He started to pump the bellows, and flames licked at the crucible, beginning to heat it to a cherry glow. Sam regulated the temperature, easy enough when he could sense the structure of the metal as it melted. As he worked, he felt his mastery ticking up steadily, aided by his E Rank status. He instantly realized that this test would be yet another breeze, as it was made assuming that he would already have a fairly developed Profession. Most others here would have had years of experience in their fields. The only person who would find this easier would be the Overlord. As far as Sam could tell, all the man would have to do was to learn any Profession at all.
Of course, Sam would not squander this opportunity. It was exactly what he wanted, and he needed to make the most of it. The metal melted eventually, and he lifted it out of the forge with his bare hands, barely feeling anything save for a satisfying warmth. Then he poured the metal into the mold, which, as he expected, was shaped like a key. The only problem was that its interior was rough, and uneven. The ceramic material that it was made of was brittle, and it looked like threads of metal had been worked into the various burrs and depressions that lined it. Removing them would be difficult without breaking the mold. Instead of doing what he was supposed to, which was to use the mold and then file the key, Sam instead made a mold with Dao energy.
He filled in the holes and smoothed out the barbs, creating a perfectly flattened key shape. Then he poured the molten metal into the mold, and closed the top. Sam did not stop there. He passed a molecular net through the molten metal, cleaning out the impurities and passed them through the side of the mold. His E Rank power was granting him immense boons to his smithing abilities, even if his basic mastery was lacking.
Nevertheless, the number on his stat sheet was skyrocketing. Just from that little display, he had already reached the penultimate level of Novice rank in his Smith profession. It was a shockingly rapid growth rate. In less than five minutes, he had already almost doubled his mastery. Nothing would really prove to be much of a challenge until he reached the next stage. After all, the Novice stage was supposed to represent basic mortal mastery, with what was available to them. No Dao, no enhanced stats, no skills. Just mastery. It was technically possible to reach beyond this as a mortal, but the thing was, in most professions like the one he had, speed was more important than immense command over fine detail. A blacksmith who made a thousand nails a day would have a steadier source of income than one who made a single perfect sword once a year.
Thinking about things like this made it easier for Sam to encapsulate his Profession. Once he reached a suitable rank, he wanted to start working on the more esoteric side of his skillset, that of Dao Smithing. He had ignored it since making his armor in F Rank, and although he had since lost the armor, it had been very powerful at the time. Perhaps he could make something better. For that, he would have to brave working with the mithril. The only time he had seen the highly condensed alloy before had been in nugget form, but he had a sense that what would come out of this would be a lot purer, and a lot more dangerous to work with. It was highly unlikely that it would kill him, unlike the adamantium.
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He quickly lost track of time waiting for the metal to cool. He steadily leeched heat out of it with his will, but to avoid creating flaws in the metal, he did so slowly. It took about thirty minutes for the key to cool to a stable level of solidity, and it glowed a faint red. Sam broke open the mold with his mind and then seized the key.
He carried it over to the mold and then stuck it in, eliciting a slight hiss as the metal reached a normal temperature within moments. Whatever the oil in the vat was, it cooled the metal down far quicker than it should have.
Sam withdrew the key and walked over to the keyhole, lifting the tongs out of the way. Then he placed the key into the hole and turned. Immediately, the wall rumbled, and levers began to push their way out of the rock next to each of the chutes. Sam smiled. Now he could get to work.
His first goal was to reach the next stage of mastery, which would represent both a great leap for him, and the end of this challenge. Then he would be free to work on what he really wanted, which was to bring up Dao Smith to a level that he could craft armor strong enough to last him through E Rank.
Sam pulled the lever next to the iron dispensing chute, and let a few ingots fall. The way he wanted to reach his goal was forging steel from scratch. However, that meant that he needed to grow far more adept with his Dao manipulation than he currently was. As he used it, he was able to create incredibly fine structures, such as the net he had made to pass impurities out of the key. Despite this, all he had really done was filter out specks of dust and grit. The true, molecular scale impurities were still there.
Even as an E Ranker, he had never actually seen down to such a minute level. He could do so, but it would require active energy use on the part of his eyes. To reach that level of perception, he needed to channel his Dao energy in such a way that he could force the universe to realign itself to show its smallest secrets to his vision. In his mind, it would be similar to teleportation, only he used the Dao’s tunneling effect to warp light rather than space.
Sam shrugged and began, filtering his Dao energy to his eyes. He started by searching through space before him, engaging the technique that allowed him to teleport. As particles of his Dao came into view before him, he called upon them to relay information about the world around them, rather than calling to them to become part of himself.
Nothing happened, save for a faint flash of light in his eyes. He sighed, and tried again. From that little reaction, he was on the right track, but it was a technique that would take time.