The next morning Kael felt something cold and wet splash against his face. Waking up with a start and rubbing his wet face, he looked up to see his father dripping water on him from a glass. Sighing, he got up and got dressed. Heading downstairs his mother already had breakfast waiting for him.
As he took a seat his mother said, “After you eat, take the box of powders for Raen and head over there. Old man Muta gave us a lot of herbs in exchange for your labor, so be respectful. Your father told him you were abnormally strong, so no slacking.” Sopping egg yolk onto his toast, Kael gave an unenthusiastic nod. Finished eating, he helped his mom clean up before he grabbed his stuff and left.
Heading through the already awake village just before dawn, he thought about how hardworking the people of this world were. Walking towards the village smithy it was the first time he realized how large it was. The sprawling building covered about 3,000 square feet. The second story, that he assumed was the home, was only about a third of the size.
Walking up to the front door of the smithy, he knocked before opening the door and heading in. The front room was a large rectangular shape and tidy. The long wall behind him was covered in all sorts of farming equipment and things made for daily use. The left wall had a few swords, spears, long knives, and an assortment of other martial weapons. The right wall was covered in various types of arrows, small knives, hatchets, and other throwing weapons. The front of the room had a long sturdy wooden counter. Behind the counter, the wall was covered in a large banner. The banner had handwritten price lists of everything you could make out of metals listed.
While staring at the banner, the door behind the counter opened and Raen walked into the room. “Hey, Kael! I heard your dad sold you to us for awhile, sucks to be you.”
Looking over at Raen, Kael was a little shocked. This was the first time he had seen her without being covered in soot. She’ll be a looker in like 10 years, he thought. “Yeah, I needed some herbs, so me doing the labor is only right, that reminds me, this is for you.” Handing over a ceramic box he said, “This has some skin refinement and body refinement powder in it. The skin refinement should be a little helpful in progressing through rank 3, muscle refinement. The body refining powder should help you through rank 4.
Opening the box, Raen looked inside. Seeing the massive piles of powders, which were high quality, she was excited. Staring at the powders she said, “Hey Kael, thank your mom for me, these are really great!” Noticing he did not say anything, she looked up to see him staring back at her with a confused look. “What, it is good quality, and we rarely get this stuff out here, your mom is awesome.”
Snapping out of it, he said, “Well if you need more, let me know and when I make some more I will give you some.”
The smile on Raen’s face froze, “Wait, you made these?”
“Well yeah, otherwise I wouldn’t be here paying off my debt for the herbs,” he replied.
Hearing that Raen shouted, “That’s totally awesome! These are way more helpful than a bunch of horseshoes.” Just as her shout finished the door opened again. A man in his 50’s wearing a thick leather apron and coarse pants came in. His greying hair stood out in contrast to his bulging muscles and massive frame.
Entering the room the old man said, “Raen, those horseshoes help a lot of people in their daily lives. You think about cultivating all day, but forget about the knife and fork you use to eat, the nails in the saddle of your horse, and all sorts of other things.” Looking over at the young boy the man continued, “I hope you don’t share those same feelings.”
Looking up into Muta’s eyes, Kael replied, “No sir, each art has its merits. Without the contribution of any of them, we would lose something. Cultivation may make a person strong, but artisans are what makes a civilization strong.”
Laughing loudly at Kael’s reply, he said, “Hear that Raen, the boy has a point. But, kid, don’t think sucking up will get you any easier work. Today you will be working the bellows. Your old man said you are freakishly strong, so no slacking. Just how strong are you though for Iradin to call you a freak?”
Thinking to himself, Thanks for the label dad. I probably shouldn’t tell them my core strength is 770 pounds though. “Uhm, I haven’t checked lately, but my core strength should be about 500 pounds.” Muta looked at the kid in shock. 500 pounds was about the strength of an average rank 9 spirit disciple.
“Kid, you just started cultivating, there is no way you are that high of a rank yet.”
“You are right sir, I’m just a rank 1 disciple.”
Muta knew it was rude, but he asked anyway. “Pardon my prying, but you could not have trained up that much muscle at just the age of 6.”
“You are right sir. My father has a special bloodline. Although he did not awaken much of it, I did. So my mortal body strength is more than double that of a normal person.”
“That is a pretty special bloodline, surprising to be so down in the world that you are living out here.”
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Kael put on his awkward face and said, “Yes sir, but with benefits comes restrictions. The more of the bloodline that is awakened the harder it is to become a saint.”
Seeing that the kid was at the limits of his prying, Muta just said, “Follow me kids”, then exited back through the door he had just used. Raen walked to the side of the counter and lifted a section that was on hinges, like a door that was lying flat. Waving for Kael to follow, the two children entered the back room.
Entering the actual forge, Kael took a look around. The corners of the room were lit with large smokeless braziers. In the room, there were three hearths popping out of the right wall. The three hearths varied in size, consisting of a 2 foot, a 5 foot, and a 10-foot hearth. Each one had a water trough connected to the side opposite the wall. On the far end of each hearth were varying sized bellows, and on the close side were large anvils. Hanging on the wall near each anvil were three hammers and various chisels. The hammers appeared to be about 5 lbs, 25 lbs, and 50 lbs.
