The days passed uneventfully, with the only real change being Burgins demeanor towards Ozlo. "Lad, come here." Master Burgin gestured to Ozlo.

Anxious to obey, Ozlo rushes over to his master. "Yes Master Burgin."

"Here, see how when the iron turns this particular shade of orange, I pull it out and smack it." Burgin demonstrated.

"Uh, yes master." Ozlo replied.

"What am I doing?" Burgin quizzed his apprentice.

Ozlo stared at the hot metal and responded with the only thing that came to mind. "Uh, hitting it?"

Burgin pinches his nose in irritation. "Yes... But WHY am I hitting it?"

Digging deep, Ozlo thought about what Burgin was actually doing. Shaping metal to be sold. "Because it... It uh... It needs to be a different shape for you to sell it."

Burgin waved his hand at the molten metal. "Yes... Well, no. But close. I'm beating out the impurities. Do you know what those are?"

"No."

Unsurprised, Burgin went into another of his lessons. "Alright, impurities are the little bits of gunk and material in a particular metal that we don't want. So we beat them out."

"Hitting the metal removes the impurities."

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Yes, and no... It comes off as... Here. Just take that hammer there lad." Burgin gestures to the hammer on the rack next to himself.

Ozlo grabs the hammer and stands there awkwardly awaiting further instruction. "Yes sir."

Burgin grabbed the tongs and held the hot metal in place on the anvil. "Now while it's still hot and I'm holding it with the tongs for you, hit it. Hard."

"Yes sir."

Ozlo rears back and swings for the metal. "AGGH!" Unfortunately he misses and succeeds only in over-extending his arm and falling to the floor. "Ow." Ozlo quietly exclaims.

Burgin rubs the bridge of his nose in irritation while he explains what went wrong to Ozlo. "You can't be afraid of the metal lad, you're standing too far from the anvil and your form is all wrong. Just... Alright, new idea."

After pacing back and forth for a few moments Burgin stops in place and voices his idea. "Alright lad, perhaps I moved too quickly... Hmmm. Copper. Yes, copper... Lad do you know what copper is?"

Racking his brain for what little Ozlo knew of metal, he finally came up with the best description he could muster. "Uh, the shiny orange metal."

Excitedly, Burgin responds. "Yes, exactly. This is copper." Burgin walks over to the ingot pile and removes a shinier piece than the one he was previously hitting.

"Great, here. I'm going to set this on the anvil, and to get you used to working metal, you can work this copper cold."

Staring at the metal, Ozlo replies. "The copper is cold?"

"Well, it refers to when we work metal that isn't... Actually. Yes. The copper is cold and you are only allowed to work cold copper. Practice. It's Friday, and we're done with the work for today, so from now until Monday you're free. I expect you to spend at least four hours a day working this cold copper. Get a feel for it, work on figuring out how those big arms of yours work. Understood?"

"Yes Master Burgin."

"Great, now dinner, then bed. Oh, and I almost forgot. Here." Burgin reaches into his pocket and hands Ozlo three shards. "There. You can either put those into your card so you don't lose them, or you can put them up somewhere safe."

"Yes Master Burgin."

"Good, now come eat, you have a long day ahead of you."