Chapter 12 - 12. Paving The Way To My First Profession.

"Are you testing out my integrity here, boy? How dare you ask such impudent questions. If there's no business coming out of you, it would be best to be out on your way right now. You knew the way in and you should know the way out." replied Blake in a sarcastic manner.

"I'm sorry, Blake. I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you or to make a fool out of you. You see, I'm from out of town and I had been in the care of the Great Hall since 6 months ago. I just have awoken today and I am trying to sort out things."

"I don't even remember the date and the year right now and I do sincerely hope that we, as blacksmiths, could enlighten one another." I clasped my right hand to my chest and lowered my head as I explained it to him. I didn't expect this NPC to be able to talk back to me in this manner.

"You, a Blacksmith? Hah hah hah! Oh, come on... You can't even lift a 30-pound hammer and you regard yourself as a Blacksmith? Hey, kid... Thank you for making me laugh and brighten my day, quit your shit and get the hell out of my locale, please. I have better things to do right now and if you please, show yourself out." Blake said as he walked out of the counter and was hovering above me like a giant.

Actually, it's an understatement to regard him a giant, as he was a big and burly man, about 50kg heavier than me and at least 1 head taller than me.

"Hmm, I'm very sorry once again, Blake. But did you mention a 30-pound smithing hammer? It had been some time since I had physically done any blacksmithing and also forging myself. I would gladly pay for the ores from your fine locale."

"I'm not creating or asking for trouble, but I'm just here merely asking some innocent questions," I replied defiantly and I knew what could achieve here, could also be achieved in the Realm of Mind.

"Alright... Since you said that you are going to pay for the ingot that is in the backroom, come... Follow me this way. It is going to cost you 25 credits for each ore." he finally said and since he is unable to make a business our of me purchasing his array of weapons and armours, might as well he charge me for the ingot that I'm going to destroy first.

I followed him to the back room and saw several apprentices, as huge as him with biceps as big as my thighs and the moment a scrawny young man entered, everyone, stopped what they were doing and asked if Blake is hiring.

"Of course I'm not hiring, this young fool was just wasting his credits just to prove a point. Go on boy, use that hammer by that furnace over there." Blake pointed to a small hammer than weighs only about 15 to 20 pounds and I held it in my hand easily and twirled the handle about.

"Could I use that hammer instead?" I pointed to a larger hammer hung on the wall as it would feel right handling a heavier hammer in performing such task. Using a small one would only be good in tinkering with small pieces and right now we are talking about turning ores into ingots.

He passed me the hammer and when I carried it in my hands, I was surprised that it was a 30-pound hammer which I had not handled for such a long time since I last entered the blacksmithing area in the Realm of Mind. I passed him 25 credits as I took a piece of ore from the wheelbarrow. It was the size of a fist and I knew that this piece of ore would have a lot of impurities in them.

*Ding* Congratulations on discovering Common Iron Ore.

"Eh, they do have Iron Ores here. Why didn't they tell me straight instead of beating around the bush? I guess that the old bronze sword that I had found was simply an antique already. Sigh... Why shouldn't they answer a simple question and not lead me to show my skills? Ah well... Here goes nothing... "

I smiled as I threw the piece of iron ore in the furnace and I began to pump the bellows. The other blacksmiths were looking at me working the manual bellows and some of them gave Blake the thumbs up as I worked on it effortlessly.

The furnace of coals flared up and became red hot and it heated up the piece of ore to a nice reddish colour, almost the same colour as the coals. I picked the iron ore using a wide mouth tong and placed it on the anvil.

Unknown to them, I had controlled my chi breathing and absorbed the heat from the furnace earlier into my body. The moment I handled the hammer and raised it above my head, I let out my breath in synchronised rhythm when I brought the hammer down.

"Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink!" the iron ore that was heated up in the furnace was jumping on the same exact spot as I brought the hammer down in 5 successions. Each blow of the hammer had brought out sparks like fireworks from the iron ore and I knew that these sparks were actually the impurities that were forced out during this process.

The iron ore was dancing on the ingot and before it settled down after each hammering, the hammer struck again.

10 strikes...

50 strikes...

100 strikes...

150 strikes...

300 strikes later...

After hammering for 300 times, I picked the piece of ore using the wide mouth tong that had been hammered down and threw it into a bucket of water nearby.

