Teacher Hephaestus rolled to a desk in the middle of the front of the room. Bell then realized that behind him was a white board instead of a television screen.
"For today, I will explain how this class will work for the next month, for you newcomers, and then will quickly make a sword to show you the process." He said with a great smile. "But, as your peers know, making a sword is no easy process, nor is it quick."
He rolled towards the white board, and a giant mechanical arm extended out of the back of the wheelchair, its hand wielding a small red marker.
He started writing on the wall in red marker.
[Dangers of Forging:
1) Heat
2) Fumes
3) Noise
4) Machinery
5) Your Creations
6) Slipping
7) Stupidity]
As he finished writing in silence, Teacher Hephaestus turned around and asked the class, "Are these in order?"
To which the majority of the class, outside of the newcomers, yelled "No!"
Teacher Hephaestus smiled and then asked the class, "What is the first danger?"
The class then responded "Stupidity!"
Teacher Hephaestus then entered a loop with the rest of the class, with him asking what danger was next, while the class answered him.
It turned out that the list of dangers was as followed: Stupidity, Slipping, Your Creations, Fumes, Heat, and finally, Noise.
"Correct!" Teacher Hephaestus yelled to his students. "Stupidity comes first, because even if you do everything else well, you can still slip up and lose an arm."
As an anecdote, he said, "My buddy lost an arm that way... Ha! We had to get a new one from in a Domain somewhere!"
Afterward, he continued with his explanations, "Now, if you're not stupid, then you can still slip and fall, then lose an arm!" Then, he added, "My buddy lost an arm that way... Ha! I made him a new one after a while."
Slowly, he started summarizing the rest of the list.
"Your creations can still be hot or sharp, handle them well..."
"Be wary of the fumes, don't breathe them in, only I can do that...."
"The heat is dangerous, you can get delirious, you can overheat and over sweat... drink water often..."
"When forging, wear headphones or some sort of hearing protection, I lost my hearing one time... You should all praise the work of Doctor Lister, if you ever meet him."
After a few minutes of him going in depth of each topic and how to properly avoid the dangers in the forges, he started drawing on another section of the board.
"For the new students, I'll show you the process of forging a dagger. There's different techniques for different weapons and tools, so I'll be showing you the process." He then added, "The dagger is also easiest to forge, so that helps."
As he wrote on the board, he spoke, "The goal for my class is to teach each and every one of you how to forge the weapon that you will use for your First Domain. If you do so early, then I'll show you how to upgrade your Pathfinder to show you your Status Window."
At those words, Bell perked up.
'Hmm.'
Bell then started planning as Teacher Hephaestus continued writing the process of forging.
'I can use Creation to make anything I've seen before...' She thought as Teacher Hephaestus grumbled about dry markers. 'Is the effect better if I've personally made something?'
Just as she finished theorizing, Teacher Hephaestus started his explanation.
"Now, to forge a weapon, or anything, really, you need a blueprint. For those who don't know, a blueprint is a list of instructions listing how to make what you want."
He pointed towards a drawing used to depict a piece of paper with a few outlines.
"Blueprints in the forge consist of outlines of the shape that you want for your tool. If your tool is simple enough, like a spear tip or a dagger, you do not really need a blueprint."
He then smiled and turned to the class, "Luckily, we are making a dagger today, so we do not need a blueprint. But! You will probably want a blueprint for whatever weapon you will choose to make in the final week of our class."
Then, his mechanical arm pointed down the list.
"Now, you want your metal, depending on what type of metal you use, there are different requirements to forge with the metal. For today's demonstration, we're going to be using steel."
He grabbed a metal ingot from his desk and raised it for the class to see. It was about as long as his forearm and as thick as three fingers. If anything, the ingot looked like a long metal stick.
Bell remembered seeing a few ingots like those in the Ground Layer, they were always worth quite a bit when she bartered.
"Today, the dagger I will be making is a stiletto, not one of those modern ones that push out with the click of a button, no. We'll be making a real stiletto dagger, something you can weave through the openings of armor."
He frowned in disappointment towards what Bell assumed was the idea of a "modern" stiletto knife. Bell didn't know what something like that was like, as she was only used to longswords, claymores, short swords, and daggers.
