"…What iteration are we on again?"
Sitting near where his translucent copy stood, Valyr stared at it for a bit before asking this question to Ataraxia.
"We're on… 357, if I rember correctly." Opening his eyes in response, the latter went silent for a bit before looking back at the young man with a calm expression.
"357, huh?" Nodding at those words, the young man returned his attention back to his translucent copy, the gears in his mind turning as he briefly thought back to all of the iterations he had made thus far.
'It would be better if I add a condition here, which would then activate this set of actions that would automatically adjust to the material…'
'But I should also add another condition that excludes certain materials from that set…'
'I'll think about it later.'
"Hmm…" Rubbing his chin as he continued to make changes to the set of actions in his mind, it did not take long for the young man to finalize his 357th iteration, feeling an odd sense of confidence the mont he was done.
'Hopefully everything will go smoothly this ti around,' thought Valyr to himself, sending the set of actions to the translucent copy before chucking a few materials into the furnace.
Whoosh!
Controlling the temperature with ease, it did not take long for the set of testing materials Valyr put into the furnace to reach their optimal temperature.
"Here goes nothing…" Taking in a deep breath to calm himself, the young man then took out one of the materials before placing it in front of the translucent copy a few seconds later.
Ttang!
As if it had recognized what it needed to do all of a sudden, the translucent copy ca to life as it slamd its hamr precisely on the surface of the material.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Then, after a brief pause, the copy continued to hamr on it, slowly processing it before proceeding to take a pair of tongs from a designated spot.
Using the pair of tongs it took, the copy then turned the material around, only to then continue hamring it with the sa level of consistency it showed earlier.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Repeating this process a couple more tis, the translucent copy eventually used the tongs to set the material to the side, signaling to the young man that it was done with processing it.
"…" Although Valyr remained silent the entire ti, his eyes exuded imnse excitent after seeing how the copy was successful in processing the material he had given it.
However, not wanting to get ahead of himself, the young man forcefully took in a deep breath as he took another item from the furnace, its properties different from the previous one he gave to the copy.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Yet, as if the copy already knew what needed to be done, it picked up the forging hamr once more and tempered the material with the sa level of consistency it showed before.
And just like the previous material, it used the tongs by its side to turn the material around before hamring it evenly a couple more tis.
Thunk.
Setting the second material to the side the mont it was done, the translucent copy soon fell into a state of inactivity once more, seemingly waiting for the young man to give it another piece of material to work on.
"…One more." Though Valyr had pretty much confird by this point that the set of actions he'd just sent to the copy was the one, the young man decided to have the copy work on a piece of material one last ti.
Briefly glancing at Ataraxia, who watched the copy with a hint of anticipation in his eyes, Valyr took out what he felt was the hardest material to work on among the batch of materials he grabbed for the test.
'If all goes well, the copy would execute the set of actions under that one condition,' muttered the young man to himself as he placed the material in front of the translucent copy.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Seeing the copy stir back to life one more ti, Valyr intently watched as it began to temper the material according to the general process he gave it.
Though, just as he began to feel like the copy would process the material similarly to the two pieces he had given it earlier…
Swoosh!
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Rather than use the tongs to turn it around, the copy instead used the tongs to hold the material in place before hamring it on its edge, effectively folding the material on itself with the hamr before flattening it.
"…Success."
Watching the copy successfully adjust its actions accordingly, Valyr clenched his fists in both anticipation and excitent as he continued to keep an eye on its movents.
Fortunately, just like what it had shown while working on the two previous materials, the copy smoothly processed the final material with a level of consistency and finesse that could only be seen from an experienced blacksmith, setting it to the side the mont it was done.
"Is…" Breaking the silence that covered the entire workshop, Ataraxia looked at the copy for a bit before asking Valyr. "…Is it done?"
"It's done." The young man nodded, only to then let out laughter that contained both relief and joy.
"It's finally done."
Allowing the silence within the workshop to continue lingering, Valyr briefly thought back to the first set of actions he had put into the copy.
Though the copy had no problems moving according to the instructions he'd given to it, the copy moved to the letter of the actions, rather than applying it to the material that Valyr placed before it.
Because of that, the young man gradually adjusted the set of actions he gave to it, making sure that the set of actions he gave it would adjust to its current circumstances before moving accordingly.
Unsurprisingly, Valyr continued to fail in his next few iterations, the copy's actions making him wonder whether he was even doing it correctly.
Yet, with each failure he made, he slowly got more and more used to the actions he needed to give his copy, reducing the level of error the copy showed in executing the actions he gave it.
By the ti he was nearing his 100th iteration, the young man was finally able to make the copy process the first piece of material he'd given to it, finally obtaining the result he wanted from the copy at the very start.
However, with the amount of materials that needed to be worked on while forging a piece of equipnt, the young man realized that he also needed the copy to change its actions according to the material he gave to it.
And so, he continued to pour in more and more iterations into the copy, gradually exploring the limits of what constituted a set of actions in the process.
In the end, the way in which Valyr wrote the set of actions changed.
What was previously a list of precise instructions that contained a few conditions here and there… eventually transford into sothing that looked more like actual programming code containing various conditions, clauses, and loops.
'I definitely wasn't expecting my prior programming knowledge to find its use here,' thought the young man to himself with a slight chuckle.
'But at the very least… I can finally make full use of these guys.'
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