“Tough, huh?” Benson smiled, knowing that it wouldn’t be so easy for Vicente to move the metal atoms of this mineral with his skill.
Blacksmiths had complex methods for extracting metals from minerals. But it was so complicated that, given the tribulation of the extraction, half of the item’s production time was spent on this process alone.
Benson had expected that Vicente would find it difficult to perform this task, which seemed simple on the surface. After all, there was a big difference between manipulating a ‘uniform’ and dense metallic mass where there were billions of atoms.
In the Polaris Realm, there was no clear and simple concept of atoms as there was on Earth. But the people of this world, especially the blacksmiths and alchemists, understood that substances were composed of small parts similar to atoms.
The mana of these special items had specific natures. A mineral was related to metals, and a specific plant was related to wood or other elemental variations.
Even without knowing about atoms, Benson knew there was a complex composition behind a mineral, with different types of elemental natures combined, mana, and more.
To extract the metal from a mineral that one would need to create a weapon, one would have to use various processes to eliminate these additional properties. Since one would not usually have an affinity for everything that might be in a mineral, most magicians could not even consider using their powers alone for something like what Benson was asking Vice to do!
But he said to his student. “Vicente, I am sure that your skill will give you the ability to do this extraction, so I ask you to do it. But by extracting metals in this way, you can greatly increase your understanding and mastery of your skill. If you can do what I ask, this whole great world will eventually become a gigantic reserve for you and your creations!”
Benson was only thinking about the implications of Vicente’s skills for the forge. 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈
But the moment he heard his master speak, Vice realized that this would have a significant impact on his warrior skills!
‘If I can do what he asks of me, one day, I will be able to control the metals in the bloodstream of my enemies!’ Vicente thought as he tried harder to move his powers and extract the metal from this mineral.
The metal mass in one’s blood was far less than the amount in this mineral. Not only that, metals did not remain free in living organisms but in the form of substances.
In a way, metals in the body were like those in minerals but in much smaller quantities and more difficult to handle.
Vicente did not delude himself that completing this difficult mission today would immediately give him the ability to control the metals in enemies’ bodies. Only by improving his skills over a long period of time through such training could he achieve such proficiency!
Sweat dripped from his face and back as the ore in front of him shook under Vicente’s powers.
After nearly half an hour of trying to extract the metals from the ore, it split in half, revealing a silver ball inside the piece of stone.
Noticing what Vicente had done, Benson smiled, seeing how clever his student was.
Instead of trying to control every metallic atom in the mineral, Vicente concentrated on separating those atoms from the non-metallic ones and bringing them together, thereby increasing the magnetic force inside the mineral.
By bringing the metallic atoms together, the dispersed magnetic force came together and increased many times over, making Vicente’s job easier.
It had taken him half an hour, and he had spent almost all of his mana on this exercise. But he had removed a good part of the metallic atoms from the mineral, enough to produce something with his own hands.
“Very good. That’s already faster than the mineral extraction process I use.” Benson smiled as he looked at the small silver sphere, seeing his student’s potential.
“Take this potion and then use what you have extracted to create a weapon of any kind. I want to see how good the weapon you create will be, Vicente.” He said after tossing a restorative potion to the black-haired young man, who was currently drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
Vicente immediately ingested the contents of the elixir, feeling a freshness in his body, and the environment’s mana quickly entered him to replenish his reserves.
Noticing the potion’s effect, Vicente couldn’t help but notice that his mana was a bit denser.
‘As expected. This must be high-level training. In just 30 minutes of hard work, my mana has already become 3% denser!’
Vicente waited for the potion to finish working on his body and then looked back at the metallic orb encrusted in the stone.
‘If I’m in a hurry, I think I can use my elemental affinity with Earth to make my job easier. But doing it with just my first skill will be good practice.’ He thought before activating his first Red Magic Pentagram again.
With that, he easily manipulated the metallic sphere, turning it into a liquid and letting it float in front of him.
Seeing how Vicente manipulated this metal and others that were already there to be worked on, Benson noticed that his student was being more careful.
Instead of forming his weapon in a matter of seconds as he usually did, Vicente slowly formed the necessary metal alloys, working to make them stable.
He then manipulated their shape, building a dagger piece by piece, following the sequence a blacksmith would normally follow to bring a dagger design to ‘life.’
“Very good. You get the point. Your skill is outstanding. But they will always have defects if you don’t build proper structures for your weapons with strong metal alloys.
Vicente, do you want to know the difference between your previous weapons and the one you are about to make? Those other weapons could only be used to hurt unsuspecting Senior Apprentices. But this one could even endanger the lives of Acolytes!
If an Acolyte handles this dagger, it could definitely injure someone at level 3.”
Benson had no intention of encouraging his student to make powerful weapons for himself to use. As a blacksmith, he wanted to teach his student to make the best equipment for his customers.
But Vicente naturally considered the implications of his master’s words from the perspective of combat and understood that he and his men would be stronger with better weapons.
Eventually, he finished the weapon, producing a 25-centimeter dagger with a silver blade and gold hilt.
Seeing his student’s finished product, Benson stood up and appraised him.
“Well done, Vicente. This is a fine weapon and could be sold without embarrassment to either of us.” Benson said as his eyes glowed and flames in his hands tested the properties of this item.
“This dagger is a 1st-grade item with 45% efficiency. In the hands of a Senior Apprentice, it could even wound Acolytes before requiring maintenance.” He said, showing Vicente important properties that any magical equipment would have.