16 Smithing
"So, have you decided on what do you want to learn as a craft? Choose ONE!" Edward impatiently asked the boy. Riwall had been insisting on learning literally every craft mentioned by Eleanor years ago.
Edward admired how the boy was a sponge for knowledge, but he knew everyone had a limit. The fact his schedule was already full was an even greater issue, even fitting one craft class in it was already a challenge.
"Please Master! I told you I don't need to sleep that much, and I don't want to specialize in ranged combat or blunt weapons! We can reduce my training in these areas to accommodate more crafting lessons!"
"How can you prefer craft lessons instead of combat?! You are wasting your potential by limiting yourself to crafting!" Edward knew it was a weak argument, but he ran out of them hours ago and was almost out of patience as well.
"But I want to try it! Let's make a deal. Once a month, you will test me in blunt weapon combat and archery. If you think I don't perform well enough for your liking; I will drop the crafting classes until I improve again."
"Ok! Ok! You won! By the gods, sometimes you are as stubborn as Father!"
{YES!}
"Ok, for now, choose three crafts."
"But I..."
"Shut it! Don't push your luck, or it will be ZERO!" He snapped.
After going over his options with Friday, he narrowed the list down to three.
"Smithing, Enchanting and Woodworking"
"Care to tell the logic behind these choices?" Edward got very curious; the boy did not even waste a second before choosing these three.
"Smithing will let me create my own weapons when I have access to a forge and some time. But its the secondary benefits that really convinced me, being able to see the weak spots of enemy armor and weapon can change the fight while being able to perform the party weapon's maintenance on the field will save us a lot of time and money."
"Hmm, the secondary benefits are really interesting, with your precision I can see you exploiting all weak spots of your enemies. But keep in mind that this won't apply to high-quality gear or monsters. And the rest?"
"I briefly talked to Hector about enchantments. My high level <Drawing> and <Scribing> skills, combined with my affinity for working with numbers will give me an edge over most enchanters. I may be able to progress enough to disarm magical traps with ease or even change my equipment's enchantments before a fight."
"That is an excellent reason. I once traveled with a mage who was also a great enchanter. She gave our party an edge in all of the fights that we could afford some minutes to prepare beforehand. And Woodworking?"
"Greg is a monster at using a bow, he is fast and accurate, but wastes a ton of arrows in his fights. By learning woodworking, I should be able to supply him with arrows and even bows in case he loses or breaks his one. But woodworking brings other benefits as well, like making improvised traps or detecting rudimentary structures weak points. The Azure Forest has thousands of tribes of humanoid monsters with wood structures."
"Your reason for taking woodworking is not wrong, but it's not as logical as the other two. Don't hesitate to contact me if you want to change to another one. Greg is already going to learn it, so he will be able to craft his ammunition. I will get everything ready, and the three of you will start your crafting lessons in a month."
"Thank you, Master! I won't disappoint you!"
{Now I just need to ask Hector for books about the other crafting areas to prepare for them. Once I master these three, I will have a headstart when starting the others.}
[It is a pity Hector refused to lend you books on enchanting, he probably felt it was a subject you could easily try on your own. I think it's cute how he thinks you would blow yourself up by trying to enchant something without a master.]
{He doesn't know I have a glorified calculator inside my head; if he knew, he would lend me all books he has.}
[Ho! Glorified calculator, huh? I will put you through a horror simulation that you will never dare call me a calculator again!] She pretended to be angry, but he could feel she found his jab at her funny.
-----------------------------
One month later, inside the newly built forge annex.
"So you are the kid Ms. Eleanor has been talking about for the last two years? By what she says about you, I pictured someone at least twice your size ha ha ha! By the gods, you are so small! ha ha ha!"
A two-meter-tall elven wearing a black leather apron laughed loudly and took a minute to compose himself. If he dressed in fine clothes and straightened up his posture, one would mistake him for the stereotypical proud elf. Riwall tried to keep his composure as Eleanor taught him, but a huge vein was bulging in his temple.
"Well, mini-human, my name is Theodas Farsteel. The Head himself adopted me when I was a kid, which makes me brother to that wannabe hunter called Edward and the crazy Commander Eleanor. I will be your smithing master for as long as you insist on wasting your time on it." He waved his hand dismissively while speaking, which bothered Riwall a little.
{Huh? Wasting time?}
"Nice to meet you, Master Farsteel, mind if I call you Master Theodas? It's hard to keep track of so many Farsteels with the same title haha!"
"No problem, shorty!" Riwall flinched at the new nickname he received.
"I think I misheard you before, Master. You said that I am insisting on wasting my time on smithing?"
