Mornings like always without ingots to smelt were nothing to write home about. The only saving grace was that the new breakfast like dinner was also better. I patiently waited till 12 o’clock, and then headed to the Senior Disciple area. From there, I was guided by Tagon downstairs into a large basement.
Standing there was... Santa?
“This is Grandmaster Clauson. He is the leader of this Blacksmithing Guild so make sure to show ya’r respect!” warned Tagon.
I knew it! Santa!
The Grandmaster was literally an old chubby man with a long white beard and looked exactly of what one would think of Santa Claus... except shorter.
“Yes sir!” I responded.
Now I wonder what kind of presents Santa will have for me… I promise I behaved very well… though I technically did murder someone… but he was a bad guy! Definitely!
Shortly after, we came over to the Grandmaster.
“So this little missy is the winner of the competition now is it?” Grandmaster Clauson inquired.
“Yes, Grandmaster” replied Tagon.
He then took a hard look at me causing me to tense up due to the pressure. Remembering the warning I get my act together.
“My name is Shiro, I greet Grandmaster Claus! It is an honor!” I said while slightly bowing down to show respect.
When I see Tagon frown, I suddenly remembered I was in another world, and for all I know bowing down is not a sign of respect but a form on insult so I begin to inwardly panic. Only then did it hit me... Oops! I said Claus instead of Clauson!
Luckily it did not seem like the Grandmaster cared one way or the other.
“Shiro ha? It is always nice to see new young talent. So what would ya like to be made for ya’r commission?” asked Grandmaster Clauson.
I thought about this for quite some time, and came up with one conclusion. That I will get my dagger fixed and remade into a Arm-Blade Katar. Why an Arm-Blade Katar? Simple, an Arm-Blade Katar still counts as a Dagger so my [Dagger Mastery] still works, but now I can free up my hands. This means that I can use a spear at the same time, or use attacks like [Claw Swipe] as well. Throwing things also becomes more convenient. I can even use potions without having to put away my weapon.
There are not too many people who specialize at virtually everything, so this kind of combat style only works for me.
“I would like to remake this into an Arm-Blade Katar focused on agility, while still having some other stats” I replied while taking out my [Ancient Mithril Dagger]
“This is?!?!” Tagon interjected in shock, then got himself together and continued “The rules were pretty clear that you are only allowed to use your own materials!”
I quickly try to refute his claim.
“B-But this is-”
“No excuses! The rules are set in place for a reason! No exceptions!” Tagon interrupted.
Tagon did not seem like he would relent or even listen to me at all!
“It’s ok” said Grandmaster Clauson.
“Are ya sure Grandmaster? We should not bend the rules as it would set a bad precident” Tagon cautioned.
“The dagger in question rightfully belongs to the little missy. According to my intuition, the little missy had it even before coming here” Grandmaster Clauson explained.
Intuition? Is that some sort of skill? Though I didn’t get any notification of getting any skill… hmmm...
“If… the Grandmaster say so...” Tagon relented and then left the premises.
Grandmaster Clauson then took the dagger off my hands and began inspecting it.
“By the looks of things... this dagger came from a Dungeon... Though... this dagger in question seems to be quite old… Us smiths have always been dreaming about replicatin’ the abilities of a dungeon in our smithing. Sadly to say, we are still far far away… hmmm… strange… my intuition is telling me that I have seen a person smith a dagger in the past in similar style… But... I don’t remember anyone producing a dagger of this quality… not to mention, the notion in itself would be quite ridiculous as no mortal could smith something like this to begin with… I must be getting old...” Grandmaster Clauson murmured to seemingly himself.
While I would love to hear some more philosophy… can we get down to smithing cause my time is kind of ticking! And I’m sure you have plenty of presents for me! Of course I can’t actually say that…
“I look forward to the Grandmaster’s teaching!” I interjected hoping to kick start the lessons.
“Ah! Yes, sorry about that little missy, lets get started” Grandmaster Clauson replied.
The Grandmaster went towards the forge, and began to smelt down the dagger and reforge it. After about 15 minutes, I got my first blue box!
