Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends - Chapter 355: Ryun

Chapter 355: Ryun

Smith

“You are correct, there are ways of forging Qi directly, after all it is just refined Essence, and everything in the world is Essence,” the gruff looking smith said. “However, the best results come from pairing Qi with materials that are compatible and receptive to it.”

Ryun nodded along as the smith gave him advice. He had spent the last week with the Dragon Heart’s best smiths, learning their craft—what they were willing to teach—and just talking to them. It was a request he had given to Hitor Fah Storrah, seeing as he still owed him for the way Tali’s reunion went for him.

They were supposed to head back to the Sect days ago, but Tali had asked him for a few days so that she could spend some time with Sigmund before he went back to his faction. Not that Ryun cared, he had already sent word ahead to Anrosh, and it wasn’t like he would be doing anything personally to prepare the sect for war.

Instead, he focused on learning. Of course, the smiths weren’t revealing too many of their secrets, but Ryun cheated, a little bit. When inside their great forges, he could sense what every smith around him was doing. So, he… observed their processes. He was learning quite a bit.

He had learned that every item has a cost of use, a Mortal Cultivator might be able to use a legendary item—some of them—but they wouldn’t be able to bring out the most out of the item. It put a burden on different things depending on what the item did. A shield that had a defensive ability that scaled with endurance, would naturally put the burden on the wielder’s stamina. Some would put a strain on mental stamina, others on the soul itself. Ryun had never really felt that, and as he understood it, most people in the world hadn’t. From what the smiths explained to him, it was because the Framework didn’t grant rewards that the user couldn’t use or would harm them.

“That’s all for today,” the smith said. “I got work to do, and pardon Sect Head, but not even my own Sect Head will keep me from it!”

Ryun inclined his head. “Of course, tomorrow then?”

“If you must. Sect Head,” the smith bowed before he walked away.

Ryun stayed for a few more minutes, monitoring the work, and then he stood up and left the smithy, heading back to his rooms.

He had practiced a lot over the last week, and under the supervision of masters. Though most of his understanding of blacksmithing came from his Awakened Forge, he still learned a lot. He had even managed to make a few fairly useful epic items.

His rooms were empty; Tali was probably with Sigmund, and he knew that Erdania and Lesamitrius were talking with the representatives of other Sects, making connections. Ryun sat on the floor, alone.

“Do you think that we are ready now?” Ryun asked.

“We were ready a while ago,” Bright Star answered. “You know more than you think you do.”

Ryun pulled out a small object out of his storage, the Inheritance of the Smith. He had been reluctant to use it until he had a better grasp of smithing. Bright Star was right, he had learned smithing years ago now, he might not be the greatest smith in the world—and in truth, he probably never would be—but he was good enough. His strengths weren’t in the mastery of metals and melding formations with his craft.

No, he was good at joining refined Essene with metals, that was his strength. Most Cultivator smiths were in fact formation makers as well, they infused their formations into their creations. It allowed them to make more complicated pieces, like Ryun’s armor. What Ryun did, gave his creations passive effects based on the Essence he used and the manner in which he used it. One of the things that he had learned from the smiths in Dragon Heart was that intent mattered in Ryun’s process. It was also why there were very few Cultivator smiths who went down Ryun’s path. They rarely had anywhere near as great Qi and Essence control as Ryun did.

Ryun made a decision and used the item; everything changed.

He swung and expelled his Qi in a technique. Fire spilled out of him and swirled around his hammer and the metal in front of him. Heating it up, thin tendrils burrowed in deep, burning out impurities. He switched to another technique as he worked the metal, his Metal Qi entering the molten piece in front of him, strengthening it. He set the hammer aside, and picked up a sharp needle of dragon bone, with it he inscribed a simple formation. It took him longer than it would take most smiths, he did not have a Path focused on inscribing, he relied on mastery of the art alone. But with his Fire and Metal Qi, he kept his creation at the right temperature, reinforcing it with his techniques. Imbuing the metal with his Qi.

And then… he was done, and the shield was finished. He raised it up, and looked it over, admiring his work. It was not his first Eternal item, but this one… it was the greatest by far.

Ryun felt the joy of the smith as he worked. He experienced every swing of the hammer, understood every thought in the smith’s mind. It was as if he himself had crafted the shield. Before he could reflect on the memory, he was drawn out once more.

The war was over, and finally he could return to what he truly wanted to do. Craft greatness, not just the formulaic pieces to supply an army. He returned to his forge and let his mind clear. His hammer spoke in his mind, eager to get back to what they had started. Their grand pursuit. They would forge an item that could grow, even if it was the last thing that they did.

Again, he felt the emotions of the smith, the will and drive. He remembered what he remembered, the countless swings of the hammer, countless creations. But in his mind, there was only one thing that mattered.

Memories flashed again, and again, and again. Repetitions, moments of learning and advancing in craft. A dozen memories, then a hundred. And then—

He had done… something. He created a new type of item. He knew that he was the first, the title he had gained told him so. And yet… it was not what he planed on creating.

