I knew a few such potential spots. The series of caverns was large and in depth. Despite our tribe being strong with several hundred people, there were still deep caves that weren’t used for anything. I made my way to one such cave with a torch in hand since it wasn’t even lit.
Earth, excavate a tunnel.
Right as I ordered it, the soil started to move at the end of the cave. I created a small hole, big enough for me to pass, and tunneled through the ground, vertically for a few meters, and forward after that. I jumped into it when it was done and moved forward like that for around twenty meters, reinforcing the walls with the earth I had extracted.
There, I blew a hole toward the ceiling, continuing until I could see the sky. From there, I dig another cave upwards, with the soil being sent outside through the hole. It took more effort than anything I had ever tried, since I was planning to build a decent-sized secret area.
For several hours, I dug again and again, using much of my magical energy reserves. Finally, a large space was generated, with a diameter of around ten meters. This was where the forge would be built, with the hole in the ceiling’s future purpose to let smoke escape and not poison the limited space’s air.
Exhausted, I stopped there for now. I went through the tunnel once more, putting the disturbed earth back over the hole like it was before, or as close as I could, to act as camouflage. I doubted many would come to this place, but even if they did, they would have no reason to dig the ground in that specific spot. As for me, I could simply use a bit of magic every time I came to cover and uncover it. This was the best secret base I could think of currently.
The following day, I began to build the forge itself. I had zero knowledge related to the domain except what I had seen in movies and the like, so it would be a lot of trial and error. Not that it mattered, I was young and had plenty of time before my adulthood.
For starters, I created something simple, like a sort of oven, with an earth extension and molds to put the metal grains in. Then, the only missing element was combustible. That part was a piece of cake for me, being an earth shaman, having control over plants. I cut some wood in the forest, dried it with magic, and done.
The melting part was the tricky one. It goes without saying that I failed, and not a bit too. I failed again and again, so many times that I almost gave up on several occasions. The fire wasn’t hot enough, the metals weren’t the correct ones, the mold was melting faster than the metals, and so on. Each time I fixed a problem, another one popped up. It was no wonder. I was creating technology from scratch, with my only crutch being the knowledge that it was possible.
Eventually, I got some moderate results. I used a certain mix of metals, I switched my earth mold to clay and ceramic ones, and I modified my forge design to capture the heat better.
My first success was a blob of melted metals in a form that more or less resembled a spear. I jumped in joy to finally get some result and plunged it into water, like I had seen it done so many times on TV. The almost exploding fuming of hot metal meeting cold water made my heart beat with joy. To think I would experience something like this in my life. I could understand why people wanted to become blacksmiths back in my previous world. That was truly something, even though the process to achieve this was gruesome.
The final result was subpar, no matter how I looked at it. The form hadn’t held correctly, and there were weird bumps and angles here and there. When the spear was cold enough, I took it in hand to test it. I struck it against a stone spear, full of anxiety, but was reassured that it didn’t immediately break. After a few more trials, I noticed it was quite sturdy, actually, much more than the stone spear. That part at least was a success.
But the greatest surprise was when I tried to channel some magical energy into the weapon. It flowed smoothly through its length, covering it effortlessly, as if it were made for that purpose. That revelation made me cheer loudly. As it turned out, not only was it a lot sturdier than a stone spear, but metal was much more conductive of magical energy. This was big, very big. Judging by the amount of magical energy running through the weapon, it was on par with a novice warrior, even though I was just an apprentice who hadn’t even gone on my first hunt yet.
This was a discovery that could change our clan from the bottom to the top. If we could provide metal weapons to all warriors, we could dominate the region and other tribes effortlessly. Even hunting would become much easier, and survival rates would surge.
However, only someone extremely stupid or naïve would do so. The tribe’s success wasn’t my success, far from it. In fact, as long as we weren’t exterminated, that was fine by me. By now, I had very little delusion of my future status in the tribe.
Warriors were at the top, but even they had a strict hierarchy. They were divided into hunting groups, each with a varying degree of influence within the tribe.
And that was the issue. The groups in the warrior apprentice training mirrored those groups. Which meant, apprentices part of a group would automatically join the corresponding hunting group when they came of age.
I, who was excluded from all groups, would never be able to join any hunting group in the future.