Thalgar Ironfuse grunted, "I refuse to accept this. Bring the resonance hamr."
Rikkan Emberetch rushed to the back and returned with a hamr that glowed with blue and red runes alternating in a rhythmic pulse. This hamr was ant for testing the structural integrity of complex tals. It carried the resonance of ten thousand tempered strikes.
Thalgar set his stance and struck.
CLANG!
This ti the hamr did not crack.
BOOM
It exploded.
The fragnts dissolved into tiny sparks the mont spatial distortion touched them.
Dorgun Halfsmoke trembled in a mixture of awe and horror. "This is not normal material. This is sothing beyond the Heavens."
Lin Mu nodded calmly. He had expected this result.
But the dwarves were not defeated yet.
Rikkan Emberetch slapped a formation plate on the ground. Runes shot out, weaving into a circular array. "If brute force will not work, then let us try precision strikes with condensed Qi."
Grundar ford a Qi hamr from the array and hurled it at the husk. HONG
The mont the Qi construct touched the outer surface, it disintegrated like mist touching sunlight.
SHALA
The runic formation collapsed next.
Rikkan stared at the evaporated array in disbelief. "The array unmade itself. Not destroyed, but unmade. As if it never existed."
Daoist Chu raised a brow at that. "Interesting. It negates formations that approach it. Almost like a rejection of external structures."
Borin Flabraid stomped the ground. "We will not be defeated by a shell. Bring the portable shaping furnaces."
They assembled five smaller furnaces, each powered by condensed flas and Fire Elental stones. The dwarves activated all of them at once, channeling flas that approached the heat of a sunspot.
They placed the husk in the center.
Nothing happened.
The heat curved away, bending around the husk as if it were a perfect shield.
ng Bai blinked. "Is the heat... avoiding it?"
Lin Mu nodded slightly. "The spatial energy around the surface warps incoming energy"
The dwarves grumbled, but they were not finished.
Thalgar snapped his fingers. "Then let us go big."
They all turned toward the gigantic central furnace, the one roaring in the middle of the cavern. Its flas were white and blue, hot enough to lt
immortal tals in an instant. The heat distorted the air and made the cavern vibrate faintly.
"Into the Grand Furnace!" Borin announced.
"Wait," Grundar reminded him. "We cannot lift it."
The dwarves all paused and stared at Lin Mu expectantly.
Lin Mu sighed lightly. "Fine."
He placed his palm on the husk and activated his spatial skill ld. The husk flickered and the space around it beca solid, allowing Lin Mu to guide it upward smoothly. The dwarves gawked at him with sparkling eyes.
"You are a spatial cultivator?" Borin asked, almost breathless.
Lin Mu nodded.
All five dwarves bowed their heads in respect. "Spatial cultivators are honored among the dwarven kind. You should've started with that." Grundar said sincerely. "Your presence is good fortune."
Daoist Chu smirked. "They like you even more now."
Lin Mu floated the husk above the Grand Furnace. The heat below raged at a temperature that could reach ten thousand degrees Celsius. Even the air shimred like molten glass.
He lowered the husk.
The heat did nothing.
Nothing at all.
The flas were redirected, flowing around the husk instead of touching it. It looked surreal, like watching lava slide around an invisible do.
Dorgun Halfsmoke cried out, "The heat cannot even approach it. This is impossible."
Thalgar tossed his helt aside. "Fine. If the furnace will not do it, then let us drown the damned thing."
He opened a massive lava sluice gate.
A roaring wave of lava poured out.
Thousands of liters of molten rock flowed over the husk.
Nothing happened.
The lava slid off the husk like water off an oil soaked blade.
Even Cattaleya leaned forward. "That is unnatural."
Daoist Chu muttered, "That is a spatial separation layer."
Elyon crossed his arms. "It really is beyond normal Trascendent materials."
For the next several hours, the dwarves tried.
They used resonant arrays. They used impact arrays. They compressed Qi into drills. They infused runes directly into the magma. They tried pressure, vibration, freezing cycles, even sonic impacts.
Every attempt failed.
Every formation collapsed. Every tool broke. Every technique was negated.
By the end of the day, the dwarves lay sprawled on the stone floor, covered in soot, sweat, and despair. Their mugs were empty. Their eyes were hollow. "We have never been defeated so completely before," Grundar whispered.
"This is worse than the ti we tried to forge Cold Star Iron in a river of lightning" Rikkan muttered.
"Even celestial tals have limits," Borin grumbled. "But this thing. This thing laughs at limits."
Lin Mu watched them patiently. He knew the material was beyond immortal.
Cattaleya folded her arms. "This is definitely celestial level."
Lin Mu nodded. "Perhaps even beyond that."
The dwarves groaned as if stabbed.
After a long silence and two more drinks, the dwarves finally stood.
Borin Flabraid spoke first. "This is beyond us. Truly beyond us. And I say that
with all dwarven pride intact."
Grundar Brightsteel added, "Even the Mountain Dwarfs or Fireforge Dwarfs
would find this nearly impossible."
Lin Mu frowned slightly. "Then who can do it?"
The dwarves exchanged looks.
Rikkan Emberetch stepped forward slowly. "The issue is not only the hardness.
It is the nature. This material rejects normal forging techniques. It repels heat, rejects energy, and warps space around itself. Ordinary furnaces are useless. Even dwarven furnaces cannot overco its conceptual resistance."
He took a breath.
"That ans only one thing. You will need a special forge. A legendary forge."
Lin Mu leaned slightly forward. "What kind of forge?"
The five dwarves spoke together as if reciting sacred words.
"A Dao Forge."
The cavern trembled slightly, as if reacting to the na.
Lin Mu stood there silently.
He had never heard of such a thing.
And now he knew that forging his weapon was about to beco far more
complicated than he had ever imagined.
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