When Karl heard this, his hand movement inadvertently completed the final hammer strike.
He plunged the finished pieces into the nearby quenching tank, producing a sizzling sound and a burst of steam.
He turned around with a relaxed and indifferent smile on his face, wiping his hands with a cloth that was actually clean of dust.
"If it weren't for the furnace heating the metal too slowly, which limited my efficiency, it would have only taken an hour or two at most."
Karl's tone was calm, as if he were commenting on the fine weather.
However, Karl's words were like a thunderbolt to Raymond and Hans.
Both of them instantly turned to stone, standing frozen on the spot, their mouths agape for a long time, their faces contorted with extreme bewilderment and shock.
According to their understanding, crafting a qualified, custom-fitted set of plate armor was an extremely complex and time-consuming process.
From measuring, designing, blanking, forging, shaping, quenching, to final assembly and polishing,
even the best and most experienced armorers would take nearly three months to complete a single set, at the very earliest, while ensuring quality.
And Karl? Forging and assembling a set of plate armor,
excluding the waiting time for the furnace to heat, the entire process took only a few minutes?!
This completely exceeded their comprehension.
Such terrifying forging speed, not to mention finding a second person in human history,
even the dwarves, renowned for their forging skills from legends, could not produce such a being.
The heat blasted their faces, and the shed was left with only the fading quenching tank, the hissing sound of evaporating water,
and Raymond and Hans, breathing heavily from the intense shock.
Raymond looked at the six sets of plate armor, nearly completed in just one day.
His initial disapproval and concern about Karl's decision to exempt the commoners from taxes had long vanished.
His main worry had been the territory's income; as vassals, they had to pay significant taxes to Foltest each year.
If commercial taxes, customs duties, and other miscellaneous taxes on the common people were exempted, relying solely on the traditional tithe, income could drop drastically.
At that point, not to mention maintaining the manor and its guards, they might even have to pay their share to the king out of the family's savings.
This would undoubtedly be a heavy burden for the El family, which had just seen hope for revival.
But now, seeing Karl's inhuman forging efficiency and skill,
Raymond only felt... his own ideas were too narrow and ridiculous.
This was just taxes; what was that small amount of money?
With Karl's hands and forging speed, one person was enough to equal a whole team of skilled blacksmiths.
Moreover, he was the type who could work day and night, and the quality far surpassed his competitors.
A set of plate armor forged by Karl, put on the market,
would all be high-quality products that others would scramble to acquire, exchanging them for wealth that ordinary families couldn't earn in decades.
The trivial tax reduction on the territory was insignificant compared to Karl's ability to practically turn things into gold.
At that moment, Karl put down the forging hammer and said to Raymond and Hans: "Forging is actually very simple; it's just about controlling the force and angle and hitting with the hammer a few more times."
Karl's words instantly made the corners of Raymond's lips twitch slightly.
If those craftsmen who spent their whole lives sweating in forges, enduring for half a lifetime to create quality armor, heard this,
they would probably be so ashamed they'd want to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
After Karl finished speaking, he walked over to the plate armor parts that were hanging and still radiating residual heat.
Instead of waiting for them to cool naturally to a tolerable temperature, he took a gentle breath,
then slowly exhaled towards the dark red metal pieces.
A white, freezing stream, visible to the naked eye, burst from his mouth, and the surrounding temperature gradually dropped.
And Raymond and the others couldn't help but shiver, because they were too close.
They subconsciously wrapped their clothes tighter and watched this incomprehensible scene with horror.
The hot air rising from the scorching plate armor parts disappeared the moment it touched the freezing stream.
The metal surface changed color from dark red to dark blue at a speed visible to the naked eye,
then the high temperature quickly faded, returning to normal, and to the touch, it felt slightly cool.
Karl consciously controlled the intensity and duration of his Frozen Breath, avoiding the brittleness caused by sudden temperature changes that could damage the metal's internal structure.
In just a few minutes, all the components were cooled to perfection, followed by polishing and final finishing.
Karl didn't use any tools like grinding wheels or stones.
He simply extended his palms, which were harder than the finest abrasives.
On each piece, he quickly and evenly rubbed and pressed, accompanied by a light, dense scraping sound.
On the surface of the pieces, the fine forging marks and oxide layer quickly disappeared, becoming as smooth as a mirror, reflecting a cold metallic sheen.
At this moment, the entire process of creating plate armor—from forging to polishing—was completed in Karl's hands with incredible speed and grace.
When Karl's gaze stopped on the smooth front of the last set of breastplates, he paused abruptly.
He turned his head to Raymond and asked: "Father, can we change our family's coat of arms?"
Raymond heard this, didn't think for long, and slowly nodded, his voice full of relief and complete trust.
"Karl, you are now the most successful person in the history of the El family, and also the true lord of Terra."
"As long as the family name doesn't change—that is tied to the honor of the family's ancestors... that needs to be handled with extreme caution."
"You don't need to ask my opinion about other coats of arms, family mottos, or even the direction of the territory. You can decide freely."
Having received Raymond's confirmation, Karl nodded.
He picked up a carving knife from the side and was about to carve a sun pattern onto the front of the breastplate, symbolizing light and strength.
But just as the carving knife was about to touch the metal surface, he stopped.
He remembered the Southern Empire, Nilfgaard, whose imperial coat of arms was a yellow sun with a human face...
The shields and banners of the Nilfgaardian army also used simplified sun patterns without human faces, which made Karl feel a bit uncomfortable.
Immediately, he thought of carving a double-headed eagle, but found that was the pattern of Redania... It seemed too similar to what he wanted to carve.
Karl muttered quietly, his voice not loud, and said firmly: "Sooner or later... let Nilfgaard and Redania exchange their coats of arms..."
"What makes them worthy of the same pattern as me?"
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