Sam nodded, and got to work. With his singular point into his profession, he was able to remember the feel of the metal beneath the hammer. He slowly worked the metal, teasing it out into a disc shape. Before he could finish, the metal cooled, and he found his next strike denting it. Sighing, he picked it up with a pair of tongs, and reheated it. He probably could have simply held it with his hands, but he refrained.
When the disc had reached the same hue as before, he took it from the embrace of the forge, and returned to hammering. A few minutes later, a thin disc of metal sat on the anvil, cooling rapidly as its large surface area wicked away the heat. Compared to the first time that he had experimented, he felt a lot more confident. It was far easier for him to work the metal in the way that he wanted. He looked up at George, whose lips were pursed. He did not look as pleased as Sam felt.
“What?” Sam asked, confused.
“That was passable, but I expect a lot more from you. I refuse to believe that somebody as good as you at forming Daos would not be able to progress as rapidly in the far more mundane art of smithing.”
Sam groaned, but he saw the point. If he was so good at comprehending the concepts of reality, then surely it would be a logical extension for him to be able to do a bit of light work in a smithy. Sam took the disc of metal, and deposited it in the forge, this time letting it melt. The metal ran down the chute next to the forge, and into another ingot mold. The metal cooled quickly, the result of a cooling enchantment set into the mold.
Sam took the ingot out of the mold when it was done, and heated it once more. He took it from the flames, and began to hammer it steadily. This time, he did not falter. Slowly but surely, the disc took shape, before the metal cooled too much. After about ten minutes, he had a perfect disc of metal sitting on the anvil. A notification greeted him.
Blacksmith Proficiency has reached Novice Stage 2
A little trickle of essence and insight entered his mind, and he set down the hammer. He was still a rube at the whole thing, but he was marginally more talented than before. George seemed to notice this, and the man smiled broadly.
“Good. I want you to stay here until you reach at least Novice Stage 5. It shouldn’t take that long. After all, you said that you have nothing else to do.”
Sam simply hefted the hammer, and got to work. Over the next few hours, he made a few more plates, focusing more on perfection rather than mass assembly. With those plates, he managed to gain another rank into his Smithing skill. However, he knew that he would need something different in order to reach the next two ranks.
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“I think it’s time for you to move onto more useful objects,” George said. “Try making a simple hook. See how far you end up getting.”
“A hook?” Sam asked.
George pointed at a small, curved piece of metal hanging from the wall.
“Try making one like that.”
Sam took another ingot, and placed it in the fire, waiting until it was soft enough to work. With his level of strength, he could have simply hammered it when it was cold, but without a much higher degree of mastery, that would simply ruin the metal. Instead, he took the glowing ingot out of the forge and started to draw it out into a rod. As the rod cooled, he used the curved tip of the anvil to bend the metal around, which created the hook shape he wanted. It looked a lot cruder than the one hanging on the wall, but it was still a hook. He could sense that it added a bit more expertise to his skill than a simple flat disc.
Sam kept making hooks, tossing them to the side. Eventually, he reached the fifth stage of his profession, three or four hours later. This was enhanced by his stats, which allowed him to work faster and learn quicker than a normal person. George seemed to be happy enough with his progress, and Sam left, wanting to return to work on his more unique profession at another time.
He had gained a small amount of essence, but interestingly enough, it seemed to scale to a degree with his level.He had gained a lot more essence from this set of improvements than from the first time he had tried smithing. It would be almost impossible for smiths to level up if their crafts were set to give such a miniscule amount of essence. Rather, Sam guessed that the higher one’s stats and level were, the more expertise they were able to show in their profession, which meant that they would gain more rewards.
Seeing as there was little more to do for quite some time, at least with the city, Sam could not stand simply waiting around for the Titans to come any longer. It was time for him to explore.
Earth was a massive planet now that the System had come. Estimates from his faction members of a more scientific bent put it at around 40,000 miles in circumference, a massive increase from before. The gravity had actually increased, as it turned out, but nobody noticed it because their stats had increased.
In any case, those newly expanded lands were filled with monsters and places to explore. Sam had outgrown most of the monsters on Earth, which were still fighting to get to his level. Eventually, the planet would rank up and so would the monsters, but for now, his only challenges were beast lords, of which he hadn’t seen any yet, the Titans, or dungeons. Apparently all of the Seals had already been claimed. That was of no consequence however, as they could always be taken. Of those three, he was more inclined to find a dungeon. The rewards were always welcome, on top of the essence that they provided.