The reason for the difficulty was simple.
Just like Resilience, the early stages of shaping are when you can increase the Yang Flame Attribute. Once that window closes, you can only dilute it, reducing its concentration.
The step where the Yang Flame Attribute increases most significantly is during impurity removal.
Moreover, this increase only occurs when using the Gale Sun technique of Sun Breathing. Without it, there's no enhancement.
This is where the problem arises. Using Gale Sun accelerates impurity removal to an extreme degree. The result is that while the Yang Flame Attribute is obtained, the process ends before much can be accumulated.
The shaping stage faces a similar dilemma.
Because the unnamed Second Form is so efficient, the shaping time is drastically shortened.
Even if each hammer strike adds some Yang Flame Attribute, the total amount gained remains limited.
Therefore, forging a weapon with an extremely high Yang Flame Attribute...
The best opportunity lay in the impurity removal stage, where each hammer strike from Sosuke under the scorching sun could trigger an increase in Yang Flame. The difficulty of achieving this was almost unimaginable.
More importantly, if a weapon's Yang Flame Attribute were fully charged, would it cause other problems?
Although he hadn't yet forged such a weapon, as a swordsmith, he knew that an imbalance in a weapon's attributes was a fatal flaw.
His mind raced, repeatedly weighing the feasibility of this approach.
His arm instinctively rose, mimicking the motion of hammering iron, but was stopped by someone the next moment.
"Hmm?"
Startled awake, he turned to see Kanae watching him intently.
Slightly embarrassed, he apologized, "Sorry, I was lost in thought."
Kanae shook her head, her voice sincere. "Sosuke is truly an extraordinary person."
Sosuke didn't know how to respond to such praise. Then he remembered Kanae's earlier comment about the warm current flowing from the sword hilt.
Even Sosuke couldn't explain this.
Normally, the Bloodforging Method, while granting weapons weightlessness and a symbiotic bond with their wielder, shouldn't have this particular effect.
Could there be some property of the Gale Sun Hammer's iron that he had overlooked?
"Don't overthink it right now," Kanae's voice suddenly whispered in his ear. Sosuke looked up to see her gazing at him with gentle concern. "I'm telling you this so you'll be prepared when the Lord questions you. Your injuries are far from healed. You can ponder this slowly."
Sosuke nodded, but a question lingered. "Why wait for my injuries to heal? The astonishment your Nichirin Blade could cause is beyond my imagination. Shouldn't they be even more eager?"
Kanae nodded. "That's true, but the Lord insists your health comes first. Even if you were to rise now, you couldn't forge a blade in your weakened state. Everything must wait until you've fully recovered."
"Truly a kind soul," Sosuke smiled, though he knew this approach was the most logical.
No matter how impatient Sosuke felt, there was nothing he could do in his current state. He might as well focus on healing and address everything once he recovered. After all, forging swords was his duty.
Though this was the rational course of action, the warmth he felt from others' understanding of his eagerness still warmed his heart.
As his mind relaxed slightly, a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
"Rest well," Kanae whispered softly.
Sosuke felt a sudden, inexplicable urgency. "Could you... stay here a little longer? Just for a bit?"
Kanae chuckled softly. "Mm, I'll stay right here."
The room fell silent again. Sosuke could smell the delicate fragrance in the air, and his previously weary spirit seemed to perk up slightly.
Suddenly remembering something, he murmured, "I brought you rice balls..."
Kanae blinked, her gentle gaze deepening. "Thank you."
"But I didn't expect the journey from the Swordsmith Village to take so long. They might not be edible anymore." Sosuke closed his eyes and whispered softly, "Once I recover a bit, I'll make you fresh ones."
"Alright," Kanae replied in a soothing voice. "It's a promise, then."
"Mm, a promise..." Sosuke's voice grew weaker. Severely injured, his forced alertness couldn't last. He drifted off to sleep in a hazy daze.
Sosuke had experienced a sleep beyond description, as if he had been slumbering among the clouds.
The soft, fragrant sensation brought him immense relaxation.
Even as he drifted awake, he resisted opening his eyes.
Alas, his revitalized spirit seemed unwilling to let him linger in slumber, forcing him to reluctantly open his eyes. But Kanae was no longer there.
A sudden panic seized him as he frantically searched around. Then he noticed something peculiar beneath his head—this wasn't the feel of a pillow...
Turning his head, he saw... a leg?
He quickly looked up, his eyes meeting Kanae's.
Her gaze still held a hint of confusion, as if asking, "What are you looking for?"
Sosuke stared, his face flushing crimson. "G-good morning..."
Kanae tilted her head, studying him for a moment before smiling. "It's almost dark."
This only deepened Sosuke's embarrassment. He chuckled awkwardly. "How could I... uh... well..."
He didn't know how to explain it. Was it a subconscious reaction while he was asleep? Or some other reason?
Before falling asleep, one of them had been sitting beside him, while the other had been lying properly in bed. How had they ended up like this after waking up?
He couldn't bring himself to ask such a question. Instead, he carefully, stealthily, tried to slip off Kanae's lap.
"Slow down," Kanae said, helping him to avoid straining his wound.
Suddenly, the door swung open. Shinobu, about to enter, froze at the sight of the two of them, her eyes widening in shock.
"Y-you... you two..."
Her face burned red, her jaw dropped, and the tray in her trembling hands rattled, the medicine bottles clinking against each other.
Kanae seemed flustered as well, hastily standing up. "I-I'll go check on the kitchen. Is his meal ready yet?"
Shinobu was in no state to reply.
She watched helplessly as her elder sister fled in disarray, leaving only Sosuke, who wanted to escape but couldn't.
Shinobu's smile suddenly turned exceptionally cruel.
"Sosuke, I'm here to change your bandages!"
Sosuke nearly burst into tears. While the lap pillow had been an indescribably wonderful experience, the murderous tone of the girl before him made it clear that everything in this world comes at a price.
A bloodcurdling scream echoed from the room. Kanae stood at the doorway, gently patting her chest.
With her other hand, she touched her flushed, burning cheeks and gazed at the room's entrance with a pitying look before hurrying off to the kitchen.