Mercenaries and Adventurers

That day, after Kiel put his things back in his house, he did some archery training, and then went to the Table Corner Tavern where he often went to hang out.

"What have you been doing lately, Kil?" Todd wiped the cup and asked Kil who was sitting in front of him.

"Let's have a glass of the best ale, and then some meat. I'm currently thinking of ways to repair my sword." As soon as Kil sat down, he asked for some food and drink.

Todd brought things out quickly, and they were the most commonly ordered foods, so it was easy to make.

Keir touched the fragrant ale to the drinker next to him, and then drank it in a big gulp.

"Ha! It's cool."

"I've seen your long sword. It's an excellent weapon. What's wrong with it? Do you need to find a way to repair it?" Todd talked to Kil about this matter.

Kil briefly told how when he eliminated bandits before, he fought with the bandit leader at the bottom of a corpse pit full of living corpses. His long sword was contaminated a lot by killing those unknown living corpses.

"The long sword is full of black spots that have eroded into the sword body. It looks very serious, and I don't even dare to pinch it too hard." Kil shrugged.

"This is incredible. I thought those legends were made up by bards. I didn't expect that we in Kendall also have such terrifying things as living corpses." The drinker next to him said casually, although he saw It seemed like I believed what Kiel said, but in fact I didn't believe him at all. He just made some random comments after drinking and said things that everyone would say.

Todd was somewhat interested in the corpse pit that Keel mentioned, and he asked Keel for the details of the matter.

However, I heard that Kil said that when Kil himself came there again, he had been completely wiped out by the people organized by the Church of the God of the Dead in Bingshuguan to perform magical rituals.

"What a pity. If I find some people to catch one or two living corpses and put them in wooden cages for exhibition, will it attract people to pay to watch?" Todd said regretfully while wiping the cup.

Kil shrugged. He didn't know and no one was looking, but he was sure that the town managers would not let these things into the city, and the city gate guards would not allow them to come in either.

"Then find a farm outside the city? Or directly guide people in the wild who want to see the novelty?" Todd refused to give up and kept raising some possibilities.

On the other side, another drinker sneered: "Do you think those churches are just eating porridge? The Church of the God of the Dead in the city will definitely arrest you. Don't even think about it. Besides, who are you looking for? Capture the living corpses, if they are still there.”

Todd named a few names, all of which were young people he had come into contact with in the past few days. They were energetic, had received simple martial arts training, and were equipped with similar equipment to Kiel a few months ago.

Keir met Todd's gaze: "They all seem to be some capable guys, but really, when I went to that place for the second time, a big circular hole was made by the church's magical ritual. It's like it was dug out of the ground with a huge spoon. Everything is gone except for a hole."

After a pause: "Moreover, I heard from a shepherd who stayed there to deal with the follow-up matters that they would later invite the two Gods of Water to fill the place with water and turn it into a small lake."

A drinker next to him corrected Keir: "He is the Lord of Lakes and Rivers, or the God of Lakes and Rivers. The God of Water is a higher-level god, which is different."

Kil scratched his hair and took a sip of wine.

In the time that followed, Kiel talked to Todd about the several people Todd had organized after losing Kiel.

Keel suggested they start with small things around town.

Regarding this point, Todd had a correct understanding: "I knew this, so I took a job and asked them to go to the woods outside the city to find some herbs that only appear in winter. The price of the herbs is still affordable, just right You can train them to survive alone in the wild forest.”

"Winter is cold, so you must be prepared to resist the cold." Keir reminded.

--

The next day, after Keir served his horses, he followed the old hunter for archery training.

As soon as Keir finished his work, he went out and said he would not come back at noon.

He first went to the tavern to buy some food and drink to take with him. After all, the craftsmen said that if they had to work for a whole day, they would definitely not care about food, so Kil had to prepare his own food.

When I came to the craftsman area, I first said hello to Ganner who was starting to work, and asked how the manufacturing of the new armor was going.

After receiving a no-questions-asked reply from Ganner, Kil went to the weapon forging workshop next door.

As soon as he entered, Keir could feel that the atmosphere was very different. All the apprentices were busy in the workshop. Only a young craftsman who had appeared in the weapon forging competition during the Harvest Festival was supervising the work of the apprentices, but he I was absent-minded, turning my head frequently to look into the depths of the workshop, with envy and longing in my eyes.

Kil explained his situation to the craftsman and was led to a precision forging table deep in the workshop.

There are all kinds of forging tools and equipment in this precision forging table, and they are obviously good quality, not the old tools outside. Even the iron felt was wiped dark and reflective.

