Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, Main Continent, Cloudmount City, Divine Fate Mansion.
After a delightful dinner and an after-meal conversation around a few bottles of wine for some and glasses of beers for others, they all went back to cultivate for the night. Even Guang Yang. As he felt the magical energy around his body getting absorbed in his body, time seemed to fly by without him noticing. As the sun started to rise and its warmth caressed his face, he seemed to wake up calmly from his meditation state, with a smile adorning his face.
“Another day of school... I can't wait to see everyone!” He muttered with anticipation.
He then stood up and ran to the bathroom to prepare himself, after which he only had time for a quick breakfast. As he was ready to depart, Nung left with him in tow, the both of them walking towards the car they always used to go to the academy. As they were on the way there, Nung suddenly asked Guang Yang. “So, young Master, what lessons do you have today?”
The young boy thought for a second and then said. “This morning I have Advanced Blacksmithing Level 1 and Advanced Rune carving Level 1. As for the afternoon I have Basic Mana Harnessing Level 3 and Basic Law Manipulation Level 3.” Hearing what he said, Nung chuckled and said. “A very 'dense day' I assume.”
The boy nodded and replied. “A lot of new things to learn. It'll probably challenging, but that's not a bad thing. It makes me want to succeed even more.” The man smiled slightly and said. “I see that young master is quite competitive. Good! Going through challenges is how a cultivator grows. Mmhh... Those Level 1 classes are your Electives, correct?”
Guang Yang nodded. “Yes. Since my knowledge on the matter is pretty much zero, it's better that I start at the bottom. I would waste less time than trying to follow a higher level class.” To which Nung replied. “I'm sure that you'll quickly reach the Level 3 class with your talent...” When he finished talking, they sat in silence, looking at the sight on each side of the vehicle passing by them extremely quickly.
A few minutes later, they reached the school where Nung left Yang before disappearing from the boy's sights, the latter having no idea that the former was just following him while being invisible. Shaking his head to dispel the feeling of awe that filled him everytime he witnessed the prowess of the high level cultivators, he decided to simply walk towards the academy's shuttle area. Once he was in one of those shuttles flying in the direction of the campus' west side, which housed the practice field and crafting rooms, he decided to send a message to his three new friends through their new group that we collectively decided to rename 'the four musketeers'.
That last one sparked a fierce debate in the group. It started the previous day when all of them were back at their own place. Angelo thought that it would a good idea to have a name for their group. That way, it would make them feel closer. As the other three were not really against it, they began to debate on what kind of name fit the group. A few propositions were given and discarded soon after like 'The most powerful and awesome group', 'Heavenly emperor cultivators', and 'The magical girls and their knights team.'
The most ridiculous was 'The NoLiAnYa group' which was just the first two letters of each of their names. That one was crossed out quickly since it sounded horrible and nobody would take the time to remember such a nonsense name. Anyway, after many heated arguments, Norah suddenly explained to them that she recently read a book that supposedly came from an Ungraded planet with what was objectively backward technology. At least compared to the Hoborg Empire. The plot was about a group of warriors that were tasked with protecting their king. They were called Musketeers.
Apparently the name came from the weapon they used which was called musket. None of them really cared about that though, but they all felt that the name sounded good and from the details that she sent them, the whole thing about 'one for all and all for one' motto resonated with them, making them certain that this was what they were looking for. From that point they decided to be known as the four musketeers. An unknown group at the moment, but who knew how well-known they would become in the future?
Back to the situation. Guang Yang sent a message in the chat group to let them know what classes he had this morning, despite all of them sending a copy of each other's schedule to each other the previous day. After that, the four of them decided to eat together for lunch before bidding each other good luck for their lessons. Once the conversation stopped, the young boy was reminded that the other three had the same lessons (Basic Blacksmithing Level 1 and Basic Rune Carving Level 1) so they were probably together at the moment while talking to each other through the group.... “What a bunch of silly friends I got myself. Haha.” He thought, amused.
A few minutes of travel later, the shuttle reached the Crafting area, where it landed and the people inside, and among them Guang Yang, exited and started to walk towards the crafting room assigned to his lesson. Similar to the day prior, he simply followed his Holo-Bracelet's instructions to reach the right building, where he took the 'Oh so useful' Gravity Elevator until he finally arrived to his destination.
