Chapter 4: A Smiths Insperation

Ryan looked at the quest and quickly dismissed the window. Picking up the blade he looked it over for any obvious faults, but to his surprise, the blade was pristine with not a hint of having any faults along its edge. "Can I have a file? Preferably a used one"

Kendrick slightly smiled as he handed Ryan a file and watched closely as Ryan proceeded to file the edge of the blade testing if the steel had sufficiently hardened during the quenching process. Ryan was deep in thought paying little attention to what he was doing flashes of memories came to him about his past life. He had picked to be a smith in Alneria because he had always had fun in his grandfather's forge as a child, but his family grew apart and he hadn't seen his grandfather in ages. A couple of months after the launch of Legends of Alneria his grandfather passed away and from then on the forge would only remind him of his grandfather and the times he had missed.

A tear running down his face Ryan turned towards Kendrick and reported what he had found in the blade "It's a fine blade. It has no obvious cracks but lacks proper hardness from the quench. I recommend doing another round before tempering it. I recommend using oil to temper the sword to properly prevent it from cracking." Ryan said laying the sword back on the anvil.

Kendrick looked at Ryan shocked for only a moment before erasing the thought from his face "Exactly what I had thought except for the oil part why use oil instead of water?" Kendrick said a quizzical look on his face. "It reduces the chance of cracking in most steels" Ryan spat out before realizing that this was a revelation brought in by player characters, but as it would be common knowledge in a little over a month he dismissed the idea of it being something he should keep secret.

"Hm well, I guess it's worth a try. Well, I work on that why don't you show me what you can do with a hammer" Kendrick said handing Ryan a worn hammer. Ryan looked over the hammer it seemed to have been used many times before by the way it was worn down. As he looked over the hammer a message popped up in [Skill acquired: Inspect] pleased he activated it on the hammer.

[Kendricks First Hammer:

Rarity: C

Kendricks first hammer was used for a short time before he made his own tools]

Kendrick also handed Ryan a piece of steel "usually I would give you a worse bit of steel, but you did such a good job on inspecting that blade I can sacrifice a better piece" as Kendrick said that a message popped up.

[Mission accomplished: A Broken Blade

You saw through his words and figured out the fault in the blade and even gave Kendrick a piece of advice!

Rewards: Kendricks opinion greatly rises, Gained access to the forge]

Kendrick turned around and began to heat his blade again as Ryan did the same to his ingot. The two men worked in silence as Ryan slowly pounded the ingot out into a rough knife shape. He had considered folding the blade over itself and making a Damascus pattern in the steel, but it was too risky to try and make the blade beautiful instead of sturdy on his first time back in the forge in 4 years.

After a short time, Kendrick finished the second quench and left to take a break leaving only Ryan in the forge. It was difficult for a level one character to continue to hammer metal for long as his stats were low, But Ryan was in deep thought thinking back to his youth in his grandpa's forge. When he watched his grandpa at the forge it was like his every swing was an extension of himself and steel moved as he willed it.

Even now Ryan could remember the first time he swung a hammer making barely a dent in the steel, and when he made his first leaf at the age of five although, to be honest, it had looked nothing like a leaf. When his grandpa passed Ryan took one last look at the forge and had seen that leaf hanging from the wall. He had long forgotten about his first project, but his grandpa had held onto it as a prized memento.

Ryan quenched the three times well deep in thought. He put the blade in the forge to temper well he grabbed a piece of maple wood from the side of the anvil and began to carve it to make the handle of the knife.

Well, Ryan was lost in thought Kendrick stood watching the young man carve the handle of his knife. Leon walked in shortly after and turned to talk to Kendrick "How is he in the forge?" Leon said laying his coat on the front counter of the shop,

"He doesn't look like much but he's knowledgeable." Kendrick responded well thinking "I can't tell for sure but it looks like he's putting his all in the knife" Leon was surprised and looked over at Ryan who was now pulling his knife out of the forge a single tear running down his cheek.

"Well, you can never tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing till you see the final product lets leave him be. Kendrick start the kettle will you" Leon looked towards Kendrick who simply responded by walking up the stairs. Leon looked at Ryan one last time before walking upstairs.

Ryan finished whittling the handle when the blade had finally finished cooling. Holding it to the grinder all that was left was to sharpen the blade and putting the handle on. Wiping the sweat from his forehead he finally installed the handle and looked over the blade. As he did this a message popped up.

[An excellent product has been made!]