The next day Kyrtaar was amongst the first people in the shop working on a piece of hardened steel that Camedyr had given him. He was making a soup ladle for his wife, he was actually a family man and had a baby girl as well. His wife had broken their own iron ladle yesterday and he wanted to make one so he had asked master if he could make it out of hardened steel so it would last.

Camedyr didn't have any problem with it so now he was at the shop early in the morning making a soup ladle out of a precious metal. Any other person would think its a waste of materials but for Kyrtaar giving his wife something like that wasn't even a question.

Since it wasn't a part of his studies he had to work on the lower ranking side of the forge.While working he noticed  Aleyn enter the front shop, he was about to say good morning to her but she swiftly disappeared to the stair case and Camedyrs office. She was carrying a backpack which looked heavy, but once she left the office it seemed empty.

Aleyn appeared and disappeared multiple times through out the morning and after her tenth trip she finally entered the workshop with her backpack empty and took post near Kyrtaar.

"Morning Aleyn."

"Morning Kyrtaar."

After the greetings they both went back to what they were doing. Aleyn placed her backpack on the table and dug out her plans and some empty parcels.

She read through her old notes briefly while shaking her head, she had gained a lot of new knowledge since she had last worked on the project so some of the previous notes were mostly useless for her. She picked up an empty paper and started making new notes and estimations.

While Aleyn was working on her plans, students started to show up in to the workshop. Kyrtaar frowned, he was still working on his ladle and didn't really want to draw attention with the precious metal but to his surprise he wasn't the one drawing attention.

The workers took post around the lower workshop, but everywhere they went they were taking a look at what Aleyn was working on. It was slightly unusual to see someone drawing plans on the lower workshop side after all.

Looking through her notes one more time she nodded and put them down and head for Camedyrs office again.All of her notes were spread on the table and were drawing attention.

"Project? Challenge?"

Kyrtaar was getting curious himself, thinking there was no harm in having a look he decided to approach her post and have a look. Everyone looked at Kyrtaar approach in curiosity, as much as they were curious they didn't really want to be the first one who went to have a peak at the lone plans.

Kyrtaar took the most top paper in his hands and started reading. As he went on he got more impressed by the minute, her planning was very extensive and precise. She definitely put a lot of thought in to her plans of what looked like a large hammer. Having had enough he left the papers on the table and went back to working on his ladle which was almost done. After he had left people started to gather around the plans to have a casual look.

Aleyn was carrying multiple steel bars down the stairs, taking care not to fall. As she entered the workshop she noticed a group of people gathering around a table. She didn't think much of it and tried to remember where she had placed her things but after looking around the workshop she realized it, the group was on her spot.

She approached the group while wondering what they were on about. She got to her anvil but the group showed no sign of leaving.

"Uhum! She cleared her throat which caught everyone's attention.

"I'm trying to work here you know." she crossed her arms an tapped her foot.

Everyone dispersed in slight panic.

She took a moment to look at her now in a mess plans and sighed. She tried to reorder them but something didn't feel right, it was as though a part was missing.

At that moment she knew exactly which page was missing, it was outdated and had no real use for her but that had very little meaning to her. You don't take Aleyns hard work.

"OKAY! Who took the page!" she turned to face the people who had just left her table.

They looked around each other and one guy especially seemed very protective as he hid his hands.

"Hey you." Aleyn yelled.

He shook in surprise as Aleyn approached. The guy was at least three heads bigger then Aleyn and twice as wide.

"Why are you so scared? You took it didn't you?" She said with an elevated tone.

The guy took a look at Aleyn, who was so tiny and not threatening compared to him.

"No..no I did't, besides you wouldn't need that page right? Its so out of date compared to the other ones and someone else could use it in the future" he said with a calm fearless voice yet was too stupid to realize he had just admitted everything.

"No I won't need it. But I want it back." she looked straight up at him towering over her.

"Come on, what good is a page you're not gonna use." He tried to look menacing and huge to scare her.

"I want it back." she emphasized every word. Not caring about what he was trying to do.

As if on schedule, the guy suddenly heard a low calm voice right next to his ear.

"Give the girl her paper back.."

The thief jumped in fright and turned around. Cofius was standing behind him and towering over even him, he was the true giant of the workshop after all.

"Of course of course, I was just tempted before and I was going to hand it back after realizing. Definitely." He muttered fast and scared while giving the page back to Aleyn and scurried away.

"Everyone back to work!" Cofius yelled.

Aleyn took a look at the paper to confirm it was the one she was missing.

