‘What the actual hell are these stats?’ Eldrian asked himself as he looked at the item’s details. He had equipped it as soon as Boran had given it to him.

[Mithril Forging Hammer]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 4]

[Damage – 45<Blunt Damage <43->44.1>]

‘How the hell does it do more than twice my spears damage?” Eldrian felt conflicted, this hammer was clearly not a fighting weapon. Yet its damage was still so high. Reading on he was quickly surprised again.

[Attack speed – 1<Attacks per second:1.09>]

[Reach – 0.4 meter]

[Durability – 5243/5500]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 100, Agility – 70, Weight – 1.5kg]

‘Dammit, I am going to run out of stamina quickly.’ Eldrian complained when he saw that the strength requirements was a 100. Currently, his strength had only recovered to 95. Still, the item had more descriptions so he continued to read on.

[Item Bonuses]

[Passive Attribute increase: 4% -> 4.8%>]

‘Wait what?’ Eldrian asked himself when he saw this buff. Looking at his stats he was surprised to find that his strength was now at a 100.

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 100(95)/105]

[Agility: 109(104)/115]

[Constitution: 100(95)/105]

[Intelligence: 104(99)/110]

[Spirit: 100(95)/105]

‘That doesn’t seem like much of a boost though…’ Eldrian thought, wondering how this would fit in with everything else. He felt that the percentage boost would be insane later on when people were higher levels.

[Passive skill: Blacksmiths spirit]

[Blacksmith’s Strenght: Increases forging rate of metals by up to 20% -> 24%]

[Active item-skill: Fire’s Pride]

[Fire’s Pride: increases control over a forge fires.]

<High Elf attunement bonus of 20% to all passive bonuses>

‘That is actually quite busted! It is only going to become stronger.’ Eldrian felt excited for playing a High Elf, not due to some random belief reasons. This time he became excited by the actual boost the race gave him. He also became curious about what the bonuses for all the other races are, remembering that each race had some sort of bonus.

After getting over the surprise from the passive bonuses Eldrian took the nearby tongs, placing a stone-ore into the forge. He was quite happy that he could forge now, without being under the attribute requirements of the hammer.

While waiting he asked Boran, “What will happen to the ingots I form today?”

“Nothing. You can save them up for when you can’t come in on a day. So I would suggest you try and use the tools to your advantage.”

‘I am definitely going to use them!’ Eldrian thought, feeling that it would be his best chance to get ahead of his tasks. Taking out the glowing ore and starting to hammer it. As he hammered he quickly became assured that it was indeed much faster than he had expected it would take him.

He felt certain it deformed so quickly do to both the hammer and anvil being special. He didn’t know how much of an improvement the anvil gave, but he felt certain it would also help. Unfortunately, he couldn’t equip the anvil thus he couldn’t satisfy his curiosity.

The only thing Eldrian didn’t like was all the pieces that flew off of the ore as he hammered it. Luckily they didn’t fly as aggressively as when Boran had done it, yet he decided to ask for some protective gear as soon as the ore became too cold.

“Boran, don’t you have any protective gear I can use?” Eldrian asked, having gotten hit by two flying pieces -Not having been quick enough to move his arms out of the way. Luckily it didn’t hurt too much, but it certainly burned and he would rather not have to feel it the entire day.

“Oh of course. I normally forget about it, since these pieces are far too cold to hurt me.” Boran answered, heading out of the room. His response leaving Eldrian lost for words, wondering how a thousand degrees Celcius was too cold.

Eldrian waited for him to return, taking the time to inspect the tongs. Yet they weren’t special, only normal Tier 3 tongs made out of iron. Only having a random low attack value, which the system was forced to give it. Other than that it only had a durability stat and some low attribute requirements -Around 50 strength.

“Here you are.” Boran said, handing Eldrian a leather apron and gloves.

Putting them on Eldrian found that they were simply classified as protective clothing. Having a simple heat resistant stat and durability. He didn’t really know how theses stats worked, but he felt the leather would simply burn when the heat resistance was overcome.

Happy that he wouldn’t burn anymore Eldrian took the piece out again, repeating hammering it and then reheating it until he managed to form it into a nice rectangular piece.

