Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex searched through his soul space for the hammer and anvil he had made a long time ago. He had made use of this back when he was learning how to make artifacts in the Royal School of Artifacts in the Eastern Continent, but since then, it had seen little use.

Once he found them, he waited for the metal to be fully melted and then pulled it out. The crucible seemed to be made up of some sort of non-metallic, extremely heat-resistant material as it didn't even glow while the Goldsteel was completely melted.

Alex felt the weight of the metal in the crucible, which was at least a few tons in the least. The volume of it was also quite high, which was enough for him to guess that they were going to be metal compounding when making the sword.

He pulled it to an already prepared large sand mold to the side where he poured the metal carefully. The red hot Goldsteel flowed into the mold, quickly forming the basic shape of the sword.

The sword started at a basic shape and would only later be changed to the desired shape, one which Alex wasn't sure he could make happen. There were a lot of unnecessary waves and spikes on the sides of the sword, which he had never tried making before.

The metal cooled quickly, solidifying enough for it to be pulled out of the mold without it dripping everywhere. It was large at the moment, nearly 3 meters long and close to half a meter wide. It would have to be made smaller.

Alex brought out his hammer and anvil and placed it before him. Madhammer raised an eyebrow upon noticing the two items. He hadn't expected Alex to have those himself as he was ready to provide one.

He quickly checked if they were good enough and nodded to himself once he was satisfied. Both of the items were made with Starforged Tungsten, so they were more than usable.

Alex began refining the sword. To refine the sword, all he had to do was strike the metal at a continuous pace with similar strength each time. So, he picked up the hammer and began striking the hot metal.

He used his Dao of Heat to keep the sword at a relatively similar temperature while hitting it with the hammer at a steady pace.

TANG! TANG! TANG!

'Same strength, same speed, every time,' Alex told himself as he struck. He took the feedback from each hit, understanding what the metal needed, making minute changes instinctively, even as he did so, he did not slow down or speed up his pace.

A steady rhythm formed soon enough, one which he didn't need to fall into a trance for. He understood what needed to be done, and he could do it while completely conscious.

The steadiness of his hits surprised Madhammer. That was something his Apprentice smith took ages to learn how to do, and yet Alex was doing it so easily on his first attempt. Perhaps because he was an Alchemist's disciple, he had expected too little from him.

Alex kept a steady beat with his hammer, hitting continuously. As he did, he did not just get rid of impurities from the metal but also started shrinking its size at the same time.

He compounded the metal while refining it.

One generally did these two tasks separately, but Alex knew enough about both of these ideas to have to do so. He could do them together, which he understood was what most artifact masters did anyway.

The metal kept being refined and shrunk at the same time. At some point, it had shrunk down to a size that was close to what the person whose sword this was going to be had demanded, so he stopped shrinking it further.

'Only twice compounded, huh?' he thought while continuing the hammer down at the metal. He lost himself in the task, not realizing how much time had passed. At some point, he reached the end.

TANG! PING!

With the last hammer strike, a loud harmonic sound released from the metal as it resounded throughout the entire workshop, causing multiple people to turn their heads toward Alex.

"Incredible," Madhammer said, surprised beyond anyone else in the shop. "Perfectly refined."

He had expected many things from Alex, but this was not it. He had not expected to see the alchemist kid who only wanted to learn how to make swords better be able to perfectly refine on the first try.

"You lied to me," Madhammer said.

"What do you mean, senior?" Alex asked, turning around to face the man.

"You told me when we started that you haven't made anything in a long time," the man said.

Alex nodded. "In a century or so," he answered. "Actually, more than that."

"Just a century, tsk," the man clicked his tongue. "I assumed you hadn't made anything for half your life or something."

Alex didn't know how to explain to the old man that he was most definitely correct. "Where did you learn how to perfectly refine metals?" Madhammer asked. "That's a very important technique that all apprentice smiths in my shop must accomplish before they can be considered to have graduated from my teaching."

Alex was surprised. He looked around and only now realized why there were so many people that were looking at him.

"Is it that difficult, senior?" Alex asked. "I've always been able to do this naturally." He did have Godslayer tell him what to do for a bit of it, but for the most part, it had been all him.

Madhammer's eyes widened. "Are you being serious?" he asked.

"I am, senior," Alex said.

That only caused the man to grow concerned. He scratched his thin bearded face for a bit before asking, "I wish to test you on a few things. If you pass, you can be my disciple."

Alex was taken aback, but his reaction was mild compared to all of the other smiths in the shop who could not believe what they were hearing.

"Who is that kid?" "How does he already have a chance when we haven't had one in ages?"

"Damn, I don't know if he's lucky or talented."

Alex looked at Madhammer for a moment, seeing that the man was serious. "Thank you for your offer, senior, but I have no intention of becoming an Artifact master. I am an Alchemist and that is enough for me."

"Huh?" Madhammer was confused that someone would reject his offer. "Kid, do you know who I am? I may not be an Artifact Sage, but I am one of the most well-known Artifact Masters in all of the 18 realms. You will not regret becoming my disciple."

"That may be so, senior, but as I said, I have no intention of becoming an Artifact master. If I did, I would absolutely accept your offer."

"Are… you sure?" Madhammer asked. "You are talented if what you say is true. You can go a long way."

"I understand, senior, but I wish to use my talent for Alchemy," he said.

The man stared at Alex for a moment and sighed. "Fine, you may reject it. I won't ask it of you anymore."

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