Alex gained an apprenticeship under the artifact forger who was named Hwan Fulin. The man liked being called a blacksmith more than an artifact forger as his mastery lay more in swords and shields than unique artifacts.
That wasn't to say he couldn't make them. Only that he wasn't very proficient.
The apprenticeship would last a total of 10 days over the next 2 weeks, from morning to evening with no breaks.
In return, Alex would have to pay 50,000 True Spirit stones. That was 5,000 True spirit stones every day, but Alex didn't worry about that. He had way too many things he could sell to earn more. Besides, he had a lot of spirit stones that were just sitting there, doing nothing.
Once Alex accepted, the training began the very next day.
The first day of training was for Alex to melt metals that the blacksmith Hwan would have to work on.