Lord blessed by the elves

Chapter 17 The Path of the Blacksmith
The surge of excitement lasted only a few seconds before the cold reality poured cold water on him.

This is because Kruze knows absolutely nothing about forging!
All his "knowledge" comes solely from:
In my past life, I watched those fragmented clips of sword-forging competitions on short videos.

Most of the content showcases finished products and cool shots; the core craftsmanship details? Seem to be absent.

The rudimentary "system encyclopedia" in front of me contains only dry textual descriptions of the principles and processes of Damascus steel.

"Folding and forging", "fusion of steels with different carbon contents", "pickling to reveal texture"

Just paper talk!

He's barely even swung a hammer properly more than a few times!

Want to forge a decent, let alone a high-quality, Damascus steel weapon by hand?

This difficulty is... no less than asking someone who has just learned to walk to run a marathon!
"Ding! Beginner side quest triggered: The Path of the Blacksmith!"

Task Description: Successfully craft the first metal item with a basic Damask pattern.

Quest Reward: Blacksmith's Hammer (Bound) – A basic hammer that slightly improves forging efficiency and insight.

The system notification sounded like a timely rain!

Although the task reward isn't a direct cash prize, this blacksmith's hammer, which can improve forging efficiency and understanding, is practically a "newbie perk" tailor-made for him!
With it, the barrier to entry can be significantly lowered!

Hope has been rekindled!

Kruze took a deep breath, suppressing all his hesitation and fear. His eyes became incredibly sharp and determined.

"There's no turning back! Now, we have no choice but to take a gamble and give it a try!"

Without further delay, he rushed out of the room and shouted loudly for Butler Buffet:
"Buffel! Immediately! Get me a working forge! Coal! Anvil! Hammer! And... all the different kinds of scrap iron and offcuts you can find! The more the better! Quickly!"

The sound of blacksmithing, silent for many years in Lion Fang Territory, is about to be resounded again in the hands of a trainee knight and "blacksmith apprentice"!
This is a high-stakes gamble, betting on Kruse's learning ability, the auxiliary effect of the system hammer, and that elusive luck!
The stakes are the survival of "Azure Jade" and the future of Lion's Tooth Territory!
To obtain the "Blacksmith's Hammer" as a system reward, you must first forge a metal item with a Damascus pattern.

After much thought, Kruze decided to start with the simplest thing: a small knife.

Miller, the only old blacksmith in Lion's Tooth Territory, a man in his sixties with a face covered in coal dust, was hurriedly summoned by Butler Buffet to the makeshift forging area in the castle's backyard.

When the old man heard that the young master, who had just become an apprentice knight, wanted to learn forging, he almost bit his pipe to pieces!
"Young Master, what's wrong with you..." Miller the blacksmith looked at Kruze's delicate hands, which were so thin and flabby that he could barely hold a hammer, and hesitated to speak.

“Master Miller, teach me the basics, starting with the most ordinary metal knife.” Kruse didn’t explain, but his gaze was firm.

In the days that followed, the sound of blacksmithing echoed constantly in the castle's backyard.

Under the careful guidance of blacksmith Miller, Kruse started by forging the most basic iron bars and crafted more than a dozen ordinary knives that required no special skills.

His palms were blistered and bleeding, and his arms ached so much he couldn't lift a bowl, but he gritted his teeth and persevered. After barely mastering the basics, he began to try forging scrap iron with different carbon contents by stacking them together.

Failure, failure, and more failure!

It's either due to poor temperature control causing delamination and cracking, or uneven forging force causing direct breakage.

On the third day, he finally managed to forge a short knife that was barely recognizable as a "knife"!
The proportions of the blade are severely out of balance; the back of the blade is as thick as a woodcutter's knife, while the edge is as thin as a cicada's wing.

The knife tip, which should have had a smooth curve, was hammered into a bizarre S-shape, like an earthworm that had been stepped on!

Is it called a Nepalese kukri?

That's an insult to the Nepalese knife!
Calling it a farming sickle? Farmers would be moved to tears!
"At least... it's not broken," Kruze comforted himself, only to be met with an even greater challenge—the appearance of the markings!
Without modern industrial pickling solutions, he could only try using heat treatment to bring out the patterns. However, no matter how he adjusted the charcoal temperature and quenching timing, at most a few blurry, faint lines, like the wrinkles of an old man, would appear on the blade, a far cry from the legendary "starry sky"!

Just when Kruse was about to give up, Wilstone arrived after hearing the news.

Upon learning that the young master was searching for "acidic liquid," the loyal knight's expression changed repeatedly before he finally gritted his teeth and turned to leave.

A moment later, he returned carrying an exquisite crystal bottle, his face filled with heartache.

“Young Master…” Wilstone’s voice trembled, “This bottle of ‘Shadow Maintenance Liquid’ was purchased by the Master from an alchemist at great expense years ago, specifically for maintaining the blade of his ‘Lionheart Sword.’ It… it has a slight corrosive effect, dissolving metallic impurities and revealing the blade’s texture. There’s only one bottle left in the entire territory! You… you should use it sparingly…”

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Kruze pull out the ugly dagger without hesitation and plunge it into the crystal bottle with a "whoosh"!

Sizzle!
A sickening corrosive sound rang out, and the liquid in the bottle churned like an enraged snake, emitting wisps of pungent blue smoke!

Wilstone's face contorted instantly, his lips twitching uncontrollably, as if the knife had been plunged into his wallet!
Ten minutes later, when Kruse pulled out the dagger, patterns finally appeared on the blade—however, those patterns were twisted like a nightmare!

What should have been smooth, layered ripples turned into tangled clumps of yarn under his clumsy forging, with black holes left by bubbles and impurities, resembling centipedes that had been crushed!

"What the hell is this thing..." Kruse couldn't stand it himself and raised his hand to throw this shameful "work" into the scrap heap.

"Wait!!!" Miller the blacksmith and Wilstone pounced at the same time, grabbing his wrists tightly from both sides!

The two seasoned veterans, however, stared at the ugly dagger with shining eyes as if they had witnessed a miracle, their breathing so rapid that they looked as if they were about to faint!

"Young...Young Master!" Miller the blacksmith's voice was hoarse with excitement. "This...this is genuine forged steel! I've been blacksmithing for forty years, and I've only ever heard of such things in legends! How...how did you do this?!"

Wilstone knelt down on one knee, his voice filled with unprecedented awe: "Young Master! This pattern... although the shape is strange, the layered texture, the traces of metal fusion... if it can be improved slightly, it will surely shock the entire Camp Nou territory!"

Kruse: "..."

Looking at their fanatical expressions, and then at the short sword in his hand that looked like it was wrapped around a centipede, he couldn't tell whether they had gone mad or whether the forging level of this world was... shockingly low.
"Ding! Quest [The Path of the Blacksmith] is complete! Reward: Blacksmith's Hammer (Bound) has been sent to your system space!"

(End of this chapter)