Emperors War

Clank...clank....clank....clank....clank....clank....clank....clank...clank the sound of the hammer striking metal rang out over and over again.

The hammer that Mavis had Aker pick up from the corner of the forge weighed 2.7 kilograms. When Aker held the hammer in his hand he couldn"t help but think about how heavy it was.

While 2.7 kilograms was not a significant amount of weight in normal items that might be carried around it was a considerable weight for swinging around a sledge hammer. With each swing Aker felt like his body was going to break.

Already he had swung the hammer 4,900 times in total. Over and over again he swung the hammer hitting the same ingot over and over again. When it would cool down Mavis would have him walk over to the forge and put the metal in to the flame. Mavis would blow the bellow and have Aker call out what he was seeing.

"It"s just turning red."

"The fire is getting bigger."

"The fire is getting smaller."

Aker was just calling out what he was seeing and Mavis acted as if though he wasn"t seeing what he was supposed to see.

As soon as the ingot would turn a crimson red Mavis would have him remove the ingot from the flame and swing the hammer.

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One thousand swings with his right arm. One thousand swings with his left arm. One thousand swings with his right arm. One thousand swings with his left arm. Over and over again.

If learning medicine was about reading and comprehending then blacksmithing was about action and strength. The worst part....for all of Akers swinging, for all of Akers exhaustion. He had nothing to show for it.

The metal ingot while showing dents as he hit with his hammer over and over again never started to take any other shape than the block it was originally in. It was as if though his hammer did not have enough power to make it bend to his will.

When Aker listened to Mavis"s hammer hit the ingot he heard the rhythmic sound of miracoulous melody. It made a person feel at ease, as if though his every movement was an art work or masterpiece.

Aker on the other hand was about 20%. Roughly two out of every ten swings of the hammer was. .h.i.tting its desired spot. The other eight were hitting the ingot randomly and in some cases missing altogether and merely hitting the anvil.

Mavis didn"t bother trying to correct his swing as he just watched over him sitting in the corner with his eyes closed listening to the clink...clink....clink.... of his hammer.

With eyes still closed Mavis would call out that it was again time to put the ingot back in the fire and each time he would call out "Tell me what you see" and each time Aker would respond back "Its just turning red", "the fire is getting bigger" and "the fire is getting smaller".

This ridiculous play was repeating itself over and over again. The sweat running down Aker was beginning to form a small pool on the floor at his feet.

Despite the fact that Aker couldn"t understand the reasons behind Mavis"s questions. Despite the fact that Aker couldn"t understand why Mavis didn"t offer any guidance. Despite the fact that Aker couldn"t feel his arm"s or legs, he just kept swinging the hammer.

"That"s 5,000 Master, can I take a break now" Aker called out clear fatigue and anguish in his voice permeated the room.

"Of course...of course..." hearing Mavis call out of course Akers shoulders drooped as if though his body was ready to give in. Finally he was going to be able to put the hammer and tongs down and rest.

"As soon as you finish up the last 1,000 you can take a break....hahaha....hahaha.....we wouldn"t want one arm gettin stronger than the other now would ya?"

"hahahahahah.....hahahahahha..... is that all that master knows how to do? All he does is laugh hahahahah....hahahahaha!" Aker couldn"t help but scold Mavis in his mind.

Admittedly after swinging the hammer for the last few hours Aker had developed a new found respect for Mavis.

Originally he liked Mavis just because he was looking after him. He had clearly taken a vested interest in Aker and as such Aker felt respect for him because of that. It is generally hard to dislike someone who has shown good will towards you.

However, Aker had never been exposed to blacksmithing so he had no idea what went into each piece of armor and weapon. To call it a skill was to belittle it. No....after swinging the hammer he realized that the weapons and armor were closer to an art work and the blacksmiths were artist.

Sure machines could make a shield, sword and arm and leg guards. Sure they could do it fast and more precisely even. But could they find the imperfections in the metal and use that to strengthen the shield? Could they measure a human and fit the arm guard to exactly the right length and allow the armor to become a part of the body? No....while a machine could do the work faster and more efficiently it couldn"t meet the same quality.

