The rare sight of my father seated at the breakfast table marked a special occasion - my first day as a blacksmith's apprentice. I quickly finished my meal, trying to contain my swelling excitement for this new phase of training.
"I'll be taking you to Jorn's forge this morning," Father stated as he rose from his chair. "We should be off soon."
I blinked in surprise upon learning he knew the blacksmith personally. Their paths likely crossed frequently as two of the city's greatest warriors. I wondered what adventures they had embarked on together.
The walk to the smithy was awkwardly quiet at first as we navigated the sparse early morning foot traffic. I racked my brain for conversation topics to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Your mother tells me your combat skills are developing well," Father noted. "She mentioned you can already focus mana into your limbs to boost your abilities?"
I nodded eagerly, thrilled at the chance to discuss my progress. "Yes, though only for a few seconds currently. I still lose control quickly."
Father smiled proudly. "That's exceptionally advanced for your age. With dedicated practice, that technique can increase your speed, strength and agility tremendously."
Heartened by his praise, I asked how I might integrate my fire magic into combat in the future alongside physical techniques. Father stroked his beard thoughtfully before elaborating on the intricacies of blending magical and physical skills in battle. Our conversation flowed smoothly for the remainder of the walk as he imparted combat wisdom I had dearly missed.
Upon arriving at the soot-stained stone smithy, we found Jorn already hard at work inside. The mountain of a man worked the bellows rhythmically, sweat glistening on his bulging arms and bald head as he expertly hammered a glowing white strip of metal into submission over the anvil. The repetitive clangs rang out in a steady staccato rhythm.
Noticing our arrival, Jorn abruptly ceased his hammering and dunked the thin blade he had been shaping into a nearby barrel of water. An explosive hiss of steam erupted from the quenching metal. After giving his muscular arms a good rubbing down with a cloth, the burly man sauntered over to heartily greet us.
"Marc, good to see you my friend!" Jorn bellowed, his voice booming within the stone walls. He gave my father a meaty handshake that looked like it could crush rock. I made a mental note not to get on this man's bad side.
"And this must be young Arthur! Ready to learn the fine art of smithing are you?" Jorn asked, eyeing me with a mix of scrutiny and amusement, no doubt sizing up what he had to work with.
I quickly expressed my great eagerness to learn from a master of his caliber and reiterated my gratitude for accepting me as an apprentice. Jorn let out a hearty belly laugh upon hearing my polite enthusiasm.
"Polite lad you've raised Marc! I think your boy will do just fine here."
He gave me a forceful pat on the back with one of his burly arms that nearly knocked me clear across the smithy. I struggled to maintain my balance, not wanting to seem weak. After exchanging a few more pleasantries about news around the city, my father bid us both farewell for the day's training and headed off towards the barracks.
Jorn wasted no time getting down to business. He led me past the larger main forge to a smaller section in the back with an additional anvil and tools sized for apprentices. Along the way I caught glimpses of recently forged swords, axes, armor, and horseshoes of immaculate craftsmanship, awed by Jorn's evident mastery.
"Right, let's see what you're made of boy," Jorn began, rolling up his sleeves to expose even more of his densely muscled arms. "Go on then, show me how you summon your fire magic."
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and focused intently, willing the mana energy from within my core to flow outwards along the elemental circuit attuned to fire. But despite furrowing my brow intensely for several minutes, only feeble wisps of smoke curled from my outstretched palms.
Jorn clicked his tongue disapprovingly, arms crossed over his barrel chest. "Just as I suspected, they've taught you no real elemental control yet. What use is fire magic if you can't even generate a proper flame?"
My shoulders slumped slightly at the criticism. Jorn noticed my dejection and his tone softened slightly. "No matter lad, that's why you're here. I'll train you up right starting today!"
What followed for the next several hours was an exhaustive lecture from Jorn on the intricacies of harnessing one's inner mana reserve to kindle fire magic. Despite his gruff exterior, the burly man was extremely knowledgeable about magic theory well beyond just smithing applications.
I listened raptly to his every word, absorbing the hard-won wisdom like a sponge. Jorn started from the basic gathering of mana energy from within my core, before explaining in detail how to guide it along the specific circuits necessary for elemental transmutation into flames.
After quizzing me relentlessly until he was satisfied I properly understood the theoretical foundations, Jorn finally permitted me to give it another attempt.
"Alright, give it all you've got now. Focus your mana through the circuit, visualize those flames clearly, and release the magic steadily," he instructed.
