The days begin to bleed together as Max wakes up earlier than the smith, works out until the smith gets up, and starts working. Max spends two to three hours doing chores and simple tasks for the blacksmith, then spends the rest of the day making whichever item the blacksmith deems him worthy of or needs.

  The nails are the worst; they don't take too long to make, so you have to make hundreds of them, but they are also thin and small, meaning if it isn't just right, he can easily wind up with a failed end result. While he has to hammer them with decent strength because of their small size, it isn’t enough to call it a workout, but after a couple of hours, it makes his arms sore.

  Next, the smith assigns him horseshoes. Max rather enjoys making the horseshoes. They are bigger and easier to work with, even if that makes it harder to shape. The hammering and shaping of them just feels like working out to Max.

  The trouble he has at first is making the holes for where the nails would go, but he finds it more like a personal challenge than a failure, like with the nails. He can rework the horseshoe if the hole doesn’t come out right, but with the nails, if it snaps, it can only be fully melted down once enough failures are gathered and turned back into a block to make more nails.

  Arrowheads are what the smith decides he should learn next. Arrowheads are just as annoying as the nails. They are small and thin. A simple mistake can ruin it, but they take far longer to make than the nails. He has to get the angles, size, and weight just right so that they won’t throw off the balance of the arrow.

  They also require more finesse than any of the other products, and it’s easy to lose even more of them while trying to grind them. At least with the nails, if they fail, it isn’t a large waste of time, and he can just begin the next one, or the horseshoes, where the worst thing is him taking longer to finish one.

  No, these take enough time that if it fails, it really stings, much like the nails; there is no reworking it. The production time being much longer means that at the end of the day, looking at the results of his work makes him feel like he hasn’t done enough compared to when he makes the nails or even the horseshoes.

  Eventually, the smith tentatively introduces the first craft that can actually be considered a weapon, well, part of one at least. It is a hunting spear’s head. For the most part, Max feels like it is just a larger arrowhead. Being larger also means that he doesn’t find it as tedious as the arrowhead, even if it was roughly the same shape and process. Much like the horseshoes, it is quite easy to rework if he sees it isn’t turning out just right.

  The challenging part is getting the cone properly made to fit onto the shaft. The smith hovers around Max constantly finding faults and having him change things. He does this for the first three that Max makes before finally leaving Max to struggle through it on his own.

  While it is more complicated and easier to mess up the cone, according to the smith. He doesn’t struggle with it as hard as the smith thought that he would. Mostly, he just has to move a bit slower and focus on not making it too thin or accidentally bending it out of shape. Max finds it infinitely better than the arrowheads or nails.

  This continues for more than a month and a half. The smith takes the items Max makes and sells them around the town to different people. He even gives Max half of the profit the items yield. Max doesn't mind this arrangement; he is using the man's forge, anvil, tools, and living in part of his house, even sharing lunch and dinner with the smith.

  Every so often, the smith will take Max to different craftsmen around the town, sometimes to sell things, other times to buy things. Life is different from the modern world Max comes from, but he enjoys this harder world more.

  Max even uses the money he earns during this time and begins to look like the people of the town instead of standing out in his modern clothes. He buys a pair of thick leather boots; they are one of the more expensive purchases he makes. It takes them longer than he thought to be finished, but they fit him better than any shoe he has ever owned before.

  Max wants to spare the clothes he came in this time, so he also buys a pair of soft leather pants. He feels that a pair of cloth ones will just wind up getting ruined, especially working in the smithy. Instead of going with a shirt, he chooses a leather vest with some fine stitching. Working with the forge, he thinks that the sleeves of a shirt will just get in the way. The smith also only wears an apron while he works, so Max thinks that wearing just the vest won’t be too strange.

  The final piece he buys to round out his appearance is a pair of vambraces. It is more because he likes the way that the vambraces look on him than any practical reason. Of course, he justifies them by saying that it will help keep the sparks off his arms. The smith never asks Max what he plans to do or if he is going to leave, and Max never brings it up either.

  One day, after Max finishes his morning workout, the smith emerges from his house and walks over to Max.

  "The backlog of things has been mostly cleared out thanks to you. There will be no work today."

  "What do you mean? What should I do then?" Max asks, slightly bewildered at the sudden news.

  "You are welcome to stay; you have more than earned your keep. If you need more coin, you'll have to find someone else to pester." And just like that, the smith turns and enters his home leaving Max alone, without an idea of what to do with himself.

