Blacksmiths are completely different from Alchemists.
The difference honestly is very simple when looking at it from the surface, but the more Ezra observed Rogers’ work, the more he realized how deep that difference actually was.
Blacksmiths couldn’t use Cognis since they were just ordinary humans.
No use of glowing Alchemy circles, no instant creation and no actual terrifying physical strength.
Yet despite that...
They still held an important place within the developnt of Britannia because of the amount of tal products they mass produced every single day.
The ordinary weapons used by common soldiers and guards throughout Britannia were all created by Blacksmiths.
Because unlike Alchemists...
Ordinary people can use Alchemy based weapons and as already explained before in Chapter 51.
Most normal weapons can’t even handle Cognis properly.
The mont an Alchemist forcefully pushed Cognis into an ordinary poorly-made weapon...
The weapon would either crack apart instantly or simply explode into dust.
So, too many Alchemists...
Blacksmiths like every other type of craftsman occupation, they were viewed almost like a lower version of themselves.
After all...
They all also created.
But unlike Alchemists who could instantly shape materials or create elents in milliseconds through Alchemy...
Blacksmiths needed physical labor.
Heat, ti, patience, repeated hamring, careful shaping.
A single sword could take hours or even days to properly complete. Of course, with the high-tech steam industries in the kingdom, those long hours shortened a lot.
But there was one thing most Alchemists failed to realize, especially Steel Alchemists and Gun Alchemists.
The deeper soone understood the raw process behind weapon creation...
The greater their proficiency will be in creating higher-grade weapons through Alchemy.
Not only proficiency...
Even the speed of weapon creation could increase massively.
***
The mont Ezra realized the person Vera sent him to et was actually a Blacksmith...
He instantly understood the value behind this trip.
Because long before coming here...
Ezra had already thought about learning Blacksmithing, especially for the sake of recreating the firearms from his previous world.
After reviewing several weapon designs inside the Book of mories...
Ezra realized his current rank was still too low to fully create many of the stronger modern weapons properly through Alchemy alone.
So instead of waiting years until his Alchemy level finally reached the necessary standard...
He decided on another route.
Create them normally first so as to increase his combat power of the present.
And with the newest discovery Blacksmiths recently made...
That idea beca even more possible.
The discovery was simple in explanation, but important and hard in application.
By carving special circuit pathways into ordinary weapons...Thin passages almost invisible to the naked eye...
Cognis could actually flow through the weapon itself and reinforce it temporarily.
aning...
Even ordinary forged weapons could now withstand limited Cognis usage.
But the process wasn’t easy.
There were levels to circuit creation and one tiny mistake...
And the entire weapon could beco unstable.
Ezra quietly watched Rogers with complete focus while the old man removed one of the sniper parts from the furnace using heavy tongs.
The tal piece glowed deep red from the heat.
Rogers didn’t imdiately start repairing it.
Instead...
He carefully waited until the part reached a precise stage near its lting point.
Only then did he place it inside a heat-resistant glass box resting on the worktable nearby.
The box itself had a strange setup connected to it.
A microscope-like device extended over the top while steam pipes around the sides maintained stable temperature inside the chamber.
Even after leaving the furnace...
The sniper component still remained glowing red.
Rogers slowly placed his hand inside the hand-glove hole on the box and started adjusting the cracked section using delicate slim tal tools, like a needle, while carefully reshaping the damaged structure back toward its original form.
Every movent looked steady and controlled.
His breathing also remained calm despite the sweat running down his face from the furnace heat.
Then...
Rogers picked up an extrely thin needle.
So thin that Ezra genuinely failed noticing it at first until the old man slightly moved it beneath the workshop light.
Ezra unconsciously narrowed his eyes.
He watched Rogers slowly begin tracing an incredibly precise line across the sniper component.
A circuit line.
"This Blacksmithing thod..."
Ezra quietly muttered under his breath.
"...is completely different from the one I originally knew."
Inside his mind...
The Book of mories had already opened several pages automatically.
***
[Blacksmithing]
A talworking discipline centered around shaping heated tal through force, temperature control, and repeated refinent.
Principle Process
1 — Heating
tal is placed inside a forge and exposed to extre heat until it becos soft enough to shape without cracking.
2 — Forging
The heated tal is struck repeatedly with hamrs to alter its form, compress impurities, and strengthen its internal structure.
3 — Shaping
During forging, the blacksmith gradually forms the desired object—blade, tool, armor, or chanism—through controlled impact and repositioning.
4 — Quenching
The heated tal is rapidly cooled in water or oil.
This hardens the material by locking its internal structure into a stronger state.
5 — Tempering
The tal is reheated at lower temperatures to reduce brittleness caused by quenching.
These balances:
hardness flexibility durability
Core Concepts
Blacksmithing relies on controlling:
heat
• pressure
• structural stress
• carbon distribution within steel
Proper balance determines whether the final product becos durable or fragile.