Muta pointed to the bellows next to the largest hearth. “You will be working the big one today kid. The best way to work the bellows is to make the hearth breathe with you. When you breathe out, pull the handle down so it breathes out. When you breathe in, slowly let the handle up. In between breaths do nothing. Got it?” Nodding his head, Kael looked at the enormous yet empty pit of the hearth.
Seeing Kael looking at the empty hearth, Muta smiled, “Yes, it’s empty, your first job is to fill it. I like my forge layered. First a thin layer of coal, then a thin layer of charcoal. Following that a large bundle of wood, finally cover by a thick layer of charcoal. At the end of the day, when you clean the forge out, you will collect whatever charcoal is left from the burnt wood. Raen take him to the storeroom and get the forge ready.”
Raen pushed Kael’s shoulder and with a follow me, exited out of a door in the back of the forge. Following her through Kael entered a storehouse. The storehouse easily took up half of the smithy. One half was all neatly stacked fuels. On the other side, racks of various finished and half-finished product covered a quarter of the room, while ores covered the rest. Grabbing a bag off the wall and handing it to Kael, she said, "fill that with coal, I’ll get the charcoal."
After a few trips of hauling coal, charcoal, firewood, and more charcoal out the two finally filled the forge. Puffing air, Raen said, “You really are a freak, go get 50 pounds in ore, in 10-pound chunks. Be careful putting them in the bag so it doesn’t rip.”
Heading out again, Kael shortly returned with the ore. Setting the ore next to the anvil he noticed Raen sprinkling a white powder over the forge. “What’s that?” he asked.
Slapping her hands together to clear them of residue Raen said, “It’s a mixture my Pa made. It’s powdered up magnesium, sulfur, and this ugly lichen called witcheshair. He is too lazy to wait for a cold forge to light up, so this is his cheat.”
Picking up a rod, Raen stirred up the charcoal to distribute the powder. Once done, she then went and got a large metal watering pail. Jumping onto the stone edge of the pit, she began to pour an amber fluid out into the hearth. Finally jumping down she motioned for Kael to step back. Putting the pail back in place she retrieved a thin, two foot long, wooden stick. Lighting it in a brazier, she carried it over to the hearth. “This is the only fun part of the day.” She said as she tossed the lit stick into the hearths pit. With a whoosh, the entire thing went up in flames. The two children watched the flames dancing about madly for about 10 minutes before they finally died down. “Ok, time to get my pops, good luck with the bellows, I can only last about an hour.”
After Raen left, Kael wandered around for a few minutes looking at the tools on the walls. Finally, Muta came in. Pointing to the bellows he said, “Kid go get behind the belows, it’s not hot enough. Pump in rhythm with your breath. 3 seconds in, 3 second pause, 3 seconds out.” Hearing this Kael walked over and stretched up, just barely able to grab the handle. Pulling down he was surprised at the resistance given.
Attempting to do as he was told, it took a few tries before he was going in the correct rhythm. Each time he would pull the bellows down he would be blasted by intense heat. After about 10 pumps Muta told him to stop. “Ok kid you can stop now. I am going to toss the ore in so back up.” After Kael scooted back some, Muta took the ore from the bag and tossed it into the hearth. Taking a shovel he covered the ore and told Kael to start pumping again. After a few minutes, the old man used tongs to dig out a bright yellowish red hunk of ore. “Alright kid, give it a pump about every minute until I tell you to stop.”
Muta put the ore on the anvil, and taking up the 25-pound looking hammer he began to beat it down upon the ore. When the hammer struck down upon the ore there was an explosion of sparks and a thunderous sound. The old man kept swinging down the hammer, like the conductor of an orchestra. Each strike was handled deftly and with ease. Slowly rotating the ore as he hammered it, it began to lengthen into a rod. Kael noticed as the impurities were driven out the hammering took on less of a crashing noise and more of a metallic ring. After about 5 minutes of hammering the once round chunk of 10-pound ore had been beaten into a thin rod about 6 feet in length.
Kael was completely amazed at the transformation. Muta tossed the long rod back into the huge fire pit and told Kael to pump. 5 pumps later Muta waved him off. Using the tongs to pull the rod out, he took up some clippers and chopped it up into 4 equal parts, each a foot an a half in length. Putting three of the irons back into the hearth he took the last to his anvil. Hammering it out to be flat, it ended up with a width of an inch and a half inch in thickness. Once it was flat he began using the horn of the anvil and light taps to bend the metal along the thin edge. In just two minutes he had made a big U shape. Laying it flat over the hole in the back of the anvil, he grabbed a chisel from the wall and quickly punched three holes in each side of the U. Dipping it into the water trough, he tossed it to Kael. “There is one of those worthless horseshoes Raen was going about. It still needs to be ground down but that will be later. For now, watch me make these 5 chunks of ore into 20 horseshoes.”
About an hour later Muta was done. Kael was shocked at how fast he went. After the hearth was roaring, it only took about 30 seconds to heat a chunk of ore. 2 minutes to pound it flat. Then 2 minutes to make the shape and punch holes. 10 minutes for a full set.
“Alright kid, for the rest of the day you are just going to be pumping the bellows while I make horseshoes. Don’t think this is an apprenticeship, your working off a debt.” Taking Kael into the storehouse he began to explain each ore, its use, malleability, and how to identify it before it has been smelted. Afterward he had Kael haul another 350 pounds of pig iron out into the smithy. The process of working the bellows for an entire day was exhausting. The only perk was that Raen would bring him water every hour or so.