Master Blacksmith

Abel used a few normal gems to redecorate the big sword's handguard so that no one could see the internal magical power of the gems held within the long sword. He repolished handguards, along with a curved decoration strip made as well as adjusting the small and shattered gemstones of the sword. This transformed the sword from a normal sword of hundred skills an ultra-luxury, deluxe edition of an Ice magic sword of hundred skills.

 The explosion that occurred on the other day had dispelled Abel's plan to create The Ancient Vow rune. The defense power he possessed was nowhere as strong enough to withhold its power. It would be very dangerous if it exploded again during his second try.

Time flew, and in a blink of an eye, three months had already past.

Nowadays, Abel was living a very fulfilling lifestyle. He has already forged over twelve swords of a hundred skills, one of them being the ultra-luxurious, deluxe edition of the ice magical sword of hundred skills. He even produced five shields of hundred skills, made of rough iron. These shields were made as preparations for his future plan to make The Ancient Vow in the rune system. 

It was already April, and the weather was becoming warmer and warmer. People who worked in the forgery had already begun forging weapons right from the morning.

"Abel, you and I are going to the Blacksmith's union in Harvest City today." Said Master Bentham as he looked towards Abel who was still recovering his energy to make another one of his One Hundred-skilled bases.

"Why are we going to the blacksmith's union at Harvest City, and what are we doing?" Abel questioned Master Bentham with a strange look on his face.

Master Bentham replied to Abel's question with an excited tone; "After you made the magic sword, I have requested a swordmaster from the blacksmith union to assess your sword. I got the news from the blacksmith's union yesterday, and they notified me that they will be assessing you tomorrow."

 "Congratulations, master!" Abel knew Master Bentham was only called the blacksmith Master Bentham by the locals. Being able to make a hundred-skilled rough iron was only the fundamentals of becoming a master. In order to truly be approved by the blacksmith union as a Blacksmith Master, one would need a very diverse and profound skill set. Therefore, Master Bentham was only a competent master, but not a blacksmith master.

"Why are you congratulating me?, I am only the person who helped you apply." Bentham gently padded Abel's head, "For my entire life, I have been trying to forge magical weapons. I will never succeed to make one, though, and that's why I could never become a real Blacksmith Master. However, the fact that you can make magic weapons, it shows that you are already worthy to surpass what I'm capable of." 

At first, Abel doesn't seem to have a lot of interest in becoming a Blacksmith master. However, when he realized that he could learn more runes if he becomes a master, as well as on the strong recommendation from Master Bentham, he agreed and said: "I will go and prepare now."

Abel loaded nine normal swords of hundred skills, and one luxurious, deluxe edition of the fire-magic sword of hundred skills onto Master Bentham horse carriage from his private operating room. Abel decided to leave 2 of those normal swords of a hundred skills at his own "Harry's Weapon Shop". The rest of them were being sold in Edmund's Boutique Shop for money. If all the swords were being sold through Harry's shop, it would hugely impact the prices of those swords in the local market, which would also lead to suspicion from other weapon shops. Ultimately, this could bring a huge disadvantage to his shop in Harvest City, which was just taken recently off the hands of Lord Joel. One of the main advantages of trading it to Edmund's Boutique shop was that they have distribution shops all around the country. This meant that they could easily sell off the seven swords. The luxury sword, on the other hand, could be auctioned off by the boutique shop which would generate a large amount of profit for Abel.

The carriage trip to harvest city was bumpy as usual. Abel already had plans of crafting a vibration-damping carriage so that the ride won't be as bumpy. At around 10 am in the morning, the horse carriage finally arrived at the Blacksmith's Union which was located in the center of the town.

The Blacksmith Union was a multinational organization in the mainland. The organization was created three thousand years ago by a couple of humans and dwarfs, who were all blacksmith elders three thousand years ago. After all these years, even the Orcs have joined the organization. This ultimately formed the blacksmith union that was known today. The unions mainly assessed the blacksmiths' ability and handed out medals according to their skill level. However, they also provided protection for those blacksmiths who had joined the organization.

The moment Bentham and Abel entered the Union's hall, a dwarf with a large beard walked towards them. This was the first time that Abel had seen a dwarf in his life. He tried his very best and controlled himself from not staring at the dwarf.

 "Bentham, my old friend, the union notified me to host as soon as they heard about your application." The dwarf then held his arms wide opened and Bentham lowered his body to give him a hug.

When they finished hugging each other, Bentham laughed and said, "I can't believe the union is telling you to host the assessment, I still remember the days where we were being taught by Mr. Robin. After so many years, you still look so young."

Abel was a little speechless as he looked over at the dwarf with his face covered with his large beard. He couldn't imagine what Bentham meant when he said that his dwarf friend was young.

"This is my student, Abel, and Harry." Bentham pointed at Abel who was standing on the side and introduced him to the dwarf.

