Chapter 51

-Nine months later-

As his training had become much harder, Timothy was now fifteen years old and he was now very close to breaking into rank three as a warrior. After two months of working hard in his blacksmithing studies, the remaining seven months up until now he was able to experiment with using what he had learned in order to actually do some blacksmithing. It was not an easy road since Timothy was a rank two warrior which meant that he had to learn how to control his battle qi to the point of having not even one percent circulating at a given time.

However, tonight he was able to go out with Nora in order to celebrate because he had finally became a one star blacksmith. This meant that he was now qualified to create items in the workshop but experienced enough to where said items could be sold to the military for a slightly higher profit compared to the items he already sold to the military that more or less broke even concerning the material costs and his time it took to create said items.

When it came to trades such as alchemy, blacksmithing, barrier experts, among other types of trades and specific areas that a cultivator could focus on, ranks and levels were considered to be star levels. But, when one reached a high enough star level, they would be given a title such as Grand Master Blacksmith or Intermediate Alchemist. It would still take Timothy until he became a two star blacksmith in order to receive his first title which would be Apprentice Blacksmith. Although an Apprentice Blacksmith ranked individual was not highly sought after, it was still enough for them to make a living if they did not live outside of their means.

The exciting part of going out into the city with Nora, was that the majority of people would leave the two alone. On the campus of Grey Imperial Academy, students were becoming more comfortable with approaching both Timothy and Nora separately now that they have known and taken classes with them for so many years now, but in Willow City, normal citizens still saw an aura around Nora that prevented them from getting too close. It also helped that Nora had two rank four warriors as guards wherever she went and only someone with a very wealthy or influential background in Willow City could afford to have such things at their disposal at all times.

Nora was now one of Timothy's biggest supporters but very soon she too would be heading out into the outside world and possibly would take a position in the military serving under her father. Her other option was of course seeking out some potential suitors , but for almost an entire year now, it was clear that at least for the time being, she only had room in her heart for Timothy and he had felt the same way towards her. Nora, being one of his biggest supporters, could not wait until Timothy finally reached the third star level as a blacksmith.

When it came to blacksmiths specifically, when one reached the third star level, they were finally considered by many to be of much higher value and many just based on that alone would be willing to take said blacksmith into their ranks. It was not enough to give an individual an executive or elder role in said force, but it was absolutely enough for them to do as they wished for the most part. The reason was simple, once a blacksmith reached the third star level concerning making items, they would have the ability to create items that had different elemental effects during their uses!

Just like his now main weapon being the Flamed Sword, Timothy once he reached the third star rank as a blacksmith would be able to make a similar quality Flamed Sword but only because he trained in the fire element. This was the only thing that set most blacksmiths apart once they reached the third star level, it came down to their own training and understanding of the element that they had a high affinity with. Though this was considered one of the negatives of the blacksmith trade, it helped that Timothy would still have a large customer base since the most common elements cultivators trained in were the five basic ones which included the fire element.

Formation masters, inscription masters, and barrier masters all would have the same circumstances once they advanced high enough in their own star levels. Inscription masters were very close to the blacksmith trade since an inscription master could simply use inscriptions to power up an ordinary weapon or like blacksmiths, could call upon the nature energy and draw it close to the item which would allow it to utilize an element during its usage.

All in all, this path always began with achieving the first star level as a blacksmith and as a bonus since it seemed that Timothy would one day be a higher ranked dual expert, the Grey Imperial Academy gave the Grand Master of the Workshop on campus permission to allow Timothy to earn upwards of eighty percent of the additional profits concerning the items he made to sell to the military. This would only be fruitful for him if he was able to pick low cost materials with high quality items, but in general he was already making a very modest wage being a full-time blacksmith on campus so he would just treat that as a bonus and not solely focus on making money.

The Imperial Family had things like this in place in order to incentivize commoners who showed an acceptable level of talent to continue working with them. Although it would be difficult for Timothy to find a strong and domineering force who would offer him the same conditions from only being a one star level blacksmith, there was still a possibility that even a merchant group would be willing to hire him and include other things such as free meals and lodging while allowing him to earn a good margin of profits. But what Timothy was looking forward to, was earning an actual salary while still on campus which he could achieve if he continued to work hard in his studies while increasing his strength as a dual expert!