“You were never a good son how can I give birth to a worthless one like you “

“Why aren’t you like your brother, such a useless fellow “

“Your brother is a genius and you? “

“Little brother you see I’m the true successor of this family there is no competition between me and you “

“From now on you are expelled from our family!”

Yefan expression was full of anguish and sweat was pouring all over his face, he was in his bed sleeping but he appeared to be suffering and violently struggling, suddenly he opened his eyes.

“Haaaaaah! Pant …pant …pant …shit this nightmare again I thought that I have forgotten… “

Yefan slowly got up from his bed he washed his face with some water inside a basin to clear his thoughts and clean the sweat, then he brushed his teeth, surprisingly there was something akin to toothpaste but made with some natural herbs, at least the people here are clean that is what Yefan thought, after that he tied his hair behind his back and slowly wore his clothes before going outside and heading to the old man house.

The sun was already brightly shining, Yefan still didn’t let go of his habitude of waking up late, and reaching the house he heard the sound of clashing metal.

SFX: clank …clank…clank!

The sound wasn’t coming from inside the house, Yefan has long been accustomed to his sensitive hearing so he concluded that it was coming from the backyard so he proceeded into that direction.

The old man was standing tall his back straight, it was nothing like the previous lazy appearance, in his hand he was clutching a hammer and rhythmically hitting the cold iron that was slowly taking shape of a blade, Yefan slowly walked in silence he didn’t want to disturb Wilkins so he sat on a stone and watched without making a sound.

(Hmm, the old man is quite dedicated)

After several long minutes the old man finally stopped, he exhaled deeply before taking of the mask protecting his face.

“Your sword still needs some time young man “without turning Wilkins said.

“You knew that I was here?” Yefan was surprised.

“Of course I knew who do you take me for, it’s me who taught you the movements by the way you still need to train, when this old man can’t detect your foot steps then you truly mastered them hahaha “loudly laughed the old man.

“Tsk!”

Yefan was irritated at the smug behavior of Wilkins and then he curiously looked at the still incomplete sword, noticing the eyes of Yefan the old man smiled.

“Are you curious?”

“Ah yeah I’ve never seen the process of making a sword “

“Oh, then I will explain to you “Wilkins sat at the previous spot that Yefan was sitting at.

“There are six steps when creating a sword first forging, you take a bar of the desired metal and proceed to slowly make it melt, in our case its cold iron, it will be heated inside a forge then hammered in order to take shape ,the hammering process can take a long time maybe several hours considering the rarity and property of the cold iron , it is called drawing out the sword , the sword is worked out in inches that will be continuously hammered and heated till it takes shape , this process is repeated many times and the sword is often allowed to cool without hammering , this is required to keep the desired properties of the metal “

“Wait Old man why didn’t you use Azantium you said that it was the second hardest ore? “Cut in Yefan in the explanation of Wilkins “

“That is because the Azantium hardness may be ideal but its sharpness on the other hand is practically nonexistent “

Yefan nodded and then the old man continued.

“Well the second step is Annealing, when the final shape is completed, the sword is heated again and then allowed to cool , this time very slowly, it will be wrapped in an insulating material to slow down the cooling, this step can take a long time, it makes the sword soft and easy for the later process, the third step is Grinding, now a grinder is needed to work out the edge and point of the sword , also any engraving will be added at this step ,in this process the sword isn’t completed yet it is still too soft “

Yefan was seriously listening, as a fan of novels and history he admired those people who wielded swords and cold weapons, he was always curious about them.

“The fourth step is hardening, the sword is heated at a very high temperature and then placed inside a quenching tank, the quench allows it to cool quickly and evenly which will harden the metal, the fifth step is tempering, the blade will be heated and quenched again, but the difference is that the temperature used will be at a much lower degree , this cycle may be repeated many times , the tempering allows the blade to be strong but not shatterable ,it will have a certain amount of flexibility yet retain its sharp edge and finally the last step Completing , the blade is complete now additional parts will be added such as the pommel the guard and hilt ! To make a sword it is imperative to follow these steps carefully but according to the type of sword desired the details can slightly vary but all in all these six steps are the basic process which will allow the creation of a sword”

The old man finally ended his long explanation but yefan appeared to be enlightened.

“I never had thought it was this complicated old man “

“It is not complicated young man, the complicated part is the manipulation, for example the temperature the time of heating and so on …”

Indeed for a black –smith the manipulation is quite delicate, it may cause the metal to lose its propriety or make the sword brittle and many other negative effects so the small details are in fact the most important ones.

