Studying at Western University starts with a knife-forging competition

When Xiao Li sent out the modeling file, it was already past nine o'clock at night in Longquan.

The factory machines had long since stopped, and after the daytime noise subsided, the entire building was so quiet that only the low hum of computer case fans could be heard.

He leaned back in the ergonomic chair, stretched his arms to relax, his knuckles clicked a few times, and the muscles at the back of his neck ached as if someone had pinched them.

He barely left the factory this past week. Every morning at eight o'clock, he would sit in front of the computer and, except for meals and bathroom breaks, would sit there all day.

Modeling is like this—you stare at the screen all day and the result is a sore neck, dry eyes, and a back that feels like it's been punched, but every time the progress bar moves forward a little, that feeling of "almost there" makes you reluctant to stand up.

He originally planned to make it by hand.

When Lin Yuan sent him the screenshot and size reference of the divine leather sewing needle, he opened it and glanced at it, thinking it was alright. It was just a rapier, the structure wasn't too outrageous. He first created a new project file and started drawing the basic shape of the sword guard based on the screenshot.

The main body of the sword guard is a constricted hollow truncated cone, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with concentric stepped patterns on the inner wall—this isn't difficult; it can be achieved by rotating it into shape and then creating a ring array. What truly gave him a headache was the curved handguard extending from the bottom of the sword guard.

The guard curves out from one side of the hilt, extending parallel to the grip and ending below the counterweight. It has a slender shape with an elliptical cross-section, and the curvature gradually changes from the base to the tip.

He tried manually adjusting the curves for two hours, but the result looked awkward no matter how he looked at it—the curves were either too steep or too flat, and it just didn't quite match the feeling in the game screenshots.

He spun around in his chair twice, stared at the crooked gauntlet model on the screen for a long time, and then made a decision: to find the game's unpacked files.

He had played the game Elden Ring and knew that not long after the PC version was released, someone had unpacked the models and extracted all the weapon, equipment, and scene models from the game.

He opened his browser, searched through several game modeling forums he frequented, and quickly found the original model file for Shenpi Sewing Needle.

He breathed a sigh of relief after downloading it.

The unpacked files are not very precise. Many details are represented by normal maps in the game engine, and the geometry of the original model is actually quite rough.

But at least it gave him a precise reference—the curvature of the handguard, the torsion angle of the six spiral grooves on the counterweight ball, and the spacing and depth of the stepped patterns on the inner wall of the sword guard. These key data no longer needed to be guessed from screenshots.

He imported the unpacked file into the modeling software, placed it on the reference layer, and then began rebuilding from scratch.

The model structure in the unpacked file is optimized by the game engine. Many parts use simplified models, and if you directly print it in 3D, it will look very fleshy and the details will be blurred.

What he needs to do is to retopologically recreate the original shape, making the necessary ridges clear, sharp where they should be, and rounded where they should be.

The stepped patterns on the sword guard were almost flat in the unpacked file, relying entirely on textures to make it look presentable. He used calipers to measure the visual proportions of the patterns in the screenshot, and remodeled each pattern one by one, controlling the height difference of each step within the precision range that the printer could distinguish.

The curved handguards are the most frustrating part. The unpacked files provide a reference for the curvature, but while that curvature looks good in the game, it might not feel comfortable in real life.

He repeatedly adjusted the control points of the curve, exporting a sample data after each adjustment and sending it to Lin Yuan for confirmation. Lin Yuan reviewed it and provided two feedback suggestions. On the third time, he finally replied with "OK".

The six spiral grooves on the counterweight ball also took a whole day to complete. The curvature of the groove bottom is gradual, becoming shallower as it goes down from the top of the ball, and then tapers into a sharp angle at the tip.

He used lofted surfaces to create the grooves one by one. After completing the first groove, he used a circular array to copy the remaining five grooves. Then he checked the transition of each groove one by one to see if it was smooth. Two of them had their starting positions off by a few tenths of a millimeter, so he deleted them and redid them.

The segmented decorative rings on the grip didn't require much effort.

The unpacked files show that the grip surface has segmented textures in concentric rings, with fine woven reliefs embedded between each segment. He precisely modeled the width and spacing of the segmented rings according to the dimensions provided by Lin Yuan, and used texture mapping to create a raised effect for the woven texture. After printing, the surface will have a delicate textured feel, eliminating the need for further hand carving.

On the last day, he performed an assembly inspection of the sword blade and fittings.

Assemble the sword guard, handguard, grip, and counterweight together, and confirm that the tolerances of each mating surface are within acceptable limits.

