16 A day at the shop
He knew what Garry's plan was. He wanted to test Shingi to see if he had any inherited skills. NPCs children had a chance to have some of their parent's skills considered inherited. Those would be easier and faster to get unlocked and reach the Rank that the Skill was when they inherited it. In most cases, those were skills in Base Rank, but some rare Master Rank ones.
'I wonder if he did the same with Annoue, although I guess if he did, it didn't work out.' [Shingi]
It wasn't like women weren't able to be a blacksmith as there were some famous ones. Still, even if STR of Annoue could help her, she didn't have any relevant skills or natural talent on it.
Garry brought him a tong and pointed at the nearby anvil with a water bucket next to it. However, Shingi wasn't entirely sure if what was in there was water. It seemed like it got muddy, which made him think that the whole place was dirtier than it should be.
"Let the iron heat up, and then use the tong to pick it up and hammer it on the anvil. Follow your instincts and when you are over, wake me up." [Garry]
Garry went and sat behind the desk and started taking his nap, the same as the other day.
Shingi made sure that he really was sleeping and then went to work. Again, he cast his MANA HAND, but he used Earth mana instead, making it look like they made it of dirt but kept its shape perfectly. It was also hovering slower than the Light base one. However, Shingi knew it could handle the heat; otherwise, he would have to feed it with more mana or keep getting weaker and then get dispelled.
Then he picked up the heated piece of iron, and with his free hand, he started testing the panel of the mana blower. He had used one in the past, but he controlled it with the lever since he didn't have mana then.
He used its air and even put some of his Light mana in the produced air. He used it to clean some of the iron's impurities with the produced steam and even tried to embed his mana in it. Still, he didn't have enough to do something like that.
In the end, this left him with almost no mana, but he was happy with how much he cleaned that piece of iron. So he used the MANA HAND to put it over the anvil and start hammering it.
He dispelled his MANA HAND, completely disabled the mana blower, and used the tong to keep the metal still as he was ready to use the hammer, which had changed its size to better suit his size and STR. He could see why people were crazy over it as it was feeling like an extension of his hand, a tricky thing to reach, even with a hammer that one had created or used for years.
So he started his hammering, and his movements were a little sloppy at the start but got quickly adjusted. Ha had done little physical activity with this body, so he was still getting used to it, and the hammer also seemed to fix some of his mistakes. And so he started shaping what he wanted, and since Shingi didn't have much to work with as Garry threw the smaller one, he made a small trinket.
It would be an amulet with the same symbol as the shop's sign. So Shingi focused and found how to change the hammer's shape to make it a pick hammer and use it almost like a chisel when needed to carve the symbol.
He also used his FILTH EATER to clear the water in the bucket. Then, when he finished, he put his final product in there while holding it with a newly cast MANA HAND, this time a Light mana one, so that he could use its transparency to see his resulted product.
He kept using his MANA HAND to get more used to it. It would also be possible to hold it in a less 'dangerous' way of changing the heated metal's shape, as he could control the force easier. Still, not that the 'damage' would be that much.
When it reached a temperature to be held by his hand without burning him, he let it a little more in the water and then got it in his hand and put it on the desk and then coughed loudly to get the attention of Garry and started pointing at his trinket.
Garry didn't seem to be heavy sleeping as he woke up quickly enough. He looked at Shingi and then at the thing he was pointing.
It seemed like he was utterly awake at that point, as he quickly picked it up and started investigating it.
"You made this?!?" [Garry]
Anyone could notice the surprise in his eyes.
"That was what you asked, right? Something for me to create from the iron using the hammer. So here is the result." [Shingi]
The hammer was now shaped like when Garry first gave it to him, and Shingi put it on the table and left it there.
When Garry heard that response, it made him somewhat happy for a second but then returned to his usual strict-not caring face.
"Well, I guess you have some talent. Crafting something like that would have unlocked you the SMITHING skill. Am I right?" [Garry]
"Yes. It is at Base Rank currently." [Shingi]
Garry didn't seem surprised to hear that as it made sense from the result, and to tell the truth, even Shingi didn't expect it to happen. However, unlocking a skill at not Low Rank wasn't something unheard of. He was the son of a blacksmith, and the knowledge from his past life gave him an advantage. An advantage that none without the Skill should have. Also, he had used a Spirit Hammer during all that, which helped even more.