“It will at least take another day for your sword to be ready and I also need to add some small changes”

“It doesn’t matter take your time old man “

“Good, tomorrow I will also need your help for the artifact “

For the rest of the day Yefan simply did what he always did, meditate, train and read some theoretical knowledge about magic.

The next day, the old man finally completed the last step of making the sword, he gripped the hilt and made some motions with it before stroking his beard gently.

“Good sword, now the final touches”

Then he continued to tamper with it enthusiastically.

Yefan was now sitting with Keredoth chatting.

“You know you are amazing Yefan , you are becoming more powerful each day I admire your determination ... a magician huh … “Keredoth appeared to be daydreaming .

“haha I was just a normal high-schooler what is amazing about me”

“What is a hi-gh..schoo-ler?” Keredoth tilted his head seemingly puzzled.

“Ah no no nothing…well why don’t you learn magic …thinking about it carefully why doesn’t the old man teach you?”Yefan just realized this point.

“We can’t use magic, we are a tribe of warriors from the beginning our ancestors weren’t magicians and didn’t have the ability to be…”Keredoth had a longing expression.

“So that is why”

Yefan felt quite sad for Keredoth, this brave and honest man was the first important friend in this world, of course the old man was also important to him but Wilkins felt like a mentor and elder, Yefan noticed that he became quite attached to this village.

“Ah by the way yesterday some young ones found weird traces at the edge of this forest” Keredoth suddenly remembered something.

“What do you mean traces like footprints?”

“No it doesn’t seem to belong to humans, more like an animal “

“Oh maybe a deer or a bear? “

“No judging from the size of the traces it seems to be another type of animal “

“Strange, the only animals we know of are black stripped deer, long legged bear and giant cat is it another type we didn’t come by?”

“Personally we lived here for a long time we have never seen any other animals “

Yefan made a complicated expression, he thought deeply about it but a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Youngster your sword is ready “the old man slowly walked toward them in his hand was a long sword inside a black scabbard.

Yefan quickly threw his previous thoughts in the back of his mind and stood up excitedly.

“Here take it “The old man threw the sword to Yefan.

Yefan caught it without problem, but the instant he touched one word came to his mind “heavy!” indeed the sword was abnormally heavy despite its size.

“Haha are you thinking its heavy? Of course its heavy cold iron has another property it’s several times heavier than normal iron “explained Wilkins.

Yefan was shocked by its weight but considering his strength it still wasn’t a problem to wield it, slowly he gripped the hilt and wit threw it from its scabbard, a bright and long silver blade appeared in front of his eyes , it was not too broad just the right width , it was two edged and emanated a sharp aura , in the middle a black line symmetrically crossed from the pointy extremity to the hilt make it esthetically more beautiful , yefan was entranced .

“haha how is it” the old man seeing Yefan in a trance uttered some words shocking him out of his reverie .

“Splendid! “ Yefan exclaimed.

“it’s not all this is not a simple sword , this is a magical sword I can affirm without doubt that it can withstand the pressure of your blue lightening and also decrease your consumption of Mana , you see that black line , that’s a magic circuit it is made to regulate Mana “ added Wilkins .

Yefan eyes were sparkling and wanted to immediately test the sword , he concentrated and channeled Mana toward the blade , almost instantly crackling sounds were made and the blade were covered with blue lightening, the sword was already beautiful but now it appeared mystical , Yefan target was a large stone he made a stance and hacked vertically , this time it wasn’t a tree but a hard stone , the sharp edge of the blade still penetrated easily and cut the stone in two , Yefan didn’t feel any resistance it was cleanly cut , the interior of the stone was smooth , it was like being cut with a laser .

“Hiss! Amazing “ Keredoth at the side held his breath.

“Hahahaha”

Yefan was so excited that his body was trembling all over.

“Old man, thank you!”

“Oh its nothing I also wanted to make a sword, it was a long time since I made the last one “the old man smiled wryly.

Yefan delicately placed the sword in its sheath like it was the most precious object.

“Now there is only the artifact that remains to be made, like I said I need you to help me, more precisely I need your blue fire “

“No problem old man just tells me what to do” Yefan was still immersed in his ecstatic mood and said without thinking.

“Ah it’s good to be young haha, oh did you complete the design you intended to hand me?”

“Yeah I finished it “

“Alright then come with me let’s begin “

The old man and Yefan then returned to the backyard after saying goodbye to Keredoth , Wilkins took from his storage ring the lump of Azantium and placed it on the floor after that he withdrew another large object , it was a furnace , Yefan was another time shocked by the capacity of the storage ring it seems that the space inside was not small.

