Transmigrated as a Ghost

As the man who was currently managing the front desk at the Blazegram forge listened to Marcus' statement he actually dropped the dagger he had been working on.

He then looked at the letter in Marcus' hand, took it and looked it over.

Of course, he had no idea what the emblem of the grand archmage looked like, but he had no intention of taking any heat from turning Marcus away.

Gathering his nerves, the man said, "I will get this letter to the owner but do not expect a quick response, he is currently working on a weapon for someone and even if your letter is genuine do not think the owner is going to take you as his apprentice."

The man swiftly went into the back of the building where Marcus assumed that people were working on their projects.

After waiting for nearly thirty minutes the man came back and said, "Well, I got the letter to him somehow, but it could be up to a day before he reads. You are free to leave and come back later if you want but I would recommend you wait here if you want to meet him as soon as possible."

Marcus nodded his head, found a seat, and waited.

Taking out a book Marcus began reading through it, spending his time learning how to get a specific skill that all powerful warrior needed to obtain.

However, contrary to his expectations and what he had been told, another man who was a strong looking dwarf came over to see Marcus within just a little over thirty minutes and said, "Irene, if you would not mind following me the master will see you now."

Marcus a bit surprised by the speedy summons closed his book and stored it away before following the dwarf into the depths of the building.

Walking through the building, Marcus saw a number of people working on all kinds of things from weapons and armor, to accessories and even a carriage.

He was also happy to see that while the majority of the people working in the forge were men around twenty percent were women so he figured that his form as Irene would probably not be a problem.

Following behind the dwarf that had come to fetch him, they soon arrived in front of a large door.

The dwarf pulled out a large key and put into the look of the door before opening it, and a blast of incredibly hot air leaked out of the room.

Looking in, Marcus could see an old man dwarf holding a large hammer made out of a material Marcus had never seen hitting away at a large ingot of the same material.

As Marcus and the dwarf leading him walked in, the old dwarf that was hammering away said without looking at either of them.

"Give me just a minute and I will get to a stopping point."

Marcus then watched as the old dwarf hammered and hammered until the ingot had taken the shape of a massive spear head.

When the dwarf was satisfied, he dipped it into a container of some sort of liquid, and a loud sizzling sound could be heard coming from it.

With a thud he placed the now cooled piece of metal onto a work bench, turned around, and looked at Marcus for the first time.

"So, you are Irene. You look quite a bit younger than I thought you would be by the way Aria described you. You must have done something more than just protected a town from a monster invasion to have gotten Aria's favor. Come here let me see you ID, I want to know if you will be cut out for forging."

As Thabon beckoned him over, Marcus took his silver plate noble ID out and handed it over to Thabon who thoroughly inspected it.

Looking it over Thabon was quite impressed. People reaching level thirty at the age of nineteen was not unheard of but was still pretty rare, not to mention that Marcus' stats were around the same as the average level thirty-six.

'Hm, blessing of iron huh. And she already has the forge skill, but her hands still seem to be immaculate, must be because of her regeneration. She even has fire magic; it is almost as if someone gave her the perfect foundation to be a forgemaster.'

As Thabon stroked his beard while looking over Marcus' status he began laughing and said, "Very well I have taken a bit of an interest in you. Show me what you can make, you already have the forge skill so you must have at least some experience no."

Thabon then looked towards the other dwarf and said, "Gurrom go and set up a station for Irene here."

Gurrom quickly nodded his head before leaving the room, however, as Thabon was about to ask Marcus some more question, Marcus said, "Wait there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding, I do not know how to forge yet, that is why I came here to learn."

Hearing this Thabon was surprised since under normal circumstances one could not obtain a skill unless they trained hard to obtain it.

With an inquisitive look Thabon asked, "Elaborate, how did you obtain the skill then."

Marcus then told Thabon how he had obtained a skill orb from a chest in a dungeon although he left out that it was obtained as a reward for being the victor of a monster festival.

Thabon once again stroked his beard while in deep thought before he said, "No matter I still want to see what you can do. Just follow you instincts and try your best."

Marcus looked at Thabon dumbfounded. Follow his instincts, Marcus barley knew anything about forging a weapon, like what kind of materials he need, how much force to apply when striking, and pretty much anything else.

However, Gurrom came back quickly and before he knew it Marcus was standing in front of an anvil with a blazing furnace next to him

Sighing, Marcus put on some fire-resistant gloves that had been provided, picked up a pair of tongs and grabbed the iron ingot that had been supplied for him.

Placing the ingot inside the raging furnace, Marcus watched and waited for the metal to heat up hoping that the intuition that having the forge skill gave him would be enough to know when the metal was ready.

Watching and waiting when the iron ingot began to glow with a yellow color Marcus took it out and placed it on the anvil.

Marcus then took the hammer that was loaned to him and swung with all his strength.

Unfortunately, with Marcus' strength, the hammer's wooden handle broke when Marcus hit the blazing hot ingot and the hammer's head broke off and began flying right at Marcus' head.

Seeing the hammer's head flying right towards his face, with all of his reflexes Marcus just barely managed to move his head out of the way so that the hammer only just grazed his head.

As the hammer's head flew into the air there was a loud resounding bang as it smashed into the ceiling and then clattered to the ground.

Thabon and Gurrom looked at Marcus with face's full of surprise since they never imagined he would destroy that hammer.

Sighing Thabon looked at Gurrom and said, "Get her another hammer, one that is a bit sturdier this time."

Gurrom nodded his head and took a completely metal hammer out of his magic bag and brought it towards Marcus who was still staring at the hammer handle in his hand.

Nevertheless, Marcus shook his head to snap himself out of his daze and took the new hammer while thanking Gurrom and apologizing for breaking the other hammer.

Marcus then reheated the ingot and this time tested the hammer with just a light tap before slowly working up to the amount of strength he needed to shape the iron.

Hours upon hours went by as Marcus began getting the feel for forging, learning how long to heat the metal, how hard to hit it, and when to switch sides.

It took Marcus nearly the whole day, but after many hours he finally had shaped the metal into the rough form of a sword's blade.

Of course, it was still incredibly crude but since it was his first time forging anything it was actually pretty good.

The intuition from his skill and his blessing had pulled him through and he had managed to create something that most would need at least a week of practice to accomplish.

Thabon took the blade after Marcus had cooled it down and looked it over. He knew that it was a piece of crap, and even if it was sharpened and had a guard and grip added to it, the blade at most would be worth a silver.

However, for a first try it was pretty impressive and Thabon could see that Marcus could potentially become quite the forgemaster given time and training.

Putting the sword down Thabon looked at Marcus and said, "Well that was a good try but unfortunately you are not at the level where I could take you as an apprentice. And do not think you can go crying to Aria, I only entertained you as a favor to an old friend, but she does not have any authority over me. So, even if I do not teach you will you still try to go down the path of the forge."

Marcus with a resolute expression said, "Of course I will still learn how to forge. When I got the skill from the skill orb, I had already made up my mind. I know that if you want the best gear you need to make it yourself."

With a big smile Thabon began nodding his head before saying, "Very good, that is the spirt.. Gurrom teach her the ropes, and Irene, when you think you are ready come and show me your skills again and maybe next time, I will take you as my apprentice."