Becoming a Martial Master: Starting as a Swordsmith

"Arrogant brat!"

"Do you know how many people have begged me to teach them, and I haven't even given them a second glance?"

"So you think you can just reject me because you have a little talent?"

"Your talent means absolutely nothing to me!"

"I've seen the short sword you forged; it's utterly crude! How could Steward Li have promoted you to a full-fledged swordsmith for something like that?"

"I'm going to see him right now and making him demote you back!"

Shen Chu hadn't expected that Han Tieshan would have such a fiery temper.

I only said a polite way of refusing.

But he was like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment, and even wanted to ask Manager Li to demote him back.

With such a narrow-minded attitude, let alone being his disciple, Shen Chu would find it uncomfortable even to sleep in the same courtyard.

If Steward Li really revokes his official swordsmith qualification because of this, he doesn't care.

Given enough time, he'll become a master blacksmith sooner or later.

Then he'd like to see what else Han Tieshan could say!

Han Tieshan didn't give Shen Chu a chance to argue. He pushed open the courtyard gate and strode out, looking like he was going to find Steward Li.

Watching his departing figure, Shen Chu reopened the manual for the Crushing Stone Fist:

"Since things have come to this, let's learn the Crushing Stone Fist first."

For the rest of the time, Shen Chu kept memorizing the moves and techniques of the Crushing Stone Fist.

From initially only being able to execute a single move, he progressed to being able to execute the preceding moves in sequence.

Although his movements weren't perfect and he didn't feel the punching power described in the book, his talent was limited, so this was already a significant improvement for him.

With the lunch break coming to an end, Shen Chu finally completed all eight moves of the Crushing Stone Fist.

It was at this time that:

[Successfully became a martial artist and gained the initial skill: Twice the Result with Half the Effort Lv1]

[Twice the results with half the effort: You complete tasks in less time and gain double the experience.]

[Passive Skill: The higher your combat power, the stronger your Blood Courage.]

[Introduction to Crushing Stone Fist (1/100)]

Shen Chu's idea was correct.

The emergence of the new skill brought Shen Chu even greater joy.

With this, he can forge a weapon much faster, and the experience points gained from each forging will be doubled.

Whether you're practicing martial arts or forging weapons, you can progress at a much faster pace!

As you level up and achieve twice the results with half the effort, the multiplier of this skill will also increase.

If Shen Chu had possessed good natural talent back then, he would have become an unparalleled genius!

If there's anything else that he's dissatisfied with, it's that they couldn't elevate his innate talent to a higher level.

"Looks like I still need to grind for more experience points..."

As his break ended, he returned to the forging compound.

But as soon as he entered the door, he heard a sound that made him uncomfortable.

"This brat is truly arrogant! He only managed to forge a inferior knife, yet he dares to spout such nonsense in front of me!"

"If what Master Han says is true, then this person has truly gone too far and should have his official swordsmith qualification revoked!"

The speaker was Han Tieshan, and several other formal swordsmiths stood beside him, echoing his words.

When Shen Chu entered, none of them gave him a friendly look.

Only Master Sun, who had already started forging in the corner, saw through everything.

"Did you offend him?" Master Sun glanced at Shen Chu.

"Yes."

Shen Chu nodded.

Master Sun sighed, "Then your newly acquired official status as a swordsmith is probably in jeopardy."

"Master Sun, are you so sure?"

Shen Chu couldn't help but become curious.

Can the words of a knife forger whose skill level is comparable to Master Sun really carry that much weight?

"You don't know this, but Han Tieshan has many disciples and some connections. Many of the formal swordsmiths in the forging compound are his students. If they were to gang up on each other..."

Master Sun didn't continue speaking; he believed Shen Chu understood what he meant.

Shen Chu did indeed understand.

According to Master Sun, Steward Li should appear immediately and demote him back to a sword-forging apprentice.

But where is Manager Li now?

Seeing Shen Chu's confusion, Master Sun explained, "Manager Li has gone out to purchase iron ore and will be back later."

Since the outcome wouldn't be known until the evening, Shen Chu decided to stop worrying.

He returned to his assigned forge as usual and began forging the short sword.

With the added benefit of achieving twice the result with half the effort, he found that he was much more efficient at doing things.

Without activating the "Refining Through a Thousand Hammers" skill, he previously needed five hammer blows to increase the progress bar of the low-grade short sword by even a single point.

But now only three hammer blows are needed!

And the progress bar he added wasn't just one point, but two!

"Is this what they mean by achieving twice the result with half the effort?"

Shen Chu felt a surge of excitement and began to forge the iron even faster.

[Low-grade short sword (6/100)]

.......

[Low-grade short sword (12/100)]

With each strike of the hammer, the progress bar for the low-grade dagger steadily increased.

But Shen Chu also began to breathe heavily, large drops of sweat rolling down her forehead and some even getting into her eyes.

Currently, his biggest weakness remains his lack of stamina.

If I could have leveled up the Crushing Stone Fist to the beginner level earlier, this weakness could have been somewhat compensated for.

"effort!"

Shen Chu persisted, focusing all his energy on forging the weapon, completely unaware that Master Sun was watching him with a complex expression not far away.

Master Sun's real name is Sun Ping. He has been in the knife-forging industry for decades, from a young man to an old man, and has seen countless knife forgers come and go.

Among them were many exceptionally talented individuals who became blacksmiths in their early twenties.

Some diligent and dedicated individuals, after many years of hard work, may be lucky enough to forge high-grade weapons.

At the time, he thought it was a combination of talent and hard work.

But after meeting Shen Chu today, he finally understood what true talent and hard work should look like.

A newcomer who had recently joined the household became a formal swordsmith, and had only just begun forging swords that morning.

The afternoon forging time was shortened to almost half.

And each sword forged was better than the last.

Moreover, even when faced with bullying from others, he remained humble and continued doing his own thing.

With these qualities alone, he can surpass countless arrogant people!

If Steward Li were to dismiss him based on a few words from Han Tieshan, it would be a loss for the Li family, and Sun Ping would not want a talent like Shen Chu to be buried in obscurity.

But Sun Ping was just an ordinary swordsmith. Although he was senior, he was too honest and could not compare to Han Tieshan.

He sighed silently, then began hammering the knife again.

Shen Chu was completely unaware of Sun Ping's various thoughts.

He was frowning as he looked at a short sword that had just been forged.

[Low-grade short sword (46/100)]

He didn't use any forging techniques to make this short knife; he relied entirely on his newly learned skills and the added advantage of achieving twice the result with half the effort.

After deducting the bonus for achieving twice the result with half the effort, the completion level of this short sword should be 23 points.

23 points represents his current true level.