Chương 21: The Dragon Forger

Rowan The Stone Dragon Refinery was named for the carved bronze statue out front. It symbolized the refinery as being in possession of a Dragon Forger. There were many refineries in the world, but the statue could only be issued by an imperial Forge examiner. Deepwhale Pier did not have a Dragon Forger - in fact, Righteous Mountain was the only city with a Dragon Forger within meaningful distance. Thus, Righteous Mountain got a decent amount of visitors from nearby sects.

It was easier than going all the way to Platform City, after all. That was half a year's journey by boat. It was nearly impossible to go by carriage. A desert separated Platform City from Kyrr Peninsula, and it was inhospitable to travelers. Standing in front of the Dragon Statue was Lavinia, who was trying to look as conspicuous as possible. She wore spring green robes that flattered her, and her hair was intricately pinned up with a hairpin of white jade. Spotting him, she called out.

"Rowan!" she cried, her eyelashes fluttering.

"What a coincidence. I was just thinking of going into the forge." Rowan had actually spotted her minutes ago, up the street which sloped downhill. Lavinia was one of the graceful daughters of the merchant families that had sprung up in Righteous Mountain over the last few decades. She was a first generation cultivator with bright brown eyes that glinted with an understated confidence. She was a copy of her mother, who was pretty enough for the Lothesby family to hire as the head auctioneer.

Lavinia tiptoed over to him in delicate little steps, in shoes that made her almost his height.

"Shall we go into the forge?" The forge was a massive building that took up a large section of the street, and even had a paved road of jointed cobblestones in front of it. The walls weren't as smooth as the flat grey shale of the pavilions in the sect, but they were as old - and had been cleaned so many times that the stones had been worn smooth and beautiful. The forge consisted of three buildings joined together, a store and two workshops. The central building was the store.

It was where the works of the apprentices were sold, to pay for the materials they worked with and to turn a profit. The prices were fair, especially for cultivators from Righteous Mountain. Some of those materials - iron ingots stacked chest-high, burlap sacks full of tin ore, a lump of silver the size of Rowan behind the counter - were no different from that of any other forge.

What was unique were well-labelled qi sources in neat little wooden compartments that lined three walls, organized by element, yin or yang polarity and monetary value. The building to the store's left was the workshop used by the apprentices, with furnaces in all four corners and anvils flanking each one. Basins full of oil to quench sizzling blades sat beside every anvil. Hammers of many sizes and shapes hung along the walls.

An enormous, multi-level rack of tools of all kinds stood in the middle, as large as any of the furnaces. Above the tool rack was an enormous chimney with a Lesser Yin Fire formation welded onto it, which pulled smoke and heat away from the workshop, leaving the Forge cold enough for Rowan to barely see his breath. The building to the store's right was the Forgemaster's workshop. A foreboding door with a sign hanging over it said, Do not disturb. Lavinia folded her arm into his, taking him around the shop.

"The forgemaster keeps over a hundred different metals in storage, but he also has many connections, and can order rarer alloys from out of the state."

"How do you know so much?"

"My brother is an apprentice here," she boasted.

"With Master Luzon's help, he just reached the third layer. I think he has a good chance to place well at the tournament and earn an inner disciple spot at the sect."

"I didn't know you had a brother," said Rowan, who actually barely knew anything at all about Lavinia. Her eyes sparkled.

"Then allow me to introduce you!" She dragged Rowan to one of the furnaces in the apprentice's workshop. The mid-twenties man did not look pleased to be interrupted, throwing his sister a wary look and tossing a dirty rag over his shoulder. He had a tanned and muscular physique, soaked in sweat from the hot forge.

"Does Barrett know you're here?" Lavinia scoffed.

"His family hasn't sent a betrothal gift. Until then, we're just friends." With a haughty turn of her head, she forcefully led Rowan to the shelves of gemstones.

"Barrett Fross… you saw him at Lee's party. I was entertaining him when I got the invitation, and he insisted on accompanying me. He's an inner disciple. My brother wants me to cozy up to him, so that we can have a connection to the Fross family." Rowan, who had been pushed by his extended family to interact with all manners of unpleasant people, sympathized. For someone who wasn't an apprentice of the forge, Lavinia knew a surprising amount about the refining process and where Master Luzon sourced his materials.

As it turned out, her father specifically dealt with natural and qi-enhanced gemstones from the surrounding isles, including the ominously named Dark Shadow Isle. He found himself engrossed as she gossiped about some of the more unscrupulous merchant families making deals with shady figures, and the rise of pirates in the last decade.

