After Weiss left, Arthur went to the front courtyard.
The smithy, converted from the mansion's courtyard, had been operating under the "Snow & Peach" sign for two weeks.
Currently, it was bustling with shirtless men of various backgrounds: ebony-skinned Summer Islanders, pale Qartheen, Westerosi, and a majority of Braavosi.
Apprentice smiths shoveled a mixture of charcoal and crushed iron ore into the top of bloomery furnaces to produce sponge iron suitable for forging.
Smoke rose continuously from several bloomeries, simple structures built by Braavosi masons from heat-resistant clay and stone.
Other apprentices worked sturdy bellows made of animal hide, pumping powerful blasts of air into the fires.
Clang-clang… clang-clang…
Clang-clang… clang-clang…
Beside the bloomeries, the rhythmic hammering of journeyman smiths at their anvils mixed with waves of heat, pouring out of the smithy.
The fame and traffic generated by the "Black Mamba" sword attracted not only swordsmen and bravos but also many blacksmiths and apprentices eager to learn Arthur's techniques.
At first, Arthur accepted any skilled labor. But soon, overwhelmed by numbers and faced with inexperienced or unscrupulous imposters, he raised the bar.
Now, everyone in the smithy had either demonstrated solid forging skills or paid a hefty apprenticeship fee.
Arthur signed employment contracts with them based on their skills, assessing and grading them.
Swords or armor forged by apprentice smiths could not bear a personal maker's mark, only a snowflake stamp.
Most of the time, they served as assistants to the journeyman smiths.
Journeyman smiths were allowed to add their own mark alongside the peach stamp required by the shop.
Smiths capable of forging a Black Mamba-quality sword could use only their personal mark.
But the "Snow & Peach" mark—the snowflake and peach combined—belonged to Arthur alone.
Shirtless and holding his forging hammer, Arthur walked into the smithy. The smiths stopped their work, looking at him with anticipation and hunger.
Seeing their expectation, Arthur announced, "Today, I will forge a different kind of Black Mamba. Watch closely."
"Prepare the stacked plates! Clear Furnace Number One!" A dark-skinned Summer Islander immediately ordered the two apprentices beside him and addressed the room.
"Do not disturb the Master while he works. Save your questions for after the forging is complete."
The Summer Islander was Kojja Mo, who had also come because of Arthur's fame. Arthur later hired him to manage the daily operations of the smithy.
Kojja was a skilled smith in his own right, having run a shop back in the Summer Isles.
He was the smith closest to being able to forge a Black Mamba sword.
Arthur had met him briefly at the Moon Pool; he was the one sitting next to Arthur, enthusiastically explaining the Black Pearl.
The two apprentices hurried to obey. Opportunities to watch Arthur forge were rare, so the others in the shop put down their work as well.
In the past few days, Arthur had completed orders for Angela Wolf and two other skilled swordsmen.
He was now very familiar with the process of forging a Black Mamba.
Furthermore, thanks to his awakened 'Sword-sight,' Arthur discovered he had a mysterious intuition not just for swordplay, but for the forging process itself—sensing the heat, detecting impurities, and spotting hidden cracks during hammering.
This elevated his forging skills to a new level, resulting in even higher quality blades.
If his previous swords were excellent, these could undoubtedly be called masterwork.
This time, Arthur didn't use the wild forging method aided by [The Berserker] and [The Reaver] cards, because no one else could learn that. He needed to train a group of skilled smiths, not just make swords himself.
Starting from stacking the canister and controlling the heat of the billet, Arthur demonstrated and explained the key points patiently.
He guided them through drawing out the billet into a rectangular bar and twisting it, emphasizing the need to chamfer the four corners to prevent cracking during the twist.
Finally, at the quenching stage, Arthur had the apprentices prepare a clay mixture he had formulated beforehand.
"What do you need mud for?" Kojja asked, puzzled.
The others were equally confused. Arthur hadn't done this when forging previous Black Mambas.