"Good. Thanks Cofius." She smiled and thanked him after confirming.

Cofius averted his eyes and kept walking. Aleyn didn't care and just went back to her post.

"Should I put the papers away or just trust that people don't do that again? Think it's good if they're curious, but its bothersome if they go stealing."

In the end she decided to hold it as an isolated incident. If it ever came down to it again she could always tell Camedyr that they have a thief in the workshop  and they would get kicked out probably. It would be too troublesome to hide her papers every time anyway.

She put the paper in its proper place and started pre planning before starting to work.

After a few hours her first iteration was done.

She lifted it above her head to see it against the light and look it over which drew the attention of the nearby workers.

The large hammer was quite impressive and since it was made of steel it shone brightly even when not polished. While looking the hammer over she noticed Camedyrs voice in the air and had an idea.

Aleyn went to Camedyr with her hammer.

"Hey boss, you got anything I can hit here that wont break easily?"

Camedyr took a look at her and her hammer and realized what was on her mind. After a brief thought he grinned.

"Oh yeaa. Follow me."

Camedyr brought her to the very end of the workshop where there was only one huge anvil that looked as if it had not been used for a very long time. Unlike the rest of the anvils, this one felt out of place with its slight blue glow. He swiped some dust from on top of it before turning to Aleyn.

"This right here... is my personal anvil. Hit it as much as you want, you'll never break it."

He stepped away and gave her room but kept looking at what she was doing out of curiosity.

"Can I really?" she asked.

"Yeh go on. It won't break."

She felt a little bit unsure but if he was okay with it then there wasn't much to it. She took pose and a firm grip of the steel hammer. A loud yell was heard across the workshop followed by a large clear sound of metal hitting metal.

The hammer held strong and the anvil didn't budge. She readied for another blow, this time a side swing. The result was virtually identical. She swung the hammer a few times and was about to be finished with one final blow to the anvil. Camedyr had kept an eye on her the moment she started hitting the anvil. He had noticed a few things and was curious what Aleyn thought.

Aleyn took her last swing over her head and hit the anvil. As she did, the hammers handle broke from the root of the hammers head and the hammers head went flying towards Camedyr .

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Aleyn was struck with a rush of fear, the steel head was pretty large and would definitely do a lot of harm to a person. But Camedyr himself didn't show any concern over the projectile heading his way. He took a step away and the hammers head went flying in to the wall leaving it stuck inside. It actually dug quite deep in to the already worn wall but that could be easily be fixed.

Camedyr pulled the head out and walked to Aleyn.

"Well its a failure, but what did you learn?"

"The balance is off, I need to adjust the weight around the head  quite a bit. Looking at the broken part of the handle it seems it was heated unevenly making the handle weak.

Camedyr nodded.

"Also you should make the handle longer."

"Why? This feels fine for length?" She didn't really get the idea.

"A bit hard to explain. It's something you start understanding after making a few weapons."

"Well. I'll take the great Camedyrs word for it." she said jokingly.

"If you're not gonna use that anymore then could you fix the handle properly and put it in the shop amongst other weapons? Even if its a failure for you its quality should be enough for someone else."

"Can do." She said briefly and returned to planning while fixing the handle.

She finished her second hammer before closing time and took it for a test run. It had better balance and the handle had been heated a bit better. But even with all that it shared the same problem as her previous hammer. The balance was still off and after a bit more pounding the handle broke again.

She fixed the handle again and had a few goes at swinging it on the anvil. It didn't break, but after fixing the hammer its handle had been left short and it was still uneven in balance. Deciding it was another failure she tossed it next to her last hammer in the shop and decided to call it quits for the day.

The next day she was early up in the shop working on her next iteration of her project. She put a lot more effort in to the handles strength while taking notes.

During her test run of the third hammer, she felt she had failed on improving the balance of the hammer, however she was very pleased with the results on the handle. After her 30th blow on the anvil it showed no signs of breaking. She was thrilled until she took her 31st hit on the anvil. The handle didn't break completely, but it cracked.

"Dammit!" She yelled.

Camedyr had snuck away from his overseeing to watch her after hearing the continuous sounds coming from his anvil.

"I thought that was good myself, over 20 hits on the anvil wasn't it?"

"It was 31. But it still broke."

"Thats amazing. Work on the balance now." Camedyr said amazed and confused.

"What good is a hammer that breaks after 31 blows?".

Camedyr shook his head at Aleyn.

