If this was before, Qian Jin would immediately turn around and try to find a job somewhere else. However, he had no luck job hunting the last few hours. This was the only potential opportunity he had, so he wouldn’t let it go that easily.
“I’m not the same. Can you at least let me try?”
Right after Qian Jin said that, the workers at Franklin’s Blacksmith Shop’s storefront, including the man, started laughing.
A worker who was placing a newly forged sword onto the shelf said, “Little warrior, it is not the first time we have heard this. Almost every student from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy said that when they came here. The result? They proved that they were all the same.”
“Damn! Coincidence? How weak were the students who came here for a job?” Qian Jin swore in his mind.
“Francis, are you loafing on the job again?” A man shouted as he walked out of the back room. He sounded a bit angry. He wasn’t tall; with his big muscles, he looked like a dwarf. He had a huge hammer in his hands which looked like it was at least a hundred pounds.
“Brother, I’m not being lazy.” The tall man Francis jumped back a little. He seemed scared of the short man. He shook his head as he pointed at Qian Jin with his hammer. “It is because of him. He said he wanted a job here. I was just telling him that we don’t hire…”
“You?” The man who just entered the storefront looked at Qian Jin. A doubting expression similar to Francis’ appeared on his face. He waved his unoccupied hand and said, “Kid, you are from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy, right? Train harder at your academy and don’t cause trouble for us. Blacksmithing is not that simple.”
Similar words, similar attitude. Qian Jin was very pissed at his seniors. In past Universal Hero Conferences, students from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy were all defeated in the qualification round, so they had a bad reputation among other academies. Did they also have a bad reputation at this blacksmith shop? If this got passed around in the city, then Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy would definitely lose some of its prestige.
Qian Jin somewhat regretted wearing the academy’s uniform today. The uniform that would normally bring him pride had brought him contempt today at this blacksmith shop.
Qian Jin glanced at the hammer in that man’s hand. He could tell it was heavy just from the look of it.
Although he learnt blacksmithing at that so-called Endless World for about sixteen hours and his strength had increased a lot, that didn’t mean that he really got the hang of blacksmithing.
“How about you just let me try?” Qian Jin shrugged his shoulders as he said, “Aren’t you guys looking for people? You guys won’t lose anything if you let me try.”
“Yeah boss, just let him try.”
“Yeah, let’s see what he can do.”
The few workers who were at the storefront and in charge of sales shouted at the dwarf-like man. At this point, Qian Jin had realized that this man was the owner of this shop, Franklin.
Franklin glanced at these workers helplessly. These guys just enjoyed watching drama, especially drama involving students from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy.
He looked at Qian Jin again. Qian Jin didn’t look that strong and sturdy, but he could be considered lean and robust for his age. His muscles were flexible and not stiff. Just from his look, he met the basic requirements of a blacksmith. However, blacksmithing took skill. Franklin didn’t want to hire someone who didn’t know anything.
“Ok then.” Franklin turned around and walked towards the workshop in the backroom with his hundred-pound hammer as he said with a hopeless tone, “You can try.”
Francis followed Qian Jin and walked into the backroom as well with his hammer. He was waiting to see Qian Jin fail and couldn’t wait to laugh at him.
The workshop at the back was completely different from the storefront. As soon as Qian Jin stepped into the back room, he immediately felt waves of hot air rushing towards him. The metal colliding noises were loud and had no particular pattern. Shiny sparks flew all over the place. A lot of muscular man were half-naked as they swung their hammers. Sweat slid off of their upper bodies and stained their pants.
A blacksmith stopped what he was working on and stared at Qian Jin in curiosity. He yelled at Franklin who was leading the way with a hoarse, dehydrated voice, “Boss, why did you bring a student from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy here? Is this today’s entertainment?”
This comment instantly created a lot of laughter. Franklin shook his head. Although he knew that the students from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy were good at battling demons and were not blacksmith material, the blacksmith shop really needed more hands. He just wished that he was lucky enough to hire students from the academy that knew some blacksmithing basics.
Qian Jin followed Franklin to a small forge. Franklin looked up at Qian Jin as he casually threw a pig iron into it. He worriedly said, “Just try your best. Be careful. The pig iron will be very hot when it turns red. You can be burnt even if you have warrior energy to protect yourself.”
Qian Jin felt a powerless frustration after he heard that. “Do I look that dumb?” he thought to himself.
Iron would be hot if it turned red; that was common sense! Did a senior student try to demonstrate his strong warrior energy by grabbing the hot iron with his bare hands, getting burnt in the end? That would be so stupid!
The burning fire heated the pig iron up, and it gradually turned red. Franklin pointed at the hammers that were placed at the corner of the room with his chin and said, “Go pick one, and then start.”
Qian Jin looked at the hammers at the corner and found that the heaviest one only looked like it weighed about thirty pounds. Although he only used the hammer once in the Endless World, he felt like he preferred the heavy hammers. It would make him look stronger and cooler as well.
A few blacksmiths close to him laughed and said jokingly when they saw Qian Jin stood still, “Little warrior, can you lift these heavy hammers? It’s okay, look to your right. There is a hammer that weighs about three pounds.”
This comment made more people laugh. Almost all the blacksmiths stopped working and couldn’t wait to see the “performance” from this warrior from Oakland’s Academy. They had seen this too many times, but they would never get bored of it.
This…” Qian Jin scratched his head as he said, “These are too light…”
The laughter immediately stopped.
The dozen blacksmiths all had strange expressions on their faces, as if they had more than ten eggs stuffed in their mouths. The muscles on their cheeks and the corners of their eyes quickly started twitching after getting stiff. Then, even louder laughter resonated in the workshop. Some people even had to bend their backs and squat down because their stomachs hurt from laughing.