?!
Food and accommodation provided?! And 8 silver lun coins per month?! And social security?!
After learning about Piltover's housing prices, the accommodation benefit became incredibly tempting, making Durin's heart pound. Yet, he calmly straightened his back, narrowed his eyes, and his thoughts drifted far away. Perhaps he should replace his mage assistant job and become an auxiliary police officer in Piltover.
In a sense, it would also help him achieve a class leap.
He hadn't known when he would next come to Piltover, but now Durin knew clearly: his next visit to Piltover would definitely be on July 16th.
Today is June 4th, leaving 6 days until rent is due.
He still had a month to prepare!
Kreslin rolled up the newspaper and handed it to Durin, asking him to hold it.
After returning their passes to the Enforcers on the bridge, the two took a private elevator back to the Entresol Level, returned their clothes to the tailor shop, and retrieved their deposit.
Kreslin also informed Durin that he could leave work early today, and the promised Emerald Potion and the magic aptitude test for Durin would be fulfilled when he came to work tomorrow.
Durin shrugged, choosing to take the public elevator back to the lowest level of Zaun. The air here was still so hazy; even with a mask, he could feel the discomfort brought by inhaling the smog.
After a whole day, Durin's tightly wound nerves and body could finally relax. He walked in the direction of his residence.
About an hour later, Durin returned to his cramped room, first went to the public restroom to take a shower, and then lay down on the bed.
He recalled everything he had experienced today, thinking of all he had seen in Piltover: luxurious carriages, beautiful women, fresh air, and a delicious seafood feast that left an endless aftertaste. Durin had a strong sense of unreality, as if he were in a dream—but this dream, he would realize it sooner or later.
He would definitely be able to afford a house in Piltover!
...
Early the next morning, Durin woke up. Today was his first day as an apprentice at the blacksmith's shop, and he couldn't be late.
He got up at six o'clock in the morning, spent one minute washing up and five minutes on the toilet, then put on his mask and ran towards the public elevator. On the way, he also bought a black bread to gnaw on, adding an extra sausage and a fried egg for himself, paying three copper circle coin.
After paying one copper circle coin, he took the public elevator to the Entresol Level.
As soon as the iron gate opened, Durin jogged towards the end of West District Fourth Avenue, taking a full half hour to arrive. This was even with him jogging the whole way.
A wave of intense heat washed over him. Durin hadn't even reached the blacksmith's stall yet, but he could already feel the scorching high temperature from the smelting furnace in the backyard.
However, when he arrived, he already saw Blacksmith Kang tidying the weapons on the shelves. He looked up and saw Durin approaching him, saying indifferently, "Put on your gloves and apron and get ready to burn charcoal!"
"Alright!"
Durin immediately agreed.
He took a few steps to the front of the shop and helped Blacksmith Kang place the newly forged weapons on the wooden table outside the shop.
"Alright, I can handle these things myself."
After placing all the large items, Blacksmith Kang waved his hand and told Durin.
"Then I'll go."
Hearing Blacksmith Kang say this, Durin didn't make any further excuses, turned around, and walked towards the smelting furnace in the backyard.
Of course, before that, he also opened his character card panel and allocated the stored blank specialization points to Forging. Only by raising Forging to Lv.1 could Durin more easily gain proficiency during the charcoal burning process.
The so-called charcoal burning means pulling the bellows to control the temperature of the smelting furnace. Due to the extremely high flame temperature required, coal is used for burning, not charcoal.
The so-called bellows had an air inlet at each end, with a valve over it, and an air duct on the side of the box, with an air outlet at each end of the air duct, also fitted with a valve.
By pulling a rod extending outside the box, the piston was driven to move back and forth, causing the valves to open and close alternately, thereby achieving the purpose of blowing air.
After all preparations were made, Durin, wearing gloves and an apron, firmly gripped the handle of the bellows and pulled it hard, blowing air into the smelting furnace to make its fire burn brightly.
This was a technical skill; if the speed was too fast, the furnace fire would burn too fiercely, making it unsuitable for smelting iron blocks.
If the speed was too slow, the flames would not ignite, not even the coal.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The fire in the smelting furnace shot up very high, and all the fist-sized black coals turned bright red, desperately releasing their last light and heat.
Durin also had to add more from time to time; the entire smelting furnace was hotter than a sauna room, and Durin almost experienced the heat waves and black smoke from burning coal up close.
Sweat poured down him, and his clothes were unknowingly soaked through, but Durin was completely oblivious.
"Forging Proficiency +1, Current Proficiency: 1/25"
A line of text suddenly appeared in Durin's vision, but Durin, busy pulling the bellows, did not notice it at all.
Charcoal burning was to melt the iron block, remove impurities from it, let the hot molten iron flow out along the groove, and after it solidified, hammer it into shape; this process of refining pig iron was then considered complete.
Climbing up the smelting furnace along the ladder, Durin intended to check through the skylight whether the molten iron had completely melted.
But upon climbing up and looking, Durin was stunned; the iron ore, which should have already turned into molten iron, was still lying intact in the smelting furnace.
Although it had been turned bright red by the high temperature in the smelting furnace, and the entire stone had become translucent like amber, there was no sign of it melting at all.
Durin refused to believe it; he wouldn't believe he couldn't melt this stone.
Gripping the handle of the bellows, he pulled it mindlessly again, Durin used all his might, desperately fanning the bellows to keep the smelting furnace fire at its strongest, and also raising the temperature inside the smelting furnace to an unprecedented level.
This continued for a full hour, and even with Durin's strong body, he couldn't endure it, let alone the fact that he had been injured before.
So, he stopped his work, glanced at the situation inside the smelting furnace, and took the opportunity to catch his breath.
The iron ore had mostly melted, with only a small, irregularly shaped piece remaining.
This greatly boosted Durin's confidence; "Good, one more push!"
Durin seized the time, added a lot of coal to the smelting furnace, and then started working the bellows again.
------------------------
There are already 70+ chapters available on my Patreon!
The story will continue to update 1 chapter per day on Webnovel,
while early access chapters are posted on Patreon.
Maybe it's not worth it today but it could be later
[email protected]/Kazenova223
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"