Well I’m excited my birthday is past and tomorrow I will start my training in blacksmithing with the main blacksmith of the town, he is a 50 year old grandfather, and the chief who inherited the smithy along with his 2 brothers, I asked if his family like mine had lost a lot of people in the army, but they had not, they are and have been for a long time a family of blacksmiths, the issue is that they tend to have 4 or 5 girls for every boy is born, Dina my maid is actually a granddaughter of Bartholomeus, oh and that is the name of the Blacksmith, Bartholomeus Smith.

I have been collecting a lot of info, and I gained a sculpting skill with all my efforts with the runic language, but while I’m close to getting what I want it is very complicated, I found out the words I need to craft the spells I want, but I still have not found the right combination of them or maybe I’m still missing some auxiliary words, in any case I have been studying this for a year and finally I can sort of see how I can make the sewer system a reality.

On another inquiry of mine, the Demonic Bite, I have talked to all of the people affected by it in the household, I even talked with some people affected by it in the city, Bartholomeus was also affected, and the belief is that it is a curse, it brings down your skill level down in almost all cases down to 1, some people have been able to level it up again but it is harder, I have been looking for the cause, at least in the military and people like my dad, it happens either during battle or after the battle, most of the people that this happen during battle end up wounded heavily or dead, I have talked with this soldier and you can see the depression in their eyes.

Others that have ended up suffering from the Bite, craftsmen and other professions tell me it happen when they are working, a lot of them end up depressed so getting details on exactly when it happen is difficult, a lot of them find out that it happen to them because things become harder to make, I have to do some tests before I can reach a conclusion.

On my own training, my magic skills have been leveling up nicely I have been practicing my basic spells augmented by my own method, and this seems weird to me, why is it so easy to level it up, it has only been around a year and a half since I started practicing and the skill are all around level 50, some a bit higher than that others a bit lower, sadly it takes time and it is exhausting to practice magic you feel really weary and the mental fatigue is huge, so I do my magic practice as the last activity of the day with all my brothers, follow by meditation and then it is bedtime.

Well time to go to bed, my schedule at least from now on its going to be some swordsmanship practice with my dad in the early morning, we will start lessons in 2 or 3 days my dad right now is busy with an emergency in the fief, looks like some farms were attacked by goblins, and he went to help and find out the little green pests like he calls them, so I’ll have to wait for him to come back before we start, after my swordsmanship practice I will have to go to the blacksmith for lessons and practice, till the afternoon, then come back to the house to spend some times with the battalion of kids, all my mothers insisted on this, then I will have some time before dinner to study whatever I want, and after dinner is magic practice and meditation, then bed.

After having a good sleep I woke up early and I went out for a run around the gardens, I have been doing this since a while ago to get in the routine of doing physical exercise in the morning that way when I start swordsmanship my body won’t take it so badly, after that I eat some breakfast, my dad has not arrived yet, so my mom was at the head of the table and doing all the assignments, my older brother Gunnar had already left for the academy, Emily, Diana, and Nestor were all surprised that I was going to start my apprenticeship.

- Mom I want to start an apprenticeship too – Says Diana

- Me too – Both Emily and Nestor.

- No kids, you cannot start your apprenticeship until you are at least 10 years old, for you Diana that means next year since you are 9 right now – Says my mom.

- Then why is he starting one – Ask Nestor.

- Mostly because he is ready, he already finished all the basic schooling and he has moved to subjects that are a bit higher level, you know he has access to the main library, he can start his training now, you have not finish your basic studies yet – Says my third mom to her son.

- MOM! You taught him everything in 2 years? – Ask Diane.

- No sweetie, He learned everything in 1 year, the second year I have been teaching him mostly arts, sculpting, painting and playing some musical instruments, I did try to give him as much as I could since I knew that once he hit 6 he was going to start his more physical training – Says my third mom.

- You know I intend to continue practicing those, they are fun – I tell my third mom from my corner.

Diana snaps her head towards me and looks at me like if I’m a monster.

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- This is what you mean when you said his blessing will make things awkward if he does not play regularly with other people his age? – ask Caroline, my oldest sister who is 13 and in a year will go to the academy.

- Yeah he can learn faster, and focus on the lessons properly so he can advance very fast, we had to make specialized classes for him to advance at his own pace, at the same time, if we let him he will bury himself in the library and never come out, so he has to go out and play. – Says my mom

My older sister laughs, and I see my other brothers and sisters are more calm, and they know that this is not special treatment, because at the end of the day everybody receives some kind of special treatment specially if they have a special ability, I heard my brother Albert was born with better eyesight and they gave him special lessons for it and even his weapon is different, him being an Archer just like uncle Richard.

