Learning magical forging was supposed to be a dream come true. Both on Earth and in this world, children and apprentices dreamt of having the ability to create magical items that had the power to destroy mountains and split seas in two. The only problem was that in order to reach that level, one had to start with something significantly simpler. In Dallion’s case, since he had been too smart for his own good upon selecting his first hammer, that meant learning the most basic of the basics: how to keep a forge fire going.

“You’re getting the hang of it,” Eury said, sitting a short distance away, focusing on a rather small dagger she was making. After a bit of aggressive price negotiation, the gorgon had agreed to make Veil a blooming dagger that would have the ability to turn into a sword in any awakened realm. From what Dallion had heard, the agreed upon price reached fifty gold coins, a quarter of which had to be paid in advance.

It was remarkable how the gorgon had the ability to give the weapon shape only by using a hammer, without any need of heat whatsoever. Meanwhile, Dallion was sweating next to a large kiln, trying desperately to keep the temperature right. Very much to his disappointment, music skills were of no help at all.

“Maybe we should have done this in a realm?” Dallion brushed the sweat off his forehead.

“We could have, but then I wouldn’t have been able to see you sweat,” the gorgon replied. “Besides, you’ll need to get a basic understanding of the craft before you start using the shortcuts. Otherwise, you’ll become like one of those wannabe forgers that have their stuff pre-made by common blacksmiths.”

“That happens?”

“Of course it happens. It’s far easier to have someone do the rough work for you.”

And that is why she’s on bad terms with half the forging guilds in the city, Nil said. I’m not saying that I disagree with her logic, but we live in somewhat more sophisticated times. What is the point in wasting time purifying ore and making ingots when you can buy those readily made and focus on the item itself?

Dallion didn’t reply. This was an argument he wasn’t getting involved in, even if he was pretty certain that Eury couldn’t hear his conversation with Nil.

I’ll give her one thing, the echo added reluctantly. You can’t go wrong with acquiring awakened knowledge. Often, tools are just as valuable as products.

“Try out the grip.” The gorgon handed the dagger she was working on to Veil, handle first.

The blond took it, then moved his hand around a bit. He didn’t complain, but even Dallion could see it wasn’t his first choice. After a few slashes and stabs in the air, Veil tossed the weapon to his left hand and repeated the process.

“Give it here,” Eury said. “I’ll fix the problems.”

“It feels a bit light,” Veil said as he gave it back.

“It’s supposed to. You want it light in the real world. It’ll be different in the realms. Dal didn’t tell me you’re ambidextrous.”

This made both Dallion and Veil blink in surprise. Dallion had no such knowledge, and Veil had the look of someone who had kept that as a treasured secret.

“Don’t forget the bellows, Dal,” Eury reminded. “It needs to be hot enough for the ore to get smelted.”

“Isn’t there some other way to get this done?” Dallion rumbled.

“Do I look like a dwarf to you?” Eury mocked. “Just keep on going, you’re doing great.”

Dallion gritted his teeth. There were a lot of things he wanted to say on the matter, but for the moment, he decided it would be wiser to remain quiet. After all, she was doing him a huge favor. Dallion’s grandfather hadn’t had that problem. From what Dallion had seen in Aspion’s memory, the old man had been taught how to forge weapons at an early age by the village blacksmith, and apparently had picked it up remarkably fast. In contrast, Dallion knew as much about the process as someone who had watched a few YouTube clips on the subject, and even then there was nothing mentioned about smelting.

“Veil, you really don’t need to stay here,” Dallion suggested with a hint of music in his words. “It’ll be a long and boring process, and—”

“No way I’m missing you suffer.” Veil smiled. “It might be even worth skipping work just to see if you flop.”

Charming, Dallion thought. His friend wasn’t wrong, though. It had been hours and the flame still hadn’t approached the temperature needed to melt the ore. The gorgon didn’t seem one bit concerned by the lack of progress, but then again, she didn’t have to go to work at Hannah’s in two hours.

“How about now?” Eury finished her adjustments to the dagger.

Veil grabbed it and did a few movements. “Better,” he said, tossing it to his left hand. ”Still doesn’t feel right.”

“You have a deep grip. I’ll fix the handle, but you better take care of that. It’s a bad habit to have. You’ll get your wrist sprained or broken a lot more often that way.”

“Maybe, but only if I’m blocked.”

“It’s your hands. And your money. I’ll have it ready in a few days. Sooner if Dal manages to make his first forging step by then.”

The comment felt outright embarassing. When the process had initially been explained, it had sounded a lot easier. Not to mention that Dallion had cheated a bit by combining his music and forging skills to get “better” nuggets of ore to use. So far, he hadn’t even reached the step at which that would make any difference.

Time passed. Conversations jumped from topic to topic. Occasionally Dallion made certain to veer them back to matters he considered safe, especially when they touched the matter of his growing up in Dherma. In truth, it wasn’t only the matter of Gloria that concerned him, rather it was any hint relating to his grandfather or the village chief. As much as he loved and trusted Eury, this wasn’t something he felt comfortable sharing yet.

