For Lingyun, this was the most difficult step, because he had no knowledge at all and had to make up his own things. So, he tried out the first version with many holes and inscribed one rune repeatedly – Spirit Connecting. It was a rune used when a weapon had more than one part, a rather common rune.
Lingyun quickly realised that this idea was actually a mistake. Unlike the previous situation where using the same rune over and over again split the runes into main and sub runes, this time, the screws were single bodies, so he actually added ten runes on a sword plate of six runes.
He tried it and found out that this wasn't possible at all – or rather, even if it was, it was an extremely difficult task which even he could only manage because he had perfect level earth control and great success fire control. These two allowed him to adjust the screws perfectly to the situation.
His knowledge of runes might not be vast, but he was a natural talent and had a high comprehension, still, it was difficult for him to properly connect the screw's runes into the sword, not to mention he still had to connect the runes into the network of other runes too.
"No, this isn't a good approach. No matter what, even if it works, this would result in the fact that ten runes are wasted. A mid-grade weapon would be weaker than a good low-grade weapon, who would buy this? The price is too high, for a low-quality low-price weapon, this is a bad result. Let's try the other two."
Considering this, he gave up the ten screws and tried using one screw, it was placed in the centre of the sword, which was a bit lower than the centre of the blade. Only the Spirit Connecting rune was used.
He instantly tried it out, this method was relatively easier. But, after just one try, he shook his head "No, the effectivity of this is too low. Even though they are connected, the spiritual power that flows through the screw is too lose, not to mention that the base number of spiritual power doesn't seem to be enough either."
Finally, he went to the last method and tried what he had thought would be the most likely method. There were three screws, one at the pommel of the hilt, one near the tip and one in the centre of the sword, he just chose to take the sword from the previous test, adding two more holes.
For this, he chose two more runes "The spirit gathering rune at the tip to gather extra spiritual power and direct it to the tip, where it will be soon dispersed and used, so there is no need to have too strict of a control on this.
Another spirit sealing rune at the pommel, the sturdiest part of the sword that is unlikely to be hit. This rune will seal the spiritual power of the whole sword, of both plates. This way, no spiritual power is lost, and all the excess power that is not converted or used properly by the sword plates' runes will just flow along the runes to the tip.
Finally, the spirit connecting rune in the centre can stay the way it is."
He finished the construct this way and looked at the sword that came out as a result. Checking left and right, he was satisfied with the final product – from the first sight, there was no issue, besides that it still looked too rough.
Putting his spiritual power into the sword, he shot it towards the second anvil.
To this point, it had been repaired five times, becoming more and more sturdy. Any slight mark will have to reach the early grade middle quality weapon, to make a real dent at least the peak quality is required, and to chip some iron, middle grade is the starting point.
Because weapons were split into different levels, and because refiners had different expertise, the further ranking into quality was a common way to grade weapons.
When the sword was shot, a slight *Swish* sound was heard, before another *Ding* sound arrived – the sound of the sword hitting a hard object. Lingyun pulled out the sword with his spiritual power and looked at the white mark that had formed, which was slightly denting.
"Middle quality, nearly reaching high quality! Good, good, good! Haha, just two plates reached this! Well, with the three runes, theoretically they can be counted as nine total runes, so the strength not having reached the high quality is a bit unsatisfactory, but it doesn't matter!
Anyways, with my current abilities and the roughness of the sword, just reaching this level is good! Now, we have to further refine the rune inscriptions and how to connect them, and finally, change the sword visually. The industrial aesthetic is not very fitting, and it's too revealing – people will directly be able to copy this method!"
Lingyun was excited as he looked at the sword. This was his first true invention, the previous farming method wasn't anything special, anyone with a bit more expertise would be able to achieve the same.
In fact, Lingyun knew that if one looked long enough in this world, one might find similar things, especially since armour was pretty much connected the way his sword was, but the way he created it was still ingenious and by his own work.
"In fact, the cultivation world has more time and more space to experiment. Unfortunately, they all focus on cultivating, ignoring this! Well, if the previous world didn't reward research so much, then it might've been the same as this world."
…
In the next year, Lingyun focused mainly on cultivating, refining much less. He had to build up a stock of black iron, always refining only a few plates wasn't productive. Although the method of making smaller swords worked, he had already trained in the inscriptions. Any more would not be helpful, it was just a waste of materials.
Rather than refining, he focused on designing the sword and finally found a look he liked. He still took the traditional Messer sword but instead focused on changing the screws. After all, they were too conspicuous, not to mention inefficient in their conversion of energy.
The spiral form was useful for the modern world, but here, it complicated the structure, even making it a bit looser and more likely to break. This is because refining relied more on runes than on natural forms of weapons – the runes imprinted the artistic conception. Without it, the sword would have to be wielded like a mortal would.
No cultivator wanted to get that close. The danger was too high and if one was unlucky, they might meet a physical cultivator. These types of cultivators had absolute advantage in close range and could easily beat any other cultivator, after all, this was their expertise.
Swords were good in battles with other cultivators because they were versatile, not because they were especially good in either category. Taking daggers for example, they are much faster and have greater manoeuvrability, but their strength is lacking, so more daggers are required.
To control several daggers at the same time, one had to have a strong spiritual consciousness and a lot of spiritual power reserves.
Another weapon is the needle, the sharpest and most piercing weapon that can instantly kill a person. If one wants to break barriers, then the cone form is more fitting.
For any situation, there are better weapons, the sword is just versatile, but it is lacking in many regards. Just like how humans can cultivate many paths, but they are weaker compared to beasts who are specialised in different things – bears were stronger physically, foxes were known to have stronger spiritual consciousness, birds always had more innate spells.