Bentham then turned around and said to Harry, "This is master Sorin Oakshield, a junior who studied with me."

Sorin Oakshield jumped in and yelled, "I am your senior, mind you! "

"Back when we studied together, when I was a young adult, you were still a child. So, of course, I am your senior." Bentham laughed.

"Oh, I am older than you, yet I was still a child?" Master Sorin yelled as he waved his fists around.

Abel finally understood the argument between the two of them as he watched from the side. Dwarfs generally had a longer life span, usually about 500 years. But normal humans could only live for around 100 years, so that's why they were having this banter with one another.

Master Sorin knew that there wouldn't be a point to continue to dwell on this topic, so he quickly turned his head and began talking about Abel, "So is this the person that will be assessed to become the new blacksmith master? he is way too young! You only have one chance in your lifetime to apply for an assessment to become a blacksmith master and you gave it to him?"

These questions clearly showed that Sorin did not trust Abel's ability. Every skill that a blacksmith acquired, needed time to perfect and master.

I am almost 60 years old, and I am losing my essence, I am afraid that I cannot become a blacksmith master anymore. I would never have the chance to use this application, but-," Master Bentham looked directly towards Abel and said: "Ever since Abel became a student of mine, he had created miracles again and again. I believe that he has the ability to become a Master Blacksmith, and that's why I brought him here for an assessment."

 "Ok, up to you, then. Let us begin the assessment," Master Sorin lead both of them into the workshop. There were 3 mirrors placed on the wall, there was a blacksmith workbench in the middle with all the tools that they need and there was also a blacksmith furnace on the side that was burning.

 Sorin then took out 6 red gems and placed them on the notch of the wall. All of a sudden, the mirror's surface began to shake. Three figures including, a dwarf and two humans began to emerge.

Master Bentham then proceeded to bow to the three figures in the mirror, "Hello masters. Sorry for interrupting your time."

Abel seemed to be quite amazed and shocked at the same time. Then, Master Sorin began to explain the procedures of the assessment to him. Master Blacksmiths had 5 chances to apply for a grandmaster assignment. A top tier blacksmith was a once in a lifetime chance. After the application was passed, there would be a grandmaster here to be the witness, and the other 3 will be remotely assessing the processes of the procedures through a magical array.

This type of magic array was made by the Array master of the elves. It could only transfer images, but it cannot transfer sound.

"Let's start," Master Sorin said to Abel after explaining the rules and procedures.

Abel remained silent, he first bowed to Master Sorin and the three masters on the mirrors.

The raw materials on the workbench were very high quality. Abel took a piece of the material and threw it into the furnace. After a short period of time, he took out the material and hammered it back and forth. Due to his highly trained proficient skill and speed, it only took a little over 2 hours to forge the material to the 80 skills. Now he only needed to further forge them from 80 skills to 100 skills

Since he was using up his Power of Will, the speed of him forging the material from 80 to 100 was even faster than before. Master Sorin began to look at Abel in a new light. The skillful use of his Power of Will when it comes to forging was not very common among the masters. Instead, most masters would use their experience to forge the martial from 80 skills to 100 skills.

 It didn't take long for the materials to be forged to 100 skills. After taking a small break, Abel began to shape the sword. The time flew past quickly, and the sword has taken its shape. Abel did not stop there. He proceeded to use the chisel to open a small indent on the handguard.

This move suddenly grabbed Master Sorin's attention. He immediately turned to Master Bentham with a look of doubt. But Master Bentham nodded back to Sorin confidently, confirming his belief in his student.

Master Sorin knew that although Bentham had been trying to forge a sword like this for his entire life, Bentham had failed. However, now it seemed that his student was able to complete his cherished desire.

The moment Abel took out his rune pen. Master Sorin's confirmed his suspicions. Magical weapons were some of the highest tier weapons. It was considered precious even from the master tier weapon perspective.

 Seeing That Abel was in a state of deep focus as he drew the runes. The 3 masters in the mirror immediately knew what weapon it would be. Therefore, they began to pay even closer attention.

The final process of embedding the blue gem and the guidance of The Power of Will went smoothly. Soon, an ice magical sword was completed. Although it was not decorated, the masters agreed—this ice magical sword was fabulous, and it had well surpassed the blacksmith master examination standards. 

Master Sorin turned around and looked at the 3 figures in the mirror. After all the masters nodded in confirmation. Master Sorin took out a medal from his chest directly and spoke to Abel with a serious tone, "Congratulations, Abel Harry master, you are now the 36th blacksmith master in the blacksmith union."

After these words, Master Sorin placed the medal in front of Abel's chest. He then stepped up and gave Abel a hug. Just like Master Bentham, Abel also bent down to return Master Sorin's hug. This gesture of kindness shown that Master Sorin was now treating Abel as an equal.

The three masters from the mirror have also bowed at Abel. As soon as Abel finished returning the bow, the figures vanished from the mirror.