Chapter 9 - The Two Blacksmiths

- “Congratulations. Don’t forget, though, that you don’t have experience against different types of weapons and creatures. You will need to fight all sorts of enemies before you can truly become strong.”

- “Thank you. I understand what you’re saying, and I know I have a long road ahead of me.”

- “Will you be remaining in this village for long?”

- “No... I’ll head out as soon as one of the suns disappears and the army opens the village doors.”

- “Good. I will leave as well since I finished my mission while you were training.”

- “Where will you go?”

- “The capital. Do you want to join me?”

- “Not sure yet. I’ll decide when the time comes.”

- “Before leaving, you should learn the Survival skill from someone. And since you have such a good reputation in this village, you can probably find someone to teach you other useful skills.”

- “That’s what I planned to do next. Do you know someone who can teach me the Survival skill?”

- “There aren’t many hunters in the village since they live in the forest, but just ask around and you’ll find one.”

- “I see... Well then, no time like the present to begin.”

Paul started looking for someone to teach him. He went first to the inn, the only place where everyone congregates. He asked around, but no one could teach him what he needed. After walking for a few hours and asking around, he learned that the hunters were staying away because they knew the village would be locked down during the period adventurers appeared. Paul was disappointed. The skill every true adventurer needs—he couldn’t learn it until the village lockdown was over. He decided he couldn’t waste time and headed toward the crafting section of the village.

He entered the gate leading to the crafting section, which took him to the back of the village where there were very few humans. Almost everyone was an elf or dwarf. They didn’t look or talk to each other and just went about their day.

Paul approached one of the buildings, but before he could take three steps, he tripped and fell. Looking back, he saw a human dressed in ripped clothing. The man was very dirty; his brown hair looked black from the dirt. Noticing someone was analyzing him, the man smirked and said, “Would you please help me with some copper?”

Despite falling, Paul didn’t get angry. He was used to things happening that he didn’t like. Observing the man, Paul noted that although he looked poor, the man had a healthy body and didn’t seem sick. He also didn’t smell. Paul found this suspicious and decided to test the man.

“I’ll help you if you answer a question.”

“I understand. Ask.”

“Were you perhaps a hunter?”

“Good eyes, boy. I am a hunter.”

“Would you teach me the Survival skill?”

“I can tell you how to learn the basics. When you know the basics, come back to me, and I will teach you more.”

“How can I learn the basics?”

The old man looked at Paul’s face and saw his eyes, which were hungry for knowledge and power. Liking the boy’s eyes, he spoke up, “Without using any items you have on you right now and without the help of your friends, survive a week. If you can’t do at least this, I can’t teach you.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Good. Now take these and put them on.”

He handed Paul some old, ripped clothing. After dressing up, Paul looked more like a beggar. To avoid being recognized, he covered his head and eyes with an improvised hood. The old man held out his bracelet, and Paul did the same. He received a quest. Should he break the rules the man set, the old man would be notified immediately. The old man then left and entered an alley.

Paul found that this was harder than he initially thought. Food was the biggest problem since water could be found in public wells. No one recognized him, not even the villagers who chased him. He was starting to feel hungry and was tempted to use his coins to buy food, but that would mean he wouldn’t learn the skill while the village was in lockdown. He headed to the village square and began to beg. No one even looked at him. It was as if he were a ghost. After a few hours, he only managed to eat a half-eaten apple.

Paul was disappointed in the humans who had smiled and greeted him before and were now ignoring him. He then returned to the crafting part of the village. Although he didn’t have much hope, he tried. After 30 minutes, an old dwarf gave him a piece of bread. Paul was more grateful for that piece of bread than he had ever been for anything. That day, he didn’t receive anything else. When night came, Paul searched for a place to sleep. He found a good spot behind a house where the wind didn’t reach him. He was still hungry but fell asleep.

Paul slept without feeling hunger. In the morning, he was still asleep when he was suddenly woken up by water hitting his face. It had started raining heavily. He hurried to find cover and a fire. He found a spot under a tree and noticed that he was feeling cold. He wanted to make a fire but didn’t know how. He looked around and found some dry branches and leaves under the tree next to him. He gathered them together and made a small pile. Now he needed to start a fire. He tried using the trick he remembered about using two stones to light a fire. He searched around and found some stones quickly. He tried hitting them together but there was no spark. He examined the rocks carefully and realized they were no good. After another half hour, he found better rocks and tried again.

