The next day after doing my morning training ,instead of going to the dungeon with Bell, I headed towards Goddess Hephaestus' place to begin my smith training.
I bought an outfit suitable for working near the heat for a small amount of valis before heading over.
Once I made it past the gate and its guards ,I went into the forge to meet Goddess Hephaestus.
Seeing quite a few clothing racks in the forge ,I hung my cloak up. Revealing my tiny but dense muscles.
I had gained this kind of physical fitness through nail training and adventuring. As well as a dark power flowing through my veins creating such a contrast like my thin arms being packed with unseen strength.
...
(Hephaestus P.O.V.)
I'll be honest ,I don't know why I took this little bugger into my tutelage. He's so scrawny ,yet from what I heard, he was stronger than Bell already.
Both were newbie adventurers. Bell was fast but other than that ,he wasn't that strong. Holo on the other hand has average stats but his combat skills and nail techniques are strong enough to rival weaker to average level 2 adventurers.
Even while I sit here drilling basic smithing techniques into him. I still can't quite understand this tiny little fella.
He obediently carries out every task I assign him. He works like a little machine ,nodding at me every time I give him something to work on.
The first smithing task I gave him ,forge a chunk of unrefined ore into a refined ingot with a purity of 80% or higher.
At first I thought nothing of it as I watched him pick up a hammer and the chunk of unrefined iron.
Until he approached the forging area. That was when a whole other beast was unleashed.
His aura changed drastically from cold and nimble warrior into a determined and honed smith.
I could almost see a faint outline of some sort of bug overlapping with his figure as he swung the hammer with precision and overwhelming force.
After just a few swings onto the now heated ore ,it began to merge under the hammer strikes. After just five swings ,it had already begun to resemble the shape of an ingot.
Once the shape was on point ,his next five swings smoothed it out and removed impurities in the metal.
He proceeded to do a quenching process and then swung three more times. Suddenly ,the metal started glowing before it settled into a shining iron ingot.
My eyes widened with shock as I observed the ingot of iron. It's purity had reached an astonishing 95% and its quality as a forging material seemed to be even greater than usual.
"Such talent!? Are you sure you aren't a legendary smith reborn?!"
For a first time forger ,such quality is unheard of!
I set the task as a high expectation ,thinking by he'd reach it through days to weeks of smith training.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect him to succeed on the first try. I guess Hestia picked up a little prodigy ,yeah?
So what do I do now ,try to recruit him? No I can't do that to Hestia. I'll just have to settle on taking him as my disciple huh.
Sorry Hestia ,your child is just too talented to not be a blacksmith.