The mounting holes at the end of the handguard and the fixing screws on the counterweight ball must match, and the through hole in the center of the sword blade must fit perfectly with the diamond-shaped cross-section of the sword blank.

He marked more than a dozen tolerance requirements on the assembly drawing, checked it twice, and only started exporting the print file after confirming that there were no problems.

The moment the file was sent, he slumped back in his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling for half a minute. The email attachment was nearly a gigabyte in size, and the progress bar took a while to show that it had been sent successfully.

He picked up his phone from the table and sent a message to Lin Yuan: "Brother Yuan, I've sent the modeling file to your email. The attachment is a bit large, so it might take a while to download. Please check it."

Less than three minutes after the message was sent, Lin Yuan replied: "Received. Thanks for your hard work."

Then came another message: "By the way, the $1,000 bonus I promised you has been deposited into your salary account. Please check it."

Xiao Li sprang up from his chair and checked his mobile banking app. His account balance had increased, and after converting it to RMB, the zeros at the end of the number made his grin spread from ear to ear. One thousand US dollars, which, at the current exchange rate, was over seven thousand RMB.

He works in Longquan, and this amount is equivalent to more than half a month's salary for him, and it's a pure bonus, not included in his monthly salary.

He happily took a screenshot, not daring to post it on WeChat Moments, but saved it to his phone's photo album, planning to look at it slowly when he got home that night. This added another layer to his 5090 yuan budget.

Then Lin Yuan's third message came in: "The latest episode of the sword-forging competition has aired, including the one with me. There's a raw version available on the video website; you should be able to understand it. You can watch it when you have time."

Xiao Li froze for a moment, then abruptly stood up from his chair, which slid back half a meter and bumped into the filing cabinet behind him. He'd been so focused on modeling these past few days that he'd completely forgotten about the program's broadcast time Lin Yuan had mentioned.

He quickly switched to his browser and searched for keywords on the video website. The latest episode had a prominent "NEW" label in front of its title, and it was uploaded a few hours ago.

He hesitated for a moment before clicking, and went to the bathroom to wash his face first. It wasn't that he was nervous, but he felt that he couldn't look at something so important while looking disheveled. Although he had been disheveled for a whole week, whether he washed his face or not didn't really make much difference.

He held his breath the moment the video loaded.

The show begins with the host introducing the contestants and the episode's topic. The camera pans across four workstations, and Xiao Li immediately recognizes Lin Yuan from the crowd.

When the question appeared on the big screen, Xiao Li paused the video and carefully read the requirements: Damascus steel, four hours, no restrictions on blade type but a length limit.

Although he wasn't a swordsmith, having worked with Lin Yuan for so long, he knew a little about the basics of forging. He understood Damascus steel—it's made by repeatedly forging different types of steel together to create a patterned blade. Four hours to make a rough blank for a Damascus steel knife was a tight schedule, but not impossible.

He pressed play.

The camera cuts to Lin Yuan's workstation. Xiao Li sees him take a forging hammer out of a leather tool bag. The hammerhead has a fire dragon emblem on it, which gleams dullly under the camera lights.

He laid out the pliers, steel brush, and angle ruler in order on his workstation, placing each item in the most convenient position. His movements were not fast, but each action was crisp and clean, without any unnecessary back and forth.

Then came the material selection. Eleven steel plates, 1084 and 15N20, were stacked alternately. Xiao Li noticed that his stacking order was different from the conventional method—the mild steel was in the middle, the hard steel on both sides, and the outermost layer was wrapped with another layer of hard steel. He took a screenshot with his phone, planning to think about the significance of this structure later when he had time.

Welding, furnace feeding, ignition. Lin Yuan stood in front of the forging furnace, watching the changes in the flame color. Xiao Li could feel that focus even through the screen—he wasn't waiting for the steel billet to heat up, but waiting for that "just right" moment.

When the steel billet came out of the furnace, Xiao Li unconsciously leaned forward.

Xiao Li had seen Lin Yuan forging knives at the Longquan factory, but that was several years ago. At that time, Lin Yuan was only a teenager, and he had to stand on tiptoe to swing the hammer properly in front of the anvil.

The person on the screen now holds the hammer as an extension of his body, not as a tool, but as an extension of his arm.

Forging. Nearly three thousand layers stacked, four complete forging processes, combined with water forging techniques using steam to blast away the oxide scale on the forged and welded surfaces. Xiao Li watched with his mouth slightly agape, forgetting to close it.

He wasn't unfamiliar with complex forging techniques; many of the traditional swordsmiths in Longquan had even more traditional skills. However, most of those masters no longer personally worked on the craft, and the few who were still capable were all over sixty.

Lin Yuan is only twenty years old.