The forge grew quiet after Ying’s last statement.

The fire at the furnace crackled softly under the orange light that spanned the room including the surface of the unfinished blade. Giving it a calm glow.

Dean moved closer to the blade, his gaze focused on it. There was something strange about the blade.

It didn’t just look unfinished. It seemed to be brimming in energy, like it was alive.

"Now that I’m ready, what do I need to know?" Dean said as his fingers brushed lightly against the flat side of the blade.

His mere touch made the metal vibrate faintly. ’interesting’ he thought.

Ying smiled, watching the boy’s curiosity. But he didn’t answer the question directly.

Instead he walked towards one of the shelves on the wall of the room. Pulled out a hammer.

"Let me show you..." he said, while waving the hammer effortlessly with one hand.

He moved towards Dean and tapped the hammer on his open palm. "The world calls Gray blades unbreakable," he finally said.

Dean’s brows furrowed as he glanced at Ying. "Don’t tell me they aren’t."

Ying scoffed as he circled around Dean with the hammer loose in his grip. "Everything breaks, my boy."

Dean’s eyes widened, even though he didn’t know about it. He’d followed the claims and even prided himself in them.

He tilted his head to Ying who circled to the other side. "So what’s special about them then?"

With a smile on his face, Ying dropped the hammer and picked up the unfinished blade.

" A rigid blade shatters—" he said as he weighed the blade in his palms. "That truth is both for steel and for man."

Flipping the blade in his palms, he tilted the tip of the unfinished blade towards the forge light.

"A Gray smith doesn’t forge for hardness. Nor for resistance to pressure." He pressed his thumb against the full edge.

"So what do we do?" Dean asked impatiently.

"Not fight it." Ying answered vaguely again, as he suddenly threw the blade to Dean.

Catching it with both hands, Dean noticed something immediately.

The balance of weight on the blade was slightly off. It weighed heavier in the middle but despite that, didn’t pull awkwardly.

Even though it didn’t have a handle and was incomplete. There was a stability to it.

Ying pulled a heated rod from the forge. The tip glowed with a scorching orange hue and without warning, slammed the glowing tip against the surface of the blade.

Clang!

Dean flinched instinctively.. but instead of damage being done to the blade. Dean watched as it bent slightly under the pressure before returning back to normal.

Narrowing his eyes. Dean looked at Ying.

"Why–? How–?"

"Because the steel yielded," Ying gestured to the blade. "It allows the force travel through every inch of it. Most blades try to stop it."

"And that makes them break," Dean asked in a low tone.

Ying nodded. "Our steel disperses."

Dean looked at the blade in his hand and earlier, he’d felt it. When the force hits the surface. It was distributed rather resisted. Like something in the blade was always waiting for the force to hit.

’But how?’ He looked at Ying as if he expected the man to read his mind.

"What did you do to it?" Dean gestured the blade towards Ying.

"I layered Verge into the steel during forging," he said as he dug the rod into the flames of the forge. "Others apply Verge after, not to damage the steel."

By others, Dean knew Ying was talking about the Trumans.

"You must be careful because they’re right." Ying adjusted the flame with the rod.

"Unless you keep the flow of temperature, pressure and verge output stable during forging. The blade would lose form and its structure crumbles."

Dean gulped even as Ying looked back at him. "A mistake is all it takes to ruin a great blade."

It all made sense at that moment. The family’s reputation wasn’t built on luck or summons or even some form of magic.

It was pure craftsmanship. Ridiculously accurate craftsmanship and skills.

"That’s why we don’t create so many swords like them." Dean muttered in a moment of realization.

Ying smiled and gave a small nod. "Great blades take time and not just skill my boy."

This was what Dean was looking for. Information that truly mattered. These were the things a classroom couldn’t teach him about this family.

He rubbed his hand on the dull side again and it glowed faintly again but it felt like something was flowing underneath the surface.

"This is the secret to [Jōjin]" Ying said as he walked closer and placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder. " When they forge what stands to break, we forge what bends to adapt."

The last word hung in the air like a recall to everything till this moment for Dean.

"But this—?" the purple glint on Ying’s eyes glowed as he traced the length of the unfinished blade Dean was holding.

"---this is different.."

Dean raised his head in response. Even as Ying’s calm expression grew warmer.

"Jōjin adapts to its fate," he said. Reaching to the space on his left with his hand.

The air rippled as the very space cracked like a glass before a simple hilt slowly tore through the crack as Ying grabbed it with authority.

"But your [Haoken] evolves with your fate. And grows as you grow."

Dean grip on the unfinished blade tightened subconsciously. Understanding dawned on him without further words.

The blade of an heir like him or a Leader like Ying were nothing like the rest.

And even as the forge became hotter, Dean looked at the blade in his hand with a new light.

It wasn’t incomplete because it lacked a hilt or because it was waiting to be forged.

It was incomplete simply because it was waiting for him.

A/N: I was suppose to post two Chapters but webnovel messed up my posting schedule with a few mishaps but hopefully by tomorrow, it would be back to normal.

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