In a dark cave.
Ethan, who was hiding inside, held a pitch-black hammer and guided Zoe in Basic Forging.
Instead of rushing to break out from the east, they decided to stay in the Death Swamp, deal with the lizardmen and the swamp's monsters, and look for an opportunity to break out from the west.
As a result, Ethan was now able to find time during his rests to teach Zoe blacksmithing.
Zoe held his hammer, learning from Ethan.
Even though they couldn't perform actual weapon forging during their lessons, Ethan was a legendary blacksmith after all, and Zoe already had a foundation.
Thus, even through this simple, theoretical guidance, Zoe's forging skill was improving rapidly.
[Skill: Common Forging Lv3 (E-grade) Proficiency +20]
“Your talent is exceptional. Most apprentices I've seen can't even compare to you.”
Ethan did not hold back his praise while instructing him.
However, Zoe knew exactly what was going on.
In his first life, he had been evaluated as having mediocre forging talent, making it difficult for him to achieve anything.
His current rating as highly talented was in all probability due to the talent correction for hammer-related tasks provided by [Wall Smasher].
Did it apply not only to combat but also to forging?
Without a teacher, gaining 20 proficiency points would require him to forge continuously for two or three days.
But with a teacher, he only needed a single session of guidance.
‘As expected, having a teacher's guidance is far more efficient than groping around in the dark by myself.’
“Ethan, what are you best at forging?”
Zoe asked while practicing his hammer swings.
“Broadswords, longswords, and ritual swords.”
“I can also forge armor, but I can't compare to those armorers who specialize in it.”
When it came to his smithing skills, Ethan showed considerable confidence and pride.
After all, he was someone whom the Black Dragon King had taken an interest in and abducted specifically to forge weapons for him.
Speaking of the Black Dragon King...
“Since the Dragon Heart Spike is so important to the Black Dragon King, will he personally come to take it back?” Zoe asked, feeling concerned about the Black Dragon King.
“The Black Dragon King won't act. His goal is to advance to a True Demon King, so before that happens, he will absolutely not make a move.”
“He hasn't fought in three hundred years. For all these three centuries, he has been continuously accumulating mana.”
“Once he takes action and uses his mana, the massive amount of energy he has accumulated will leak away, and three hundred years of effort will be completely ruined.”
Advancement required an enormous amount of mana.
In other words, because of his pursuit of advancement, his hands were tied instead?
“What happens if a massive amount of mana leaks out?”
Ethan thought for a moment.
“With the Black Dragon King's power, if the mana he has accumulated over three hundred years were to leak...”
“The mana concentration of the entire Death Swamp and its surrounding areas would instantly double.”
“For the next few centuries, the mana concentration of the Death Swamp would remain higher than that of the surrounding regions, spawning many more monsters.”
What an incredibly terrifying total volume of mana that had to be.
Yet, even this three-hundred-year accumulation was still not enough for the Black Dragon King's advancement.
He still needed an amount of mana equivalent to depleting half of the magic world for a century to cover the deficit of a forced advancement.
The training session did not last very long.
After all, they were being hunted in the Death Swamp and couldn't stay in one place for too long.
Zoe could only seize the opportunity to desperately absorb knowledge in these extremely brief intervals.
Within three hours, studying with an intensity as if his life depended on it, he squeezed out 60 proficiency points for [Common Forging].
This desperate eagerness to learn shocked even Ethan.
Furthermore, while Ethan had rest periods, Zoe had not rested for a single moment in this 24-hour cycle inside the hazardous swamp, his nerves constantly strung tight.
He had also asked Zoe if he needed rest.
Zoe then explained to him how he split his consciousness to engage in segmented sleep, thereby achieving round-the-clock efforts.
Ethan felt a deep sense of awe at this.
In his life of over a hundred years, he had never seen such a hard-working intelligent being.
Once the training concluded, Ethan needed to rest.
During this period, Zoe would control Ethan's body using the biological armor to continue their escape.