"Sssccchhhwwwiiinnnggg..." the hot iron piece that was forged on the anvil sizzled and spluttered in the bucket of water. The 30-pound hammer was returned back to Blake who stood there with his pipe in his mouth and nodded his head in apprehension.

*Ding* Congratulations on discovering Blacksmithing as a profession. Basic Blacksmithing Level 2/10 Attained.

The other apprentices all looked at me with awe as they noticed that I had hammered on the iron ore until it became an ingot. Not once did I use a tong to adjust the ingot that was hammered on and I struck each time with a hammer with a perfect 'Tink' without striking the anvil once...!

I picked up the piece of iron that was forged by me from the bucket of water and an announcement came to my mind again.

*Ding* Congratulations on forging a Level 2 Refined Iron.

I handed the piece to Blake and the moment the iron piece was in his hand, his jaw dropped and the pipe he was smoking dropped to the ground. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the piece of iron in his hands.

"Hey Boss, is there anything that matters? Why are you in this state? Are you alright, Boss?" an apprentice asked while I had unbuttoned my shirt and hanged it on clothes rack behind me to dry while I stood there bare-bodied, the perspiration glistening and was pouring from my head down to my pants and looked like I had peed in them. Hah hah hah.

"Here, take a look at this! This kid is able to turn iron ore into a Level 2 Refined Iron with just 300 strikes of the hammer. A Level 2 Refined Iron could only be achieved by the blacksmiths in the Northern and Southern District."

"They are Level 2 Blacksmiths and this kid is a level higher than us and is comparable to them!" Blake handed the piece of Iron to his apprentices to take a look at what I had produced from my efforts.

"Blake, how do you define a Level 1 and Level 2 Refined Iron just after a few hundred times of hammering?" I asked quizzically since I have my system to recognise it for me and I have no way of doing that by sight.

"Oh... We just knew it, we just knew. Don't worry, kid. Would you like to work with us? I mean, as a part-time basis if you have nothing better to do?"

"I mean if you have some free time in your hands. By the way, it would take some years before anyone could forge this Level 2 Refined Iron piece. By the looks of you, I don't think you need some years. It's as if you're born with this talent."

"I'm sorry about the incident earlier, kid. My bad, since this business is a closely guarded secret and I thought that you were pulling a fast one on me when you said 'we both are blacksmiths'. Hah hah hah..." Blake stood there with one hand in his hips and the other was running the back of his head.

"That's all right Blake, at least you did give me an answer that I needed. Here, can you tell me how old is this bronze sword is?" I asked as I produced the old bronze sword that I had recovered in the basement earlier and handed it to him.

"Hah hah hah... That's a worthless piece of junk there my friend. We had started using iron for the past 6 months already and that piece could be considered as an antique already. Did you mention that you had been asleep for the past 6 months? What happened to you?"

Blake asked as I slowly narrated what I had remembered as what has being told by Patricia to me. Blake stared at me hard when I told the story as the apprentices had forgotten their task at hand and had gathered around as well to listen me spin some bullshit. Hah hah hah.

"Here kid, take this 25 credits that you had given me earlier. Would you like to come here whenever you have the time? I mean with your expertise, we could finally raise the name of our Blacksmith store here."

"At least we would be able to churn out better pieces of weapons and armour for the adventurers that might be passing here to buy them. Since the Battle of Qodegh has abruptly ended 6 months ago, there are no more of these demons that the Ruler of Aermagh wanted to eradicate at this moment."

"What's left are the Orc, Trolls, Goblins and other Elves that had set up some small camps scattered over the Northern and Southern Side of the forests and caves."

"These are currently being targeted by some 'game hunters' as what they wanted to be referred as since using the term adventurers and its different classes might put them at risk of being called up to arms for the Ruler of Aermagh."

Blake offered me a sweet deal that I can't refuse. If I take up this profession, then at least I could be a non-combatant for some time since I have not thought of what I would be down the road.

Would this series be long and boring progress and adventure for me and for those who read them? Well, if you want to get stronger, this is the only way I could think of right now. Even with the skills that I had attained in my previous life, but in this turn of events, it is pretty down back to the minimal or even unknown. Hah hah hah... Talk about being OP, this is OP to me, 'OverPowerless'. Hah hah hah.