Chapter 50

Sitting in a small office surrounded by several high quality looking sets of armor sat an older looking man who would be considered to be middle aged if he did not have completely grey hair. This man looked to be extremely physically fit as his muscles looked as if they would pop at any time if poked with a needle. From his calculations, Timothy could gauge that this man was at least a rank four warrior. "Grand Elder, this is Timothy, he was nice enough to escort me here. On my way over from the marketplace I found this interesting book and wanted you to take a look at it."

After greeting this person, the nerdy teenager named Greg quickly bowed before handing the man the book. As the man looked at the contents within, his tired looking eyes had begun to shine as the exhausted looking man sat straight up while concentrating harder on what he was reading. "Greg you have done very well, with this contribution to our workshop you will be rewarded accordingly. Be sure to ask our quartermaster for a blueprint on any class two armor or weapon that you would like. If you choose to leave our academy one day, you have my permission to bring the copy of the blueprint with you on your travels and can even pass it down to your children as you see fit!"

"And you, it looks like you had to have just broken through as a rank three mage but you are actually a rank two warrior which is not something this academy of ours usually accepts. Could it be that you are pursuing the path of a dual expert? You do not even look to be sixteen yet so in your case I would consider taking advantage of your opportunity to learn here and focus solely on becoming a fine mage so that your future will be much better." Hearing the older man's words seemed strange to Timothy because wasn't this man a rank four warrior who was clearly spending majority of his time here in the workshop as a blacksmith overseeing students like Greg?

"Actually senior, since attending the Grey Imperial Academy, I have been able to pursue the path as a dual cultivator and you are correct I am fourteen years old and just earlier finally broke through as a rank three mage. I hope by next year this time that I could reach or come close to breaking through as a rank three warrior since at night I focus on spending my off time training as a warrior."

This threw the older man slightly off guard but he continued having this little back and forth with Timothy. "So, you are only fourteen years old, and yet you have achieved such things. If I am not mistaken, you most likely choose a secondary path to walk down as a trade since you are not in class right now. Or am I wrong and your only intention of coming here was to simply protect one of my closest disciples?"

"Senior is correct, I have thought about it a lot and although I like the idea of becoming a blacksmith since I have grown up around many and respected them greatly, I feel for the best results of my time should focus on walking down the path of alchemy. As long as I can learn how to create medical pills that could be sold for a high price, I will be able to gather my own resources so that I am one day able to reach the peak of my cultivation!"

"You obviously have no idea the benefits of one's cultivation when it comes to walking the path of blacksmithing as one. If I told you that I have not trained a day of my life as a cultivator but over the fifty years that I have picked up a hammer for the first time, that I achieved the cultivation of a rank four warrior? If you are looking for the most ideal path in order to grow your strength as a cultivator and are already training at night to become a stronger warrior, why not just switch your training to become a blacksmith where you can learn the trade and sell armor and weapons like every other student that comes here while knowing your foundation as a warrior will continue to remain steadily growing?"

The artifact sent a quick voice message confirming for Timothy that what the senior had claimed was true and that as Timothy's master, it would allow him to work as a blacksmith at night instead of going through its own training regimen since it could instead help Timothy with his overall combat capabilities in general for an hour or so every night before he went to bed. In this way, Timothy would be able to continue growing his strength without delay, and at the same time he could continue experimenting with his combat capabilities.

"You see kid, it takes battle qi in order to wield a hammer properly, it helps if you can create your own flames since a higher quality flame automatically gives better results, and you need the physical endurance to work long hours on a single project even if you were to not complete it all in one sitting since each step requires a certain amount of time and skill regardless of what level you are as a blacksmith."

"Sure you could always make items as a blacksmith that does not require as much physical strength or endurance, but the only way to truly be able to level up as a blacksmith is to first be able to make such things from scratch and in by doing so, each step requires some battle qi present. And as you probably have realized by now in your training since you are already a rank two warrior, as you circulate your battle more, not only can you continue absorbing more over time, but your body itself becomes stronger."

Everything that this older man had told him had been officially confirmed by Timothy's master as the conversation continued until the older man had one final thing to ask Timothy. "So kid, be honest now, would you take the honor of being my new personal disciple? With you already being a rank two warrior which none of my current students are, you will be able to most likely pick up everything I teach you faster since you do not have that working against you. It will still require many years of work for you, but I genuinely feel that this seems like the best scenario for you."

And with that, Timothy had accepted the role as the Grand Master of the Workshop's personal disciple!

-Book 1 End-