The next morning, the air in Iron Hammer City smelled of hot metal and anticipation.
Lin Tian stood with his group at the edge of the Grand Forge Yard, a vast circular arena carved from the black basalt of the caldera floor.
In the center stood the Trial Anvil, a single block of polished obsidian the size of a small cart. Around it, furnaces roared, their mouths glowing white-hot.
"You don't have to do this," Lu Cang said quietly, his hand resting on the cracked hilt of his sword. "We can find another way to the Sea."
"Every other way involves begging the clan elders for a map," Su Lan muttered, her eyes scanning the crowd of broad-shouldered smiths. "And they don't look like the begging type."
Xueya stood silent beside Lin Tian, but her calm presence flowed through their bond like a clear, cold stream. I have seen you reshape your own destiny, her thought came, gentle but firm. This is just another kind of fire.
