Agatha The Legendary Guild Master

Fire was this important? This was weird, as I felt the design and learning how to deal with the minute details in it was far important, as it determined the grade of the final equipment.

"You seem to be surprised, but girls listen to this advice from me, fire is everything. You think dealing with fire is easy, but you are gravely mistaken. Let me introduce the fire to you, first it's not only a single type of fire, but there are many, so many that no one can count them easily. 

Then to ease things over us, our venerable masters divided them into ranks long ago. So, you have here fire rank ten, which is the lowest, as fire rank zero is the absolute king. Now, your second lesson regarding fire is about its temperature. 

Each fire has a range of temperatures it creates. For example, the orange fire we have here can produce temperature ranges between 2500 up to 5000 degrees," she explained slowly.

I felt that was such a complicated way just to make something simple as equipment, but my opinion didn't matter here.

"Then I just need to put all the materials over it to melt then pour them into the mold, right?"

"Wrong again," she replied instantly which startled me, so I asked:

"Where is the wrong in what I just said?"

"Amazingly everything, you need to check the materials, as each one needs a suitable degree of temperature to melt, going over their limit will cause damage to the materials, and using lower temperatures won't make them melt. 

You need to melt them completely, and then you will mix them and put them into the mold. 

Some materials can be mixed with other materials, while some can't, as they only mix with the liquid melted materials, while others must be put on a solid form of your materials after they cool down then you will need to melt them again," she said.

"What?! That's pretty complicated and nearly impossible," I replied instantly without thinking once I heard her words.

"No, the difficult part is how to control the temperature of your fire, plan out melting down your materials, and keep an eye for timing regarding the design forging process. 

That's what I can call hard, but as a beginner using a low grade basic design like that, I'm pretty sure it won't take long for you to master all of this," she replied calmly like she used to hear such a reaction as mine.

I didn't say another word as I moved to the place of the materials, picked one up and examined it.

'Drale tooth: white grade materials. Used in blacksmithing and alchemy. Melt down temperature: 3200 up to 3400 degrees. It can be mixed with other materials.'

'Rogal ore: white grade ore. Used in blacksmith and machinery. Melt down temperature: 3100 up to 3300 degrees. It can be mixed with other materials.'

'Tolom bone: white grade materials. Used in blacksmithing and alchemy. Melt down temperature: 3300 up to 3700 degrees. It can't be mixed with other materials. It mixes with melted materials or with fluid alchemy.'

"That's really a headache!"

I muttered as I checked more than ten different kinds of materials on the table. They were all white grade, and all of them had different degrees of melting temperature. 

As Nada just mentioned, some could be mixed together, while others needed to be mixed with the liquefied materials. Fortunately there was no material that needed to be put on cold solid mixed materials. 

Seeing all these materials with their conditions, with the design that was still on the screen in front me made me feel already exhausted. I didn't imagine learning blacksmith to be like this, a tedious job.

"How can I control the fire temperature then?" I asked with a depressed tone.

"You need to get accustomed to it first, then a link will be created gradually between the two of you. The fire here is the hall's property, so you can only borrow it, but in the future you might seek to obtain your own fire, as all professional blacksmiths have their own," she explained slowly.

"Where is this fire?" I asked with lack of interest, as I felt it was really hard to become a blacksmith. It's not a wealth problem, nor a talent issue, however it was a complicated process obstacle that needed precision and great deal of concentration and patience.

"It's right here," Nada said as I heard the sound of a snap followed by a sudden emergence of a small wisp of flame in front of me. it was orange in color, and it was burning fervently already.

"You can start familiarizing yourself with it now," she added.

"How can I do that? Should I speak to her?" I asked without a clue.

"It's simple, just stretch your hand into it and try to withstand the heat," she replied casually like she was inviting me to dinner. I glanced at this fire, this was really dangerous, and how could I risk putting my hand into it?

"Don't think, as thinking would make you reach a dead end. Just do it and don't be afraid, all blacksmiths experienced this process and survived it."

"You are not helping here," I muttered, as her words didn't push trust in me, but more fear.

"…"

She didn't reply except with a long deep breath. I kept looking at the fire for a while. My mind was strongly opposed to doing that, but my instincts told me to do it, and after some hesitation I decided to follow my instincts.

I moved a couple of steps closer to the table, stretched my hand slowly but with firm resolve as I entered it into the fire. Once my skin touched that fiery lump, I felt extreme pain that drove me to moan. 

The pain was increasing rapidly to exceed my limits, so I screamed. I felt the urge to withdraw my hand away from that fire, but Nada's voice came in this critical moment:

"You are doing terrific, just hang on, you are almost about to tame this fire."