In the past, Gavin Brooks had walked past Franklin Brooks Blacksmith Shop many times, and the sound of hammering he heard was always filled with harsh monotony and boredom. But today, why did the sound of hammering seem so special? Clearly, the hammering was chaotic and disordered, yet if you listened closely, there was a faint, unique rhythm hidden within.

Franklin Brooks Blacksmith Shop covered nearly five times the area of other shops. In front of the door, a series of rough and unattractive recruitment notices read: Hiring Blacksmiths.

Just four simple words, with no mention of salary. Gavin Brooks stepped into the blacksmith shop, and the sound of hammering from the back room became even clearer in his ears.

"Young warrior, planning to buy something?"

A man appeared before Gavin Brooks, a head taller than him, with broad shoulders and a strong, muscular chest glistening with sweat. He held an iron hammer in his hand, a damp towel draped around his neck, and his short golden hair was beaded with sparkling sweat. His rough voice carried a hint of boldness.

Gavin Brooks paid special attention to the hammer in the man's hand. By estimation, it weighed about thirty jin, and the handle was wrapped in worn cloth, clearly an old hammer.

"I'm not here to buy anything." Gavin Brooks had to look up at the burly man and pointed outside the door: "I saw you're hiring, so I wanted to apply for the job."

"You?" The man's blue eyes narrowed into slits, his face full of distrust as he sized up Gavin Brooks repeatedly. "A student from the Auckland Warrior and Magic Academy?"

Gavin Brooks grabbed his warrior uniform and shook it twice: "That's right."

The distrust in the man's eyes deepened, and he shook his big head repeatedly: "You'd better look for another job. We don't want students from Auckland."

"Huh? Why not?"

Gavin Brooks was stunned. It had been hard enough to find a potential job—how could he just leave like this?

"Why?" The man wiped the sweat from his face with the towel around his neck. "Don't you know? Since the founding of Franklin Brooks Blacksmith Shop, not a single student from the Auckland Warrior and Magic Academy has ever been hired here. What we need are blacksmiths, not apprentices with lofty attitudes who think blacksmithing is no big deal and anyone can do it, only to end up being completely unqualified."

Gavin Brooks was a bit surprised. He had thought only students from his own grade had failed to get hired as blacksmiths, but he hadn't expected that in all these years, not a single person from the Auckland Warrior and Magic Academy had ever succeeded at Franklin Brooks Blacksmith Shop.

Chapter Sixteen: Too Light

If it had been before, Gavin Brooks would have turned and left—at worst, he could just look for another job. But after being rejected from job after job today, he finally found an opportunity and was not about to give up so easily.

"I'm different from them. Can you let me try?"

As soon as Gavin Brooks spoke, several shop assistants in the front room of Franklin Brooks Blacksmith Shop, along with the burly man in front of him, all burst out laughing.

One assistant, who was arranging swords and knives, chuckled and said, "Young warrior, this isn't the first time we've heard that. Almost every Auckland student who comes here says the same thing. In the end, without exception, they all prove they're just the same."

Gavin Brooks cursed inwardly. Damn! What a coincidence. What were those people doing before, anyway?

"Francis Brooks, you're slacking off in the front room again!"

With a hint of anger in his voice, a short, stocky man with muscles like a dwarf's walked out from the back room, carrying a hammer that must have weighed a hundred jin. His thick golden eyebrows were raised high.

"Brother, I'm not slacking off," the big man Francis Brooks jumped back a step, looking quite afraid of the newcomer, shaking his head repeatedly. He pointed the big hammer at Gavin Brooks and quickly said, "It's this kid—he says he wants to apply for a job here, and I tried to persuade him to leave..."

"You?" The newcomer, holding the hundred-jin hammer, gave Gavin Brooks the same distrustful look as Francis Brooks, waving his free left hand. "Kid, you're from the Auckland Warrior and Magic Academy, right? Just focus on your warrior studies. Don't come here causing trouble—blacksmithing isn't something just anyone can do."

The same words, the same attitude. In his heart, Gavin Brooks cursed all the predecessors who had come to apply before. The Auckland Warrior and Magic Academy got eliminated in every preliminary round of the Four Seas Heroes Tournament, and now even their reputation at a blacksmith shop was this bad? If word got out, it would be another embarrassment for the Academy.

Looking down at his Auckland Warrior and Magic Academy uniform, Gavin Brooks felt a bit of regret for wearing it out. Because of this outfit—which many people saw as prestigious—he was being repeatedly looked down upon at the blacksmith shop today.

Gavin Brooks glanced again at the man's hammer, which, judging by its appearance, must have weighed a hundred jin, and felt a bit uncertain.

Although he had spent sixteen hours hammering iron in that so-called "Endless World" virtual game, and his strength had inexplicably increased, that didn't mean real blacksmithing was the same.

"How about letting me try?" Gavin Brooks shrugged. "Aren't you hiring? Let me give it a shot—you've got nothing to lose."

"Boss, let him try."

"Yeah, let him try."