  Max wanders the town and eventually finds himself at the gathering point from where the hunters leave. They hunt for meat or pelts to sell to the townsfolk. While blacksmithing is enjoyable and he likes the muscles he is gaining from it, what he really wants is to be free to wander the woods like he did when he first arrived.

  He asks around to see if anyone would be willing to take him on and teach him, but they either say he is too young or just outright dismiss him. Max is upset but determined, so he keeps trying. Once he runs out of people to ask, he heads back into the town. He asks around and finds some simple tasks and chores to do. They don't pay well, but keep him busy and help the people out.

  The next morning, Max skips his workout and goes to the staging area again. Now, with most of the hunters there before they leave for the day, he tries again. Once again, being seen as basically a poor orphaned lad with no skills, no one is willing to take him. Frustrated Max decides it doesn't matter; if no one will take him, he will just go himself.

  He takes an adventure around the town and spends the majority of the money he has left. He buys a flint and steel, a tinderbox, a backpack, a belt pouch, a hooded cloak, a light blanket, a skinning knife, and a water skin. Around this time, his coin is running low, but he figures he should have enough for, hopefully, at least two of the three things he still needs.

  Max returns to the smithy late enough now that the smith should be awake and knocks upon his door. The smith takes a few moments but opens the door and is surprised to see Max standing there.

  "Oi, why are you knocking? When you weren't outside this morning when I got up, I figured you'd moved on."

  "I was trying to find someone to take me out and teach me how to hunt. By the time I got to the staging area yesterday, most of the hunters were already out, so I tried earlier today. I still failed, but I was hoping you might teach me something today."

  "Nay, we have no work. As I said, with your help, we cleared the ledgers of all the folk who had been pestering me for things recently."

  "I know, but this is more for me, Sir. See, I want to get some hunting experience, but as I have told you before, I only have this dagger. Where I am from, there is a tribe of people who hunt small game with a light-throwing axe. Its head is smaller and longer than a hatchet, and the handle is a bit longer and thinner.”

  “It can be used both up close in melee or thrown rather accurately for short distances. I was hoping, since you had previously shown me how to make a spear head, you might be willing to teach me how to make an axe head."

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "It seems an interesting concept, boy, but I have never seen this axe you speak of. How should I know how it is made?"

  "Well, I hoped to just learn a hatchet or axe head, and then I would attempt to shape it myself. I could even save on the labor doing it that way." Max slyly looks at the smith, causing him to smile. "If it doesn't work, I could also show you the head I was working with, and you could give me advice."

  "Well, I have nothing better to do, so I might as well. While I teach you how, the practice heads can be sold next time a fool comes by needing one. Alright, get your things."

  The smith goes back inside, gets his apron and tools, and meets Max by the forge. Max starts the forge while putting on his apron and gathering his tools. The smith tosses a bit more metal than Max has ever worked with before into the forge. Once it is heated, the smith takes it out and begins to shape it.

  The shape he goes with looks almost like a double-sided axe, but Max listens to his explanation and watches. Once the shape is just about right, he uses a special piece of cold metal to work as a handle substitute and folds the double axe heads around it. Once he has them lined up, he talks Max through and shows him how to fuse the two pieces together. He continues working the head until the shape is just right, then focuses on flattening the sides and back, and then perfecting the taper to the edge.

  Once finished, he hands the head to Max to sharpen and asks him to recount the process. After hearing his recounting, he fixes anything Max has gotten wrong and adds a few tips he knows. The head is still in need of further sharpening, but the smith takes it from Max and instructs him to try making one himself while he finishes up the sharpening.

  Max's first attempt is terrible, and he fails the fusion as well as makes a mess out of lining the heads up. His second attempt fares far better, both lining up and fusing properly. He runs into some trouble with the handle slot, though, misshaping it, and has a lot of difficulty fixing it. The smith has Max try a third time before he calls it a night and says that tomorrow, Max can try to make the axe he described.

  Before attempting the axe head, Max takes one of the ones he made the previous day and uses some coal to draw a rough outline of the new head, and shows the design to the smith. They tweak it slightly using the smiths' knowledge and experience. While Max begins to heat and shape the head, the smith tosses the first failure of an axe head into his forge and begins to work it into a usable tool for Max to fit the axe's handle slot, since the one he currently has is too big.

