Chapter 74 First Step

Selene had to give up even before trying to convince her teacher to let her start inscribing runes.

As usual, her eyes sought Kyle, who shrugged his shoulders with a faint smile on his lips.

'Even you are unwilling to help me?' She could only think seeing this, sighing deeply, forced to accept reality.

Meanwhile, Gard had already left to go downstairs and enter the smithy, waiting for Kyle to arrive.

Thus while smiling apologetically at Selene, understanding what she thought, he left the living room, leaving Selene and Mell alone.

All of a sudden, Mell couldn't help but look after Kyle with a faint smile on her lips.

"I had never expected Gard to overcome the loss of his arm.

You know, his biggest joy was to use the forging room… I wonder if Kyle knows how important he is for Gard to overcome his issues…

Maybe, with the use of the support tools, he would be well-equipped to work alone by the time Kyle decides to leave..."

Mell's gaze was set on Kyle and she kept looking at him until he disappeared down the stairs.

It was only then that she noticed that she was speaking her thoughts out loud.

Her gaze flitted to Selene who was staring at her.

Because of that, her expression turned serious as she touched Selene's arm lightly.

Trying to change the topic, Mell added,

"I think it's time for you to study a little bit more! We don't want the two rascals to become too full of themselves, right? Let's surprise them with your great achievements!"

Taking a thick tome out of her spatial ring, Mell handed it to Selene.

She struggled to not frown knowing what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, Kyle had already entered the forging room to see his teacher waiting for him.

Gard handed him the simplest forging hammer.

Kyle took it and saw that it was made of dead ores.

Thus, it neither had cultivation veins nor runes.

It was relatively light but still more than enough for Kyle to fulfill the first task.

"Consider the gray iron hammer as my first present to my disciple, Kyle!"

Saying so, Gard gave him a light smile before taking the tongs in his hand.

"Because it's already slightly late, I will act as your assistant. I will be there to help you while you learn how to handle the grey iron hammer.

By the end, you should have a rough idea of how much force should be exerted and the perfect time to strike. It is crucial that you balance the required force to shape the near molten and heated-up ingot.

Lastly, you need to understand the pace at which they cool down.

Try to imprint every single detail you notice into your brain. The more you learn now, the easier it will be later!

I don't expect you to shape a flawless metal bar on your first try.

Just try to familiarize yourself with the feeling of striking the hammer on the hot ingot."

Gard's words were more reassuring than Kyle had expected to hear from his teacher.

Nevertheless, he felt a growing sense of nervousness occupy him when he looked at his teacher.

Gard's eyes held the distinct shine of eagerness and a little hope.

His face clearly showed his excitement and expectations to witness greatness from him!

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. Kyle's fingers twitched with every hammer strike he made.

His palms were already growing sweaty so he wiped them against his pants and kept trying again.

Never could he have expected that forging was so hard.

After the first black block of iron ore was reduced and its oxygen removed, Kyle had made his first strike.

The black iron metal was ready to be shaped into the desired form.

But just after the first blow, he noticed that his entire arm was vibrating due to the impact.

Kyle had grossly miscalculated the amount of force he required.

He had used his entire force at once in his haste to quickly forge.

That had not only destroyed the metal ingot that was close to the melting point, but also subjected him to a jolt of pain that shot up his arm.

The gray iron hammer had slid from his sweaty hands as he stumbled backward.

Gard, who had been watching him with high hopes could only sigh deeply.

He was now questioning himself if accepting Kyle as his apprentice was truly the right decision.

Fortunately, Kyle had picked up the hammer the moment he realized his mistake.

Looking at Gard with a sad face, he apologized.

"I'm sorry teacher! Can we give it another try?"

Seeing that Kyle was still willing to give it another shot made Gard feel relieved.

Gard's worries dispersed and he quickly discarded the earlier black iron ingot.

A few minutes later, he replaced it with another heated-up ingot and placed it in front of his student.

Even if his first attempt was a disaster, Kyle was not someone who gave up after having failed one time.

Failing one time, ten times, hundred, or even thousands of times was not something that scared him anymore.

He had given his utmost efforts to just attempt to cultivate for an entire century in his past life.

What were a few thousand failures compared to it if he could finally make it possible in the end?

Only through failure could he find out what was correct and what he shouldn't do anymore.

As long as he was able to make mistakes, Kyle would make use of every single failure, and learn from it.

There might come a time in which a single mistake could lead to his own, or others' death.

But that was exactly why Kyle wanted to make such a mistake now, instead of later.

He could afford to make as many mistakes in front of his teacher in the smithy but not when it was important to make everything right.