“Does it have to be as big as yours?” Eldrian asked, his piece is only around half of Boran’s finished one.

“Yes, you have to make standard ingots. You do get smaller and larger ones, but for now I want you to make standard ones.”

“Why do the sizes matter?”

“The size for the standard is so that most normal one-handed swords can be made out of it without much being wasted. So it matters for when you later get to the stage of actually making weapons.”

‘Dammit.’ Eldrian had hoped he wouldn’t need to forge weld two pieces together, yet his hopes had been dashed. ‘Next time, don’t form it nicely. Just get it to a stage where I can meld them.’ Eldrian noted this, as it would save him at least two reheats. (*1)

Taking a new piece Eldrian threw it into the forge. Taking it out after the few seconds needed to heat it up. Placing it onto the anvil he brought his hammer to form it, yet as soon as he made contact the piece fell apart into three pieces.

“Seems like that one didn’t form too well. Don’t worry it happens with around every fifth ore. Just treat each piece separately and after forge weld them all together.”

Irritated Eldrian placed two pieces onto a separate anvil and started working on one of them. Slowly working it until it was a solid piece of iron, no more slag falling off. He then threw both the remaining ones into the forge. Taking one out and hammering it, then when it needed to reheat he could simply take the other. Saving himself a few seconds each time.

Finally, he had formed them all into squarish pieces after which he tried grasping them together with the tongs. Soon realizing that Boran had made it look much easier than it actually was. Actually needing to use another set of tongs, Eldrian finally managed to grab them after a few minutes of struggling.

He then started hammering it, losing his grip on the first hit. Cursing himself he again struggled to hold them together, wondering how Boran had made it look so easy. This time he held them as tightly as he could, hammering with less force until he found the sweet spot.

After one side merged the next part was easy as he just had to keep hammering the pieces until they melded together. During this process he quickly learned that if the ore wasn’t glowing brightly, then he should reheat it.

With the next pieces he first thinned both out on one side, making it easier for him to clasp onto them with the tongs. Managing to merge these pieces in half the time the first had taken him.

After around half an hour of working he had his first ingot formed.

“Well done, you seemed to have learned a bunch during this simple task.” Boran commented as he threw the ingot into a bucket of water. Taking it out after cooling he inspected the ingot.

“Not bad, it is good-grade, it will make a fine item. Now, do you have any questions?” Hearing Boran’s question Eldrian completely missed the system message.

[Quest: Boran’s Apprenticeship, Daily task]

[Daily task: Learn how to process iron ore into ingots.]

[Task successful]

[600 XP gained]

“How many do I have to make?” Eldrian asked, sweat dripping from his forehead. While he wasn’t all that tired, he was warm. Extremely warm due to having worked with the hot metals and forge the entire time.

“You don’t have to make any today. But tomorrow you need to make two. I think we will increase that number by one each day, until five.”

‘Crap, that is sooo many.’ Eldrian felt helpless. The forging had been fun, but it had taken him a lot of time.

“Where can I get something to drink?” Eldrian asked, feeling thirsty due to all the heat.

“Right there, that water is clean.” Boran replied, pointing to a large barrel sitting in the corner of the room.

“Thanks.” Eldrian replied while heading for the water, needing some time away from all the heat.

‘I have to use the tools to my advantage. Tomorrow will be so much harder.’ Eldrian thought while resting, this knowledge made him excited to start working again. Hoping that he might be able to complete this week’s quota during this day.

The process of making iron ingots became easier as he continued and he loved watching how the metals moved when he hammered them. The day quickly passed, with Eldrian lost in his own world. He only returned to the magic tower after the sun had already set.

In the end he had managed to form just over 15 ingots. He didn’t check all of them, so he didn’t know if they all met the standard. Yet he was happy with his progress. It was close to the week’s quota, ensuring that he didn’t have to worry too much about it.

Logging out Eldrian thought about all the work he had before him, making him a little upset. The game had been far tougher than he had expected, yet he didn’t really feel too bad. The major reason being that he quite enjoyed it even though it was hard. While the extra time gained from not needing to sleep was definitely also a bonus.

…

(*1) Reheat is when you place the metal back into the forge, to get it back to an ideal temperature. After which you can form it again. -For those that didn’t know.