“Fred! You’re awake!”

  “Hi, Ter.”

  I hug him, trying not to hurt him, while he ruffles my hair.

  “You’ve been unconscious for five days,” I tell him, almost sobbing. “If Lisa had been home, she would’ve died of worry.”

  “Do you really think something that small could take down your big brother?” he says, puffing out his chest. “Ow!”

  He isn’t wearing a shirt. Apparently the wound on his chest needs to stay uncovered to heal better. There isn’t really a wound anymore, just new, sensitive skin, but it’s clear the pain hasn’t disappeared.

  “You’re going to have a huge scar,” I say, pointing at him and laughing.

  “You bet. The girls will love it.”

  “Why would girls like that?”

  “Never mind. Porten tells me Rob still hasn’t come back,” he says, changing the subject.

  “No. The house has been very quiet these past few days,” I reply sadly at the thought that Rob is still on the expedition. “Though I’ve spent almost all my time in the workshop. I even slept there the last few days.”

  “Really? What have you been doing?”

  “Nothing too interesting. Aneth, the blacksmith, gave me a commission and I’ve mainly been working on that.” Though in reality I’ve prepared quite a lot of nails in advance. “Besides that, some tools, molds, and hooks I needed for the workshop. And I’m already level 9.”

  “Wow. The little one in the family is leveling up fast. You’re about to get your first class skill then.”

  “My first class skill?”

  “No one explained it to you?” He sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, Ter. We’ve been too busy this season, and Fin and Jean are in the capital.”

  He takes a moment to think.

  “At level 10, and then every 10 levels up to level 50, all classes learn certain abilities considered basic for that class. They’re usually very important. For example, mine helps me block and deflect attacks more effectively.”

  “Then I need to hurry and level up as soon as possible,” I reply excitedly.

  “Exactly. But leveling your class isn’t the only important thing. To grow stronger you also need to train your stats and your skills. The higher a skill gets, the harder it becomes to keep improving it, but usually the rewards match the effort.”

  “Rob told me something similar. He also said you can learn skills that don’t belong to your class.”

  “So you’d already talked about this with him.”

  “Yes, but he didn’t tell me anything about class skills.”

  “You know,” he says with a mischievous grin, “Rob has a singing skill. And not at a low level either.”

  We laugh together. It feels good to spend time with Fred. Porten assured me he would recover with time, but I couldn’t help being very worried.

  “You still haven’t told me what monster did that to you.”

  He grimaces in pain.

  “It was a horned bear.”

  “I think I saw something about that in a guild book.”

  “They’re huge. About three times my height. And they use ice magic.”

  He lies back on the bed with his right arm stretched toward the ceiling.

  “They’re incredibly strong creatures. Even with Rob and me and a whole group of knights, we barely managed to finish it off. Don’t you think your brothers are amazing?”

  “I’d rather you all came home in one piece. Hey…” I hesitate about whether to ask. “Haven’t the dungeons been acting strange lately?”

  “I guess the rumors reached you.”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “Yes. Besides, it’s very strange that monsters came out of two dungeons in such a short time. I thought nothing like that had happened in years.”

  “I’d like to tell you what’s going on, but the truth is we don’t know either.” He sits up again to look at me. “Even Father is worried. I didn’t see him like that even when they called him to deal with the dragon. From time to time it’s normal for a dungeon to show more activity. But all three at the same time…”

  The Vallesombrío dungeon is showing more activity too? That’s new. If all three overflowed at once it would be almost impossible to contain. The city would be relatively safe, but all the nearby villages would end up destroyed.

  “Until we know what’s happening inside them, worrying won’t help. Don’t overthink it,” Fred’s attempts to reassure me work, at least partly. “Besides, we’ll soon receive help from the capital.”

  “I hope they arrive soon.”

  I spend the rest of the day chatting with Fred. Fortunately, very few knights or adventurers have died so far, despite how serious the situation is. Now that he’s finally awake, I decide it’s a good moment to continue with the steel project.

  I already have all the ingredients except the acid, which would help remove impurities after quenching. It’s not like I intend to try my luck with quenching again—especially after Aneth’s scolding. The problem is that the process is long. Very long. And I didn’t want to interrupt it if Fred woke up.

  “Porten,” I greet him the next morning after my run. “I need to sleep a couple of nights in the workshop for my project. Do you think it would be possible to bring me something to eat there?”

