Arun liked to believe that he grew better at keeping his emotions under control after what happened when he let them get the better of him. And he likely was getting better, but not enough to suppress his steaming expression when he got back to the house. Margery, who saw Arun leave not even half an hour ago, was surprised by his early arrival and even more surprised by his expression. " Oh dear, is everything alright Arun? Did you get in a fight? " " Not quite. Nothing to worry about, just a little disagreement " Arun tried to assure her but he clearly wasn't all too convincing. " Dear, you don't get along with his friends as well? " Margery asked with a worried expression. " As well? " Arun raised a brow. " Well, Eileen doesn't seem to like them either. Something about a guy being too pushy. " " ... thankfully I didn't have quite that problem. " " Tell me Arun, is everything ok over there? Are they a bad influence on Bohdi? " That... was a very good question. He didn't get to hang out with them a whole lot but he did have a bad feeling about them. But would that even be worth mentioning? Arun knew Margery and Thomas were quite liberal parents, allowing their children much freedom, but they absolutely wouldn't turn a blind eye to them associating with shady groups. It would probably take one sentence, one bad impression, for Bohdi to be set under restrictions and a ban from meeting their friends. This, it seemed rather appealing to Arun for a small second. But than the next he shoved it away. Lying was just not his style, and doing so would only push Arun and Bohdi further away. He would tell the truth, and as untainted by his anger as he could. After all, the bad feeling could just be caused by the rejection and nothing more. " To be honest, I haven't been around them enough to determine that. They seemed normal at first, I guess, but than we got in an argument and I left. " " I see " Margery sighed, though the answer didn't relinquish her worries completely. " I will be going up now. By the way, do you have an idea where Paradox is by any chance? Haven't seen him all day. " " Oh, he's just sleeping in a tree outside. At least he was a couple minutes ago. " " Sleeping, what a surprise. " Seriously, that little cat enjoyed sleeping a bit too much. Lately it was pretty much all it did, since it did not need to eat or anything like that. It's only need was apparently attention, as when he woke up he always demanded it, passing by everyone's feet or perching on his shoulders. Arun did actually wander what it actually did when it slept, as it technically did not require it. Something to study in the future. Now however, well now he had nothing to do, he thought as he closed the door behind his room. He could not work on his recovery until tomorrow and neither could he really forge anything. Talking about it, those walls do seem quite interesting, maybe he could ponder on the nature of... Or not... yeah definitely not that. If he was to ponder on something, it would be one of his future works. He did have one of his project close by after all. Soon, he produced a small monocle with red- tinted glass and a crimson crystal imbedded in the support near the ear. This was one of his more ambitious projects, but he could not complete it yet. Well, not totally anyway. Imbedding the little ki he had into the object, the Cristal started to gain a dim glow while it changed color to a lighter shade or red, closing in on orange. Soon however, the reaction stopped. Arun put on the device and activated it. The device responded as planned. The red tinted lenses flared up as Arun took a look around. Arun did everything he could to keep the light out of his room for this test so the room was fairly dark. In his eye however, he could see the walls slightly lightened up and colored blue despite the completely distinct color of the lenses. But alas, despite providing further vision in the dark, this wasn't a night vision device, not yet at least. As he looked downstairs he could spot a human form clearly distinguishable by the environment thanks to the red hue enveloping her. This was likely Margery. When he looked further down, towards the smithy, he could only see a wall of orange and deep red. It looked like Thomas was still at it. He turned the monocle off. The test was a success, as the heat-vision worked. This was one of the many additions he intended for the lense. It was the easiest one to do thanks to the current attribute of the crystal and the only thing he could implement for now. More could be done as his ki increased. And tomorrow he would start healing himself again. *** It was uncharacteristic of Arun to be fearful before he began creating something. Generally he would accept any kind of mistake he would make as either an opportunity to improve himself or learn something new. The risk of failure this time however would make an already wary Margery even more prone to banning the forge. Plus, he didn't want to disappoint Thomas too much. Thomas shared the sentiment of fear as well, since only he knew the true wrath of his wife when one of the kids got hurt. But, also like Arun, a sentiment of anticipation also filled him. A sentiment that grew foreign to him as he mastered his craft, was reignited by the sudden apparition of the unknown. Arun's nerves calmed as he picked up the