Becoming a Martial Master: Starting as a Swordsmith

Upon seeing this, Master Sun nodded slightly.

Seeing that the knife blank had softened and its edges were turning red, Shen Chu took the knife blank out, placed it on the cutting board, picked up the hammer, and began to hammer it, just like Master Sun had done.

The voice sounded somewhat muffled.

Master Sun shook his head slightly: "Kid, your movements are wrong, the hammer is hitting the wrong spot, and the trajectory is wrong. If you do it like this, the blades you make will be uneven in thickness."

As he spoke, Master Sun took the hammer from Shen Chu's hand and personally demonstrated it to him.

"It should be like this."

Master Sun swung his waist and lowered his shoulders, then steadily placed a hammer on the blade blank, instantly increasing its value from zero.

[Low-grade short sword (1/100)]

"I see!"

Shen Chu seemed to understand something, and Master Sun handed the hammer back to him.

"Again."

This time, Shen Chu grasped some key points. Using the same waist-swinging and shoulder-sinking technique, he delivered five consecutive blows.

The numbers on the bullet screen above the blade blank finally changed.

[Low-grade short sword (2/100)]

Five hammer blows only added a little bit.

There's still a big gap between his skill and Master Sun's "one hammer plus a little bit" technique.

However, even this small improvement brought a hint of satisfaction to Master Sun's face.

"What if we activate the Thousand-Fold Forging technique?"

Since acquiring the weapon, which has been refined through countless trials, Shen Chu has never used it.

He was also very curious about what the effect of this skill would be after it was activated.

So the next time he swung the hammer, he secretly used the technique of "forging a thousand times".

The next second, the hammerhead collided with the blade blank, but instead of the previous dull sound, it produced a clear and sharp sound.

Even though the sharp sound was extremely faint in the courtyard where the hammer was constantly being hammered, the experienced Master Sun still recognized it.

Master Sun raised an eyebrow, his expression becoming even more serious as he watched Shen Chu swing the hammer.

He was soon surprised to find that Shen Chu's movements were becoming more and more precise.

He stared at Shen Chu in astonishment.

Before Shen Chu's eyes, the completion rate, which originally required five hammer blows to increase by one point, had changed from five hammer blows plus one to one hammer blow plus one.

This level of precision is comparable to that of Master Sun!

However, the energy expenditure from "refining and tempering" is also staggering.

After only a few swings of the hammer, Shen Chu felt completely drained.

Shen Chu thought that if he had enough strength to support it, and with each hammer blow increasing the degree of completion, it would only be a matter of time before he could forge a low-grade weapon!

"Ultimately, my physical condition can't keep up; I still need to improve my physique..."

With a silent sigh, Shen Chu continued with the next steps.

Quenching, tempering, polishing...

By the time he finished all the steps, it was already noon, but the forged dagger was finally complete.

[Low-grade short sword (40/100)]

[Successfully forged a common weapon; forging proficiency +1]

[Refined Through Trials and Trials (1/100)]

Compared to Master Sun's 98 points, Shen Chu only completed 40 points.

But this already shocked Master Sun quite a bit.

"You brat, is this really your first time forging a sword?"

Master Sun still finds it hard to believe that a novice could achieve such quality in his first forging attempt.

This quality is almost on par with the level of some of the knife forgers in the compound!

And he could tell too.

If Shen Chu hadn't been so physically exhausted, the quality of the final short sword could have been even higher!

"Take this short knife and go to Manager Li. Ask him to make you a full-fledged swordsmith. Once you become a full-fledged swordsmith, you'll be able to receive a monthly salary."

After thinking for a moment, Master Sun stuffed the short knife that Shen Chu had forged into his arms.

Shen Chu was stunned for a moment: "I've become a formal swordsmith?"

He thought he would need at least another ten days or half a month to learn, but he didn't expect to become a formal swordsmith so quickly!

Just as he was lost in thought, Manager Li, whom Master Sun had just mentioned, arrived at the courtyard.

Manager Li was a middle-aged man with a mustache, dressed in a white robe with bamboo patterns, giving him a refined and scholarly air.

After scanning the courtyard, his gaze fell on Shen Chu.

"You must be the new apprentice swordsmith, right? Come with me, I need to talk to you about something."

After saying that, Steward Li took the lead and walked out of the courtyard, without giving Shen Chu a chance to speak.

Shen Chu was somewhat puzzled, but still followed along, clutching the short sword he had forged. The two then arrived at a coal pile.

"You've been here for a few days now. Besides fetching water and doing some other odd jobs, you'll also be in charge of transporting the coal for the compound from now on."

Manager Li seemed very busy, or perhaps he simply didn't want to waste time on Shen Chu. From leading Shen Chu out to arranging his new job, it only took him less than a quarter of an hour.

After saying that, he wanted to leave.

Shen Chu looked at the coal pile,

Good heavens, it's as tall as a small mountain. If I had to take care of all of this myself, I'd be exhausted.

This won't do!

He quickly handed over the short knife he had forged.

"Manager Li, please wait a moment. This is a short sword I forged. Master Sun asked me to come to you to become a formal swordsmith."

Manager Li paused in his steps, turning back with a look of surprise and doubt as his gaze fell on the short knife Shen Chu had handed him.

After examining it closely, he realized that the short knife had reached the level of some blacksmiths in the compound!

Forging is not unusual.

What's strange is that Shen Chu is just an apprentice who has only been in the compound for a short time, and he is so young!

"You studied weapon forging before?" Manager Li asked, squinting.

"No."

"You only stayed at my Li family's house for ten days?"

"Exactly."

"That's a real find!"

As the manager in charge of the entire forging compound, Manager Li naturally hoped that one or two geniuses would emerge from his place!

If someone were to become a low-grade weapon forger in the future, the master would surely reward him handsomely.

"Now that you've already mastered the skill of forging swords on your own, it's natural that I can no longer keep you as an apprentice, nor can I let you do this hard labor. Come with me!"

Manager Li deliberately slowed his pace and led Shen Chu to another location.

Shen Chu could also clearly sense the change in his attitude.

At first, she was unwilling to waste time on him, but after learning that he could forge weapons on his own, she became more patient and even chatted with him for a while on the way.

How old are you this year? Where are you from?

"He was seventeen years old, from the neighboring Wangchuan County, and came here as a refugee."

"Then you can stay at the Li residence from now on, work hard, and don't worry about anything else. The Li residence is very safe."

While chatting, the two arrived at a small courtyard.

"Now that you've become a swordsmith, you can no longer live in the apprentices' dormitory. From now on, you'll live here, and the room on the east side is yours."

Manager Li patted Shen Chu on the shoulder with a smile.

Shen Chu looked around and realized that the environment here was much better than the dormitory-style dormitory.

Not only was there no nauseating body odor, but the courtyard also had a bamboo grove, a stone table, and a pond, with a faint bamboo fragrance permeating the air.

"Don't go into the rooms on the south and west sides; other people live there."

"If there's anything you're not happy about, just tell me."

Manager Li's attitude can be described as very amiable.