《Grandsmith - Art of Forging》
1 - The young apprentice
Forging- the art of making weapons and armor. An art long passed down since the dark ages. With the rise of the mechanical age, what used to be hand crafted are now machine cut and die casted. Weapons and armors form from sheets of metal. One press and parts to a bracer, another press and you have the other bits needed. Then handing it down to a simple craftsman, he treads them together with simple rivets and hands you a finished piece.
Somewhere in the imperial city lays a lazy man watching his blacksmith shop. The last of the few places that still did the traditional blacksmithing.
*Ring-Ring*
The door opened to a small boy barely the age of 5 holding a small Urn.
¡°I would like to make a request.¡±
¡°Kid. this is a blacksmith not a toy shop. Are you sure you are in the right place?¡±
¡°Yes I am sure. I would like to make a forging hammer and I would like to be an apprentice here.¡±
¡°Kid you are too young. If you want a forging hammer just go to the industrial area. They can make it for you cheaply.¡±
¡°No they can¡¯t help me. Only you can. That is what my father told me before he passed away.¡±
Intrigued he asked ¡°To whom do I bring that honor to¡±
¡°Rupheus Daylight Theodore and I am Marcus Daylight Theodore.¡±
The lazy man suddenly shot up from his seat shocked and tumbled toward the little boy. ¡°You are a DAYLIGHT.¡±
With a tear in his eye Marcus nodded. ¡°Will you teach me how to forge?¡±
¡°Boy, where does the grandmaster lay to rest.¡±
Holding the Urn tighter in his arms,¡°He is here. With me. And his wish is to become a part of my hammer so that he will forge on even after his passing through my hands. I will succeed his will and become the greatest GrandSmith.¡±
The lazy man laughs bitterly as he drew out a blade standing by the side of the wall. ¡°No one uses that word anymore. In this day and age, who still buys these ¡®quality goods¡¯ when they can buy the same item at 1/10th of the price of not lesser. this blade that I made is to be sold for 50 Silver, a blade made by the machines is less than a 2 Silver¡±
After giving it a pause before continuing, he took out another blade the stood near the door that was listed as 2 Silver.
¡°This is the blade made by a machine. Look at these 2. Can you tell the difference?¡±
After staring at the 2 of them for multiple minutes, Marcus could only shake his head.
¡°This 50 silver blade took 8 hours to make and this 2 silver blade took 2 hours to make. To the common folks they work the same. It is a weapon that cuts.our hand-made blade that does the same as their blade. Why pay more for something that does the same? No one is willing to spend what is deemed to be fool¡¯s money.¡±
The lazy man closed the shop for the day and brought the boy into the workshop.
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He placed the two blades that were still in his hands onto the table and grabbed a hammer.
¡°Grab.¡±
Marcus fumbled as the hammer arched across the sky and landed in his hands, the handle smacking his face.
¡°Get used to the pain. As a smith, pain is part of everyday life. Now come here and strike the 2 blades with the hammer with all your might.¡±
Rubbing his nose from the pain. Marcus rubbed his nose for a brief moment for the tingling prickly sensation that still hovers on it before holding on to the hammer with two hands above his head and smashed it down.
¡°You missed. Try again.¡±
*Thud*
¡°Again.¡±
*Thud*
¡°Again¡±
*Ting*
¡°Good now the other blade.¡±
*Thud*
¡°Again¡±
*Thiang*
¡°Good. now put down the hammer. Did you hear the difference?¡±
Nodding his head, Marcus put down the hammer while rubbing that numb sensation he now feel in his hands away.
Lifting the two blades he presented the two spot that were struck. ¡°Sound is just one thing. Now look at the blades.¡±
¡°Can you see way the sword is bent on this one? Now do you see the way this sword is dented?
After staring at the 2 blades for some time, Marcus still did not get it. ¡°I do not get it¡±
¡°A machine crafted blade is omnidirectional at its core. A hand-made blade had been hammered and pounded into having some form of directional grain. A weapon with directional grain is more sturdy and more impact resistant. As you can see here, this blade is now bent while this blade is only dented. Imagine that you are at war, a blacksmith would not be able to follow you the the frontlines of battle, which blade is better?
