The Yuhao Chronicles - Volume 1 Chapter 9

The next day, the mother and son pair had left the tavern soon after they had a small meal. While they were eating, Yun Er asked Xiaolei about the locations of nearby blacksmiths, so they were heading to the one that they were told produced good quality armour and weaponry while still providing at cheap prices. As many spirit masters, both in the city and those who pass through have used this shop, it is quite highly respected and has an informal protection status in the city. In the past when some spirit masters from the Sun and Moon Empire arrived and tried to cause trouble, a huge crowd of local spirit masters turned up, including a rank 60 master to kick them out. Since then, no one has dared cause a fuss.

After walking for approximately 10 minutes, Yun Er and Yuhao arrived in front of a somewhat large workshop’s door. It was easily recognisable due to massive lettering spelling out Mang Zeran Workshop across the top, with several swords and hammers that looked as if they were fused into the door. This design, however, was actually just a high-quality engraving that had apparently been done by a mysterious individual late at night. Ever since then, on top of the items sold within, the door itself had become an attraction for visitors.

Even when they were in front of the doors, the smell of metal assaulted their nostrils. Yun Er pushed the workshop door open and stepped inside. The room was moderately lit with a large number of weapons and armours neatly stocked throughout. It was brightly lit through the windows opening to the main road, but also several spirit torches further in. As they entered a tall and dark, middle-aged man appeared from the back doorway.

“Welcome to my shop.” He stated, his voice boomed across the small distance between them.

“Hello, Mr Mang.” Yun Er kindly replied.

Zeran chuckled a little at the two as they stood awkwardly in the doorway, “Just call me Zeran. What can I do you for two? Looking to protect yourself or deal some damage?”

Yuhao, hearing this stood frozen. His mouth agape as he just heard a line he never thought he would hear in real life. ‘What the heck?!’ He thought. His mother seeing his reaction lightly bumped him on the shoulder. Now wouldn’t be a good time for him to get distracted and make a fool out of himself.

She lightly blushed in embarrassment at her son’s antics, before saying, “Well we just moved here, hopefully permanently. While I need to get a job, my son Yuhao would like to see about being apprenticed under you as a blacksmith. There wasn’t a blacksmith back at our old home and so while he showed a very strong interest in the profession, he was stuck to fixing small things around the house by hand. I know it is a big ask and you don’t know us, but we were wondering if that would be possible?”

‘Hmm, while I haven’t ever considered taking on someone as an apprentice, now that I think about it, it is not a bad idea. I can share my craft and hopefully once he is good enough allow me to sit back and let him do the work instead. My bones could definitely use the rest from the past few years.” Zeran thought. “Come here boy, let me have a good look at you.”

The duo perked up hearing this, their hope ignited. Yuhao walked over quickly but not too hastily, keeping his head and posture confident. All these things were definitely noticeable to Zeran as he inwardly chuckled, ‘Well he looks quite young but that should be fine. He has some good muscle development already which is definitely needed for the job. Ahh, may as well. If it doesn’t work out I can always have him do some sweeping if need be… But what should I do about the shop front if I need to teach and monitor him in the back? What to do. What to do?’

As Zeran was contemplating a solution, he looked up to agree to the idea the kid’s mother was saying when he had a eureka moment, ‘Did she not just say she still needed to find a job for herself?’

“Well I could, I can take him on. However, unlike what I usually do, going back and forth between the forge and shopfront, I will need to monitor him and guide him in the forge at the back. So I won’t have anyone to monitor and run the store.” Zeran said, trailing off at the end, hoping she got the hint.

Yun Er stood there, smiling happily that her son was finally able to follow one of his passions of blacksmithing. After a few seconds, it hit her, “W-Wait I could do it for you!!!” She spurted out.

“Haha, well that is settled then. Well, no time like the present.” Zeran stated as he began showing Yun Er around the shop. Around an hour later, with a couple of customers coming in, giving her some first-hand experience, Zeran deemed her adept enough to handle it and ushered Yuhao into the forge room at the back.

“So Yuhao, what do you know about blacksmithing?” He asked.

This made Yuhao think for a second. Even though he had read about blacksmithing in his past life and the Douluo Dalu 3 novel blacksmithing methods, that knowledge is foreign to this timeline and would make people ask questions as to its origin. Yuhao agreed that it is a good idea to hide most of it until he is either stronger, or is able to create a believable background as to where he learnt it.

“Well, I know that it can be used in a massive number of ways, not just with swords and armour. I know the Tang Sect became famous ten-thousand years ago due to the hidden weapons that they forged and sold. Nowadays, we have soul devices that require blacksmiths to help create.” He replied back calmly.

“Haha, good, good. You have done your research my boy!” Zeran exclaimed patting him on the back heartily. “Well focusing more on the actual metal itself, did you know that there are impurities within the metal itself that we, as blacksmiths, must remove. This process, while not only making the metal denser, it will also make it purer, stronger and more durable to damage or pressure. This is your task for today.”

On the table was a roundish lump of metal, what looked like iron. Zeran picked up two smaller hammers from a nearby table and held it out to him. They looked somewhat old and were quite cold to the touch despite being in a room that was several degrees above a normal hot day’s temperature. The metal hammer’s handles were about a twenty centimetres long, with a cylindrical head and diameter at approximately fifteen and ten centimetres respectively. They weighed about five kilograms each, and while heavy for a normal child, they seemed to have a good weight for Yuhao.

“I would like you to hammer this metal as many times as you can, for the rest of the day. Every morning I will substitute it for another so you can continue doing so. This will help me gauge how much talent you have and where I need to help you work on. When you think you have done enough you can put the hammers away and rest.” He stated before walking away to the forge and continuing his own work.

Yuhao looked down at the hammers as he began thinking, ‘This feels right. I am following the same Blacksmith journey as Tang San did before me and Wulin will do after me. The great metal hammering. This is how I will impress him and show him my honesty and drive to follow blacksmithing to the top. He seems very knowledgeable about his craft as well. Well, let’s get cracking.’

Yuhao smiled in excitement before beginning his hammering, one swing at a time. He imagined awesome music in the background as he began his to work.