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If his situation was normal he could have learned this slowly through trial and error as most apprentice blacksmiths did. Unfortunately, he did not have much time. While he didn\'t need to rush quite as much as he was, he couldn\'t spend his time on something without confirmation that he would gain some results.

Luckily, his past experiences allowed him to understand most of what he read after just a bit of contemplation. Without these experiences, he would have struggled to follow much of what the book detailed, especially in the latter half when it started talking about more complicated topics.

These topics were still considered part of the basics since they did not include magic, but they were topics far above the normal for apprentice blacksmiths in a world without magic. Luckily, there were a few ways to cheat these topics, such as relying on magic to gain insight into the grade and quality of the material and completed items.

\'I really completely forgot about the basics...\' Eldrian thought of his recent actions and almost felt like laughing at how much he had rushed without clear thought on what his aim was. Sure there was the pressure from Miracle, but he hadn\'t formed a complete plan. And without one the more he rushed the less he would be able to accomplish.

In his time here he also hadn\'t touched the raw materials once--outside of crystals, but they worked differently from metals and this book did not cover them. Instead, Eldrian always worked with the ingots available in the smithy.

Due to this, he had completely forgotten that ingots had a grading scale determining how well made they were. The book hadn\'t gone into the details of how this grading scale worked, but it outlined that the grade of an ingot was paramount to making proper items.

It didn\'t directly mention microscopic factors, but Eldrian understood that a crappy ingot would ruin any item made from it since it would introduce a multitude of defects into the item. Some of this could be repaired through certain actions such as proper heat treatment to improve the microstructure or repeated hammering and folding of the ingot before forming the metal.

This wasn\'t an issue for him as all the ingots he had used were of the best grade, which made the fact that his daggers were so brittle all the more noticeably his fault. The book hadn\'t covered why, but from the warning against using spells to make items, Eldrian could easily guess that it was his fault.

The book only warned against relying on spells, not explaining why as it focused on the physical aspect of blacksmithing. The basics of forging  would detail how the spells should be used, but from the warnings, Eldrian understood the spells were meant to work as optional shortcuts. Used with a clear understanding that its use might worsen the final product.

Eldrian hadn\'t given the low durability of the daggers much thought, he realized now however that it was critical in deciding if he had messed up or not. All items had a certain durability and while there was variation within a Tier, there was also an average for each type of item in a Tier. If your creation was far below the average this clearly indicated a problem. One he felt he should have picked up immediately, but his focus had been elsewhere.

The book, The basics of smithing, even mentioned that most apprentice smiths would compare their creations to a list that most smithies had. This could be done for all items before Tier 5. By doing so an apprentice could take their time to sharpen their craft without needing to ask their mentor about every item they made. Allowing them to only turn to their mentor when they were stuck or the difference was still too large and they needed a great deal of guidance.

\'I should do that too, though if I want to make it in time I won\'t have time for all this... But, I only want to give my family some protective charms. They don\'t need to be perfect on the crafting side, only the magic side.\' Realizing this was a massive relief and allowed Eldrian to calm down a great deal, he realized that he could take some more time to master these basics if that was the case.

"Seems you learned a lot," Myropsis said upon seeing Eldrian slowly coming out of his contemplation.

Nodding, Eldrian looked at the two and smiled. "I didn\'t realize all the problems my method would introduce. Seems there is a reason why most smiths hammer their creation from start to finish."

Recalling how Solvi had made Crystoi, Eldrian finally understood why she hadn\'t just formed the blades with a single spell. Why she had taken the time to make it by hand.

Doing so would certainly have saved her plenty of time, but it might have introduced defects into the metal. And considering the cost of the materials she was using and the extra rare pieces Eldrian had offered to be added, clearly, she wouldn\'t dare take any unnecessary risks.

"I\'m glad to see you took this seriously." Myropsis smiled, happy that she didn\'t need to actually force Eldrian to follow the book step by step. She had hoped that he would realize what he was doing wrong and correct himself. After all, she wasn\'t a master of any craft. She couldn\'t truly guide him.

She had asked Matez (the duke\'s personal smith whose smithy they were using) to teach Eldrian, but he had refused. Matez had his own work he had to do and their presence already disturbed his work, he had even been pulled into helping with making the artifact. While Matez had found it an interesting distraction, it was still a distraction and he was now far behind on his personal work.

​ "Vivian, did you see anything special?" Eldrian turned to Vivian, changing the topic as they left the library to go and enjoy lunch outside in the garden.

Of course, it went without saying that by now Vivian had fully recovered from her starvation due to her breakthrough. As a result, Eldrian was being escorted by two beauties, and thanks to his recent realization he found some time to enjoy this fact.

"I did, but I\'m not sure what it is. I think it is an aura, but I can\'t be certain." Vivian replied, looking at Eldrian curiously. He seemed different from the day before.

"Please expand on what you saw, maybe we can figure something out before we even reach the outside," Eldrian said, half grumbling. He still felt that the castle was stupidly large, and the two agreed with him. They laughed as the way he had spoken made him almost feel hopeless in ever reaching the outside.