Seeing the flame from a distance, Felix couldn’t help but ask, "You are working with that flame all year around?"

Chris replied in a clear voice, "As long as you don’t work with it, you’ll be fine." He pointed at the two smaller furnaces next to the giant one, and added, "You will be working on these. As for the heat, it will be bothersome in the beginning, but if you’re lucky you will get a Fire Resistance skill."

At the mention of skill, Felix immediately perked up as he asked, "How do I do that?"

Chris snorted, "To get Fire Resistance, you need to be under strenuous effort in a strong heat for a long enough time. The time it takes to appear varies from one to the other. But it takes at least days for the fastest, so don’t worry about that for now."

The two arrived at the bottom of the cave, and Chris pointed at the small cabin as he said, "I’m going to show you the ropes, but first you need to change. You’ll ruin your clothes otherwise."

Felix did as he was told, and got into the cabin. There, hung a leather apron.

[Fire Resistant Apron, Semi-Fine, Level 10]

[Defence: +5]

[Lesser Fire Resistance: Fire damage reduced by 10]

Felix quickly put it on, and came back to the forging area. Chris showed an approving nod, and Felix asked, "So, what do we start with? Swords? Spears? Knives?"

This elicited a laugh from Chris who shook his head, "Of course not, I’m not wasting metal on you. Besides, a Blacksmith doesn’t only make weapons."

Felix pointed out, "But you only have weapons up there."

"That’s to catch the eyes of visitors. The bulk of my work is on smaller stuff, which anyone can buy. Tools, for example."

"So I’ll be making tools?"

Chris shrugged, "It will depend on your talent. But you’ll start with the easiest there is. Nails."

"Nails?"

Chris smiled, "Of course nails. Most people don’t fight monsters, so they don’t need a weapon. And even for those who do, they don’t need to change it every week. I do make weapons, but the bulk of my merchandise usually is utility stuff. Hammers, pincers, nails. And of everything I make, nails are the easiest. You don’t need any technique other than smithing itself."

Felix watched as Chris grabbed a hammer that looked like it was made of silver, although Felix’s bare understanding of metals and smithing told him that making a hammer out of silver would not be the brightest of ideas.

But this was a magical world, so it might as well be.

Chris grabbed a long and thin iron bar from one of the smaller forges, its tip was a scalding white, and he started hammering it.

Each time he hit the iron, sparks would fly out, which he promptly ignored as he explained, "Each hit is important, as you must give your metal its proper shape as soon as possible. Each time you heat up your metal, you increase the chances of microfractures appearing on your tool."

Quickly, one end of the iron bar was thinned out.

"Now, I have to straighten it up, and then I will have to cut it off before putting a head on it."

The nail was straightened, cut off and a head was hammered on the back. Chris then shoved it into water and said, "Once you have the shape you want, you quench it. This is to rapidly decrease the temperature and avoid having your tool change shape as it cools down."

Then, he took the nail out of the water, and showed it to Felix, "There you go, a nail was made. Come on, your turn now."

Felix asked in surprise, expecting to watch Chris a few more times to properly grasp the technique, "Right now? Already?"

Chris threw the nail into a nearby box and patted his shoulder as he insisted, "Yes, now."

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Felix scratched the back of his head while walking to the forge himself. He was a bit nervous, but he had a job to do. Besides, this was better than most players, who were probably dying in droves to the monsters.

It wasn’t the same hunting in a VR game, and actually having to fight themselves in Epoch. For better or worse, fighting in Epoch was the same as fighting in real life, excluding magic that is.

Felix grabbed the gloves next to the forge, and doing so realized something absurd. Chris wasn’t wearing them. Of course, the man was a Level 12 Elite, and he probably had a better than average Vitality.

Still, Felix was convinced this had to do with the Fire Resistance Skill Chris had talked about.

With a new sense of the benefits working in this forge might earn him, Felix took an iron bar, and placed it into the forge. Despite not being as hot as the main forge, this fire seemed hotter than average fire as in less than a minute, the tip of the iron turned white.

Then, for his first try at smithing, Felix… failed.

"You took the iron out too early." Chris commented from behind.

Felix nodded, and put the rest of the iron bar back into the forge.

Felix expected to keep failing for a while, and fully prepared himself for it. And he did fail a few times. Few being the key word.

Chris intended to watch over Felix for a while, making sure he wasn’t going to harm himself, before leaving to do his own thing. However, much to his surprise, Felix’s eighth try actually ended up with success.

Felix half expected for there to be a notification of the system congratulating him, but there wasn’t. Still, it did not hamper his joy at having made his first nail.

He quickly went for another, to see whether this was a lucky shot, but he succeeded again.

Chris queried, "You never did this before?"