¡°The Dented one?¡±
¡°Yes. that is true. But what if I say that if your blade is bent, you can just swap for a new one because there is hundreds more lying around?¡±
¡°I would take the one that bend because I can keep changing for a new one.¡±
¡°That is the problem. Because people think that they can keep changing it, they opt for the cheaper one. What if, the blade broke when you are fighting with the enemy? What if the blade broke while you are trying to strike the enemy. What if the blade broke while you are trying to parry your enemy? Would you have a spare sword lying around? By the time you get your spare sword, you have been already cut down.¡±
The lazy man then waited as Marcus absorbed the concept.
¡°So are you now ready to start to learn how to smith¡±
Nodding his head vigorously, Marcus replied. ¡±Yes. It is what I came here for.¡±
¡°Good, from now on, call me Mastersmith Derrick.¡±
¡°Yes Mastersmith Derrick¡±
2 - Just a little exercise
¡°How strong are you kid.¡±
¡°I do not know.¡±
¡°When you are here you are supposed to called me Mastersmith Derrick. Do you understand me.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°What did I just say?
¡°Sorry Mastersmith Derrick.¡±
¡°Do not make me repeat myself from now on. How strong are you kid.¡±
¡°I do not know Mastersmith Derrick.¡±
¡°Not knowing is fine but I will be tampering you. Mind, body and soul so that within a month, you will be able to swing the hammer for 1 hour without losing your breath. Now strip.¡±
¡°What?¡±
Giving the death stare to Marcus,¡°Strip before I help you to strip.¡±
With chills running down his spine, Marcus quickly stripped down to his birthday suit.
Taking out what seems like an intricate lock system, Derrick began attaching the various parts to Marcus.
¡°From now on you are to wear these the whole day. Other than when you shower you are to keep these on unless I tell you to take them off. ¡°
¡°Yes MasterSmith Derrick¡±
After attaching all the different parts together on Marcus, Derrick rattled Marcus to make sure that nothing is falling out of place.
After making sure that everything is in place, he turned Marcus around and planted a gem into a socket in this contraption, activating it.
The contraption vanished from sight leaving only what seems like a simple necklace dangling on Marcus neck.
¡°Good it seems like this old thing still works¡±
Old thing?
¡°Now this will be good training for you. do not let others know you are wearing this and do not let anyone else touch it. do you understand me?¡±
¡°Yes Mastersmith Derrick.¡±
¡°Good. Now take 5 copper and run down the street to buy me some apples. you have 10 minutes. Go. Run. Time is ticking. ¡±
Marcus dashed out of the workshop immediately and turn left. After about 10 seconds or so, he came back with a red face and meekly asked ¡°Where is the shop that sells apples MasterSmith Derrick.¡±
After looking at Marcus from the corner of his eye, he points to the right side. ¡°That way.¡±
Marcus immediately dashed out and headed to the right side.
¡°Kids these days, not even a word of thank you.¡±
Derrick then went back to resting at the counter waiting for the next potential customer who knows their stuff.
Barely 5 minutes later, Marcus rushed back with 5 apples in hand with not even a sweat on his brows.
¡°You came back too fast. I am quite sure you did not run there and back. for the apples. and 5 copper will not get you 5 apples, it only gets you 2. Spill it. who and where did you steal it from.¡±
With tears in his eye for being wrongly scolded he explained where he got his apple.¡°I turned to the right and ran as fast as I could toward the Fruits stall, on my way there I saw that there was this granny down the alley way that fell down and tumbled her cart of fruits. there was no one else in the streets or alley way other than us. I helped her up and picked up the fruits for her. As a thank you she gave these apples to me Mastersmith derrick.¡±
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¡°That is an interesting tale, but that defeated the purpose of sending you out. Run to the end of the district and back.¡±
With eye as wide as dinner plates, Marcus froze in position.¡°District? that is much further down that the fruit stall.¡±
¡°Go now before I change my mind and make you run round the district.¡±
Scampering, Marcus dashed out of the shop and ran towards the end of the District.
-Flashback to Derrick¡¯s younger days-
¡°Today you are running with these on. I will set them at 2 time the gravity. Any complains and I will make you run with it set at 2.5 times.¡±
It had been twenty years since that day where he was handed this ¡®torture tool¡¯ it was a good memory to not need to wear them anymore.