“This is a special furnace, it’s a magical furnace that is made to contain the different types of fire, all you need to do is send a small flame inside “

Yefan nodded and walked near the furnace then he extended his hand, this time he quickly condensed a small ball of fire and threw it inside the furnace he then he quickly moved back a few steps fearing that what happened last time will be repeated.

“Don’t worry it will not happen like last time “The old man reassured Yefan.

Indeed when the small ball of blue fire entered the furnace it instantly spread inside but no accident happened, the blue flames spread and covered the interior just like lighting a lamp.

“Okay now give me the design you drew “said Wilkins

Yefan took out the magic paper and passed it to the old man, opening the rolled paper the first reaction he had was surprise then curiosity.

“This design how did you think of it?”The old man questioned.

“Oh …it just popped inside my mind maybe a lost memory “Yefan quickly tought of an answer.

(Well that design is of a weapon from earth old man) thought Yefan inwardly.

“Hmm, it’s brilliant it’s easy to carry and its form is not complex above all else maneuverability is ideal, good it’s feasible “praised the old man

If a person from earth saw the drawing he will surely recognize what type of weapon it is, because it’s a weapon from earth, a ‘Gun’.

“Old man if you can make two of them each one for a hand to use it will be perfect and also its preferable if it can help me create small sized projectiles made of fire” requested Yefan.

“It certainly is not a problem, seeing that its size is not important the Azantium is more than enough to make two and for the small projectiles it doesn’t matter I will set it so you can control the size and intensity of the fire “specified Wilkins.

Back in school Yefan was good at drawing, so he perfectly drew the shape of the gun he just made some minor changes, he slightly modified the length of the barrel making it an inch longer and removed the hammer, he knew of some types of guns because of his father hobby so he remembered some type of guns, the initial design was of a Beretta 92.

“Your design, I will have to make some minor changes but nothing that can change the appearance “suddenly Wilkins reminded.

“It’s you the expert old man “Yefan smiled while shrugging his shoulders.

Following that Wilkins quickly set to work, he first carefully memorized the design of Yefan and then began to take the adequate measurements for creating an appropriate mold, concentrating the old man began to make the mold little by little sometimes he used his earth magic to perfect its shape , after an hour or so the mold was properly made , then the old man continued with the second step he took the lump of Azantium and placed it inside the furnace to melt , the Azantium melted at an incredible rate , the old man nodded approvingly , it was a fact that the blue fire was the fire with the highest temperature a mere Azantium can’t resist its intensity , the melted Azantium then flowed inside hole made of earth that Wilkins created , without delay he placed the melted Azantium into two gun molds , all of the steps were watched attentively by Yefan ,slowly after Wilkins let the Azantium cooling for a period two hours inside water which became steam at the contact of the still hot metal , patiently waiting Wilkins took out some paper from his storage ring and began write some sort of symbols and patterns , Yefan was curious but nonetheless he didn’t ask the old man as to not bother him .

The paper the old man took out was different in texture from the one he gave to yefan , when the two hours passed , Wilkins extracted from the mold the final shape of the Azantium , it became two pitch black guns with long barrels but it was still far from complete , he then corrected some imperfections on the guns before placing the two papers where he wrote the symbols under the guns , those symbols were looked the same as the ones on the magic card , Wilkins shut his eyes and began to murmur an incantation and the symbols began to shine , the white lines he drew along with those symbols began to move toward the guns , some entered and some were engraved on their surface forming a sort of pattern , after all the lines disappeared from the paper the symbols stopped shining and the old man opened his eyes on his face a satisfied smile but he was also sweating , it was clear that the process was exhausting for him .

“Young man your artifacts are ready, what you want to name them so I can also engrave it?” looking toward Yefan Wilkins inquired.

“So I need to name them?”

“Of course every weapon artifact has a name you also need to give a name to your sword “

Yefan scratched his head and began to think (what should I name them shit its difficult)

“Then I will name the guns twin devils (雙惡魔) and the sword soul slayer (靈魂殺手) “Yefan exclaimed.

Then he wrote in Chinese characters and made the old man engrave them o the two guns and sword, the old man was more and more curious about yefan he had never seen the characters that Yefan wrote.

“Good now you can try the newly made artifacts and tell me if there is any problem “the old man wanted to see if there were still imperfections that he could correct.

Yefan took the two guns in his hands and contemplated , they had a smooth and cold texture , at this time the old man explained what was those white lines it was the same as the sword magic circuits , the guns appearance was domineering and those white lines increased their esthetic beauty , Yefan was impatient to test them …

End.

(Chapter 7: Sword and Guns)