Entering the room, he took a look around at the people first. Unlike yesterday, he noticed that the students were a lot younger. Most of them around 8 to 10 years old. Or at least that was what they looked like. With mana, no one could be certain about age anymore. Of course, he knew that despite their seemingly young age, they were not frail children. All of them were at least Early Level 1 which made them all at least slightly stronger than an average adult without cultivation even if they did not use their limited mana reserve to reinforce their bodies. They may not be able to destroy entire houses made of Ungraded materials like Guang Yang, but to learn how to forge with Level 1 materials should not be too hard, as long as they made an effort to learn.
Once he finished assessing the children around, he focused on the room itself. The latter was spacious enough and was divided into two parts. One side looked like a regular classroom with the students' desks set up in an half circle with the empty part probably used by the teacher to explain the theories involved in forging.
The second part of the classroom was unsurprisingly filled with working stations, each filled with what one needed to forge, such as a forge itself, an anvil, etc. What made Guang yang curious though, was why, with all the technology they had today, couldn't they make an automatic forging station? Wouldn't that be more efficient? Also there would be less need on the skills of the blacksmiths, wouldn't it?
A bit confused, he nevertheless decided to keep the question to himself. To be fair, the teacher was not yet present and he knew no one in this class, so it was not as if he could ask anyone. “I could ask teacher, maybe? But I don't want to bother her... I'll just wait for this teacher to arrive and ask him then. It's a better idea.”
Amusingly enough, as soon as he finished his internal pondering, a towering man entered the classroom, walking towards what the young boy assumed was the teacher's area. The man was very different from what he expected a blacksmith's teacher would be. “I did expect the bulging muscles, since, after all, it's a profession that's quite demanding on the body. But, an elf? That's quite surprising. Especially since his aura seemed to radiate with the Law of Fire and not the Law of Wood, Water, or Wind, which are the most common for elves on this planet.” The young fox thought, puzzled.
Apparently, he was not the only one surprised since a few children there looked surprised, and among them were even a few elves whose body looked a lot more slender than the man, which, to be fair, may be mostly due to their young age. But still.
As the adult elf saw the astonished expression on the students' face, he started to guffaw. “I see some of you brats are quite surprised at my appearance, aren't you? You probably think that as an elf I should look like a siss... *Cough* I mean I should be slender, right?” As the majority nodded, he continued. “Ah, I get that every time. Actually, it's because of your misunderstanding about cultivation.” He cupped his chin in thoughts for a few seconds before resuming his speech. “Well, it should be the role of your cultivation teacher to teach you that particular topic, but since it's very basic, I guess I could explain it quickly.”
“Let's start then. Cultivating the body with mana is basically using said mana to improve every single part of your body. It makes it more efficient, stronger, more resistant, etc. All in all, it objectively pushes your body towards a so-called 'perfect state', if that even exist. But if we think about it in that way, then there should be a conundrum.” Seeing that he had everyone's attention, he then asked them a question. “If our body is supposed to 'automatically' become more and more perfect, then why don't everyone look the same? At least when it comes to the same species. Does anyone know?”
Hearing his questions felt like an obstructing veil broke in the students' mind, forcing them to become aware of how little they actually knew about cultivation. Indeed, it was similar to parents who taught their children that fire was dangerous, but omitted the explanation of why. It felt like an universal truth, but few people thought of questioning it. It may sound innocuous, but it could lead to misunderstanding, such as 'Elves are always slender looking', 'Orcs are strong and ugly', 'Human descending from white skin tribe can never become green skin', etc.
“Let me tell you then. It comes from your unconscious will. What do I mean by that? Simply that mana is influenced by your own will. That means that when the mana remodel your body, it also follow your subconscious thoughts. Let's take my case for example. I always wanted to become a blacksmith and in my mind a blacksmith was someone with large muscles. Now, with so many years of remodeling from the mana I absorbed, my muscles grew to make me look like I am today. Does that change my power? Honestly, I don't see the difference because at my Level, the size of muscles doesn't matter. The efficiency of each of my cells does. In the end, the external changes are mostly cosmetics.”
