CHAPTER 13 - THE BLACKSMITHS

As he stood there in front of the furnace hitting the molten iron the sounds echoed around the coliseum.

Pang… pang… pang…

The other contestant saw his already melding his weapon and quickly removed the metal liquid from the furnace and poured it into the mold.

He didn't want to take any chances, with the way Micheal was fast he could produce an inferior-quality weapon, but what if things didn't go as planned and he produced a good-quality weapon or even surpassed that since he finished first he would obviously take the first place.

So he started speeding up, he didn't waste his time anymore, minutes later he was already forming his sword with his hammer.

Pang… pang… pang…

The crowd looked in curiosity, most of them hadn't seen a blacksmith work before so it was a refreshing knowledge to them.

Micheal wearing heat-resistant gloves lifted his sword up to see his sword to make sure he wasn't making any mistakes.

He was making a European-style sword with double edges rather than some swords with only one sharp edge.

He looked at it, some sides were uneven while some sides were thicker than the rest so he put it back until the furnace and continued hammering.

Twenty minutes later…..

After hammering countless times it became even in his eyes, although he knew there were some flaws he let them be because he couldn't fix them, he wasn't on that level yet.

After observing the sword and finding it good he dropped it in Ice water for the metal to cool down.

Now that he had a little bit of a break he looked around, he still saw those two doing nothing just staring at their work, when he looked at them they shifted their view to another place, and then he looked at the only person competing except him.

He was sweating still hammering the metal on the furnace, he didn't spare an ounce of attention to anyone except his work.

After some minutes Micheal picked the sword out of the iced water, the sword was burning hot, and Red before was now an average temperature with a silver color.

He picked up the sword and bent down to start sharpening it, it was a small machine that you had to turn with your hands, once you start turning it a metal would start turning and you would put the sword ontop for it to sharpen.

This was an exhausting task, there were better ways to sharpen a weapon other than this but since they were amateurs this was what they were given.

When he started sharpening his sword his competitor had just put their sword in the iced water and he took a short break.

"I have to evenly sharpen out the sides of the sword if I do a side more or less it would be a big flaw on the sword," Micheal thought.

The sharpening of a sword with the hammering process was one of the hardest parts of creating a sword.

If it wasn't hammered well the sword would be uneven and be unable to be used properly and if it were not to be sharpened properly it could be a big weakness.

Monsters' bodies were usually thicker and stronger than an average person's, but since their bloodline was blessed they didn't feel it too much.

Most of them were born with inborn strength or perception, it didn't matter if the body or hide of the monster was tough they'd be able to penetrate it in less than five blows, and if they were using an even better weapon, in one or two slashes they'll be done, this was one of the reasons they survived full now.

Most of the reason they made these weapons was for themselves, not every person is a good guy, there are always some with some evil heart or intention, and these people were usually kept in prisons to protect the people living in the city but one day they broke out and escaped.

They came sometimes to raid the city when the city lord wasn't around, but there were always people to stop them regardless.

They had good blacksmiths and alchemists who could give them good weapons and herbs to heal their wounds quickly.

So the city started training those professions, and it brought an era of weapons and modernization.

The weapons made competed with them it was a good way to train the warriors in the city other than fighting the beasts.

That was how the eras of those professions came and legacies were passed on.

Micheal who was true with sharpening his sword after twenty minutes let out a sigh of relief, his arm was strained due to just spinning the object for twenty minutes straight.

He knew he had made some obvious mistakes during the sharpening process and could only hope his competition was inferior.

He went ahead and submitted his work as he went back to the sitting area and the results would be revealed at the end of the ceremony.

The opponent who was still sharpening his sword felt his heart drop as he saw Micheal finish, he knew he had some mistakes but with the speed of Micheal's blacksmith, he thought Micheal had made more mistakes than him and only did it faster so he could submit first.

The thought of first position was already in his mind, the rewards were greater than anything the city had given out before so the first position was enchanting.

He paid less and less attention to his work as he thought he had won already, not too long after he submitted his weapon and also left the stage.

The crowd was confused, was it that simple to make a sword, if so why were the weapons sold in the city with a very high price?

They all thought it was easy seeing two people just melt metal hammer it and sharpen it, what was so hard about that, but they didn't know the true profundities that it held.

The remaining two contestants went downstage as they were booed.

The lady who brought them up to the stage entered the stage with a microphone and started talking.

"I know most of you might have been confused an what you just saw but that was the lowest art of blacksmithing, they are just amateurs who haven't been learning for a long time but enough on this matter."

Let's welcome the second event of the ceremony THE ALCHEMIST.