Smithing

“Maldita sea! Fucking teleporting shits. Always scare the crap out of me.”

A feminine voice cried out from behind John, and he turned to see a short Hispanic girl glaring at him and cursing. He panicked and started to apologize but as he opened his mouth to speak, a deep voice boomed from right behind him.

“Arabella, you know the school policy on profanity. Please abstain at least while still in the hallway.”

John jumped and turned again, feeling ridiculous. A hulking mountain of a man stood before him, with blond hair and bulging muscles. His eyes were kind, though, and he smiled at John.

“You must be my new apprentice. Johnathan, right? I’ve heard quite a few good things about you through the grapevine.”

“Actually, my name is John. Are you my Smithing professor?”

The man laughed heartily.

“Professor? Ha! Hahaha! Oh, no no no. You will call me Master Smith. Or Alexander. I don’t care much for what you call me, as long as you’re consistent.”

John nodded, slightly intimidated by his size and relieved at his apparent amicable nature.

“Now come inside, both of you. The forges call to us.”

Just as he said that, the surging of a flame could be heard from within the classroom. John grinned and walked in. Where a normal science classroom would have rows of tables with sinks and gas valves, this one had rows of forges and anvils. There were twenty forges, but only three were lit. One of the lit forges was in the front of the class, like a teacher’s desk, and John guessed it was for demonstrating proper procedure. Alexander sauntered over to the forge in the front, and John waited for Arabella to pick her forge. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of another one of her rants. She picked the forge closest to the demonstration forge. John took the other one.

“Today, the main lesson will be blades. Because you are both of different skill levels you will both be learning different specifics, but blades nonetheless. John, you will be attempting to make a dagger blade. Nothing more, just the blade. Shouldn’t be too difficult for a beginner. Arabella, I expect a double-edged broadsword from you. Cross guard, grip, pommel, the full nine yards. You have until next week. You can do it.”

Arabella nodded and walked towards the back of the room. Alexander started working at his forge. Arabella came back with a cart full of coal and metal. Then she too started working at her forge. She was beautiful in the firelight, her freckled cheeks glistening with sweat and her brown eyes focused on her task.

John shook his head to clear his mind. He walked towards the back of the classroom, looking for where Arabella found her materials. There was a door in the back wall. He opened it and walked into an impressive store room. It was as large as the auditorium sized classrooms he had been in, but filled from floor to ceiling with different metals, tools, fire fuels, and other smithing materials. John grinned and cast craft, with a simple dagger in mind. He started to move without thinking, his skill taking over. He walked over to an alcove where a few carts were slightly hidden and took one, then began walking the aisles as casually as he would walk the supermarket. Iron ore, coal, several different sized hammers, tongs, gloves, a leather apron, strips of leather, a set of thin tools he didn’t know existed, and a polishing cloth.

There’s no way I can make a dagger in two hours, is there? How long would this usually take? He gave Arabella a week.

John grumbled mentally as his body walked back to the forge and began setting things down. He was too busy ruminating to notice the glowing blueprint that had manifested on his workbench. It depicted an intricately carved blade with an elegant cross guard.

John put on the leather apron and began smithing in earnest. He took the iron ore and walked over to the smelting bucket next to the forge. He dropped the iron ore in it and cast flames, aiming at the iron. It didn’t take long for it to melt, which made John proud. Next, he put on the gloves and scooped the impurities off the top of the molten iron. Then he tipped the smelting bucket over into an ingot mold. There was just enough for one ingot. The iron was still liquid, but with an orange flash of mana, it cooled and solidified instantly.

John hefted the ingot back to the workbench. Then he stoked the fire on the forge, adding the coal he had collected. When his skill decided that the fire was hot enough, he took the ingot and placed it on the coals. He waited for the ingot to melt and consume the coal, taking on the carbon and becoming steel. With another flash of mana, John held a steel ingot. He set it down on the workbench, and stoked the fire again. It blazed nearly as warm as Ignis’s fur.

The steel was put into the forge until it was cherry red, then John took it out with the tongs. He put it onto the anvil and started to deliver precise hammer strikes. The metal sang under his onslaught, ringing over the roar of the flames in the room. The ingot already looked to be the correct thickness and length as it cooled down the first time. John was about to stoke the fire for the second shaping session when he felt a presence behind him. He couldn’t turn around because of his craft skill, but he knew Alexander was standing behind him. The fire stoked, John turned and saw him. He was examining his work with an appreciative eye.

“This far before the first cooling… Incredible… Must have quite the experience… Agile… Precise”

John only heard snippets of his rumbling, grumbling mumbles as he put the steel back in the fire. It warmed to a bright red again and John repeated the process. Alexander watched him intently as he struck the metal, his arm swinging the hammer right where it needed to be, finishing the cheek of the blade. Then he grabbed a smaller hammer and began thinning the edge of the blade, quick precise strikes.

To the fire again, stoked and ready. The blade was red, John pulled it out and used a smaller hammer to form the cross guard. Then, while the blade was still hot, John switched to the tools he now recognized as engraving tools and began to engrave runes and flames into the blade. The runes glowed red on the blade, and the flames glowed gold. He moved on to the cross guard, and engraved waves on an ocean with more runes. The runes on the cross guard glowed a deep blue, and the waves glowed a lighter blue.

When he finished engraving, he used the tongs and quenched the blade in a brine bucket. The steam fizzled for a bit and then died down. He took the blade out and began working on the leather grip. Alexander was rubbing his chin as he watched John work. John finished wrapping the grip, and this time didn’t need to use mana to perfect it.

He stepped back and admired his work as he regained control of his body. The runes stopped glowing. He nodded and cast observe.

Dagger of the Flaming Waters: Rare Item

Can only be wielded by an Elementalist. Grants fire resistance and the ability to breathe under water to the wielder.

10 dmg to enemies weaker than you

5 dmg to enemies stronger than you

John grinned.