Roan, Chloe, and I arrived at Roan's shop. He led us to a door that went to his living quarters and had us sit down at a table. He went over to his stove and lit a small fire before placing a kettle above it. He did all this without saying a word, leaving Chloe and me to sit awkwardly at the table. When he was done getting the kettle on the stove he came and sat down at the table with us.

"So let us hear the story of what happened to you this morning," Roan said in a serious tone.

"Well, do you want me to start at the beginning of my morning, or do you just want to know what happened at the forge?"

This got an eyebrow raise from Roan and he looked at me with curiosity apparent in his gaze.

"Something worth noting happened to you before the Forge then?"

"Yeah, today has already been pretty crazy, and it's not even lunchtime yet," I said before letting out a tired sigh.

"You can tell me about that later, for now, I just want to hear about what happened at my forge."

"Alright well, let me see where to start," I said while trying to figure out the best way to explain my story.

"Okay, the first thing I should do is add some context to what I'm about to tell you."

"I'm not from this world, I'm from a world called Earth."

"What do ya mean ya are not from this world?" Chloe said as she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Exactly what I said, I'm not from this world. I have no idea how I got here, all I know is that I ended up here on Erosia after I died."

Chloe looked at me in pure disbelief and shook her head.

"And how am I meant to believe something as far-fetched as that?"

Roan placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He is telling us the truth, he can not lie to me due to the oath he took during the rite of apprenticeship."

Chloe looked at me questioningly and I nodded at her as I showed her the mark on my arm.

"He's right Chloe, the moment I lie to him our bond will break."

She let out a soft huff and crossed her arms while looking at me.

"So, I'm not from Erosia, I don't know how I got here, but I do know this world. We had something like it on Earth. It was a game of sorts. I'm not sure what that really means yet, but I'm here in a world that resembles my favorite game. That's how I knew you, Roan, in the game you were my master. You really did teach me pretty much everything I know."

Roan looked down at his mark almost as if he were waiting for it to disappear. When he looked down at it I saw just how much damage his arms had taken while carrying me. It looked bad, parts of his skin were blackened. I don't know how he had carried me all that way while dealing with the pain. I would have to find a way to make it up to him.

When the mark didn't disappear Roan looked back up to me.

"Continue," he said in a flat tone.

I nodded and let out a soft sigh.

"So, I knew this world as a game, but things are different from the game I know. I didn't want to admit it but this morning I finally had to come to the realization that this isn't the game and that I really died and am now on a whole new world."

"The reason why I had to explain that this was a game on my world and the reason why I doubted if I was really here or in the game still, is because I still have access to parts of the game."

"Through this, I have abilities that are like magic, but also not."

"Is that how ya were able to heal so fast?" Chloe asked quietly.

"I think it is" I replied

She nodded and I continued my story.

"So these abilities, skills they're called. They let me do things that would otherwise be difficult. Roan, it's how I was able to craft all my tools and the axe in only a few days."

"I was wondering how you managed that," Roan said.

"Well, when we did the rite of apprenticeship and the Forge God left her mark on me, it upgraded some of my skills. The issue was, my body couldn't handle those upgraded skills."

"Before the Forge God helped me I could feel something wrong with my body, as if I had more energy than I could handle. I think that's what she used to reforge me."

"She had to reforge my body to accept the gifts she had given, that is what happened to me at the forge this morning. I tried to use one of my skills to help me with getting the forge temperature right then everything kinda just happened."

The kettle started to whistle. Roan got up from the table before grabbing three cups, he poured the hot water into the cups. He then grabbed a box and opened it, letting out the most fragrant tea smell I have ever experienced. He scooped out a bit into three metal balls with little chains on them. He then set the metal into the cups of water and brought them over to us.

"I think that is enough of an explanation for now." He said while dunking the tea into his water.

I nodded at him while mimicking his motion.

"Well, I have a few more questions for ya," Chloe said while looking at me.

"Can they wait until later Chloe? Today has already been a lot for me and I need time to think still, I was hoping to clear my head while forging."

"They can wait sure, I'll ask ya some other time."

"Thank you, Chloe, I appreciate your help today"

She gave me a slight nod as she took a sip of her tea.

When I saw Roan take a sip of his I followed suit. I took a long deep sip of that tea, and It was the most amazing tea I had ever tasted. I couldn't even describe the flavors.

"What is this?" I asked Roan when I finished my tea.

"It's nothing special, just elven flower tea."

"It's like nothing I've tasted before."

"Maybe they didn't have elven flower on your world then."

"Well that does make sense, we didn't even have elves"

"No elves?" Chloe asked with her head tilted slightly.

"Well, no other humanoid species other than humans at all, sure we had stories of others, but never did we actually have any."

"We can talk more of his world some other time Chloe," Roan said while patting her on the shoulder.

She nodded and got up from the table before making her way to the door.

"Alright, I'll hold ya to that. I want to hear all about this weird world with only humans."

"I promise to tell you when I have some time after I get my thoughts together," I said to her as she walked out the door.

When Roan and I were alone he looked to me and gave me a serious look.

"There is something we have to discuss Matthew."

I looked into his eyes dreading what he was about to say.