"Differential hardening!"
Arthur explained as he applied the clay to the spine and body of the blade, leaving the edge exposed. "By covering the parts of the blade that don't need extreme hardness with clay, we control the cooling rate when quenching."
Arthur placed the clay-coated blade into the furnace, personally operating the bellows to heat it.
Sensing the perfect temperature, Arthur pulled the sword out and plunged the red-hot blade into the quenching bucket.
At that exact moment, he infused the [Shadow-Splitter] card into the steel.
The oil-water mixture hissed violently as it contacted the red-hot steel. Flames shot up as he withdrew the blade, causing the onlookers to step back instinctively.
Once the blade cooled completely, Arthur used a wire brush to clean off the clay.
"When the red-hot blade enters the quench, the exposed edge cools rapidly, hardening it. The clay-covered spine cools slower."
"This results in different hardness levels. The edge is hard and sharp, while the spine remains tough and flexible. Hardness and flexibility combined."
"Braavosi bravos and assassins use rapiers, which are for thrusting, not hacking." Kojja Mo realized instantly, looking at Arthur with worship in his eyes.
"If this clay tempering works as you say, it will take the sword's practicality to another level."
The eyes of the surrounding smiths burned with intensity as they looked at the unfinished sword in Arthur's hand.
After a series of grinding, acid etching, and adjustments, the blade was finished.
Due to the clay tempering, the spine was a dull, dark color. The twisted pattern only appeared along the hamon line where the spine met the edge.
This [Shadow-Splitter] blade didn't shimmer with flowing light like Jon's. Instead, the edge was a plain, rustic dark brown. It looked unassuming.
Seeing that the sword wasn't as flashy as usual, Kojja Mo asked uncertainly, "My lord, shall we test it?"
"Let's test it." As usual, Arthur wrapped the tang with cord for a temporary grip and gave it a swing.
"Bring a finished Peach-mark sword too. Pick any one."
"Yes," Kojja replied.
Everyone's faces lit up with excitement. Arthur cutting a sword in half with a Black Mamba at the Moon Pool had become a legend sung by bards. Today, they would finally see it with their own eyes.
The apprentices set up a leather-armored wooden dummy, an iron-rimmed wooden shield, and a Peach-mark Braavosi rapier in the courtyard.
First came the cutting test. The Black Mamba, similar in profile to a rapier, shouldn't be good at hacking.
But when the clay-tempered, dark blade struck the leather-armored dummy, it sliced through the leather like butter.
The rustic brown edge left a cut in the scarred wood almost twice as deep as previous Black Mambas.
"This... is incredible." Kojja Mo stared at the result in shock, examining the cut repeatedly.
Facing the amazed stares, Arthur just shrugged. He had expected this.
Next was the thrusting test. Arthur tapped the tip of the sword against the iron-rimmed shield three times.
Tap, tap, tap.
Like driving nails into a table, the sword punched three holes in the shield, nearly piercing it through each time.
The onlookers gasped, looking at Arthur with even greater fervor.
They had thought the singers exaggerated. They had secretly tested Black Mambas before—they were excellent, yes, but cutting another sword in half? Usually, they just notched it.
But today, it seemed Arthur's sword truly lived up to the legend.
Kojja Mo relaxed. This unassuming brown Black Mamba was definitely superior to the flashy patterned ones of the past.
Just like the Black Pearl—her skin might be brown instead of black, but it didn't stop her from being beautiful and sought after.
Finally, under everyone's expectant gaze, Arthur swung the new Black Mamba three times, cleanly severing the Peach-mark sword—a blade forged by a journeyman smith, second only to a Black Mamba in quality.
This time, Arthur didn't use [Strike], nor did he use a broadsword to cheat the physics. He let the quality of the blade speak for itself.
By the time Arthur finished all the detailing on the Black Mamba, the sky was dark. He invited Kojja to stay for dinner.
The meal was similar to usual, accompanied by amber sweet wine from the Summer Isles.
