After Classes were over, Alex made his way to the blacksmith club's workshop. When He reached the large brick building, it was strangely quiet. Usually, five to ten students would be hammering on metal ingots to turn them into weapons and armor for the school.
Inside the shed, Alex found Thomas putting on the finishing touches on a weapon at one of the anvils.
"Where is everyone?" asked Alex, looking around.
"A minor merge occurred nearby. Most of the blacksmith's club members are also members of the mining club, so they went to find any out-world ores that were left."
"Why didn't you go with them? I thought you were a member of the mining club as well."
"I wanted to, but I had promised to help you get a new weapon." Thomas hefted the weapon he had been working on. "Here, try this out." Thomas tossed the bronze war hammer he had been working on to Alex. "There's a training dummy over there."
Alex took several test swings with hammer, before smashing the training dummy hard enough to snap it off at the base.
"This is nice. It's even stronger than my old one. What is it made of?" Alex asked as he examined the hammer. There was a good deal of intricate detail included in the workmanship. On all sides of the head were engraved designs, mostly depicting holy symbols of the Paladin and Priest classes. The haft was four feet long and the lower half was wrapped in leather. The upper portion was slightly fluted to give a good grip and increase strength. The pummel was capped with a large green stone.
"It's made of bronze." answered Thomas. "It should be more durable than your last one. And the shaft is metal, so it won't break easily. The bevel on the strike faces will increase the damage you do slightly."
"I definitely want this, but I don't think I could afford it. A lot of work went into this. And the materials could not have been cheap. How much is it?"
"It was going to sell for sixty-five silver. But since I broke your hammer, I'll just give it to you."
"What?! I can't accept it. And won't you get in trouble for giving away the club's merchandise?"
"Don't worry about that. The club owes me several gold crowns for all the metals I've sold them. And I made that hammer. The club only sells items that its members donate or sell to the club. Mostly they are sold to cover the cost of materials that the members buy from the club to create the item. The hunting club and mining club sell materials to the crafting clubs like us and the leatherworking club. The crafting club members create items, and sell them to the club at the cost of the materials. The club then sells the items to the students or occasionally the public at a slight profit to allow the club to buy more materials. It all runs at an almost zero profit. I'm something of an exception. The mining club head doesn't like me, so he allows me to go and hunt metals by myself most days I ask him. That gets me 'out of his hair' as he puts it. So, I've collected more ores than most of the club. The members of the mining club sell the materials they gather to the crafting clubs. Since I sell most of mine to the Blacksmith club, and the club can't sell them till they're used, the club still owes me for the materials. I'll just deduct the cost of what I used from that."
"I understand that, but I still can't just take it." Alex continued to protest.
"Alex, stop. I was making that hammer for you all along. Now is the perfect time to give it to you. So, please, just take it."
"Why were you making it for me?" asked Alex.
"I had a few reasons. First, you are the only one in the school with the courage to get to know the shaman outcast. Second, I knew your hammer would not last long, with the way you fight with it. Third, I wanted to try to make something impressive. And I wanted to test my skills to the limit."
"Well, thank you. I don't deserve it, but I'll accept your generous gift." Alex bowed his head to Thomas. When he raised it, He continued with a resolved tone, "But I will find a way to pay you back, like it or not."
"Deal," agreed Thomas. "Now, how is your armor holding up? I know I did a number on it."
"Yea, it is pretty banged up. But I can't just take it back home to have it repaired."
"Why would you take it home? I'm sure I can knock the dents out and mend any cracks. That is also part of the blacksmith clubs activates."
"But you've done too much for me already."
"Nonsense. All I did was replace the hammer I broke. Now I want to practice repairing plate armor."
Alex looked around uncomfortably. "OK, I guess. Do you have a changing area here?"
"There's a folding screen over there." Thomas pointed toward a corner of the forge. Alex retrieved the screen and set it up near the anvil Thomas was working at. Moving behind the screen, Alex began passing pieces of his armor to Thomas.
"Is all your armor made of copper?" asked Thomas, examining Alex's gauntlets.
"Yes," replied Alex. "After I met Paladin Lighthammer, I was determined to join a guild. I worked hard and saved every copper I could, and commissioned this armor from our local blacksmith. He had never made plate armor before, and all he had available was copper. I could barely afford the cost of the armor, but I was able to buy it for myself as an exam gift. The first place I wore it was to the enrollment examinations."
"Well, being able to buy your own set of plate armor at 15 years old is something to be proud of." Thomas said as he hammered out a dent from the back of Alex's gauntlet. "But you still need to take care of it. Damaged armor won't protect as well as it should, you know."
Alex passed Thomas his pauldrons. "Yes, I know. I'm trying to save up to replace this armor, but finding good paying work after classes is pretty hard."
"Have you thought about joining a gathering club? You can earn some coin by selling materials to the school's clubs or the town's smiths and crafters. It can be good training as well. Most of the areas where the rare materials also have a lot of monsters. Thinning their numbers can also be profitable, if the town has bounties out for them."
Thomas worked in silence while Alex thought about the options Thomas had suggested. As Thomas worked on Alex's breastplate, Alex asked, "Wouldn't clearing areas and going for those rare materials alone be dangerous? I am still in the first year, even if I'm a paladin."
"Yea, it can get rough. But if you take your time and go slow, you can make some coin."
"Have you been going for those materials alone?"
"Yep. How do you think I was able to get a balance of several gold with the blacksmith club? But there are areas I don't go to alone," Answered Thomas. "The river to the north east flows through a narrow ravine. It has lots of copper ore to mine."
"But the rare metals bring in the best price, don't they?"
"Yes. But they are called rare for a reason. Most of them are in areas that the monsters control. And even finding them is hard. Mining them without sending them back to their own realm is harder. Metals from our world like copper, tin and iron are the mining guild's bread and butter."
"What about bronze? You said my hammer was made from bronze, didn't you?"
"I did, and it is. But bronze is an alloy made from copper and tin. It is stronger than either of its components."
"OK then where did you get the bronze? Did you buy it from the club?"
"In a sense. Most of the first-year students don't know how to make bronze yet, and the other years are too focused on getting the rare materials to bother making any. I know how to make it, and it earns a good price from the club. So, I sell the club bronze instead of tin and copper."
"How did you learn to make bronze? And why haven't you taught the other first years?"
"My father is a blacksmith. I've been working in his forge since I was big enough to pull the bellows. And I haven't taught the others because: one, they all ignore me in their pathetic game of trying to get me to leave. And two, teaching them would cut into my profits."
"OK. I can see that." Alex returned the discussion a previous thread "So where do you go to mine materials?"