him a while to realize that Leonel was swinging the hammer with what should have been at least three times the strength he used previously. He could practically see the metal whining beneath his might.

”That brace...’

Kammy’s eyes shone. It was dispersing the impact and weakening the backlash to Leonel’s arm.

So it wasn’t a wasted craft after all? Just how was a brace alone able to accomplish

this?

SHIIIING!

Kammy hurriedly dodged out of the way of a blade Force that carried itself through

the air.

Leonel tossed the metal back into the forge.

Every time he pulled it out and hammered, another blade would appear, then another,

and then another.

They layered on top of each other before...

BANG!

A resplendent light shot up and a ripple surged across the room.

The air overturned, and dancing blade lights descended.

Kammy’s eyes were pulled to the spearhead, and he practically forced his eyelids more

open with his fingers and thumb.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

And because Kammy was so distracted, he didn’t see the sneer on Leonel’s face.

He had found a way to ignore the Regulator.