The next morning, I filled up my [Coal Ore] with more holy power. Then instead of having breakfast, I decided to leave early again and headed for the Alchemist Guild. I figured since I am waiting on mana anyways, might as well practice making potions. I also reevaluated the necessity of mana potions now that I know I can use mana to enhance my gear. But first I’ll start with the health potion. Unfortunately, I missed the second round of selections for the Alchemist Guild this time around due to the huge order, not that I am regretting it or anything.

 

I paid 50 iron coins and rented out a mini-lab at the Alchemist Guild for 5 hours. It was more expensive than I initially thought, but still within my affordable range.

 

I began processing a [Dire Milkweed] which took me about half an hour to ensure highest quality while also paying attention to the details. From then on, I spent 2 hours making a potion. Since my first attempt, my [PER] stat has increased by quite a bit. Not only that, I also got things like [IPR] and some level ups to help me! Add in my prior experience and the results weren’t too bad for a second attempt.

 

Lesser Health Potion A semi-poor quality lesser health potion. Used to restore health.   +18 HP +17 HP/min for 5 min   [Made by Shiro]   Quality 2.8764/10.000

 

At the very least the potion was over 3X better than my first attempt to say the least.

 

Of course I also received a new quest due to breaking through the quality score of 1:

 

[Creationist] quest unlocked!

[Creationist] Potion Making Make at least 10 potions with at least a quality score of 1.   Type: Continuous 1/10   Status: 1/10 Reward: 1 [PER]

 

Since I had another 2 and a half hours, I made another attempt at making yet another potion, and the results were even better.

 

Lesser Health Potion An okay quality lesser health potion. Used to restore health.   +22 HP +20 HP/min for 5 min   [Made by Shiro]   Quality 3.3982/10.0000

 

This concluded my 5 hours at the lab, based on what I feel from my [PER] and my experience, I can tell that as-is, reaching a quality score of 4 would be impossible without more insight. So there was no point of continuing on making [Lesser Health Potions] for the time being.

 

I get 2 meat skewers by the stalls since I am low on time today and head out of the city towards the forest. My goal this time is similar to before, [Dire Foxes] and herbs. Except this time around I have no plan on cashing in any of the herbs. Frankly put, it isn’t worth it at this point. I did it before because I needed every coin I could muster but now the situation has changed.

 

Looking at the costs at the alchemist guild, an average [Lesser Health Potion] sells for 1 silver coin! But when I cash in that [Dire Milkweed] via quest, I would only get 3 iron and 50 copper coins, and that is including the cash-in reward. Talk about a ripoff!

 

Of course I can’t exactly sell my potions anyways, since selling potions requires certification from the Alchemist Guild. But regardless, now that I have some money, I’d rather store the herbs and practice with them when I have the opportunity.

 

As for the [Dire Foxes], I have 2 reasons for hunting them. The first reason is that I plan to take the meat and try the [Cooking] skill out a bit. And the second reason is that I want to test out that mithril katar! Especially the magic option… I always wanted to try magic, but got cheated out with only healing magic!

 

Also, since my [Item Box] increased in size, I can now store all 5 [Dire Foxes]. So collecting them will be a lot more convenient than before.

 

It did not take me long to spot a [Dire Fox] and I employed the same strategy I did before, I let it notice me. Have it sneak up and [Sprint] at me as I quickly turn around and [Charge] straight at it aiming for its eyes with [Wind Blade]!

 

“Eh?” I reflexively mutter.

 

That was kind of unexpected… hmm…

 

I look around and see the [Dire Fox] right behind me… cleanly split into 2…

 

I probably should be extra careful about using that magic option… It seems to be quite... overkill... especially when I actually need the pelts. Not to mention, one wrong step and I feel I may accidentally injure myself…

 

From then on I focused on killing [Dire Foxes] while collecting herbs on the side. I managed to finally kill 5 [Dire Foxes], but still had 3 hours to spare till the exhibition. So after finding a safe spot near the town, I made a fire and attempted cooking the fox meat. After half an hour of making the [Dire Fox Meat Skewers], the results were okay I guess?

 

Dire Fox Meat Skewers A semi-poor quality dire fox meat skewers. Used to sedate hunger and temporarily raise stats   +5 Stamina for 24 hours   [Made by Shiro]   Quality 2.5193/10.0000

 

Of course I also got the accompanying quest along side it.