Felix shook his head, and Chris mused, "Quite the fast learner then… I guess I can leave you be then. I’ll come back from time to time to check on your progress, but until then, hammer away."

As he resumed his smithing, Felix found it easier and easier to work as he went through the iron bars. By the fifth one, that is more or less 20 nails, Felix had thoroughly learned the technique, and was no longer failing on any nails.

Under the heat of the forge and the constant effort, time seemed to wrap as Felix discovered an unexpected passion for his work. Even as his arms started burning from the continuous, harsh effort, and sweat permeated his entire body, Felix kept hammering, until a notification from the system appeared.

[Strength +1!]

Felix paused at the unexpected gain. He expected Stat Points to only be accessible through levels, so this was a nice surprise. It did nothing to lessen the burden on his arms, but Felix kept hammering nonetheless.

A few hours passed by, during which Felix managed to get another point in Strength, as well as one in Vitality. Unfortunately, in the end, he had to stop, as even with all the willpower in the world, he couldn’t raise his arms anymore.

Chris, who had left earlier to work on his own, came back not long after Felix stopped, likely because he did not hear the hammer striking the metal anymore. He took a brief look at Felix’s work, before eventually uttering, "Good job. Better than I expected."

Felix, whose arms were dropping limp, showed a small smile as he replied, "Thanks."

Chris nodded, and walked in front of Felix to say, "You have proved yourself enough. Do you accept to become a Blacksmith?"

[Do you wish to take ‘Blacksmith’ as your Profession?]

Felix felt quite excited at the prompt, but he reigned it in and did not immediately accept, and instead asked, "Aren’t you a Runesmith? Can’t I become one?"

Chris scratched his thick beard and said, "Well, you can become one right now. But it would be easier to go the normal way. That is, becoming a Blacksmith first, and transitioning into a Runesmith when you get skilled enough."

"How do I become a Runesmith right away? And does it have any benefits?"

"To become a Blacksmith, you must either be accepted by another Blacksmith, or prove yourself to the system, generally by crafting a Common Item. As for Runesmith, you can only become one by proving yourself to the system, and crafting any Fine Item. In terms of benefits, I guess you would be saving time and experience by becoming a Runesmith first."

"Common? Fine? Is that the way the system grades items? What about Semi-Fine?" he asked, pointing at his apron.

Chris nodded and explained, "That’s right. But it’s a bit of a heavy subject, and it doesn’t concern you for now. I wouldn’t want to drown you in information, and for you to forget about it all in an hour, would I?"

Felix smiled, not bothering to defend his intellect.

"Common, Uncommon and Fine. Those are the three first rarities for items. Common and Uncommon items are not imbued with any kind of magic, and can be created through mundane means. Blacksmithing, for example."

"Then, items of a Fine quality or above have magic?"

"Exactly. However, for an item to be classified as Fine or anything higher, both the medium and the enchantment need to be at that level. Otherwise, it will be classified as Semi, just like that apron. Have you noticed the runes on the inside?"

Felix nodded, he had when he put it on.

"Those are the enchantments. They give whoever wears the apron a Lesser Fire Resistance. It is a Fine Quality Enchantment. However, because the apron itself is only Common Quality, it is classified as Semi-Fine. Still following?"

Felix nodded, again.

Chris continued, "It also works the other way around, if you have a Fine Quality medium, but no enchantment, as there are no Common or Uncommon Quality enchantments, then you have a Semi-Fine Item."

"So only if both medium and enchantment are at the same level will the item get that rank. Otherwise, it gets the Semi rank of its highest quality. Got it."

"Yes. So to go back to your original question, you can become a Runesmith, but to do so you would need to craft a Fine Item, meaning you must not only raise your Blacksmith Proficiency to a good enough level without taking it as your job, you also need to learn Enchantment."

Crossing his arms, Felix asked doubtfully, "Is there any reason to do that then? From the way you described the process, it doesn’t sound like I would be saving any time. I would be wasting some instead, if taking Blacksmith as a job makes improving it easier, as you seem to be hinting at."

Chris smiled and nodded, "You catch on quick. Yes, becoming a System accepted Blacksmith changes things, as you will gain some level of assistance from it in your work. As a result, improving your proficiency level would be easier. However, there is something you would lose."

Hanging onto Chris’ words, Felix urged him, "What is it?"

Chris chuckled, "The very essence of crafting, creativity. While the System helps, it also restricts you. Relying too much on the System would turn your work… well, systemic. The good part will be stability, but a Blacksmith, or a Runesmith, should not settle on making a thousand average pieces a day, but rather one excellent item.

"So in the end, it all depends on the time you are ready to throw into training this skill, and what your ambitions are."