"Now we can begin yer first smithin," Aodhfionn said after Abbot left, turning to Ezio.
"Yes, master. As you wish." Ezio complied. He really wanted to learn this form of art. Not for the prestige blacksmith masters had as Kings and Emperors, nor for the golds, it would bring. He wanted to learn because it was something he always admired. Creating something with his own two hands was always something he aspired to.
"Do ye have any knowledge of smithin? Or ye need me to teach ye from the start?" Aodhfionn asked as he glared at Ezio with a sinister smile.
"I do know a little, Master. But I would like to learn from the start to build a strong foundation. So, I can advance further in this art!" Ezio replied with a serious expression. After all, in front of him stood one of the best blacksmiths in the country. He deducted this from the enthusiasm he received from the restaurant they visited. The name of the "Master Aodhfionn" was well known in the capital, it meant that he was very skilled at what he was doing.
"Good answer. At least ye know how to speak." Aodhfionn said in approval. "Now make me a dagger, and from its quality, Ah will decide to throw ye to the streets or take ye under mah wings."
Ezio was flabbergasted with the answer. He just said he wanted to learn from the start, it also meant he technically knew nothing. But his master just asked him to forge a dagger. How can he expect him to forge something without prior knowledge?
Fortunately, Ezio always had an interest in cold weapons. Even before he had reincarnated. His interest in the subject followed him after his rebirth. He was reading all kinds of books about forging in the sect. Luckily, the ancestor of the Sect was way more versed than what Sect was today. Cleansing Buddhist Sect, today was a power at the bottom of the food chain. Yes, it was a power, not to be trifled with, in the surrounding area, but it was at the bottom power nonetheless.
Ezio made his way to the furnace where he would heat the ingots. There were all kinds of ingots beside the Forge, most of which Ezio could not name. Whichever he could not name were metals he probably wouldn't be able to melt, thus he chose the Pristine Iron, commonly found in the kingdom. Even though it had a high melting point, he was confident that he could produce a fire to melt it. Pristine Iron was the main metal of the regular soldiers' weapons. Civilians could not afford it, and cultivators would be disgusted to use it.
Ezio threw the ingot in the air as he weighed it in his hand. But when he wanted to ignite the forge, he couldn't find any igniter. No coal, no wood, no Condensed Fire Stones. Nothing. There were stones giving strange energy with a red sheen placed at the bottom of the forge but Ezio wasn't sure how to use them.
Are these Qi stones?
Qi stones were special stones that would shine with different colors depending on their element and could be fed by Force. Depending on its element, the stones would create the wanted element when supplied with Qi. For example, these stones were Fire Qi Stones. They could produce heat,when supplied with Qi. There were tiers of these stones and depending on the tier, the heat they would give differed. But to ignite these stones, one must feed them by Qi Force. He wasn't even a Qi Solidification Realm cultivator. How could one expect him to feed Qi Stones at that level?
He tried to feed his Qi to the stones, but he was only able to generate a little bit of heat before they returned back to their normal state. F*ck!
Calm down. This must be the test the master was mentioning. I do have a Qi Force but it is so low to heat these stones, that even eggs would not be baked. Unfortunately, Mana does not work in the stones, otherwise, I could heat them up to rival the sun in the sky with my combined forces.
Ezio started to look around. The house Aodhfionn dwelled was far away from the center of the capital. There was a small forest nearby, and he could see there were different kinds of trees. If he could find a tree with strong igniting power, he could imitate the Qi Force and start the fire.
He started to move into the forest after he made a plan. He was always fond of reading, thus he knew many things. In this cultivation world, knowing about trees could be seen as redundant, yet he still read the books he found in the sect, and it didn't matter what subject they were covering. Thus he was well versed in botany as well. Especially after Botanist Ezio awakened. Now, he could gain knowledge twice faster.
The Cleansing Buddhist Sect had a Botanist as well. After all the mountain the sect was built on was heaven filled with treasure herbs. The tradition of preserving the herbs never died and the occupation was inherited by every generation. And thanks to Ezio's wits and interest he was Rank I Botanist although not officially. And after Botanist Ezio awakened, his mastery over the subject only increased.
After looking for a quarter of an hour, he found the tree he was looking for. It was red in color. Fire Spirit Tree, would gather Fire Qi from the atmosphere to grow. As such it was very hard to ignite, but when ignited, it would create a blazing fire that could melt the Pristine Iron. It could also trigger the Qi Stones in the furnace. Ezio started to punch the tree, but it was too hard for him to topple it with his punches. So, he went back to Aodhfionn's house and found an axe.
The axe was heavy and forged neatly. There were engravings foreign to Ezio, but they were neat and beautiful. He could tell it was not an axe a civilian could use. He was having a hard time lifting it, but he was determined to use it.
When he reached the Fire Spirit Tree again, there was a trail behind him, because he was dragging the axe all the way.
He powered his arms with Mana Force and lifted the axe. With all of his arm power, he swung the axe at the bottom of the tree.
BOOM!
The sound of the axe hitting the tree reverberated in the quiet forest and made all animals that dwelled in the forest run away, still, there was only a dent on the tree.
"This mothaf*cking tree!"
Ezio swung again, and again.
***
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