Heart of the Furnace

[Job advancement successful, current profession: Blacksmith]

[Attribute bonuses gained: Strength +2, Agility +1]

Before the golden text had completely faded, Roland felt a warm current slowly gather in his chest before surging outward.

The strange sensation was like taking the first sip of hot soup in winter, warmth flowing through his veins and gradually seeping into every limb and bone.

"Ha."

Roland instinctively let out a long breath, a flicker of delight passing through his eyes.

Unlike the attribute increase from his previous job advancement, the two points of Strength granted by the Blacksmith profession were especially significant, allowing him to clearly feel the changes in his body.

What surprised him even more was that this strength had not been forcibly imposed on him. Instead, it felt as though he had recovered something that had always belonged to him, and it naturally blended into every movement he made.

After a brief daze, Roland subconsciously clenched his fingers. His joints cracked crisply.

Looking down, he saw that the muscles in his arms, which previously required deliberate flexing to show, now outlined clear contours even as his arms hung naturally.

The contrast in strength before and after made him involuntarily extend his right hand and grip the iron candlestick beside the bed.

"Creak."

With a faint, grating sound, the metal, which usually required both hands to bend with difficulty, now underwent slight deformation under the grip of one hand.

"This is simply unbelievable."

"If I faced the mutated Kobold now, I could probably exchange a few blows with it through strength alone. Though killing it would likely still be difficult."

Thinking of the Blood Scale Kobold's body covered in hard scales, Roland shook his head helplessly before turning his gaze back to the Profession Panel.

[After inspection, the host has mastered three max-level forging arts. Merging will now commence.]

A moment later, the line of text quietly changed.

[Merge complete.]

[Skill learned: Basic Forging Technique. Current level: Lv. 1]

The moment the words fully appeared, Roland felt an unprecedented clarity surge through his mind.

Countless pieces of forging knowledge flowed rapidly through his mind like a river of stars, then collided in the depths of his consciousness, bursting into dazzling sparks.

The forging knowledge that had once been somewhat scattered and fragmented now merged perfectly, like streams converging into the sea.

The essentials of every forging movement and the properties of every material all found their most reasonable place within this new system.

Roland was momentarily stunned, then lightly shook his head and turned to take the iron sword beside him.

The instant his fingers touched the hilt, a strange sensation suddenly welled up inside him.

It was as though the iron sword had fused with his body.

He could not only clearly sense every texture along the blade, but even detect the minor flaws left behind during its forging.

"How amazing."

As Roland murmured in wonder, the text before his eyes changed once more.

[Trait gained: Heart of the Furnace]

[Heart of the Furnace: Greatly increases fire affinity and significantly enhances fire resistance.]

"Heart of the Furnace."

After murmuring the name, Roland furrowed his brow, lost in thought.

He then quickly put on his clothes and strode outside.

Not long afterward, he stood before the Blacksmith shop.

The sky was just beginning to brighten. The other apprentices had yet to rise, and the Blacksmith shop was utterly silent.

Roland pushed open the door, efficiently tossed charcoal into the furnace, and then skillfully worked the bellows.

As the bellows roared, the fire gradually grew stronger, and the temperature inside the Blacksmith shop began to rise steadily.

Yet unlike usual, the stifling heat that should have been suffocating now felt exceptionally refreshing to him.

After noticing something strange, Roland tentatively extended his palm into the flames.

Unexpectedly, the scorching flames now brought him only a perfectly comfortable warmth.

More remarkably, during the contact, he seemed to faintly sense the fluctuations of the flames' emotions.

Unfortunately, the sensation was like being separated by a thick pane of glass.

Although he could see the scene on the other side, he could never truly touch it, let alone communicate.

"Is this what fire affinity means?"

A sharp glint flashed through Roland's eyes, and his breathing quickened slightly.

At that moment, he thought of many things, but in the end, he merely shook his head.

"I should focus on what's in front of me first."

With that thought, Roland casually took a metal ingot.

Perhaps because of the [Basic Forging Technique], the moment the ingot entered his hand, he instinctively sensed its weight and quality.

As he placed the ingot into the furnace to heat it, Roland recalled the details on the blueprint once more.

The next moment, his gaze locked tightly onto the ingot gradually turning red in the flames.

In an instant, an unprecedented intuition surged through him.

In the past, he had needed to judge the degree of heating by observing changes in the ingot's color. But with the aid of [Heart of the Furnace], he could now precisely sense how the heat was spreading through the ingot's interior and exterior by observing the state of the flames.

Thus, before the ingot's color had completely changed, he swiftly removed it with iron tongs.

When the ingot landed on the anvil, it was in the perfect state for forging.