"Madam Pouf won't say where she gets her star-rubies from, but the closest mine is north of Ancient Dynasty Tower. The economics simply don't make sense. There are also little four-sided and five-sided markings on them, which I've heard is the shape that some demonic techniques take when–" A figure in autumn-gold inner disciple robes strode into the forge, flanked by two lackeys. His expression was pinched, like he'd just swallowed a sour piece of fruit. His flinty, black eyes glowered at Rowan.

It was Barrett Fross.

"How dare an untalented worm like you covet an inner disciple's woman? You're courting death," hissed Barrett, glaring at Rowan.

"What's wrong with a girl visiting her big brother?" asked Lavinia, her arm still hooked around Rowan's elbow.

"What's wrong with a cultivator of Righteous Mountain visiting the Stone Dragon Refinery?" Barrett ignored her like she wasn't even there. Rowan noticed that Lavinia's older brother was nowhere in sight. From his comments, he could only assume that the man had alerted Barrett to Lavinia's whereabouts. And company.

"You misunderstand, Lavinia and I are just fellow disciples of the same year. We happened to meet by chance at the forge," explained Rowan.

"As if I would ever believe that. I saw how you looked at her at that party. All of you old family types have your head in the clouds - thinking you can take whatever pleases you without consequences!" Barrett's nostrils flared. Rowan knew, without a doubt, that this fourth layer cultivator was going to attack him. With deadly intent. He moved before the thought fully materialized, dodging a scything blade of mud-brown qi by a hair. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval.

Report sightings. The qi-blade arced into a large vase, splitting it into ceramic shards that bounced on the ground. Sparkling white sand poured out onto the floor. As it touched the ground, it seemed to lose its luster. The clinking of hammers and the steady buzz of negotiations stopped instantly. That didn't deter Barrett, who cocked an open palm back. Strands of brown qi in straight vertices pulled up off the floor, joining the balled light that gathered between his knuckles and his palm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a quiet, deep whisper that echoed through the store. No, the clinking had not in fact stopped. There was still the sound of a single, solitary hammer hitting an anvil every few seconds. They were small, precise sounds. Rowan could almost hear its intent, which bled into the qi of the room, into even his own Qi Sea. This was the sound of the edge of a blade forming. Undoubtedly, that was who Rowan had come to see. That was a Master at work. It could only be the Dragon Forger.

Barrett, however, was concentrating far too hard on composing his attack.

"Die!" he screamed, lobbing the pulsing ball of brown energy at Rowan. But before Rowan could move to dodge, before the shrill shriek that was sure to come from Lavinia's dropping jaw, before the sudden alarm of the other shoppers at the forge, a stout old man with a bald head and a thick white beard was standing between Rowan and Barrett. The ball of brown qi flashed through the air. The old man's fingers reached out, tore through the energy as if it were a wet scroll.

The fingers continued through the air, and ended with a slight, but firm push on Barrett's shoulder. The push sent him flying. Barrett's back slammed into the doors, which swung open and he crumpled to the ground outside. The old man pointed up at the back wall, where an enormous, faded sign proclaimed, "No fighting. No exceptions."

"What is your name?" growled the old man at the crumpled Inner Disciple. Barrett instantly stood.

"I am an inner disciple at-""You are banned from ever entering my forge again. Leave."

"But."

"Leave!" the man roared. There wasn't a single person in the room who didn't wince as the man's qi passed over them. Barrett gave a short huff and backed himself past the Forge's door.

"This isn't over," he managed, speaking directly to Rowan as he picked himself up.

"It certainly is," said the old man, softly, his fingers forming into fists. The stoop in his back retreated as he pulled himself to full height. Rowan realized suddenly that the Forgemaster was blind, and hadn't known that Barrett wasn't addressing him. Barrett realized his mistake as well, gasping sharply.

"I meant no disrespect," he bit out, instantly disappearing past the doors.

"I should probably deal with this," Lavinia muttered, her face pale and tight. She ran for the doors, pushed them open, and disappeared into the afternoon city.

"Are you the other troublemaker?" Master Luzon was speaking to Rowan. His eyes were closed, but Rowan had never felt more looked at. Rowan shook his head, then realized Luzon could not see him.

"No, Forgemaster. I came here to commission a weapon."

"Commission a weapon? I'm retired. Commissions have been closed for a decade," said the man, turning to leave.