He paused for a few seconds before resuming his explanation. “Of course, if one stay as a Rank 1 cultivator, the changes would be a lot weaker than in my case, so all those stereotypes you all have on the different races are not unfounded. At least at the lower Ranks. But the higher you go, and the less race matters. There are exceptions like high level bloodlines. But as their name implies, they are exceptions.”
Hearing the man's explanation, Guang Yang was pondering. “So that's why. If we follow that logic, then at the higher Layer, one should be able to change one's body at will, right?” Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the weirdness of his assumption, he just thought. “Forget it! I still have many years before I need to think about it. It's better to focus on the present instead.”
As the teacher noticed the shocked looks on his students face, he couldn't help but laugh. Feeling very entertained, he said. “Alright kids, now that I sated your curiosity, it's time to do what you came here for, which is to learn about blacksmithing.”
Noticing that he had their complete attention, he resumed. “Let me give you a rundown of what this class will be about before we start for real. The first thing you will learn will be about every Level 1 materials related to the profession, such as metals, jewels and even wood. Although you will probably specialized in one path in the future, you will still be required to learn enough to be able to forge most items with decent quality, such as armors, accessories, etc. At least if you want to pass the Level 1 class.”
After a moment of silence, he continued. “After learning about the basic features of the different Level 1 materials, I will start to teach you about how to combine different materials without destroying them, which is harder than you're probably expecting. After all, there are some materials that melt at a low temperature, while others need a flame that's a lot stronger.”
“Anyway, that is the theory part. As for the practice one, I will assign each of you to a forging station during it so that you can practice while learning about how to merge those materials. It will make easier for you to remember and comprehend everything.”
The man let the silence float for a few seconds before talking again. “I fully expect many failures during the second part and many wasted materials, so don't feel down if you mess up. However, failing is one thing, but you still have to learn about why you failed, and what to do to avoid that same failure again. Otherwise, there is no point continuing.”
“Once I see that you have an acceptable mastery of basic forging, I will teach you how to make simple items all the way until the most complex ones. If Level 1 items can be considered complex. Haha.”
“By the way. Does anyone have any question before we start?” It was always fun to impress those little kids, so Zinlar always made sure to have a 'mind-blowing' story ready for the kids when starting to teach a new class. He did not know why, but having those adorable little things with that expression of being enlightened on their face made his day everytime. “I guess that's why I chose to become a teacher.” He thought while sighing.
As he was reminiscing, he noticed a golden-haired child raising his hand. He thought for a second before remembering his basic infos from the file that was sent to him by the Academy. “Guang Yang, right? Go ahead.” The child nodded and with a puzzled expression asked. “Teacher, I was wondering about something. Wouldn't it be more efficient to create machines to forge instead of asking cultivators to do it? Isn't it incredibly inefficient?”
“Good one, kid! Let's start with your first question then. Can we make machines to forge items? Absolutely! There are downsides though, which can answer your second question. Mainly, the quality limit. The machines available are only capable of reaching Mid quality for any Level. It doesn't really matter for Rank 1 Items, since there is an abundance of materials on Grade 3 Planets like the one we're currently on. But when it come to Rank 2 materials it would be a waste since Blacksmiths are capable of higher quality forging. As for Rank 3? Let's not even think about that! That stuff is too rare that only Rank 3 cultivators and powerful families are able to get it. Most of you will probably never see the stuff, so it's useless to think about it for now. Don't worry though. If you reach a high enough Level, the Academy will teach you about it.”
The teacher turned back to Yang and said. “So to sum up my answers. There are machines, but they are only used for mass produced items like houses, cars, etc. No high end items will ever be produced with machines. I hope that answer your question.” Little Yang nodded and replied. “It did. Thank you.”
The polite little bugger really knew how to put a smile on his face. “Should I have children...? I guess I should find a wife first, shouldn't I?” He thought, amused at his own internal joke. “Alright, kids! Now that I answered the only person with a question, we'll start with the tedious stuff.”
As he was musing about how to start the lesson, a sudden thought made him freeze for a second. “Fuck! I forgot to tell them my name, didn't I?” He coughed to hide his embarrassment before he added. “By the way, my last name is Zinlar in case you need to know.” He kept his poker face and proceeded to start the lesson without any of the children noticing his 'faux-pas'.
“The first material we'll learn about is what is commonly called as crimson metal. It is mostly used to forge fire related items.”