Your skill [NP][Smelting] has become Level 8
Congratulations! You have completed the class quest [Creationist: Improve your production skills] +25 PER has been attained
Class quest [Creationist:Improve your production skills], has been reset. |
When he was done smelting and reforging the dagger into an ingot, he then began smithing it. I looked for about half an hour but the process was way over my head...
Your skill [NP][Blacksmithing] has become Level 7 |
Only then did some insight begin to seep in… But still it seemed like a pretty complex process regardless… to get more information I activated [All-Observing-Eyes].
“Those eyes..” murmured Grandmaster Clauson.
“Eyes?” I reflexively responded.
“Your eyes… it is as if they have seen all things in this world...” Grandmaster Clauson followed up.
“Hii?!?!” I quickly deactivate my skill… ”I-I don’t know what ya mean..” I add, playing ignorant while sweating profusely.
“Don’t worry little missy, I won’t tell anyone that ya have a Unique Skill. I happen to have one myself actually, so ya’r secret is safe with me… My [Discerning-Eyes-Of-Inuition] let me see things no one else can see. They are very convenient, as they let me know things I normally would not know. But at same time, to get these eyes I had to pay a terrible price. It is sad to know one young as ya’rself had to go through similar circumstances to attain something like that...”
From then on he told a story about his past as he continued smithing. I paid careful attention to his work, but at same time listened in on the story, interested how others could have attained Unique Skills. 20 years ago, he was a smith for his party of 10. They ventured into a dungeon and ended up being trapped in an endless maze. Out of the 10, 6 of them died from the endless onslaught of monsters. When they were at wits end and trapped in a dead end, his Unique Skill awakened, and they managed to find a secret passage outside the maze.
It was a pretty sad story and a harsh reminder how strength is the only way one can live in this world… another hour has passed and only then did another blue box appear.
Your skill [NP][Blacksmithing] has become Level 8 |
From that point on, my insight into mithril expanded tremendously. While there were still many parts I did not understand just from looking, Grandmaster Clauson luckily helped fill in a lot of it.
Finally, 3 hours have passed and for whatever reason, I did not get any skills… Somehow I get the feeling that this was the limit of his [Blacksmithing], but I should still have gotten some class skills right? Though no luck at all… Was there not enough time maybe?
As I was pondering, Grandmaster Clauson finished the arm-blade katar and brought it before me.
“I did my best to insure the weapon is usable to ya, but even then using such a powerful blade has limits. Now then let me add some finishing touches… I am not a specialist in this, but it should bring no harm. ” said Grandmaster Clauson.
You have acquired a new skill [NP][Rune Crafting] Level 1 |
I took a look at the final product.
Wind-Tempered Mithril Arm-Blade Katar of Minor Agility
An average quality katar made out of mithril, reforged from an Ancient Mithril Dagger while minimizing the loss to quality. It is tempered with the power of the wind.
+50 AGI +25 STR +25 VIT +20 DEX +15 INT +15 WIS +700 ATK
[Wind Blade] Surround the blade with wind magical energy doing magical damage to those cut by it ( 50 Magic Power per minute )
[Passive] Absorb magic power around your surroundings ( 1 Magic Power per minute )
Bonus: +10 AGI
Magic Power: 100/1000
Rune Crafting: Mana Storage: 0/25
Restrictions: Minimum Level: Level 15 - Penalty: 50% reduction in stats Level 30 - Penalty: 10% reduction in stats Level 35 - Bonus: +5 AGI Level 40 - Bonus: +10 AGI Level 50 - Bonus: +20 AGI
Owner Restriction: Shiro Benefit: +10 AGI | Penalty: 90% reduction in stats
[Made by Clauson Angersmith]
Quality 5.7310/10.0000 |
“...”
HOLY SHIT!
Someone pinch me... I am not dreaming right? It is hard to imagine that the dagger I had all along had that much potential… Though thinking about it logically, considering Mithril is above Holy-Steel, that should have been a given to an extent… What is even more terrifying is that technically speaking, it should have been better as a dagger, so one can only imagine what kind of abilities it truly had prior to being damaged.
Though I wonder… How long does it take for mithril to be damaged in the first place? Anyways, lets get to that later.
