“Therkara, what will I start learning? Swords? Spears? Or rather, shields?” Kaizen asked.

The woman-king thought for a few seconds, staring at the entire wide space of the Medullar Forge, and smiled boldly.

“You’re an archer, right? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to make your own arrows instead of having to buy them?” She asked him.𝞸𝐕𝐋xt.𝗰𝒪𝔪

“But I already know how to make an arrow. Don’t you remember that I made that arrow with the Fire Stone?”

“Don’t be so proud. That could barely be called an arrow; it was just a piece of stick with a shiny tip. I’ll teach you to create powerful arrows, like the ones you used to kill the Scorpion-Spiders on the staircase and other types even better than those.”

Thinking rationally, Kaizen realized that if he could produce powerful arrows like the Huko Arrows, he could make a lot of money. He didn’t care if, with more arrows, he would be able to hunt more Black Vultures, since using that Old Bow was way out of his plans for now, after all, he now had the Spear of Theus.

“I want to make and sell high-demand items that can make me as much profit as possible. Are arrows the best of the options?” The novice inquired.

Kaizen knew that, unlike other equipment, arrows are consumable, so their price is naturally lower. In practice, no matter how profitable they are, if the selling price is low, he will need to sell them in large amounts, which will take a lot of time.

Noticing the dismay on Kaizen’s face, Therkara promptly wanted to clarify things. “Pay attention, apprentice. The arrows I will teach you to make are special because we will use the Ironstone smithing methods. The arrows we will produce together today are as strong and penetrating as the tip of the spear you used to kill that giant spider yesterday.”

“Ok! Now you got my attention.”

Therkara smiled confidently. “That’s what I thought. First, we must learn how to melt iron.”

The blacksmith lady began by teaching how to prepare the structure of the old furnace, commonly used by all blacksmiths in Rise Online. While also telling in detail the elements needed for the melting process, heating, and the basic principles behind these processes.

Sometimes Therkara would drop blacksmith jargon and chemical terms, but she would soon go back a few steps in class and explain to Kaizen what each of those complicated words meant. As much as Rise Online was very realistic, it was still a game that tried not to create such a high barrier of entry to allow users to enjoy it more.

Ironically, it had a time when Kaizen used to watch modern blacksmithing shows during his train commute from his home to work, so he was used to some of these terms. Therefore, the lesson on Therkara melting was not much different from the method he had already seen. Thus, it was easy to understand.

When Therkara finished the lesson, Kaizen still had some questions in his mind, but he was sure that these questions would be answered as soon as he actually put his hand to work.

“If for you, it is difficult to understand words alone, I can guide you practically. Normally, I would only demonstrate, but you know… I am incapable of lifting much weight.”

“All right, I want to try.”

Initially, Therkara asked him to put a certain amount of iron into a bucket made of cement and then place this bucket inside the furnace, which was burning brightly. He then fed the fire with two dozen Fire Stones he had received from killing the Scarlet Demon Spider.

As sweat drenched Kaizen’s upper body, he controlled the hot wind coming from the lower part of the furnace and began to burn the iron. Kaizen needed to add limestone later, but luckily Kaizen didn’t need to remove the iron from the high temperature to add this extra element. He moved a little away from the furnace and, using <Telekinesis>, he made the limestone stones fly into the cement bucket.

The limestone reacted by separating the iron from the impurities, generating a material called slag.

The slag looked like an ordinary stone, which stood out completely next to the molten iron, so it wasn’t difficult for Kaizen to filter this out and separate this black residue from the hot, orange ore.

Eventually, when the iron, melted by the very high furnace temperature, would solidified, it would become pig iron. Pig iron has the appearance of a smooth stone, but it is metallic, rigid, and at the same time brittle, because it contains too much carbon, which did not make it suitable for the manufacture of weapons yet. To transform pig iron, it is necessary to reduce the amount of carbon it contains through a process called steelmaking. This process required extreme care.

“Even using Fire Stones, you must stay focused on the ambient temperature.” Therkara guided Kaizen, realizing that the process was going well.

Suddenly, a screen appeared before Kaizen, causing him to lose some of his focus.

*PING*

[You became a ‘Blacksmith Apprentice’ recently, it will take some time to learn how to measure the room temperature accurately].

Kaizen was about to sigh with resignation as he read this notification. However, a different noise resounded in his mind, alerting him.

*PAM*

[The defaults for unlocking the skills of the profession ‘Blacksmith Apprentice’ have been ignored thanks to Psych Class].

[You are the first Psyker, someone of boundless potential whose future cannot be spotted even by Heimdall. You have earned the title ‘Talented’].

[If a furnace is in the vicinity, you can accurately measure the temperature from within the furnace.]

Kaizen placed his right hand above the furnace in front of him.

[567 degrees. 582 degrees. 603 degrees…]

“It’s still at 600 degrees.” He said to Therkara, causing her to blink twice quickly, not quite understanding how he had measured the temperature so well.

“Did you just choose the temperature and get it right by luck, or can you actually measure it?”

“I can. Right now, the inside of the furnace is approximately 610 degrees. That’s still not enough for the iron to become liquid, right?”

Therkara was very shocked for a few seconds, but agreed. “You are right. This is still not the ideal temperature. Iron ore melts at approximately 1150 to 1250 degrees Celsius.”

“Okay, then I’ll put in all the Fire Stones I have.”

“No, wait a second. If you can already measure the temperature accurately, you can start using coking coal. Fire Stones are considerably rare and expensive, so it would be a waste of money to use many of them while you can use normal fire.”

Kaizen prepared another furnace and added the ingredients at the bottom. At that moment, he looked down and saw a bellows, a typical instrument used for blowing wind to light furnaces, fires, or fireplaces.

On the bellows was a translucent arrow pointing to the right. Kaizen placed his foot exactly where the arrow pointed. Then the arrow pointed in another direction, and once again, he stepped in the direction it pointed. The arrow continued to guide him repeatedly, and when Therkara volunteered to teach him how to heat the furnace, she felt the heat rise quickly. The furnace with coals was already much hotter than the one with Fire Stones.

Once again, she was impressed by Kaizen’s talent as a blacksmith, and with her arms folded, she continued to watch him work for the next few minutes.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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