Becoming a Martial Master: Starting as a Swordsmith

In the center of the courtyard stood a huge furnace.

Someone poured in shovelful after shovelful of coal, which burned and generated even more heat.

Someone put iron stones into a furnace, and when they came out, they were molten iron that was red-hot.

The molten iron was then sent in batches to a dozen or so blacksmiths in the courtyard to be forged into the most primitive knife blanks.

The servant first told Shen Chu to wait where she was, then found a master, spoke to him briefly, and then beckoned Shen Chu over.

"From this day forward, you will follow this Master Sun. You will do whatever he asks you to do."

After giving him his instructions, the servant hurriedly left.

Shen Chu wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave Master Sun a kind smile.

Master Sun was an elderly man with a goatee. He wasn't tall and didn't have much muscle in his arms, but he held the pliers and hammer very steadily.

One hammer blow after another struck the red-hot sword blank.

"New here?" he asked without looking up.

Shen Chu was about to nod when he continued, "The newcomers also have to work. The water in the water tank is about to run out, so go and fetch me a few buckets."

Shen Chu didn't say much. He picked up the two half-meter-high buckets from the ground and walked towards the large water vat in the corner of the yard.

He saw that everyone else was going there to fetch water.

In front of the water vat, Shen Chu pressed the bucket into the vat, and after it was filled with water, she lifted it up with difficulty.

His tattered clothes were soaked with sweat, and his stomach was pounding wildly.

But Shen Chu persisted.

Having finally gotten this opportunity, if I do anything wrong, I'll still be kicked out of the Li residence.

It won't be as simple as just being a little tired then.

Thinking of this, he mustered his courage, staggered back, and gritted his teeth to pour all the water into the water tank behind Master Sun.

He was just about to catch his breath when

The next second, a virtual panel appeared in front of Shen Chu without warning.

[Successfully became a swordsmith apprentice and obtained the initial skill: Thousand Hammers and Refinements lv1]

[Refining Through a Thousand Hammers: Once activated, this skill consumes stamina to hammer ironware. Each hammer blow improves the final quality of the ironware.]

[Passive Skill: Root Bone is upgraded from Medium to Upper, with a slight increase in both Strength and Endurance.]

"Is this my cheat code?!"

Shen Chu was almost overwhelmed by the surprise!

He thought he was just an ordinary person after transmigrating, with nothing special about his appearance, but he never expected to have a cheat code to help him!

With the newly acquired training, he clearly felt that his physical strength, power and endurance had been significantly improved!

My backache and leg pain have subsided, and the fatigue from carrying two buckets of water has receded as quickly as the tide.

But this wasn't what made Shen Chu happiest; what surprised him most was...

Through countless trials and tribulations, his innate talent was actually elevated to the Ding level!

According to the rules of the Li family, anyone who reaches the lowest grade (Category C) can become a guard instead of doing hard labor in this sweltering courtyard.

But Shen Chu didn't want to leave like that.

Because he saw the level 1 after the "forged through countless trials" skill.

This means that "Refined Skill" is an upgradeable skill!

If the effect at level 1 is already this amazing, wouldn't it become even more powerful if it were upgraded a few more times?

If his physical constitution could be improved with each level up, wouldn't he be able to gradually raise his physical constitution to the maximum level?

At that time, if I were to cultivate the martial arts of this world with top-notch talent, how rapid would my progress be?

Shen Chu became more and more excited as he thought about it, and suddenly he felt that the stuffy courtyard didn't seem so unbearable anymore!

"Master, when can I forge a knife?" Shen Chu looked intently at Master Sun.

Master Sun glanced at him, his hands still moving: "Kid, don't be in such a hurry. Forging knives isn't a skill you can learn in a day or two. You watch from the side first, and then you can take what I need from you."

"Yes."

Shen Chu belatedly realized that it was too abrupt of him to ask to have a knife forged so soon after arriving at the forge. Fortunately, Master Sun had a mild temper, otherwise he might have gotten into trouble!

We still need to be more careful!

Following Master Sun's words, Shen Chu began to observe Master Sun's knife-forging process.

He soon found himself unable to look away.

It wasn't because Master Sun's forging technique was particularly exquisite, but rather because above the blank blade on the anvil in front of him, a clear pop-up icon was floating:

[Low-grade short sword (33/100)]

Just as Shen Chu was stunned by the sudden pop-up, Master Sun tapped several more times, and the numbers on the pop-up changed repeatedly:

[Low-grade short sword (36/100)]

"Master Sun, this knife looks very sharp. Could it be a high-grade weapon?" Shen Chu asked cautiously.

"A graded weapon? This is way from being low-grade!"

Master Sun smiled and shook his head, it was unclear whether he was laughing at Shen Chu or at himself.

"Even low-grade weapons can only be used by martial artists. In the entire Li family, only three people can forge them. What I, a swordsmith, forge are just ordinary weapons."

After saying that, Master Sun said no more and focused on his work. Seeing this, Shen Chu also shut her mouth and quietly stayed by Master Sun's side, following his instructions.

Ten days passed like this.

For the past ten days, Shen Chu has been getting up earlier than the rooster and going to bed later than the dog, but at least she has food and lodging.

Especially when he first picked up the rice bowl, even though there wasn't much oil or food in it, he unconsciously shed tears.

If someone asks him what happiness is,

For Shen Chu at that time, happiness meant having enough to eat!

......

Just as Master Sun said, he indeed could not forge low-grade weapons.

These days, Master Sun's forging process has been exactly the same.

Through hammering, quenching, tempering, and polishing...

After several steps, it took more than an hour.

But Shen Chu had seen that the highest number on the bullet screen was (98/100), and it never moved again.

"Low-grade weapons are hard to come by. I entered this trade when I was sixteen, and I'm fifty-eight now. I haven't been able to make one again."

Master Sun sighed, placed a forged ordinary knife on the knife rack, and then turned to Shen Chu: "Kid, you've been here for several days now. How much of what you just saw was understood?"

"I'm a slow learner, I only understood a little bit." Shen Chu chuckled awkwardly, extending his thumb and forefinger to pinch a space the size of a soybean.

Unexpectedly, the next second, Master Sun pulled him in front of the stove: "I happen to have some free time today, why don't you try it on me?"

Upon seeing this, Shen Chu felt a surge of excitement, but maintained a calm demeanor.

Based on what he had seen over the days, he used tongs to take a knife blank from the bucket where the blanks were placed and put it in the stove to soften it.

Although Shen Chu's movements were clumsy, fortunately she did not make any mistakes.