Chapter 310: Masterpiece (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 310: Masterpiece (1)
On the first day, Roman Dmitry faced an unexpected problem.
Whoosh.
Whoooosh.
The flames roared with intense heat.
During the initial process of melting the iron, the excessive heat didn't just melt the metal—it completely deformed it.
It was an unexpected variable.
While he was accustomed to working with a standard furnace, the Flame Demon's flames knew no middle ground. If he kept the fire weak, it failed to transfer enough heat to the iron. Yet, if he raised the intensity enough to melt it, the metal deformed, just as it was doing now. Furthermore, the iron reacted differently to the Flame Demon's flames than it did to ordinary fire. Because of this, he had already discarded several batches of steel. The initial stage of smithing was crucial; failing to control the fire was a critical error that would directly result in a ruined product.
This was entirely different from combat.
When killing someone with murderous intent, there was no need to control the intensity of the flames with such meticulous precision.
Even if the heat was weak, as long as it could burn something, it was enough. And if he pushed it to its absolute limit, it didn't matter if the opponent couldn't handle it. The battle in Rascal had been the same. When he drove ten thousand troops into the Flame Demon's flames, Roman Dmitry had no reason to handle the fire delicately. From the moment he unleashed the blaze to burn down the buildings, the out-of-control inferno had done its job perfectly without him needing to oversee it to the bitter end.
It was an amusing situation.
The wild, dancing flames actually stimulated Roman Dmitry.
‘So, even though you are bound to me, you refuse to submit to my absolute control.’
Deep beneath the Endless Mountains, Roman Dmitry had faced the true form of the Flame Demon.
The entity, boiling with intense heat, had told him that they were bound together by a Heavenly Mandate.
Recently, a vortex of destiny had swallowed Roman Dmitry.
The being attempting to conquer the continent turned out to be Alexander, who originated from the Central Plains Murim. Meanwhile, Saintess Isabelle, having received an oracle, had begged for Roman's help. In truth, he had always wondered. While he couldn't understand why he had possessed the body of Roman Dmitry on the Salamander Continent, he began to suspect that he might be a piece of the puzzle in this grand vortex of destiny. Just as the Flame Demon had proclaimed they were bound by a Heavenly Mandate, the existence known as the Heavenly Demon Baek Joong-hyuk now lived as Roman Dmitry by someone's grand design.
He did not like that.
No matter what anyone intended, Roman Dmitry would force every circumstance to its knees beneath his feet.
"Let's see how long you can hold out."
Whoosh.
Whoooosh.
He flared the flames to their absolute limit.
If they refused to obey his control, he would simply crush them into submission.
For that was...
‘Flame Divine Art.’
...the very foundation of the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk.
* * *
During his days as Baek Joong-hyuk.
Standing atop a mountain peak that seemed to pierce the heavens, looking down at the breathtaking scenery below, a sudden wave of human loneliness had washed over him.
‘What am I living for?’
Decades had already passed.
The young child who had declared from the very bottom of the abyss that he would make everyone submit had reached the absolute peak at far too young an age. From that moment on, the fighting spirit that had been the driving force of his life evaporated. No master in the Murim could ever hope to challenge Baek Joong-hyuk's position, and even the rising stars who commanded immense fame had their heads severed with a single casual strike.
Time flowed on.
About ten years after he reached the pinnacle, people no longer regarded Baek Joong-hyuk as a mere human, but as a transcendent being beyond the heavens.
The Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Struggle was the domain of mortals.
Even when martial artists were red-faced and fighting fiercely among themselves, a single cough from Baek Joong-hyuk would make them slam their heads into the ground, trembling in terror. The Ten Great Masters of the World? Such trivial reputations meant nothing. The fear of Baek Joong-hyuk, engraved deep into their very bones, served as a grim lesson: as long as he drew breath, they must not dare to even look up at the summit of the Murim.
Perhaps that was why.
Baek Joong-hyuk immersed himself in the research of martial arts.
He further developed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, and went on to master the martial arts of other sects, one by one.
Some people said that there was no end to learning.