Ahh come to think of it I forgot to set it to any higher for the kid. Nevermind. I will hand increase it slightly when he return. Maybe about 1.2 times the gravity? It will make feel tired but not that tired. It would be funny to see him unable to hold his utensils later. I was there once too.
*pant* *pant* why is it my feet so heavy. I do not remember being so tired from running before. It must be the necklace, I only ran for two minutes and I am already this tired. I must persist. I need to fulfil my father¡¯s will.
After six minutes.
I am just past the fruit stall. I still have 2 more streets until I reach the end of the district.
By now, Marcus was already at walking pace. He was close to his limit but his will kept him going.
After 10 minutes.
I am reaching the end of the district. I just need to reach the end and then turn back. I am already near the halfway mark. I must persist.
After 20 minutes.
I am back at the fruit stall now. I will be reaching soon. For Papa¡. I must¡ continue
By now, Marcus¡¯s lips were livid white. It is by sheer force of will that he is still moving.
---
Somewhere in a distance shop a lazy man woke up from his little nap. He looked at the clock and was wondering to himself; it has been almost an hour already. Where is that kid, did he go and play instead of returning as soon as possible because it was too easy for him?
I will give him another 10 minutes. If he is not back after 10 minutes, i will go and find him
After another 10 minutes.
Ah¡ this is where I helped the granny, i am very close now.
---
That does it. I am going to look for him. He is going to get it from me when he returns.
Closing the shop, Derrick began heading towards the end of the district. He was fuming his head thinking of all the things his was going to, the punishments that he was going to enforce. Barely a minute later, he was at loss for words, his mind all blank as he saw that lone tiny figure slowly dragging his feet, inching forward with eyes glazed over towards his direction.
He stood there motionless as the Marcus moved and finally bumped into him.
Looking up to see the towering figure before him, ¡° Ah Mastersmi¡.¡± and he blanked out.
3 - Bed Rest
Carrying Marcus on his back, Derrick went to the Healer¡¯s ward.
In his head he was running all the possibilities in his head. What could he have done to prevent the worst from happening. A Grandsmith son, what if he decides not to continue to be a blacksmith after this ordeal. It will be the sinnest of sin to be the cause of ending a bloodline as profound as this. All these while, he was mumbling to himself as he carried Marcus ¡°I am sorry to all the great masters. Sorry to all the Grandsmiths. Sorry to all the past ancestors of Daylight clan.¡±
¡°He just needs PLENTY bed rest. Here is some tablets and some potions. The potions will quickly return to full health but the tablets is there for his wellbeing. Potions are good but they are not all powerful. Whatever that you got going to him tired out his body. I see that he is tired but i do not see any signs on heavy weights placed on him, not on the arms, on the back or on the shoulders. Magic must be in play here. I do hope you know what you are doing. He is just a kid. Thankfully, there no muscles overly sore other than those on his two legs. By tomorrow morning he will be all ok. But he is to take those tablets. The potions are for just in case. I do hope you know what you are doing.¡±
The doctor went on to talk about the different tablets effect and the potions that he handed over. He knew Derrick was a traditional blacksmith from around the district. It was easy to tell. The coarse apron, broad shoulders and rugged hand. Traditional blacksmiths have a special reputation to themselves. They keep to themselves and are hard on themselves. They do not mingle as much as the craftsmen of the new age. Some even has nasty tamper. Thinking back, who could fault them. The world has changed and it made them feel obsolete. Their workmanship is good but the time it takes and the reward it gives is now so little.
The doctor understood that this boy is most likely a new protege of the blacksmith. He knew it was not his place to stop them, but he still wanted to keep the young boy safe. Or at least safer. Heat resist potions, fire tolerance pills, muscle ache medications, anything that was suitable he tried handing over to the Blacksmith.
