After waiting for another hour or so, Theodore stepped out of his cabin along with two other dwarves and stared at the participants.
“Let us begin.” He roared. The some players raised their hammers and forging equipment like warriors and cheered back in agreement. Almost simultaneously, all participants received a pop up window;
TRRRINNGGG!
Theodore’s Test is about to begin!
Follow Theodore to the testing grounds!
Theodore smiled and began descending the cabin stairs. Players who had crowded around the cabin moved away to give the three dwarves space to lead the way. The army of blacksmiths crossed headed east till they reached the eastern face of the North Mountain Pass Range. At the foot of the mountain, near the edge of the forest; stood about twenty dwarves holding shields and spears. They stood in a circle as if they were protecting someone behind their backs. As they saw Theodore, they moved away to reveal next to their feet a freshly dug up hole. Theodore began descending towards the dwarf guards and the players followed. The players noticed as they climbed down the odd innumerable number of holes and pits dug in the ground; the dwarves were a sneaky bunch they thought. They must have prepared the other dead end holes as decoys to throw of strangers. Only one player thought otherwise…he just happened to be the very person who had dug all the holes on the eastern face of this mountain.
After talking to the guards, Theodore jumped down the hole. Players were getting excited; all the previous competitions were held out in the open this one appeared to be special. With guards protecting the entrance and checks to ensure only participants were allowed inside. The audience which had followed the group complained and whined that they could not follow further, some were plain jealous that the blacksmiths were receiving access to a new hidden area.
The hole was no more than 7 feet deep and 3 feet wide. The hole opened up to a tiny passage, just wide enough for one person. Lit up by a flaming torches every hundred feet, barely helped the players as they stumbled and fumbled while marching in a single file. With no ventilation shafts in sight given the large number of people, one would have expected to players suffocate. Oddly the ventilation was perfect. Nobody noticed these small details, except for Weed who paid attention to every little detail before him.
The players began whispering to each other wondering where was it that they were being taken. Never before did any of the previous tests / competitions to be an apprentice have such heavy security deployment. Nor was there ever a secret tunnel that they walked through to get to the competition grounds. Were these signs of wars brewing? Players wondered as they quietly followed Theodore.
The tiny passage began becoming wider and wider. The soil footpath was replaced with rugged mats and then marble flooring. The walls too changed from soil and rocks to, brick shaped stones.
“This is a Dwarven City! We are going to a dwarven city!” someone exclaimed as players took notice of the changing surrounding.
Everyone was excited, this was turning out to be more than a shortcut to learn dwarvish blacksmithing skills. For most players, the only way to visit a dwarf city is to go to the next Air Kingdom City, Skyholm. There were rumors of a dwarf city near the Northern Mountain range, but no one had been able to find it.
The passage opened up into a large hall with hundreds of tall white pillars towering into the air…Players followed them with their eyes only to see darkness. So high was the ceiling, that the players could not see it!
Theodore faced the players now and spoke, “Welcome to the practice forging halls of the North Mountain Range City.”
Murmurs broke out amongst the audience; this was indeed the Northern Mountain Range City.
“The competition will take place in three stages; I will declare what you must make each round and I will also judge the pieces forged. I will decide when the time is up and how many participants will be allowed to the next round. Any questions?”
One of the human players in the crowd shouted out, “How can we make something if we don’t know how long we have?” It was a reasonable question given that players would need to plan before forging. If they made something too quickly, then it might lack detail and defeat was granted. Forge something that required too much time and suffer from disqualification for not completing the piece on time.
Theodore looked at the human and smiled. He knew each and every participant here. The one who spoke up was in particular a whiner. “Figure it out Weyland; my competition, my rules. If you don’t like it too bad, you’re welcome to give up!”
Weyland looked around for support but finding none to back him quickly shut him up. Theodore had always been fickle when it came to the second tests rules. There was nothing rigid about them. The tests were always different and always came with their own twists and turns.
“Are there any penalties?” asked another human player. Weed was surprised there would be penalties in a test like this. However, those who participated before knew that Theodore would never say it but would eventually disclose penalties as the round neared the end.
Theodore scowled, he enjoyed springing up penalties in the last few minutes to scare the players. He was just deprived of that joy, he mentally noted to fail Skeeth for ruining his surprise. The apprentices who were hidden away in the crowd sighed. If they had learnt one thing about Theodore through numerous participations, it was that you never ruin his fun.
“Yes, there are penalties. If you are disqualified you shall not be able to return to Northern Mountain Range City for the next one year. We dwarves are proud of our work, that is why we must be strict with our training.”
