Chapitre 3: Chapter 2 The Old Smith
Tect is luckier than most though, with his fairer features and more humanoid stature he works in the tool repair shop. At first he was just a gopher for the old human smith, fetching tools to be worked on, working the bellows, the same work most human apprentices would do. Tect watched the old man forging every day, slowly he learned which hammers to use for which type of shaping needed done, How to tell if the metal was hot enough to hammer or bend, even how to tell which pieces of ore had the least impurities. Unfortunately Tect was a goblin. No human would let a goblin forge, and even if they did, no one would buy the tools he made. So, for 3 years Tect was a gopher.
These 3 years were the best years since becoming a slave. The old smith was a gruff and stern old man but he never treated Tect differently than he did anyone else. Mid way through the second year working with the smith the smith's daughter had a child, it was a rough delivery. The old smith left the shop and didn't return for over a week. While he was gone Tect came every day. He cleaned the shop, chopped the wood, and even took orders from the townsfolk. When the old smith finally returned he was astonished. He had expected a disaster, he had taken on apprentices in the past and knew that most forge hands would laze about without the master there. Noone would have ever expected a slave to work so hard without the supervision of the master, but Tect had gone above and beyond. The old man saw the potential Tect had and lamented that he could not afford to buy the boy outright and take him as an apprentice, so instead he began to teach Tect to handle the day to day operations of the smithy. Tect learned to read the common language and do mathematics, this allowed the old man to focus on his craft and increase his work output, and he began to save money to buy Tect's freedom.
Eventually the old smith took in a young human boy named Dennis as an apprentice. As Dennis needed to learn he was given many of the jobs Tect would normally be given and Tect would be sent to inspect the ore at the mine or to take orders from the miners. The miners were nice enough to Tect and Tect knew more about mining tools than Dennis so it was the most reasonable arrangement while Dennis learn these things and got stronger chopping wood and working the bellows. Dennis did not see things this way. He saw Tect, a goblin slave, doing the easy work while he sweated and toiled doing labor for the smith all day. This infuriated him, but he was just an apprentice, He must do what his master says without complaint.
This went on for over a year. At the end of that year the smith began to teach the boy to forge so Tect returned to chopping the wood and working the bellows. This was the best time of Tect's life, he loved watching the old smith forge and now he got to watch as the old smith gave the young apprentice lessons. He absorbed it all, the way the metal glows, the sparks flying with every strike of the hammer, it was magic in Tect's eyes. In the autumn, about 1 and a half years into his apprenticeship the old smith tasked Dennis with making a miner's pick. As far as tests go this was a good one. Mining picks were one of the most in demand tools in the shop and it required a fairly decent understanding of hardening the metal.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone