Goulth sat by the forge and examined the knife from blade to hilt. A frown came to his face immediately after. He looked around before fetching his hammer and striking down on the weapon, breaking off the hilt in one go. Red watched the process from the side with curiosity.

Goulth turned to him. “It’s poor metal.” he spoke, waving around the blade of the weapon.

Of course, the boy didn’t need to have that explained to him. He wasn’t sure how Viran had gotten his hands on the knife in the first place, but the weapon was clearly a second-hand product.

The blacksmith continued with his examination. This time around, though, he took the knife and threw it into a pot placed on top of his forge. Red frowned and stared at the man.

“Need to check its properties.” Goulth said upon noticing his gaze. “Did you want to use this knife?”

“No, not really, but… Isn’t it just iron?” The boy asked.

“Yes, but not all iron is the same. Depending on where it came from, it may differ in sturdiness and purity. The temperature at which it melts can tell us a lot about it.”

Red understood the principle. A few minutes later, the iron melted under the forge’s high temperature. Goulth took measurements on a piece of paper while the process was still ongoing. Only after multiple checks did the man decide to pour the metal into a mold.

The man pointed at the melting pot. “Do you see that? It’s all impurities. The amount of pure iron in this knife is pitiful.”

Red examined the contents. Indeed, a sizeable amount of slag remained in the container, while only a small amount of metal remained in the mold. The blacksmith waited until the piece of iron had cooled down and picked it up with his tongs, placing it on his desk. After another round of thorough study and resiliency tests, Goulth had finally arrived at a conclusion.

“It’s not local.” He looked at the boy with a smile on his face.

“… Is that all you can tell me about it?” Red couldn’t help but frown at this anticlimactic revelation.

“Well, I’m not an oracle, am I?!” Goulth seemed insulted. “You didn’t even let me finish! What I was going to say is that this is simple wrought iron, very primitive for weaponsmithing these days. It’s the type of thing foot soldiers may craft when they’re out in the field and need an improvised weapon.”

That information was more useful. However, it still was not enough for Red.

“Can you tell me where the iron came from?”

“I can narrow down the region.” The blacksmith nodded. “Considering its properties, I’d guess it was mined from barbarian lands up north.”

“Barbarian lands?” The boy wasn’t aware of such terms.

“The land of the savages. All the way from the Autumn’s Hearth Forest to the Frozen Plains.”

Upon hearing that name, Red’s heart skipped a beat.

“… Autumn’s Hearth Forest?” He asked. “What’s that place?”

“It’s a very dangerous place. The natives there practice different cultivation arts, and there is no small amount of monsters wandering through the area. It used to be a good testing ground for sect disciples before the Empire invaded it.”

Recognition came to the boy. Said Autumn’s Hearth was the place Viran had told him about before his death. It was where he had hidden his treasure. Red had always planned to go there eventually, but hearing this name here was the last thing he expected. He took this opportunity to learn more.

“So you think the Empire made this knife?”

“Maybe.” Goulth shrugged. “They extracted a lot of resources there over the years, but the barbarians in that place also have a grasp of forging. Or maybe this knife was passed down a dozen times over before ending up in this region. It’s impossible to tell without more information.”

“And how dangerous is that place exactly?”

“Well…” the blacksmith scratched his beard. “Unlike our little forest, that land is far more hostile. It’s a place where only true cultivators like Hector may survive and thrive, but even they could be in danger.”

“… I understand.”

Red had hoped to learn something about the mine guards from this knife. Unexpectedly, though, he ended up grasping a different but still valuable piece of information. While the boy was reflecting on this information, Goulth picked up the piece of iron and tossed it into the forge again.

“Is there anything else you want to know?”

Red shook his head.

“Then stop standing around like a fool!” Goulth patted his shoulder. “Since we talked about forging yesterday, I’ll give you a new task. You’ll forge your own knife!”

The sudden announcement surprised the boy. However, he still eagerly accepted the challenge.…It turns out, though, that forging was a harder task than Red had been expecting. He had seen Goulth make things in the past. He had even helped the man in making some of them. Still, when left to his own devices, the task was considerably harder.

The hardest part for Red was controlling the temperature. The boy ended up shattering two knives because of it. A slight mistake could make the ultimate result too brittle to be useful. When he was about to break the third, Goulth stopped him in a hurry.

“Enough!” the man was foaming at the mouth. “Do you think metal grows on trees?”

“Doesn't it grow in the ground?”