"You said you used those things you call skills to pass the test I gave you. I need to test your actual abilities in blacksmithing without use of the skills. Is that possible, can you not use the skills."

I thought for a moment then nodded.

"I should be able to, sometimes they activate on their own, if they do I promise to tell you."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Roan gave a little nod before walking to the door and out into the shop. I followed after him and saw him flip his sign from open to closed. I must have looked confused because when Roan saw my face he said.

"I do not want any more interruptions today. I will be observing you the whole time while you forge. If one of your skills activates we will restart the piece until I know for certain you are able to forge something basic without using something to aid you."

Would I be able to make something without the aid of the system?

I was nervous but excited. I had never actually forged anything in real life before. I had only forged things in EO and now that I'm in a world that resembles it, I still have only forged things using the help of the EO system.

I gave Roan a smile and followed him out to the workshop.

The forge had died down to embers while we had been down at the river. I moved to start building the fire back up while Roan stood there and watched me.

As I was building the fire up I looked to Roan and asked "So, what will I be forging?"

Roan reached behind him onto the top of his workbench and grabbed something before showing it to me. It was a metal leaf, small and roughly shaped.

"You will be making one of these, this is the first thing I was taught to forge."

"Alright Master Roan, I'll do my best to make one without he aid of my skills."

Roan handed me the leaf and I began to examine it trying to work out how it had been forged. I had seen something like this on a few blacksmithing videos I had watched when I was younger. Most blacksmiths said something small like this was a good way to start blacksmithing. They almost always said to make one hundred or more of them before moving on to a different project. I wonder if Roan was going to make me forge that many of these leaves.

The forge looked like it was up to heat so I grabbed a piece of iron and put it into the forge. It was up to head within a few minutes and I pulled it out with my tongs before bringing it to the anvil. I began to hammer it to draw out the metal into a smaller, more workable portion.

Once I had it down to the size that I wanted it I took it to the edge of the anvil and hammered it until it split and left me with a small chunk of iron. I put the drawn out bar of iron I had made aside for now. Then I picked up the chunk I had cut off and placed it back into the forge to get back up to heat.

When I was satisfied with the heat level I brought the iron chunk back to the anvil. As I pulled my hammer up to strike the piece I began to activate my skills before stopping myself.

I needed to do this without the use of my skills.

I swung the hammer down and struck the iron. It moved noticeably less metal than when I used skills.

I made sure to strike the iron at an angle trying to get it to draw out into the leaf shape. I managed to get it into a flat almost circular shape within a few minutes of hammers. I wiped the sweat from my brow with my arm as I held the piece of iron up. It was getting there but I still had a ways to go.

I looked over to Roan and noticed he was looking at my unclothed torso then to the forge.

"How are you unaffected by the heat of the forge?"

It was then that I dropped the misshapen piece of iron and sighed, I had been using a skill this whole time without realizing it.

"Dang it, I forgot about that skill. I have a skill that gives me resistance to heat, and maybe some other stuff now that it's upgraded, haven't really checked yet."

"Guess I have to start over. Though, I'm not sure how to turn that skill off honestly."

"All it does is make you more resistant to heat as far as you know?"

"Yeah, I can check what it does exactly if you'd like, but it should only be resistances."

"And to your knowledge, you are unable to turn this skill off?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure if I can or not. I never really tried to turn my skills off before."

"The skill does not directly affect your blacksmithing capabilities then, it only makes it so you can work for longer than your average apprentice. I will allow you to continue and not start over."

I let out a sigh of relief at that and placed the iron I was working on back into the forge for a few moments to get back up to heat.

When I pulled it out I placed it on the edge of the anvil and struck it softly trying to give it that leaf-like taper. After a few taps of my hammer, I got the taper I was looking for. I held up the piece once more examining to to see if there was anything else I had missed.

Then I looked down at the example piece that Roan had given me and noticed something that I had missed the first time. It was the stem of the leaf. On mine it was sticking out, on Roan's, it was curled under the leaf making the piece look more like a clip of sorts.

I took my leaf to the horn of the anvil and began to curl the stem under itself. After a few minutes of careful hammering, I pull the leaf off of the anvil horn and look it over with a smile on my face.

"You have successfully crafted item: 'Iron Leaf Clip'."

"You gained 5 EXP."

“EXP needed until next level up 477.”

I then hand it over to Roan so he can examine it. He takes it into his hand before bringing it up to his eyes. He looks over it for a few minutes while rubbing his fingers along the surface. When he is done looking it over he sat it down onto the anvil next to his and looks at me.

"This is the capabilities of your blacksmithing without use of your skills then?"

"Yes, I did what I could with what I know, this was the first thing I have ever made without the use of skills."

"It is a passable piece, but you still need to work on the basics. I do not want you using your skills for the time being."

"I was hoping to use those skills to make a few things to sell. I currently only have one copper piece so I can't afford to stay at the Oakstump anymore."

"You can stay here with me for the duration of your apprenticeship."

I gave him a bright smile and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Roan," I said cheerfully.

Roan extricated himself from the hug and moved away from me with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"You are welcome, it is expected of a master to house his apprentice."

