Ding?

Chris was on his knees and was panting heavily, he had never exerted himself that hard, ever. He was thinking, [This is going to be a long day.] as he stood back up, using the wooden sword as a crutch.

The pair kept going for the full duration, just past mid-day. Chris was soaked in sweat and he could not move a muscle. Laying sprawled out in dust and horse crap was not exactly "ideal", but Chris was exhausted. Sarah placed her wooden sword on the rack and walked off while saying, "Don't slouch around, you have chores to do!"

Chris was letting out a low moan of displeasure as a response. He had worked out with her for so long that he couldn't even smell the crap that he was probably laying in…

[Ah...everything hurts.] Chris thought as he slowly rocked himself over and onto his knees. With painstaking effort, he managed to stand up and walk to the rack to return the sword.

Chris was starting to have a few doubting thoughts about continuing. It would be easier if he just reduced the time to an hour and slowly trained, right?

He shook his head, [Follow Sarah, she is helping, all I have to do is follow the task. Lay a brick, one day at a time.]

Chris' body was protesting quite hard, but he would probably be healed by morning given how potent his healing abilities were.

[I wonder if everyone heals quickly, or maybe it is just certain races? If dwarves are miners and blacksmiths, then I could really see the healing ability coming in to play quite often…]

He walked into the Inn and noticed that Shay was waving for him to come over.

"What'cha need?" Asked Chris as the woman handed him a slip of paper and told him, "You have a job for the day. Go help the Redwolf Refinery, this paper has the directions."

Then she turned around and immediately ignored him…

[What did I do to piss her off?] Then he remembered the melon incident, [Oh no..]

The slip of paper was very simple, it just had an arrow in the upper right hand corner that signified the orientation of the paper, and then it contained a series of poorly drawn squares and rectangles that evidently led to this refinery.

[Who would want me in a refinery? I would be so useless, I have never even held a REAL blacksmithing hammer, just Mjolnir…] Chris could feel the accident waiting to happen, but he was just hoping they would have him lug things around.

It took him a few minutes to find the building. He gave up on the slip of paper because it led him to a brothel, but after looking around for a Redwolf inscription he found it.

It turns out he past the building last night with Sarah, [Maybe she knows the owner?] Chris was hoping for an easy introduction as he walked in through the open door.

[Why do they have their door just wide op-] "Ahh, that is a little toasty!"

Chris was standing near a metal table with smoldering coals and pieces of iron laying on top. The heat was very intense for him, it felt like an open burner stove that was on full blast because air was being slowly pumped from underneath to maintain a low and constant temperature.

"OI, kid. Come over here, Sarah told me that you were in need of some coin?" The large man was hammering in an even pattern, trying to shape the blade he was making, and he didn't even bother to turn around.

Chris slide himself past the men that were pouring the iron into bars. Others were making various mass-produced goods like forks. Chris noticed and was pleasantly surprised that he might be able to get something that will hold up to his normal standards.

The large man that was hammering away was about double Chris' height. He wasn't a giant, but he was DAMN close…

Chris was about to let out a whistle for the big man when he realized that it was the same person from last night!

"Nice to meet you!" Shouted Chris over the loud hammering. The noise just seemed to resonate through all of the metal items with the amount of force the large man was using.

The man glanced and remembered him, "OI, hey there lad! I didn't realize it would be you!" Said the large man as he sat his hammer down. The piece of iron he was working on was still very hot but an apprentice would need to get it up to the right temperature while they had a chat.

He waved Chris outside where it is quiet and said, "Kid, what're ya' lookin' ta' do? Sarah wasn't very chatty last nigh' and I don't need much help."

Chris scratched his head at that. "Do you need any help with carrying stuff around, or maybe someone to help quench and temper the blade?"

The man had a confused look on his face, "Lad, what're ye' talkin' 'bout?"

"Ya' know, like dunking it in oil and lighting it on fire, and then quenching the blade?" Chris was slightly talking out of his ass; he didn't know which methods they might use.

The man shook his head, "Well, we do place the metal in water after we are finished, and then we use the softening station to prevent brittle blades…I didn't know you were knowledgeable, you do not look very old, where are you from?" The man had strangely lost his accent and was leaning into talk to Chris.

"Ah, I am not very old, I am considered a teenage dwarf..probably, and I don't know where I am from, Sarah is kind of helping me."

The man stood straight up, "Yes. Sarah is a wonderful mother, no?" He had a large smile on his face and smacked Chris on the shoulder. The apprentice had waved to the boss that the metal was ready.

"Come, learn, you are a dwarf, it will be in your blood." Mathias had a shit-eating grin on his face that weirded Chris the hell out, but all he could do was nod.

[My shoulder…fuck he is strong.] Chris was following behind and trying to feel his fingertips, it was going to suck.

…

Chris was slowly adding the coals to allow them time to begin burning before adding them to the "hot-spot" within the forge. It took a lot of control as the leather gloves barely helped with the heat, but they really damaged dexterity.

Chris thought it would be simple to run the pump, but it was difficult. There was a fine balance of temperatures he had to keep, the coals had to be rotated on time, and the management of coal was important as well. They only had so much in reserve and if the new guy went and blew through the coal then they would be waiting for a merchant caravan to come.

Math was talking to Chris about the war, "Ya', it'll be a rough time for us, but we will see'er through. Watch your coal, boy, the nobles will be'a hordin' it during the war, "battlefield repairs" HAHAHA!"

The rest of the men seemed to be used to the environment and Chris was actually enjoying the simple rhythm that was being produced. Everyone knew their timings and they knew when the others could use a hand. If one got done, he would walk over to sort the coal situation for his coworker, it seemed really nice.

Chris was feeling his body get really warm while they were working and something about the task started to click with him. He knew that the steel production would take a little bit more, but they could actually get by with some charcoal instead to up the carbon count.

[Woah…what the hell?]

Chris stopped doing his job as he felt his brain shift. It was like a hit of morphine, the warm bubbly feeling spread.

[That is really..nice.]

Mathias had noticed that Chris had stopped and turned to see him with drool coming out of his mouth.

"Oh, fuck'me. CHARLIE! Get the kid out of here before he hurts 'emself, he somehow got a level!" Mathias was really happy for the kid as that meant that he gained a class option.

"Lucky lad!" shouted one of the workers.

Mathias just nodded and said, "Aye, lucky lad indeed…"