Chapter 20 - 20. Just Who Are You, Kid? (1/2)
”Good morning, kid. I was half expecting you to come in after lunch today. So, you want to have some tea first before we begin?” Blake motioned for me and held my shoulders tight.
”You seemed to have grown quite strong since the last I met you last night. By the way, that Level 2 Refined Iron piece that you made yesterday had been turned into a nice karambit. Do you want to take a look at its work?” Blake gestured me as I stood near his counter and he showed a piece of thin blade that looked like a talon with a small ring at the end to slip it through the finger.
(Look up under Wiki for the term and pictures of how a karambit looks like)
I looked at the piece and found it to be very efficient at personal melee combat, especially for an Assassin. Right now what I had is a bronze dagger given by Prius. I held it in my right hand with the blade outward and it felt light, almost like a feather but with devastating slicing power especially if targeted at the jugular.
*Slash slash stab* ”This is a nice karambit. With a price tag like that, I'm sure Assassins would love to have them.” I said as I handed the karambit back. ”Come on, let me work on those anvil,” I said as I went round and enters the backroom where the apprentices are working.
The moment I entered, I was greeted by them as they were having their morning coffee break. The business had been slow lately and they managed to make small pieces like spurs for the boots, bridle for the horses and such. I removed my tunic and hanged it behind as usual and carried the 30-pound hammer.
I twirled it in my hand and I felt something was off. The hammer I was carrying was in fact too light. I looked around when Blake asked, ”Kid, is there something wrong? What are you looking for?”
”Err... Do you have any more hammers here I could use? This 30 pounder sure seems a bit too light today.” I casually remarked while some of the apprentices spluttered out and spilt their coffee when they heard my casual remark.
”Sure... Here's a 45 pounder that you could use. It had not been used for some time and this would be used to make those heavy plate iron armour. The last time I used this was like 1 year ago. You can have it, kid. Be careful not to drop this on your head. Hahahaha.” Blake said as he handed me the 45 pounders with ease.
I twirled it in my hand and the weight felt fine. I set it aside first as I took 2 pieces of iron ores and placed them on the bed of coals before I operate the bellows once more. Once the iron ores had turned almost reddish-white, I used the tong and placed them on the anvil.
The apprentices who had never seen anyone work with 2 pieces of iron ores before gathered around. For 2 pieces of iron, ingot to work with is a norm but for 2 iron ores, it's close to impossible due to its irregular shape.
I used chi breathing and channelled the heat from the furnace to my secondary points and concentrated it on my right arm. I carried the hammer and raised it on top of my hand and adjusted my breathing rhythm. Then I struck down on the red hot iron ores.
*Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink! *
Every swing, every aimed and direct hit was synchronised with my breath as I exhale hot fumes from the furnace through my pursed lips. The two iron ores were once again doing ballet as it was struck perfectly on top and sparks flew in all directions like fireworks.
50 strikes...
100 strikes...
200 strikes...
300 strikes...
I finally stopped and took the tong and threw the hammered iron ores that had become a single piece of iron ingot into the pail of water where it spluttered and sizzled and a cloud of steam came off it.