Players wanted to argue back but none dared to. Theodore was known for being ruthless and unreasonable in his tests. While some players cribbed about the severe penalty, it helped others decide that completing the item was more important than detailing. Most players here didn’t come here to win anyways, so they decided it was best not to be penalized.
“At the base of each pillar, you will find a forge set up.” Theodore pointed in the direction of a dwarf guard who stood beside a pillar. At Theodore cue, he removed a small latch and opened a small window. From outside the pillars appeared to be sturdy pieces which supported the ceiling however they were empty from inside and served as chimneys. You will be provided with all equipment and necessary ores for the first round. Everyone please take your positions near a forge.”
Players quietly made their way to a stove. Everyone had taken the weapons license test and found this very similar. As they walked, their footsteps echoed across the ridiculously gigantic hall; no one dared to talk or whisper, in the fear that they would be heard. A single pillar was at least 3 meters in radius and the furnace was heated from the inside with magma. Ideally, better the heating conditions better the item forged. Magma was considered as the most premium and ideal heat source for blacksmithing. Many participants had never worked with such a forge before. It was because magma furnaces were only found in dwarven cities or in the forges of fire kingdom.
Once everyone one was in their positions, Theodore spoke again. “Let us finally begin the last apprentice test. The first task is to build a useful item!”
TRRRINNGG!
First Task – “The first task is to build a useful item!”
The blacksmiths were relieved; it was a rather simple task. However some players had doubts, the task was too vague to refer to for guidance and clues, this was also level C quest. It could never be something so simple. Those who thought simplistically went with forging a sword. Apart from being something every adventurer needs, it also happened to be something that they were most well versed in making. Most blacksmiths practiced forging swords as they could be sold off to players later at a reasonable price; two birds one stone.
Players took out their forging equipment from the bags provided to them, basic hammer and basic molds etc. It appeared to be a test of skill rather than creativity. Those who had advanced their level far enough in one month’s practice smiled away gleefully, this round was in the bag. Those who didn’t groaned in pity.
Ores were placed in common areas accessible to all. There were three types of ores available in this round. Firstly there was the Iron pile, the most commonly available ore. There was a smaller pile of silvery metal, Mithril, a very rare type of ore. Lastly, a black pile of ore which nobody was able to identify.
At once most players rushed towards the Mithril and grabbed however much of it they could. They had never been able to use it as a raw material, so this was a good chance for leveling up their skills using rare materials. As the pile of Mithril ran out, some dwarves came running along and poured more mithril on the common area. Some players rushed again to collect some more mithril, this time to pocket some for themselves. Most players stuffed their inventory with mithril. When Weed saw players pocketing the ore for themselves, Weed cursed his luck for being an elf. Precious ore that could rarely be found was laying here in front of him for free and he lacked the ability to carry it lest he wished to be slowed down.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Weed stared at the three piles of ores in front of him, mithril was the most alluring of the three. Weed was really tempted to use it, but since he had never done so before, he let go of the opportunity to do so. Weed then pensively stared at the black unknown ore. It could be the wild trump card, Weed thought to himself. However, this too was something he had never worked with before, the risks were too high. Weed finally picked up iron ore and left with it. Thor had been silently observing Weed, picked up mithril and headed back to his stove. Cynbel, picked up mithril and iron after seeing Thor’s selection. Neither of the players was interested in pocketing mithril for themselves, it wasn’t what they were here for. Pallidus stared at the pile for a while and went with iron ore as well. When everyone had headed back to their stoves, a female human participant in the far corner of the hall made her way to the ore pile.
Some players snorted, one person out of the competition; time was of the essence. While others were hammering away, the woman stared at the pile before making her selection. Nobody but Cynbel who was closest to her, noticed she took all three types of ores.
Weed began with what he had learned; melting and refining. Though he was still not very good with elemental control, Weed devised a method which best suited him. He would melt the ore in the furnace and then pass it through filters. The crucial difference being, he would apply earth element during the refining process.
Training under Tizen had been arduous. However, based from what Weed saw, he realized, that elemental control was a matter of concentration and imagination. He had to mentally visualize the liquid ore and then sense each and every speck of impurity and imagine it being pulled away byy a mysterious force. Though mana was abundant, given his low mana conversion stat, the entire exercise put a huge strain on Weed’s stamina.
All the participants around Weed were dwarvish blacksmiths, they snickered away as they saw Weed using advance blacksmithing to refine the ore. ‘One less person to worry about’ they thought to themselves.
Once finished with the refining of the ore, Weed began with molding the knife. Weed concentrated as hard as he could on making a knife. On what it would look like, on the fact it would be strong and sharp, and on the idea of it being useful. He had learned earlier that concentration was vital to getting better pieces and that they would be closer to what he wanted.
