Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

Liu Zhu watched as Refiner Long grabbed a container from a nearby shelf and removed a pinch of red powder from it. After putting the container back he grabbed the bellows and dropped the red powder into it through the hole in the thin end. Next he roughly shoved the thin end of the bellows into a small hole in the bottom of the structure containing the fire. With the bellows ready and in position Refiner Long slammed his foot down on the thick end, sending the powder shooting into the fire. As the powder came in contact with the fire the flames immediately intensified, causing the room to become even hotter than before. "That'll be enough for the ore kid. Now get to it."

Liu Zhu did his best to ignore the scalding heat throughout the room and grabbed the ore with the tongs once more. As he did so used an attachment on the tongs to suspend a special type of pan under them. This pan would catch the slag that melted away from the ore, reducing cleanup time and keeping the slag for future use. Using the tongs he thrust the chunk of now-flattened ore back into the fire, causing the temperature to quickly rise and the ore itself to redden.

As the ore's temperature rose, Liu Zhu kept an extremely close eye on it. He needed a high temperature to refine away the impurities and then shape the metal, but if the temperature became too high then it could melt away part of the Etrium, or, in the worst case, permanently weaken the metal. As he waited for the ore to heat up waves of heat washed over him, the hairs on his arm occasionally burning away. When he felt it was the perfect temperature he forcefully pulled the tongs away from the fire, slamming the ore onto the anvil within a second.

Once the ore hit the anvil he grabbed his hammer and began slamming it against what was left of the ore, removing any impurities that hadn't melted away into the slag. As Liu Zhu hammered away at the ore he stared closely at it, visually confirming whether there were impurities left- he didn't want to waste too much energy here, but if he messed up and let the metal cool down with impurities left then he'd have to heat it up again. Given the temperature in here he wasn't sure if he'd have enough energy to make it through that and still finish the refining process.

Several minutes passed, Liu Zhu's arms growing tired and his body weary. Eventually he put down his hammer, staring at the block of metal on the anvil. It had taken a lot of effort, but he'd done it- he'd refined a chunk of nearly pure Etrium from the ore he was given. Now he just have to quench it, shape it, and add a few finishing touches. A certain method of quenching Etrium increased the metal's hardness while reducing its flexibility, which was perfect given that he was making a brick- the metal just needed to be as hard as possible. Of course shaping the metal would be increasingly difficult the harder it was, but that didn't matter to him. If he tried his hardest and poured forth all of his energy he was sure it would work out. Endurance was one of his strong points, so he needed to believe in his ability to pull through if nothing else.

Liu Zhu plunged the chunk of high-purity Etrium into the fire again, heating it up. Once it had reached an extremely high temperature he then took it to one of the barrels on the side of the room, submerging it in a special type of oil. This process rapidly cooled the metal, hardening it in the process. During this process Liu Zhu was forced to bear the weight of the tongs and metal for several minutes, all while resisting the heat of the fire and the "steam" coming off the hot oil.

As Liu Zhu began the second round of quenching his body screamed out in protest, the excessive exertion starting to affect him. Despite these aches and pains, he continued with the quenching process. He thought he had a decent grasp of his strength, and if he put his mind to it he was sure he could hold on. Still, he couldn't hold on for too long. After the third round of quenching Liu Zhu prepared to shape the metal. Going for a fourth round of quenching would make the metal a bit harder, but the benefits were reduced each time he did it. It wouldn't be a major loss if he stopped here.

Liu Zhu grabbed the hammer and pounded away at the chunk of hardened Etrium, forcing it into the shape of a brick. First he used hard, forceful blows, but later he switched to small, gentle strikes to pound minor protrusions back into place. This process dragged on for a while, and he settled into a bit of a zen state during it. This part of the refining process was relatively simple and allowed one to rest their mind a bit- especially if what they were refining was being shaped into something as simple as brick. Eventually the shape of the brick was settled and Liu Zhu broke out into a grin. He'd managed to finish the shaping process before he ran out of strength. That meant that the most exhausting parts were all over with. Still, he couldn't get too relaxed- he wasn't done yet.

Once the brick was shaped the refining process was almost done, but there were still some finishing touches he had to take care of. Liu Zhu stared at the brick of Etrium for a moment before tiredly grabbing a nearby piece of sandpaper-like material and roughly rubbing it against the brick's surface. This eliminated rough, annoying bumps in the metal that were too small to hammer out, and was generally needed for most items one refined. It was normally fine to do this any time before the item was sold. Unfortunately Refiner Long didn't seem like he was going to give Liu Zhu the luxury of doing this after he took a rest- the test was to forge a brick in one go, not to forge half now and half after a tea break.

The minutes seemed to drag on as Liu Zhu roughly dragged the material against the surface of the brick. The material caused tiny pieces of Etrium to flake off the brick, dropping onto the anvil below it. Throughout this last step his breathing was ragged and his legs were trembling, but eventually the brick was smooth enough to satisfy him. Liu Zhu turned towards Refiner Long, exhausted but pleased, and held up the brick. "I-I'm done. I did it." Refiner Long simply nodded in response and exited the shack.

Liu Zhu stumbled out of the shack, his appearance shocking the other 27 refiners competing. They knew they'd have to refine something, but Liu Zhu was exhausted and covered in more grime than they thought existed in that shack- they'd clearly underestimated the difficulty of this test. As the others stared at Liu Zhu, Refiner Long, clearly amused, began to poke some fun at them. "What, did you all think it'd be easy? A walk in the park? There wouldn't be any meaning to it then, would there? Anyways, whoever wants to go next should come up, I don't have all day. Oh, by the way- if you aren't skilled enough then I'll eliminate you during the forging and save some time, so if you're worried about tiring your little selves out, you might not have to worry about it."

After handing his brick to Refiner Long Liu Zhu lurched over to a nearby tree and sat down. Most of the strength was gone from his body, and his limbs felt a bit... noodley. Strength and endurance may have been his strong points, but he had taken things to the extreme back there. Etrium, even low-quality Etrium, is not something he should've been able to forge properly with his level of strength. Fortunately he'd gotten through it somehow, but now he needed to rest. As the others began taking the test he immediately fell asleep, resting before the next challenge.