He is another chapter, what do you think about it? I havent seen similar stuff in ohte novels so im hoping im first!!

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I had a lot of question to ask mom, but for now i don't have the time. Mark is kinda just across the street. When we knock on the door we hear a rustle and a pregnant woman comes out. She looks upset at our arrival, until she actually sees who we are and her face turns in to a frown. Typical. I do hope i figure it out one of these days. Mark comes out, right after her.

Mark>"Ms.Bloodsteel? How can i help you?"

Clarice>"I came to pick up my husbands order."

Mark>"Well, what he gave me to go by was vague so i only collected samples. I'll go bring them" 

He came soon after and gave us a pouch, with a few smaller ones in it. Best guess, the samples are in there. We didn't have anything else to do so we went home. I put the samples with my other stuff and started going through my daily exercises. Running with weights and the meditation moves, nothing much really. I stopped trowing weapons practice cuz i already could hit the target eight out of ten times dead center from 10 meters which is quite commendable. I need to grow more before i continue with the practice.

Next day i scrounged some rusty nails and scraped the rust off. It wasn't much but enough for test purposes. I asked mom for something akin to flint and steel, when she said why i don't use my spell i reminded her that i can use it only once. Even if i can maintain it constantly i don't know how the mana will react upon actual use, so far the only thing i heated was air. She dug up something usually every house has, but with magic it is only used in emergencies. I wish i never find out what type.

I figured out why it wasn't a fire stone. The flint and steel is slow as hell. It looks like scissors with flint stones instead of blades and an iron spring in between.

Mana stones are generally expensive, since it usually is made from a medium mana stone it should be above 4 silvers. But why would they need a non mana tool? Maybe there are mana null zones or something? If so, why do we have a F&S? Are the zones moving? Are there even any zones?....OK i better get back on track.

I ran trough the samples Mark gave me and every pouch is labeled, the names read and sound weird, i will only bother remembering aluminum, though i don't know which one it is yet.

I took a few pinches of every sample and and mixed them with the rusted iron. I arranged them on a stone slab. Don't want to accidentally burn the crops now do I? And tried to ignite them one after the other, soon enough i got my favorite reaction. Heat, fire and blinding light. Lots of it. It even melted part of the slab, good thing i used little or i would have made a big mess. I looked over to the corresponding pouch and started to repeat the name, it was so weird name that it sounded like i was trying to summon a demon lord or something.

Next few days went on quite quickly, i wasn't rushing my life and was enjoying practice. I even went so see Mark about the aluminum. Apparently the metal is expensive, not because it is rare, but because there isn't enough demand for it, ill have to wait a few week to get the funds in order to get enough for practical use. Maybe i can upgrade the crossbow a bit. Reinforce it with aluminum here and there, remove most of the wood. 

I wonder why it isn't used so much, true it isn't as durable or as strong as cast iron, but it should be far more flexible and corrosion resistant. Maybe they lack the brains to use it properly? even though they can make it. Best case scenario it was made and/or discovered by a miner with too much free time. It probably is used somewhere due to being able to acquire it without too much fuss. Best guess they make kitchen ware out of it, probably for nobles or rich people. Ahhhh all this speculation is getting me nowhere. I should ask Jack about it, i did keep the rest of the aluminum sample and gave the others back to Mark.

I will still need to make the delicate components myself in the future and that means i need to make room for blacksmithing training. Though i probably wont be able to keep my deal with Jack, too expensive and all that.

Come to think of it, isn't it a bit impractical? Sure recycling old, rusted and unmaintained tools is a viable way to save money but doing it with termite is a bad idea, economically speaking. It's a good utility weapon though, you can carry small pouches of the stuff and melt trough locks and people alike. Hell i can put it on a tip of a spear with a fuse and hit a bear near the heart, the termite will definitely kill it nice and slow... even cook it for a bit.

I wonder how bear meat taste like?