"My lord, your skills are astounding, and your generosity in teaching us is even more so." Kojja took a swig of the amber wine and praised him.
"You know, Summer Islanders love to trade and explore. I've been to Qohor, another Free City. I've seen the reworking of Valyrian steel there."
"The smiths there call their process magic. But I think your forging techniques are stronger than their magic, and you are far more generous than those Qohorik masters."
"It is the wisdom of the ancients." Arthur washed down a piece of fruit bread with the sweet wine and started to bullshit effortlessly.
"But actually, I did add magic during the forging. Have you heard the saying? A true master infuses his spirit and will into his work."
Arthur closed his eyes slightly, smacking his lips as if savoring the wine, and sighed.
"I don't know what happened today, but my state of mind was perfect. Inspiration just poured out. I might never make a sword like that again."
Perhaps it was the alcohol, but Arthur's deep contemplation made Kojja respect him even more.
Even while eating, he's reflecting on the forging process. Truly a master capable of creating the Black Mamba.
Arthur, enjoying his moment, obviously didn't notice Kojja's increasingly reverent expression.
The amber wine wasn't very strong. It smelled of various fruits and tasted sweet. To Arthur, it felt more like an alcoholic beverage, but he liked it.
He drank a few spoonfuls of the salty, savory onion meat soup. It was delicious. No wonder the one-eyed Sabel Kaffi ate it every day.
"The draw-plate technique you mentioned earlier seems feasible. We can implement it later." Arthur brought the wandering Kojja back to reality.
A draw-plate was a device to help smiths make wire for chainmail.
Heated iron was pulled through a series of progressively smaller holes. This method was much easier than hammering it out on the anvil.
"Chainmail is light and offers good protection against thrusts. It should be very popular in Braavos." Kojja, a bit tipsy after several cups of wine, bobbed his head as he spoke, seemingly imitating Arthur.
"My home, the Summer Isles, is poor in ore. We don't have a habit of wearing armor. If we did, I wouldn't have run off to Braavos."
"But because of that, I met you here. This is the first time I'm glad my homeland lacks ore."
Later, Arthur chatted with Kojja about many things: implementing chainmail production, managing the smithy, and most importantly, profit sharing.
Arthur promised Kojja twenty percent of the smithy's profits.
Of course, swords forged by Arthur personally were private property, independent of the "Snow & Peach" smithy's revenue.
With the profit split settled, Kojja opened up completely. He talked about the various armors and weapons he had seen and learned about during his travels.
One thing that interested Arthur greatly was a type of armor woven from vines and branches that Kojja described.
And the method for reworking Valyrian steel.
Kojja Mo held nothing back regarding these two techniques. Although he had no materials to demonstrate, he described and taught them in excruciating detail.
Getting excited, Kojja gestured wildly. When Arthur raised questions or different views, he would quiet down to think about feasibility and solutions.
It wasn't until the Titan roared, announcing dawn, that they realized they had talked all night.
Back in his room, yawning and ready for sleep, Arthur accidentally noticed that two new Equipment Cards had been unlocked in his Three Kingdoms System panel.
[Vine Armor] (Original: Teng Jia / Rattan Armor): Significantly resists physical damage. Fire damage received is doubled.
[Wu's Six Swords] (Original: Wu Liu Jian): Can devour up to six other swords, mimicking the form and effects of the devoured swords. (Requires special materials to craft).
Arthur's groggy spirit was instantly revitalized.
Holy shit, the shroud!
Jokes aside, the [Vine Armor] card might look dicey at first glance because of the fire weakness, but it was god-tier for naval warfare. Anyone wearing plate armor who fell into the sea or a river was fish food unless fished out immediately.
Vine armor, if Arthur recalled correctly, floated...
And the [Wu's Six Swords] card was even more massive. Did that mean if he had a [Wu's Six Swords], he could merge the effects of [Shadow-Splitter], [Frostbite], and [Twin-Vipers] all into one sword?
Only kids choose. I want them all!