Will's last class was arcane blacksmithing. Unlike his other classes, which were located in the Wizard's Tower. The arcane blacksmithing class was located far away from campus. Away from the tower, dining, and residency halls. The blacksmith was located near the gate entrance to the Mage Academy.

As Will walked he noticed, he was alone. He wondered if any other students had signed up for this elective. Elder Thaddeus told Will, the most popular elective at the Mage Academy was alchemy, followed by ancient runes and divination. The reason being these electives led to the most affluent jobs in the kingdom.

Most mages saw arcane blacksmith has beneath them. The desire to sit by a hot forge, hammer metal, while getting covered in soot was not enticing. The biggest difference was the cost-to-benefit ratio. Say an arcane blacksmith took the same amount of time to create a magic sword, as an alchemist took to make a pot of pills. An alchemist could make five high-grade pills, compared to an arcane blacksmith's one sword. Being an alchemist was just more profitable.

As Will followed the map, Elder Thaddeus had given him, he soon saw the blacksmith cottage in an alcove. The cottage was pushed up against the academy walls, only hidden by a row of trees. As Will approached the cottage, he could hear a constant bang of a hammer. As Will approached the door, the bang became louder and louder.

Will knocked on the door. Waiting for Master Blacksmith to open the door. After waiting a few minutes Will knocked on the door again. Will waited outside the door for 20 minutes, before the banging stopped. Will took this as an opportunity to knock one last time.

"Come in lad," said a Scottish-sounding dwarf of a man.

He was round, with stumpy tree trunk legs, his chest barreled out like barge. The man's sleeveless shirt showed two massive muscular arms. Finally, the long brown and gray braided beard nearly touched the floor. The man's matching brown and gray was cut short, with a patch of baldness in the center.

"You must be Will," he said with a frown.

"I'd think anyone of your generation wanted to learn arcane blacksmithing, what interested you in learning the trade?" he asked curiously.

"I'm a terramancer, and my master recommended this class," Will said.

"Aye, I already know that lad. But, why do you want to take it? If the answer doesn't satisfy me, I'll not let you into my forge," he said defiantly.

"There's a spell called [modeling] and my master said this elective can help me learn to use that spell. After my friend died, I promised myself I'd grow in strength, because that's what this world respects," Will said determinedly.

"Yeah, I was sorry to hear about what happened to Eleanor. She was a good lass. The Beastmen and Dwarves do have good relations, but we got along as good friends for years. After you all returned to Guidon, Thaddeus approached me. He asked I help train you," the dwarf replied.

"He did?" Will was momentarily stunned.

"You can me Master Duncan," he said turning away from the doorway.

Will followed him inside and saw a shiny silvery-blue forge.

"Mithril?" Will questioned.

"Aye, it's a mithril forge. The anvil, quench, and tools are also made of mithril. This forge is owned by the academy. The academy reached out to the Dwarvish Kingdom for an instructor. That's why I'm here in this god-forsaken place, that can't even make a good whiskey," Master Duncan said finishing the quick tour.

"But your stuff over here and grab an apron," Master Duncan commanded.

"To become a master blacksmith takes decades, but you don't want to become a blacksmith, do you? You want to learn about metals, their properties, and combine them with magic. I can teach you that, but it will come with a price. You must apprentice under me for two years.

For the first four months, you stoke the coals. You need to learn about the right heat for different metals. Thaddeus told me you also know the spell [radar]. I want you to use that to learn the metallic properties of different ingots. You'll start with copper, then iron, steel, ebony, silver, gold, and finally mithril," he professed.

"Now before we began, I want you to cast [iron lance]," he said.

Will obliged, and an iron lance appeared in his hand. He handed the iron lance over to his new master.

Master Duncan accepted the lance and turned it over, examining it closely. Finally, after a few minutes, he nodded and handed the lance back to Will.

"Lad, the similarities between the lance you conjured and this lance here, Master Duncan grabbed a lance from his armory, are only skin deep. I can see why Thaddeus recommends I can you as a discipline. You conjured an iron lance, but won't hold up against a forge iron lance," he instructed.

"This is the reason, why I said you have to learn the properties of each metal. Every metal has its crystalline structure. Here take this ingot of copper, cast [radar], and tell me what you see?" Master Duncan said.