As soon as he hit them together, a spark flew. He hit them together a few more times, and he had a fire. It was small, but it would warm him up and dry his clothes. After two hours, the fire died. Soon after, the rain stopped. Paul headed out to search for some food. He repeated this process every day. After a week, Paul was dirty and hungry, looking like a real beggar. He had also lost some weight. Paul then searched for the man, as he had completed the quest. He almost gave up until the man appeared next to him, smiling.

“So, how was it?”

“Hard... really hard.”

“Good, that’s good. This means you have learned how precious resources are.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’re hungry, right?”

“Very.”

They entered a house, and in the middle of the room was a table full of food. Paul and the hunter ate together. While eating, the hunter shared his knowledge about survival. After thanking the hunter, Paul changed clothes and checked his bracelet.

**Survivalist**

- You will need 30% less food.

- You will need 10% less water.

- You can start a fire 50% more successfully.

- You don’t get sick easily.

- You can scavenge different materials from creatures depending on your knowledge.

He had indeed learned the Survival skill, and it was more impressive than he thought. He went to the inn, ate some more, and then headed to the shack where he went to sleep. He was truly grateful to Nori for her help and realized how lucky he was. Tired and full, he fell asleep slowly.

The next day, he headed to the crafting part of the village. It was time to cash in on some favors. He first looked for someone to learn tailoring from. He quickly found one, and although the owner was an elf, he was still willing to teach Paul the skill. Paul spent the next day learning how to sew, cut, measure, and extract materials from creatures. When he finally got notified:

**Crafting-Beginner LVL.1 (10%)**

- You can craft different types of items. The more advanced the skill, the better the final product is.

**Crafting skills available:**

- Tailoring-Beginner LVL.1 (30%)

He thanked the elf and headed back to the shack to sleep. Before sleeping, he used his skill, Memo, to review the last 24 hours to improve. Every day before sleeping, he used this skill a few times, except when he was pretending to be a beggar. Although he learned a lot, he didn’t enjoy that experience and never wanted to feel so helpless again.

The next day, Nori visited him. They talked for a while over breakfast. Paul then asked her if she knew who was the better blacksmith in the village.

“There are two blacksmiths in the village. One is known for making the best weapons, while the other is known for the best armor. Each blacksmith has a lot of pride and won’t allow you to learn from the other. Especially since they know each other and are considered rivals.”

“Thanks for the info. I need to go now since I have some planning to do.”

Paul smirked as he left.

Paul needed a weapon, so he headed to the blacksmith who specialized in weapons. The blacksmith knew Paul well since Paul had done a few quests for him and agreed to teach him. Paul began learning about different types of ores, melting them, molds, and how to make and repair different weapons.

**Crafting-Beginner LVL.1 (40%)**

- You can craft different types of items. The more advanced the skill, the better the final product is.

**Crafting skills available:**

- Tailoring-Beginner LVL

.1 (30%)

- Blacksmithing-Beginner LVL.1 (10%)

The next day, after learning some basics, the blacksmith took Paul to a basement full of rusted weapons—hundreds of them. The blacksmith handed Paul a hammer and some tongs and pointed to the forge.

“You see all this?”

“Yes.”

“You can use everything here. Whatever you create or fix, you can take with you. You are free to come and go from this place as long as you want.”

Paul was shocked. The blacksmith left him, feeling proud that he had shocked Paul.

Paul then took a Limit Pill and started sorting the weapons. There were five big piles in the room after he was finished: one of weapons too damaged to repair, one of short swords, one of long heavy swords, one of knives and daggers, and one of weapons he didn’t recognize.

He started with the pile of short swords and repaired them. It took him a whole day, and some of the swords broke due to his low skill level. He threw those into the first pile. He then repaired the long swords, which took him two days. Again, some broke and were added to the first pile.

Next, he tackled the pile of unrecognizable weapons. Without knowing their original shape, he repaired those as best he could, adding the unsuccessful attempts to the first pile. After finishing, he looked at the first pile, which now reached the ceiling and filled over 50% of the room. Motivated, he repaired all the knives and daggers. This time, very few broke.

He identified two decent daggers:

**Old Rusty Dagger**

- Iron Dagger

- Damage: 5-10

- Durability: 5/10

**Old Rusty Dagger**

- Iron Dagger

- Damage: 7-10

- Durability: 8/10

He then checked his repair skill:

**Crafting-Beginner LVL.1 (80%)**

- You can craft different types of items. The more advanced the skill, the better the final product is.