"Girl you're hitting the hardest thing on this planet. My anvil, if its made of steel and doesn't break I might as well retire. That thing is made of Hardened Adamantium.

Aleyns eyes blew wide open and in her shock she dropped the hammer which broke the handle. She knew very well how durable the metal was after she had read about it in the library.

"Work on the balance." Camedyr left for his patrol in the workshop.

Aleyn once again fixed her broken hammer and placed it in the shop. To her surprise the two previous ones she had placed on the same spot were now gone. She took a quick look around the shop in confusion.

"Yeh some guys bought em earlier. What? You wanted em?"

The lionkin shopkeeper had been watching her place her hammer.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeh really."

She was slightly shocked as she didn't think they were that good. Camedyr had said that they might sell but it still surprised her. She let it go and went to work on her next hammer.

It took her until her seventh hammer until she felt she had gotten the balance right, she had consistently gotten over thirty blows out of the handles and with all of the anvil hitting she had to rest her arms. Her pile of notes had grown double in size which gave her a nice feeling of accomplishment.

For number seven she decided to let Camedyr have a look at the hammer before she would start hitting the anvil.

Camedyr stood in front of the top ranker and picked up her hammer with one hand. It was way too small for him to use with two hands but it was alright since he only had to check it out.

He swung the weapon like a one handed mace a few times in the air and once he stopped his eyebrows rose and he started nodding.

"Impressive. The balance and quality are superb, but what about the handle eh?"

"Want me to give it a go? I'll give it a good ten swings before it breaks in my use." He boasted.

"Sure go on." Aleyn answered

Camedyr barely worked in the forge, but no one doubted his skill and strength. Not even Aleyn.

"Lets see then." He raised his voice.

The top rankers dropped their work to watch Camedyr hit his own anvil. It was a rare opportunity to observe the master even if he was just hitting an anvil.

Camedyr walked up to his anvil and before starting brushed his hand over the anvil a few times. He then lifted the hammer to his shoulder level and swung it down like a forging hammer.

The first hit shook the air around Camedyr which even the audience could feel, his eyes were fixated on the anvil as he was focusing on his blows. On his third blow even the lionkin from the shop had gotten curious over the massive sound reaching his front shop. The crowd stood still in silence as Camedyr proceeded with the test.

Aleyn had realized what Camedyr had meant with the ten swings earlier. With all the strength he was showing it would definitely strain the hammer far more than in her use. She was eagerly waiting to see the results and when Camedyr reached the seventh swing she was starting to sweat. Would it break soon?

Camedyr took another swing and smiled.

"I feel it girl, its starting to break. Think it'll last?" He turned his head towards Aleyn as he asked.

Aleyn thought for a moment and looked at her hammer, a smile crept on her face.

"It'll last." she said with confidence.

Camedyr turned back to the anvil.

"Lets see then!" he yelled and hit the anvil

The hammer held for its eighth and ninth hit.

Everyone held their breath as he prepared for the tenth swing. To everyone in the room it sounded like the hardest of the swings, but the hammer didn't show signs of breaking.

Camedyr smiled and gave a small chuckle as he lazily hit the anvil softly for an eleventh time which broke the handle like a twig. A lot of workers gasped in shock since to them it seemed that the hammer was completely fine.

"You pass girl. You still need to fix it though." he congratulated and let out another chuckle.

All of the workers turned towards Aleyn but didn't say a word while she passed through everyone to pick up the two pieces.

"Okay! Shows over get back to work you shits." Camedyr raised his voice noticeably.

The crowd scattered shortly and Aleyn went back to her anvil to fix the her seventh hammer and made a few extra notes.

She placed the hammer in the same spot in the shop and again she was surprised to see that the previous hammers weren't there.

She took the rest of the day off to have a nice meal and then went to sleep.

The next morning she went through the front shop again and got a shock to the start of her day. The last hammer she had made was already gone. Who kept buying her weapons? She wanted to have a go at swinging it around a bit before it was gone but that was obviously not an option anymore. Sighing she entered the workshop and went to the high ranker side where Camedyr was already yelling at people.

He immediately saw her approach, as if he was waiting for her.

"Ah finally girl. Go to my office I'll be there in a minute."

Thinking since she had passed the 'test' he was going to name his supplier she went to his office to wait. After a few minutes Camedyr stumbled in after falling on the very last step.

"FUCK!" He yelled in pain.

"You alright boss?" She asked calmly.

"Ahhh.... I'm fine, just hit a nerve."

He walked to his chair while slightly limping which looked humorous for a big guy like him.