Commanding Wind and Cloud
chapter-47

Although Julius’ body was frozen, she could still think. She was stunned as she heard Gloria’s murmur and saw what she easily did.

The water in the wooden tub was swirling and flowing; the clothes in the water were rotating and turning around, as if someone was washing it. However, Gloria was sitting by the edge of the water well and meditating! That’s right! She was able to mediate while casting a spell! Genius? No! She must be a super genius that only existed in legends. Only bloodline mages could do so.

Magic. The mage students at novice academies didn’t have the ability to cast a spell on their own; even if it was only a very simple magic spell, it required a few to a dozen mage students to stand in the premade magic array to cast it. However, Gabriella who named herself Gloria at this moment, could cast spells easily!

“Gloria? Isn’t her name Gabriella?” Julius stared at Gabriella who was meditating, and an endless amount of fear popped up in her head. “What kind of woman is she? Why am I so afraid of her? It’s as if I’m facing a demon beast from the legends,” she thought.

Mediating… Mediating… Mediating… Failure.

Qian Jin stretched his back; he was very disappointed. He grabbed the mage hat gaming helmet and put it on his face.

His vision blacked out, and then light appeared. He was in the Endless World.

After entering the Endless World twice, Qian Jin was already used to this method of entering.

The village was quiet as always. Qian Jin didn’t think much and walked toward the blacksmith shop. “After coming to this place twice, I’m able to forge [Level 5 Refined Iron] already. Am I a Level 5 Blacksmith yet?” he wondered.

“Do you wish to check your status?”

The so-called System Wizard voice who had appeared once when Qian Jin first arrived at the Endless World suddenly spoke to him again.

“Status?” Qian Jin raised his head and looked around as he replied casually, “Sure.”

Whoosh! A light screen suddenly appeared in front of Qian Jin. There was a long list of strange numbers. The line that drew Qian Jin’s attention the most was the line for blacksmithing:

Level 5 Blacksmith

Experience: 329

Experience Needed to Level Up: 3

“How much is three experience points?” Qian Jin thought as he called up the detail data about his blacksmith profession:

Level 5 Blacksmith

Level 5 Forging Skill

Only able to forge [Level 5 Refined Iron]

Item forging ability: N/A

Item designs owned: 0

“Item designs? What is that?” Qian Jin wondered as he continued reading his status.

[Blade-washing] Skill: Level 0: Learning requirement unsatisfied

[Mining] Skill: Level 0: Learning requirement unsatisfied

[Repairing] Skill: Level 0: Learning requirement unsatisfied

[Sharpening] Skill: Level 0: Learning requirement satisfied

“It seems like there are a lot more skills in blacksmithing.” Qian Jin had a lot of questions in his head as he walked into the blacksmith shop. “I thought I was great already, but it seems like I’m still very weak,” he said to himself.

“At least you know you are weak. That means you still have hope.”

Old Blake was casually sucking on his pipe as he stood beside the forge. An expression that could be considered a smile appeared on his wrinkled face as he said to Qian Jin.

“Go and take a bath.”

Before Blake could finish, Qian Jin had already rushed to the backyard.

After the last bathing experience, he was already addicted to the feeling. As soon as his body entered the hot spring, his weariness would be dragged out of his body by the warm water. This mysterious powder in the hot spring was magical! Qian Jin told himself that he had to learn the formula of this powder.

After the short bath which got rid of his exhaustion, Qian Jin returned to the workshop; he was refreshed.

“Today…” Blake rocked his pipe with his fingers, “I will not be teaching you forging.” He spoke after some serious thinking.

“Not forging?” Qian Jin looked at Blake’s hammer and wondered, “What could I learn at a blacksmith shop other than forging?”

“Eh, learn something else.” Blake grabbed an unsharpened blade beside him and threw it on a grindstone. “With the fundamentals of a Level 5 Blacksmith, you can learn [Sharpening] now.”

“[Sharpening]?” Qian Jin murmured as he looked at all sorts of weapons on the ground. “I heard that even Level 1 Blacksmiths can forge items such as weapons, how about…”

“Forging weapons as a Level 1 Blacksmith? You want to run before you learn to walk? Dumbass!” Blake knocked his pipe on the bottom of his shoe to clear the tobacco dust as he said, “Watch carefully! I will only show you once. A dumbass or a genius, it’s up to you.”

Blake glided the blade on the grindstone, but the metal and stone grinding sound Qian Jin was expecting didn’t sound at all. The blacksmith shop was quiet as always.

Qian Jin watched Blake sharpen the blade with both hands by gliding the blade on the ordinary grindstone smoothly, as if a master chef was cutting a carrot into thin strands.

The metal blade shined as it danced in Blake’s hands, as if there were dozens of bright butterflies. However, there weren’t any hoarse grinding noises. The result was much better than the sharpening method Qian Jin knew.

Qian Jin stared at Blake’s hands as if they were made from the gods. He knew that Blake’s forging skill was like an art, but he didn’t expect Blake’s sharpening skill to be this different from all the other blacksmiths he knew!

“You can sharpen a weapon like this? This is no longer sharpening! Art, this is definitely an art!” Qian Jin thought.

A small black grindstone; a simple back and forth grinding motion. However, the effect it created was like tens of thousands of silver butterflies dancing around.

Blake’s speed was fast, yet steady. The consistency between each stroke was very high; every stroke grinded through every inch of the blade.

The back and forth motion seemed complicated, but there seemed to be some kind of special frequency and pattern.

Qian Jin was completely stunned by the silent grinding…

“Player Qian Jin learnt Elementary Sharpening…”

“Player Qian Jin’s Sharpening Skill leveled up…”

“Player Qian Jin’s Sharpening Skill leveled up…”

“Player …”

“Player …”

“Player Qian Jin learnt Elementary Blade-washing Skill…”

In less than an hour, Blake stopped his sharpening process. The iron blade that was very common and worth probably only a few silver coins shined a lethal light that Qian Jin had only seen on precious swords. He had only looked at the blade a few times, yet he felt it could cut through the air and his body.

Who knew that a very ordinary battle blade could be sharpened to this degree? Qian Jin couldn’t be more shocked. If this blade was presented to Franklin’s Blacksmith Shop, it would be treated as a signature precious item and it would definitely not be for sale.

“It’s your turn.”

Blake threw an axe to Qian Jin. Qian Jin looked down at the axe and thought, “Why don’t you throw me a hammer?”

“Start!”

After Blake’s command, Qian Jin began to ponder deeply; he slowly played back Blake’s movements and actions in his mind as his arms and body tried to mimic the same action.

Blake filled his pipe with tobacco and started to smoke again. However, a satisfied expression flashed through his face as he squinted his eyes.