Iron Clouds, light as clouds, hard as iron, flexible, stretchable, and capable of changing shape.
This uniquely characteristic forging material made Hammer's blood boil with excitement.
He opened one of the Cloud Dials, and the Iron Cloud was immediately released.
In an instant, it transformed into a large square-shaped cloud.
Hammer couldn't help but reach out to touch and knock on it.
Duang~
Feeling the texture of the Iron Cloud, Hammer couldn't help but praise it.
"It really does have the hardness of iron. If this kind of cloud were fused into ordinary weapons, it could definitely enhance the weapon's durability."
In the original story, Ohm had fused Iron Clouds with his sword, turning it into a highly flexible weapon.
Hmm... let's experiment a little.
As he spoke, Hammer casually took out an ordinary military saber.
Then he stored the Iron Cloud back into the Cloud Dial and placed both items onto the forging table.
"Hmm... logically speaking, the Dial and the weapon should be fused together to create the corresponding weapon."
"But how exactly do you fuse a shell into a sword?"
Hammer's method was simple and crude.
'Wouldn't smashing it in work just fine?'
DUANG!
The next second, a massive hammering sound rang out.
With a single strike, Hammer forcibly smashed the Cloud Dial directly into the saber's hilt.
Instantly, the blade fused with the Iron Cloud.
"Mhm... as expected, there's nothing that can't be solved with one hammer strike. And if there is, then use two."
Hammer looked very pleased as he examined the newly fused saber.
Swish!
With a casual swing, the saber's blade became covered by Iron Cloud material. The blade instantly transformed into a giant white python that slashed forward.
"So it preserves the sword's original form, but can trigger the Iron Cloud to extend for attacks..."
"Transformation..."
For a while, Hammer played around with it enthusiastically. This shape-changing iron was simply too fun to use.
Once he'd had enough, Hammer casually tossed the Iron Cloud saber into his ring.
Then he took out another Cloud Dial.
This time, however, he didn't take out another weapon.
Instead, he directly released the Iron Cloud.
"What would happen if I forged the Iron Cloud itself directly?"
With that thought in mind, the hammering began.
DUANG!
A heavy metallic sound echoed across the surface of the Iron Cloud.
Under Hammer's strikes, the Iron Cloud trembled violently and began to cave inward slightly.
But Hammer had no intention of giving it time to recover its shape.
The Eight-Sided Hammer technique instantly activated.
Countless hammer strikes surrounded the Iron Cloud from all directions, beginning a new round of forging.
The thunderous noise and Hammer's shocking actions caused all the craftsmen in the factory to stop working and stare in his direction.
Under everyone's gaze, the Iron Cloud was gradually compressed.
Finally, beneath Hammer's ferocious hammering, the Iron Cloud was forged directly into a sphere.
[Ding! Material: Iron Cloud, a special Skypiea product. Ability Extension activated. It can now exist independently and no longer requires storage inside a Dial. Added assimilation and fusion capability. Can fuse and assimilate with ordinary steel, increasing hardness by 100% and volume by 100%. These properties will remain permanently. Note: Can only fuse with ordinary steel. Cannot fuse with special alloys.]
'Success!'
The long-awaited notification sound rang out once more, greatly satisfying Hammer.
Especially the 100% volume increase.
Originally, the Iron Cloud could extend only fifty meters. Now it instantly doubled to one hundred meters.
Its strategic value had increased tremendously.
Hammer released his hands from the forging stance and looked at the small Iron Cloud sphere in his hand.
Without being stored inside a Cloud Dial, the Iron Cloud looked no different from an ordinary cloud. It was practically weightless as well.
After all, it was still a cloud.
Hammer took out another saber and placed the Iron Cloud onto it.
An astonishing scene immediately unfolded.
The Iron Cloud slowly fused into the saber. Instantly, cloud-like patterns appeared across the blade.
As the cloud patterns spread, even the hilt became covered in them.
Even more surprisingly, the cloud patterns on the hilt formed a circular design, with a button-like ring at the center.
Curious, Hammer pressed the circle with his finger.
Instantly, the Iron Cloud burst from the blade and transformed once more into a white python shooting outward.
"A switch... without the Dial controlling it, it actually formed its own control mechanism instead. Pretty incredible."
The series of changes even surprised Hammer himself.
But more than surprise, he felt delight.
After all, this greatly improved the usability of Iron Clouds.
"Iron Clouds can be used like this?"
"What kind of method is this?"
The workshop leader from earlier had long since entered Hammer's forging room. Watching the miracle before him, he was completely stunned.
"Just forging."
There was no way Hammer would reveal his ability.
It was enough that the gluttons at Marine Headquarters knew about it. The fewer outsiders who knew, the better.
Under the stunned gazes of the craftsmen, Hammer directly left the factory.
.....
"Hey, Lance! Back yet?"
After leaving the factory, Hammer immediately returned to the Warhammer.
Now that Iron Clouds had undergone a breakthrough, the other Dials should also be improvable through his abilities.
He was already getting impatient.
"Been back for a while. Look, all the Dials you bought are over there."
"Great! You're off duty. Take the soldiers and enjoy the scenery of Skypiea. Oh right, what about the Slash Dials?"
"Gan Fall said those are part of Angel Island's defensive force, so they can't be sold to you."
"Forget it. Makes no difference whether I have them or not. Go relax. Don't bother me unless it's important."
Hah, hearing that, Lance felt like the sun had risen from the west.
But he quickly realized Hammer must have discovered something amazing if he was too distracted to boss him around.
"Alright, just be careful. Most importantly, don't blow up the ship."
Thinking about the spiral flames from before, Lance still had lingering fear and couldn't help but warn him.
Hammer: '...I already said that was an accident!'
For the next several days, Hammer remained in his forging room experimenting nonstop.
He discovered that aside from Iron Clouds, the other Dials couldn't undergo deep forging like Iron Clouds could.
After all, most of them didn't possess physical forms like Iron Clouds.
Take Wind Dials for example.
They stored wind inside the shell and released it when needed.
Once released, it was just ordinary wind.
How the hell was he supposed to forge that?
But being unable to forge them didn't mean the Dials were useless.
Using memories from his previous life, Hammer turned Flame Dials into flamethrowers.
He turned Flash Dials into dual pistols.
Among them, the Flash Dial intrigued Hammer the most. Since the shell stored light energy, he couldn't help but compare it to Light Crystals.
After comparison, he discovered the two were incomparable.
The light energy stored by the Dial was merely ordinary light, and its storage capacity was limited.
It couldn't compress the light energy, nor could it generate overwhelming destructive power.
Even when made into firearms, the lethality remained extremely limited.
There was no way it could compare to Monkey's laser beams.
And all these creations were made entirely according to Hammer's memories, without any issues at all.
But Hammer wasn't satisfied.
What he wanted was innovation.
Stronger equipment.