After this breakfast I go down to the city, is a very short ride and in less than half an hour I’m at the smithy, I see the entrance but this is not the customer entrance but the back entrance where the carts of ores come and dump their loads, I can see a lot of people working and I see several smelters, forges and workstations, most of them are in use, I finally see Dina’s grandfather and he is just putting his work apron, I come close.

- Good Morning Mr. Bartholomeus – I say

- Good morning Carter – He says – I will be your teacher, mostly because Dina and your father both asked me to be, they say you will be able to learn, also call me Bart, or if you want Grandpa Bart, calling me Mr. Bartholomeus is just too much of a mouthful.

He moves and we comes towards one of the forges.

- Let me teach you how to light a forge, you will be in charge of the bellows, and you will do this for the foreseeable future you will also see what I’m doing and listen to what I will tell you, once you have more knowledge and more strength on your arms we will start with other techniques like hammering and wire pulling, and we will see what we are going to do. – He says very seriously and before I can talk he continues.

- Also one of your mothers told me that you already know why the bellows are needed on the forge so I won’t give you that lesson, she also told me you can manipulate wind mana and fire mana, for now and until I tell you, do not manipulate mana, forging when mana is involved is harder and we are not producing magical products yet. – After saying this Bartholomeus looks at me, like he is expecting something.

At this time I think that we most probably are going to be producing normal tools and other consumables for the foreseeable future.

- If you have a question, ask – he tells me.

- So what are we going to make? – I ask, just to confirm my suspicions.

- Good question, not asking about weapons, that is good, there are more things that we do in a smithy than make weapons, we make cutlery, pots, pans, plows, metal wire, fences, doorknobs, buckets, horseshoes, lumberjack axes and anything else that is required by the citizens, some products are fine to produce plenty because they wear down and people need to replace them, others we only make when they are requested – at this point I see him smile – and last the bane of all apprentice blacksmith, we make Nails, lots and lots and lots of nails, once you are strong enough to start forging that will most probably be your first assignment, Nails.

At this point he goes and starts the forge, while talking to me about what to do and what not to do, then he tells me to start using the bellows, and teaches me a way of breathing and pushing the bellows that takes less effort and makes it easier, even with this after 2 hours I’m just wiped out, he made some pots that he is going to put for sale on the front room, then after an hour he tells me.

- Well it was a good effort and you lasted the same time as any other apprentice on their first day, that is impressive, I have let you rest for the last hour, now let me teach you how to shut down the forge and clean it for the next day, a clean forge will make it so that you have less issues with your products on the long run – he says

- Why did you say it was impressive if I only lasted the same as the other apprentices? - I ask confused.

- Well because every other apprentice that comes is at least 10 years old, you are only 6, lasting the same amount of time while being 4 years younger, is impressive. – I see the smile on his face.

After this we go towards his house that is next door to the smithy, I know that from now on I will be eating lunch with them, I felt a bit self-conscious about it, we arrive and I see something unexpected.

- Dina!!! What are you doing here? – I ask surprised.

- I came here to help my mother prepare some food, according to your mothers I should come and spend time home while the young lord has lessons with grandpa – she says smiling.

- Please Dina just call me Carter, how many times I have asked you that? – I say to her embarrassed that she is calling me young lord in front of her family.

Also her mother is impressive, tall with a head full of brown hair, that goes down to her waist, very nice hips and very large breasts, Dina is barely twelve and has just started her puberty, but if she follow her mother figure she will also be a very beautiful woman, also she ignores what I just said and goes back to the kitchen.

- She will mellow at one point, well my name is Emily Smith, and I’m one of Dina’s mothers I usually stay at home and take care of things here at the house, you are welcome and from what Selene told me you will be having lunch with us from now on.

- Yeah but I don’t think this will be necessary, we already turned off the forge, and I’m tired after pushing the bellows, I think I should return home. – I say

- No, you won’t be going back home yet, you will after lunch sit in the living room and read books about basic knowledge about blacksmithing, we have some books, about how to recognize ores and other technical stuff that you will need to learn, at this point in time while you cannot physically use the forge is the best time for you to fill your brain with what you need to know – Says Bart from his seat.

I had nothing to say to that, so I stayed quiet and waited, Dina was really happy talking to her mom, and preparing food, A little bit later, they serve us a very nice lunch that I feel is made to restore the strength to my tired limbs, after this I go into the living room and I see the books he told me, I start reading them and I see it is information that will help, some of it I recognize from some of my memories, but the great majority is new to me, the books are also not very big, it will take time to learn them but I should be done with them soon.

After Studying for a bit, Bart says enough, and sends us back, Dina and myself go towards our household and when I arrive my younger sister Karina comes and gives me a hug.

-You’re it. – She yells and then takes off running.

I look at Dina and well I’m not letting my Karina get away with it, so I start running after my sister and I see her coming close to the rest and they are getting away from her until she yells.

- Carter is it!!!.

At that point several of my cousins, brothers and sisters look at me and start running away, so a game of tag it is.