"You are just like all other fighter students I get ordered to teach. They all think they will pick up a crafting skill easily to complement their combat skills. But crafting is not a part-time job; it's just like combat! If you treat it as a hobby, it will be useless! I say the same thing to everyone, they make a beautiful speech of how it will be different with them, but all end up abandoning smithing in two months." There was a hint of sadness in his voice.
"I won't make an inspiring speech or a ludicrous promise. I will listen to you and let my dedication to smithing speak in my stead."
"Ha! This one is among the five best I ever heard! Maybe you will be different Stumpy! Now tell me, what do you know about smithing?"
Riwall immersed himself in a lengthy and precise description of smithing in general, all thanks to Friday's enormous database on all subjects ever studied by humans on Earth. After about 10 minutes, Theodas interrupted him.
"Enough! Enough! Ok, I may have underestimated you a bit, you genuinely seem passionate about the craft. Many techniques you described are unknown to me; we will get to them in the future. But why did you not mention the pathways? They are the base of smithing after all! You just described how to make a beautiful well-crafted monster's toothpick!"
"Huh?" Riwall made a confused expression.
"Wait, you know all that but don't know about mana's role in crafting? I have a report stating that your <Drawing> is at least Level 20 and <Scribing> at 15 right? Did you get them that high without ever, EVER, using mana during your creations?"
{What is he on about?} He was not aware of how his masters were trying to gauge his skill levels based on what he did.
"Yeah, I never spent a gram of mana while drawing or writing anything, was I supposed to?"
Theodas facepalmed himself. This kid was too obnoxious about skills.
"I guess no one ever told you the three crafting steps, right?"
"Crafting steps? Never heard about it, is it something like the casting spells steps?"
"Precisely! You see, crafting is like casting a spell. First, you need intention, what do you want a dagger to do? To be sharp, that's a given, but what else? Maybe have its sharpness increased when attacking monsters? Or maybe to vibrate as it cuts the target? The choices are endless."
Riwall widened his eyes, and a smile began forming as he imagined all possibilities. Theodas noticed his expression and started getting excited himself.
"The second step is the forging itself, the better your technique, the better the end product. But just like in the second step of spell casting, your forging needs to be compatible with your intention. If you intend it to be sharp but craft it without an edge, you will have ruined the end product."
"The third step is the most important; in a spell, you would feed it mana, but you can't just pour mana into the metal and hope for the best! It needs to circulate freely. Otherwise, the weapon will dry its user clean of his mana to activate the special effect. Think of the user as the mana core and the dagger as an extension of his arm. You want the mana to flow into it efficiently and activate the effect you desired for during the first step!"
"If you forge a weapon without the first and third step, you will have a piece of metal that will only damage weak creatures. To stand against mighter foes on equal grounds, you need to have a magic weapon and a magic armor!"
Theodas was pumped to start the classes right away. He noticed how engrossed and inspired Riwall got as he progressed in his explanation.
"Tell me, doorstop, how is your finesse with fire, earth, and water magic?"
"I got better at it in the last two years. But Hector said he was ill-suited to help me get better at it. It seems like I'm more proficient in casting wide-area spells."
"Don't worry, only healers and crafters are suited to teach people how to be more precise with their mana. Hold on a second; I have something that will help you to increase your finesse."
He fumbled through some trunks before finding a gray plate and handling it to Riwall.
It was an object similar to a ball-in-a-maze puzzle, but there was no ball in it, and the maze's corridors got progressively tighter the closer to the center.
"What is this thing?"
"This, grass-scarecrow, is a mana-maze. It's an enchanted training tool for healers and crafters. Most combat-mages don't even know what this tool is. The corridors are mana pathways, but they get tighter the closer you get to the center. Your job is to guide your mana to the center as fast as possible. If it touches the walls, an enchantment will activate and disperse all the mana you put into it."
{Such ingenuity! If I had one of these in the last two years, I would have already mastered precision casting!}
"Thank you, Master! I will conquer this maze in no time!"
He began channeling his mana into the apparatus before being interrupted.
"Hold your drakes!"
{Drakes?} Riwall never heard about drakes since arriving here. {Are they an alternative to horses in this world?}
[You sure can get sidetracked easily.] She couldn't decide between laughing or feeling disappointed at Riwall.
"When you are here, we will focus on your forging and intent. You will have to master the maze in your spare-time. I will also lend you some books I have about mana pathways to supplement your knowledge and one about different types of ores, their mana affinities, and characteristics."
{Counting on you Friday!}
[I got it!] It took just the mention of new books to get her pumped for something. She was as simple as her host.
Theodas used all the rest of their time to show Riwall around the forge and explain some rules to keep the workspace clean and organized. The talking had already consumed more than half of their time; what was left of it would not even be enough to get the forge to the right temperature. So Riwall was dismissed early.
