First I need to learn to craft and put my adventuring on hold. I have some cash to live for a while on just it.

“Here!”

Heftee said as he handed me the iron material.

“First you must learn to operate the smithy and to be sure to supply enough air to heat the material. I will show you once then you can hop to it and make a masterpiece! Heh, even if you’re a dwarf you’ll need patience and you must take it slow and carefully!”

“I see.”

Heftee showed me and also taught me how to operate the smithy.

“Here comes the hard part! Watch carefully!”

I saw the concentration and sheer determination that Heftee used to strike the hot iron precisely, not even missing a bit. He had mastered the art of hammering and before my eyes quickly shaped the iron into a sword.

He held the sword with both hands as he slid it across the whitstone, just before it completely cooled down, before dousing it in water.

“Now you try.”

A while later.

Junk managed to get the forge to a right degree of heat under the guidance of Heftee. His body was strong and he could proceed to hammer the sword, but he kept missing the metal causing it to distort.

At the end the sword was not shaped well and had to be scrapped, Heftee said that it was alright and actually pretty good for a beginner.

All that was left was to practice. And so on his third try Junk forged a sword of a splendid shape and while it did lose out to the ones of the smith, it was still a sword of quality. The material was not that expensive, and so Junk was able to forge it in bulk.

He forged for a while longer.

Of course, Junk handed the swords to Heftee to sell and got some pay for his work. Then, with Heftee seeing that Junk was a quick learner, the swords becoming more outstanding with every craft, they moved onto making armor.
This was a more expensive field and the pieces had to be shaped and hammered to fit the wearer. It was necessary to create completely new designs for armor that a smith made. It would then be the smith’s armor, until he could make a stronger one or unless he needed a stronger one. But that was akin to admitting a smith’s inability. The tradition was first started by dwarfs but spread all over the continent and became the norm for smiths everywhere.

With Heftee’s help Junk designed an armor made of gloves that connected with gauntlets that could be taken off or on depending on what the wearer wanted. Then, he in an experimental attempt, because of a stroke of genius created an over armor that specialized in protecting against cuts and impacts while not limiting mobility.

He added metal rods and fused them together with his pants and shirt. The many rods encasing the torso and legs would stop any incoming swords and the enhanced metal gauntlets could protect against any stronger blows, for example with a hammer.

The gloves were laden with small metal enhancements for the knuckles, that would make punches deadly.

He also made some new boots. They were leathery and could prevent any damage to his feet, because of the framework enhanced by steel plates on the front part of the boot. The elasticity of the leather would dampen any strike targeting his feet as well. The material of the boots was also special, it did not allow dirt to stick on to it and would hardly leave any footprints.

Junk completed his basic tutorship under Heftee after three days and went to the guild with his new armor.

It was finally time to get to rank up. His armor enhanced Junk decided that he had to test it out, along with his new sawlike sword. Some goblins are going to be feeling great, especially with the freedom they would experience. Now, that Junk was ready to do some farming.

Outside the goblin settlement housing a hundred goblins, Junk sharpened his sword while Rasta casted a strength buff. He did not summon his cat as he wanted to test his new equipment, especially since he crafted it himself. Junk adjusted his armor and with the hammer in his left, his new sword in the right he walked right into the settlement.

*geek geek*

He was spotted by goblins, Junk revealed an evil smile. They were all exp!

While he wouldn’t get exp he would get gold, in other words loot. It was the next best thing!
He rushed towards the closest goblin, and it tried to attack the dwarf but was slashed by the saw that was the sword held in Junk’s right arm.

The slash was devastating with protrusions shredding flesh and tearing meat from the bone. The second goblin had fallen down, it’s torso split and the blood splattering all over, its organs falling, torn up into the dirt.

Junk eerily turned around and pursued another goblin that was having second thoughts, seeing its companions shredded.

*gigigi*

It tried to turn around but fell on the ground, fear in its eyes. Junk was enjoying himself a bit too much too care about its feelings. He leaped with his golden hammer and smashed its head.

The blow stunned the green beast, it snarled in pain. Junk approached with his saw-sword. The sword made a clean cut on its neck and the head flew into the air.

“Yay!” Yelled the vampire alraune as blood washed all over her.

“Make the gobs go green!”

The green blood was everywhere.

A large goblin came forward, it was not an ordinary goblin. It was the chef, the strongest one in the settlement.

The goblin chef had broad shoulders and was adorned with green muscle. The surrounding goblins did not dare face Junk, and the chief was going to display his dominance by destroying the intruder in single handed combat.

Junk symbolically agreed to the duel, even if there was no reason to trust them. He after grasping his the hammer with his right, sheathed his sword and lifted the hammer in the air, displaying his valor.

“I’ll show you why they call me Big Junk.”

*GAKI GAKI*

The chief snarled, then smashed with its giant club. The manner and ferocity was akin to an orc, its muscles could in fact actually rival one. But before the buffed Junk, it was still to weak.