  Once he finishes, he moves over and gives Max advice. Much like the previous day, the first head is subpar, but the next two turn out just right. The smith helps Max sharpen the heads before sending him off to the woodworker to begin a handle fitting once Max describes to him the desired shape.

  The smith does not mind helping Max, and if his design works the way he claims, he just might get a new product to entice new customers. There are three decent axe heads that belong to the smith who sends them with Max to also be given handles.

  After delivering the axe heads, the smith gives Max the day off. With all but a couple coins left, Max seeks out not high-paying tasks and chores but ones that he can spend the least amount of time on. He is shooting for quantity over quality.

  By noon the following day, the woodworker finishes the three axes for the smith and one of the axes for Max. He is more familiar with and has some previous handles for the axes for the smith, so they go far faster. The more custom handle for Max's takes longer and is a bit harder. Max retrieves the four axes and brings them to the smith.

  After putting away the axes, the smith takes Max and travels outside of the town so that Max can demonstrate his newly designed axe. It is smaller in some ways but larger in others than a regular hatchet. With a longer blade and handle, even though the back isn't as wide. On the back of the blade is a sharp, slightly curved, and tapered spike.

  "It is called a Tomahawk, or so I'm told," Max informs the smith. Max checks its balance the best he can, then takes a few practice swings with it. He shows how it will hang from his belt and how he can choke up on the grip for controlled chopping or digging, then quickly extend it with a slide back to a fighting position.

  After a few minutes of getting accustomed to it, he promptly turns without warning and flings it some ten feet into a tree, where it firmly sticks. The smith lets out a whistle and looks at the damage to the tree.

  "While it probably couldn't chop down a tree, at least not one this big, and if you tried, it would be uncomfortable and take a while, that isn't what it is meant for. You could use it to chop some of the smaller branches or vines with it easily enough. If you throw it right, it should be able to kill rabbits or birds, anything larger than that you'll have difficulty with”.

  “Even an unarmored person wouldn't be too seriously injured unless you were really close and very lucky, especially with a single throw. It might work, but I wouldn't try it. Using it as an axe in combat work, though." Max explains.

  He shows a mock attack of how, with its longer handle, he can hook an arm or leg, and that the spike can function as a small pick, used to help climb a tree, or even as a weapon to pierce something like chainmail. By the end, the smith is convinced and decides to see if he can get a few of the hunters to buy them and test them out later.

  They return to the smithy, and Max informs the smith of his plans. " Tomorrow, you probably won't see me. I plan to pick up the other tomahawk today and some trail food, and then set out early in the morning before you usually get up. Don't worry if I don't come back right away, I might stay out there for a couple days."

  "Make sure you check the hunter's staging area. Every so often, they will hang bounties on any annoying pests they run into out there. It could keep you out of trouble, avoiding dangerous areas, or help you find some of those needleleafs you are fond of for some extra coin." The smith jokes, waving to Max before heading inside.

  Max waves back even though he knows the smith would never see, before heading off to find some food. He thinks some bread, cheese, and dried meat will keep pretty nicely and shouldn't attract too much attention. On the way to the woodworker, after buying the food, the last of his coins went for two small leather loops just large enough for the tomahawk handle to fit through and two thin lengths of leather.

  He attaches it to the small hole on the base of the tomahawk's handle and puts the other in his pocket for when he gets the tomahawk from the woodworker. He places the loops on his belt, one on each side, and moves the dagger to the back of his belt, tucking its handle under his vest. He puts the one tomahawk he has on his right side and starts walking around the town.

  The townspeople recognize him at this point, and a few offer him some tasks, figuring he needs more coin and has nothing to do for the rest of the day, so he sets out helping out around the town wherever he is needed. As the sun begins to set, he makes his way over to the woodworker's house and picks up the other tomahawk.

  He takes the length of leather and attaches it to the handle, then slips it through the loop on the other side of his belt. He wishes he had more coin to afford a bow or a spear, but he thinks the tomahawks will be of more use in the long run, given his previous experience with the needleleafs and Sinclair's men.

  Max has trouble falling asleep for the first time since he returned to this world. He is nervous about going out of the town alone and what awaits him. He just wants to get up and get it over with, but he knows it is too dark to go now. He finally falls asleep far later than he intends, leading to him rising later than he usually would.

  He still manages to wake before the smith. He takes one last look around the house and the smithy before heading out to the staging area. It is quiet as the first wave of hunters has already left. Max checks around to see if there are any bounties, like the smith had told him, but he finds none, so he sets off into the wilderness alone.