Time was ticking away, most players who had taken mithril to work with were seen running back to the ore pile and picking up iron ore. Their creations with mithril had turned into disaster. Mithril was a high level ore and required knowledge and skill to be used. Simply, having a high level in blacksmithing did not provide qualification to be able to use any material or technique. Practice and understanding were important elements as well. Weed was painfully aware of this. Even though he could use elemental blacksmithing, he could not use it. It was also illustrated with repairing of the shield, high skill level or points in a stat didn’t guarantee the desired outcome. Soon after, a wave of players who had selected the black unknown material returned to the pile of ores and chose iron. The black ore was too tough for them shape.
Weed smiled happily, he was happy he chose iron. It was a calculated decision he had made. He had worked with it millions of times and knew each color and smell of it as if he were born and raised in a molten iron field.
As Weed worked he applied small quantities of affinity to the piece, a little fire and water, a little more earth and wind. He changed the compositions of the affinity applied based on the process he was at. When tempering, he would sprinkle water and control the smallest of droplets to fall as he wanted them too. When annealing, he would push the cool the wind at the rate he chose.
As the competition was in Air Kingdom, there were participants of either, Air or Earth affinity present only. Weed was in the minority group of neutral, life and force. Majority of the players were primary elemental users. The elemental users were unmatched to neutral users when it came to applying their elements in dwarvish blacksmithing. However, they had an uneven technique where they could only improved one affinity. Though, other blacksmiths had been practicing dwarfish blacksmithing for a much longer period than Weed and had better elemental control, in the end, they were not like Weed or the other neutrals who had uniform control over the elements.
Weed was at dwarvish blacksmithing beginner level 3. This forging progress was worse than a snail. Since, Weed understood his limitations; he intentionally chose a small piece to work with.
TRRRINGG!
The Craftsmen’s Knife – Durability 250/250
Made through a strong desire for use and improvement, this knife never requires sharpening. Due to the elemental balance found in the blade there are some minor effects granted to the user. The fire makes the blade cut cleaner, the air helps it cut faster, the water smoother, and the earth gives it strength. The four elements are in harmony.
This knife will grant its user a +1 to the level of any crafting skill that it is being used for.
Restrictions: No Level Restriction, No Affinity Restriction, Only helps with crafting.
Having read the knife’s stats Weed thought that it had in fact turned out to be pretty useful. In fact it would probably help him with this competition. He put the knife on the table in front of his forge under the spot for task one.
Just as he did so, Theodore raised his hands. At once, players had to stop whatever they were doing and move away from the forge. About six players did not move away, and hurriedly scrambled to take their items out the forge, Theodore mercilessly disqualified them. Nobody showed pity for them, there was no room for cheaters in their hearts.
Then another fifty or so users, who had been pocketing mithril were disqualified on the grounds of stealing.
“You are here to forge something new, but you foolishly gave into your greed.” Theodore said as the thieving players were dragged away by guards. Their punishment didn’t end with just disqualification but also a one month imprisonment for stealing.
The group pleaded and begged for reconsideration. They called out for support and others to their help. Again nobody showed any pity, they were just happy that there were fewer people to compete with.
Theodore, began examining each weapon, one at a time. Many of those who had begun with mithril or the black unknown ore but later changed to iron ore were weeded out. Their items were of the poorest level of blacksmithing. They were just weapons or items in shape with no or little benefits. One hundred such participants were eliminated.
Pallidus looked at the remaining participants, ‘11’. He said counted under his breath. All twelve participants were still there, none of them had fallen to the vices. They were far too dedicated to blacksmithing to fall to such petty tricks. Mithril could only be forged by those who had the understanding and practice of it. And it was a known rule blacksmiths will never try to forge the unknown. It would be plain foolish to do so. The apprentices knew this and stuck with what they knew.
The items forged were then lined up for Theodore and each participant was requested to stand in front of their respective items. Most players had made swords although there were a few axes and even a spear. Those who stood beside Weed smirked; the elf was only capable of forging a tiny knife. It was only rightly for them to do so, as they had made these powerful high level weapons. Few blacksmiths were even able to add a little elemental property to it.
After examining each weapon carefully, Theodore looked at the group of remaining participants and smiled. “Well done. You all have shown you understand the basics of blacksmithing. It is now time for the second task, you must make me something unique, something that I have not seen.”
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Authors Note:
1. Edited by Knaivvs.
2. A special thanks to Twelve for co authoring this chapter and many more to come. I will be posting a lot more about this. :) Thanks mate, these chapters couldn't have happened without you.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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