“Thank you very much Grandmaster Clauson!” I exclaimed.
“I hope it will serves ya well, and that ya have learned a lot from all this. Though somehow, my intuition tells me ya learned more than I can imagine. Ho ho ho” laughed Santa… err… I mean Grandmaster Clauson.
“Yes! I learned quite a lot, thank you very much!” I replied with sincere gratitude.
I really did... not only did I get 2 level increases in [Blacksmithing] and a level increase in [Smelting], I also learned a lot about Mithril. I also learned that there are limits set to how powerful items can be. The total item stats can not exceed 3X your base stats. Also, a single item can not give more stats than your current level * 5 + 10. If you go above those numbers, unless the item for special reason exceeds the limit or is a special item such as a blacksmithing hammer, you will have a huge strain on your [Mental]. Lastly, I learned that powerful items can be limited through multiple minimum level restriction options to give more flexibility.
I really wish I got some of his class skills though, but even so, I got quite a lot from all this.
“Ya’r time is up, lets go!” yelled Tagon as he came from upstairs.
“Yes sir!” I replied.
I take one last bow towards Grandmaster Clauson, aka Santa Claus and make my way out back to the Intermediate Disciple area.
Since there is still 3 hours left till the exhibition market, lets get some smelting going!
In that 3 hours, I somehow managed to smelt out 30 [Iron Ingots]! I am not sure how, but I think the skill that helps with the making of steel has an indirect effect on smelting iron, since it is a component of steel. Though I don’t get the feeling that it helps with the actual smithing of iron.
After I wrapped up, I headed for the market. My goal this time around is to see if I can sell that [Steel Dagger]. While it is nothing special, since it is made using my personal materials, I can set my own price and sell it at a discount. Then sell my better ones at competitive prices.
I arrive at the market and sit down on the floor. With my mantle covering my head and special usage of [Blend Stealth] to cover only parts of my body, I do my best to cover up that I am a beastkin. Since discrimination still exists here in this country, it is best to limit all possibilities of losing customers. I then activate [Voice Manipulation] to make my voice louder and at same time more manly. Who knows how many people here might discriminate based on gender as well…
“COME NOW COME ALL! STEEL DAGGER SELLING FOR 25% DISCOUNT! ONLY 3 GOLD!” I yell to the best of my ability.
I then wait patiently with excitement… I mean 3 gold… Even if I have to part with 70% of it to the guild, that is still 90 silver coins in my pocket! It almost makes all my efforts up to now seem meaningless…
…
Half an hour passed but no one stopped by… strange… are they maybe underestimating me because I am young or something? Lets try this again.
“STEEL DAGGER ONLY 3 GOLD! QUALITY GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK!” I yelled.
People walked by and took peeks now and then, but no one bothering picking up the dagger at all… strange…
I tried for the entire 2 hours and not one person even bothered to look my way… Can they see through my disguise? No I don’t think that is the case… Is it maybe because I only have 1 dagger and it looks odd? Add in my disguise and maybe it just looks a bit shady?
I pondered through dinner and into bed but could not think of anything… Maybe I’ll try smithing some above average stuff tomorrow and see how things go.
Killing is a production skill that makes corpses...
I don't know... I would define a production skill any skill designed predominantly for the production and improvement of produced items.
Certainly some production skills may be useful in battle but that's not their purpose but a side effect and vice versa.
You will not increase proficiency in that skill if not used as intended...
It doesn't make sense to separate production and improvement since that would mean someone would have a class that only deals with sharpening weapons which is technically not a production job or enchanting etc.
Anything that doesn't deal with making an item but improving it or fine tuning it would be a different job by that definition.
That level of specialisation doesn't work in a typical medieval world.
Production skills by nature is creation, of course a production skill can improve things, but it isn't the same as enhancement.
And yes, someone can have a class that specializes in a certain aspect. We have seen one recently where a class has a specialization of making steel. That doesn't mean they can't do other stuff, just they won't be as good at it, while at same time be better at making steel than the others. Which means they would be disadvantaged at making mithril vs a regular blacksmith, but then one has to ask, how many blacksmith will actually work with mithril? In that sense, since steel is the most popular product and most blacksmith won't make it past that anyways, a steelsmith would have a huge advantage in every day life.
