They headed for the smithy with the tall chimney, a few minutes upriver to the west. Vonn was looking around the whole way. Most of the people living here were fellow Vulin, with pelts of grey or red that contrasted with the trees. Some Humans lived here too and he spotted a tall, bronze-skinned person with pointed ears, presumably one of the Elves.

Vonn walked up to the sturdy stone-walled smithy. A wooden sign bore a bright-polished image of a dragon and the words, Summer's Breath Forge.

He admired it, then walked inside and saw something confusing next to the blazing furnace. Was that a red cape hanging there or someone with fresh wounds on his back? No, it was the smith, and he had brilliant red scales reflecting the firelight. He turned around, showing a reptilian snout under eyes covered by blue-tinged goggles.

"Here to singe your silly fur again?" he said, his voice a rough hiss that mimicked the snapping of the flames and coals behind him. "Where have you been?"

Tazo and Vonn both winced. Tazo stepped forward and said, "It's been a bad few days. Fuzzbutt here is trying to make something for his birthday, in a hurry."

Vonn said, "I was thinking I'd try a tackle block. So I need wood, not metal." A simple one would only need simple carving. He'd gotten a B in wood shop class, back in high school.

"Since when do you care about wood?" asked the smith, adjusting his leather apron. "Have you chosen Engineer, then?"

"I have."

"Beware, then, lest your offering get you a Craftsman job and condemn you to the making of useful things." The smith tipped his coal-black claws against his lizard snout. "If you would be an Engineer, you should make a tool showing your concern for precision and needless complexity. I have just the thing. Make me one of these."

He pointed to a sketch done in ink on paper that had been scraped clean repeatedly. Unlike Vonn's own scribbles its profile said, [Schematic: Lock Component.]

The slightly carved cylinder it showed wasn't a modern-style blueprint. No clear tolerance range for the acceptable sizes, or other details. Black and off-white, of course. The traditional blue back home was a historical accident; early copy machines used a flawed attempt at color photography that only did blue. Vonn snorted, wondering if any of his engineering training applied to a world with mages and lizard people. He looked the smith over.

[Urika, Kobold Male. Smith 5 / Engineer 1.]

He knew this man well enough to get official info about him, even before fully using the System. Vonn cleared his throat, bonked his fist into his mouth because he still wasn't used to his weird muzzle, and spoke. "I'll try it, but I'm sorry in advance. You'll have to be extra patient with me."

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"Even more so?" said Urika, sighing. "Get your puny mammal clothes on and heat some iron. Fox girl, shoo."

Tazo snorted, but nodded. "I'll come back soon. Vonn... be careful."

"I will."

The coin Vonn had been given, glinted in his leathery palm. Crudely stamped, it showed a crown on one side, crossed spears on the other. He put it down on a counter and focused on his work.

#

Alone with the Kobold in his forge, Vonn's mind raced. He had taken exactly one week of blacksmithing classes in freshman year, and while that had been fun -- he'd made a coat rack and a knife -- there was a fair chance of hurting himself. He'd be using unfamiliar tools in an unfamilar body with probably not even the same physics. He looked around and found a neglected corner table holding a spare smithing apron and a pair of sturdy leather gloves. Four-fingered, small.

These were the real Vonn's, he thought. But now they're mine.

He took a breath, then slipped them on. They were a little loose but his clawtips fit through little holes in each finger. He nodded, and turned to the forge.

Urika said, "I look forward to you being less useless. Ah, the lunches I will eat while you work!"

Vonn took that as his cue. He found tongs and thin rod-shaped ingots, and slid one into the furnace. Its smoke made him shiver. How had his past self not known better? It seemed he'd been experimenting with that stove, maybe hoping to lug it to the temple as his offering, and hadn't understood its design flaws.

He shook his head and focused on today's work. While he waited for the metal to get hot, he rotated some iron pieces that Urika was already working on. Cinders and coals shifted and crackled pleasantly, and the warmth felt nice. He took out a heated ingot with his tongs and said, "Um, Urika..."

"Why do you say 'Urrika' wrong?"

Vonn had pronounced it like "Eureka". It finally dawned on him that none of what he was reading, speaking or hearing was in English. Of course not. When he concentrated he could hear the real, alien words, but the meaning seemed obvious. He was glad for that.

He just said, "A bad joke, sorry. I... had a lot of trouble using that stove I built."

The Kobold gaped at him, open jawed. "You fired it up? In your house? I would slap you, were you not holding burning hot metal!"

"It was a bad idea. I know now. I want to get this done so I can learn some real skills."

"Yes. Well. Do not do that again."

They worked quietly together. Urika wouldn't let Vonn do any of the tricky stuff, but had him do some simple metal cuts. Which was a surreal experience.

The moment that Vonn concentrated on the iron, chisel in hand, time slowed slightly. He could see the raw metal clearly, and the System was likely aiding him, but it was doing nothing to help directly. Yet. "How far can you get in this job without the System, anyway?"

The Kobold laughed. "It's hardly worth trying. Every day in the forge, I live two days as I strike and bend."

Vonn wanted to try fighting, to see what he could do with an extra moment to think and aim. But it all started with getting a class, with real effort. He broke off bits of red-hot iron and did preliminary, tedious sanding and a little hammer work. Urika watched him and muttered advice. After a while Urika grasped a cylinder in his claws, and Vonn recognized it as a completed lock tumbler. "Small, yet tricky. I think this is the one you made." They'd crafted several together, but this one had a harmless nick on it. "This would make a good offering."

"Thank you!" said Vonn, and patted his pants again. "I need to invent pockets."

Urika said, "You had better go, and get the gods' attention."

"Thanks, Urika. Can I visit you tomorrow?"

"If you sweep the floor before you go."