Why would you still want a blacksmith to make the weapons and armor?

Perhaps that is the easiest question that ever existed. Your armor and weapon were your life. While three centimeters may not seem like much, but if it hindered your movements by .2 seconds it could mean your life. If the machine didn"t take into account the quality of the metal and just produced shields it could take impurities and blend them in such a way that it would lead to cracks and destruction.

No, no....there wasn"t a single fighter who would trust their lives to some machine made armor. There were none who would risk their lives to a weapon they couldn"t trust. The demand for blacksmiths far outweighed the supply. There simply were not enough blacksmiths that could keep up with the request coming in.

If Mavis was an artist and what he created was art work then at this time Aker would be as they described "Failed and wiped over the floor" a complete and total failure.

While he was studying the medicine books he felt an affinity with it that made him desire to learn more. He felt every word had meaning and every action had purpose. He could visualize as he read about the intricate systems within the human body. He could practice in his mind the process of completing the steps of first aid connecting the anatomy book with the process of completing it.

While the hammer would hit he would feel that it was disorganized and wrong, only hitting his target two out of ten tries. He was ashamed when he would bring the hammer back and smash it down and the clank would sound dull and lifeless as if though the metal was embarra.s.sed for the both of them.

A few times he had even thought that he had heard the crying and wailing of the anvil that had to put up with the pitiful strikes of his.

"Widen you stance and square your shoulders, aim the hammer with your heart and not your eyes. Feel the metal and understand its contours. Where should you be hitting it. That piece of metal doesn"t want to be a hunk of metal. It wants to be a great sword taking the lives of countless people on the battle field. It want"s to be an unbreakable shield protecting the life of a great hero. Help the metal realize what it wants to be instead of trying to force it" Mavis called out calmly to Aker.

"How"s a piece of metal supposed to tell me what it wants to be!" Aker replied back even more confused and down trodden after hearing Mavis"s words.

"How"s a piece of metal supposed to tell me what it wants to be MASTER!" Mavis instantly replied back with a stern look across his face his arms crossed against his chest.

"How"s a piece of metal supposed to tell me what it wants to be Master!" Aker repeated the words back to Mavis with a slight bit of sarcasm in his voice especially emphasizing the word "Master". Probably Mavis didn"t pick up on it and if he did he didn"t acknowledge it as he nodded his head up and down as if though it was better.

"You don"t have to worry about that just widen your stance and square your shoulders and don"t talk. Swing your hammer and aim with your heart."

"How does someone aim with their heart? How does someone talk to a piece of metal to ask it what it wants to be? At least make sense when you talk." Aker mumbled under his breath in voice so quite he was sure that Mavis couldn"t hear.

"What was that!"

"Nothing, nothing, I just said Master is right."

"good...good that"s what I thought I heard and was just happy to hear my prided disciple tell me that I was right. Its good that you know that....hahahahahaha.....hahahahaha...what a wonderful disciple this Mavis has taken in!" Mavis exclaimed loudly while his laughter drowned out the sound of Akers clank against the anvil.

Aker had lost this round. There was nothing else he could say against his shameless master that would allow him to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Rather than slip further down the hole he accepted his defeat put his head down and kept swinging his hammer.

Seeing Aker put his down in defeat Mavis couldn"t help but smirk. His shameless smile grew so big he had to turn around for fear that Aker might see his gloating.

"Your about 100 years to early to be plotting against me. The day my disciple can pull a fast one on me like that is the day that this Mavis would eat his own shirt." Mavis said to himself in a whisper.

Since Mavis had his back turned and spoke in a whisper and the only sound that Aker could hear was the clank of the hammer hitting the anvil and sometimes. .h.i.tting the ingot he completely missed Mavis"s statement.

"Finally 6,000 Master. Can I be done now?"

With the final clank that rang out through the forge Aker announced the completion of his task.

