The newest of apprentices in the forge would always have their time to experiment within the material section. They would always look for something good that might be handed to them because there were plenty of others who would reserve the higher class materials.

This wasn’t because there was no trust in what they could possibly do with the materials, it was simply because the higher tier materials were difficult to work with. They needed more training to handle properly or they needed specific skills to even begin to craft with. It was a method that allowed for the newest of the crafting guild to have a chance to strengthen themselves and keep from wasting materials as a whole.

Besides this, Walker also spotted the scrap materials that would be set back aside. Some people would find uses for them, others would ignore them as worthless. That mentality was hard to break but could be changed with the right people being brought in to the Genesis alliance.

Regardless, Walker kept himself looking for the people he might need for the projects happening now.

He could see quite a few of the younger crafters trying out techniques and skills that were somewhat unique to themselves. This was just a cause and effect of new classes in crafting appearing. Plenty of these new paths had opportunities yet to be discovered.

He was intrigued mildly by those who were using some of the growth based skills that farmers would use to shape and then craft with saplings or small plants. He hadn’t realized that this was happening at a higher level than before. It meant that the elven villages that relied on trees to become part of their homes or their homes entirely would have huge advances sooner than later.

This still wasn’t the metal shaper he was looking for though.

He needed someone who did not need the forge flames to shape and carve metal. The more that Walker considered the fact the more he understood why.

The floating islands had complicated materials and rune formations. All of which would be more delicate while they were being made to such high quality needed for the testing phases and then the final building phases that bring some crafted parts of formations into a forge might be impossible. Let alone the risk of damage from the manas around the forge being something that just wasn’t acceptable.

Meaning, that Walker was looking for the metal benders, shapers, carvers, or just anyone who could achieve these things without using heat or manas that would damage what was around what was being crafted.

He looked closely at one apprentice using needles to carve smaller runes on an even smaller piece of metal. It seemed he was making pins that would hold together delicate metal parts, but the work being so small and delicate kept his eye.

He only looked away when he realized that the crafter was not simply making pins because they were fitting smaller parts together. They were making them to be paired with clothing specifically. The class and skills were related to clothing primarily which kept them from being able to work on larger projects like the floating island project. The parts would not work for what was needed.

But luckily, Walker followed the train of thought and the tools being used to catch sight of several apprentices huddled in a corner trying to challenge one another to bend and break scrap metals without using hammers.

While strength tests between apprentices was a very normal thing, this was a bit more biased than that. They were challenging one another out of competition since they wanted to prove who was the strongest and best.

It was also why Walker felt like he was lucky. He had been looking for people with these sorts of skills and managed to find them messing around and not properly working. It gave him an upperhand and also a perfect demonstration of what he wanted to see regardless. It worked for his needs.

One was a demi-human with gorilla traits, similar to the earthen moss gorilla he had seen before. Their actions showed they had high natural strength, but when they were beaten by two apprentices working with their multiple arms since they had the traits of the steel ant monster species, they all roared in laughter and jeers.

The only one that no one noticed was the smallest stockier of their group casually bending pieces of scrap metal in their hand and watching the stress marks on it. They seemed to ignore them because they knew that they could easily bend and break metal with their hands, but also because they were smaller and the strength didn’t make any sense.

The badger traits were similar to the mountain badger that Walker had seen once before. A smaller monster that could even challenge earth dragons even if it would lose. They were highly resistant to venoms and could easily dig into stone and eat ores. This demi-human had the traits of one so they most likely had higher strength and control of their skills by relation.

Walker standing behind them shocked every single one. "I see that it is break time here. I thought when I came looking at the apprentices I might find something interesting. Instead, I found a bit of a break time to play with scrap metal. Very interesting, wouldn’t you say?"

Walker’s figure was intimidating enough to make them scatter. The only one not being able to make a move looked down and found that their feet had been encased in the ground beneath them. Scraps of metal and ore had formed a clasp on his boots. "Sir, I wa snot-"

"You were not participating in their little competition, but you were still sitting there doing nothing but bending and breaking scrap metal and ores to see what happened to them. I saw you tracing the stress fractures and identifying the issues where the forging failed. But you also repaired a small gear just by bending it without using fire or other mana related skills that could cause a larger change in the metal."

The apprentice was pale as he realized that Walker had observed everything. So much so that he believed that he was about to get into a lot more trouble for improperly repairing something. Or maybe he was going to be lectured for wasting time on scrap? He wasn’t sure but he felt like he was under the eye of an unhappy master blacksmith!

"So you can come with me to the floating island project. You can bend and carve the metals for them in whatever ways they ask. You don’t need to practice here since you already have a guild card and you don’t have a master’s symbol which means you are the apprentice of the guild as a whole."

Knowing that a mark of a master meant that the apprentice had a direct teacher who brought them in to the guild was common knowledge. It also meant that the apprentices like this one would be looking for opportunities to enhance their standing and step forward. Having a master directly teaching you means more chances to advance faster, not that advancing wasn’t possible.

The stunned expression made the apprentice have more trouble thinking. Walker could see he had broken the apprentice’s mind for a bit.

"You are a different forging class user than normal, right? My all around appraisal says you are only fifteen years old and you have a class called all metal shaping, basically you don’t have to focus on any specific metal or ore. You can shape it with various techniques but prefer your own hands since you carry an affinity for denser earth mana, also known as, metal mana."

It was like he was an open book to Walker. While Walker had released his feet, he found himself being brought out of the crafting guild and suddenly, with a gut wrenching shift, appeared elsewhere.

"I will have you work with the rune carvers and researchers. They want to have metal bent and shaped around what they are creating for tests. They can’t have high intensity fire mana cause damage to their rune formations or the magical aspects they are creating using those formations. So your skills fit right in. You just need to follow their lead and advance your skills. It should be quick."

When Walker appeared on the testing area with the young apprentice, he smirked and teleported away leaving everyone to look as if they had just been delivered a mysterious gift. Little did they know, this was exactly the person they needed. They just didn’t see the skills just yet.

Walker had left so quickly though, mostly to get a little revenge for being sent on a fetch quest and also just to tease the younger apprentice who had also been fooling around a little. No one ever said Walker couldn’t be mischievous too.

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