Congratulations!

You’ve invented a new object type; you may name it.

Reward: First Smith of Advancement

He thought about a name, and then, made his choice. He named this new item a Spiritual Tool, because that’s what he had done with it, poured his entire spirit, his thoughts and wishes, into it. And still it was a failure. The creation was far more restrictive, so much so that most people couldn’t even use it. It was… not worthless, but he didn’t know what use it could have. He could bond with it, send a tiny flicker of his will to it and make it his. But unlike an Awakened Object, he couldn’t dismiss it or summon it again, he could just tell where it was. And breaking the connection was a simple as willing it. He set it aside alongside others.

Flashes, again, and again.

One hundred and ten years of his life, all spent on this single pursuit. Others called him mad, they said that he was wasting his time, wasting his fortune. He hadn’t crafted anything of note in all that time, focusing only on his task. He couldn’t stop, he felt it there, just at the tip of his fingertips. He was just not good enough, he was lacking something, and he didn’t know what.

“Slow now,” the voice of his awakened hammer said. “Less is more, remember what happened the last time.”

He didn’t respond, focusing all of his mind on the task in front of him. With every swing, he pulled Qi from his core, shaping, forging. He focused his mind on his intent, his thoughts, pushing it all along as Fire Qi poured out. Infusing the Essence with his will and intent, trying to make the Essence understand what he wanted. A part of him regretted his choice of Aspect, it helped him in the forge, he could heat up and shape metal without a forge, could be more precise in ways that most other smiths couldn’t. And yet… in times like these, he wished that he had an Aspect that could help him impart what he wanted to his creation. A Law perhaps, he didn’t even know. He was alone in his pursuits. He had studied every awakened object he had gotten his hands on and came to the conclusion that what he was trying to do was nothing like it. The growth of the awakened object was too different to what he had in mind. No, he needed an item that could be bonded with a person but didn’t require what the awakened objects did. No relationship, no intelligence. He was sure that it could be done, his spiritual tools proved it. A Cultivator could grow, and they were Essence, everything was Essence. It was possible.

The fall of the hammer filled his mind, and he lost himself in his work. How long, he didn’t know, and then… it was done.

“Another failure,” he sighed, as he looked at the failed Spirit Tool. It was… powerful, he had infused it with Fire and Metal Qi, and he saw that it would grant the wielder great power. But… it was not what he had wanted to create.

He set it aside, alongside all the other failures. Then, he prepared to go again.

Memories flashed before Ryun’s eyes. More and more, hundreds of years’ worth of them. All until the last, which ended the same way. With a failure.

Ryun exited from his trance, feeling exhausted. He had experienced the smith’s memories, years’ worth of them. He remembered what the smith had thought in those moments, knew it. But what intrigued him was what the smith had been trying to accomplish. Ryun remembered him pulling on his Qi as he forged, and the smith was… he was good. Ryun’s command of his Qi was better.

He remembered what the man had been trying to create and wondered if it was even possible.

Ryun stood up, and the world twisted around him as he entered his territory. He landed in the very center of it, and then walked to the nearby clearing that contained Bright Star. He had managed to pull his forge into the territory relatively easy. It felt like the mental scape had always been meant for that, it was a space where his soul could work, it could create things that he could take out of the forge. It was a real place.

The forge had transformed a part of his territory, turned the clearing floor into a clear glass-like surface, and as he stepped on it, the sky turned into stars. He walked over to the anvil and took a seat. Then he and Bright Start discussed for hours before they started their work.

“Hallirentom, that’s what you want,” the smith said. “It is the best material if you want to specialize in Qi forging. Though, you need extremely fine Qi control to make it work. I know of only a handful smiths who are on that level.”

Fortunately for Ryun, he wasn’t just a smith. His control was greater than most smiths. “That will do,” Ryun said.

“It is expensive, like really expensive,” the smith said. “And what supply the Sect has, is under strict control. We don’t just sell it, not even to you Sect Head.”

Ryun tilted his head, an idea occurring to him.

They were preparing to leave the Dragon Heart Sect, and just as they were about to board their airship, a group of workers approached. They carried a large crate, which they placed in front of Tali who was dealing with the loading of all the things that they had been given as gifts and such. He wanted to just put it all in his storage, but Tali said that this was about perception, they should be seen loading it all up.

“Ryun,” she called him over. “What is this?” She asked once he walked to her.

“Yes?”

“There is a note here, from Sigmund. He says that this is for you, in hopes that it will repay any debt that he might owe you? What did you do?”

Ryun opened the crate, and then smiled at the contents. It was filled with ore, Hallirentom ore.

“I wondered if he would manage it,” Ryun said.

“You could’ve asked him for anything, and you asked for a crate of metal,” Tali said slowly.

“Special metal,” Ryun added.

“Right,” Tali shook her head and walked away, murmuring curse words under her breath.

Ryun reached down and stored the crate in his ring.

He couldn’t wait to get started. He turned around and walked onto his airship. Within minutes, they were headed home.