Evan had been visiting the library for two months.
He had spent the last few days reading books about blacksmithing and alchemy. He had no intention of becoming either an alchemist or a blacksmith yet, but he might well devote a lot of ti to one of these fields in the future.
Alchemy and blacksmithing were so of the most important crafts in this world. Every self-respecting magician should have a basic knowledge of these areas.
Blacksmiths made the equipnt for the magicians that could greatly enhance them and even saved their lives, so everybody respected them. Every powerful clan or family had their own blacksmiths. They were provided with the best materials and conditions so that they could forge superior equipnt.
The high class blacksmiths had an excellent reputation, were wealthy, had connections, and were quite influential. Many magicians dread of such a thing, and so they began to engage in blacksmithing. But, it was far from a simple path to money and fa but a real test of endurance, strength of mind, and fortitude.
Hundreds and even thousands of those who wanted to beco high-class blacksmiths failed to fulfill their dream. There were few blacksmiths for a reason, and each of them was highly valued. The path to blacksmithing skill was thorny and often even extrely dangerous.
Blacksmiths who created "Catalysts," artifacts, and magical armor were the magicians, and therefore they often worked with unusual, rare, and dangerous materials. They didn't just glow iron and forge weapons from it but worked with hazardous poisons and acids to harden tals. They often dealt with materials that exploded in their hands at too high a temperature. That's not to ntion the unique parts of the monsters that, if not processed properly, would beco unusable and have to be destroyed.
Evan had learned that in "The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes," there were even blacksmith guilds. There were a large number of blacksmiths of varying skill levels working there, and most importantly, they taught it to others. You could say it was a small Academy where only blacksmithing was taught.
After reading about the blacksmiths, Evan learned about a large variety of tals, crystals, unique monster parts, and even so of the beasts and the basic hardening thod. But there was no point in him delving further into this subject, at least not yet.
The situation with alchemists was similar. High-class alchemists were also few, and their work was difficult and dangerous. They used all kinds of herbs, plants, poisons, nectars, extracts, and so on to make potions and pills. Very often, they used rare insects, their chitin and various glands were the main ingredients of many dicines. And, of course, like the blacksmiths, they used monster parts.
Many young magicians wanted to beco alchemists, for the sa reasons, as in the case with blacksmiths. Masters of alchemy were respected and influential people. Without both them and the blacksmiths, the magicians would have lost to the monsters long ago and been killed.
Alchemists also had their own guilds, but as Evan later learned, there was only one alchemist guild in "The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes." They didn't accept just anyone, only those with incredible talent and, most importantly, a desire. No one needed a blacksmith with talent but who didn't make an effort to discover it. All that mattered was your skills and craftsmanship.
Having talent just helps you to progress but doesn't do all the work for you.
Blacksmithing and alchemy were very complex arts, so alchemists and smiths were clearly separated by rank.
The rank of a blacksmith or alchemist depended on what stage he was at. If a blacksmith was at the "Two-Pointed Star" stage, he could be considered a blacksmith of the second rank. But before that, he had to prove his skill. If he wanted to be considered a blacksmith of the second rank, he had to forge equipnt from the materials of the second rank successfully. The sa situation was with alchemists. They had to create a potion or a pill of the second rank.
But, ranks were not the only asure of the skill of blacksmiths and alchemists. Two blacksmiths could be at the stage of "One-Pointed Star" and be the blacksmiths of the first rank, but their skills could be strikingly different because of their experience and talent.
To understand which of these two was better in such cases, they'd invented a system of evaluation by the number of stars.
For example, a blacksmith with less skill had the status - a blacksmith of the first rank, one star. A smith with much higher skill had a different status - a smith of the first rank, three stars. The sa applied to alchemists. Five stars were the maximum.
The ranks and the stars for blacksmiths and alchemists were assigned mostly by the authorized guilds and blacksmiths and alchemists of higher rank. But, so alchemists and smiths were closed personalities and did not like contact with anyone. They ca up with their own way to prove their skill, naly to record the process of making an object on a special magic ball. If you put your hand to it and pour a little mana, then the image will appear, and everything will be clear at once.
Of course, so tried to deceive others by posing as a high-class blacksmith or alchemist, but that was a big mistake. At best, they were severely punished, and if the client was particularly impulsive, he could even kill the deceiver.
The last thing Evan had read about were books that talked about such a phenonon as "Gust." He had already entered this state, and Draven had told him about it, but Evan wanted to know even more about it. The "Gust" was not just sothing unusual. It was a real weapon that elevated the magician's power to new limits for a short period of ti.
During the "Gust," emotions beca real power and were imbued with mana. Whether it was anger, apathy, joy, or indifference. The type of emotion didn't matter. The magician was superior to himself anyway.
Evan decided to read more about it because he thought that the "Gust" hid sothing unique and powerful behind it.
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