After the awkward end of that conversation, a deafening silence enveloped the two as only the sound of metal clashing against metal broke it. Amidst the continuous switch between silence and clamor, Valyr continued to watch Tristan mold the metal he was handling. At first, he was uncertain of what Tristan was trying to make, his only clue being the fact that he was flattening out the metal into a long sheet. Fortunately, now that about half an hour had passed since he had begun, the metal had taken on a more defined shape, finally allowing him to figure out what Tristan was making. 'The blade of a broadsword.'
"Does Damian use broadswords?" With that thought in mind, Valyr could not help but ask.
"Have you not seen him in action yet?" Tristan asked back in response, looking at Valyr soon after. Seeing Valyr shake his head, a light grin could not help but appear on Tristan's face. "If that's the case, you're going to be in for a treat once you see him in action during the monster tide."
"He's a monster with the broadsword," he continued, letting his muscle memory take over as he placed the metal into the furnace once more to make it more malleable. "I've been in this village before Damian even became the leader of the village guards, so I can say without a doubt that he's probably one of the best, if not the best in the village when it comes to fighting with broadswords."
"The only thing holding him back from showing his full power at the moment is the broadsword he's currently wielding," Tristan said, prompting Valyr to focus a bit more attention to the blade the former was forging. "It's a blade I forged for him under the behest of the previous guard leader. However, I made that blade with a fledgling Rank 1 class holder in mind."
"If he gets his hands on this new blade, I don't know how powerful he'll become." Finishing his piece, Tristan lightly laughed as he exerted more strength into each swing, finalizing the overall shape of the broadsword's blade. Eventually, with one final swing, Tristan looked at the blade he had hammered to completion, wiping off the sweat on his forehead as he grinned.
Picking it up, a faint luster could be seen on the surface as the light interacted with the metal. Checking it from various angles, Tristan nodded in satisfaction as he felt that the blade he was holding was as perfect as it could be. Placing it in the furnace once more to heat it up for tempering, Tristan looked back at the still standing Valyr and said, "Alright, this is probably the only thing I'll be forging for today. With that, it's your turn to try your hand at forging."
"Take a seat." When Valyr heard those words, his mind could not help but go blank for a bit, wondering if all the experience he had accrued in the past would come back, just like how his combat experience came back after all of the fighting he had gone through. Taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves, Valyr went ahead and sat down in front of the anvil, picking up the hammer Tristan had placed on its surface.
"[Analysis]," Valyr muttered soon after, curious as to what kind of hammer Tristan wielded during forging.
Ding!
[Refined Forging Hammer] (Level 15)
Rarity: Rare
A forging hammer made with the finest metal Astarto Village could offer. Although it might not seem like it, an experienced blacksmith had put in a great amount of effort and passion into creating the hammer they wielded, increasing the success rate of a creation by 7%.
Remarks: You're not worthy to hold this.
"You made this forging hammer yourself?" Valyr could not help but ask Tristan after reading through the item's description.
"Indeed, I did." Tristan nodded, continuing to keep an eye on the blade he had put in the furnace. "In fact, it's common for blacksmiths to craft their own forging hammer, or any tool they need for that matter."
"Anyways, here's some copper for you to mold to your liking," he said, throwing a small block of copper towards Valyr. While waiting for the blade to reach the optimal temperature for quenching, Tristan had rummaged for some copper beforehand in the same few boxes where he had gotten the metal he had used for his own forging.
With the help of his high stats, Valyr caught the block of copper with ease, placing it on the anvil before looking at Tristan once more. Although he knew what to do with the piece of metal before him in terms of the process, there was something he needed to obtain from Tristan before he could really start. "Tristan, isn't there like some sort of guide I can follow while forging?"
"Ah! I almost forgot!" Hearing those words, Tristan pondered over it for a bit, only for his eyes to widen as he opened up his screen and interacted with it for a bit. Just as a notification sound resounded in his mind, he told Valyr, "I almost forgot that there's one crucial step before you could start heating and hammering on metal…"
"…which is to have a blueprint."
Ding!
[You have obtained the blueprint for 'Copper Dagger' from Tristan Melphon.]
As a surge of information entered Valyr's mind, Tristan continued to explain. "Although it's possible in the higher class ranks to forge a weapon without following any blueprint whatsoever, for us at the lower class ranks, it's more or less mandatory for us to follow a blueprint. However, that does not mean we have to follow what the blueprints say to a tee. After all, it's only there to serve as a guide."
"Anyways, go ahead and start your attempt," Tristan said. "I still need to keep an eye on the blade I'm heating up."
Seeing as there were no more reasons for him to delay beginning the forging process, Valyr lightly nodded and grabbed a pair of tongs nearby, using it to pick up the copper that was given to him before placing it in the furnace.
A couple of minutes later, Valyr retrieved the copper from the furnace, hastening his pace by quite a bit as he knew the best time to hammer metal was when it was still glowing yellow-orange. With that, he sat down in front of the anvil and gripped the hammer tightly before raising to the air. And then…
Ttang!
With a decent level of strength, Valyr had done his first hit on the copper, causing an ever familiar sound to resound throughout the smithy as Tristan looked at everything with a light smile. Though, he could not watch for long as the blade had reached its ideal temperature, prompting him to take it out before quenching it in a barrel of cold oil.
Psssshhhh!
While that was happening, Valyr continued to move his hand, gradually hammering the copper out into a flatter shape. At the very first moment he had swung the hammer down, it was as if a dam had been burst open in his mind, allowing the experience he had in forging in his past life to come up to the surface as the way he wielded the hammer grew better and better with each swing.
At some point, Valyr had found a rhythm of sorts, increasing the speed at which he hammered down on the copper.
As he waited for the blade to cool, Tristan took a look at Valyr to see how he was faring, inwardly chuckling as he imagined Valyr hammering the copper he gave him into a lump. Instead, what he saw was Valyr wielding the hammer as if it was an extension of his arm, hammering down on the metal as if each swing had a specific purpose. At that point, he could not help but let his jaw hang slightly as a question surfaced in his mind.
'Did I… did I just come across a natural blacksmith?'