For the second time that day, Will cast [radar]. For the second time day, Will felt himself falling into what seemed like a new galaxy.

Unlike the rock, where the crystal stars were different colors and made multi colors constellations, in this universe every color was were reddish-brown. Will noticed the metallic structure of cooper looked more like a solar system, with a sun and 29 planets, rotating around a red giant sun. Remembering his previous lesson, Will pulled back his consciousness.

"Well done lad! If you had stayed in another minute longer, I would have pulled you out myself. You might have some Dwarvish blood in you," he laughed cheerfully.

"I learned my lesson his morning in my Transfiguration class," Will commented.

"Aye, it's easy to stay inside and marvel. But staying too long is dangerous," he reaffirmed.

"Well boys, what did you learn?" he asked curiously.

"Unlike the rock this morning, everything looked uniform inside. Also, it looked like planets were rotating around the sun," Will replied.

"Good, now why do you think that is?" The dwarvish man asked.

"I'm guessing the rock had different minerals and metals mixed, and the ingot was pure copper?" Will replied.

"Correct! But if you looked closely, you'd seen some other minerals. It's hard to get all the impurities out of an ingot. You got to know your metal, before forging. You need to discern the purity and where the impurities are. The better you know your metal, the better the finished product," Master Duncan instructor.

"Now, move over to the fire. I'm going to smelt this iron into a lance," the Dwarf said.

Master Duncan showed Will how to stoke a fire, light the coals, and manage the temperature. He gave him a textbook that listed the correct melting temperature for different metals. Will watched Duncan melt a copper ingot in the fire. He saw the metal melt and watched Duncan pour it into molds. After it began to cool in the mold, Duncan took out the dagger and began to hammer and quelch. Will watched the process, taking mental notes. Throughout the process, Duncan explains each step. He explained to Will why each step was taken in a prescribed order.

"Now what did you learn? Don't tell me, show me! Cast [modeling]" Master Duncan said.

Will grabbed an ingot, closed his eyes, and cast [modeling], trying to repeat the process he just visualized. With his entire concentration, Will imagined the ingot warming up and being poured into the dagger mold. After forming the shape in his mind, he thought about hammering the ingot into a perfectly straight, smooth, sharp dagger.

When Will opened his eyes, he looked into his hands and saw a crude, misshapen, rough arrowhead. The arrowhead looked like a preschool drawing. He envisioned a masterpiece, yet he produced a rejected caveman's arrowhead.

"To be honest, this is better than I thought," said Master Duncan, with his hands wrapped around his chin. At least, Will thought he had a chin under that massive, braided beard.

"Until you sit down at the forge and make a dagger, your [modeling] spell won't improve," Master Duncan said stoically.

"We're done, for now, read over that book. I'll see you the day after tomorrow. I wish your god damn schedule wasn't so busy. It is nice to have you in the forge every day. Even though, you should have a good grasp of iron before they send you off the front line," he finished.

"Front Lines?!" Will questioned.

As Deputy Quartermaster, Marshall Rolf told him he was to help in Guidon. There was no mention of him going to the front lines. Will made a mental note to question Elder Thaddeus later.

Happy to be done with his second day of classes, Will walked lazily to the dueling grounds. The 16th bell tolled in the background. The loud 'dong' 'dong' chimed in the background. As Will turned the corner to the dueling grounds, it appeared the whole academy had come to watch his matches.

"I, Professor vont Arguelles, will serve as the arbiter of these matches. Both parties must state the terms," she said orthodoxy.

The giraffe boy from outside the Wizard's Tower spoke first, "I challenge William vont Ballard, for his second-place rank."

"I just want to be left alone," Will said. Will thought asking for anything from this boy would just be cruel.

"Very well the terms have been stated, commence," she said dropping her hands to signify the start of the duel.

The giraffe yelled, "[Fireball]" and a huge fireball zoomed towards Will. Will, stayed perfectly still.

By now, Will knew 16 different spells. Moreover, some of these spells stacked on top of each other like [fertile soil], [nature's blessing], [entangle], and [poison cloud].

Will wasn't worried, but he did want to make an impression, so mage students thought twice before challenging him.