The place was very lively at this time, and many weapon forging craftsmen were inspecting various things under the command of the shepherd's hand craftsman.

Whether the charcoal and high-heat coal are properly prepared, whether the forging tools have been repaired before, whether the furnace has been heated up, and whether the bellows operated by multiple people has been inspected and repaired to ensure long-term blasting work.

All kinds of things like that.

Seeing Kiel coming, the machete craftsmen introduced Kiel to the other craftsmen. But obviously, compared to the weapons that were about to be forged, Kiel, the owner of the weapon, was not the focus of the craftsmen's attention. Most of them were. Just a glance.

Keir shrugged. He was too young.

The shepherd's hand craftsman came to the house where Kil paid the money before. After a while, he took out Kil's long hunting sword and the things that needed to be forged this time.

The craftsmen are all paying attention to these things, and are talking about how to get these rare magic materials to wait for their chief craftsman.

Some craftsmen have been exposed to the forging of magic materials weapons, but they have little experience. The weapons produced are of average quality and use only a small amount of magic materials.

The various magic materials purchased by Keir during this hemorrhage were not only of various types, but also of large quantities. What was even more remarkable was that it did not forge a new sword from scratch, but repaired a contaminated one. An ordinary stainless steel long sword, and then strengthen it.

All-round strengthening.

At this point, the craftsmen are very curious and want to see how the craftsmen do it and learn from it.

As the shepherd of the God of Craftsmen, the craftsman who was responsible for repairing and strengthening the Kil sword had originally used this opportunity to let other craftsmen learn from it.

-

After a while, everything was checked, and the shepherd's hand craftsman moved around and began to repair and strengthen the long sword.

Picking up the tools, the craftsman first took apart Kil's sword.

The scabbard was taken apart, as were the hilt and sword grille. On the hilt of the sword, he left the outer leather of the hilt, then took away the wooden hilt inside, took out the magic material - the wooden core blessed by the Church of the God of Saturn, and cut off the excess with a sharp knife. The outer wooden part leaves only the core of the essence inside.

He compared the difference between the two, and then carefully began to cut the shape of the wooden core.

At the same time, he also directed other craftsmen to put the red copper and black iron from the magic materials into the rock pot in the stove, and directed other craftsmen to start blowing the bellows to blow fresh air into the stove.

There is also a dedicated craftsman who is responsible for the fuel work of the furnace. This person must ensure that there is sufficient high-heat clean coal in the furnace at all times.

Kil went over to take a look and found that the two magic materials put into the furnace melted very slowly due to the high temperature. He asked the craftsman and found out that this was a normal phenomenon.

This is true for many metal mineral magic materials. Under normal temperatures, their properties are stable and it is difficult to change them. They are easier to change only at high temperatures. It is said that it is easier to enter an active changing form when stimulated by magic power. There is nothing the craftsmen can do about this.

After all, we are not magicians. It can only be done by relying on the basic method of long-term high-temperature heating.

The shepherd's hand craftsman heard Kil's question, and he had another answer: "In fact, advanced alchemists can also use some strange techniques to bring two conflicting magic materials into contact. This can easily make some magic materials Enter into altered form.”

Keir nodded, indicating that he remembered.

The traditional methods of craftsmen, the magic power of magicians, and the magic materials of alchemists collide.

It seems that there are many methods available.

After seeing that the temperature of the furnace reached its highest temperature, the craftsman put the entire disassembled sword body of Kil's sword into the center of the furnace.

Kil leaned over to take a look and found that his long sword quickly became brighter due to heat. The polluting evil forces that had been eroding it before turned into green smoke from the red and shiny long sword under the high temperature. out.

Although there is little blue smoke, it is as dark as ink, surrounded by high-temperature flames. They twist and change into human faces, making the appearance of crying.

Then it completely turned into scattered smoke and dust, and disappeared along the flue of the stove.

Kil looked at a craftsman watching the flames of the furnace in surprise: "Did you see those things that corroded my sword just now?"

The craftsman nodded solemnly: "I saw it. What did this sword cut?"

"Hey, it's just some living corpses, nothing more."

The craftsman shrugged and said nothing.

Next to it, a shepherd's hand craftsman cut the wooden core into the original handle of Kil's sword. Then, he collected the excess wood core and other cut wood, and began to piece them together according to the scabbard of Kil's long sword.

The hands of the Makote craftsmen are very skillful. They probably considered the use of other wood when cutting the wood core.

He pieced these discarded pieces of wood into a scabbard, and then directly used unknown magic to make the pieces of wood come into close contact and rely on each other.