¡°That would be 32 gold. Thank you.¡±
¡°What ? 32 gold? You said he only needed bed rest. Why is it that i need to pay so much for just those words.¡±
¡°It is not just those words Mr BlackSmith. It is the Potions, tablets and medication that cost you this much. These moonwillow sap and heron¡¯s grace cost 1 gold each and these are the best you can have for the kid. I know he is your Protege and you want the best for him¡..¡±
The doctor continued to explain and brainwash Derrick, selling him the best items that he could that were beneficial to the kid.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.The Doctor was a good salesman. The art of making sales was not to make someone buy something that he needs at a high price. It was buying something he may need for an even higher price. Of course, the pinnacle of all that was to make someone buy something that he will not need at the highest of price but that was not his goal. He wants a repeat customer. Someone who will come back. And he was very sure the Blacksmith would come back. Given the amount of brainwashing that he did.
In the end Derrick gave in and bought all that and more. He paid a total of 38 gold for additional tablets.
The next day.
As Marcus stirred awake, he noticed that lying by the bed was MasterSmith Derrick ¡°Ah MasterSmith Derrick.¡±
Rubbing his eyes, ¡°Good Morning, had a good rest on my bed?¡±
Blushing, Marcus nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Good. now drink this and take this tablet. Go back to sleep. The next time you wake up there will be work for you to do.¡±
In Derrick head, he was repeating to himself, ¡®need to take thing slow.¡¯
After making sure Marcus got his bed rest, Derrick began scrutinizing the necklace that he had previously handed to Marcus. As a MasterSmith, it was his duty to understand devices like these. As soon as he began observing the contraption on its entirety, he was perplexed. Everything was working fine. Nothing was out of place. No rust and no faulty connections. What could have gone wrong.
It was half an hour later that he understood what went wrong. In fact, there was nothing wrong. Everything was running perfectly. It was he who was mistaken. When he first put the contraption on Marcus, it was starting up. So it did not show any form of effect. After Marcus left the shop, the device finally kicked into place what was its last setting. The years of disuse did not make it lose it¡¯s last setting. The only thankful thing was that the boy was stronger than he had though. The setting was at 2 times the gravity. The boy was about 20 kg in weight Meaning that he had been carrying his own weight of 20kg while running about. Being able to walk is a surprise by itself. The boy had been running and walking for over 50 minutes with that on. For most adults, carrying 10 kg while running and walking 50 minutes is a feat on its own. Imagine an adult carrying another of themselves while running and walking for 50 minutes. Without proper training, no adult would have been able to do that, much less for a kid. Although it is just 2 times for a kid is not as much, the persistence that he had was a different story. The only fear that Derrick had now was that it may have broken Marcus will instead.
Scratching his head bitterly, Derrick could only lament. He is really just a blacksmith and not so much a thinker.
4 - Why do we build swords?
"Why do we build swords?
Who do we build swords for?
What do we build swords for?
Where do we want to see our swords used?
When do we want to see our swords used?
Whom does our swords serve?
Whose hands does our swords belong?
How, do you want your swords be used?
Think carefully. There is no right answer and there is no wrong answer."
"Give me your answer at the end of dinner. For now, watch how I choose the ore. Today we work with steel, the most common of metal we use in since ages past. When we choose the ore, we look at the color. We look for the bright silver color. Any bits that are grey and black are rejected. We are not just blacksmiths. We are more like alchemist. We seek the secrets of the steel like how the alchemist seeks the elixer of immortality. We seek the best and take only the best."
"From now on, everyday before breakfast, you will take one hundred pieces of ore and from there, take ten out of these hundred and arrange then according to their quality. Your training is done when you can arrange all hundred."
"The school that your family follows may have a different way to choose their ore. The Hayin-Do school does it by sound. They use a tool to hold the ore and tap on the ore. The tool will make a chime that tells the purity of the ore. The better the ore the clearer the chime, or so the open secret goes. Without the blood oath that you must swear as the Chime-Bearer, the deeper secret behind it is unknown to us. Their Chime-Bearer bears the right to reject the ore brought for testing. Thousands upon thousands of ore pass by their eyes and if the quality is too low they can tell it with a glance as well. That tool works with rarer metals and materials as well so I can''t fault them for being so secretive about it."
"For the school that I follow, it is called the Qian Cui or thousand hammer as we now call it.
The school that your family follows is called Wan Lian or ten thousand refinement. Our two schools used to be one. Then came the 2 brothers who grew to become the head grandsmiths of the school. They each specialized in one area. Qian Cui is about efficiency and Wan Lian is about quality. The school became two as they brought their expertise to greater heights.