 

[Creationist] quest unlocked!

[Creationist] Food creation Produce 100 food servings with at least a quality score of 1.   Type: Continuous 1/10   Status: 1/100 Reward: 1 [PER]

 

From each [Dire Fox], I get about 10 servings of meat and each serving is about 2 meat skewers. I managed to cook 10 meat skewers or about 5 servings.

I ate 2 of the [Dire Fox Meat Skewers] and stored the rest for a later time. I only managed to collect 5 herbs this time around since I got distracted pwning with the mithril katar. Either way, I decided to head back and cash in the [Dire Fox Pelts] and some of the remaining [Dire Fox Meat].

 

After doing so I returned to the exhibit market, and tried selling my remaining [Iron Axe] and [Iron Spear], even going as far as offering 50% discount, but unfortunately no luck...

 

* sigh *

 

After dinner, I again proceeded to load holy power into the [Coal Ore] and went to bed.

 

...

 

The next 3 days passed pretty similar, the only difference was that I spent only 3 hours in the Alchemists Guild and attempted [Lesser Mana Potions] instead. Unfortunately luck was not on my side as not only did I fail to get above quality score of 1. The results in themselves failed to restore any mana, or even if they did, it was noted to have some negative side effects.

After I finished making the potions, I would proceed to gathering herbs and hunt [Dire Foxes]. From then on, I would proceed to cook the [Dire Foxes] into skewers. Unlike my other production skills, Cooking quickly got to quality score of 5. The reason being is that I have some prior experience cooking in the previous world, not to mention [PER] also helps me with my sense of taste, thus allowing me another way to judge the flaws in the food. I can’t exactly chew on my swords and no way am I gonna attempt drinking an alchemical made potion with unknown negative side effects.

 

When I was done cooking the foxes, I would cash in the quest in the guild and then head for the exhibition hall in my futile attempts to sell my axe and spear.

 

Effectively, same old same old.

 

Then finally came my quota day! And I happily smelted the 50 [Iron Ingots] in 1 day! Thus receiving my reward of 10 [Iron Ingots] and 3 [Coal Ores]. This of course meant that I finished my [Creationist: Ingot Creation II] quest. But the shocking thing came right after.

 

Congratulations! You have completed the class quest [Creationist: Ingot Creation II]   +3 PER has been attained

Your [PER] stat has exceeded 300. The quality of the [PER] stat has improved.

 

Again my eyes began to change as things became more and more clear, the details I could not notice before became so apparent like they were always there. After that, instead of smithing something out of my reward, I instead took a rest and got used to my new and improved eye-sight.

 

I then repeated the hunting regime for 3 more days until I felt that I saved up enough Holy Power to begin the next phase to my plan.

 

The following day, I began my hardest struggle yet! I began the work day smelting the first [Holy-steel Ingot], the ingot smelting process took up the entire day as I was extremely careful! I also noticed something interesting with production jobs. That the most intensive and critical part of the entire process is the finalization. It is the point between the item taking form and being registered into the system.

 

I took advantage of that knowledge and made sure to activate [All-Observing-Eyes][Overload] for a few seconds at the end! This not only improved what I saw, it also helped me raise my supporting stats such as [IPR], [INT] and [WIS] to fill in some of the gaps in my unusually high [PER]. Of course the increase in [PER] also helped as well raising my skills a bit.

 

To improve the outcome, I even made sure to go out and eat the best food that increased my [INT] and [WIS] at the cost of 1 gold coin per serving! Any little thing I could think of to help me, I took advantage off. That includes spending my 1 remaining Free Point into INT.

 

Taking full advantage of stats is also one of the reasons why I chose to make a Arm-Blade Katar. the fact that I could use it without my hands is not just limited to combat and works just fine during smithing as well! I wish I could have made other items to increase [INT] and [WIS], but unfortunately it could only be done with items that have high compatibility with mana.

 

Finally, after spending an entire day on it, my first [Holy-steel Ingot] was complete!

 

Holy-steel Ingot A semi-superior quality ingot. Used in the production of metallic goods   Quality 7.8583/10.0000

 

Unfortunately I ended up dropping from a quality score of 8… but regardless the results could be said to be extremely good! Beyond excellent even!