"Still though, thank you. Oh! before I forget I have some pickaxes I found this morning, they're not in the best of shape. I was hoping to sell them or salvage their metal to make some coin."

"Well if they are in good enough shape we might be able to do something with them, where are they?"

I pulled the pickaxes out of my inventory and leaned them up against the anvil for Roan to see.

"How did you do that?"

Oh, right. That probably seemed weird to him.

"Uh, it's something called an inventory. I have a storage space that only I can access and it can carry a fair bit of stuff. All I need to do is grab something that I want to put away and it's moved to my inventory until I want to pull it back out."

"That seems..." he paused for a moment as if looking for the right word, "convenient."

"It is very convenient," I said confidently.

"So, where did you find these pickaxes then?"

"There's an old abandoned mine out in the forest, sadly it's overrun by kobolds."

Roan looked at me in shock.

"You found the old mine?"

"Yeah, it's not really that far from town, but like I said it's overrun by kobolds and there's a terrifying wolf in the forest between us and it."

"Still, we have been searching for that lost mine for decades and have been unable to find it. I will contact the people who need to know about this, for now, we will keep these pickaxes to show them when they arrive."

I gave him a nod. I was confused as to why this was so significant, but hey if they were looking for it I would be more than happy to tell them where it is.

"For now, while I go write this letter, I want you to continue making these leaves. Your basics are passable, but only just," Roan said as he turned and went back into his shop.

Now that I was left to my own devices I was able to focus only on the craft in front of me. I had so many thoughts in my head that I needed to work out, but I wasn't ready to do that yet. I just wanted to focus on a task to put my mind and body at ease. Before when I felt like this is when I would log into EO. Now that I'm living in a world that is so much like EO, doing what I would do in the game seemed like the best way to work through my thoughts.

So I moved back to the forge and pumped the bellows to get the forge back up to what seemed like a good heat. I was careful to not activate my skills. I put the bar that I had drawn out to length earlier back into the heat of the forge. While It was coming up to heat I moved to Roan's tools and searched around until I found the one I needed.

I brought the straight peen hammer to the anvil and checked the heat of the iron in the forge. It seemed to be at the right temperature for what I wanted to do.

I grabbed it from the forge with the tongs I had made previously and carried it over to the anvil. Once I had it on the anvil I picked up the straight peen hammer and swung hard. I left a divit in the metal about three inches down the length. I repeated this until I had left score marks every three inches on the iron bar, in total I had separated it into 7 different three-inch sections.

I sheered off the first section and placed the rest back into the forge, just off of the heat to give myself time to work the first piece before the rest got back up to temperature.

I wanted this leaf to look better than the first one. I picked the straight peen back up and hammered down carefully trying to draw out the metal into a round shape while leaving little lines that would resemble the veins on a leaf. I got it to splay out like a leaf and was satisfied with how it was looking. I then grabbed the part that I had just hammered into shape with the tongs, being careful to hold it only as tightly as I needed so as to not misshape the work I had just done. I then brought the leaf to the edge of the anvil and began to hammer it down creating a little stem. This took me the longest and I had to get it back up to heat a few times during the process. I was going slow to try and get the look right. Each time I went back to the forge I checked the metal I had put in making sure it wasn't getting too hot, and if it was moving it away from the heat to cool down slightly.

I lost track of time while I was working on this one leaf trying to make it as best as I possibly could. I finally got the stem looking how I wanted it and began to curl it under the leaf on the horn of the anvil. Again I took this part slow, not wanting to mess up the work I had just done to the stem. This went faster though and within a few minutes It was properly curled under.

There was one last thing I wanted to do before I considered this leaf done. I grabbed the leaf by the now bent stem with the tongs and tilted it onto its side before carefully hammering down on it to bend the leaf in on itself slightly, curling the edges to look more like an actual leaf. When I was finished with that I held It up and smiled happily it was looking good. I put it into the heat just to get warm again before quenching it to strengthen the metal.

Once it was hardened I found a file and began to carefully file the leaf to remove the exterior oxide layer exposing the bright shiny metal underneath. When I got all the oxide off I filed the edges to help smooth and round them out. It took a while to get it looking how I wanted but when I finished it was looking much nicer than before. I wanted to do one last finishing step before I moved on to the next leaf.

I grabbed some of the oil Roan used to polish and finish his pieces. I dipped a rag into it and began to polish the metal, taking care to get into each one of the little grooves I had put in to resemble the veins of the leaf. After polishing the leaf for a while I held it up to check how it reflected light I realized that the sun was starting to set.

Wow I had been working on this one leaf for a few hours then. I set the leaf down satisfied finally with my work.

"You have successfully crafted item: 'Exquisite Iron Leaf'."

"You gain 5 EXP."

"You gain an additional 50 EXP for crafting an 'Exquisite' item"

"Item: 'Exquisite Iron Leaf' gains an addition 50 points of durability"

"Item: 'Exquisite Iron Leaf' gains a bonus stat."

"When worn item: 'Exquisite Iron Leaf' will grant the wearer a small bonus to their health."

“EXP needed until next level up 422.”

Well dang, I was not expecting my first item with a bonus stat to be a leaf.