A Natural... or a Fraud?

As he continued to watch Valyr hammer away on the copper, Tristan's mouth went more and more agape from the shock he felt, wondering how a beginner like Valyr had such skill and finesse when it came to the hammer, considering how it was the latter's first time wielding one.

'Did I… did I inadvertently come across a natural blacksmith?' he could not help but think to himself. However, the more he watched Valyr work the metal in front of him as if it was child's play, the more certain he became of that thought.

Although they were rare, natural blacksmiths weren't unheard of. Recalling his past where he was still an apprentice under a blacksmith, Tristan remembered a time where he had met with a person at around the same age as him, who was being touted as the future face of blacksmithing. Naturally, as he was still a young man, Tristan could not help but let his jealousy take over his rationality, eventually challenging that person into a duel on who could forge the better weapon.

Because of that event, Tristan had been enlightened to the world of natural blacksmiths, people who seemed to have a natural talent for blacksmithing, as if it was their purpose in life to become one. Unsurprisingly, the person he had challenged was one of those natural blacksmiths, their final product being a weapon that was one rarity higher than what he had produced.

Now having grown from that phase, Tristan could not help but feel giddy that he was going to become the teacher of a natural blacksmith, letting his mind wander about as he wondered how renowned Valyr's name would be in the years to come. Though, as he thought about it, there was also another possibility Valyr could be aside from a natural blacksmith. Thinking about this other possibility, Tristan's eyes could not help but darken as he thought, 'Either he's a natural… or he's just hiding all of the past experience he actually has on blacksmithing before deciding to learn under me.'

If Valyr were to hear what was going on in Tristan's mind at the moment, Valyr would probably tell him that he was somewhat correct, considering that he did have past experience in blacksmithing…

In his past life, that is.

Nevertheless, the more Tristan thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. 'The way he's wielding the hammer feels like he already has experience wielding it beforehand. On top of that, the way he's hammering the metal feels like there's purpose and intent behind each one. It doesn't feel erratic or anything…'

Eventually, he let out a light sigh. 'There's no reason for me to come to hasty conclusions. Now that I think about it, Valyr came to me with his Technology Tree still locked, so there's a higher chance he's a natural instead of being a fraud. Then again, who knows if that's really the case?'

'I'll just have to find that out on my own.' With that thought in mind, Tristan removed the blade from the barrel before inspecting it once more. Nodding in satisfaction at how the blade turned out, he placed it by the side for now, deciding to postpone sharpening the blade after Valyr was done with his attempt.

Coincidentally, at that very moment, Valyr realized that he had gotten too engrossed in hammering the metal as he allowed his past experience to take over. Shifting the gear into manual, he slowed down his pace considerably, noticing that the metal before him had roughly taken on the shape of the dagger in the blueprint Tristan gave him, with some spots even showing detail not seen in the blueprint.

'I almost forgot this is supposed to be my first attempt at forging,' Valyr thought, inwardly cursing at himself for getting engrossed. Though, not long after, he inwardly let out a sigh, recalling that it had been a long time since he had last forged something. In fact, the last time he had forged something was about a year and a half before the final battle, which was more or less a reason as to why Valyr had become engrossed in forging out of nowhere.

'Although I could show that I definitely have the skills for it, the worst thing I can do is show that I can successfully forge something on my first attempt,' he inwardly muttered, his hammering becoming more and more sloppy as time passed. 'If I do that, Tristan will definitely become suspicious.'

'In fact, I think he already is.' As he took a quick glance at Tristan, wondering if the latter was still in the process of tempering the blade he had forged, he instead saw Tristan staring at him intently, which could not help but make Valyr feel a little bit nervous.

Thankfully, with a few deep breaths, he was able to calm his nerves down, allowing him to continue heating and hammering the metal before him, though at a much slower pace than before.

"Hey, Tristan. When Damian asked you if you could help defend the village against the monster tide, were you against the idea at first?" At some point, Valyr asked this question to Tristan, finding a slower, yet more understandable rhythm to work with.

Surprisingly, Tristan shook his head at the question, moving closer to Valyr to get a better view of his progress. "I wasn't against the idea. In fact, when I heard about the monster tide, I thought it would be nice if I could help out."

"Eh? But wouldn't it be more beneficial for you to just keep crafting weapons instead of fighting against the monsters?" Valyr asked in response, the dagger before him seemingly only needing a few dozen more hits to be complete.

"If I was another blacksmith, then I would've probably said yes," Tristan replied. "However, in my opinion, if you only keep crafting weapons but not take the time to experience yourself using them, the weapons you end up making are subpar, considering that the essence of the weapons aren't in there. In my eyes, those who only craft weapons but not use them are the worst kinds of blacksmiths."

"Of course, you could probably say that I don't practice what I preach, but I do," said Tristan afterwards as a bloodthirsty aura soon emanated from his body. "Although you may know of my main class, which is an Experienced Blacksmith, I'm certain you don't know about my subclass yet."

"Well, unlike other people's subclasses, which would most likely be a useful production class, my subclass is a battle class, specifically a battle class that focuses on using all means to defeat the enemy before you," Tristan said as he reined in his aura. "What's the name of the subclass, you might ask? Well, you could ask Damian… or use [Analysis] on me, I don't really care."

"Anyways, finish that first,." Hearing those words from Tristan, Valyr refocused his attention on the piece of metal before him, hammering it at a few more spots with a bit of finesse. A few seconds later, he looked at the progress he had made, a light smile adorning his face as he noticed that the dagger was a couple hits away from being complete. However, as he recalled that he didn't want Tristan to know he could successfully forge something on his first attempt, he inwardly apologized to the metal before slamming his hammer on it a few times at full strength, causing sizable dents to form on its surface.

As he inwardly grimaced at the final product, Valyr lightly scratched his head as he placed the hammer he wielded by the side. Then, picking the dagger up, he gave it to Tristan, who had a slight frown on his face as he looked at what Valyr gave him.

"Er… I think this is done?"