Taking a wide battle stance, I closed my eyes in deep concentration and extended my hands outward. I tuned out all external distractions, guiding my inner mana down intricate channels to my fingertips. In my mind's eye I pictured the energy morphing into a raging inferno desperately seeking release.
Several tense minutes passed as beads of sweat accumulated on my furrowed brow, my young body strained under the exertion. I ignored my discomfort, wholly fixated on manifesting flames through sheer force of will.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a tiny sputtering flame sparked to life in my palm for a few seconds before I quickly closed my fist, extinguishing it. Utterly depleted, I immediately fell to my knees, chest heaving. But a wide grin still spread across my exhausted face. I had summoned my first true flame!
"Well done lad, that was your first taste of real fire magic!" Jorn congratulated heartily. Despite my fatigue, pride swelled powerfully within my chest at having successfully manifested my inner mana into a tangible flaming force. That miniscule flickering flame may have been modest, but it represented a critical milestone cleared. Now the real training could finally begin in earnest.
After graciously allowing me a quick water break to recover my strength, Jorn led me over to the far corner of the smithy which contained neatly organized shelves filled with metal ingots of nearly every type - iron, silver, copper, tin, cobalt, mythril, and many more I didn't recognize.
"Now then, you'll need to know each metal like the back of your hand," Jorn explained, hefting down a shining silvery brick of what I presumed was pure silver. "A blacksmith trains his mind just as much as his body. You must become intimately familiar with the durability, melting points, magnetic properties, and alloying potential of every material you work with."
Over the next several hours, Jorn grilled me extensively on the unique properties and identification methods for each metal type. First he would retrieve a random ingot from the shelves, hold it before me, and demand I list every relevant characteristic along with how it could be combined into alloys with other metals. If I demonstrated sufficient knowledge, only then would he permit me to handle the ingot briefly and place it into one of several categorized bins he had brought over.
This memorization training proved even more mentally fatiguing than manifesting my first flame. There were countless metals to become familiar with, many sharing frustratingly subtle differences in coloration, density, and malleability that I struggled to consistently distinguish. But I pushed on with single-minded focus, motivated by the occasional terse word of guidance from Jorn whenever I correctly identified a particularly tricky metal alloy.
By the time late evening rolled around, my young body was utterly exhausted from the unrelenting combination of magical exertion, mental labor, and non-stop quizzing. My limbs ached terribly and my head swam from forcing so many metallurgy properties to memory in a single day. But it had been an extraordinarily productive first day nonetheless. I had gained critical experience igniting my first real controlled flame, and the foundations of metal knowledge that would prove indispensable had started to settle in my mind as well.
Jorn must have sensed my extreme fatigue, as after putting all the ingots back neatly on the shelves, he led me to a small side room in the rear of the smithy containing a simple sleeping pallet.
"Get some rest now, you've earned it," he remarked in his typical gruff tone, before heading back to tidy up the workspace. But I could tell he was pleased by my efforts and determination thus far.
As I hungrily devoured a meager dinner of bread and watery stew likely left by an apprentice from the day before, Jorn walked by and offhandedly remarked "Not bad for a first day's effort lad. Keep this up and we'll make a proper smith of you yet."
I smiled tiredly, too exhausted for a verbal reply, but hugely encouraged by what amounted to effusive praise coming from the normally taciturn Jorn. I knew there was still an immense amount left to learn about both magic and metallurgy, but this first arduous yet rewarding day marked a critical positive start down the path of becoming a blacksmith worthy of being Jorn's apprentice.
After wolfing down the last morsels of tasteless but desperately needed food, I unfurled my bedroll next to the gently crackling forge, basking in the radiating warmth. My entire body throbbed with a bone-deep ache, unaccustomed to such relentless exertion. Yet it was a good pain, the kind that built character and promised greater strength to come.
As my heavy eyelids finally fluttered closed, the rhythmic staccato clanging of Jorn's hammer against steel continued to echo through my mind. I had crossed the threshold into a new world today, one of scorching flames, unyielding metal, and backbreaking yet immensely satisfying labor. It was but the first step, but a significant leap forward on the journey to becoming a master smith. There was no turning back now, and absolutely no chance of me giving up. I would push past any barrier to fulfill my destined path forward. With these swirling thoughts of resolute determination, sleep rapidly embraced me and I drifted off into well-earned rest.