I went to see Jack and tell him about my failure, he didn't seem too surprised about it, even when i told him i want to learn the trade.

Jack>"Why do you want to learn smithing boy?" He said with a stern look. I kinda stopped him in the middle of something, Sam took over so it should be fine.

Salion>"To be able to make thing i want myself" I bet my eyes were in the shape of stars right now.

Jack>"You have the same look your father does, when he wants to do something he find interesting. Why would you want to learn smithing anyway? It would be easier to just order them from the local smith."

Salion>"Unless you can make very small and precise bits and pieces i need you wont be much help, not to mention asking a random blacksmith to make me something unorthodox is just asking for attention. And if i lean to do it myself i wont have to spend money on keeping people quite."

Jack>"You are right about that, and wrong about me. Every single blacksmith has to have basic training in other fields, some even like to mix thing up. Usually blacksmiths learn the basic of leather working and sewing early on, so when they make weapon handles and armor padding they know what they are doing. Some even become goldsmiths." I was about to ask but i guess I'm easy to read. "Goldsmiths generally make rings, necklaces and other jewelry. Their craft is very tedious and involves a lot of detailed work, which for a normal blacksmith is totally useless."

Salion>"So can you teach me or not."

Jack>"Boy you aren't listening. It takes a lot of time and effort in order to become a decent blacksmith, even more so for a goldsmith, and you want to learn it together with the combat training and your magic training. While i can teach you it will definitely wear you out. You do seem to have some very basic knowledge but that wont help you to keep the stress and fatigue your small body will experience. It is a lot of hard work and the heat in a proper forge is too much for you."

Salion>"If thats what you are worrying about don't be. My magic training mostly consists of emptying my internal mana, and i have toned down on physical training. It was nice at first but dad doesn't give me anything else. I can probably replace the physical training with smithing and combine the meditation and magic in one. Basically i can just free up most of my day. Though don't expect me to train every day, i will take brakes now and again for rest or spell practice. That is if you allow me to learn."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Seeing as i wont budge he scratched his forehead and sighted.

Jack>"Fine you want to learn? Then we start today. You want even have to lift the hammer. For now i will be ramming knowledge about smithing for the most part, thats what a kid your age should be doing, learning. Not running around the smithy hammering away. Bah" He made a slight frown at the last part, i guess looking like a three and a half year old and having the mentality of someone much older is weird to watch.

We went further in to where Sam was working. He was operating a bellows, it connected via a wooden pipe with clay end to a cylinder also made of clay, about 3 meters high and 1 wide, the smithing areas ceiling is 5 high. At the bottom there were several tiny line from which fire was coming out every time air was bellowed. The lines were three, one horizontal and two vertical coming down from the first one. I'm no expert but it looked like 3 doors of some kind, no idea how they open though.

Jack gave me a seat, a wooden stump, and ascended a platform about one and a half meters high, on it were a couple of baskets and laid on top of them was a metal bowl with a long handle. He used it to scoop something from the basket and drop it from the top of the cylinder. He repeated it a few times and came back down.

Sam was bellowing like crazy, i wonder what they are doing. I'm no expert, best guess they are smelting ore. Jack turned to Sam and smiled.

Jack>"Sam pick up the slack would ya, with that speed will be here the whole night"

He turned to me and started a lecture.

Jack>"Smithing is all about working with metal, shaping it with hard work and making something that can help feed a family or save a life. Of course we need to get the metal from somewhere and buying it from the market is frown upon by blacksmiths with even a bit of pride. The metal or in our case iron which is needed has to be smelted by the blacksmith who is using it. This way they can't blame the merchant for supplying inferior quality metal, the ore on the other hand is always with varying quality, so the blacksmith has to be able to process it himself and that takes knowledge and patience."

I rudely interrupted, bad habit.

Salion>"So why is Sam doing all the work?"

I got smacked on the back  of my head, for my smart remark.

Jack>"Because he needs to learn how to do it properly, and right now he is wasting too much energy by doing it wrong."

