The Blacksmith

The heavy snow in Gray Mist Mountain Town had fallen for nearly a month, and the seemingly endless snowfall had finally come to a halt.

Perhaps the blazing sun that illuminated the endless planes had defeated the ruler behind the heavy snow, for the vast white sky of Gray Mist Mountain Town finally welcomed its first ray of golden dawn.

The golden sunlight felt exceptionally comfortable shining upon people, bringing a hint of warmth to the air.

Lizer, who had become an apprentice wizard, gained a trace of enlightenment, faintly sensing some bizarre changes in the energy particles in the air.

This was the Energy Tide Theory:

Along with seasonal and day-and-night shifts, the energy of certain attributes would undergo periodic changes.

The concentration of light-attribute particles was slightly higher during the day than in the dark night.

The concentration of water-element particles was a bit higher in winter, while summer favored fire-attribute particles, autumn favored earth-element particles, and spring favored wood-element particles.

These were mere phenomena; the core theory of the Tide Theory was:

Influenced by external factors, the atmospheric energy particle concentration was not immutable.

The Energy Tide Theory was often used by wizards to locate and analyze the causes of environments with abnormal energy particle concentrations.

This was very important, being used exceptionally frequently in spatial geometry, secret realms, and planar studies.

Lizer sneaked out of Mentor Felina's apartment.

With Mentor Felina vouching for him, he no longer had to attend regular classes, as long as he could pass the final exams.

For him, that was a piece of cake.

Enjoying the first ray of winter sunlight, Lizer strolled around to the lake at the back, vaulted over the academy wall, and headed toward his family's factory.

His old man, Patiff, was still a sentimental guy. Even after becoming the boss of a blacksmith factory, he hadn't forgotten his roots.

In his words, the folks of Gray Mist Mountain Town all loved the tools he forged—high quality and reasonably priced.

Thus, he opened another blacksmith shop right next to the factory gates, also named "Lizer Blacksmith Shop."

His old man had learned to be quite sly.

Lizer's arrival during class hours caught Patiff by surprise.

His thunderous voice sounded like a roar, but it was actually full of care:

"You brat, I scrimp and save to send you to school.

Now that we've opened a factory, you're getting cocky, huh? Even learned how to skip class. Does Mentor Felina know?"

It seemed his old man still didn't know that his mentor had already become his daughter-in-law. Hearing this, Lizer quickly explained:

"Ahem! Mentor Felina allowed it.

I now need to delve into the more advanced courses for apprentice wizards. The town academy's curriculum is useless to me now, so I'm self-studying.

I came back this time to learn blacksmithing skills."

Patiff looked at his son suspiciously. In his memory, his son's grades were never this good, and what he hated the most was his blacksmithing craft.

Once upon a time, Old Patiff got so angry about this that he beat him severely a few times. Now, he never brought it up anymore.

He had tacitly accepted that their family's ancestral blacksmithing legacy would end with him.

Did the sun rise from the west today?

Seeing this, Lizer explained helplessly:

"With the help of Felina and Gloria, I've actually become a primary apprentice wizard.

I'm preparing to specialize in the field of mechanical alchemy, and to learn mechanical alchemy, I must learn blacksmithing skills.

I have no other choice."

Seeing that Patiff was still doubtful, Lizer chanted a spell.

The spell model for Mage Hand quickly formed in his sea of consciousness, and he manipulated the Mage Hand to casually lift a few items.

Seeing the objects floating out of thin air, Patiff revealed a look of astonishment. This was indeed the ability of a wizard lord!

He stared blankly in a daze, and then hot tears suddenly flowed from his eyes. He happily lifted Lizer up.

His voice revealed sheer ecstasy:

"The heavens have eyes!

Our Patiff family has actually produced an apprentice wizard!

I...

I...

I~"

This burly man wept tears of joy, his lips murmuring the word "I" repeatedly, momentarily not knowing how to express his excitement. Then he shouted out loud three times:

"Good! Good! Good!"

His voice was like thunder, echoing through the courtyard, causing the people around to look over in unison, inquiring about what good thing had happened to Old Patiff.

Lizer quickly whispered:

"Dad, don't spread this around for now!"

Hearing this, Patiff hurriedly looked left and right, nodding and saying in a low voice:

"Okay! Okay!"

The pleasant surprise on his face still lingered, and even Lizer was infected by this heartfelt joy.

He thought for a moment and simply closed the shop, bringing Lizer into the inner workshop.

Patiff pointed at the tools in the workshop:

"These were passed down from your grandfather's grandfather.

It's said that they were forged with the help of an apprentice wizard back in the day. I thought they would be lost in my generation.

Haha, I didn't expect things to take such a turn. You boy have finally seen the light!"

Lizer didn't believe for a second that these were forged by an apprentice wizard. What apprentice wizard would have the free time to forge blacksmith tools for a blacksmith shop?

This was a story Patiff had been telling since his grandfather's generation, bragging about it to everyone he met to put gold on his face.

When others heard it, they figured that since they were forged with an apprentice wizard's tools, no wonder the Patiff family's tools were of such good quality.

It was said that the George family's blacksmith shop actually believed it, which was a worrying sign of their intelligence.

Hearing this, Lizer teased:

"Dad, I'm an apprentice wizard now.

If you don't work harder, these tools and your blacksmithing legacy are still going to be lost."

Patiff raised an eyebrow at this and scolded with a smile:

"What do you mean, you brat?"

Lizer said somewhat seriously:

"Do you think an apprentice wizard like me is going to come back and run a blacksmith shop? So that our family's ancestral craft doesn't fall by the wayside, you'd better make me a little brother."

Patiff stood there dumbfounded, rubbing his head and thinking to himself:

I was so busy being happy that I completely forgot about this.

Realizing that his son's words had a hidden meaning:

"Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean, make another brother?"

Lizer had a faint smile on his face. He stared at Patiff for a long while, and seeing no abnormality on his face.

He thought to himself: This really is a gruff man who doesn't understand romance.

He laughed and said:

"I heard from your former apprentice say:

Sister Mera, who used to live next door to our blacksmith shop in the west of town, still comes to see you every day even though we've moved here?"

Patiff was astonished upon hearing this and opened his mouth to ask:

"Mera?

That's impossible, she's not even 30 years old.

I'm already in my 40s?

Impossible, impossible, stop spouting nonsense."

"In the face of love, age is not an issue.

Look at your physique; anyone would believe you if you said you were a lad in your 20s.

Besides, your son is now an apprentice wizard. Getting you some potions to strengthen your body and prolong your life in the future will be a piece of cake, right?"

Lizer said seriously. He truly hoped for Patiff's happiness.

Hearing this, Patiff stole a glance at Lizer. Seeing that he seemed sincere, a hint of drunken red flushed across his bronze-like face. He shook his head and said:

"Sigh! Let's not talk about this!

Where is there a son who acts as a matchmaker for his old man!

I'd better tell you about our family's ancestral blacksmithing legacy."

Patiff's ancestral blacksmithing legacy was quite ordinary, with no special features worth anticipating.

However, after more than a hundred years of deep cultivation and refinement by several generations, the greatest characteristic of this craft was—a solid foundation!