Dimensional Descent
chapter-3191

Leonel had already expected as much, but he had yet to find a safe place to leave Aina.

Although Aina wasn't truly helpless and she could definitely fight if it came down to it, he would very much prefer that she didn't have to lift a single finger, not with the baby's delivery date just over the horizon.

That was when the door to the blacksmith quarters suddenly opened. Or, rather, the flaps.

It was so hot on the inside that they couldn't stand to have real doors and used these instead for some ventilation.

"Who's there?"

A middle-aged man with half his hair burnt off looked out. He scanned the area before his eyes landed on Aina, and he seemed to understand the situation.

"ELAINE!" he suddenly barked out.

"What the hell are you shouting for!?"

The sound of a valiant woman came from behind them. They looked over to find a home across the cobbled stone street, and Leonel understood the situation as well.

Just as the middle-aged blacksmith was about to explain, Elaine caught sight of Aina as well, and she practically rushed over.

"Come, come, come. We can't let the baby be around these smelly men."

Aina was half pulled, half carried away into the home across the street and couldn't help but chuckle. She gave Leonel a look as though to say good luck before vanishing into the home.

"Alright, pretty boy. Let's go."

Leonel found himself grabbed as well, and soon he was yanked into the forge.

Leonel stood in the billowing heat, looking around. He saw all sorts of levers to one side, hammers to another, and a line of rusted metal rods and sheets lined across a wall to yet another.

He didn't even really know where to start, and the middle-aged man, known as Kammy, wasn't very patient.

"Alright, pretty boy. I hope you weren't lying at the gates, or else even if I want to protect you, there's probably not much that I can do.

"You look young. So long as you can manage a fire, I can let it slide. But I would only be doing it because of your wife, and I WILL ride your ass hard for it. You're a man; don't put your woman in danger because of your ego or a scam."

The ranting of Kammy could truly talk someone's ears off. Suddenly, Leonel understood why it was that the middle-aged couple had been able to communicate without words at all and understand one another's intentions. They had probably spoken so many words in their first decade of marriage that they had already heard all the possible combinations of them.

"... Alright, that's enough chatting. Show me what you can do. The city only has three blacksmiths and eight blacksmith apprentices, but our militia has 300 men. There just isn't enough to go around, and the area's getting more volatile..."

The middle-aged man started ranting again despite saying he had had enough of the chatting. Leonel just tuned him out, scanning the region.

The forge and its levers were perfectly replicated in his mind, and he began to deduce how to use it.

Then he looked at the metals by the side, deconstructing their chemical structures and analyzing their melting points.

Leonel had analyzed far more complicated metals in the past before, and even if his Dream Force was being sapped away quickly by the Regulator, the ease with which the

deductions came to him offset the amount of stamina he had to use up.

Simulations began to run in his mind of how he might maximize the use of his hammer, and soon, he felt that he had a decent understanding.

After all, he had watched Ramon swing his hammer for days. It was hard for someone with an Ability Index like his to watch an expert at work for so long and not pick up a thing or two.

"... Kid, did you really lie? At least try to make a leaf or something..."

The ranting continued as Leonel walked to the side and finally picked up a hammer. It had quite some heft to it as it was the largest one here.

Kammy was taken aback. He had been about to stop Leonel from making what he thought was an obvious mistake, but by then, Leonel had already picked it up.

The only one in this shop that could pick up that hammer was Kammy himself. Of course, Kammy's personal hammer was even heavier than that, but he was still shocked nonetheless.

Leonel swung the hammer around a few times as though he was getting used to it, and for the first time, Kammy seemed to notice the blood that still caked Leonel's body in

several places.

Leonel ignored the world and picked up a rusted metal piece to the side and threw it into the opening of the forge. His feet flashed, and he pressed down on several pedals and cranked some levers.

In exactly 87 seconds, he pulled the metal out, and Kammy shook his head. That was

11:15 -

way too soon; Leonel didn't have any patience at all.

!... He didn't even crank the forge up to the right temperature for that...'

Kammy's voice trailed off as Leonel slammed the metal onto an anvil, striking down from above.

His muscles rippled and sparks flew.

He gave the metal three rhythmic BANGS before tossing it back into the forge and cranking the levers once again.

His left foot moved onto the pump and rapidly pressed down. Billowing hot wind was pumped into the forge again, and after another 93 seconds, Leonel pulled it out and

repeated the process.

Kammy watched in silence as Leonel did this again and again, and at some unknown point, the forge reached a perfect equilibrium.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The molten metal began to emit a blinding red glow.

Using the anvil as a guide, Leonel began to sculpt with his blows, curving the metal

around its horn.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leonel's eyes glowed, and red-gold sparks danced.