As for why the gas won’t flow back?
That’s because there is a check valve on the part where the hand presses, which closes when pressed down and opens when pulled up, sucking in the surrounding air into the bellows.
Soon, under Boris’s guidance, Rein inserted one end of the iron pipe into the clay furnace and fitted the other end onto the bellows.
“Hmm, not bad!” Lagaray glanced over, nodded her head, and signaled that Rein had done a decent job.
“It’s about time, continue to add some charcoal and burn it for a bit, let the clay solidify, then we can put in the Glowstone,” Lagaray said, patting the clay in her hand and standing up.
“Is that it?” Boris couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.
He hadn’t expected Lagaray to use the “reduction method” for melting Glowstone, which completely baffled Boris, who was observing attentively.
This method was used to melt the most common ores such as brown iron ore and red iron ore.
It was the most primitive and simplest of methods.
Although Boris didn’t know the specific melting point of Glowstone, he knew it had to be much higher than that of iron ore.
So, instinctively, he felt it shouldn’t work, but after catching a glimpse of Lagaray’s naturally composed expression, Boris swallowed back the rest of his words.
After all, he had only just received permission to observe, and he didn’t want to lose it just because of a slip of the tongue.
“Hmm, in a while we’ll just put the Glowstone and charcoal together inside,” Lagaray said confidently.
Once everything was ready.
Lagaray mixed the softly glowing Glowstone with charcoal and placed it in the newly dried clay furnace.
“Rein, do you know how to work the bellows?” Lagaray asked.
“Of course, working the bellows is my strong suit!” Rein said, nodding confidently.
Finally, it was time for the part he was familiar with!
[You worked the bellows, gaining related insight!]
[Your Skill “Operating the Bellows” has improved, Experience +3]
[You focus on working the bellows, Blacksmith Profession Experience Points +1]
…
About half an hour later, Lagaray began the most crucial step.
She first took out two walnut-sized white stones from her pouch, likely fluorite, placing one into the furnace melting the star iron and instructed Boris to pay close attention to changes on the surface of the star iron.
The other stone was put into the furnace melting the Glowstone, and right after that, Lagaray cut her wrist with a small knife, and a streak of fresh blood flowed out, gradually dripping onto the Glowstone.
“Lagaray, didn’t you say just a little bit of blood was needed? What are you doing?” Rein felt both shocked and touched.
Just as Rein was about to stop working the bellows and rush to stop Lagaray.
“Don’t stop, if you stop now, all will be in vain,” Lagaray said calmly, her focus remaining on the Glowstone inside the melting furnace.
This gave Rein a strange feeling.
At that moment, Lagaray seemed to emanate an invisible strength, as if narrating the birth of a Glowstone weapon, a necessary process.
This caused Rein, who was just about to stand up, to hesitate and continue working the bellows powerfully, looking at Lagaray with admiration and concern.
Fortunately, the process did not last too long.
Seemingly determining enough blood had been provided, Lagaray, a bit pale, quickly took out a piece of white linen bandage to wrap her wound.
Another half-hour passed.
The impurities in the Glowstone gradually melted into slag, flowing out like magma from the opening at the bottom of the furnace.
Inside the furnace, only an egg-sized lump of the essence of Glowstone remained, malleable like playdough, but the light it emitted was ten times more intense than before.
“It’s about time! I’m going to take it out and forge it,” Lagaray said again after a glance, turning to speak to Rein.
Lagaray used the tongs in one hand to hold the glowing Glowstone and a heavy hammer in the other, beginning to strike.
“Ding ding!”
With each hammer blow came sparks, and the Glowstone seemed to shine a bit brighter, but the white bandage on Lagaray’s wrist turned a shade redder.
“Shall I take over?” Boris and Rein offered in unison.
“`
“No! Your strength isn’t enough to further remove the impurities from the Glowstone,” Lagaray glanced at Boris before shaking her head and refusing.
This left Boris somewhat red-faced with embarrassment, having forged iron for half his life only to be told by a young girl that his strength was insufficient.
“Let me do it!” Confident in wielding a hammer and having mastered the hammer, Rein chimed in.
“Can you manage?” Lagaray, looking a bit pale, glanced at Rein.
Rein seemed to have enough strength, but how well could he handle the hammer?
At this point, after the bloodletting, she indeed felt tired. If she could save some energy for the later stages of forging, it would obviously ensure a better quality for the greatsword.
“Don’t worry! With your guidance beside me, it shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, if I’m not up to it, there’s still time to switch to you,” Rein assured her.
“Hmm, okay, give it a try,” she conceded.
“Too heavy, lighter!”
“Okay! How about now?”
“Hmm, good, that weight is just right.”
After half an hour of continuous forging, when the impurities were mostly removed, Lagaray had Rein hammer the Glowstone into long, thin strips.
The same process was repeated with star iron.
Then Lagaray, using tongs in one hand, took a red-hot greatsword out of the original forge of the blacksmith shop, and with the other hand layered the thin strips of Glowstone and star iron on top of it.
She directed Rein to continue hammering them together.
“Ding ding!”
With every strike of the hammer, the union between the greatsword, Glowstone, and star iron deepened.
“Fold it over,” she instructed.
“Fold it?” Rein asked in surprise.
“Yes!” Lagaray stepped forward to take over from Rein, folding the layered star iron, Glowstone, and the sword’s body in half, stacking them on top of each other.
After repeating this process twice,
Rein’s greatsword no longer resembled its former appearance. Instead, it had become a rectangular iron bar, about twenty to thirty centimeters long and roughly ten centimeters thick.
“Forge it into a sword blank,” she said.
“Okay,” Rein responded, swinging his hammer with force.
After repeatedly hammering it for some time, they finally began the process of quenching and polishing, which were more delicate and all done by Lagaray herself.
Meanwhile, Rein finally had the chance to check the system notifications:
[You worked on forging a Dual-Handed Greatsword, insight improved!]
[You have comprehended a new skill——Dual-Handed Greatsword Forging]
…
[You worked on Glowstone weapon forging, insight improved!]
[You have comprehended a new skill——Glowstone Weapon Forging]
….
[Your skill in Dual-Handed Greatsword Forging has improved, experience +1]
[You focused on forging a Dual-Handed Greatsword, Blacksmith Profession Experience Points +2]
…
[Your skill in Glowstone Weapon Forging has improved, experience +1]
[You focused on Glowstone Weapon Forging, Blacksmith Profession Experience Points +5]
…
[Congratulations, your Blacksmith Profession Level has increased!]
Indeed, Rein felt as sweet as if he had drunk honey upon seeing the Blacksmith Profession Level rise to lv3.
And more great surprises awaited him.
“`