Born in Blood



There was still Elder Aki's advice to take.

Out of all the Elders, she was perhaps the busiest and most difficult to set a meeting with. 

Liam didn't really blame her. 

Forgemastery was a tiresome process that swallowed entire days in the blink of an eye, similar to Blood Weaving.

And with the newly claimed lands, every Elder had a new responsibility to attend to. 

Eventually, though, a proper meet was arranged between them.

They met in her forge room, an unnaturally hot space with air that was on the brink of singing Liam's lungs.

Gurgling and clanging noises made Liam think he was entering a witch's den. 

Shadowy inscriptions were riddled all over the walls and floor, converging to the Elder's forging station in the center.

"You've been growing fast lately," the Elder Aki said with a child-like voice, her gaze on a naked, black blade hung above a cauldron of bubbling chemicals. 

"You've already outgrown your peers," she added. "Well done."

Elder Aki hadn't worn her mask when forging, letting her silky, long red hair fall behind her back. 

Her menacing, crimson eyes didn't match her child-like stature in the least, donned in the black wrappings of the Temple.

She had alabaster skin like most of the other acolytes, but a few cuts ran across her chin and forehead.

Liam began with a respectful gesture.

"I wanted to ask for your advice," Liam said.

"I'm sure you know the difference in specializations," the Elder responded tersely. "No two processes are the same."

Liam wasn't discouraged.

"I know. I'd still like an outside view."

Elder Aki sighed.

"Go on then."

Liam nodded.

"I'm making a Rank 3 weapon."

There was silence.

Elder Aki made her first Rank 3 weapon at the age of 20 as a Mortal ranked cultivator.

She was called a genius for that feat.

"Forging alone?" she asked with a raised brow.

"With inscriptions," Liam answered.

Liam always used his specializations together.

This was what separated him from other experts.

Liam was both a forgemaster and an inscription master, which was rare among most cultivators.

Only through combining the two could he make weapons far stronger than the norm. 

Still, that didn't take away from his achievements one bit.

Hearing his words, the Elder nodded. Her Rank 3 was made through forging alone, which made it seem grander in her eyes.

For the next few minutes, Liam explained the processes of Primordial Forging by the Elder's request.

Aki's expression remained uncharacteristically focused, but now and again, she would express surprise at how the forging method functioned.

By the end of it, the Elder had just a few words of advice.

"You're thinking of the Meanings to rigidly! Instead of just trying to stack them atop one another, you should find ways to connect them, line them together, even diagonally for all I know."

And that was it.

That was literally all the Elder could give him before he was ushered out of her forge room.

Nevertheless, it was useful.

She pointed out a crucial flaw in his methods in just a few minutes, which Liam had been too tunnel-visioned to see.

Liam hurried back to his quarters with a bit of excitement welling in his chest.

He quickly took out the Rank 4 materials, as well as the core of a Rank 3 spirit beast.

The closest species bearing similarity to the Dusk Rhino was the Black Armadillo, and that's what Liam used as a Beast Will.

First, he took to shaping and preparing the weapons. 

With how dense and rigid the skin, horn and tusks of a Dusk Rhino were, Liam couldn't resort to making a katana or a wakizashi. 

In the first place, those two were lithe weapons designed for sharpness, speed and lethality. 

As such, Liam couldn't really resort to making his Rank 3 item in that shape. 

But Liam didn't want to lose the true purpose of his project. 

Blades that could hold chaos. 

That was the goal. 

And that's exactly what was planned. 

Since something capable of containing chaos would naturally be heavy-duty, Liam's designs were centered around something with a sharp edge, but with a large body.

Suddenly, something clicked in him. 

Liam had some proficiency in wielding chained weapons. 

It was a fighting style he learned practicing with his Dark Chains. 

Why not make something with both far-range and close-range capabilities?

Liam got to work. 

First was the shaping. 

Rank 4 materials were hard to manipulate.

Liam started with the secondary parts first. 

The hilt, chains and pommel. 

Using his dense 'Ora', he began to mellow out the sturdiness of a Rank 4 component. 

It took time.

Eventually, he shaped two sets of chains.

Right after, he inscribed them.

The chains would be the "charger" to absorb his chaos.

After a week of trial and error, Liam managed to inscribe writings that withheld his chaos for barely two seconds.

However, it would explode on its own just a moment later.

But that was normal.

There was no "discharger", after all.

Liam moved towards the blades.

Obviously, he would make that from the Rhino's horn – the black, lusterless, dense material.

That took even more time.

One week passed.

A pool of sweat was gathering on the floor of Liam's accommodation.

Throughout the entire week, Liam hadn't eaten or drank anything. His brows were furrowed in concentration.

He was purifying and shaping the horn nonstop.

If he wavered for a split second, the horn would instantly harden or even break.

Eventually, the horn took the shape of a slightly curved, gothic blade.

The weapon was as long as Liam's forearm. It was thin, but had a wide breadth, roughly seven inches, and was single-edged.

However, it had four teeth on its edges.

Three small teeth lined the lower half of the blade, with a larger, deadlier, curved edge at the tip. 

Liam took a short break to replenish his energy.

Then, he connected the chain, hilt, and blade together.

Some time later, Liam conjured the Meanings to the Beast Will and applied them.

Of course, he let them cook in his mind for at least another two weeks.

Finally, he imbued it to the weapon.

It was like trying to push the world down with a pushup.

That was how difficult it was to insert a Beast Will into a Rank 4 material.

Nonetheless, with how Liam purified and softened the material, he inserted 65% of Beast Will inside.

The Dusk blade buzzed uncontrollably, then abruptly stopped.

A success.