Seeing this, Roland did not dare hesitate. He immediately swung the hammer.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The crisp hammering echoed through the Blacksmith shop as heating and hammering alternated.

No one knew how much time passed. Only when the rough shape gradually matched the design on the blueprint perfectly did Roland finally let out a long breath and plunge the glowing metal into cold water.

"Hiss!"

Amid the rising white steam, Roland lifted out the formed piece and carefully polished it between his palms.

Before long, a uniquely shaped dagger gleaming with a chilling edge appeared before his eyes.

"It's done!"

Before his excited voice had even faded, a line of golden text slowly appeared.

[A finished piece of equipment has been forged. Basic Forging Technique has gained one experience point.]

"Uh... It seems the experience-gain mechanism for Basic Forging Technique is different from that of the other forging arts."

"It isn't based on the actions performed, but on the number of finished products. In that case..."

Thinking of the experience caps of one hundred points at level one and two hundred points at level two, Roland immediately felt a headache coming on. Much of the good mood he had gained from successfully forging the dagger dissipated.

"Moreover, the Blacksmith profession didn't resonate with the other three professions. Is it because the other three are basic professions, while Blacksmith is an Upper-Tier Profession?"

As he pondered this, Mister Hawk's booming voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Kid, you're here early! You—"

Roland turned around and saw the burly old blacksmith stride over. But halfway through his sentence, Mister Hawk's gaze suddenly locked onto the dagger in Roland's hand.

"Y-you forged this thing?"

Mister Hawk snatched the dagger away, his fingertip gently brushing over the blade as the shock in his eyes grew increasingly intense.

"Well, I'll be damned."

Only after a long while did he let out a deep breath. When he looked at Roland again, his expression was as complicated as a palette that had been knocked over.

Delight was mixed with a hint of frustration.

"If I hadn't established that rule long ago..."

Mister Hawk stroked the dagger, his voice low.

"I'd really want to take you as my apprentice right now."

Roland's eyes lit up.

"Mister Hawk, you mean..."

"I mean that your skill is already good enough!"

After catching sight of the boy's youthful face, Mister Hawk snorted in annoyance, and a sudden wave of irritation rose in his chest.

He had thought the boy merely possessed decent talent.

But the dagger before him had clearly reached a level that only a blacksmith who had immersed himself in forging for many years could achieve.

Mister Hawk could not help recalling his younger self.

He had mastered the basic techniques in three months and could forge fine finished equipment in half a year.

Now, whenever a blueprint fell into his hands, he could forge it effortlessly after looking at it just once.

But he had walked that path for a full forty years.

And Roland?

In less than three months, he had already touched the threshold that had taken half of Mister Hawk's life to reach.

At this rate, surpassing him was probably only a matter of time.

At that thought, Mister Hawk suddenly burst into a rough laugh. The furnace fire cast dancing shadows of light across his callused face.

As he stroked the beard on his chin, he remembered what the old dwarf blacksmith Barrend had once said while patting him on the shoulder.

"A true craftsman's heart lies not in keeping one's skills to oneself, but in watching them pass on like sparks from a fire."

In an instant, the frustration lodged in his chest gradually faded until not a trace remained.

"Good work, kid. Go get yourself properly prepared."

"Yes, Mister Hawk."

Although he did not understand why Mister Hawk's mood had changed so quickly, Roland still keenly caught the goodwill revealed in the old blacksmith's eyes.

After inclining himself slightly toward Mister Hawk's departing back, Roland picked up a file and began focusing on engraving the dagger with its intricate lines.

Compared with the forging process, engraving the lines was not especially difficult technically, but it tested one's patience and required a great deal of time.

To complete the trade with Bronson as quickly as possible, Roland devoted nearly all his time to this task.

Apart from eating and sleeping when necessary, his hands almost never stopped.

Even so, it still took nearly twenty days. Only just before the examination was due to begin did he finally complete the work.

"Phew."

After letting out a long breath, Roland rubbed his aching neck and looked up at the dim, yellow sky outside the window.

After loosening his stiff limbs slightly, he carefully wrapped the dagger, which gleamed with a cold light, in coarse linen cloth and headed toward the small house from his memory.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The crisp knocking echoed especially clearly through the silent estate.

Before long, the wooden door slowly opened with a creak.

Dim yellow light spilled through the gap, outlining Bronson's tall yet slightly hunched figure.

His gaunt face was half-hidden in shadow, with only his deep-set eyes glimmering faintly in the darkness.

Before Roland could speak, Bronson's pupils suddenly contracted, and he asked in a deep voice:

"What are you carrying?"

The question made Roland frown. His right hand instinctively moved to his chest.

Lying quietly there was the crimson crystal left behind after the Blood Scale Kobold had burned to ashes.