Authors Note:

I apologize for the premature release. this is the finished version.

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"Are you ready to try?"

Ren smiled at master Yurbek's question. Of course he was ready! Ren picked up an iron ingot with a pair of tongs and placed it in the forge. After a few minutes Ren took the ingot out of the forge and brought it over to a nearby anvil. Picking up a hammer smaller than the one Master Yurbek was using Ren began to hit the metal. As expected it was nowhere near as easy as Master Yurbek made it look. It took Ren a few heatings to flatten the metal to the thickness he wanted, after which he began to shape the blade. This took Ren many times longer and more than a few tries to get a semi-even edge. Next up was forming the cutting edge. This produced...mixed...results. Try as he might Ren could not get an even cutting edge and ended it with a somewhat wavy cutting edge than made it look like it had soft serrations. When he was done with the blade Ren annealed it then took it over to the grinding and polishing wheels to finish off his first knife. If it could be called that. Stepping away from the sharpening wheel Ren inspected his knife

Shoddy Knife

TypeKnifeQualitypoor

Damage1Durability10/10

The first knife made by an apprentice blacksmith, this knife whould work better

as a decoration to remember the moment than as a functional tool.

Ren wore a wry smile on his face as he looked at the next-to-useless knife he made. Sure it was his first attempt but even the system was mocking him. Master Yurbek chuckled seeing Ren's expression.

"You did well for your first time smithing lad. At least it looks like a knife. I've had students who've turn an ingot into god knows what when attempting to make nails. You should be proud of yourself. Now as to what you did wrong..."

Master Yurbek spent the next half an hour explaining to Ren exactly what he did wrong and how to fix it. He then demonstrated how to make a knife again, at a slower speed. Ren tried again...and failed again. Undeterred, Ren continued to practice, Master Yurbek pointing out his mistake after each attempt. After a couple dozen attempts Master Yurbek lit a second forge and put a small crucible in it. He was using this one to melt down Ren's failures back into ingots.

Ren spent almost the entire day making knives but he was getting very frustrated. While he was making progress, it was much to slow for his liking. With every knife he made it would become a little more even and consistent in shape and a little higher quality but it was very slow progress. Ren put down the got up from the grinding wheel and looked at the knife he had just finished.

Low Quality Knife Type Knife Quality Normal Damage 1-3 Durability 15/15A low quality knife made my an apprentice blacksmith

Ren sighed. He had been making low quality knives for the past couple hours and they really haven't shown any kind of improvement. He was about to start yet another knife when a pair of strong, calloused hand land on his shoulders and steered him out of the work shop.

"That's enough lad." Master Yurbek said, "You should go clear your mind, reflect on what you learned, and rest. You won't become a master in a day and you need time to refocus. We'll start again tomorrow afternoon."

Ren got some food and made his way back to his room. After getting back to his room, Ren entered the stone room that off his sitting room and began to meditate. He still didn't know what its intended use was but it was quite and dark which made it perfect for meditation. As he was told, Ren spent some time reflecting on what he learned that day before he went to bed.

Master Yurbek's POV:

My god that boy's a monster thought Master Yurbek as he watched Ren walk back to the main building, holding the last knife he made in his hands. To not only be able to make something that even remotely resembles a knife on the first try, but to make that much progress in a single day, if other smiths knew of his 'slow' progress they'd probably die of envy and disbelief.

Master Yurbek thought back to when he first saw Ren during his entrance exam. His sword fighting was unrefined but would be effective against monsters of similar or lower skill level. Just not people. The fact he was Saint was surprising but it didn't actually mean much unless he developed his skill with that element. What first impressed him was his concentration. He had used that wrenched stone before and only managed to last an hour. To last six was a remarkable achievement. What next impressed him was the amount of care he put into his work while making his trial piece at the end of the exam. The quality was above that of the average tailor and the embroidery was very well done. Master Yurbek was actually very pleased that he was teaching Ren first. While he told Ren the truth when he had him running and practicing with different weapons the primary goal were to test his determination and to comply with the headmaster's orders to keep Ren under watch.

When he told Ren that it was time to start learning smithing Master Yurbek couldn't help but chuckle to himself seeing Ren's expression. The smelting went well but smelting iron is easy, the really test is when you smelt something like mithril or adamant. After spending all night watching Ren smelt iron and some rest came the fun part, teaching him how to work metal. Seeing the shock and wonder in Ren's eyes as he made a knife in a matter of minutes caused him to smile. He never tires of see the on a student’s face watching a master smith at work. From then on he guided Ren in creating a knife. He was expecting it to look like a metal blob but, to his surprise, it actually had the shape of a knife, not that this one would be of much use. As Ren continued to practice Master Yurbek was again surprised by his rate of improvement. While Ren though it was slow, to go from something that could almost be considered a knife to an actual knife in a single was very impressive and Master Yurbek couldn't wait to see how he would grow over the course of the term.