Commanding Wind and Cloud
chapter-3

“Okay!”

As Qian Jin was working the bellows and pumping air into the forge, Old Blake picked up a pair of tongs beside his feet and used it to grab the red hot pig iron from the forge. “Whoosh!” The thousand-pound hammer broke through the air and smashed onto the burning red pig iron as if it was a meteor that smashed into the earth. When the hammer met the pig iron and the anvil, it created a series of sparks and deafening noises. The hot sparks were like brilliant fire magic. The sparks endlessly flew out, and the noises of colliding metals overlapped and sounded very similar to thunder.

Qian Jin was at the side observing; he had never focused on anything in his life as much as he was right now. He could have never thought that there was such a way to work with metals. The old blacksmith’s performance couldn’t be considered working with metals anymore. Rather, it should be considered an art! His skills were on another level.

The thousand-pound hammer was swung with ease and control on top of the small anvil. The old blacksmith gave Qian Jin an impression similar to a calligraphy artist splashing his ink and creating a masterpiece.

The old blacksmith didn’t move very quickly, but his consistency was out of this world. The hammer landed on the pig iron that laid on top of the anvil more than a hundred times, and the old blacksmith would raise the hammer to the exact same height every time before pulling it down, as if he went through the most precise measurements. The hammer was raised high up and was then smashed onto the anvil. There wasn’t even a single error in the hundreds of swings.

If the hammer was swapped with a double-handed sword, Qian Jin would be able to keep this level of consistency for ten strikes, but he knew how heavy this hammer was. He had a hard time just dragging it across the room. He was far from the level that the old blacksmith was at.

Qian Jin stared at the splashing spark and was completely stunned…

“Player Qian Jin learned Elementary Smelting!”

“Player Qian Jin learned Elementary Forging!”

The old blacksmith landed the final powerful swing as the System Wizard notified Qian Jin. A blade rested quietly on top of the anvil. It was still red hot. Old Blake picked up the tongs, grabbed the blade from the anvil and threw it into a barrel of water.

“Sizzle!” Steam instantly rose from the barrel…

After all of that was done, the old blacksmith slowly put the hammer down and lit up his pipe again.

“As my apprentice, the first thing that you have to learn is how to use a hammer.” The old blacksmith bent his back and found another hammer beside the anvil. He then threw it to Qian Jin and said, “Starting from today, you have to swing this hammer a thousand times a day. You can leave after you are done. I will only teach you new skills after I feel like you learned how to use a hammer properly.”

The hammer that the old blacksmith threw to Qian Jin was still heavy, but it was nothing compared to the previous one.

This hammer was way smaller than that thousand-pound hammer. When Qian Jin tried to lift it, he felt like the hammer was about two or three hundred pounds. Although he was having some trouble swinging it, the task was manageable, unlike the other hammer.

He held the hammer and didn’t try to swing the hammer right away. He closed his eyes and tried to think back to when the old blacksmith was forging and how he moved. Qian Jin was picturing and simulating what he would do in his mind and compared it with the old blacksmith’s; he corrected himself many times in his mind.

Old Blake stared at Qian Jin curiously with his cloudy eyes; he was wondering what Qian Jin was doing, and why he hadn’t already started forging.

After close to a hundred simulations in his mind, Qian Jin suddenly opened his eyes. He raised the hammer above his head and confidently smashed it down onto a piece of pig iron.

“Tink!”

The sound of the hammer hitting the pig iron on the anvil echoed in this small shop, and the burning sparks splashed in all directions like a midnight firework.

An unprecedented sharp look appeared on Old Blake’s face. His right hand that didn’t even shake when holding the thousand-pound hammer shook violently as if he couldn’t even hold up his light pipe.

“Amazing!” Old Blake was surprised by Qian Jin who was about to land the second swing.

Qian Jin’s arm position and the speed of his first swing were identical to him.

However, that wasn’t the reason why Old Blake was surprised.

When he was demonstrating the technique to Qian Jin, the hidden key aspect to his method of blacksmithing was not the arm position nor the striking speed, instead, it was the loud sound from the metals colliding.

The sound that Qian Jin made from his first strike was thirty percent similar to the sound that Old Blake made. This wasn’t a coincidence. Qian Jin had actually paid close attention and observed carefully.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes…

Qian Jin swung the hammer non-stop and struck on the anvil repeatedly.

He was so into the process that he even forgot to keep track of time and ignored the tiredness that his body felt. He suddenly realized that blacksmithing was very interesting.

The old blacksmith seemed to ignore his new apprentice. He laid on a bench, closed his eyes and rested. The smoke pipe in Old Blake’s mouth told Qian Jin that he wasn’t sleeping, as the tobacco in the pipe was still burning.

“Your forging proficiency improved, your strength increased by one point.”

“Your forging proficiency improved, your strength increased by one point.”

“Your forging proficiency improved, your strength increased by one point.”

…

This boring system notification was the only thing that kept Qian Jin company.

Five hundred times… Qian Jin’s arm was very tired and sore, so he utilized his Level 3 Warrior energy to replenish his muscles and physical strength to keep going.

Qian Jin finally completed the one thousandth strike close to evening.

When he stopped, he felt that not only his right arms, but all the muscles on the right half of his body were sore and in pain. It was impossible for him to raise his right arm again for the rest of the day.

As Qian Jin was leaving the Blacksmith Shop, the old blacksmith opened his eyes, nodded at Qian Jin and went back to resting.

“So I’ve completed today’s task?” Qian Jin dragged his tired body out of the shop. He thought of one question as he looked up at the dark sky.

“Damn! System Wizard, come out here!”

“What’s your question?”

Qian Jin pointed at the sky and asked, “Didn’t you say that I would automatically return to my world after eight hours? Look at the time! Eight hours? I think it’s about sixteen hours already!”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you one thing. Time flows differently in the game compared to your world. The ratio is one to two. Meaning. eight hours in your world is equivalent to sixteen hours in the game. But you are right, you are close to the sixteen hours requirement. Relax, you will soon return back to your world.”