Valerian, The Legendary

249 Learning.

Valerian was unaware of everything that was going on outside in the main hall, he was focused on his meditation, suddenly, something clicked in his mind and he channeled mana through his eyes, then began to sense where the mana was stored. The sensation of mana channeling through his eyes was different and he could remember.

Focusing on his senses, he probed his entire body to find this sensation. However, the effect was not good. With the result of his search turned up empty, he became depressed. However, he understood that it would not be a piece of cake to locate the mana storage in his body. As he was contemplating time passed away and after two hours, just as the maiden had said, Trin appeared at the door and woke him up, “Master Valerian, it is about time we leave.”

She lowered her tone not to give him a big shock as the young guy was deeply contemplating his thoughts. Valerian opened his eyes and stood up from his spot. Trin asked if he was ready, and the prince nodded. The lady then led him outside the Sripa palace and navigated through the village. Valerian was following the lady with a calm pace.

After a few minutes, the two people reached a small market and Trin brought him to a shop. Valerian could not read the text used by these people just yet, but the hammer sign made him think this was a forging shop.

Trin pushed open the door and Valerian followed. The chimes of the doorbell announced their entrance, and before Trin could ask if anyone was there, an old raspy voice sounded, “Be right there.”

Valerian looked around in the meantime and found that the shop was very clean, and neatly set up. The entire shop had only one counter and the products were being displayed on the walls. Valerian had good enough eyesight and could see that the artifacts here were all of the superior quality.

Observing all this, he got curious as to what he was going to do at this shop. Just when he was thinking, a door behind the counter slid open and a burly old man appeared outside. His body had well-toned muscles, but his beard and hair had turned white with a tint of blue.

The old man saw Trin and bowed his head in greeting, “Your Grace, what made you come here? You could have summoned me to the palace.”

Trin shook her head and said, “Master Fern, I only came here to drop Master Valerian under your care. He is the champion of the Lumen Empire and will be spending a considerable time here in our world. The maiden wishes for him to work and learn things under your guidance, I wonder if you will accept the task?”

.....

The old man bowed his head and said, “If the maiden wills me to teach him, then I will teach him with all that I have.”

Trin nodded and turned to look at Valerian as she said, “Master Valerian, this old sir is Master Fern, the best weapon forger in the village. His family has been involved in this business for twenty generations, you can certainly learn a lot here. This training with help you utilize the potential of your body to the utmost limits.”

Valerian nodded and replied, “Thank you for your consideration.”

Trin shook her head and said, “I still have somethings to deal with so, I will leave you both together. I hope you both try to move toward a cooperative relation here. Okay?”

It seemed as if a teacher was guiding the students, and the students nodded. Trin left quickly, Valerian was looking at the old man, gauging his temper, and the old man was the same. When the situation was about to get awkward, Valerian took the initiative, bowed his head slightly, and said, “Greetings, Teacher Fern.”

The old man was surprised and asked, “Why did you call me teacher?”

Valerian smiled and replied, “I am here to learn from you, so you are my teacher, right?”

Fern thought about it and nodded, he said, “I do not know why you are here, kid. However, the command of the maiden is above all. So, as I promised her, I will teach you to the best of my capabilities. Now, you better not be scared of heat and dust. Come along with me now.”

Valerian nodded and followed the man behind the counter and into the door. The young prince was surprised that the forge setup looked so simple. But when he took a second look, he found that nothing about this forge was simple.

On the left was a material rack stacked with a lot of different materials. Opposite the door, a furnace was placed, with an anvil and a set of hammers in front. On the right was a table, with some engraving tools.

Valerian was surprised to see such a delicate set of tools in a brutal place. There was also a mound of soil in a corner of the room, with some wooden planks. Master Fern looked at his contemplating reaction and said, “What you see is the basic setup of a forge. I do not know what sort of setup you humans have.”

The boy said, “The engraving table is not placed inside the forge in the human world.”

Master Fern snorted and said, “Foolish! How can someone else know the weapon better than the smith himself? Kid, if you wish to get out of here, now is your chance, otherwise, I will not let you go until you have finished.”

Valerian nodded and said, “I never leave anything incomplete, Teacher.”

The old man nodded and then he began to tell Valerian about the basics of forging. The prince was like a sponge and he began to absorb everything. Teacher Fern said, “It is better to show you than to talk about it.”

Then the old man picked up a piece of black metal from the shelf and said, “This is Lava Iron, it is the most widely used metal.”

Valerian nodded and then he watched the old man smelt the slab of metal into a bucket, and while the metal was smelting, the old man picked up an already prepared mold of soil from the side. He said, “There are two types of forging, one with a mold, and the other is free-hand. To reach the level of a free-hand forger, you need experience and knowledge of the structure of the product you want to forge.

Valerian nodded as he watched everything and as he watched, he began to understand something. This something was not related to forging, but the mana threads the maiden has asked him to prepare.