But Zoe did not waste this brief transition after the training. He pulled out the pink ore he had retrieved from the Ore Dragon's stomach and asked Ethan to evaluate it.
The appraisal results from [Lesser Appraisal Eye] were far too simple; they couldn't possibly compare to the judgment of a legendary blacksmith.
Ethan took the spherical ore, looked it over, tapped it a few times, and completed his assessment.
“This is an ore deposit from the stomach of an Ore Dragon that constantly fed on Iron Earthworms. It probably accumulated in the stomach acid for about forty to fifty years.”
“An extremely rare material. Ore Dragons are nearly extinct nowadays, and I have never seen one of this color before.”
“Was its nature altered by some special power's corruption? Its overall strength has also increased by a level.”
Ethan spoke with awe, seemingly not expecting Zoe to possess such a fine item.
Even he hadn't worked with materials of this caliber very often.
The Ore Dragon's gastric juice could dissolve ores, and ore deposits soaked in this acid for years had incredible adaptability, allowing them to be smelted into an alloy with almost any material.
“Corruption by a special power?”
Zoe thought of the crossguard that had been stabbed into the Ore Dragon's head, so he pulled it out as well.
“A magic item!”
“A very high-quality magic item, and it has inscriptions. This is dwarven craftsmanship.”
“'Flame in the furnace, grant strength to steel.'”
“The etching methods for these three high-grade rune words—'Furnace,' 'Flame,' and 'Steel'—have long been lost.”
“This is an antique! If a dwarven blacksmith were to drag a stool over and stand on his tiptoes to see this, he would probably do whatever it takes to get his hands on it.”
Ethan admired the patterns on the crossguard.
His admiration stemmed not just from the value of this magic item, but also from the feeling of appreciating an unearthed relic or antique.
“The embedded gemstone has been lost... Is this power actually incomplete?”
Ethan stared at the empty socket, showing a look of regret, before carefully handing it back to Zoe.
“I found this magic item along with the ore,” Zoe said.
Hearing this, Ethan looked at the ore again.
“So it was the influence of this magic item? The runes of 'Furnace,' 'Flame,' and 'Steel,' combined with an Ore Dragon...”
The more Ethan thought about it, the brighter his eyes shone.
“Dwarven runes carry power. 'Furnace,' 'Flame,' and 'Steel' are all high-grade runes, embodying the powers of the furnace, flame, and steel.”
“An Ore Dragon, whose body is entirely made of metal, was in contact with this crossguard for a long time, allowing the runic power to directly affect the dragon.”
“The Ore Dragon acquired the properties of the furnace, flame, and steel.”
“It became a biological furnace, constantly smelting the deposited iron ore inside its body.”
“This process continued for decades, which is why this ore has such a unique color and possesses such a special power.”
“This is a virtually irreproducible process. This piece of ore can be called one of a kind!”
Ethan muttered to himself.
His ultimate talent as a blacksmith caused his inspiration to erupt once more.
A biological furnace... Who would have thought an Ore Dragon could be used like this?
If one could tame an Ore Dragon, would it be possible to turn it into a biological furnace to forge and smelt for them?
“Do you have any suggestions on how to forge this material?”
Since the material was even more precious than he had imagined, a legendary weaponsmith's advice was extremely important.
“First of all, you must forge a sword. This material was born from decades of smelting driven by this crossguard, so its compatibility with it is second to none.”
“Forging the blade from this ore and fitting it with this crossguard will yield the most perfect result.”
“As for any remaining materials, you can forge whatever you want.”
After refining the basketball-sized ore in front of them, there would be more than enough to forge a sword, with plenty of leftovers.
“I will,” Zoe agreed.
Zoe put the ore and the crossguard away into his Reincarnation Space.
Then, Ethan fell asleep, and Zoe took control of the biological armor formed by his clone to resume their escape.
“Maybe I will have to run for the rest of this life?”
“I hope my next life will be a bit more peaceful.”
Rate on N.U.
