The clanging of metal on metal as I beat the iron into shape activated my [Trance], and from that point, everything else around me was a blur. I could only see the anvil, the forge, and my project.
Heat.
Shape.
Cool.
Repeat.
And once all was said and done, I had a small pile of nails in front of me. Nearly perfect, but it was my first time working metal, so flaws were expected.
And a window popped up.
You have successfully crafted an item. Skill acquired. Lesser Craftsman (Lv.1)
Mr. Darius came forward to check on my work, as he didn't have to interrupt me once before this point. "Well done, Amara. For the first project you've worked on, it's much better than expected. Much better than the first works of other apprentices I've trained. Be proud, these nails aren't much worse than the ones I could make without my blacksmithing skills. Congratulations, now, do you want to learn a bit more tonight, or go home early?"
"Is it even a question? You know which one I'm going to pick. What are you gonna teach me next, Master?" I was excited to keep going, even though my body was aching from the effort I put into the nails.
"Now that you've done the basic of basic forging task, we'll move on to something a bit more complicated. I'm going to teach you how to alloy. The nails we made before were iron, because the steel we normally use is something we usually only make when we need it. So now, let's teach you how to make it yourself." Mr. Darius began grabbing the required materials and walked back to the forge. "For this process, we need quite a bit of heat, so we have to work the bellows a lot harder than last time. Now let's get to work."
"Master Darius, is fire magic able to get to the temperatures we need for this?" I was curious if there was an opportunity with my elemental affinities to help out.
"It can, but only after extensive training. Basic fire magic can't even get hot enough to melt most metals, let alone the tough ones. Are you wanting to practice with it to get to that point?" Mr. Darius was looking at me with an interesting face.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Wouldn't it be a good idea to practice my magic anyways? Especially if it can help my forging in the future. Is there anyone in town that can help me with that, if you can't?" I asked, excited at the prospect.
"Well, normally I'd say no, it's not worth it, but with how quickly you pick things up, it may be more worth the time it takes to train you. I can't really help in this case, as my aspects are counter to my work, being water and ice, but ironically, the [Carpenter Lead], Jasmine, has a high affinity with her fire magic. I'll talk with her and see if she's willing to take you on as an apprentice in that regard. Being able to essentially make your own forge wherever you go would be a huge help if you ever need to travel, and would also speed up the process if you had access to a good forge already. Do you have any other aspects that you think may work well?" He asked, looking at me with an interested gaze.
"The other aspects I have are earth and light, which I think should both be useful. With all 3, I think I'd be able to create an entire storefront when I need it, but that might be overkill." I was a little giddy at the idea of it.
"Well, those 3 aspects are probably the most suitable for forging. Light and heat are connected, meaning you can use fire and light for similar purposes, speeding the heating of materials, and creating casts for molten metals with earth. It's also a fairly well known phenomenon for fire and earth aspects to evolve into a 3rd metal aspect after you work with them both enough, which would make smithing smaller items trivial. Overall, you've got the perfect set of skills for a blacksmith." Mr. Darius was clearly almost as excited as me.
"I can't wait to get started with that, then. I hope Ms. Jasmine will agree to teach me." I was nearly shaking with anticipation.
"Well, that's all for the future. For now, let's get back to the lesson on alloying." Mr. Darius brought us back on track. "First, we need to put the iron and charcoal in the crucible, and then heat it. The mix of iron and charcoal changes the properties of the resulting steel, so you'll need to learn how much goes in for each. Later on, you'll gain a skill to help you with that, but starting out, it's something you just have to get a feel for." Mr. Darius started placing the materials in the crucible and started pumping the bellows.
"The next step is to get it hot enough to actually melt. This'll be the hardest part. You'll need to use the bellows for quite some time to heat the forge enough, and in that time, you've also gotta keep an eye on the mix in the crucible to make sure nothing ends up going wrong. If you've got the mix wrong enough, it won't properly meld together, and watching the crucible can tell you what kind of steel you're gonna make." He stared into the forge, watching the crucible for any changes.
I stood off to the side, watching him intently, and ingraining the entire process into my mind. By the time he finished, the sun was already down, and only he and I were left in the forge. He poured the crucible into ingot casts, and left them to cool.
"Alright, I suppose it's time for you to go home now, so I'll be waiting for you tomorrow, hopefully with an answer from Jasmine. Good luck Amara, and have a nice night." Mr. Darius waved me off, as I ran into the distance towards home.