Kyle dealt with all of the debris and cleaned his hands.
Then, he grabbed a small sack that lay near him and walked towards the Noble’s lake to take a quick bath.
“One day of work,” Kyle said as he looked at the little sack.
There were only about two kilos of Magic Stone in there and that one piece of Wood Essence.
“Location is everything when it comes to mining,” Theodor said. “This location is subpar. The ore is not abundant.”
“You might come across the occasional Wood Essence, but that will not be a regular occurrence.”
“Hm,” Kyle uttered. “Do we have enough Magic Stone for that thing you wanted to do?”
“You wanted to find the creator of that abomination that you called a Tar Golem, not me,” Theodor answered. “And yes, we do have enough.”
“Great!” Kyle said with a smile. “So, what do I need to do?”
“I will tell you later,” Theodor answered.
“Sure thing, Boss,” Kyle said.
After taking a quick bath, Kyle returned to Samson’s home and went into his room.
“I am going to teach you how to forge equipment now,” Theodor said.
“Forging?” Kyle asked. Then, he looked at the dark sky outside. “Isn’t that a bit loud? Also, shouldn’t I do that in a smithy or something?”
“A smithy makes things easier, but it is not necessary,” Theodor said. “Other people need a smithy. You don’t.”
“Why not?” Kyle asked.
“Are you really that idiotic?” Theodor asked with an arrogant tone. “I already told you.”
“Eeehhh,” Kyle said as he tried to remember everything Theodor said. “Wait, is this about my Metal Affinity?”
“Yes,” Theodor answered with annoyance. “You can shape metal with your Soul. Forging equipment can also shape metal, but controlling it is much harder. Is it easier to eat food with your hands or with two sticks?”
“Not sure why you’re bringing up food, but I’m hungry now,” Kyle said.
“That was a metaphor, you imbecile!” Theodor shouted. “You are controlling the metal yourself, which means you are essentially shaping it with your mind and hands. You do not need to use a medium to shape it.”
“Sure,” Kyle said casually. “So, how do I make stuff?”
“The art of forging is sacred,” Theodor answered. “It is an art and a science. It is the culmination of blah, blah blah, blah blah.”
Theodor kept going on and on about forging, but Kyle just heard unimportant nonsense.
’Dude, you make stuff. You take a hammer and hit a piece of metal. This guy is like one of these arrogant sushi chefs who keep saying that making sushi takes years upon years of practice. Dude, you roll rice into a ball and put raw fish on top before selling it at like ten times the price of the ingredients.’
“-you do not just make stuff! You create works of blah, blah, blah,” Kyle heard as he zoned in and out of Theodor’s rant.
’Fucking sushi, man. The fish is raw, and the rice is mushy. Yeah, it can taste nice, but since it’s not seared, the taste is so weak. It has like no texture. Yet, people keep going on and on about how amazing it tastes. It’s the subtle and pure taste, they say. Brah, since when is a weak and subtle taste a good thing? If I made a burger and someone said it tastes subtle, I would take that as an insult.’
Silence.
“Do you understand?” Theodor asked after a while.
“Sure thing, Boss,” Kyle answered.
“What did I say?” Theodor asked.
“You said forging is an art, and it should not be disrespected. You said I should feel honored to learn under a master like you,” Kyle said, just randomly guessing.
“Good,” Theodor answered, satisfied.
’Sushi sucks,’ Kyle thought. ’Sushi is a scam. Japan got the world convinced that putting fish on a bit of rice is a fine art.’
’Fuck sushi.’
“Now, over the next few days, I will teach you the basics of forging,” Theodor said.
Kyle nodded.
“Pull out a piece of Basic Mage Stone.”
Kyle grabbed a piece and held it in his hands.
“Close your eyes and familiarize yourself with the ore. For the next two hours, just feel the ore.”
Kyle closed his eyes before rolling them.
’Dude, just tell me what to do,’ Kyle thought in annoyance.
Nevertheless, he did what Theodor told him to do.
He just felt the ore.
It had Ether.
He could feel that.
As he focused on the ore, he got hungry again.
’Man, that Ether in there sure feels delicious. I could use a bump of blue dust.’
He remembered how amazing it felt to snort Basic Mage Stone.
Since he didn’t have anything better to do, Kyle just thought back to how Basic Mage Stone fell to dust after it was properly refined.
Then, he imagined snorting it.
A moment later, he swallowed a bit of saliva.
’Fuck, I’m so hungry, and having this delicious piece of blue stone near me is definitely not helping!’
He could almost imagine the Basic Mage Stone turning to dust.
Man, that shit was amazing!
He could almost see it happening.
It was turning to dust.
“Open your eyes,” Theodor said.
Kyle opened his eyes. “Two hours already over? Felt more like ten minutes.”
“It has been five minutes,” Theodor said.
“Eh, wasn’t I supposed to feel the stone for two hours?” Kyle asked.
“How are you supposed to feel the ore like this?” Theodor asked.
“Eeehhh,” Kyle said, looking at his hand.
There was a bit of blue dust in his hand, and there was also a smaller pile on the ground below his hand.
“That is not supposed to do that on its own, right?” Kyle asked, looking at the pile. “Pretty sure I didn’t refine that.”
“Wrong,” Theodor answered. “You refined it.”
“But I need to-”
“No, you refined it,” Theodor said, interrupting Kyle. “You used your Metal Affinity to refine it. You shaped the Basic Mage Stone into what you wanted it to be. You were not supposed to do that this early, but it is a pleasant surprise.”
“You also realized that you should go easy first and changed its shape into the familiar shape of blue dust. That was a smart decision.”
Kyle looked at the blue dust.
“Yeah, sure,” he answered.
Then, he pointed at the blue dust.
“Can I have that?” he asked.
“I’m not sure why you would need that,” Theodor said. “However, you have refined it, and in its current state, it is not useful to our purposes. If you have a use for it, go ahead.”
Kyle looked at the blue dust.
One of his nostrils twitched a bit.