On several points, Veil got sent out to get some water and something for them to eat. Dallion, of course, could only partially enjoy it, because he had to keep his eye on the flame all the time. Finally, the first step of the process was complete: enough of the metal had melted for Dallion to pour it into a cast.

Congrats, Gen said from Dallion’s realm. You did it.

I reached level ten? Dallion asked in hope.

Nah, you got a kiln in your room. And some bellows. Still at level one, though.

Great..

Dallion felt like crying. All that effort and he barely had anything to show for it.

“Let me see.” Eury went to the cast with Veil casually following after.

“Doesn’t look like much,” the blond said.

“It still has a lot of impurities. It’ll need to go through a furnace for you to get rid of those.”

“I have to do all this again?” Dallion felt like fainting; either that or flipping the kiln.

“Proper forging isn’t a simple thing. Do you know how long it took me to reach this level?”

“Ten years?”

“Try a hundred,” the gorgon said, making Dallion freeze for a moment.

A hundred years of forging sounded quite extreme. He hoped that Eury was exaggerating things and hadn’t really spent that amount of time. He definitely hoped he wouldn’t have to.

“Anyway, don’t quit now. Finish the ingot.”

After waiting for a few minutes for the metal inside to cool off, Dallion took the cast with a pair of tongs and put it on a bucket of sand. He was about to leave it there for quite some time when Eury told him just to dump it in a bucket of water after a few minutes. If he was going to go through the entire process again, he didn’t have to be so careful. After some hesitation, Dallion did that.

Steam hissed up the moment the ingot fell into the water. This was the first satisfying sound Dallion had heard. After returning the cast into the sand, he then took out the ingot with the tongs. Not in the least impressed, Eury took it with her bare hand.

“You’ll need to get your forger's hands,” she said, then held the bar in front of Dallion. “What do you think?”

Dallion’s first thought was to claim it was perfect. After using his music skill to get a better look, he quickly changed his mind. Apart from the cracks, there were quite a lot of impurities clearly visible. If this were a weapon, Dallion could easily break it into bits by targeting specific spots.

“It’s not that good,” he admitted.

“I’ve seen worse,” Veil said, making it impossible to say whether he was trying to encourage Dallion or make him feel even worse.

“It’s terrible.” Eury laughed. As usual, she didn’t sugarcoat things. “But at least you got it done. That’s important because you got the basic knowledge of how to do it.”

“I have a kiln in my realm,” Dallion said. “And some bellows.”

And some tongs, Gen said.

“And some tongs, apparently,” Dallion added.

“In that case, lesson over.” Eury gave him a surprise kiss, not in the least bothered by Veil’s presence. “You owe me a favor. Now get to work before that harpy wrings your neck for being late.”

Veil scratched his head.

“Hannah,” Dallion said beneath his breath. “She’s talking about Hannah.”

“Ah, time for work already?”

“Almost, but I need to wash up after this.”

“Well, don’t let me keep you,” Eury focused her attention back on Veil’s dagger to be.

“Of course you aren’t,” Dallion smirked. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Spend some time practicing in your realm. And get a lot of sleep. Forging is usually rough the first few days. It might hit you in a few hours.”

Dallion didn’t feel tired in the least, but promised he would take care of himself. Despite the torture he had gone through, he did feel a sense of pride. Even if he didn’t think it had a lot to do with actual forging, at least not what he thought as forging, it was a good first step, and something he could train. With luck, he might even be able to train in his realm.

Do you have any scrolls on that, Nil? He asked as he was making his way to the Gremlin’s Timepiece, along with Veil.

Smelting? That is a bit too physical for me, dear boy. I do have a lot of scrolls for the later stages, including instructions on how to forge several of the basic weapon types.

I thought the library had everything. Lately Dallion had started bumping into more and more things that were beyond Nil’s area of expertise. Is there a way for me to get new books?

Of course there is. All you need is to be at a relatively high level of writing skills and you can add any book you wish.

Clearly, the answer was a no.

The gorgon is correct, though. You could use some dedicated training, and not only in forging. I have noticed you have neglected your standard combat skills, not to mention your music skills need a bit of brushing up. Oh, and maybe continue with the physical exercises in the real world? You have been neglecting those as well.

And you’re the one who told me I should focus on a few concrete goals, Dallion grumbled mentally. Anything else? Maybe I should level up a few more times? Possibly spend more time with Harp and Shield?

All those are excellent suggestions, and I would commend you for doing them, but there is one matter I think that couldn’t be delayed. Just tell Gloria about your lover.

Dallion felt a block of ice form in his stomach.

And vice versa, the echo went on. The more you delay, the harder things will get. Just do it now and get it over with. Afterwards, you can deal with whatever the consequences are.. if there are any.

You really don’t understand these things at all, do you? Dallion asked, trying to convince himself more than Nil.

Even if that was the case, I’m not the one with the problem. You are. If you want my advice, do it the moment you get back to the inn. If not, wait for fate to play its hand and be ready for the consequences.