Practical Purpose
Used for the creation of:
weapons armor tools machinery components
Advanced blacksmithing also improves:
edge retention impact resistance structural integrity
Analytical Summary
Blacksmithing is not simply the act of shaping tal through force.
It is the controlled manipulation of a material’s internal structure through heat, compression, and cooling cycles to achieve specific chanical properties.
***
Although, there were definitely similarities between the beginning process and so of the major steps from the Blacksmithing Ezra knew from his previous world and the one Rogers was using now.
The biggest difference honestly ca from the maintenance process and the handling of Cognis circuits.
Still...
What surprised Ezra the most was the fact that Blacksmiths here were also the ones handling firearms themselves.
Ezra quietly laughed under his breath while watching Rogers continue his work.
Back in his previous world...
There were Weapons Engineers, Firearm specialists, chanical engineers, tallurgists and Industrial designers.
Every field involving inventions and machinery had been separated into different professions and branches of study.
That separation existed because the knowledge inside even a single line of work was already enough for soone to spend their entire life studying.
One person could dedicate decades only to tallurgy.
Another only to weapon chanics, another only to pressure systems.
The civilization itself beca more focused because knowledge kept branching further and further apart.
But here...
Things were different.
Blacksmiths forged weapons.
Handled maintenance, understood circuitry, studied pressure flow and sohow...
Still managed handling normal forging work too.
"Maybe we people in this world genuinely have bigger brain capacity."
Ezra muttered quietly beneath his breath.
His eyes remained fixed on Rogers’ movents.
The old man breathed steadily while sweat rolled down the side of his face from the intense heat coming out from the furnace.
Despite that...
His hands never shook.
Every movent remained controlled and precise as he carefully carved the circuit line across the sniper component.
The workshop itself had beco almost completely silent now.
Only the sounds of the steam furnace, burning flas, and tiny scraping noises from Rogers’ tools could be heard.
Ezra narrowed his eyes slightly.
The process looked simple from the outside, but in reality...
It was extrely difficult.
If the circuit width becos even a little too large than what is needed...
The entire sniper rifle could explode the mont Cognis flowed through it.
Not only that.
The circuit lengths also needed perfect calculation.
Each pathway had to align correctly with the other circuit lines carved into the remaining sniper components.
Everything connected together like blood vessels inside a living body.
One wrong connection and the entire structure would fail.
During that ti, to refresh his understanding further...
Ezra quietly flipped through several pages inside the Book of mories again.
This ti...
He opened the section labeled:
***
[Weapons Engineering]
The process of creating a firearm from raw materials through chanical design, pressure calculation, and structural assembly.
A weapon engineer does not simply "build a gun."
They construct a controlled explosion chamber capable of surviving repeated internal detonations without catastrophic failure.
Principle Process
1 — Conceptual Design
The engineer first determines the weapon’s intended role:
precision rifle sidearm automatic weapon anti-material platform
From this purpose, core specifications are decided:
caliber
• firing chanism
• recoil system
• ammunition capacity
• operating pressure
Every later component depends on these decisions.
2 — Ballistic Calculation
Before tal is shaped, pressure and force must be calculated.
The engineer determines:
projectile mass muzzle velocity chamber pressure recoil force
Equations involving montum, gas expansion, and material stress are used to estimate whether the weapon can survive firing conditions.
A poorly calculated design may:
crack the chamber rupture the barrel destroy the bolt assembly
3 — Material Selection
Different components require different materials.
Examples include:
hardened steel → barrels and bolts
• alloy tals → receiver structures
• polyrs or wood → external fra components
Materials are chosen based on:
heat resistance tensile strength fatigue tolerance weight efficiency
4 — Component Forging & Machining
Raw tal is cut, forged, drilled, or milled into individual parts.
Critical components include:
barrel receiver bolt trigger assembly recoil system
Precision is essential. Even microscopic misalignnt can affect:
pressure containnt feeding reliability firing accuracy
5 — Barrel Construction
The barrel is one of the most important components.
The bore must be drilled with extre precision. Rifled grooves may be carved inside to spin the projectile and stabilize flight.
Barrel thickness is calculated according to expected chamber pressure.
6 — chanical Assembly
Once parts are completed, the firearm is assembled into a functional system.
This includes synchronization between:
feeding chanism
• firing system
• extraction cycle
• recoil operation
• locking chanism
Every moving part must operate within exact timing tolerances.
7 — Stress Testing
The completed firearm undergoes repeated firing tests.
Engineers observe for:
overheating structural fatigue feeding failures pressure deformation recoil instability
Weak components are redesigned or reinforced.
Core Principle
A firearm functions by converting rapidly expanding gas into directional force.
The weapon itself exists to:
contain pressure redirect energy survive repeated explosions
The entire engineering process revolves around controlling that violence.
