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Chapter 5 - Blacksmiths apprentice

  As for the items from the game, most of them were present as well, at least the early-game ones, and they worked somewhat as expected. Leslie has recognised a bunch of metals and weapons from the game in the description of various countrie's exports, however, he never saw items from Crimson or Corruption, or anything above them, even though the both biomes were present in the world. That was weird, of course, but there was always a chance that no one had come up with an idea of making something out of resources from these two biomes.

  After he was done reading his first world's encyclopedia, he had a plenty of information to digest, so he dived head-deep into learning his craft. Not only smithing was a well-respected craft, but it was also a way for Leslie to take advantage of his knowledge of recipes from the game as soon as possible. He was gonna get rich! This, and enthusiasm about being able to help his parents out could keep him going all day!

  Over time, he learned a bunch of ways of metalworking and was good for some more than just carrying water, ore and tools. Gramps was happy because of Leslie's enthusiasm, even though he didn't know the real reason behind it. After a couple months, they've become great friends and Leslie has mastered forging various simple trinkets.

  Given his hunger for information, he regularly reviewed smith's own small library in search for the recipes of forging various new items, as well as checked the town's book store regularly.

  One day, Leslie came back with a slender tome on chain-based weapons that contained something rare he knew from the game and the idea of creating an "IRL" version of it boomed in his mind.

  Having disappeared in the forge for three days and a half, he finally came out with what he proudly called a "Chain Knife", which, essentially, was a blade attached to a long chain made of a light but firm alloy. The original blade both in the game and in the schematics was triangular, but, with Leslie's skills, he was able to modify the weapon slightly, making it lighter and thinner, as well as shaping the blade into a form of a regular knife.

  It took him a couple tries, but on the third one, he finally succeeded to make this weapon into what he had in mind.

  Not that he was planning to engage in adventuring or something, he just wanted a happy and peaceful life. Unfortunately, that wasn't how things usually went in life, and especially in such a wild place as Terraria, so he figured it'd be a good idea to learn how to defend himself. And also because wielding a flying knife on a chain is hella cool!

  He regularly trained with that thing and eventually, developed somewhat a skill in it. Gramps, seeing his interest for martial arts, himself has decided to teach him a thing or two.

  Of course, an old man of a peaceful profession couldn't teach him a lot, but to make a good sword, the smith must know at least a thing or two about fencing... which was better than nothing.

  ***

  Speaking of good swords, Leslie has recently took a liking to various catalogues of legendary weapons, to see if he maybe recognizes anything from the game. It was almost a year since Leslie has become a blacksmith's apprentice. He was now fairly knowledgeable both about his craft and the world, and with a plentiful diet, he grew a lot this year.

  Going through tens of pages describing various weapons with supernatural abilities that were seen in these lands, some of them more or less recently, some of them hundreds of years ago, most belonging to adventurers, Leslie have noticed another curious moment that was present in all of the description.

  "Hey, gramps!", Leslie called.

  "What is it, boy?", gramps responded being busy with something at the worktable.

  "What is will?"

  "Will?", gramps rubbed his chin.

  "Yes, I keep seeing this word in the descriptions of these magical weapons. But what does regular will have to do with them? Surely, it's something else."

  "I've told you already that it is not very good to look at these legendary weapons too much. You will try to make them and be disappointed. No one can do this today."

  "Still, it is good to dream, tho. But isn't the will supposed to be about wielding these weapons?"

  "Ah, yes. So you see... the will that is mentioned here is indeed, a regular human will.

  Ok, so I'm not an expert, I'm just some old fart from the ass of the world, but... as far as I know... or heard..."

  "Gramps, stop belittling yourself."

  "Ok, ok. So. Almost all weapons with supernatural abilities are able to sense the intent of their wielder to some degree. And they react to that intent and follow it. That's how them adventurers are able to activate all those kinds of weird abilities. Most of these mfs have seen a lot of shit. And that developed a will in them that is stronger than in other humans. Well, some people are naturally born strong-willed, but most of us have to develop it either through training and cultivation, or, in some cases, if something traumatic happens to you... although no one would prefer that."

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Huh, interesting. Why didn't you tell me all of this earlier...", Leslie rubbed his chin.

  "Well, you didn't ask me, young man..."

  "And why didn't I find any mentions of it in the books..."

  "This knowledge is pretty much useless for anyone who isn't going to get involved with military or adventuring, because no one else got time for that, everyone is working to put food on their table.", gramps explained with a face of someone who was stating obvious.

  "Wow. That would mean that people with the highest martial potential would be nobles.", Leslie pondered.

