Everyone around him had written him off far too quickly. He was the kind of man people dismissed with a glance, the kind who seemed to have no talent worth noticing. The insults came easily, and so did the laughter. “Useless” was the word they used most, as if repeating it could make it true. But beneath that humiliating label was a quiet patience, and something no one expected to find: a dormant ability tied to the craft of creating weapons.