Now then, to go by your example of a blacksmith specialized at repairing or enhancing weapons. There is most definitely room for you. Sure, your blacksmithing skills may not be on par with others but you being able to improve an army as a whole would be well worth it. Think about it.
If you can improve an army by 1%, then for every 100 people, that is like 1 extra person. So for an army of 10,000 to have a smith specialized that gives 1% is like bringing 100 extra people. (Actually more than that since qualitative improvements are more important than quantitative). Now what if you improve the army by 5% or 10%?
Production jobs can also do improvements, but they wouldn't be specialized at it. While improvement jobs may also be able to do production but just not specialized in it.
Enhancements like rune crafting is actually a more in demand job than blacksmithing. I'll get more into rune crafting in later volumes to explain what it is. It is fairly important and can do MUCH more than what is shown here.
The example you give although right from a modern point of view is negligible from a medieval rulers point of view in which slavery is not uncommon and that is exactly my point.
In a world where life is quite cheap most specialists of one field are not valued highly because the gains they offer can easily replaced with more numbers and it's cheaper in their eyes than feeding a specialist.
There will be some exceptions that offer huge gains in a very obvious way but small optimisations won't be considered worth the sacrifice.
Also specialisation is an off shoot of the main branch so shouldn't it still be covered by the overarching umbrella of production skills?
Certainly it's not producing an item but improving it by crafting/producing runes on it but isn't it still production?
Also can't even sharpening be considered as producing a sharper item now that I think about it?
Certainly the raw material is a pre existing usable item but does that mean the skill used on it is no longer a production skill? It feels wierd when you think about it.
Being restricted to only receiving class rewards for making items without fine tuning them and making a polished item sounds like it will encourage the mass production of incomplete items.
The thing is that it is neither a medieval world nor a modern world but a fantasy world. Part of the inefficiencies of a medieval world stems from lack of education. Even the nobles education levels at medieval times wasn't that great.
The availability of skills and magic allows a world to advance much faster for obvious reasons. Of course conveniences often leads to regression as well, but due to how the world is structured, it also doesn't allow that either. Volume 3 and 4 will demonstrate that the education level of high society is actually not that low, while the education level of the commoner is closer to medieval. Which means those in power are perfectly aware of the advantages of improved efficiency.
It will also explain why slavery while has its uses isn't that viable for a lot of applications one would normally think.
And due to it being a fantasy world where an individual can have the strength of multiple people, quality has a much larger impact than quantity does. In our world, a sword can cut pretty much any animal. But what about a monster? If your sword can't cut it, you can send a million people and they wouldn't be able to do the job of 1 person who can cut it.
Rune crafting is divided into multiple categories, but one of such categories as seen here is engraving them into metal. So in that sense, a rune crafter would benefit picking up sculpting and blacksmithing if they want to do rune crafting on metal. But their levels of that would generally not be that high. In same sense a blacksmith might pick up rune crafting but their levels in that wouldn't be high either.
As for what classifies production and enhancement, generally speaking would be when an item is accepted by the system as a new item and not just a modified item. The actual details are a bit more complex, but I don't want to spoil too much.
Mass production of incomplete items is pointless though. Because you get WAY more experience from the item being used than the item being made. In that sense, many incomplete items are made by apprentices and the final item made by the blacksmith. So an apprentice would max out most of their available class quests for incomplete items (ingots), then by the time they become a blacksmith focus on complete items as incomplete items already become worthless to them at that point.
Cooking is magic… bad cooking is a curse.
I am surprised she didn't get the degraded version of the Grandmaster's unique skill, she was certainly observing him for long enough.
The probability of getting a skill depends on:
1) How much she has seen the skill - And this is not limited by how much she has seen it at the current moment but in total.
2) How difficult the skill is for her to learn - Aka, the compatibility of the skill. This is why you notice skills taking a longer time to learn as they get higher level, or some skills of same level taking longer than others.
In this sense, some unique skills derivatives will be learned quickly, while others would be impossible even if she watches them for a decade.
Thanks for the chapter~!
Thanks for chappy!