"Our Armament Guild has five Supreme Blacksmiths, all of whom are at the Sky God Realm. Beneath the five Supreme Blacksmiths are their factions.
"To begin with, getting one of the Supreme Blacksmiths to work on anything for you is impossible, so I assume you want—"
Ryu shook his head. "No, it must be them."
Sabelle's expression changed again.
To have a Sky God forge a weapon for a junior… It would be one thing if Ryu was in the World Sea Realm, but from what they understood Ryu was even beneath the Cosmic Seed Realm. Though his cultivation was difficult to read, especially due to his ridiculous combat prowess, what was obvious was that he didn't have the air of a Dao and he also hadn't grasped Cosmic Qi, so he was most definitely in the Path Extinction Realm at best.
To the secular world, this might be impressive. But, to a Sky God, Ryu was nothing more than an ant. In fact, not only was he an ant, irrespective of his status as a genius, they had no reason to take him seriously at all.
Ryu might have a better chance if he had another Sky God as a backer to commission this work for him, but considering how things went during the Martial God's gathering, it was doubtful that he had even that unless he was still hiding his cards.
Now that Ryu was demanding such a thing, the three of them couldn't' even guarantee that the Blacksmiths their families were on good terms would help, let alone the Supreme Blacksmith close with the Arcus family.
"Tell me more." Ryu spoke plainly as though he was asking about the weather.
The three looked toward one another but Sabelle still began to speak once more.
"The five Supreme Blacksmiths are divided into their disciplines. There's of course the Saber, the Battle Axe and the Bow. However, the final two Supreme Blacksmiths are masters of multiple trades. Supreme Blacksmith Okie, a close friend of our Hastam Clan, is an expert on polearm weapons. Whether it's the staff, spear, glaive or halberd, there are few Blacksmiths in the martial world that could hope to match him on their best day and none that could surpass him.
"Supreme Blacksmith Wynhorn is the fifth and final Supreme Blacksmith and she is an expert in blades. She is unmatched in her forging of swords of all kinds, whether that be short swords, broad swords, katanas, double edged swords… She is even able to rival Supreme Blacksmith Xin in the formation of Sabers. Unfortunately, Supreme Blacksmith Xin is unable to meet her standard in swords. There's no doubt that if you find a supremely powerful sword forged in this era, eight of ten would have passed through Supreme Blacksmith Wynhorn's hands.
"As we said before, we could probably get help from Blacksmiths within factions we are friendly with to help. But… Getting the help of a Supreme Blacksmith is something we have no power over. Even we as Cosmic Seed Armament Wielders have no right to ask anything of them…"
Sabelle smiled bitterly, hoping that her explanation would get through to Ryu. But, it seemed like the latter was unmoved by it all. Even though she could only see his eyes, they were too firm to come from someone who had just been swayed. If anything, it seemed that after hearing about their rarity and specialties, Ryu was even more intent on gaining their help.
"What is the main issue?" Ryu asked. "Is it that you believe I don't have enough money?"
"Ah…" Sabelle blinked.
That was probably the case? But, at a certain level, these Supreme Blacksmiths stopped caring about such things. They had lived for so long as the best in their fields, how could they want for money? They already had wealth alone that could rival entire Clans, and that was on top of heading powerful Clans themselves filled to the brim with more Blacksmiths that brought in even more money.
"I understand what you want to say." Ryu said lightly. "Such experts don't care for money. At their level, they only care for two things:
"The first is improving their Craft. Many of them probably need trillions of years just to experience a small measure of progress, but just a few thousand years of no practice could cause them to fall behind, never to rise again. They must constantly climb upward, and as such, they must continue to challenge themselves.
"The second is recognition. Not only must they Craft, but their treasures must be elevated by warriors who match their status. Only when their expertise is met in kind by the expertise of others can their prestige be elevated and their works be remembered throughout time.
"But, which of these things do I lack, exactly?"
Something seemed to shift about Ryu's aura, making it difficult for the three of them to breathe. Despite being Cosmic Seed Realm geniuses who stood at the pinnacle of the Martial World, for some reason they felt decidedly small at this moment.
"When it comes to the first, I have treasured ores here I can guarantee these Supreme Blacksmiths have only had the pleasure of working with a handful of times in their long lifespans, if they have had the pleasure at all. In addition, my ask of them is to collaborate on breathing life into a weapon that hasn't seen the light of day in countless epochs.
"And when it comes to the second, there is no one in this world with the ability to bring more glory to a weapon than I.
"I need the weapons they forge for me today, but tomorrow I may not cast them a glance. If they want to wait until I am on their level to accept my request of them, they'll realize it's too late not long later."
The three Armament wielders felt suffocated for a moment until a sudden voice from above interjected.