Teacher Hephaestus then started wheeling towards the exit of the classroom.
"Now, follow me, I can explain everything else as we go. If you read the rest of what I wrote on the board, more knowledge for you."
As he opened the door with a second mechanical arm, most of the classmates around Bell's seat stood up. Bell followed suit and started for the exit.
On her way, she bumped into Michael and Pyralis, who were speaking to Wren.
"Hi, guys!" Bell greeted them.
The three reciprocated her greeting, all with smiles.
Wren was surprisingly the first to speak to Bell, despite her curse.
[Hello, Bell! What type of weapon are you going to make?]
Bell was caught slightly off-guard by Wren's question, but answered it, nonetheless.
"I don't really know yet." Bell answered with a smile. "But I'm thinking of something along the lines of a sword, maybe two."
Pyralis butted into the conversation with, "Ambitious, now, are we? I'm gonna keep it simple with a spear."
Michael then joined with, "I'm going to make a great sword! But it's going to be as thin as a longsword! I'm gonna be able to use it like both, it's going to be so awesome!"
Michael seemed happy with his idea, beaming a smile so bright that Bell's eyesight felt a bit threatened. Pyralis looked to have an idea underneath what he said he'd make, despite his determined expression.
They exited the room and followed the crowd behind Teacher Hephaestus.
"Hey, Wren." Bell said after a moment. "What do you think you're going to make?"
Wren answered without hesitation, rapidly typing on the glass pane that her Pathfinder had summoned. After a moment, the pane turned around and Bell read: [I'm going to make a pair of daggers. A stiletto and a dirk, they'll help out my Fragment abilities.]
Bell didn't know what those daggers were, nor their purposes, so she was in the dark. After a bit of digging though, Bell would have a hint on what Wren's Fragment abilities were.
Luckily, due to the sparring that they had done in the Bullet Train, Bell was able to see and document what the other seven's abilities were. Well, all but Strella and Mona's abilities.
After a few more minutes of walking, they had reached an area filled forging stations. The stations consisted of a barrel held in the air horizontally, an anvil, a barrel filled with some sort of liquid, and a sanding station.
The furnaces looked like barrels with a few tubes leading into them from the ground. The anvils looked like... well, anvils from a few cartoons that Bell had seen in her youth.
However, standing against the far back of the forging chamber was a large furnace that looked to have flames that carried humanoid forms. These fire sprites simply sat around and looked to be bored as they continued to wait for something to happen.
Around the mouth of the giant furnace were a myriad of machines and doodads, all looking to have wildly varying purposes.
"Welcome to your new home, the forge." Teacher Hephaestus said as his mechanical arms waved towards the various stations. "There are also forges in your dorm areas, make use of them."
Teacher Hephaestus went to a long table in the corner of the room and picked up an apron and a pair of goggles.
"Remember your protection, children." He mumbled, rolling towards one of the various forging stations set up around the chamber-like room. "Now, to forge."
He reached a specific spot in the station and with a grunt, stood up. Every step seemed to bring immense pain, the only way Bell could tell was the grimace that Teacher Hephaestus wore on his face.
"The other students will gear up and continue their pieces from yesterday. You new ones, watch closely." Teacher Hephaestus said between pained grunts and heavy breathing. "I will only do this once."
Teacher Hephaestus then flipped a few switches around the barrel, and the sound of hissing escaped the barrel. After one last switch was flipped, the sound of hissing turned into the sounds of flames crackling.
Then, Teacher Hephaestus grabbed a pair of long tongs and held the steel ingot in its vice. Immediately afterward, he thrust the tongs and ingot into the barrel.
"This will heat up your ingot, it takes a bit, so be patient and careful." Teacher Hephaestus explained.
With a grunt, he pointed towards the other stations.
"The anvil, use it to shape your metal and weapon. The quenching barrel, use it after you are done shaping your weapon. The sanding belt... I used to think it was useless, but you can sharpen your blade there."
The sanding belt looked to have different belts of varying grits, with the last one looking to simply polish the blade.
Teacher Hephaestus then pulled his dark tinted goggles over his eyes as he leaned down a bit with a grunt to look into the barrel. After a moment, he then stood up and pulled the tongs and ingot out. The tongs were changing color slightly while the steel ingot was a bright orange color.
