Chapter 179: The Mithril Sword
With the furnace completed, Kael placed it at the center of the forge.
He then threw the Flammifer into the furnace, tempering it with scorching heat and flames.
The Flammifer had been forged by Thorin and several dwarf craftsmen, recast from a barrow-blade fused with a bit of mithril, with runic symbols for "fire" inscribed upon it.
Gandalf had used it in his duel with the Balrog in Moria, channeling the sacred Fire of Anor against the Balrog's flame of Udûn.
But this didn't mean the Flammifer itself truly possessed such power. Rather, Gandalf had used the Flammifer as a conduit for the Fire of Anor.
This time, Kael planned to reforge the Flammifer using goblin crafting techniques, making it stronger.
The Flammifer was cast from bronze, but how could that compare to mithril? Much less the even more precious Mother of Mithril that Kael intended to use.
That's right. Kael planned to reforge the Flammifer using Mother of Mithril.
He first threw the Flammifer into the furnace. The blade proved worthy of dwarven forging. Even in the high-temperature furnace, it melted very slowly.
Kael deliberately added more flame crystals to the furnace to speed the melting process.
Under his gaze, the Flammifer melted into molten metal, its impurities rapidly decomposing and burning away. Finally, only a small mass of pure bronze without any impurities remained, along with a thumb-sized portion of mithril molten metal nearby.
That thumb-sized bit of mithril was what Thorin and the dwarf craftsmen had originally added to the sword. Though small, it represented the greatest sincerity Thorin could offer.
Now Kael directly split the more precious, fist-sized Mother of Mithril in half. Then he threw half of it into the furnace.
Mother of Mithril was far more solid and heat-resistant than ordinary mithril. Even the Balrog's flames hadn't been able to melt it. The Mother of Mithril in the furnace remained completely motionless despite the extreme heat and flames, lying there quietly.
Seeing this, Kael threw all remaining flame crystals into the furnace. With the furnace's tenfold fire enhancement, the interior had changed from white to an even hotter blue. The temperature far exceeded volcanic heat. Even the molten bronze metal began vaporizing.
The Mother of Mithril finally showed signs of softening, though still very slowly. At this rate, Kael wondered when the Mother of Mithril would completely melt.
Seeing this, Kael pointed his wand at the fire opening and cast Fiendfyre. The destructive flames joined the furnace fire, instantly causing the internal temperature to surge higher, turning blue-purple.
Under such terrifying flame roasting, the Mother of Mithril's melting speed accelerated.
A week passed in the blink of an eye, and half the fist-sized Mother of Mithril finally melted completely. The original bronze molten metal from the Flammifer had shrunk considerably, leaving only a bit of incredibly pure bronze essence that looked as brilliant as gold.
Though mithril was excellent material, it was too light. If made entirely of mithril, the sword's weight would be impossible to control and wouldn't generate killing power effectively.
So Kael fused the light Mother of Mithril molten metal with the heavy bronze essence, creating an appropriately weighted alloy material that combined mithril's lightness, corrosion resistance, and strong enchantment conductivity with bronze's stability and solidity.
Kael removed the fused mixed metal from the furnace. After it solidified, he used a mithril hammer to continuously strike at a unique frequency. With each strike, magical power flowed through the mithril hammer into the alloy, making the Mother of Mithril and bronze essence merge more completely.
After sufficient hammering, he returned the alloy to the furnace for remelting and tempering, letting mithril, bronze, and magical power continuously react within.
This repetitive process continued for a full three months.
When the Mother of Mithril, bronze, and magical power became indistinguishable and the metal memory was fully awakened, the tempering process finally ceased.
By then, the mithril alloy had been forged and shaped into sword form.
Kael used a mithril engraving tool to inscribe runes on the blade. After completion, he immersed it in molten mithril metal for coating. After further tempering and polishing, Kael placed the red-hot sword directly into prepared blood-red liquid for quenching.
This blood-red liquid was a goblin quenching solution Kael had made using dragon blood as the base material. The sword cooled rapidly in the dragon blood solution while continuously absorbing the essence, making the blade more extraordinary with a subtle treasure-like gleam.
After cooling came tempering and forging again.
Another three months passed, and a silver-gleaming, slender sword finally appeared complete.