Ah look at me. I digressed. "
Picking up 5 pieces of ore. I lay them out before Marcus. "Can you tell which one is the better of the 5?"
I watched as Marcus stared intently at the 5 pieces of ore.
After about 30 second or so, he shook his head but not without saying, "I am not sure which is better but I noticed that this piece is darker and should be a lower quality piece as compared to the others."
I looked again. I was impressed. He did not manage to pick out the best but he managed to pick out the worst.
"Very good. Can you tell me what makes the difference between the materials of a good sword and a nornal sword?"
"Uhhh. The quality?"
"That is the layman''s term. What makes a better sword is the amount of flaws in a blade.
If I call the industrial made sword at quality scale of 1 and the cheapest sword I have would be at 4 or so. "
"There is a saying."
"The chain is as strong as its weakest link."
"So judge not a sword by how good the blade is but by little flaws it contain. With the same amount of raw material to make 10 industrial quality swords, I am only able to make 4 or less swords. "
"But if you take the 10 swords and pit them against my 4 swords by two swordsmen at equal strength until they chip and break, the odds are that by the time all 10 break, only 2 of my work would have been broken and the third chipped and would still work.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.That is the difference in quality."
I paused my speech and looked at Marcus. It is a little much for his little brain to sort through. Also, I am waiting for that question that always comes about with this.
After sorting his thoughts and a brief hesitation, Marcus finally asked that million dollar question. "But if these 4 swords are better than those 10 swords, why is it that there are so much of those cheap swords out there and no one would buy your swords?"
"Time."
"It is the time it take to make a sword. The time it takes for me to make a sword, 10s of swords are made."
I paused for a brief moment once again before continuing. "Most people would not be able to bring out 10 percent of the sword''s true power. Would it have mattered if it was a million gold sword or a ten thousand silver(100 Gold) sword? It would not. For a normal person, all that matters is that it is a sword that can cut. If the sword breaks I just get a new sword. A sword has become a tool to those people, and those swords have no soul."
"Soul?"
"Yes. Soul. A sword can kill. It can also protect. The soul of the sword stems from the desire of its owner. Now here is the question. Who understands the sword best?"
"Hmm... I am not sure. The one who uses the sword?"
"Nope, but for now it is time for you to go start your jog. The setting for the tool is now at 1.2 times. Two laps to the end of the district for warm-up. Just to be sure. I will check the tool again. I do not want another of that incident again. That was a big scare. And that fruit stall granny left my ears ringing. She gave me quite a earful."
Seeing that the boy did not move from his position after some time, I could not help but give an inward sigh before saying, "Now get over here. Time is wasting. There is still much to learn."
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So I began my ''light'' exercise.
As I jogged, I began thinking about the questions layed out to me.
Why do we build swords?
Who do we build swords for?
What do we build swords for?
Where do we want to see our swords used?
When do we want to see our swords used?
Whom does our swords serve?
Whose hands does our swords belong?
How, do you want your swords be used?
Who understands the sword best?
As I thought about the questions, I began to think that there really was no correct answer to any of these. There were the easy answers to all these questions.
We build swords to kill.
We build them for warriors.
We want to see them used for war.
We want see them always used.
We want them to serve the winner.
We want them to be in the hands of the strong.
But when I reached the how, I stumbled. From every fiber of my being it screamed never. It screamed to never be used.
Then I realized the flip side to these questions. The desire to protect.
To protect. But why a weapon to protect. I did not get it.
I wandered about with the questions in my head, bumping into people along the way. Then a question creeped into my head. Would I hand a sword to this person?
As I kept jogging, I looked at the various people I passed by. It was a fairly odd question that occupied my mind instead of the questions I started with.
It was not long before I was back at the shop from my warm up.
I stepped into the shop only to see him snoozing at the counter once again. Then the same question came to me again. Would I hand a sword to this person? The interesting thing was not the reply. But the reasoning behind it. He knows the sword better than me.
It answered the question.
Who understands the sword best? A sword is just a sword. The sword is gifted its soul by its maker and nurtured by its user. The one who knows the sword best is the one who first held it. It holds the memory of its birth and the meaning behind it birth.