He then turned around and placed the ingot on the anvil, then pulled a hammer from somewhere on the side of the metal anvil. After a moment, he raised the smithing hammer high into the air and struck the metal several times.
With each strike, the shape of the ingot changed slightly, and after several more series of strikes, the ingot was thinner, and its color had changed drastically. There was a well-defined tip and on the other end, a handle.
After a moment of inspecting what he had created, Teacher Hephaestus pushed the ingot back into the barrel for a few more moments.
He then turned to the class and said, "While each step of the process in creating a tool is crucial, the shaping and heating processes are extremely important. You must heat the metal to where you can shape it, but not melt the metal."
With a grunt, he turned back to the barrel while he continued his lecture, "You must be careful to not strike the piece into two. Be cautious with your strength, do not forget; you are Challengers now, and your body is much stronger than what you are used to."
Teacher Hephaestus smiled, then grunted as he pulled the ingot back out of the barrel. As he hammered away at the burning orange ingot, he continued his lecture on what to be careful of.
"When shaping, I recommend leaving a full tang for your hilt, as setting the wood and leather will be easier." More strikes ensued, after this series, and with another grunt, Teacher Hephaestus continued. "Now, look at the ingot."
He raised the tongs and the ingot looked much more like a proper dagger, but was still very rough, and needed further processing.
"I am going to do one last shaping, this time, I will be much more meticulous, as you should be during the entirety of your forging." He turned and thrust the shaped ingot and tongs back into the barrel-furnace. "After this, I will quench the blade and begin sanding. In a Domain, you will probably need a grindstone and whet blade. Luckily, we do not need such tools."
Afterwards, he turned to face his group of newcoming students. He was silent this time for some reason, and in this moment of silence, the ambience set in for Bell.
The heat that made her sweat, the smell of metal in the air, the dryness of her mouth and throat. The sounds of repeated clanging all around the shop, the sounds of flames and bubbles popping, the sounds of students grunting with each slam of their hammer.
She hadn't notice due to being so engrossed in watching Teacher Hephaestus work, but Bell realized that quite a bit of time had passed since the beginning of class.
After this moment of "silence," Teacher Hephaestus continued explaining as he pulled the tongs and dagger out of the barrel-furnace.
"I will go further in depth on the metals that you can use, what they require, and the fine-tuning of the furnaces temperature. There are many other variables that are used in the forge, and, you will have to at least learn each one to pass the final exam in one month."
As he spoke, he had a scowl on his face while hammering the finer details of the stiletto knife out. He grunted, mumbling to himself about forgetting something.
"The tang. It is the handle piece that you use to create your handle, it is a delicate process to create a good tang. You have to balance the weight well, and consider the weight of wood and leather as well."
A student in the group raised their hand, waiting for Teacher Hephaestus to call upon him.
As Teacher Hephaestus turned to place the ingot into the furnace once again, he called up on the student.
"Why do we need a tang?" The student asked.
Teacher Hephaestus's grimace-scowl expression softened into a smile as he answered the question.
"You need a tang to keep your handle together, otherwise, your blade will simply shoot out of the handle. We don't want that in a fight, certainly not."
Then, the echoing of the bell in the distance entered the forge, it's reverberation echoing further in the chamber-like room. Teacher Hephaestus pulled the ingot out just as the tolling reached their ears.
He chuckled, and with a smile still, made an observation, "It looks like our time here is over. I will quench this blade and we will continue tomorrow."
After a moment, he turned to face the greater portion of the class and yelled out, "Shop's closed! Quench and store!"
To which the rest of the class immediately pulled their ingots and blades, hanging them into the oil and water barrels beside the anvils in their stations. They all uniformly brought their cooled metals towards a large shelf and set them in seemingly carefully specified spots on the shelf.
"For the rest of you." Teacher Hephaestus announced to the group. "Class is dismissed, if you have anything in the room, go grab it and get the hell out of my forge."
He said that last statement with a deep smile.
Bell noted something, 'He loves teaching, doesn't he.'
It was that, or Teacher Hephaestus loved being in the forge.
Bell shook her head as she exited the building, opening her umbrella.
'What a horrible curse he has.'