READ WEBNOVEL V8: Starting my first paid work
{Yotsuba Goroshi no Kaigishitsu - Hideki Taniuchi}
Having successfully navigated the tricky deal with my goddess, I now turn my attention to the baker's commission. The request for a pair of scissors of such complexity will demand an extraordinary amount of MP and processing power. Undeterred, I prepare to work through the night, entirely dedicated to this challenging task.
Without hesitation, I meticulously examine the materials, ensuring I am fully equipped for the task. Confident in my skills, I begin the intricate process. The first step in crafting such a complex order is to ignite the furnace with a touch of low-level fire magic, allowing the metals to meld into a single alloy.
One might think that to get the temperature going on the furnace, you would just apply more fire magic into it, but it is far more effective to use wind magic. The wind slowly but surely increases the power of the flaming furnace until the metals slowly begin to fuse into one another.
While it is true that I could use my magic to fuse the metals for some reason, whenever I do this process the natural way, the strenght of the metals is greater than with the use of an artificial system like the one the world offers at least for now melting materials this way is the proper way to do it.
The heat from the flaming furnace is intense, and it tires me quite a lot since I cannot stop the flow of wind, or the flames will dull out. Luckily, I'm not such a wimp with my MP, so I can take some abuse so long as I put my mind to it and don't think of anything else, or I will mess it up somehow.
The sole reason I choose to do this task at night while my goddess and my father are asleep is so I will have no outside distractions. My clothes are soon drenched in sweat while the fire keeps burning hotter and hotter, slowly but surely transforming the metals into one super strong alloy.
A couple of hours go by with this same method of hard work and concentration until the metals finally finish fussing. How do I know the metals are combined? Simple! Because of the rainbow, shine over the first layer on the top! Now comes the hard part! In order to make this metal bar as stable as possible, I must quench it!
Now focusing as much as I can, I slowly lift the container holding the red-hot metals away from the flames and prepare for a fast dump on the oil bucket. Now, don't be scared, reader! There's nothing to worry about, alright? It's not like if this bucket of metal falls on me, it will instantly kill me! EHEHEHE!
Alright, deep breaths! One! TWO! THREE! DUMP! The hot metal makes contact with the oil bucket, lighting it on fire, but I cannot look away for even a second, for I must give the metal a rough, long shape to make it easier to work with it.
The steam and fire from the bucket make it hard to see, but I force myself to not look away but instead focus on dumping the load in a controlled manner until the entire thing finishes quenching in the oil that is burning thanks to the tons of heat coming from the cooling metal.
I give the materials a couple of seconds to cool down just enough to pull it all from the bucket in one piece, and then I get to work with it, heating the whole thing back up in the furnace so I can start the painstakingly long process of metal folding.
I'm no blacksmith, but if I'm to produce such things like these, it only makes sense to do it the way many would argue is the best. Metal folding is a technique used by many cultures to strengthen lower-quality metal artificially and thus give the illusion that you have obtained a better material.
I figured that since this pair of scissors would be my first paid project, I might as well do it the proper way with the help of my skills. I can only assume that if the metal fusion is of higher quality the natural way, then making the process the physical way will also yield better results than with my skills since I'm still a low-level goblin.
The metal gets red hot once again, and I get to hammering just as fast as it does. The hammer I use is heavy, and it does not synergize well with my cheaply made anvil, but it is what it is, so long as I put a lot of craftsmanship into my work, I'm sure my tools won't matter too much.
The hammering sound of the hot metal being hammered over and over again goes on all night long until the first rays of the sun start to appear in the background. I don't even notice how long it has been as I keep working the metal, folding it over itself over and over and over again and again non-stop, looking for perfection at the end of the road.
My rhythm is almost perfect at this point: two taps on the anvil followed by one tap on the metal, then two taps on the anvil and another on the metal, and so it continues with short breaks to place the metal bar back into the furnace. My arm feels heavy, but my determination doesn't allow me to quit, not just yet.
A couple of more hours go by, and I finally get interrupted by Klevan, who looks at me with concern in his eyes. Yet I did not pay him much attention at first since I was so close to achieving that perfect layer of thousands of folds, the perfect strenght required!
"Pan, how long have you been? you don't feel anything strange?!" What the hell was the old man talking about? I felt just fine! Sure, my arm hurt quite a lot at this point, but if he could get me just a couple of minutes more, I would be able to finish, so I ignored him some more for the time being.
"Pan! You look terrible! Stop already! Don't you notice how damaged your body is? PAN!" The old man tries to approach me to stop me from forging, but I simply signal him to wait for a while as I finish striking the last fold. Klevan looks at me in disbelief while I put my heart into the last fold, finishing my masterpiece with one last strong quench that creates another small fire in the oil bucket.