Analytical Summary
Weapons engineering is the discipline of transforming chemistry, pressure, and chanics into a repeatable combat tool. Every firearm is ultimately a balance between force and structural endurance—the stronger the output, the more precise the engineering must beco to prevent the weapon from destroying itself.
***
Ezra quietly read through everything displayed inside the Book of mories.
Back during the Trial of Steel...
When he first started learning the knowledge necessary for survival from the mories of his past life...
He honestly never saw much need for this section.
That was mainly because the rushing mories entering his mind already carried a natural understanding of firearms.
How they worked, how bullets fired, how pressure traveled and how different gun systems operated.
Those instincts had already begun sticking deeply into his thoughts during the earlier stages of the trial.
So instead of focusing too deeply on engineering theories...
Ezra mainly concentrated on sothing else.
Alchemy-circle conversion.
That was the truly important part to him.
Learning how to convert complete gun structures, formulas, chanisms, and firing systems into functioning Alchemy circles.
That alone already consud most of his attention and ntal energy.
And even now...
Ezra clearly understood his current level in Alchemy-circle conversion still remained only around the interdiate stage.
Which was exactly why several stronger firearms from his previous world remained impossible for him to create properly.
Especially modern weapons involving more advanced engineering principles and highly complex internal systems.
Many of those ideas had already been temporarily pushed aside inside his mind.
Not abandoned, but simply postponed.
Going to the Royal Academy will definitely beco the biggest factor in helping improve my understanding.
Ezra silently thought while staring at the floating pages within the Book of mories.
But...
I also need to rebuild my understanding of firearms from the ground up.
Not just morizing their structure.
Actually, understanding the principles behind gun creation, itself.
That thought quietly settled inside his mind afterward.
As the days slowly passed...
Ezra continued staying in the workshop, now assisting Rogers inside the workshop almost every day.
Morning, afternoon and sotis even late into the night.
The old blacksmith gradually taught him several important principles regarding Blacksmithing.
tal treatnt, Heat balancing, Circuit carving, Structural alignnt and Pressure resistance.
At first...
Ezra only understood the ideas theoretically through the Book of mories.
But after repeatedly rereading the information while directly observing Rogers’ work in front of him...
The knowledge slowly began becoming clearer and more practical inside his head and because Ezra already possessed frightening learning speed normally...
He picked things up absurdly quickly.
Even Rogers occasionally paused midway through explanations just to stare at him strangely.
"You understood already?"
The old man once asked while narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Yes."
Ezra calmly replied after perfectly repeating the exact process Rogers had demonstrated only once.
The old blacksmith honestly looked slightly disturbed afterward.
Not because Ezra made mistakes, but because he barely made any.
Rogers’ disciple also learned together alongside Ezra.
The two boys gradually worked with one another while assisting Rogers during the maintenance process of the Barrett M107.
Steam continuously filled the workshop during those days.
The sounds of hamring tal, grinding components, furnace flas, and Rogers shouting insults at his disciple beca part of everyday life.
At one point...
The disciple accidentally overheated one of the sniper components slightly.
Rogers imdiately smacked the back of his head with a rolled blueprint.
"You idiot!"
The old man barked loudly.
"Do you want to ruin a beautiful gun piece like that?!"
The disciple held his head painfully afterward while apologizing repeatedly.
Ezra silently watched the scene from nearby before lowering his eyes toward the sniper component.
The alignnt really did shift slightly, even the internal pressure pathway changed.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully afterward.
During that sa period...
Ezra also handed Lucy a paper manual containing a dance-based martial art.
The information originally ca from a comic his past self once read long ago.
And naturally...
The Book of mories had preserved it completely.
At first...
Lucy looked confused while holding the papers.
"A dance martial art?"
She blinked several tis while reading through the strange movent diagrams.
"Yes." Ezra calmly nodded. "It matches your fighting style more."
Lucy originally thought Ezra was joking and just wanted to tease her but after practicing several movents...
Her expression slowly changed.
The martial art relied heavily on flexibility, flowing movent, balance, footwork, and weapon transitions.
Almost like dancing across a battlefield.
The style suited Lucy frighteningly well.
Especially because she naturally fought using speed, daggers, and fluid body movent already.
So, during the following days...
While Ezra studied Blacksmithing and used his Book of mories to study other fields relating to gun production beside Rogers...
Lucy quietly trained outside within the snow-covered clearing behind the workshop.
Cold wind blew through the forest while she practiced the flowing movents repeatedly.
Step, turn, shift and twist.
Her daggers moved through the air smoothly while snowflakes danced around her body.
Sotis Ezra would quietly watch her training through the workshop window before returning his attention back toward the Barrett sniper resting beneath Rogers’ tools.
And little by little... as the days passed...
Ezra slowly began understanding sothing important.
Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Weapons Engineering.
At first glance...
All three looked completely separate, but the deeper he studied them...The more each complented one thing...Gun Alchemy.
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