Diamond in the rough

Thack Thack Thack

Thack Thack Thack

Sierra spent a dull and monotonous day and of course, night, hitting the same piece of metal in different angles.

At first she couldn't grasp the concept properly, but as time went by she could slowly notice the gleaming hidden veins.

Staring at her for a while, fatty fell asleep pretty quickly, snoring loudly and shouting indistinguishable words.

They had a private room and after that earlier mishap, fatty had locked it from inside.

So Sierra was temporarily not worried about any sudden surprises.

Confirming that he was completely knocked out, she took out some books from the shelf and started going through them hurriedly.

Just as she had expected, she was able to understand the language and was able to read through the book fluently.

It was a basic book on the technique of smithing and metal refining.

Apparently people in this world had something called soul cores and mana cores.

Soul cores stored your soul energy and mana cores stored your mana energy.

Both soul energy and mana energy need to be actively cultivated and developed.

But soul cores were far superior than mana cores. In fact, if you were at a higher soul core stage, you mana core capacity can be upgraded.

They were interlinked heavily and one was needed to excel in others.

Moreover, not everyone was able to cultivate and progress in soul strength.

Normal cultivators had to fight through to the soul core stage 2, else they become completely useless because of their limited mana strength.

With a single soul core, you can only condense a single mana core.

This is actually one of the reasons why necromancers were powerful and sat at the top of the food chain.

They had the natural ability to break through their bottle necks and progress leaps and bounds in soul core cultivation.

Enlightenment in necromancy is one of the methods to understand the bottlenecks in soul core cultivation.

When smithing, it was required to circulate mana through the untampered ore and then selectively target the gleaming veins to obtain perfect refinement.

This was the basic principal, around which all the concepts were built on.

So in order to progress in your smithing technique, one had to reach a higher level in mana cultivation as well.

Someone like this fatty without any mana core was simply a worthless piece of shit who can never progress in this field, without cultivating a mana ore.

The senior apprentice had apparently given this exercise to them to practice and get used to identifying the appropriate veins for targeting.

This was not a big deal since every other blacksmith is able to do at least this much. This was more like learning the alphabets.

But this lazy asshole pawned off this menial job to me without understanding its significance.

Even if it is just learning alphabets, you can't progress without it's knowledge.

Sierra replaced the book carefully in its original location and starting thumping the metallic ore again.

The book had other complex weapon smithing patterns and helpful tips for refining certain high grade ores, but they were currently useless for her.

Thack Thack Thack

She started pounding on the ore again, pondering if she will be ever able to cultivate mana cores and soul cores.

Soon a smile danced on Sierra's corpse mouth.

Contrary to what she was expecting, this process actually was extremely to her liking.

In her previous life, she had spent literally all her time in front of a computer.

So this experience of intense physical labor was a pleasant surprise to her. It cleared her mind and calmed her dead heart.

She had survived this far, hanging on to her dear life by a thread.

So yes, she definitely had it in her. She will survive this hell as well and come out on top.

She silently strengthened her resolve, both in her heart and her mind.

Thack Thack Thack

Thack Thack Thack

The loud banging sounds echoed through the closed room.

And the monstrous fatty slept through it like a stone.

Soon it was morning and fatty's luck had run out.

His uncle Xiluan, the main master blacksmith of the establishment had returned earlier than expected from his trip.

Bursting at the seams with enthusiasm and expectation, he directly came to visit fatty and see how he was doing.

For several years, from the bottom of his heart, he had a deep longing to whip this lazy mass into shape.

By morning, Sierra had already finished polishing that piece of untampered ore into a slightly refined version.

Without any mana cultivation, this was the best she could do.

In any case, she was curious to know how she had fared in this small exercise.

Hearing noises outside the door, she immediately stood up, staring at the wall like a statue.

Zhang Xiluan opened the door with a wide smile, which immediately faded away at the sight waiting for him.

Fatty was slouched on a nice and comfortable cushion on the side. His head was cocked and he was drooling all over, smiling dreamily.

His summoned corpse was standing by his side, without any expression.

Hmmm... he was half expecting to see this lad hard at work. After all, this was his first day and he should have some sort of motivation.

But no...

Lazy ass was sleeping as usual.

Hmph. Throwing a hard kick straight at his big fat butt, uncle Xiluan shouted with a loud voice.

"Get the hell up fatso! Come show me what you did that deserves all this snoring and snoozing."

"Get the hell up". He was just about to send out another hard kick, but abruptly stopped his foot.

His eyes widened in shock and surprise was written all over his face. The wide grin reappeared on his face and he again shouted.

This time in joy !

"My nephew is a genius" !!!!