The Blacksmith System

In the spirit world, where countless souls whispered. There was one desperately trying, the one who'd make only one sound.

*Clang*

The sound of metal against metal pierced the infinity of whispers like none else. An eternity passed, the sound unheard, and the soul unsatisfied. Until...

***

"Kid, make sure you clean that floor well." said the old red-bearded man, reading the newspaper of that day, he wore a green outfit with a brown overcoat without sleeves above it. "Yes, sir" replied Clyde, he wore a white T-shirt with torn deep blue dirty jeans, he wanted to say something back from the look of his face, but this was his only job, he couldn't lose it or else how would he survive.

Clide was an orphan. He heard his father was a blacksmith, but one day his father went on some orders given to him and never returned, everyone just assumed he was dead, Clyde was 8 at the time. His mother died when he was 10 of a disease called Red Rose Fever, it was curable but roses weren't the cheapest flowers as they were rare. He worked tirelessly for months just to pay for her medicine that kept her condition from getting worse.

The last word spoken by his mother was "Live…" He will live and he will get stronger so that no one can ever hurt his close ones ever again. He finishes his work and starts walking back to his current home, the slums. Every day on the way he would look at the only blacksmith in the town. His father had taught him blacksmithing ever since he was a child so he wanted to work for the blacksmith, it would be a hell of a lot better than working at that shop.

But who'd take in a feeble kid like him, he was small and weak, and probably couldn't even pick up a hammer. Only if he could get blessed by one of those ascended. Once the thought crossed his mind a gushing wind blew past him touching his exposed skin due to wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt colored black and torn jeans. "Ooh.. Cold." Clyde said to himself, "I should get back before someone takes my spot." he ran saying those words.

Soon he reached the slum area of the town, it wasn't big but many people were there. He went to the usual spot he sleeps in, under some covering so if it rained he would at least be a little safe from it. In the slums, whoever came first takes the place so you'd have to be fast to get the better places. Thankfully he was there in time to secure his good place.

Soon, night fell and the shining light of the sun disappeared. Clyde was fast asleep dreaming of himself as the strong man he wanted to be, just then…

"New User Detected… Please Identify Yourself."

"Huh?" Clyde woke up still half asleep as he looked at what was before him.

"First name accepted, please give the second name user Huh." said the voice in his mind. "My name is not Huh it's Clyde," he said, regaining some sense and understanding the situation a bit. "Sorry, user Huh, the first name has already been accepted, so the second name will be Clyde. You have been chosen by an ascended user Huh Clyde." Said the voice in his mind, "Really?!" He said a little too loud.

"Shh! Keep it quiet trying to sleep here." said one of the beggars. "Sorry!" he said quietly this time. "Yes. You have been chosen by one of the ascended to be their apostle and carry out his word to all corners of the world, user Huh Clyde." Clyde practically jumped with joy hearing this news, the thing he was hoping for actually happened.

'Which ascended has chosen me?' Asked Clyde hoping for a good answer. "The Ascended Of Blacksmithing, Cetalus Tinker." hearing this Clyde gets a bit sad, but also excited. Sad because it was at the lowest rank of Cetalus. And excited as it was an ascended dedicated to blacksmithing, which meant he could become a great blacksmith, possibly even the greatest as he hadn't heard of any blacksmith ascended till now.

Even the thought made his mind have butterflies. He asked further, 'What are my abilities?' "Showing User Data."

Username: Huh Clyde.

Rank: Apostle

Ascended: Cetalus Tinker.

Level: 01 (0/100 exp)

Abilities: Bless thy creation (lvl 01), Eyes of an eagle (lvl 01). [Unlock more my leveling up]

Passive abilities: Average strength (lvl 01), Apostles' charm (lvl 01). [Unlock more by leveling up]

Weakness: You have to work with fire and lava. But what will you do if it hurts you the most?

'Wait what?! I have a weakness to lava and fire? The two most important components of smithing?' "Affirmative." "Why?!" he accidentally said out loud once again. "Kid keep it down would you!" said the beggar once again with an angered face this time all the people near him stared as well. "I'm so, so sorry. It won't happen again, I promise!" the man looked at the pleading eyes of the child. Orphaned at such an early age, how could he be hard on such a soul?

Clyde was given a last warning as everyone went back to sleep. 'As I said, why?!' "There are reasons for the weaknesses given to the apostles and followers, unfortunately, you don't have a high enough bond with Cetalus Tinker to know yet." 'What kind of a weakness is it?' "You are very hurt by fire and lava, and you are also scared of them, scared." 'How scared?' "Scared enough to be considered a hindrance."

'Then what am I supposed to do?' Clyde sighed at his situation "There are ways around every weakness. Nobody said you can only smith with fire and lava." 'What do you mean by that?' there was no reply from the system. Clyde sighed as we went back to sleep, for now, he needs energy for tomorrow, he needs to figure out what he is going to do now.

***

[The Next Day]

Clyde sighed as he woke up from a nice deep sleep. His mind refreshed and his heart happy remembered the occurrence of last night. He quickly called upon the menu to check whether last night was true or not and to his delight. It was…

But still, his problems had not evaporated yet. He still had to figure out something to deal with his weaknesses and also finally, become an apprentice of the blacksmith. He quickly got up and bought some bread with the money he had been paid yesterday.

From that time onwards he didn't waste any time running to the blacksmith. His speed and energy were unusually fast today. Once he reached the blacksmith he could see the blacksmith still working on the weapon he was making.

But once his eyes laid eye on the blade he could not help but say entering the blacksmith,

"Uh, sir. You missed a spot on the right. It might make the sword uneven and in the end ineffective…"