Then, he took the disassembled parts of the scabbard of Kil's sword and put them into the new scabbard.

The new scabbard has a wooden appearance. Not only does it not look low-end, but because the wood is faintly shining, it actually looks very high-end and elegant.

"What's its name?" the shepherd's hand craftsman asked Kil.

Keir was watching next to him. After hearing the question, he answered directly: "Hunting! It has been helping me hunt my prey and enemies."

"Simple and direct, very good. At least it's much better than nonsense names like Isola Morning Light." Saying words that Kil didn't understand, the shepherd's craftsman touched the wooden surface of the scabbard with his hand, and the scabbard naturally There appeared the names left in the common script of the empire.

"Is there anything you want to say to it? Or is there a goal for it to be achieved?" Craftsman Makote asked again.

Keir thought about it for a while. Although he didn't understand it, he probably had some benefits. So after thinking about it, I don’t really have any goals that I need a sword to achieve, but what do I want to say about it?

"Well, the hunting journey will never end?" Kil hesitated and said.

"Drink, it doesn't sound easy. It might be very tired, is that all?"

"That's it. After all, a long sword is a weapon and a tool. Isn't that the mission of a tool?"

"Young man, you are still young. Weapons not only represent a created tool, they also contain too many meanings, which you will understand later." After saying that, the shepherd's hand craftsman once again reached out and touched the back of the scabbard. The words "The hunting journey will never end" that Kiel said were left on the shimmering wooden surface of the scabbard.

-

Kil picked up the completed scabbard. The glimmer on the surface of the scabbard fluctuated, but it was still slowly getting stronger.

With a thought in his mind, he lifted up the clothes on his wrist. A wooden bracelet on his wrist emitted an undulating blue light just like the scabbard.

But compared to the shimmer on the scabbard, the green light on the bracelet was much stronger.

Raising his eyebrows, Kil put down the clothes on his wrists, and then placed the scabbard on the stone table.

On the other side, the shepherd's hand craftsman checked the melting condition of the red copper and black iron, nodded, and then he took out Kil's sword with pliers and smashed it directly into the middle of the sword with a hammer.

There was no unexpected metal collision. The long sword heated by high temperature was very soft. When the hammer hit it, it bent into a U shape.

The hammer struck again, and after a few hits, Kil's long sword was smashed into a square molten steel.

Putting the ball of metal back into the stove, the Makote craftsman turned a switch on the stove, and then all the heat from the stove was concentrated in the center.

Taking out a high-temperature-resistant mold, the makate craftsman asked other craftsmen to pour the molten red copper and black iron into the high-temperature-resistant mold in the middle.

The melted metal ball from Geir's sword was also placed inside.

Soon, they all gradually melted together, but they were still distinct from each other.

The Makite craftsman took out the high-temperature-resistant mold and placed it in front of the stove. Then let the craftsmen who are blowing the bellows rest, just to ensure that the furnace does not go out.

Then he took out a metal rod and started stirring the incompatible clump of metals.

The metal mass is in a semi-molten state, like a ball of magma emerging from a volcano. It is extremely viscous and is very laborious to stir.

He stirred it clockwise for a while, and then another craftsman took over.

When the temperature of the metal dropped, everyone turned on the bellows to heat up the furnace and heat the metal mass again.

Heat, stir, heat and stir.

Until noon, Kiel ate what he had brought, and the other craftsmen also ate the watery and salty soup in turn.

Drinking soup is to replenish water, and eating salty food is to replenish the salt taken away by sweating.

The Makote craftsman has been watching the situation of the metal ball from the side. As he watched, he ate the fat meat with the bread. Bread is not the kind of coarse grain bread that ordinary people eat, but a delicious bread baked with finely ground flour and milk and dough, which is then fully fermented.

This kind of bread is filled with fried fat and is very fragrant.

This food was brought in from outside by a trainee shepherd of the God of Craftsman Church. It seems that becoming a relatively strong church pastor, both in terms of power and treatment, is much better than ordinary people.

Keir thought as he ate the food he brought.

"Attention, everyone come and take a look." Craftsman Mudou suddenly spoke, attracting the attention of everyone present.

After everyone got closer, the Makishou craftsman pointed at the metal ball and said, "Everyone, please pay attention. The current state of this metal ball means that they are all mixed together now."

Kil didn't see anything, but the other craftsmen seemed to have some relevant experience, so some suddenly realized something, and some didn't say a word, but they all saw something.

At this time, the makatsu craftsmen began the next step of the process.