But when a supreme genius like Baek Joong-hyuk sought to relieve his tedious life through study, the learning that supposedly had no end eventually reached its limit. It went without saying that he had no rivals, and he even began to lose any reason to sustain a life where there was nothing left to achieve. It was an incredibly boring existence. Spending his days reminiscing about the past, Baek Joong-hyuk thought that dying like this wouldn't be so bad.
If he had desired immortality, it might have been possible.
The martial arts Baek Joong-hyuk had mastered held the clues to immortality, but he chose to accept the natural passage of time and grow old.
Death was his final dream.
The reason he had rejected even the Ascension to Immortality was that he wanted to meet his end as a human being.
And now.
Whoosh.
Whoooosh.
The fire blazed.
Completely enveloped in the Flame Demon's flames, Roman Dmitry wore an expression of genuine enjoyment.
‘This is good.’
A new life.
A new purpose.
He felt alive as a human being.
The force that defied his control irritated Roman Dmitry, yet he found immense pleasure in the process of forcing it to submit. This was a purpose that had not been permitted in Baek Joong-hyuk's previous life. Barco, Benedict, Kronos, Alexander, and so on. Although enemies threatening his life appeared one after another during his time as Roman Dmitry, far from being shaken by this fierce existence, the fact that there was still room to struggle gave him a reason to live.
Humans were such creatures.
Without a purpose in life, even if they held the entire world in the palm of their hands, they could not help but feel as though they were locked in a small iron cage.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
Seizing the surging flames with a firm grip, he concentrated the fire—which seemed ready to explode at any moment—into a single point. From this moment on, it was a battle against the Flame Demon. If he failed to control it perfectly, the flames pushed to their absolute limit would undoubtedly reduce the inside of the workshop to ashes.
The Flame Divine Art.
He manifested it to its absolute limit.
As the mana inside him boiled, he achieved complete assimilation with the Flame Demon.
Whoosh.
Whoooosh.
His hair burned a brilliant red.
If the dwarf, Brown Rock, had witnessed this sight, he would have said:
"The Flame Demon is a power that submits to no human—indeed, to no one at all. When God granted the power of fire to the world, it provided warmth to humans, but it also showed its face as a disaster capable of burning down everything in existence. How could such flames submit to the control of a mere human who is not even a god? One year? Ten years? A hundred years? Time does not matter. Do not try to control it; accept the flames. That is the nature of the Flame Demon."
Uncontrollable.
He had declared it so.
His long life as a dwarf, and the records remembered by history, clearly stated that the Flame Demon's flames belonged to a domain far beyond human reach.
However.
Whoosh.
Whoooosh.
When barely a single day had passed...
The raging flames swirling in Roman Dmitry's hands began to stabilize, visibly and steadily.
* * *
It submitted.
He seized it.
The heat of the fire followed Roman Dmitry's will.
‘You are mine.’
From the moment he met the Flame Demon, their relationship had already been established.
The Flame Demon, which had spoken of a Heavenly Mandate, had become Roman Dmitry's possession, and from this moment on, he brought it completely under his control.
It was not merely the power of the Flame Divine Art.
His experience as Baek Joong-hyuk, the man who had touched the heavens, forcefully suppressed the Flame Demon's flames.
As a result...
Sssssssssssss—
Emitting a thick cloud of white smoke, he forged the first sword.
It had taken only a few days.
It was far faster than expected.
The sharply gleaming blade proved itself worthy of being called a renowned sword, but Roman Dmitry's expression was not particularly satisfied. It was merely a byproduct of the process of learning to control the fire. By the time he finished the first sword, he possessed a level of craftsmanship far more advanced than before.
‘Again.’
He set the sword aside.
And then, he resumed his work.
Clang!
Clang! Clang!
The fire surged.
Once the Flame Demon began to obey his control, Roman Dmitry awakened a level of craftsmanship entirely different from before. It was unlike the method of using a furnace's fire. If the previous method was to absorb the furnace's heat and hammer the steel, using the Flame Demon's flames allowed him to delicately control both the internal and external temperatures of the metal.
Sometimes weak.
Sometimes strong.
He experimented in countless ways.
He identified exactly which temperature produced the highest quality.