**Crafting skills available:**

- Tailoring-Beginner LVL.1 (30%)

- Blacksmithing-Beginner LVL.7 (90%)

With two days left, he melted all the items, forming iron cubes, which he stacked in the corner of the room. Seeing his weapon-making skills lacking, he used some of the cubes to create normal swords to practice. After using 50 cubes, he crafted 50 swords and checked his skill:

**Crafting-Beginner LVL.2 (40%)**

- You can craft different types of items. The more advanced the skill, the better the final product is.

**Crafting skills available:**

- Tailoring-Beginner LVL.1 (30%)

- Blacksmithing-Beginner LVL.8 (20%)

Feeling more confident, he started creating daggers, first the simplest ones and then increasingly complex designs. After using another 50 cubes, he crafted a total of 100 daggers, still with 150 cubes left. On the last day, he used up all the iron cubes to craft daggers, then melted everything he crafted, including the daggers he set aside, ending up with 250 iron cubes.

Noting that hotter fires and purer metals produced stronger weapons, he increased the fire’s intensity by 100%. He refined the metal multiple times, resulting in 50 high-quality metal cubes. Paul used one cube to craft a pair of daggers, utilizing all his blacksmithing skills and focus:

**Paul’s Daggers (2x)**

- Damage: 80-120

- Durability: 300/300

- A dagger crafted with all the skill and focus of a dedicated blacksmith

- Special effects: Increased piercing damage, bleeding effect

Paul put the daggers in the ring and realized he was now in danger of not getting enough sleep. He ran out of the basement, surprising the blacksmith, who had expected him to take some items. Paul ran to the shack, jumped on the bed, and used Memo to review the last 24 hours, focusing on creating the daggers. He then slept for 24 hours, unaware that the blacksmith, finding the basement empty, suspected someone had stolen from him.

The next day, after waking up, he went to the blacksmith specialized in armor. After learning that Paul had learned weapon-making from his rival, the blacksmith said, “I won’t share my knowledge with my enemy’s apprentice.”

“Really? So he was right.”

“Huh? Who was right?”

“The one you call enemy.”

“What did he say about me?! More lies, I assume!”

“No, no. It’s just that he joked he succeeded in teaching me the basics in one day. He was laughing, saying you could never teach me the basics of armor-making in a day.”

“What?! Get over here!”

Paul successfully tricked him into teaching him how to make armor. He learned that making armor also required some tailoring skills. He improved two skills in 24 hours and felt proud.

“See! I learned even faster than that old man, right?!”

“Yes… I’m impressed with your skills. You truly are a great blacksmith.”

Paul smirked as he left. The blacksmith didn’t realize he had been tricked. Paul went to bed since it was late and, as always, reviewed the previous day before falling asleep. He checked his stats and skills:

**Name:** Paul Silver

**Title:** Noble Peasant

**Guild Level:** G

**Guild Points:** 135

**Strength:** 164

**Agility:** 209

**Endurance:** 93

**Stamina:** 360

**Wisdom:** 104

**Intelligence:** 126

**Charisma:** 105

**Leadership:** 0

**Luck:** 338

**Fighting Spirit:** 204

**Fame:** 705

**Skills**

- **Humble Mask** -

- **Aura Shift:** Intermediary LVL.3 (22%)

- **Memos** -

- **Identification:** Intermediary LVL.1 (12%)

- **Mana Sight:** Beginner LVL.6 (0%)

- **Creature Tamer:** Beginner LVL.7 (0%)

- **Perception:** Intermediary LVL.3 (60%)

- **Parkour:** Intermediary LVL.2 (50%)

- **Naturas:** Beginner LVL.2 (21%)

- **Detective:** Beginner LVL.5 (23%)

- **Deception:** Beginner LVL.3 (23%)

- **Stealth:** Intermediary LVL.1 (10%)

- **Listening:** Intermediary LVL.3 (0%)

- **Iron Will:** Intermediary LVL.8 (60%)

- **Insight:** Beginner LVL.3 (66%)

- **Dual Wielding Daggers:** Beginner LVL.9 (99%)

- **Crafting:** Beginner LVL.4 (40%)

Seeing his stats growing and skills accumulating, Paul was proud of himself. However, he noticed that some of his skill levels hadn’t increased at all since his last check. He was a bit worried and decided that, first thing tomorrow, he needed to talk to Nori to see if she knew anything about it.