Raph felt refreshed when he woke up, it was still early but he wanted to go over to Isaac’s shop to see what that was all about. Before Raph went to Isaac’s he decided to get some new clothes with some of the money he made from the job yesterday, on his way inside the city he walked into the first clothing store he found called Needle and Thread. Inside there was a lot to choose from and Raph ended up picking up a few pairs of trousers, some plain tops that reminded Raph of T-shirts from Earth, and a jacket made from something called a Stonetooth. The lady at the counter described it being some kind of hardy cow-like thing and their skin was used for light armor, all including a bag that cost him just under 3 silver with the jacket being most of that.

After his shopping spree Raph made his way over to Isaac’s shop, he got a better lock at it this time around. The shop was a two story building but not too big, the front had windows with swords and armor shown in front, above the door was the sign with ‘Isaac’s Forge’ written in a powerful script. He opened the front door to reveal a pretty basic room with some of Isaac’s work; swords, daggers, shields, and armor among other things. Raph couldn’t see Isaac anywhere but there was a door behind the counter that led to a larger workshop, so Raph decided to look in there.

“Isaac?” he shouted, to no response.

As he was entering the workshop he heard the sound of metal striking metal. Raph had to pause for a moment when he first heard it, the sound was so powerful and intense yet it was almost melodic in the way it resonated with him. Raph moved further in and finally saw Isaac standing next to an anvil and a forge, it looked like he was making some kind of bladed weapon. Raph watched in awe of the way Isaac handled the metal, moving it into the forge to to heat, then to the anvil to shape. His movements were simple, yet perfect in execution, nothing was wasted. The force from Isaac’s strikes against the metal shook the ground Raph stood on, he felt an instinctual fear looking at the smith yet he couldn’t look away. After a few minutes of no one making a sound, Isaac finished up by dropping the blade in a water bath.

Analyze

Isaac -- ??? Lv.???

‘Oh.’ Raph was deeply shaken up by what he saw. He was wondering just what he had got himself into when Isaac spoke.

“Has nobody ever told you, that is very rude.” Isaac said casually.

Raph froze. “Umm, sorry Isaac. I forget that, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” he said apologetically. “I have to ask, but why exactly did you want me to come here?”

“Can I not just want some help with my business?” said Isaac with a mysterious smile on his face.

“Well not really, but seeing as you wont answer my question I guess that will have to do.”

“Right, then” started Isaac as he pointed to the left side of the room where a small metal hammer was placed on a workbench. “You will need that.”

Raph walked over and inspected the hammer, the head was around the size of two fists, made from a dark metal and a wooden handle. Clasping his hand around the handle he was shocked by the weight of it, compared to the hammer he received of Hamish it was at least five times as heavy if not more. For Raph with his new levels and strength this was no longer a problem however the weight of the tool was not insignificant.

“Ok.” Isaac said, breaking Raphs focus on the hammer. “For now I want you to use that.” Isaac continued to take out an unrefined piece of metal and place it on a large anvil off the side of the forge. “I want you to strike this metal one thousand times.” he said, dead serious.

“One thousand?” Raph replied, convinced he had misheard.

“You have until the end of day.” Isaac said, ignoring Raph, as he returned to the sword that he had left in the water bath.

‘Alright, alright. So it's a challenge. It can't be that hard, I do have all day to do it.’ Raph thought, reassuring himself.

He looked at the piece of metal on the anvil and thought for a second.

Analyze

Meteoric Iron -- unrefined

‘Ok, not particularly helpful. But good to know non the less.’ Raph thought again as he looked at the new hammer.

Analyze

Isaac’s training hammer (easy) -- A hammer made by Isaac the ???, to test the resolve of an aspiring smith (easy mode: 100kg)

‘Right, well that explains… Well something, it is a test.’

‘Twenty five points in strength really made me a lot stronger, huh.’ Raph considered how hard it would have been to wield one hundred kilograms in one hand while on Earth. Raph made a strike with the hammer on the iron, he lifted the hammer up level with his head and struck down.

TING

When the hammer struck the metal it flew back up as a jarring vibration ran through his arm, Raph struggled to control the rebound.

‘Fuck me. I have to do a thousand of those?’ Raph thought, he could still feel shock in his arm.

Unbeknownst to Raph, Isaac’s face had an uncharacteristic smirk on it after he took the first swing.

‘Well, better get to it.’ Raph thought as he began to swing, shortly followed by the sounds of metal hitting metal.

TING

TING

TING

When he wasn’t tired, swinging the 100 kg hammer was relatively easy. After 100 swings however Raph's arm was numb from shock. Fortunately there was one upside.

You gain +1 Str.

You gain +1 End.

You gain +2 Sta

…

You gain +1 Str.

You gain +1 End.

You gain +2 Sta.

It wasn’t until he hit 500 swings that Raph took a break, he could barely even hold on to the hammer at this point. Isaac looked over and gave a slight nod.

“I guess that’s lunch.” He said and left the room, only to return a minute later with two plates containing some kind of meat and vegetables.

“Not bad, if you keep this up I might have found myself an apprentice.” Isaac said as he passed one of the plates over to Raph. They ate in a comfortable silence, just when Raph was about to get up Isaac handed something over to him.

“You will need this if you want to finish.” The item in his hand was another vial, like the one Hamish gave him after the goblin attack. Raph accepted it and analyzed it.

Medium potion of Stamina -- Restores Sta. by 200 points.

Raph knew this had to be worth a lot of money, but in the end he decided not to question Isaac’s decision. He drank the potion and immediately felt a wave of energy wash over him, his arm felt great. Isaac was already back at it, working on another blade type weapon as far as Raph could tell so he decided it was time to finish the one thousand strikes. And so he did.

TING

TING

TING

You gain +1 Str.

You gain +1 End.

You gain +2 Sta

…

You gain +1 Str.

You gain +1 End.

You gain +2 Sta.

One thousand swings. It took Raph all day, but he did it. By the end his arm was in agony and his body was numb. On the last swing he collapsed onto the floor, Isaac came over to him and gave him another potion. It was around 10 minutes later by the time Raph got up, to see Isaac staring at him.

“Well I can honestly say I am impressed.” He said matter-of-factly. “Not many people have ever been able to do that at your level Raph.” He gave Raph a pat on the shoulder. “That’s all for today though, you should go and get some rest. You can come back in two days, I need to get some things ready.” After that Isaac left the workshop and went upstairs, leaving Raph alone.

“Ugh.” Raph groaned as he stood up, his whole body was stiff from the challenge set by Isaac. Leaving the shop a few minutes later, he made his way back to his room outside the city walls.