“Bah!” Goulth pointed at the door. “Get out of here before you spend all my resources! Only come back tomorrow!”

Red had no choice but to comply with the man’s order. As he considered how to spend the rest of his day, he saw someone walking through the courtyard.

“Domeron!”

The boy waved his hand and approached the swordsman. Domeron, however, only quickened his steps without responding. Red was confused. Still, he followed the man.

Domeron stopped walking a few seconds later. With a sigh, he turned around to face the boy.

“What do you want?”

“To train.”

“It’s not the morning anymore.”

“Do you only work in the mornings?”

That was lazy behavior. Cultivators should be up for practice at all times of the day, in his opinion.

The swordsman, however, only frowned in response.

“Come!” he waved at Red with his hand.

The two of them eventually arrived at the training field. The boy was about to walk to the weapon rack before he was stopped by Domeron.

“Not right now.” the man shook his head. “We need to talk first.”

“… About what?” Red felt a pang of uneasiness.

“I heard you fought alongside those three while being chased by the bandits, correct?”

Another wave of concern. Was he about to be questioned about his strange power?

“I did.” the boy nodded. “But it wasn’t really fighting. We were fleeing for our lives.”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about… Have you ever fought anything before?”

An unexpected question.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I neglected to ask this in the past.” Domeron said with a sigh. “But do you know anything other than dodging? Have you actually fought anyone in the past?”

“Well, I-”

“And I mean in straight forward combat! Using skill and power! Not ambushes and surprises!”

Red was stumped for words. He spent most of his time in the underground trying to survive the terrible monsters that overwhelmed him in all physical aspects. The only thing the boy could do was to avoid being killed. The rare occasions he actually hurt or killed something were mostly by using his own cleverness and other underhanded tactics.

“As I thought.” Domeron took his silence as confirmation. “You have a knack for fighting, I’ll admit. But it’s obvious you only focused on a particular area of combat.”

“How can you tell that?”

“Well, I suspected it from the beginning, but there was no reason to speak about it.” the swordsman shrugged. “In my defense, I didn’t think you would be involved in life or death combat anytime soon. Now I understand why you wanted to push yourself so much.”

Red didn’t know how to respond. The man continued.

“Either way, I asked the others about how you fared. It did not surprise me to learn that all your tactics relied on ranged attacks or hit and run.”

“Is there a problem with that?”

Domeron looked at him and laughed.

“There is, if you intend to continue putting your life on the line.”

“And what can I do about it?” Red asked after some thought.

“Maybe learning how to use a weapon would be a nice first step. I saw you were carrying a cleaver with you yesterday. I thought you only knew how to use knives.”

“That’s just like a big knife.” Red shrugged.

“They’re nothing alike!” Domeron massaged his temples after this outburst. “Do you even know anything about weapon styles?”

The boy shook his head. Domeron sighed.

“Every weapon can be wielded in its own, different way.” as he explained, Domeron walked over to the weapon rack. “Sometimes, even the same weapon can be used in different ways. Take the sword, for instance.”

He picked up a wooden long-sword.

“Even this simple sharp stick has more styles than one can learn in their lifetime. From an aggressive offense, to a watertight defense. From quick and sharp strikes to overwhelming forceful blows.”

Domeron backed his words with action. From precise and swift jabs to long sweeping strokes, he flowed between each move with ease. It felt as if he was facing an actual enemy. Red could only stare in awe. After a while, the man stopped.

“Some weapons may vary in utility, of course. You’ll have a hard time using an axe defensively, or a knife to break your opponent’s armor. Still, it would surprise you to discover how many conventions cultivators can break…” he trailed off with a smile. “You need to find your own combat style and then pick the weapon that best suits it. That’s the most basic combat principle.”

This explanation, however, only confused Red. “I thought you said that one could use different weapons, though.”

“They can.” Domeron nodded. “But that’s for more skilled warriors. You barely know how to use a knife and you want to wield a spear too? It’s best to focus on one thing for now. Your principal weapon, you could call it.”

“… And how should I choose?” the boy asked.

The swordsman laughed with a mocking grin. “By trying them. How else?”

“But you can only teach me swordsmanship, right?”

“Yes, but that’s no reason to choose it. If you have more talent with something else, it would be detrimental to choose the sword just because you have a master of that weapon at your disposal.”

His words made sense. Didn’t Red want to choose his own path? There was no reason to follow in others’ footsteps out of convenience. The boy nodded in understanding and looked over at the weapon rack.

“So… Which one should we begin with?”