  "Hahahah! OH, BOY, THAT WAS A GOOD ONE! Like if these lasy assholes would ever want to make the effort!... come to think of it, there actually was a certain number of prominent adventurers coming from noble houses.", gramps got thoughtful.

  "Ha, so I was right!", giggled Leslie. "Is there anything else I don't know?"

  "A lot of things, actually.", gramps stared at him seriously.

  "No, old man, I mean about will!", Leslie resented this so much he jumped out of his chair.

  "Heh, of course you do.", the old guy was clearly having fun teasing him. "But to your disappointment, that's kinda it. That's all I know."

  "Really?", Leslie got visibly sadder.

  "Umm, there's also this thing that... yeah, so them will-using weapons have different strength... which is obvious... and so, the stronger the weapon, the stronger will is needed to use it normally. Otherwise, they might resist, but I do not know what that means. I only have heard so much from my teacher."

  "Ugh.", Leslie sat back in thought. "Anyway, thanks for telling me."

  "You're welcome.", the old man smirked into his beard.

  "Also, did they mention by any chance, how..."

  "The usual way.", the old man answered, already knowing the question. "Physical training, ice cold baths, meditation, but to the lesser extent, and all that kind of stuff."

  "Now, if I remember correctly, that chain knife of yours should also be a will-using weapon.", he scratched his chin for a bit, then continued. "That's right, they don't necessarily have to be flashy. I don't know how that works. No one knows what the criteria are."

  "Whoa. So it is like that.", Leslie mused.

  "Yep."

  The next morning after this, if someone was walking closely by the fence of the smith's house, they could see a young man in the backyard, exercising fiercely. Since then, it was a regular sight: of Leslie exercising, and sometimes submerging himself into barrels of steaming cold water. This was a quite expensive purchase, but since Leslie had the money, he could afford it.

  And this was how these two years have passed. That’s how they lived their day-to-day lives: smithing, training, eating, reading, going for walks and festivals and so on. The old blacksmith kept passing his knowledge onto Leslie, and with each day, the latter became all the more and more proficient in his craft.

  ***

  One day the old blacksmith casually spoke to Leslie at the breakfast:

  - By the way, there's a new mine opening nearby. It looks promising, so it'd be worth taking a look at what they can offer. Usually, that would be me, but I'm getting kinda old and rusty, so this time it should be you. Also you'll have an opportunity to see the world beyond the walls of this shithole.

  Leslie raised an eyebrow, surprised from the suddenness, but shrugged:

  - When I go and where?

  - There should be a travelling merchants' caravan visiting this place in a week, you can join it. Their end destination is precisely the village where the mine is.

  And indeed, in a week's time, there was a caravan of travelling merchants visiting the Whitewillow. The locals met it with a big festival, because although the drought still persisted, there already were signs of it slowly ending, so the people were even more excited to get stocked on some more tasty food and drinks and to get some more enertainment till the life can go back to normal. It was supposed to stay here for a day and then move out.

  Unlike the other inhabitants of the town, Leslie didn't stay up late in the evening, as well as the old blackmith. They had to get up early.

  Right at the dawn, when the first rays of the sun were still making their way through the treetops, he walked out of his house and headed towards where the caravan was stationed at.

  Leslie has grown a lot over these two years and was now almost as tall as an adult man. His hair was tied into a man bun with bangs, and he was quite well-dressed for his age, way better than what he weared back in the day. Now he was wearing a free and well-ventilated white shirt and brown pants, as well as leather boots. Nothing too fancy, but they were made of quality material and Leslie liked them. He was carrying a medium-sized backpack filled mostly with provision, a bedroll, and also some other various small trinkets useful for camping. At his left side was his chain knife, and at his right side, was a gladius that gramps gifted him.

  He made it using some old blueprints left by one of civilisations of the old, and passed it to Leslie with a warning about monsters that might be hiding in the veins. Of course, it was the hired adventurers that were supposed to take care of the security, but with Leslie being able to protect himself better, the old man could sleep calmly. The sword was double-edged and short, and was a fairly good choice for a combat in a tight space, should anything happen.

  And yes, obviously, the caravan did hire a party of adventurers to ensure the safety of all participants. The times weren't wild, but here and there, a stray monster could always snatch an unprepared human in the wilderness, so with a lot of people to take care about, an adventurers' party was absolutely a must.

  As Leslie was approaching, he could already see them, a little bit to the side from the rest of the caravan, enthusiastically discussing somtething, The party consisted of three guys and one girl. Two of them were the bigger and bulkier swordsmen, a smaller guy was obviously an archer, with a fancy bow covered in silver ornaments, and the girl was flexing a mage's robe.

  Having taken a good look at them, he then headed to the person in charge of the caravan, and soon, he was granted a place on one of the wagons, and just like that, his journey began.

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