His working speed was blindingly fast.
Having transcended human limits, he quickly shaped the steel into his desired form without wasting a vast amount of time.
Thus, he completed the second sword.
Even from the completion of the first sword, the quality had far surpassed Darkness, the blade he had crafted previously.
‘Not enough.’
He shook his head.
Not yet.
His skill in handling the Flame Demon was not yet perfect, and therefore, the resulting product could not be called perfect either.
Roman Dmitry fell into a State of Selflessness.
Enveloped in flames, he hammered the steel like a madman, completely losing all track of time even as he went without food for over ten days. Basic human needs did not matter. The being known as Roman Dmitry—the being known as Baek Joong-hyuk—was someone who lived to conquer and achieve.
Clang!
His muscles rippled.
Through this grueling series of processes, the very shape of his muscles adapted, becoming perfectly suited for the forge.
He was completely absorbed.
When Roman Dmitry finally completed the third sword, he looked at the blade enveloped in flames and felt a deep sense of certainty.
‘Now, the preparation is complete.’
He had completely tamed the Flame Demon.
He did not know how much more time it would take.
But from this moment on, it was time to realize the true purpose for which he had entered the workshop in the first place.
* * *
It was from then on.
The situation that Felix had witnessed began to unfold.
The interior of the workshop was completely engulfed in flames, yet miraculously, the fire did not burn the building down.
It was an astonishing level of control.
Roman Dmitry commanded the flames perfectly, transferring heat to the steel at the exact moments he intended.
Clang!
Clang, clang!
Once.
Twice.
Three times, four times.
The strikes accumulated endlessly.
Time flowed as steadily as his mounting obsession, and the one-month period Roman Dmitry had planned for eventually passed. Yet, he could not stop his work. Knowing that the method he was currently using was correct, and seeing the masterpiece taking shape at his fingertips, Roman Dmitry was completely lost in his craft.
Ultimately, another fifteen days passed beyond the scheduled time.
And finally...
Clink.
Silence descended upon the workshop.
* * *
At an inn in Dmitry.
A knight of the Valentino family spoke in a cautious voice.
"...Should we not return to Kairos now? It has already been an extra fifteen days. You have spent too much time here, putting aside the affairs of the family. The Valentino family needs its lord right now. A mountain of work is waiting for your approval."
"No, I cannot go back."
He was resolute.
Though there were indeed many matters to attend to, just as the knight had said, Marquis Valentino had a dream that was far more important than mere money.
"I have looked forward to this moment. When I first saw Lord Roman Dmitry's sword, I vowed as a collector that I would gather his creations no matter what. After a long wait, Lord Roman Dmitry has finally entered the workshop. But if I leave now, and by some slim chance someone else claims the sword before me, I would fall into a state of immense despair."
"Even so, this is too much. You have suddenly sworn off alcohol, and your complexion has grown noticeably pale."
Valentino was a lover of fine spirits.
Just as he collected swords, enjoying fine wines was also his greatest hobby.
Marquis Valentino felt a burning thirst, but with unwavering eyes, he voiced his strong conviction.
"I do not know when the sacred moment of seeing Lord Roman Dmitry's sword will arrive. To be drunk and unable to fully appreciate that joy would be a betrayal of myself. I will absolutely not let a single drop of alcohol touch my lips until I receive the sword from Lord Roman Dmitry. When I finally claim it, I will gaze upon its glorious form displayed alongside Blaze, and only then will I savor the moment with the wine I have saved."
At that moment, was it just an illusion that the knight let out a deep sigh?
The tycoon Valentino was truly a great man, but at times like this, he behaved like an immature child.
There was no helping it.
How could anyone break the stubbornness of a man who had already waited an extra fifteen days—no, the stubbornness of a man known as the greedy collector?
It was then.
The door of the inn burst open, and another knight appeared.
"My Lord! Ro—Roman Dmitry has finally come out of the workshop...!"
Before the knight could even finish his sentence...
Crash!
"Lead me to Dmitry Castle at once!"
Marquis Valentino kicked back his chair, leaping to his feet as he hurriedly rushed out of the inn.