"It seems like you really are our child." [Garry]1
Shingi found this phrase a little weird but put a little thought into it.
"Well, you better not let it make you cocky cause you have much to learn. So are you ready for your next task?" [Garry]
Shingi nodded right away without a second thought as he was looking forward to crafting some more since he hadn't done it for some time and had somewhat missed the feeling.
"Clean the rest of the place while I will go to speak with a few people. I will meet you back home, but you better make a good work or no dinner for a week." [Garry]
At that point, Garry's face was stricter than ever. He was giving a commanding aura that would work on someone other than Shingi, who was someone who had fought a Dragon and didn't get afraid for even a moment. But he made himself looked like he got somewhat affected and agreed on the task.
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QUEST: CLEANING BLACKSMITH SHOP
Description: Garry the Blacksmith has given you the task of cleaning his shop. He will check it tomorrow.
Reward: Increase of Local Blacksmith Garry's reputation
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Seeing that, Shingi got confused. He hadn't heard of normal NPCs taking simple quests like that, but could he be considered a normal NPC? Also, even if the reward wasn't something big, that was for now. Even if Garry wasn't at his best now, things could change, and Shingi could tell that he was hiding something.
Garry left the building heading to who knows where and Shingi, for a moment, was tempted to follow him but kept himself from doing it.
Instead of starting cleaning up, Shingi went into his meditation state after sitting somewhere in the area around the forge that he had already cleaned. That way, he could focus on making his Mana Pool gather mana quicker, replenish his mana faster, and start slowly strengthening his Mana Tree. It took him less than 2 minutes to fill his Mana Pool since he had little mana.
He went back to use MANA HAND to pick up small objects and move them around. Then, with his FILTH EATER, he destroyed the dust and rest of the filth in the room and decided to grind his MANA SENSE. Using it made him notice something that he wouldn't otherwise. Some of the dust had some amount of mana in it.
Even if gathered in an extensive amount, dust wouldn't have so much mana unless of one situation. If it wasn't ordinary created dust, but mana made one.
H then noticed that this dust there was around only one place and one place only. Around the chair behind the desk, the same one that Garry was sleeping at.
'Could he somehow create it? But I am sure he doesn't have a Mana Pool, and even with the mana blower, he used the lever instead of the panel.' [Shingi]
He thought it over, and it wasn't making any sense to him. His insights may not be perfect, but he was confident to notice if someone was supposed to have a Mana Pool or not, and no matter how he thought of it, Garry shouldn't. Also didn't seem like the type to have the skills to manipulate mana without having a Mana Pool, but you should never judge a book from its cover.
'Maybe he used the lever to show how it works since I shouldn't know how and he couldn't know I could use mana. If that is the case, he could hide more secrets than I thought.' [Shingi]
Shingi started thinking that things were getting interesting, although others would consider them troublesome or confusing. But he liked these kinds of mysteries.
For now, he went back on focusing on cleaning up the place, filling his mana, and repeat. He had to do it a few times as even if the FILTH EATER were using close to no mana if one keeps casting it again and again, it would be like casting a Low-Grade spell.
He also tried to cast two MANA HANDS and control one with each hand. Still, it took him a little time as some slip on his focus now and then led to one of them getting dispelled, and it was hard sending different commands at each.
But after hours of testing and as it got close to dinnertime, he finally finished his task. But, of course, he did not complete the Quest since Garry had to look at the shop's current state for this to happen.
Shingi was happy with today's result as his MANA SENSE and MANA HAND's proficiency has definitely increased, but not enough for the system to consider them enough to Rank Up or create an evolved spell. But he found the time to Rank Up to base one of his Skills finally.
His IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON skill. He used bottles to hit some spiders and rats as targets and made some throws with one of his MANA HANDS, making the Skill Rank Up to Base Rank quite fast.
His VISUALIZATION skill was the only one at Low Rank, but he didn't mind keeping it like that for now.
So after making sure that everything was fine and put everything that was garbage, like bottles and the corpses of rats he targeted, at big sacks and put them at the back of the shop then he started making his way back home to get some dinner and rest for the night.