Will multicast [meteor], [earthquake], [earth spike], and [quicksand]. The giraffe boy only had time to see, meteor not only block his fireball but alight meteor and send it racing to him. But, before the giraffe boy could counter cast, he fell into a quicksand pit with earth spikes penetrating his thighs. But before he could scream, the meteor slammed into the quicksand pit.

The enchantments on the dueling arena saved the boy from dying, however; he lay burnt outside the dueling ring, coughing up sand.

"Hear drink this," said, Professor vont Arguelles handing him a healing potion.

Then she continued with duels, "next, step into the ring and state your terms."

The next in the ring was a tall sturdy girl with gray hair. Likewise, she challenged Will for his second-place ranking, and Will asked to be left alone.

The girl began casting the journeyman spell [tornado], which gave time for Will to multicast [fertile soil], [nature's blessing], [entangle], and [poison cloud]. The girl fainted from the poison and her spell backlashed against her. She appeared outside the ring in tattered clothes.

The fate of the other challengers was the same. Will showed off his grimoire of spells. Will wanted these students to think twice before he challenged him. On various challengers, he cast [rock armor], [golem], and [iron lance]. At one point, Will fought another student with Rocky two-on-one. Will had his sword, Rocky had his lance, and both charged at the same time.

One by one, challengers failed. Until it was Ryan vont Driskill. Ever since Ryan lost to Will he felt a prick in his heart, and a mental ghost suppressed him. For his psyche, he had to beat. Ryan wanted to regain his ego, bravado, and self-confidence.

Once the duel began, Ryan multicast [inferno], [firestorm], and a new spell [flame strike]. The flame strike sent a lance of fire toward Will. It looked like a bolt of lightning, except made out of the fire.

Will multicast [earthquake], [earth spike], [quicksand], and [sandstorm]. When the fire and earth spell collided, it was so hot the sand turned to glass. Unfortunately for Will, Ryan's casting had improved more than his. The chards of glass ripped across Will's body, cutting him like a thousand paper cuts. Will's skin bled all over, shards of glass were embedded in Will's face, arms, and legs.

Will lifted his arms to cast a defensive spell, and the pieces of glass trapped in his body made a slight move excruciatingly painful. Just breathing felt like torture.

Will cast [golem] and [iron lance] to buy him time to think. Rocky materialized in front of Will, just as another [flame strike] slammed into Rocky's body. Large boulders of rock fell from Rocky's stomach. Rocky looked much slimmer like he dieted and exercised for a year.

As Rocky defended Ryan's blows. Will wondered why his earlier spells didn't work. Hiding behind Rocky, Will to a peak at Ryan. Will's [quicksand] had turned to the glass floor that Ryan triumphally stood on top of multicasting spells left and right.

"Argh!", Will screamed. Every breath hurt; the air felt toxic to his lungs.

Will knew he could not last much longer. He had to end this now, or the line of challengers would only increase. Grabbing his sword will cast [erode] for the first time at his own [quicksand] spell.

Will knew his master told him to wait on casting the spell, but he had to try. He had to win. Poor Rocky looked like his body was being taken through a cheese grinder. Rock and after rock peeled away.

Will noticed the glass floor Ryan was staring on was not eroding, his spell didn't work. Will grabbed his sword, channeled his mana, and cast [erode] at the glass floor again. Nothing. A third time, fourth and fifth time.

"Boom" Will looked up to see Rocky's Swiss cheese head fall from his frame. In pain, Will crouch and multicast [golem] and [erode]. The first spelled slowly repair Rocky, albeit at a slower rate than Ryan was blasting bits of Rocky. The second spell finally started to work. Will saw the glass start to melt like warming ice.

Will couldn't risk Ryan realizing his plan to cast [erode] again and again. Finally, the glass gave way to a surprised Ryan to impaled himself once again on earth spikes at the bottom of the earthquake.

Just to make sure Ryan was out of the match, Will cast [fertile soil], [nature's blessing], [entangle], and [poison cloud].

"Will win's the duel!" shouted Professor vont Arguelles.

"Here both of you drink this," she said. Handing a glass of recovery magic to the two boys.

"I'm calling it a day, if anyone else wishes to challenge Will you may do so tomorrow. Congratulations Will, not many mages can win six duels in a row. You are quite formidable," she said walking away.

The crowd dispersed, and Will slowly walked back to Master Thaddeus' cottage. Just before Will fell asleep, he thought to himself 'I need more defense spells."