"This sword is not bad," said Elder Marth as he held the blade that Damian had made.

Damian had given it a plain brown hilt and although he hadn't spent any time on decorating or imprinting the sword with any patterns to make its appearance better, he had made sure to follow the manual to the best of his ability.

"But it isn't good either and is a basic sword that would only be useful to be trained with, and not used in actual combat as it is too frail and brittle" added Elder Marth.

Damian wasn't disappointed by what Elder Marth said in the slightest and was proud of what he was able to make after putting his all into its forging.

His hands had cuts and blisters from the hammering and forging of the blade, but Damian's hands had many scars on them already, especially his fingers, after he had trained in the bow and cut his hand on the thin and sharp bowstring many times.

He had made sure to train using both hands pulling the bowstring, as he didn't want his ability to be restricted, which had also increased his accuracy, control and dexterity in both his hands.

"Is it enough for you to accept my deal?" asked Damian.

His eyes were burning yellow as he had entered a cultivation profession for the first time, and it was the cultivation profession that was arguably the least suited to him, but despite that was still quite skilled at it.

"Fine then, I will accept your deal" accepted Elder Marth.

"But before you get happy, this work is not good enough and you will need to work much harder if you want to be even with me, let alone get a bow" continued Elder Marth, not wanting Damian to become arrogant and complacent, which would only cause his downfall.

"Yes, Elder" stated Damian respectfully as he bowed to Elder Marth.

Despite the tough appearance and his seemingly rude attitude, Damian could see that he had some sort of care towards him and he didn't seem to be a bad person, so had earnt his respect.

Damian had many people that were looking out for him in the academy, but he also had many people that were out to get him and hated him, so he knew that he couldn't get comfortable and be a burden on those that were lending him a hand.

He needed to use the helping hand, of those around him, to propel himself forwards and crush those that were going against him and those around him that he cared about, and that was exactly what he was planning to do.

"Use some of that lotion on your hands, which will help to heal and increase the durability of the skin on your palms, then get out of here. Make sure to clean up your mess first, but get as much rest as you can and be ready, because, for the next two days after today, I will work you so much you might die" stated Elder Marth before heading over to his own forge that was much larger than the forge that he had allowed Damian to use.

He had many different forges in the large hall-like room that he was using for forgery and each of them were used for different weapons and of different sizes and allowed him to forge multiple weapons at the same time to maximise his efficiency.

Damian thanked Elder Marth then walked over to the large jar that Elder Marth pointed to, which he assumed was the lotion that he spoke of.

Opening the jar, there was a green liquid inside and it had a weird smell, that wasn't a bad one but wasn't a good one either.

Scooping a small amount with his fingers, Damian rubbed it into his left hand and was surprised by what happened next.

He began to feel a prickling and tingling sensation all over the areas that he had applied the lotion to, and he could feel the skin around his palms begin to heal, as not only was their recovery speed boosted, but the skin was also being strengthened slightly.

"That lotion is quite expensive so don't use too much, and it also won't have much of an effect after you have used a certain amount. It requires regular use for there to be big results and blacksmiths all use similar concoctions made through alchemy that have healing and strengthening properties and allow blacksmiths to have very tough skin around their hands" informed him Elder Marth loudly, needing to shout over the loud noise of the furnace he was operating.

Damian applied a thin layer of the lotion on both of his hands, and while his hands were tingling and the lotion was beginning to heal the cuts and blisters, he walked over to see what Elder Marth was doing.

"You have already wasted quite a lot of my time, so don't get in my way and don't get close to me or my furnaces either" instructed Elder Marth, seeing that Damian was approaching him.

Damian did as he said, knowing that it was also for his own safety, and observed Elder Marth in awe of how quickly he was forging weapons and how easy he made it look.

Elder Marth was only forming basic weapons to give to the academy, as he had a quota that he had to reach each week in order for the academy to fund his weapon forging.

Elder Marth wanted to expand his horizons and was always experimenting with new ways to make better weapons, and that required lots of resources and time.

Looking at him, Damian was amazed by how easy he made the process seem and each of the weapons that he formed, were flawless and in terms of quality, were many times better than the sword he was able to forge.

At once, he was operating multiple forges, and at each forge, he was forging multiple weapons and was yet to make a single mistake.

"Don't look so amazed, this is 17 years of hard work and practise. Now get out of here and rest" said Elder Marth seeing that Damian was staring at him in awe.

Damian nodded his head and did as the elder said, leaving the blacksmith and heading back to his residence to rest.