I stared down on the sword, i pointed towards the middle part of the sword.
"I feel a dark energy being emitted by this middle part"
I could see that he had a huge grin on his face, it was like he was impressed that someone had noticed something about this sword.
"I'm impressed"
He said with a low and controlled voice....
He took the sword and placed it back on the wall...
"You know, you are the third person who had noticed the dark energy that is inside this sword. What is your name boy?"
I answered his question...
"I am Alexander, sir"
He walked towards me and took his hand out, he was offering a handshake. I did not want to be rude, nor wanted to miss out the opportunity to know this man. I shook his hand, his hand were much bigger than mine, it was hard and rough when i felt the skin on his palm.
"I am Everard, nice to meet you boy. Now, what can i help you with?"
He genuinely asked, probably because i managed to sense the hidden power on that sword. I did not know what to respond with....until i saw the quest.
"Uhmm.....do you perhaps have people working here sir?"
"No, since my store had already been forgotten by the people here in the village. What? You want to work here?"
I nodded as soon he asked that question...
"Forget it kid.....there is nothing you can gain working inside this store"
"Its okay! I will find a way to make your store blossom"
I excitedly rebutted to his statement, he was surprised by the sudden shift on my energy.
That he could not help himself but let out a small chuckle, he smiled then immediately said.....
"Okay, you can start right now"
He handed me an apron and a broom....
"First, let us clean the store. Understand?"
He said with authority, i did not refuse and then began to clean the store. It was dusty, due to it i had trouble breathing. I opened up the door to let air inside, and so that dust will move outside.
There a lot of stuff inside the store, everytime i pull out a sword, dust clouds began to form. I had to hold my breath, because dust make my nose itchy causing me to sneeze. After a while, i had noticed that i was the only one inside the store. Everard was nowhere to be found, it was not a problem.
Since i was the one who wanted to work for him, i continued cleaning the store. After an hour later, i waa done cleaning every nooks and crannies inside the store. It was 3 pm, and i had nothing else to do.
I decided to drink some water to rehydrate myself, i took out some water from the inventory. Then all of a sudden, i heard a noise coming from a room where it had a sign saying "no person allowed" in cursive.
Then i hear Everard calling my name inside the room, i went and knock on the door and Everard opened up the door. When he opened the door, the heat of a thousand suns penetrated my skin. It was almost a desert inside the room, due to how hot it was.
Everard welcomed me and asked me to get inside the room, i was hesitant and did not want to get inside. The humidity was high because of the amount of air trapped inside the room, i could not breath any air standing outside the room.
Then Everard suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder and pulled me forcefully. It felt like i was pulled by a car going full speed, while pulling me without stopping once.
He closed off the room, and i almost fainted due to how hot it was inside. My shirt was covered in sweat, my head was getting dizzy and i was thirsty, because of how much sweat i shed.
"Welcome, this is where i forge weapons, pretty nice right?"
I could not formulate a sentence to respond to him, i felt his huge hand on my back. I do not know what he is trying to do, but i suddenly felt a huge burst of energy coming from his hand. All of a sudden, my body began to cool down and i could not feel the heat anymore.
I looked at Everard, he then smiled showing his teeth. I asked on what he did to me, he raised his hand infront of my face and it began to glow a blue light.
"This is magic, this is what i use to combat the excessive heat inside the forging room"
"Is that so?"
He nodded and then walked towards a tub filled with molten lava, i was wandering on what he is about to do. All of a sudden, he plunged his arms into the molten lava and left it there for a good minute.
I was concerned, but at the same time was confident that he is not affected by it. He slowly pulled out his arms, and there were no signs of burning on his arms, instead it was the same blue light he showed me earlier that was covering his arms.
"This kid, is the power of magic. Your first time seeing it?"
I nodded, and was impressed. I immediately looked at my stats, i was glad thay i placed skill points on magic.
The thing that concerned me, was that even when Everard was not transferring his magic into my body, i still did not feel the heat. I asked him about that, he slowly explained it afterwards....
"You see, magic is used by people who has an affinity on magic, obviously. Not all people has an affinity over magic, for example the less fortunate people. Although, there are some cases where there are peasants that are able to use magic, but only to some extent"
He further explained....
"There are a thousand type of magic, but only four main elements. Can you guess them?"
"Fire, water, earth and air?"
He nodded, and then explained further....
"Those four are the main elements of magic, mainly you think of them as a structure of how magic work. But that is not certainly always true..."
He stopped, he proceeded to walk towards an anvil and grabbed a hammer.
"I have a magic where i control the way a hammer forms steel"
I was confused, i did not know what he meant by that. I cut him off, and asked him about what he meant.
"I have been a blacksmith when i was young, i did not know anything about magic. But after i had hammered down steel for as long as i can remember, being exposed to high heat that would make an average person faint. I developed an ability overtime, that enabled me to handle steel with little to no effort and gave me the ability to use magic. Which i have shown you earlier"
With everything he said, i could make a small guess on how what he is trying to say. That magic is not something that is given to you, it is something that you earn over the series of being exposed by certain circumstances.
"So, magic is something that you earn and not given to you?"
He slammed his hammer down the anvel and looked straight at me....
"Prescisely, but it is not completely true"
I was furthermore confused....
"Magic in simple terms.....that it is complicated"
Okay? But, what was the reason that he brought me in here?
"Uhm....i was wondering....what was the reason you brought me here?"
He had this look on his face, that tells me he forgot the reason on why he brought me here. Trying to remember, he slammed his hammer down the anvel multiple times....
"Ahh....yes, it was because i wanted to teach you on how to forge a sword. Since you are technically are my disciple, by the moment you wanted to work for me"
Forging? That is something that i was interested in a long time ago, i had watched a documentary on how samurai swords are made once in tube. I wanted to make a katana after watching the video, but i did not have a forgery so that interest quickly died down.
"What's the matter? Not interested?"
I shooked my head side to side, when he made that claim....
"No sir, i am interested in learning how to make sword. I am thankful for you to teach me, i am truly grateful"
He smiled, then slammed his hammer down on the anvel again. Making a loud sharp sound, vibrating inside my ear.
He gestured, telling me to come closer. I proceeded to walk towards Everard, he grabbed my forearm and handed me a hammer on my hand.
"Let us start shall we?"
He said with an exciting tone, i did not know what to expect from this. But judging from his energy, and the way he was passionate on teaching me how to forge, i immediately knew that i was in for a treat.