Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

902 Mira's First Dagger

Now that she was able to handle the materials without destroying them immediately, Mira decided her first creation would be a dagger. It was a simple enough project for a beginner, yet it would give her the perfect amount of difficulty she could learn from once she failed.

She started by selecting a suitable piece of iron ore. With the ore in hand, Mira heated it in the forge until it glowed a bright orange-red, the heat from the lava river providing a consistent and intense source of warmth.

Using tongs, she placed the heated metal on the anvil and picked up a hammer. Her first few strikes were tentative as she gauged the right amount of force to use. Gradually, she found a rhythm, the hammer falling in steady, controlled beats. The metal began to take shape, elongating and flattening under her careful blows.

Once she had a rough blade shape, Mira reheated the metal and returned it to the anvil for further refining. She worked on the taper of the blade, ensuring it was even and smooth. The process was meticulous, requiring her to heat and hammer the metal multiple times.

After achieving the desired shape, Mira moved on to the quenching process. She prepared a trough of water and, with a deep breath, plunged the hot metal into it. Steam hissed as the blade rapidly cooled, hardening the steel.

Mira then tempered the blade by reheating it to a lower temperature and letting it cool slowly, balancing the metal's hardness and flexibility. This step was crucial in preventing the blade from being too brittle.

With the blade forged, Mira began the finishing touches. She polished the metal, bringing out a lustrous shine, and then sharpened the edge on a grinding stone. The process was new to her, and she found herself enjoying the transformation of the raw, dull metal into a sharp, gleaming edge.

Finally, she crafted a simple hilt from a piece of wood she had among her materials. She carved it to fit comfortably in her hand, then attached it securely to the blade.

The finished dagger was basic but functional. Mira held it up to the light, examining her work. It was far from perfect, but it was hers, created from scratch with her own hands.

She smiled. '...My first true creation, huh.'

"It's shit." She muttered, but the grin never left her face.

It was interesting. Creation. Forging. Combining two items, useless by themselves, into something that has a purpose.

Although the dagger she created was virtually useless to her and probably most people, the sentiment remained. There was something special about making something rather than tearing it apart, like she was going against her nature.

Mira continued to appreciate her first work for about another minute, just holding it up and staring at it from all angles until the sense of accomplishment faded. That's when she became more analytical.

Enveloping it in her Soul Sense, she saw every little imperfection, every weak point, and everything she did somewhat well.

'Uneven hammering across the blade. The shape is a little odd. Wasn't tempered well. I grinded it a bit too much. Probably could've refined the ore better. I think I didn't let it rest long enough after quenching? I'm not sure. But at least the handle was carved well… Too bad the tang I made was trash.'

To an untrained eye, the dagger looked decent from the outside. There were some visible flaws, such as the metal being a bit misshapen in areas, but it otherwise looked okay. However, to someone with just a bit of knowledge, it was completely useless. A nice, sharp rock could get the job done better than this dagger.

'Looks like I got a long way to go.' Mira wasn't particularly sad about that. On the contrary, now she had something to do when she wasn't cultivating or killing, which are one and the same in her book.

Raising her finger, Mira made a little Qi blade and carved what would be her signature at the base of the blade. She went with something simple. The letter M, but made out of two scythes.

After doing so, she rummaged through her Storage Space and found a nice display case that one of her 'victims' had. Removing whatever trash was currently in there, she carefully placed her dagger inside and stored it somewhere away from the rest of her loot.

That was only the beginning. Mira spent the following days and weeks in a relentless pursuit of achieving the perfect dagger.

Each day followed a routine: training Dominique, morning and nightly meditations, and long hours at the forge, tirelessly working on forging daggers.

For the first few days, Mira focused exclusively on hammering techniques. She practiced on numerous pieces of metal, honing her ability to strike with precision and consistency. Every blow was an exercise in control, as she strived to achieve uniformity in each hit.

Her early attempts yielded blades with slightly less unevenness, yet imperfections persisted. She realized that achieving mastery in forging required more than just physical strength; it demanded an understanding of the metal's nature and behavior under the hammer.

Next, she turned her attention to the heating and quenching process. Mira experimented with different temperatures and quenching mediums, seeking the perfect balance that would give her blades the right hardness without making them brittle. She noted the subtle changes in the metal's color and texture, using these cues to guide her.

Mira also spent time perfecting the tempering process, ensuring each blade was reheated to the correct temperature and cooled at the right rate. She learned to read the metal's color as it heated, gauging the perfect moment to remove it from the forge.

As the days passed, her understanding deepened, and the quality of her blades improved. The shapes became more symmetrical, the surfaces smoother, and the edges a bit sharper. Yet, she knew she was far from perfection.

The grinding and sharpening of the blades were another area of focus. Mira honed her skills with the grinding stone, achieving a finer edge with each attempt. She experimented with different angles and pressures, gradually understanding how to sharpen a blade without weakening it.

The handles, too, received her attention. She carved each one with more care, ensuring a comfortable and secure grip. She experimented with different woods and designs, each handle becoming more refined than the last.

Throughout this process, Mira never lost sight of her initial goal: to forge a flawless dagger. She continued to forge, quench, temper, grind, and polish, each iteration bringing her closer to her ideal.

Finally, after hundreds of attempts and countless hours of practice, Mira held a dagger that met her rigorous standards. The blade was perfectly symmetrical with a razor-sharp edge. The metal had a uniform hardness throughout, and the handle was both sturdy and comfortable to hold.

In terms of Human-Grade daggers made of iron and wood, this one had reached the peak of what was possible.

She examined the dagger with a critical eye, turning it over in her hands. To her satisfaction, she could find no flaw, other than the limitations of the materials themselves.

Proudly, Mira engraved her signature at the base of the blade.

'Now, I just need to perfect my craft in the Human-Grade and I can finally move up to the Mortal-Grade!' She put the perfect dagger alongside her first one and took out a few more handfuls of ore.