Kagali was far more stressed than she’d ever been in her life as she faced the unexpected responsibility of taking over Gaien’s work with Salamander. Gaien watched her closely, giving her detailed instructions on the timing and angle of her swings, and Kagali did her best to follow them. She smelted the ores over Salamander’s flame and sucked in some of his excess mana little by little. Every time her hammer struck the metal, a clear, pleasant ring echoed in the cavern.
“Ye can’t just spread the mana evenly when yer making weapons. Fifty percent for the blade, forty in the core, and ten for the tang. That’s the correct ratio.”
“U-Understood!”
Gaien made it sound easy, but this wasn’t something that just anyone could get right on their first try. Dividing mana correctly was one of the most advanced blacksmithing techniques, and it required years of training. However, Kagali had mystic eyes, which meant she could see mana. Unlike other smiths, who had to rely solely on their intuition, Kagali could check what she was doing in real time. That incredible advantage made up for her lack of experience.
“HAH!” Kagali roared as she excitedly hammered away.
It had been years since her father had last given her smithing lessons. Ever since he had taught her the very basics when she was a child—which for dwarves was considered basic education and not artisan training—Gaien had never agreed to give further instruction. As a child, though, Kagali had misunderstood his intentions and had assumed he intended to make her his successor. Perhaps that was what had motivated her to start chasing her dream.
For the next few hours, Kagali swung her hammer again and again under Gaien’s guidance. She carefully divided the mana throughout the sword with her own magic and trapped it in place with her hammer. As Kagali worked, Salamander’s mana slowly altered the nature of the sword. Kagali was surprised to find that she could feel every step of that process.
Although she was heavily relying on her father’s support, Kagali had undoubtedly taken her first step into the realm of world-class weapon smithing. The thought mesmerized her. She wished this moment would never end. She wanted to engrave every sensation into her mind. Little by little, her technique evolved, and Gaien found that he didn’t have any more advice to give.
“Kagali...” he whispered, astonished.
His daughter didn’t even seem to hear his voice anymore. Her concentration had narrowed her current world into one where only she and the ores she was forging into a weapon existed.
✦ ✦ ✦
The moment after Kagali’s final hammer strike felt like forever and yet only an instant. Either way, it suddenly came to an end. After one last high-pitched metallic noise rang out, the sword sucked in Salamander’s colossal mana, which had been swirling around Kagali, all at once.
“How?!” Gaien shouted, shocked.
This was his master’s secret technique—one that he thought had been lost to the world with his master’s passing. It allowed ores to truly merge with mana. After years of pursuing this process, Gaien had only begun to partially understand it. And yet, Kagali had just achieved it. Gaien couldn’t tell whether it was by chance or whether her extreme concentration had brought about a miracle. Either way, it didn’t matter; Kagali had done it.
“The day ye surpass me might not be as far away as ye think,” he said to himself as he caught Kagali’s collapsing body in his restored arms. She’d lost consciousness upon completing the sword.
“Miss Kagali!” Tida exclaimed, rushing over to them.
“Don’t ye worry. She just passed out because she was too focused for so long,” Gaien said.
He himself had experienced the same thing—the euphoria of the sudden total understanding of a technique, followed by a debilitating wave of exhaustion. Now that she’d felt it, Kagali would surely grow tremendously as a weaponsmith.
Gaien had always wanted his daughter to live a peaceful and quiet life, but now that he’d witnessed her awakening with his own two eyes, he was starting to think that watching her walk down the path she’d chosen might not be so bad.