Hammer and Anvil.

John ran away to the workshop and stopped just before entering. He barely couldn't believe it, he had just dodged and countered a grapple from Moira. Then he had stood up to her and got a very interesting deal from this situation. All in all it was a pretty cool thing. As an added bonus, not keeping the glyph on him reduced risks in case the guys who planted it could track it down.

Apparently the Order had not fully scoured the presence of the Cabal here in town. The fact that the Zombie Barrier near his house was accessible might not be a coincidence, maybe the seal was broken before he entered it...

Or they had come back to Springfield to find out who opened it (somewhat more worrying). Mages, and from what he heard very powerful ones, dedicated to researching the ways to more power, no matter the means used. The idea that there was one of their members here now was alarming; Moira was supposed to protect him from such things, but it would be useless to know he will be avenged once he was dead.

Putting such thoughts out of his mind for a moment he entered the workshop with a smile and went to say hello to Miss Brooks.

"Hi, apprentice Newman reporting for duty." he said in a parody of military talk.

"No need to be so formal. Are you still set on what we talked about last time? Since we didn't start yet you can still reconsider it." she asked him very seriously.

"I really want to do it, I even prepared for it." he replied getting the folder with his prepared design work from his bag and handing it to her. She took it from him and looked quickly what it was about.

"Impressive, but it is using very advanced techniques and you have to practice the basics first. Still it is a nice long term project. Where did you get the images for this?" she asked, apparently astonished of seeing her usual slacking student doing so much work for a class that didn't have homework.

"I drew them, some by hand and other on computer. I did some design of weapons for a few video games mods and I draw a lot as a hobby. I can't wait to start on this." he explained.

"I have papers for you too. I need you to sign this, it is from the administration. Once you are done remove your blazer and shirt and put this on." she instructed him.

John looked at the papers and the heavy leather apron. The form was stating that he would learn the forge with her in all the classes where students built stuff but would have to attend those on auto mechanic. He would receive an extra credit base on his grades in this and a qualification once the whole course finished. He dated and signed the two forms, putting one in his bag and began to put on his work clothes.

Standing topless in the workshop he wished there were more girls here (or even girls... This class was really not popular with the female students of the academy) , so he could show off how his body had changed. He had kept a slim build, the strength he had gained had not made his muscles grow very much, but instead were he had a skinny and weak body it was now toned with neatly defined muscles. Speed and precision were his main skills more than brute strength, but he had often read that it was not indispensable to be very strong to forge, the secret being in very precise strikes. He put the leather apron and went back to his teacher who had given assignments to the other students.

"I looked at the file you brought, it is a bit much more than a knife, more a dagger or a dirk. It is possible to realize, but you need something simple to learn the basics. So today you will forge a simple single edge knife blade after preparing the metal. Follow me! " she explained.

As soon as she said that a quest pop up appeared.

New quest : Forge 101
Create an item fulfilling the requirements asked by your master and that she will find satisfactory.
You cannot use active powers while working on this quest.
Reward :
+1 rank of Apprentice Smith
+150 xp
-10% forging time.
ACCEPT REFUSE

He quickly accepted the quest and came close to the newest addition to the workshop. There was a large cylinder with tubes linking it to various gas bottles, an anvil on a wooden structure, a large barrel full of water and a full array of tongs, hammers, chisels and other tools.

"Today you will be to learn how to heat properly a piece of metal to the right temperature to forge it. You will learn how to shape it and edge it by hitting it with a hammer. You will learn how to bend, fold or temper the metal to strengthen it and then the finish work with a grindstone to sharpen it. Today is not about esthetics and the result might not be looking good, but as long as you learn those things you will be able to use them on a real project next time. We have 2 hours, so let's get to it. " she explained.

John looked at her while she took a small ingot of iron (or steel) and put it in the forge. He listened as she described how he had to use the changes of color in the metal to now when to take it out. He took notes as she showed him at which angles and where to strike to shape it evenly. After she showed him how to prepare the edge and how to temper the blade by putting it into the cold wate she told him it was his turn and that they would do the next steps together.

John took another small ingot and put it to heat, he had always loved seeing red hot metal, just like lava it had a nearly hypnotic effect. Using a pair of tongs he put in on the anvil and began shaping it.

Contrary to his craft skill which was instantaneous, the Forge passive he had gained just displayed a completion percentage as he advanced. Between his high intellect, agility and Observe skill he could see which part of the small knife blade were done and where to hit to fix the others. He quickly understood that removing his shirt had multiple purposes. For one he was sweating like a pig near the forge and incandescent bit of metal (and because of the physical exercise.). Then there was the fact that he needed a perfect freedom of movement for his arms to hit the right spots. And to finish, he would have ruined his pricy uniform with sparks and soot on top of the sweat.

His teacher was looking patiently as he worked on his blade. She offered little in the way of advice and John guessed why. It was a throwaway item used as an exemple, she would probably let him finish and then explain what he did wrong. Then again, she was a better craftswoman than teacher.

When he began being satisfied with what he had he spent five more minutes trying to make it look cleaner and told her he was ready to learn the next steps.

"It's amazing, you never did this before?" she asked.

"No, but when I was younger I watched a ton of videos and documentaries on it. And you just showed me how to do it, is it OK?" he explained.

"Your shaping is good, the surface is regular, you did a correct job on the edge part. Be careful when you temper it, the blade wasn't hot enough when you dipped it so it wouldn't have the effect we look for. Let me show you the next steps...." she remarked.

By the end of the class John had completed his quest and made a really simple knife that he would have to leave here. He had even gotten an achievement for that.

Achievement Unlocked : nerf crafter
You forged your first weapon. Impressive it does almost as much damage as your bare hands and it isn't even made of latex foam. But you have to start somewhere.
-20% materials when crafting non lethal weapons.
+100xp
+1 stat point (it's not like you can rely on this weapon, so your body should be ready)

He had worked on folding metal after that, it would be important for his real project. He spent some time flattening a piece of metal, folding it in two or three and doing it all over again.

All of this had been done while chatting with his teacher about different techniques and types of blades. She seemed impressed with his knowledge of the subject, it seemed like thousands of hours spent playing fantasy video games had paid off a little. John's intent with this was to forge a nice blade by hand as a base and then use Craft to improve it with exotic materials.

A little before the bell would ring, she offered him a towel and told him to go wash up a bit by the sink.

"I'm really happy to have a student interested in this. And especially one as talented as you are. We'll see each other next week and start working on the techniques you will use for your real project, it takes weeks to some people to understand what you learned in one lesson, you have an excellent eye to hand coordination. " she congratulated him.

John ran out as soon as the bell rung, hoping to say goodbye to Anna before going to his tutoring session with Kim. (and hoping that they were still working on pastries in her cooking class.)

It's me again, I realize some people wouldn't have checked the last chapter so I tell it again here. I updated the character sheets and had to do a few edits on chapter 83, if you want to avoid confusion when seeing the stats I advise you to check it again.

TheDespaxas