"I have this," Rowan interrupted. He pulled the Forge Token from his sleeves, hoping it meant as much as Lee had said it would. Luzon held his hand out, barely even turning around. When the blackened bronze square landed in his palm, he ran a finger over its face with a practiced motion. Luzon gave a long sigh.

"What do you wish to have made?" Rowan glanced around the room, unable to ignore all of the eyes that were pinned onto him, from apprentice to customer, at each furnace, over every counter.

"A sword, sir."

"Come with me." Rowan followed the Forgemaster past the rows of wares and the arched doorway into a room with a low ceiling and a billowing forge with a chimney that jutted through it. This chimney had no formation to cool the air. It was just a bit too hot in the room, and soot and smoke lines ringed the brick walls around them. A knee-high anvil sat at the center of the room. Beside it was a shallow pan of viscous oil that glowed slightly blue - Water qi.

And a hammer that gave too much grey light back when it reflected the light of the lit furnace - some sort of Metal qi. There was a stool beside the anvil. An unfinished dagger sat haphazardly there on a thick, dirty white cloth.

"How did you get your hands on one of my tokens?" asked Luzon.

"It was a gift," said Rowan.

"From a friend, for forming my Qi Sea."

"He must care for you deeply," said the old man.

"This service costs more than spirit stones."

"What does a forging require?" asked Rowan, with sudden trepidation. Just how much had Lee spent on him?

"I give those tokens as favors." Had Lee taken the token directly from the Lothesby treasury? Did Lee even know the value of the gift?

"Place your hand on the anvil," said Luzon. Rowan did. He waited expectantly. A few moments passed. The old man scoffed.

"And channel your qi, boy."

"Oh." Rowan did.

"Wood nature," said Luzon.

"No, this is not just…" He paused, stroking his beard.

"Just," he continued with a little chortle." Just the Bloodwood of the Helsings. This is a Star of Five Points, a Supreme Five Element Physique. The God of the Forge strikes the Living Wood, tempered in falling Water, bulwarked by rising Earth. What have you gotten yourself into, boy?" Rowan said nothing.

"I can't help you," said Luzon. Rowan opened his mouth to protest.

"Not because you won't reveal your secrets. No, I am not that sort of man. I just don't have the materials," he said.

"Any sword I can make for you today will be no more worthwhile than the work of my disciples." Rowan barely felt the beginnings of disappointment before Luzon continued.

"But that does not mean a sword cannot be made. You will bring me something that represents each of your elements. I could potentially even supply some of them, at a price, but I have nothing of sufficient quality that is Wood or Water in nature. Materials of such nature would usually be meant for alchemy, not swordsmithing. And if you manage to find them, I will require your participation in the forging process."

"At a price?" Rowan had seen rare gems from all over the peninsula and thousands of taels worth of silver in the store.

"You will have to assist in the forging of your own sword. But you will also assist me in another forging, in the future. That day could be tomorrow, or it might never arrive. It may inconvenience you, but it will not be too onerous a burden." Rowan supposed that meant that Luzon wouldn't interrupt a critical point in Rowan's cultivation, which was fair enough. All in all, this seemed almost too trivial.

"The society of cultivators is not simply based on money, or spirit stones, or resources. It is a society based on debts," explained Luzon.

"You will help me forge your own weapon, and you will help me forge another's, at some point in the future." Rowan nodded, then remembered quickly that the man was blind.

"I will," he said.

"But where do I get Wood and Water natured-""We have an auction house in town," said Luzon.

"I'll buy something," said Rowan, suddenly excited at the possibilities before him.

"The higher the quality, the better," said the Forgemaster.

"I'll take your Forge Token. Return to me when you wish to begin the forging or to cancel the order. I'll return the token if the latter becomes true. You may return to me at a later date to place another order."

"Thank you, Forgemaster."

"Luzon," he said.

"If we begin forging, you may refer to me as Luzon. By the end of the process, we will be friends." Rowan left to go back to the sect. He found Lee in the Food Hall, picking at a plate of roasted pork. It looked terribly dry.

"Hey, Lee, when is the next auction?"

"It's every Saturday." Lee looked at him confused.

"Why else do you think the streets and the sect are empty that day? Free beer courtesy of the Lothesby family. You've heard the saying, haven't you?" Rowan had. Lee continued, "Everyone goes there, if not to buy, then to be entertained. Our family elders enjoy regularly scheduled drama, after all." Saturday… that was tomorrow!