'This should be the best that I can hope for with my current experience.'
Noah thought, analyzing the "Breath" in his sea of consciousness.
'Let's try to forge with this.'
Another bone of Sun tiger appeared in his hand.
Noah carefully manipulated a small part of the "Breath" in his mental sphere and slowly inserted it in the bone.
It immediately started cracking, the piece of the magical beast was opposing that foreign substance.
However, Noah controlled the "Breath" to force the item to stay still, using his mental energy and "Breath" in the dantian to envelop the bone.
A black membrane appeared around the item in his hand.
That was one of the incubating methods described in the forging procedures.
With the membrane around it, the bone could not break toward the outside and was forced to mix with Noah's "Breath".
Its color changed, from a pale white with shades of red, it became darker, turning gray with purple tones.
Noah then controlled it to change shape.
Inside the incubating membrane, its form slowly transformed.
It became thinner and denser, and its edges sharpened little by little.
However, Noah lost control of the "Breath" inside the item for an instant, causing a chain reaction that destabilized the precarious equilibrium between the two different substances.
'Fuck!'
Noah hastily dissolved the membrane and launched the bone in one corner of the basement.
Before it could reach the wall, the bone exploded, making the whole room tremble.
'Well, the power contained in the item definitely increased due to the improved purity of "Breath" that I managed to refine. Yet, I still can't force it together with other materials.'
It wasn't just a matter of different elements between his "ink" and the material that he was using, his control during the process was still lacking.
It was similar to when he had to imbue with his "Breath" the blood of the magical beast to create a blood companion, only way harder and more profound.
He was changing the structural design of a bone after all!
He had to find the right way to do it without causing an irreversible destruction of the item.
'The worst part is that every item has a different conformation so it has to be treated in a different way. My experience with the bones of the Sun tigers can't be applied to my future materials. It seems that in order to create something stable, one needs to experiment a lot on each of the materials that he wants to use.'
Different materials would lead to different products, even with the same will imprinted on the "Breath" used in the forging.
'Basically, I can only keep trying until I create something adequate.'
More than one month passed from that moment, Noah had stayed in the basement for two months already.
The sound of explosions never stopped coming from there and Ivor had become used to that by then.
'It's almost night, there should be two more explosions before he begins to cultivate.'
Ivor thought.
He had lived together with his student for quite some time already, he had completely memorized his routine.
Time passed but no more explosions rang out from the basement.
'Mh? Did he give up for today? He can't be blamed, forging takes a heavy toll on the mind.'
However, more time passed and the night arrived without any other noise coming from the underground room.
'Don't tell me that he is injured?'
Ivor became worried and hastily descended the stairs to check Noah's situation.
When he arrived in the basement though, his eyes widened in surprise.
Noah was standing and looked with a radiant smile at a dark piece of bone in his hand.
It had many cracks on its surface and it seemed so fragile that a simple movement from Noah could break it.
Nevertheless, a faint sharpness was exuded by it.
Ivor immediately jumped toward his student, fixing his eyes on the item.
He inspected it from various angles, he even carefully picked it up to control its weight.
Noah observed him standing still on his position, he didn't really know how to judge the power or the quality of what he had created so he was waiting for Ivor's judgment.
It was the first item that didn't explode, it was needless to say how excited he was to learn about its actual power.
"Not bad."
Ivor broke the silence without moving his eyes from the dark bone.
"You managed to create something on the level of the liquid stage, it seems that you have improved in refining the "Breath". It doesn't reach the apex of that stage though due to the conflicting element of its material and your lack of control during the forging."
Noah attentively listened to his explanation and nodded in his mind, everything he had said was true.
"It is also highly unstable and frail, it will break after one use if you are lucky or as soon as you power it up with "Breath" if you aren't."
'It will definitely shatter soon then.'
As always, Noah considered the worst possible option.
"Most of this result is due to your rank 2 sea of consciousness, otherwise it would be almost impossible to replicate the power of the "Breath" that you have accumulated."
Ivor handed the bone back to Noah and moved behind him.
"Try it."
Noah held the bone as if he was holding his usual sabers.
It was rectangular with smooth angles and only a slightly pointy tip, he knew that he had completely failed in shaping it correctly.
He lightly swung it using a small amount of "Breath" in the process.
The item immediately shattered and only dust remained in Noah's hand, yet, from its tip, a small wind slash was released before it was reduced into pieces.
The slash was dark, with faint red shades in its color.
It hit the wall at the end of the room and the inscriptions on it slightly flickered.
"The power of that blow was on the gaseous stage, it has lost some energy as it broke. Yet, a success is a success."
Ivor said, handing a small book to Noah.
"You are now the last cultivator practicing the Elemental forging method. As your Master, I'm officially passing down the entire legacy of our school to you. May your creations shatter the Earth and defy the Heaven!"