With that mindset, he hadn't been able to make it far in his past life as he was unable to cultivate, either way.

However, now that he was able to cultivate, without being restricted by talent either, this had changed drastically!

His mindset was perfectly suitable for the current situation he was in. Gard had clearly been able to sense Kyle's determination and hunger to improve.

This was the reason for the blacksmith to accept him as an apprentice in the first place.

Gard hadn't noticed this in the beginning.

But as he saw Kyle work on honing his skills relentlessly, he truly realized why the young man had made him feel motivated again.

Somehow, the young man in front of him made him eager to continue forging despite having lost an arm.

'It doesn't look like he would ever give up, once he made up his mind...just like Lars!'

The thought made him smile and he stood by the side to observe his student again.

Learning from his previous mistake, Kyle switched his tactic to the exact opposite of what he did before. Gard couldn't help but feel that the young man was a little bit too cautious this time.

Barely using any strength, Kyle slowly increased the amount of force he used, until he felt as if it was perfect.

In the meantime, the ingot had almost cooled down and it had to be reheated.

But, Gard was a prompt assistant and did it without wasting too much time.

While the black iron ingot was being reheated, Gard explained various strike techniques Kyle could use. Kyle listened intently as Gard shared how he had to adjust his body and arm's stance in order to release more force by using less energy.

Listening to his teacher's advice, he immediately adjusted his stance while awaiting the reheated ingot.

His stance was still not perfect, but only time could bring the best out of him.

There was no way that someone with an average talent could learn something in no time.

Kyle's mindset made him look at himself as if he was worse than a rookie.

He knew that his Spirit Soul and the Nurture ability could turn him into the strongest cultivator.

However, that would need time. Kyle was sure that time would also tend to his past's scars.

They would slowly heal over time as long as he gave his best in everything he did.

With that in mind, Kyle was tirelessly striking the hammer onto the black iron ingot.

It took him some tries before it was shaped into a rectangular bar.

It was still crude, but the best he could do for now.

The amount of force Kyle used to strike with the hammer was not perfectly adjustable.

As such, he had to find the balance between the right amount of force and the perfect time to strike.

This was something only practice would teach him.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to shape everything perfectly.

In Kyle's opinion, he had already been relatively fast in learning everything.

But that had been the case in his old circle of friends.

In his past life, he had been mostly surrounded by Yadras who couldn't cultivate.

Kyle had no idea whatsoever of who he could compare himself to.

He only knew one cultivator for now and that was his teacher.

Thus, Kyle had no clue how he would fare in the world of cultivators!

That was even more so because everything had been different in his past life. The knowledge of certain forging techniques was widespread throughout the universe. Even mechanized forges and so on had already existed for a long time.

As such, he could only take his teacher's reaction as a rough measurement to gauge whether he was good or bad.

If Gard were to be disappointed, Kyle would label his talent as trash.

Similarly, Gard's approval and happiness would mean that he was as talented as a commoner with good tenacity.

Right now, he and Selene were only in a small town that was not even ruled by one of the three kingdoms in their surroundings.

And from what he could recollect from his memories, even small kingdoms were not enough to gauge one's true talent.

There was always a bigger obstacle, a tougher hurdle than the previous one.

Kyle was currently taking his first step, nothing more!

Hours passed, and it was late at night when Kyle and Gard returned to the first floor.

Kyle looked like he was about to collapse on the ground, and pass out due to the strenuous task.

His entire right arm was numb and felt a little sore, but he couldn't help but smile faintly.

From his point of view, the first few hours of learning how to shape a rectangular bar had been much better than expected.

As such, with enough practice, Kyle was sure that he could soon get to the 'real' work.

Given his hard work and resilience, it was only a matter of time before he could forge a flawless rectangular bar or even weapons.

Right now, he had more than enough time to learn.

So, instead of going out to hunt every day, Kyle thought that it was better to wait for Gaby's next day off while learning to forge properly.

At the same time, he could cultivate and increase his strength.

With that thought in mind, he and Selene had more than enough to do.

Thus, they could easily wait for Gaby to be ready for another hunting session.

This could take a while because of the recent incident with the severely injured Lohar, and the Nasgas, which had pursued him.

Thinking back on the incident made Kyle have a premonition.

He had a nagging feeling that trouble was coming forth, much sooner than he could have hoped for!

There was no time to waste, but Kyle and the citizens of Vila town were still oblivious to the dangers that were looming over them.

They were slowly creeping up to them while lurking in the shadows, waiting for the ripe opportunity to strike.