He first waited for the metal ball to cool down, and after it solidified slightly, he used iron pliers to hammer the shiny metal ball and began to beat it with a hammer.

The metal is first pounded into a ball and then into a long strip.

Then he first punched out the sword root, then clamped the sword root with iron pliers, and put the front blade into the stove to slowly heat it.

After the sword body was heated, he picked up the hammer and hammered out the basic shape of the long sword.

Generally speaking, the long sword is similar to before, but due to the addition of new magic material metal, the overall weight has increased a lot, and the volume has only increased a little.

After the forging was completed, the surface color of Kil's long sword became strange.

The original fish scale grooves disappeared and became flat and smooth, while the upper and lower parts of the sword became a mixed metallic color. The overall appearance is gray and dull, but as long as the light shines on it, you can see the conspicuous red copper color.

Kiel saw that the shepherd's craftsmen had made the root of the sword slightly flatter. The long sword as a whole was slightly wider at the root, and then began to taper from the middle, which was suitable for Kiel's more commonly used thrusts.

After that, the whole body is heated again, and then taken out and put into the quenching oil prepared by other craftsmen.

It has not been taken out. After the temperature of the quenching oil dropped and the long sword inside also cooled slightly, the heavily forged long sword was taken out for cleaning.

After cleaning, the shepherd's craftsman used an iron tong to clamp the most expensive piece of metal blessed by the Church of the Sun God, and placed it in the blazing furnace. The metal piece that was burned by the flames glowed white and moved restlessly from side to side in the iron tongs.

The other craftsmen looked at it curiously and did not dare to make any more noise. They had probably heard about the price of this thing. It was really expensive.

After the metal piece shook to such an extent that it was difficult to control it with iron pliers, the makate craftsman removed it from the furnace and placed it above the blade on one side of the sword's base.

Suddenly, his hand no longer held the iron pliers tightly, and the metal piece that glowed whitely like a small sun broke out of the iron pliers' grasp. Like a baby swallow returning to the forest, the metal piece clanged downwards and stuck to the sword body.

Immediately, the entire long sword vibrated. The white light that originally shrouded the metal sheet began to spread along the blade to the entire long sword, and the dazzling white light radiated from the long sword.

Everyone narrowed their eyes, not wanting to let go of every moment of this moment.

Soon, the white light converged and disappeared. Everyone rubbed their eyes and looked, and found that the original metal piece was gone, and there were fine characters on the sword at the base of Kiel's long sword that extended from the base to the middle of the sword.

The text has become larger and it is slightly easier to see what is written.

Kil leaned over and read for a while: "Light and fire are both controlled by gods. Light is the root and body. Fire is the leaves and surface. Don't chase the flame blindly, chase the light. Look up, the light is there In the heavens, the great God is also in the heavens.”

baffling.

The shepherd's hand craftsman didn't seem to like Kil's continued reading. He picked up a brand new long sword that was not hot and began to assemble the sword pattern on the long sword.

Then comes the core of the wood core.

The two wooden core cores were gathered together on the sword base, and then the previously removed leather strips were used to wrap around the hilt, and finally around the bottom of the sword base. The mahogany craftsman picked up the spherical moonlight iron that had not been used.

He recited a prayer in a low voice, and his hands glowed red. He held the root of the long sword in one hand and the moonlight iron in the other. He gradually approached the two, and then the extra metal at the heel of the sword changed and split, as if It opened its mouth as if it were alive and bit into the spherical moonlight iron.

Ding!

There was a soft sound, and the whole long sword trembled.

The shepherd's hand craftsman held the long sword in his hand, checked it, and then smiled confidently. He then handed the sword over to other craftsmen who had done the work for inspection.

When the sword was in their hands, it was peaceful and silent, but in the end, when it was handed over to Kil's hand, the sword trembled, the sword body emitted a strong white light, and the hilt emitted a strong green light. The tail of the sword emits a glistening moonlight that, although it is soft, can be seen no matter how bright the light is elsewhere.

Kil's eyes were narrowed by the light, and he asked the craftsman: "What's going on? Although it looks good, it's always on, and I can't see anything."

The Makote craftsman wiped his palms and arms with a damp cloth to remove some of the stained metal chips and soot.

He smiled: "Don't ask me about your sword. You can try to tell it your requirements and ideas."

Kil looked like a fool and said, "You want me to talk to it?"

"Try it and see." The craftsman still said.

Other craftsmen also said: "Try it quickly. The sword has a spirit and can usually understand what the owner says."

Keir looked embarrassed, but decided to give it a try.