Commanding Wind and Cloud
chapter-17

This little warrior was saying that a thirty-five-pound hammer was too light? Did he think that he was going to use the hammer in a battle, and all he had to do was to knock the enemy out with a single strike? This was blacksmithing! Blacksmiths had to swing their hammer numerous times to beat the pig iron.

Franklin sighed as he patted Qian Jin on the back. “Young man, it looks like you don’t have any experience. You are better off finding a job somewhere else. I’m only hiring experienced blacksmiths.”

“Owner.” Qian Jin stood there and pointed at the hundred-pound hammer in Franklin’s hand and said, “I want to borrow your hammer.”

“What?” Franklin looked up at Qian Jin. He thought his ears weren’t working properly. “This young man wants to use my hammer?” he thought to himself.

The surrounding blacksmiths were shocked and even forgot to laugh. After Franklin’s Blacksmith Shop was opened, all sorts of student came here to look for a job every single year. However, no one had ever asked to use Franklin’s hammer.

The gigantic body and the huge handle–any rational person would know that this hammer was very heavy.

“Son, are you mad at us for laughing at you? You don’t have to choose the heaviest hammer here to prove yourself.”

After recovering from their shock, the blacksmiths laughed even louder.

“Just let me try,” Qian Jin causally said.

Franklin shook his head as he bitterly smiled; he felt that young people nowadays were getting more and more full of themselves. He handed over his hammer as he said, “Be careful, this hammer is heavy. Don’t drop it on your feet. It is safer to hold it with two hands.”

Qian Jin smiled back as he shook his head as well, insisting on only using his right hand. He repeated the same sentence, “Just let me try.”

Franklin carefully observed this overconfident young man and silently passed over the hammer.

Qian Jin’s arm dropped a little as he grabbed onto the hammer, but he paused as he held onto the hammer tightly.

“Oh…”

The crowd let out a deep, surprising shout; some people even gasped loudly. The teasing expressions on the blacksmiths’ faces froze, and their expectation of Qian Jin failing burst like a bubble.

Qian Jin weighed the hammer in his hand. It was about one hundred and ten pounds. Although it was a lot lighter than the hammer that he used in the Endless World, it still had a good weight to it. Qian Jin felt that he could use this hammer more smoothly than that thirty-pound hammer.

Franklin, on the other hand, was very surprised. He was the only person in this blacksmith shop that could use this hammer. He didn’t expect this young man to hold onto it this easily. “This amount of strength would be rare to see even among all the other warriors at the academy. Did he secretly use his warrior energy? I’m not sure what level of warrior energy this young man has…” he thought to himself.

Qian Jin used his left hand to grab the tongs that were leaning against the anvil. He picked up the hot red pig iron with the tongs and placed it lightly on the anvil. He suddenly raised the hundred-pound hammer with his right arm and smashed down. The hammer left a series of dark afterimages in the air, as if a meteor was falling from the sky. The friction with the air made a whooshing sound, as if wind was blowing through the workshop. The hammer landed on the red hot pig iron with a great momentum.

Tink!

The hammer collided with the pig iron. Burning sparks flew up like a firework, and the sound of the collisions roared like loud thunder.

The blacksmiths’ smiles had already become frozen on the their faces. Their mouths opened wide as they saw this scene. “Is this guy from a blacksmithing family? A normal blacksmith couldn’t strike like that!” they all thought.

Qian Jin didn’t have time to pay attention to the surrounding people. The hammer in his hand was raised again and smashed down onto the pig iron on the anvil with an almighty strength.

It was another ear-piercing metal colliding sound. An element of surprise appeared on top of the appreciation in Franklin’s eyes.

“This?” Franklin felt the elbowing from his younger brother Francis. He looked up and saw the perplexed and surprised expression in his eyes as well.

Just like warriors and mages, blacksmiths had their own ranking system as well. Most of the blacksmiths would just be like the blacksmiths in this workshop and stay as a blacksmith apprentice in their lifetime.

But when a blacksmith reached the level 1 Blacksmith Rank, his or her status would change dramatically. The quality of weapons and armor that he or she forged would be completely different from blacksmith apprentices!

Both Franklin and Francis were level 1 Blacksmiths and were famous people at Oakland City. They had way more knowledge than the rest of the blacksmiths in the workshop.

Franklin was sure that both the height and the trajectory of the hammer were identical between Qian Jin’s two strikes, as if the movement was recorded and had been replayed twice.

Three strikes… Five strikes… Ten strikes… Thirty strikes…

The workshop at the back room was as quiet as ever. Although the blacksmith apprentices in the room couldn’t tell what level Qian Jin was at, they could tell from Qian Jin’s movements that he wasn’t new to this.

Franklin started to gasp. He inhaled through his teeth, and his eyes opened so wide that they were twice the size as before. The surprised expression had turned into deep shock!

Francis wasn’t doing any better. His eyes were wide opened, and he kept swallowing his saliva.

Fifty continuous strikes of the same height, same speed and same amount of strength were applied. The trajectories were so perfect that it seemed like they were well calculated.

Every strike created brilliant sparks, and there seemed to be a unique steady rhythm to it as well…

“This…” Franklin looked at his brother Francis and said with an uncertain tone, “Level 1 Blacksmith?”

Francis nodded subconsciously. He was thinking, “Is this guy really a student from Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy? Is he really not a blacksmith from a blacksmithing family? How old is this guy? Just like a warrior and a mage, a good blacksmith needs talent too! If he is already a Level 1 Blacksmith at this age, why would he become a warrior? He should be a blacksmith! He could have an excellent future!”

One hundred strikes… A hundred and fifty strikes…

Qian Jin swung the hammer and tirelessly smashed the pig iron that was becoming smaller and smaller. The sweat had soaked his clothes; it looked like he just got out of the swimming pool.

Two hundred strikes!