No wonder I always heard my grandfather say he had many sons and daughters and most of them never reached their full potential.
"So you are back. Got any answers for Me?"
I turn to look at Mastersmith Derrick and see that he is up and giving that same bored look as ever.
Of the so many questions the only one I could answer was who knows the sword best so I stuck out my chest and boldly declared that the one who knows the sword best was the maker of the sword.
It was an interesting moment as I watched Mastersmith Derrick''s face change from bored to raised eyebrows to wide eye then the twitch between smiles and frowns. That whole facial contortion act lasted for a good 5 seconds before it settled on a stern face.
He sighed while saying this. "That is true for most parts. For a normal sword. That much holds true. You have not yet learn about the arcane so there is no fault in that answer. Yet."
"Arcane?" I asked, perplexed by his reply.
"Yes arcane. It is something you will learn of in the future. If you live up to your family name, it will take you about 5 years or so before I teach you about the arcane."
"For now let us eat our breakfast."
5 - Birthday Suit
Do you think striking as hard as possible is the right way to go?
If you think it is, you are wrong striking too soft also makes it useless. Just to be at entry level in our Qian Cui techniques. One needs to strike a thousand times on this tool
Now watch as I start to hammer on this tool.
It is modified from a toy for some test of strength. Bring the hammer down on this area and see the token move to the top. See the area in the middle that is yellow and the red line in middle? Your goal is to hit the token within the yellow area and make the counter on the left increase. Hit too hard and the counter goes down by 1 instead. The final goal is to make it stop right at the line . The counter on the right will increase each time that happens. When it is time to stop I will tell you so. Today is just a start so for the next 3 hours. You are to keep striking at it with... Let see... This 2.5kg hammer. No no no. This 0.5kg should do the trick. It is for getting the arm used to the motion anyway.
Handing it over to Marcus, Mastersmith Derrickproceeded to lecture once again.
Do not think it is light. As you keep hitting your hand will tire your muscles will sore. You will be glad when this is over that it is just a 0.5kg hammer."
Mastersmith Derrickthen stepped out of the room and left me to my own devices.
10 seconds later he returned.
"Forgot to turn the tool to 1.1 times, and while I am at it, change the responsiveness of the toy to a 0.5kg hammer. While I am at it add this counter to see if you get lazy and hit less that minimum. It is not that i do not want to teach you the craft. You need the basics before you can learn the craft. Oh and remember to change hands every 15 minutes or so or you will not last the three hours."
With that said, he left room and only returned after 3 hours to call me for lunch.
It seemed easy at first. After the first few test hits, I hit the maximum easily. Thinking that I got the hang of it, i began to aim for the yellow zone. 15 minutes left, 15 minutes right. By the first hour, i hit the yellow zone about 40 times already. That was about 1 in 10 hits that I could hit the yellow zone. Many of times I would end up lowering my strength too much and hitting with too little of strength.
It was not until the start of the 3rd hour that I realize what he meant by ''last 3 hours''. My shirt had become thoroughly soaked with sweat and were clinging onto me like snakes. It was heavy and it was fighting against every movement I make. The intervals between each strikes had slowly become longer and longer. It had become a slow countdown to the end of each 15 minutes.
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"Ahh I see you have not been slacking off only 300 below minimum out of the 1200 strikes. you made about 100 hits within the yellow zone and 7 lucky hits to the red line. Go clean up yourself. You look like crap."
After the oddly refreshing shower, i headed to the dining area only to see that Mastersmith Derrickhad finished his meal and left me my portion.
After the meal I thought I was in for another round of training. It took me by surprise when I got my new instruction.
"Go be a kid. Have fun. Play. You are to tell me at least 10 names of the kids around the area. Just get back 1 hour before dinner for your evening run"
It was about 5 days later that instructions changed. Here I thought I needed to achieve 100 hits on the red line before I graduated to a heavier hammer.
All I got from Mastersmith Derrickwas that my muscles should have adapted to the hitting motion by now.