ingot. Same strengthened iron as before, same amount, same end goal. They wanted to figure out what went wrong. There was however a difference from last time. Arun had a fraction of ki. A tiny, almost insignificant amount of ki but one that could help him nonetheless. Especially in the heating process. The task of keeping track of the ki strings was easier tenfold. This did make Arun ask himself if he could insert his own ki in the process, similarly to what he was doing with the sect furnace. He'd have to experiment with that, but not now. Too little ki and too much concentration needed at this point. He needed to perfect his way of discerning the critical point first. Last time he made the mistake of taking the iron out too late, after the critical point was reached. He needed to hit the sweet spot, but he didn't have the reflexes to take it out before it was too late. There was only one sustainable solution to this. He needed to be able to predict it. And he could only do that by observing the period before the end. As he thought previously, this was not something that a little talent could make up for experience. His next few attempts would likely end up being a bit overcooked before they got better. Alas, the heating of the iron was just the appetizer. The main course followed as the tongs eagerly grabbed the steaming metal and placed it onto the anvil. Arun's fears completely disappeared as he grabbed the hammer once more. They would get in his way. He needed to shut himself down, the only things that existed in the universe were him, his hammer, and the piece of iron that needed some discipline. Arun raised the hammer. This time the motion was more familiar, and easier as well since the warm feeling of ki cycling in his body and even in the hammer kicked in. He would only be able to strengthen himself and his tool for the first few strikes but it should be able to help reduce the strain. Besides, what was the use of having ki if you did not use it. The hammer once more fell onto the iron. The first strike of the second attempt began exactly the same as the first strike ever, by surprising Arun. This time the reaction was different from before. " Something wrong Arun? " Thomas asked looking at the still Arun. " No " Arun said as he resumed. That was exactly it. There was nothing wrong. The unusual reaction where he could absorb the ki from the materials vanished. Instead, the strikes felt more akin to Thomas's style. This could only be attributed to the addition of ki whithin this body. It was the only change from last time. On the second hit Arun didn't circulate his hi. The hit was less powerful, accurate and more sloppy as a result, but it still didn't have any effect. It still didn't absorb any energies. Worry was now starting to develop in Arun as thoughts of his chance to heal slipping invaded his head. Yet, along with those whispers another possibility wormed its way into his mind. What if the cause is not the presence of ki, rather the absence of it? A possibility, and only one way to find it out. Arun pushed away the errand thoughts and started hammering away using as much ki as he could per strike. Not even four hits later, his reserves were depleted, on his fifth one a familiar, and wellcome experience of ki whirling towards his ki pool was felt. Relief washed over Arun as he was starting to recover once more. Yet, there was still work to complete. So he started conscientiously shaping the sword yet again, until, before the very last imperfection could be corrected, Arun could feel that the blade ran out of ki. He knew what happened last time he went overboard and he wasn't keen on repeating the incident this time. " What happened? " Thomas asked as he stopped yet again. " I think that if I hit it any more, it will break. Just like last time. " " Oh?... " Thomas got closer to inspect. It was hard to do so since the blade was still very hot. It had to be to be modelled. He clearly could not let Arun work on it any more, but he contemplated trying to have a go himself at it. He decided against it the next second, after all, mistakes are easiest to recognize during the next step. " Hmm... that's fine than, it has some imperfections but it'll do. Well quench it, see if something is wrong with it. I'll take it from here. " Arun was a bit disappointed but he understood. Plus, quenching it only meant dousing the sword into hot oil. There were a few tricks to it that could make the process better like the temperature of the oil but he could learn that at a later date. As he placed the blade into the oil Thomas could hear a foreboding sign. It was very likely that the result wasn't very good. As he took it out he could finally see his apprentice's creation. It was still hot but it wasn't covered in a dim red glow as before. That said the color of the product was quite a lot paler than the usual iron creations. It almost looked like the sword was an undead... if that even made sense. But that wasn't the most concerning feature along its surface. There were dousens of small and micro cracks. It was a wonder how this blade even came out intact after the tempering. This most certainly explained why the blade straight out exploded last time. But how did this happen? And perhaps an even better question, how did the boy know when to stop, when even he couldn't detect the flaws?