Boris placed an iron bar nearly half a meter long into the forge. Once its center glowed white-hot, he removed it, brushed away the impurities, and plunged it into water to quench it.

Raine was familiar with quenching from his previous life. The process hardened the iron.

After repeated heating and hammering, the bar took on the shape of a crescent.

Drus, who was working the bellows, spotted Raine and waved enthusiastically.

"Raine! Here to help again? Want to take over the bellows?"

Raine smiled. "Sorry, Drus. I probably won't be working the bellows today."

Under Drus's puzzled gaze, Raine approached Boris and pointed at the horseshoe taking shape.

"Uncle Boris, I want to learn how to make that. How much is the tuition?"

Boris gave him a surprised look. "You have money, Raine? You're not my formal apprentice. If you only want to learn horseshoe forging, the tuition won't be cheap. You helped me without pay before, but I can't discount a proper fee."

Raine grumbled inwardly. The rumors were true: Boris was a capable blacksmith and an extraordinary miser.

"Of course, Uncle Boris. How much do you charge for teaching horseshoe forging?"

"Twelve Silver Coins for one month of instruction. If you haven't learned it by the end of the month, that's your problem. The tuition is nonrefundable."

The surrounding apprentices sucked in their breath and exchanged glances. That price was beyond the reach of most people, let alone Raine, whose family was known to be poor. Surely he had only embarrassed himself by asking.

Raine was equally speechless.

Boris certainly had the nerve to demand such a sum. One month of lessons, with no guarantee of success.

An ordinary working man in Goldflash Town earned only two to three Silver Coins per month.

One Imperial Gold Coin could be exchanged for twelve Imperial Silver Coins. One Imperial Silver Coin was worth twenty shillings, and one shilling was worth twelve pence. A single penny had roughly the purchasing power of a one-pound loaf of rye bread.

After a brief pause, Raine gritted his teeth, put on a pained expression, and drew out one Imperial Gold Coin. He placed it in Boris's astonished hand.

"All right, Uncle Boris."

He offered a mixture of truth and lies to explain the coin. "My family enrolled me in Habsburg Estate's page-boy training so I could compete for a blacksmith apprentice position. They set aside some money for me to learn the common smithing crafts."

"It seems old Raine has high hopes for you. Work hard, boy." Boris suddenly clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't become like my worthless son. He spends every day fooling around in Mayst City, and now I can't even find him."

Raine saw the miserly blacksmith in a slightly different light. Even Boris hoped his son would make something of himself.

"Come, give me a hand."

Boris passed Raine a heavy blacksmith's hammer.

The instant Raine closed his fingers around it, a series of system notifications appeared.

[Blacksmith Apprentice advancement medium detected: Blacksmith's Hammer.]

[Requirements to advance to Blacksmith:]

[1. Blacksmith Apprentice Lv. 3 at maximum EXP.]

[2. Strength 6 or above and Constitution 6 or above.]

[3. Forge ten qualified blacksmith products of any kind.]

[Current requirements not met. Advancement to Blacksmith failed.]

Raine was delighted.

So this was the key to advancing from Blacksmith Apprentice to Blacksmith.

"Raine! What are you standing around for?"

"Oh—right, Uncle Boris."

Raine returned to his senses and began helping with the forging.

As a beginner, he was responsible for only one step: hammering a groove into the U-shaped iron bar.

After the blank had been worked into a crescent, the remaining process required two people. Boris gripped the heated bar in tongs with his left hand and guided a sharp, axe-shaped tool across it with his right.

Following Boris's rhythm, Raine brought the hammer down hard on the tool's broad back. Its narrow edge bit into the glowing iron, leaving a long, slender groove.

The groove allowed earth to pack into the horseshoe, improving the hoof's grip.

Boris charged an outrageous fee, but his instruction was thorough. As he corrected Raine's rhythm and use of force, he explained the entire horseshoe-forging process.

Raine absorbed every word.

Before long, the system responded.

[You have practiced Horseshoe Forging. Relevant comprehension increased.]

[New Skill Acquired: Horseshoe Forging.]

[Horseshoe Forging EXP +2]

[Blacksmith Apprentice EXP +5]

Taking an active role in forging sent his Blacksmith Apprentice EXP climbing far faster than working the bellows ever had.

Perhaps this was the true meaning of paying to win.

One qualified horseshoe after another emerged from their joint efforts. Unfortunately, Boris had performed most of the work, so the system did not count the horseshoes as products Raine had personally forged.

Naturally, they did not satisfy the requirement to produce ten qualified blacksmith products.

Raine was disappointed. He wanted to advance to Blacksmith as quickly as possible.

What else could he learn to make in a short time?

Then an idea came to him.

Horseshoe nails.

They were far simpler to forge, and logically they should also count as blacksmith products.

Raine remembered an old proverb from his previous life:

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.

For want of a horse, the king was lost.

For want of a king, the battle was lost.

For want of a battle, the empire was lost.

Horseshoe nails might be small, but they were no less important.

During a break, Raine asked Boris whether he could learn to forge horseshoe nails first.

Boris found it strange that Raine was so intent on learning to make nails before mastering the more important horseshoe. After a moment's consideration, however, he readily agreed.

Horseshoe nails were included in the tuition. A finished horseshoe had to be secured with nails, so the order in which Raine learned the two techniques hardly mattered.

Suppressing his excitement, Raine followed Boris's instructions and began forging nails in earnest.

At first, every nail emerged crooked and misshapen. Not one was usable. With practice, however, qualified pieces began to appear.

Just as Raine had predicted, the system recognized horseshoe nails as qualified blacksmith products.

Overjoyed, he attacked the work with feverish intensity, swinging the hammer with all his strength as sweat poured from his body.

Boris watched from the side, baffled by Raine's enthusiasm for making nails.

He shook his head. "What a peculiar obsession."

Before lunch, Raine achieved both of his goals.

[Qualified blacksmith products of any kind: 10/10. Requirement met.]

[Blacksmith Apprentice Lv. 3 (500/500), maximum EXP. Requirement met.]