Chapter 69- Blood-Chanter Set.
The metal cube ingots sat in a row across the table. Each one was nearly the size of a fist. Leo could faintly see the lines of white and red bands mixed through different layers across the surface of the cubes.
He picked up the cube sitting directly in front of him. The metal felt cold and dense against his palm.
He activated Forge Sight.
His vision unfolded and stripped away the outer surface, showing him the interior structure clearly.
He saw the separated layers of red and white—the Aegis Stone and the Blood Steel stacked like different strata.
In some places the two materials pressed tightly together. In other places they refused to bond, leaving microscopic voids and thin seams of separation that looked like hairline cracks under the enhanced sight.
He examined every interface and every gap until he understood the full pattern of the failure points.
"Let’s merge you truly," he muttered to himself.
He let the Eternal Flame cover the cube for a short time, just long enough to soften it so he could hammer it flat or into any shape he needed.
The metal began to glow, shifting from dull red to a brighter cherry color. A thin metallic scent rose from the surface as the outer layer softened under the heat.
He summoned his Starfall Hammer. It felt perfect in his palm. The grip and the length sat exactly where they should.
Then he swung.
Clang.
The first blow drove flat against the cube’s face. The strike was precise and measured. A sharp metallic ring filled the air and bounced off the stone walls. Sparks jumped from the point of contact.
Clang.
He struck the same spot at the same angle. The cube flattened a fraction under the force. A third blow followed at once.
Clang.
Something shifted in his wrists and forearms....
Ancestral Cadence awoke....
His wrists began moving with greater precision and a steady rhythm, as if they had suddenly remembered an old pattern of work. The hammer began to fall in a clear sequence: fold, strike, fold, strike. His left hand turned the cube while his right hand continued to drive the hammer against the surface.
The weight of the hammer itself changed as he used it. When he lifted the tool it grew light. When he drove it downward it grew heavy again. The shift happened without any conscious effort on his part.
He hammered the piece over and over until it became a thin flat plate. The surface now shone a brighter red under the forge light. Then he folded the plate and hammered it again. The metal gave a deeper, flatter sound as the layers compressed.
He repeated the process—flatten, fold, hammer—again and again. With each cycle the separate colors of red and white grew less distinct. The seams closed under the repeated pressure until the metal had truly merged and no layers of separation remained.
Leo repeated the entire process with every remaining ingot. When he finished, he held one of the completed pieces in his hand.
Forge Sight detected no seams, no internal patterns, and no voids. He could feel both the guardian’s stillness and the killer’s hunger present in the metal at the same time.
He hammered each piece until it was a thin plate under the heat of the Eternal Flame.
Once the cubes had become plates, he let them cool. Then he tempered them again in the heat and cut the metal with his sword.
He cut the plates into strips of different lengths and widths according to the places where each piece would fit into the armor. He kept cutting until he had dozens of strips ready. Some were narrow for the forearms. Some were longer for the upper arms. Some were curved for the shoulders. Some were flat for the thighs.
Each one was measured against the design he had already fixed in his mind while the metal was still soft. The chisel bit cleanly through the thin steel, and Leo numbered every piece as he finished it.
The plates and the strips were ready. Now he needed a mesh—the flexible body of the armor, the second skin that the plates would ride on.
He picked up a piece of the alloy and considered the problem. Hammering it into long strips by hand would take far too long. He looked over at Hugh.
"Any idea how I can make threads with this metal?"
Hugh had already been surprised by the work so far, but he kept most of that reaction to himself. "Brat, you want to sew these pieces together and call it armor? I don’t know how effective that will be."
"We’ll have to try and see," Leo said.
Hugh thought for a moment. "If you want to make thread, you’ll need a drawplate."
"Drawplate?" Leo asked.
"It’s a tool with holes in it," Hugh explained. "The holes go from large to small. You put a thin strip of metal in one end and pull it through from the other side. That thins the metal. Depending on how thin you need it, you pass it through more holes. The farther you go, the thinner it gets."
Leo nodded. He understood the principle at once.
He used a piece of the same alloy to forge the drawplate itself.
He heated a thick square of the metal until it glowed red, then punched a line of holes into it. Each hole was a fraction smaller than the one before it, forming a descending ladder of sizes. He let the plate cool and set until it held its shape.
With the drawplate ready, Leo hammered a piece of the alloy into a strip and tapered one end to a point. When the point was small enough to fit the largest hole, he stopped. He pushed the point through the hole, gripped it with tongs, and pulled from the other side.
With a screeching sound the metal passed through the plate.
It thinned, lengthened, and straightened evenly as it came through. The grain of the metal ran out like thread coming off a spindle.
Leo pulled until the strip shortened, then reheated it and fed it through the next smaller hole. The resulting thread was longer and thinner than before. Each pass through a tighter hole reduced the diameter further. When he finally pulled the thread from the last and smallest hole, it was as fine as spider silk.
Hugh watched from the side with quiet satisfaction.
Leo began inscribing runes into the metal strips. He carved two runes on every single piece: the Rune of Flexibility and the Rune of Reshaping.
The inscription work went smoothly. He had practiced the patterns many times in the Inscription Realm, so the real work held no surprises. Each stroke of the carving tool sank cleanly into the surface and held its shape once the metal cooled.
Only one task remained: connecting the metal pieces with the thread he had drawn.
He picked up metal strip number 7. A tiny number was scratched on the inside face. Comparing it to the design in his mind, he confirmed it belonged on the upper arm.
The strip was curved to sit comfortably over the muscle and wide enough to turn aside a blade. Next he took the strip that belonged beside it—number 6.
He punched holes only at the edges, near the corners, of both strips.
He threaded the fine wire through the first pair of holes, then zigzagged it tightly back and forth between the two pieces such that the zigzagged wires were touching each other with no gaps in between. Along the entire length between the edges he welded every section of the zigzagging wire directly onto the metal strips so the two pieces were firmly joined by the wires with no gaps left open to reveal any skin. At the final corner edge he punched the last pair of holes, passed the wire through them, and welded it in place to lock the joint.
He continued the same process for the next pair of strips, then the next, working steadily around the design.
He joined the pieces meant for the upper arms, then the ones for the lower arms, then the curved sections for the shoulders.
Each joint was measured against the original plan. Each wire section was pulled tight and welded so that the connection would not shift under impact.
He moved on to the chest and back plates, then the sections that would cover the thighs and the lower legs.
The same method was used for the hand guards, the shoulder guards, and the waist guards. Piece by piece the separate strips came together until the work had taken the full shape of an armor.
When he finished, the armor did not stand rigid like conventional plate. Instead it collapsed and settled like a shirt when left on the ground. The mesh of fine wire and the flexible runes allowed the entire suit to fold and rest flat.
The armor was complete. Only the soul forging remained.
[Ding!]
[Item Forging Completed]
[Item: Blood-Chanter]
[Rank: Rare ]
[Type: Armor]
[Quality: Flawless]
Attributes:
DEF +452
STR +80
DEX +10
[Base Passive — Guardian’s Ward: Absorbs one lethal blow; recharges via sustained damage.]
[Base Passive — Armor self-repairs rapidly, draining user’s mana.]
[Active — Aegis-Blood Synergy Shield: Deploy a shield equal to 2× health points.]