 

The next day I repeated the same process yet again, taking up yet another day, but with a tad more experience at the finalization process.

 

Holy-steel Ingot A semi-superior quality ingot. Used in the production of metallic goods   Quality 7.9212/10.0000

 

I was still not able to keep the 8 quality score but regardless, it was a decent improvement considering the difficulty.

 

With my 2 ingots done, the next day I began to smith the hammer! I poured everything I had and more into the completion of this hammer! I could not afford to slack or lose focus for even a moment!

 

I spent the entire day working on it since 5 o’clock. When I felt I was almost done, I activated [All-Observing-Eyes][Overload] and began the finalization process! But unlike before a few seconds were not enough as I raced against time to finish my hammer!

 

Time was ticking but the finalization process was not done… 10 seconds passed…

 

20 seconds passed…

 

30 seconds passed… I was half way into my [Overload] but it was still not finalized…

 

40 seconds passed…

 

50 seconds passed… I was getting desperate at this point but I did not lose focus!

55 seconds passed… 56… 57….

 

58…

 

59...

 

I barely managed the final hit right at the end of the final second of the minute…

 

* collapse *

 

…

 

…

 

...

 

“Ar – - y – – - ka- - - m - - sy” I heard a voice.

 

I barely open up my eyes and see the dwarf that is always at the counter looking over me and saying something… ouch!

 

My head hurts like hell!

 

After a bit I was finally able to make out what he was saying.

 

“Are ya okay missy?” repeated the dwarf.

 

“Where am I...” I muttered still a bit confused.

 

“We are at the forge, I was about to close up the place when I saw ya collapsed on the floor” the dwarf explained.

 

Why was I here... and why was I on the floor… pondering for a bit, a sudden realization hit me!

 

“THE HAMMER!” I yelled out.

 

“Hammer?” asked the dwarf somewhat confused.

 

I took a look around and set my eyes on my beautiful new hammer! It was pure white, which is why I will call it Angelica!

 

You have surpassed your limits of Blacksmithing and created an item down from the bottom of your soul! Due to the workmanship, effort and bond that you share, the item has been granted a name!   [“Angelica” the Holy-steel Blacksmithing Hammer] has been born!   Level up! Creationist: +2 to all unlocked attributes +5 MP +5 Mental +2 PER

 

“…”

 

What does that mean?

 

 

“Angelica” the Holy-steel Blacksmithing Hammer   A Holy-steel blacksmithing hammer created by a catkin who put her very heart and soul into making a hammer to help make her dreams possible. Her close bond with the creation process and her will to push the item beyond her abilities has granted it a name.   +61 STR +49 DEX +37 INT + 36 WIS -150 AGI +19 ATK +61% improvement for Blacksmithing +24% improvement for Blacksmithing magical items +31% improvement for Blacksmithing holy magical items +93% penalty for Blacksmithing demonic magical items   [Grant Holy Power] Imbue an item with holy power. Items which are magical but not demonic will gain holy power. None magical items may gain a 1 time magical use ability (200 holy power is consumed) [Passive] Absorb holy power around your surroundings ( 1 Holy Power per hour ) [Restriction] Holy Power can not be refilled through means other than passive regeneration   Bonus: 5% improvement for Blacksmithing Naming: 25% improvement to all stats (exceeds the limit), durability loss is halved   Holy Power: 350/400   [Made by Shiro] Durability: 5000/5000 Quality 6.1204/10.0000

 

I could not believe my eyes… not only that… I felt a close bond with Angelica beyond of what I felt with anything before! It was like literally screaming “hug me”… so I did…

 

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr~

 

Before I knew it I started puring from how comfortable it felt…

 

Then my eyes met with the dwarf...

 

“Hii!?!?” I yelped.

 

He saw me! He saw me! He saw me! Those thoughts filled my mind as I tried to come up with some sort of excuse, then hide somewhere where no one would ever find me!

 

Noticing he had my attention.

 

“If ya are done, I’d like to close up” said the dwarf seemingly paying little mind to my embarrassing display.

 

I hurriedly nod in rapid succession and bolt to my room as fast as I could! Then I quickly jumped into bed, trying to hide from the world in my embarrassment! I cuddle up to Angelica as my only bastion of security…

 

Purrrrrrrrrrr~

 

Like that I fall asleep without even eating dinner, curled up in a ball around Angelica…