It was a simple life. Wake up, select the ores, jog, eat breakfast, hammer practice, lunch, play, jog, dinner and rest.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.It took 3 months before I noticed the changes. I had become taller and more muscled. It was not the big burly muscles that I see from all the men that would cause Tavern fight but more of the lean muscles of those who put themselves to hard labour like those who work on the fields.
As 15 was the age for marriage for most, many adults had began eyeing me as their future son-in-law. I am only 10 and they are already envisioning me as my future self. To them, 5 years would be just a blink of an eye. it was not that i do not want to be tied down, but I am a Daylight. I have a heavy reaponsibility to bear. I have enemies that I do not know of and I do not have the power to find out. An uncertain road is before me and being married would shackle me down.
To the world, I am just Marcus Theodore the young blacksmith apprentice.
It was another 3 months before I graduated from the ore selection. It was the beginning of the next phase of blacksmithing.
Control your strength. That was the first thing he said.
"This is steel. In the past, we would use pine coal and a waterwheel to fan the flames. Now, we use something simpler, a fire tool for the heat and a wind tool to fan the flames.
I like the best of both worlds. I use all 3. Pine coal, fire tool and wind tool. Using just the fire tool and wind tool is fine but i would say that having the pine coal spread the heat more evenly around the blade like heating stones used in cooking."
Now look at these two raw ore that i have chosen, you can tell by now that one is the low quality grayish ore and the other is the higher quality bright silver. Here I will show you what is the difference.
I watched as he began heating up the bright silver ore. After achieving the needed bright red, he began to slowly hammer out the ore into a flat cracker thickness and left it aside to cool. Next he began working on the grayish ore in the same manner. I looked at the time it took for him to flatten the two ore and was surprised that it took him almost the same amount of time to hammer both.
"In Qian Cui, the goal is effeciency and consistency. A thousand strikes. For this step most blacksmiths would take 50-100 strikes to get to where I stopped for the higher quality ore and lesser for the lower one. The greyish ore is softer so with each hit it changes form faster. I am just saying though, do not think this is my normal speed. If I am doing this at my normal speed, I would have completed this phase for over 10 times already. However, if I do that, there would be no way you can learn anything."
10 times the speed? He took 3 minutes to hammer these ores. That is like 18 seconds for one ore!
I gave him an incredulous look which he noticed fairly quickly.
"You do not believe it? Grab me another ore."
5 seconds. it took only 5 seconds. All I could see was a blur and sparks that almost never flew out and what sounded like a hundred birds chirping at the same time.
All I heard from Mastersmith Derricwas how he had slowed down and that he used to be able to flatten 18 in under a minute. He went on to talk about the past grandsmiths and their speed but I was not listening already. My mind was still stuck in the flow of the the hammer and how the ore took the final shape.
It was rather odd. That form, that blur. That strange euphoric feeling blossoming from within my chest. I had forgotten about the world and became fully immersed in the very motion of the hammer.
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As I was talking about the past grandsmiths and their speed, i noticed that Marcus seemed to be in a daze and was not listening to what I said.
That got me angry. I was talking about the great grandsmiths and their glory and he was not listening to me. That stoked a small flame of anger in me and made me want to strike at Marcus. It soon changed from a flame of anger to a flame of jealousy. He has what most grandsmiths would die to have. That small kindling of flame that was dancing within his eyes, that small glimmer of hammer that flickers in and out of existence within his eye. He has a the fabled soul hammer. Of 1 in thousands of children or so, a blessed child would be born with soul tool. Most would never awaken. Some would be like Marcus, awakening his soul tool from something like this.
There is no two same way for their soul tool to awaken.
To have a soul tool is rare, a soul hammer is just as rare. Not to mention, a soul hammer user born in the bloodline of grandsmiths. It had to be God sent for such to be possible and I am there to witness the birth of the great miracle.
Hours passed as I watched that kindling flicker within his eyes. That fire that encompass the hammer. That ever changing color. It is really hard to tell what element it is.
And then it finally took flight and left like the owl of minerva with the falling of dusk. The flames washed over his body in a myriad of colors burning away all impurities within his body. The humor took flight as well. His clothes had taken flight as well. The flames took care of impurities within and without.
The flames faded and a new life took its place within the eyes of Marcus. I could only smile in amusement as I waiting for Marcus to notice that he is in his birthday suit.