He went to Sam and smacked him on the back of the head. He then fixed his posture and reminded him how important his work is, something about keeping the temperature constant, he also pointed to a gem on the furnace. It was quite small about one by three centimeters is my best guess. It is glowing in an bright orange color close to white. As Sam fixed his posture and the bellow was thumping in a steady rhythm, the crystal started to become a brighter shade.

Jack>"Now then. What we are doing is simply smelting the iron ore, we crush it as finely as possible and mix it with charcoal then it is put in to the top of the furnace, stacking it until it is full. When we reach melting point we open it up to let parts of the molten rocks to leak out."

He went to the furnace and took a long metal rod with a hook on the end. He then hooked it on a part of the middle door and pulled. It came out quite easily and it left a whole about 10cm wide and 50cm high. From it a hot liquid pored down on to the ground. Jack just shoveled it out of the way. Judging by the dark colored floor it wasn't something unusual.

Jack>"Now with the molten rock out of the way you want to start removing the slag. And slag is everything that isn't iron. Regardless of where you find the ore or even ingots, are never pure iron. It will always have impurities, and the best time to remove as much as possible is during the smelting process. You see the big white lump behind the red rocky bits?" 

I got closer to the furnace and god was it hot, what was iron melting point? I'm pretty sure its above 1000C. Roughly in the middle of it was a big lump of stones with different shade of red and orange and in between the spaces you could see a white glow. I nodded and he continued.

Jack>"Now we need to take out the slag and the iron lump called a blume, after that we will hammer out the impurities out of the blume to the best of our abilities. And we must be quick about it, strike while the iron is hot and the like." He also gave a little chuckle at the last part.

He used the rod to prod out the slag chunks on the floor, took a pair of bing tongs and pulled the blume out. He then quickly placed it on an anvil while Sam was hammering at it...carefully. I rolled my stump near them and got on top of it. I put wrapped some cloth dirtied with ashes and stuff around my hands and took the the tongs from Jack. He just smiled like he was expecting it and started helping Sam.

Blow after blow chunks fell from the blume and it started to look purer and purer, it was cooling a lot slower than i though then again i never really bothered with metalwork like ever, till now. As the slag fell bit by bit it started to look like a prober iron, that pure orange/white glow it has.

From the force my hand were hurting, i could feel every time the hammer hit the blume. I was probably making a face cuz Sam chimed in.

Sam>"Good work Sal, not bad for a first day at work eh? Don't rush it, your hand are trembling only from holding the tongs. Imagine if you had to make a whole sword from it, which dad does. How about you wrap up and go rest come back when you are feeling better."

Now that he mentioned it i was sleepy too and its just past midday judging from the sun. And I'm sweating like a river. I really need to sleep for a while. I let Sam to take over tong duty. Thanked them for the lesson and dragged myself home.

Mom was worried when she saw me, before i can even peep she was bombarding me with questions. I must have looked terrible, i felt terrible too. I think i got heat stroke or something. When i managed to tell her about my experience i heard a laugh near by.

Johnathan>"Thats my boy, woman don't cuddle him, he needs rest. But make sure you make him eat something before he goes to bed"

Dad sounded a bit worried which is from the guy who tried to rocks to a two year old for training. I must be a mess. Mom quickly made some soup. 

It is thin which, i was feeling even worse since it was really good but my gag reflex kept trying to trow it out the way it came.

Dragging my self to bed i quickly fell asleep even though it was still daytime. I easily lost track of time. In the middle of my dreams i was feeling hotter and hotter. The scene of me holding the tongs and the waves of fatigue washing my whole body with each hammer strike was going on a loop. I was starting to feel desperate when i felt a cold and wet sensation on my forehead. It made the loop stop and the dream changed. I was still restless and was being calmed by a soft sensation going trough my hair again and again.

Feeling some liquid slide down my throat, i fell in deep calm sleep.