The club smashed towards Junk, yet Junk only held up a single arm and with his gauntlet stopped the blow in place. The chief’s arms started trembling and could not hold the club any longer. Perhaps it had shattered a bone because of the backlash of striking against Junk’s tough armored arm.

“Not so tough now, huh...”

Junk leaned back and spun the hammer around for a bit with his forearm. It gained momentum and the golden hammer, while shining in the last vestiges of sunlight flew.

The powerful blow hit the chief right in the jaw and with a sickening crunch shattered it, before sending the goblin flying into the air. It rose above the treetops, squealing. Junk once again unsheathed his sword and held the sword in his right, while the hammer was in his left.

At the moment when Junk turned around to attack the other goblins, the defeated chief crashed onto the ground behind him. A loud sound ensued, the sound of broken bones.

“Weh...” Rasta cringed upon hearing the goblin’s spine break and covered her head. This time it was dead for sure.

The goblins scattered, however this was their settlement, the only place that wanted them.

They could not survive elsewhere, especially with the growing monster numbers.

While most goblins scattered, about thirty maddened with desperation rushed towards Junk.

Junk killed ten, cut them up and smashed them to bits, before he was surrounded.

“Ohohoho!”

Only, Junk knew how much he had reinforced his armor, the enhanced protection made him confident.

He killed six more goblins before they realized that their blows were useless with Junk blocking them with his crafty armor, then they thought up a new tactic. They would try to pile onto him and overwhelm him that way.

No longer trying to punch Junk into a bloody pulp, they one by one lashed themselves onto him. Junk with a bit of trouble dispatched another two goblins.

The ten leftover goblins grabbed Junk’s arms and legs, before they disarmed him. They tried to punch Junk in the face, but he was not going to be giving any freebies like that. He shielded his face with his armored gauntlets, while he could not pry off the goblins that disarmed him, he could still move because of the strength buff.

“Should I help you?” Rasta asked Junk, it did look like he could use a hand, the many goblins were indeed a nuisance.

“Nah, I got this.”

One goblin broke his arm trying to get through Junk’s guard. The dwarf might not have been armed, but he still had a trick left. He lifted his armored leather boot and stepped onto a goblin’s foot. It yelped out in pain, before letting go because of the shock.

Using his now free hand Junk elbowed the other goblin and sent it crashing into the ground because of the strong blow directly into its stomach. It vomited the raunchy contents of its stomach, then fell unconscious in a puddle of its vomit.

Of the three goblins that tried to attack the dwarf, one was stunned and of the ones who tried to hold him down, one was incapacitated, one was stumbling on its caved in leg, and the remaining five, they were too slow to respond.

Junk with half his body free, particularly his arm, smashed the iron knuckles onto a goblins head and the force caused it to be stunned, then kicked a goblin with his now completely free leg.

Junk rolled on the ground and finally rid himself of the other there binding him. The strongman took advantage of the opportunity and killed the stunned broken armed goblin, and targeted the stumbling goblin with a smashed leg.

He took two punches to end its life. One was a strong one smashing its stomach, and the other punch broke its neck. He also happened to be near the unconscious one and stomped on its neck, instantly killing it.

There were only seven scared goblins left. Junk picked up his dropped hammer and sword, he resumed their slaughtering. One goblin had its arms chopped off before it was killed, another had been smashed right after another with the hammer. Two were killed with one blow.

Four were left, they tried to bolt, but roots held them in place. Junk slashed them and the roots absorbed the blood. This one was a team victory.

After hunting the scattered gold, that were the goblins, as well as those that previously escaped the settlement in the night, Junk returned to the guild with a bag full of goblin ears, ready to cash in and finally reach D rank. Altogether Junk had 69 ears from the freshly escaped, and 32 from those he slew at the settlement.

“Haha! I scored so many gobs today! I’ll be promoted for sure!”

“I also became stronger!”

Rasta pouted. After researching for a bit on the side, while learning how to craft they discovered a way for Rasta to get stronger. She got annoyed at a rat and killed it with her ability to summon roots. The blood splashed and poured onto the roots, which proceeded to absorb it.

“We’re rich now! It’s 12 bronze per goblin!”

Junk was successfully promoted to D-rank, the astounded guild lady was intimidated by the size of the bag. She at first did not believe that Junk could kill so many goblins on his own, it was a party job after all.

However, while astounding there was no evidence or reason to cheat by applying for the rewards solo. The rank up reward of a quest would not be split between the members of the party and it was not the guild’s job to distribute the cash between the party members.

All rounded up together Junk received 20 silver for the quest well done, the commission and received 1212 bronze coins for slaying 101 goblins.

That made it 121 silver and 20 silver, plus 2 bronze, since each silver was ten bronze coins.

This combined with the previous money of 20 silvers and 1 bronze coin, since some was used up for the inn, made Junk’s total wealth equal to 1 gold, since 1 gold was a hundred silver and 61 silvers, as well as 3 bronze coins.

In bronze terms, he had 1613 bronze coins.

That would be enough for a while, he could even fund his blacksmithing career, although he could only use cheap iron for now.