Mavis looked over and saw the boy drenched in sweat as he confirmed the 6,000 swings had rung out.

Amazingly enough when they had started Mavis had only intended to have Aker swing the hammer a couple of hundred times with each arm before having him call it done.

When Mavis saw Aker swinging away he had quickly changed his mind and decided that he would do a total of 2,000 swings of the hammer, 1,000 with each arm. As the boy approached 2,000 he decided he was going have him do 4,000 swings. It wasn"t until Aker asked about taking a break around 5,000 that he settled on the number total of 6,000 swings in total.

It was unbelievable that Aker could swing that 2.7 kilogram hammer over 6,000 times. More impressively he managed to hit the right spot at a rate of 20%.

A 20% hit rate was already at a level 4 apprentice which was only one step away from level 1 novice blacksmith.

To put it in rough terms each 5% hit rate equated to a level from level 1 apprentice to level 4 novice blacksmith.

Level 1 apprentice had a hit rate of 5%.

Level 2 apprentice had a hit rate of 10%.

Level 3 apprentice had a hit rate of 15%

Level 4 apprentice had a hit rate of 20%

After getting to level 4 apprentice a blacksmith could then start creating their own basic work as a novice blacksmith.

Level 1 novice blacksmith 25%

Level 2 novice blacksmith 30%

Level 3 novice blacksmith 35%

Level 4 novice blacksmith 40%

So while Aker was feeling like an absolute failure for only hitting two out of ten properly, from Mavis"s perspective he had found himself a smithing prodigy.

He was already at a Level 4 apprentice with his perfectly awful form. Mavis had been studying each swing trying to figure it out. How was he hitting with such a high rate already? After watching him swing the hammer thousands of times he still couldn"t figure it out.

Was it possible that he had instinctively known to use his heart when swinging the hammer? The term use you heart doesn"t specifically signify using ones heart as eyes to aim and swing. What it represents is the c.u.mulative knowledge of a blacksmith to hit a target. Just like a professional archer doesn"t need to aim to hit a target. Through practice, use of peripheral vision, and experience they can accurately shoot a bow with almost no effort. The craziest part is that nonchalant action of theirs with the bow is significantly more accurate than those people who take their time and aim.

While Aker has no direct blacksmith experience to draw from, is he drawing from other experiences to use his heart to aim and swing? The less a blacksmith aims with his eyes the greater the master. While he was talking to me he kept swinging the hammer and was still hitting. As hard as it is to believe is there any other explanation?

Mavis was lost in his thoughts about Akers performance. It usually took an apprentice 1-2 years to be ready to move from level 1 apprentice to level 4 apprentice. A countless number of swings of the hammer had to occur for an apprentice to develop swinging the hammer with their heart.

Mavis was lost in thought and didn"t even notice that Vance had entered his forge. He was woken up by the sound of Vance calling out to Aker.

"Come with me, its time to go get some food."

With Vance"s words Aker put his hammer back in the corner, grabbed one of the towels that Mavis kept in the room and wiped the sweat from his brow. After hearing Vance"s words he didn"t speak and just went about his business as if though he had been doing this hundreds of times.

Mavis watched as Aker put the hammer back happy with his disciples actions. He had nothing to say about cleaning himself up with towel, that"s what they were there for and swinging the hammer would make anyone a manly mess.

Mavis watched as Aker turned and headed to the door that led out of the forge. Just as Mavis thought Aker was going to leave without saying anything, Aker stopped after his feet cleared the threshold, officially making him outside of the forge.

"Teacher Mavis see you tomorrow!" Aker called out, a wide grin across his face and slight tinge of laughter in his voice as it carried into the forge.

Without looking at Mavis"s face he turned and ran off.

Seeing Aker run off like that Mavis"s mouth opened wide stunned at the brat"s actions. Sure enough he waited until he was no longer in the forge to call him teacher instead of master. Perhaps it wouldn"t be too long until he was eating his own shirt he couldn"t help but think.