  “I’ll have it delivered later.”

  “Thanks. I’ll head there now then.”

  The good thing about the workshop being in the forest is that I have easy access to wood and vegetation. I pull some bright green leaves from a bush. I unpack the crucible and place it on the table in front of the forge.

  The process isn’t complicated, yet at the same time it’s the hardest thing I’ve done so far. The problem isn’t that there’s a complex step or that I might fail while quenching.

  The problem is that I have to maintain the fire with a white flame.

  For two days.

  That’s why I can’t leave the forge. In fact, if it weren’t for fire magic and the fire gem, I don’t think I’d be able to maintain it for even a full day.

  Before lighting the forge, I decide to prepare the crucible. I should have time while it heats up, but I want to make sure it’s ready.

  First, I spread powdered charcoal along the entire inner wall. We want the iron to slowly absorb carbon. Then I add the leaves I picked earlier. This will increase the carbon content in the steel and eliminate some impurities.

  Finally, I place chunks of iron inside until nothing else fits. For this method to work, absolutely no oxygen can enter. The pouring hole is already sealed, and the top will seal itself with heat.

  I light the forge as usual. Fortunately, I have plenty of charcoal thanks to the order I placed with Aneth. Before long the flames reach the orange color I usually work with. I’ve never gone beyond this temperature before.

  The charcoal crackles and the temperature rises not only in the furnace but throughout the entire workshop. Little by little the flame takes on a yellow tone, but I keep working the bellows to raise the heat.

  At this moment I resort to my magic and the gem for the first time to reach the temperature I need. I spend a little more than half of my mana.

  Before my eyes the flame turns a brilliant white.

  It’s beautiful.

  Without wasting time, I place the crucible inside with long tongs. The heat it gives off is incredible. Even from this distance it feels like a slap that makes my throat and lungs burn. I have the sensation that my own sweat is evaporating instantly.

  Several hours pass during which I regularly step outside the forge so I don’t faint. Without realizing it, night has fallen, and at some point someone left food on the kitchen table. I quickly devour a stew from a wooden bowl and a chunk of bread before going back inside.

  I can’t allow the temperature to drop.

  So far I’ve managed to maintain it using only the bellows. It’s physically exhausting, but my mana is too valuable to waste right now. I’ll need it later if I want to sleep at all. If I had companions, one could relieve me.

  I feel alone.

  Despite the concentration the fire demands, there are moments when I wish I could share this with someone.

  Despite the heat, sleep is catching up to me. This is the critical moment. I already learned from the failed quenching that continuing the process is useless if I lose concentration.

  I need to sleep for a few hours.

  I pour all the magic I have left into the gem so it will maintain the heat.

  I’m so dizzy I almost faint before reaching the cot. At least this will keep the temperature steady for several hours.

  Infernal.

  That’s the best word I can think of to describe the next day.

  I didn’t know a human could drink this much water. Most of the time I’m not at the forge, I’m going back and forth from the well. I even pour water over myself—even though the days are already starting to cool—just to endure the heat from the furnace.

  And so I spend another night almost completely without sleep.

  I wake up every half hour with a start. I have no way of knowing how much time has passed, so I don’t let sleep take me completely. I only rest enough to maintain my concentration on the fire.

  When the sun rises and the day begins, my mind clears from the adrenaline and anticipation.

  Only a few hours left, and then I’ll be able to sleep for real.

  Only a few hours left, and I’ll know if I managed to make good-quality steel.

  I use the final minutes to carefully preheat an iron mold, making sure not to burn it.

  When the moment comes to remove the crucible from the fire, my hands are trembling so badly that I have to stop and take a deep breath to calm myself.

  I pull it out carefully.

  To my relief, the seal appears intact.

  I let the furnace lose temperature. Even if I failed, I can’t continue the process now.

  My heart pounds wildly as I remove the stopper and pour the steel into the mold I prepared. The liquid fills it almost completely.

  Now it just has to cool.

  I extinguish the coals of the furnace and leave the mold cooling with the residual heat of the forge so it cools slowly.

  You have reached lvl 10 in the Blacksmith class.

  Quality Improvement has risen to lvl 1. (Allows the blacksmith to use mana to achieve a small increase in quality.)

  A skill with a description.

  It seems I’ve obtained my first class skill.

  Without even checking my status, I collapse onto the cot and instantly fall asleep.