The sword was bright silver throughout, but with bronze added, it showed hints of golden yellow. The sword had a cross-shaped hilt with a phoenix carved at the guard's center, crown-shaped ends set with red gems, and a large ruby at the pommel's end.
But these gems weren't true rubies. They were flame crystals carved into gem shapes.
More miraculous still, the originally scorching flame crystals now set in the hilt emitted no high-temperature aura and weren't hot to touch, only providing a warm sensation. This kept the sword radiating comfortable warmth even in cold environments, keeping the wielder cozy.
On the blade was inscribed in Elvish: "Kael, bearer and master of the Flammifer, wielder of judgment's fire, destroyer of all dark enemies."
This Elvish text was written by Arwen, not only recording the sword and owner's name but also imbuing it with the will and power of judgment and darkness destruction.
Looking at the masterpiece that had taken a full six months to complete, Kael felt joy and accomplishment.
"Flammifer!" Kael called out.
The next second, the sword on the forging table instantly vanished and appeared in his hand.
Feeling its weight, Kael couldn't help but smile. This sword had been imbued with his spirit and will during forging, completing the bonding process. No matter where he was, the sword would instantly appear in his hand when summoned.
Moreover, unless someone gained his recognition and permission, no one else could lift the Flammifer. Because the Flammifer would become incredibly hot in ill-intentioned hands. Light burns at minimum, death at worst.
Additionally, because the Flammifer was made from Mother of Mithril, it was not only indestructible but also contained very powerful magical properties, able to resist various spell attacks, even blocking Killing Curses.
Most importantly, the Flammifer could absorb substances to strengthen itself, continuously growing stronger. This was the most praised aspect of goblin forging techniques.
Kael took out a crystal vial containing basilisk venom and poured it on the blade. The blade slowly absorbed the basilisk venom, soon gaining the venom's ability to corrode and destroy everything while becoming highly poisonous.
Once the Flammifer cut an enemy's skin, it could poison them to death instantly.
Delighted by this success, Kael directly inserted the sword into the Balrog's corpse. The Flammifer quickly absorbed the Balrog's abilities. Not only could it devour flames to strengthen itself, but it could also release flame attacks.
He cast Fiendfyre at the Flammifer, watching it devour the flames like a whale feeding. When releasing fire again, the Flammifer carried some Fiendfyre properties.
Finally, Kael reluctantly took out the crystal vial of Eärendil's Light and dropped several drops of star-dew on the blade.
The star-dew containing starlight power was slowly absorbed by the Flammifer . The blade seemed purified, becoming more pure. Even the flame crystals on the hilt became clear and transparent without any impurities, the Balrog's dark aura completely cleansed away.
What delighted Kael even more was that the blade could actively absorb starlight when Eärendil's star was in the sky.
Kael was very pleased with this unexpected bonus. Eärendil's Light had great restraining power against dark creatures. If the Flammifer could absorb enough starlight, it would definitely be a nemesis sword against dark beings.
To let the Flammifer receive more starlight, Kael simply placed it atop Amon Sûl to receive Eärendil's star's illumination.
With the Flammifer's reforging complete, Kael's forging tasks paused temporarily. He turned more energy toward alchemy instead.
Actually, goblin forging techniques shared some commonalities with wizarding alchemy. As Kael progressed in goblin crafts, he gained more understanding of alchemy too.
His greatest current alchemy goal was creating a Philosopher's Stone to first establish the foundation for longevity.
But creating a Philosopher's Stone wasn't so easy. Even though the Book of Abraham recorded the Philosopher's Stone's creation method, without a solid alchemical foundation, how difficult would making one be?
It was like having an elementary student research nuclear weapons. Even with very detailed blueprints, how could they possibly create it?
So Kael directly sought outside help from his future father-in-law, the Lord of Rivendell with Middle-earth's greatest wisdom and knowledge, Lord Elrond.
Though Elrond didn't much approve of Kael and Arwen together, his love for his daughter clearly made him unwilling to see her heartbroken or watch her abandon Elvish eternal life because Kael failed to achieve longevity.
So after receiving the Philosopher's Stone creation blueprints and runic dictionary from Kael, he'd been quietly researching.
Possessing infinite wisdom and knowledge, Elrond had quickly mastered runic knowledge and researched it to levels even Kael couldn't reach. He'd also gained deep understanding of Philosopher's Stone creation.