Izuku awoke to the light of the sun reaching his eyes again, a smile forming on his face.
He got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom, giving himself a quick scrub, washing off the dirt and mud that had clung to him since he had left the dungeon the day before. He made his way back to his room at the Inn and got dressed, ready for the day.
After dressing himself, he grabbed the chunk of [Enhanced Steel] from the chest and placed it into the pouch at his side. As he rubbed at his eyes, wiping away the last of the sleep that was stuck in them, he heard a soft ‘ding’.
Congratulations!
You reached Level [9]!
You have unlocked a new ability!
[Shield] Unlocked!
Izuku smiled at the menu. When had he levelled up? Oh right, the XP he got for handing in his Cutlery quest! He had been very tired when he had gotten back to the Inn so his memory was a little fuzzy.
He rolled his shoulders as he walked downstairs, humming to himself as he ordered breakfast. After yesterday’s fighting and quest finishing, he had a fair amount of coppers, 53 of them to be exact, so he felt that he could afford to buy one of the smaller meals.
As he ate, he pulled up his menu on his hand and read over his new ability.
> Shield:
- Halves the damage for a single strike that hits you. Costs 5 mana for each hit.
His eyes widened as he looked at the ability.
It was awesome! For just 5 mana, he could reduce an enemies attack by 50%? Sure it wouldn’t stop something that would already be able to kill him from doing so, but it was enough that he could go just that little bit further than he could before!
He might only have 9 uses of it at the moment with his Mana on 45 now if he didn’t use [Identify] at all, but that was still 9 hits that he could make not hurt as much! Which in of itself was a major boon. No wonder so many adventurers started as a [Fighter]!
Letting his menu fade, Izuku focused on the last few bites of his meal, finishing it before getting up and handing the bowl back to the Innkeeper. Receiving a nod in return, Izuku headed out into the town for the day.
He couldn’t go on another run with the giant lump of [Enhanced Steel] on his hip, so he planned on finding a Magic Smith to take it off his hands! Maybe he could even start paying for a new sword, or maybe even a breastplate!
The streets were very active for how early it was, but he probably shouldn’t have been so surprised at that fact with so many adventurers in town. Another surprising thing was the fact that the craftsmen were apparently up even earlier than the adventurers because most of the stores along the streets seemed to be open.
Merchants and craftsmen were shouting to the adventurers that passed their stalls, showing off their wares, everything from clothes to potions, as well as a few dedicated buildings with signs on the front to show what kind of shop they were.
After a while of searching, Izuku eventually found a building that had the Empire-wide symbol for a Magic Smith on it. It was essentially the silhouette of an anvil with a star shape cut into the side.
Heading towards the building, he pushed open the door and was happy to see that there was someone at the counter. She had thick, pink hair, and her golden eyes seemed to almost zoom in on Izuku as he entered.
She smirked at him, and for a moment Izuku felt a little uncomfortable, before pushing it down. “Hello? I saw the sign out the front with the symbol for a magic smith on it, are you free to work on something at the moment?”
The girl’s eyes darted from his face to the lump of [Enhanced Steel] he was holding, then back up to his face, the smirk turned into a full-blown grin, and the girl nodded. “Yep! I’m assuming you want me to forge something with that?”
Izuku nodded as he placed the chunk of metal down onto the counter gently, doing his best not to damage the hardwood countertop by dropping it. Sighing with relief, he shook his arms out. [Enhanced Steel] was damn heavy.
The girl was on it immediately, tapping away at the chunk with a small hammer. Izuku didn’t know the specifics, but he was pretty sure she was testing the quality of the chunk… somehow. She kept tapping away at it, getting more and more excited as she did.
After a while, she dropped the hammer onto the bench and before Izuku could react, she had lept over the counter and grabbed onto his shoulders, shaking him rapidly. “You! Do you even know what you’ve brought me?!”
Removing himself from her grip, Izuku let the room stop spinning before he spoke, shaking his head. “I just know that it’s [Enhanced Steel], sorry. Did I do something wrong? Is it not what I thought it was?”
Izuku was surprised to see the ear-to-ear grin that covered the girls face. “No, you bushy-haired blockhead! It’s perfect! 98.7% purity! How the hell did you find this?! You can’t be a miner, you have a sword… Did you find it in the dungeon?!”
Izuku nodded slowly as the girl pushed her way into his personal space again. “Uh, yes. I found a hidden cavern and it had that chunk in it. Why? Does the fact that it came from the dungeon mean anything?”
The girl’s eyes glinted. “What it means, Adventurer Boy is that you found [Enhanced Steel] in the dungeon! That usually means it likes you, and will likely give you more! It’s never an exact thing, sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not, but it’s still a renewable source of material!”
Again, before he could react, she had taken hold of his shoulders. At least she wasn’t shaking him this time. “My name is Mei Hatsume! Your new, exclusive [Magic Smith]! I have a unique deal for you, Adventurer Boy!”
The smile on Mei’s face, as well as the sheer amount of excitement in her golden eyes, seemed to rub off on Izuku because his heart seemed to pick up in excitement. “A deal? What kind of deal?”
Mei let his shoulders go and jumped back over the counter, sitting on the stool as she grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen. Shocked at the sudden movement, it took Izuku a moment to follow her.
“What’s your name, Adventurer Boy?”
Izuku blinked, shocked to remember that he never introduced himself. “Oh! I’m sorry! My name is Izuku Midoriya.”
She nodded to herself and continued to write what seemed like some kind of contract, but Izuku couldn’t read it with it upside down. He stayed quiet and allowed her to write before suddenly she flipped the paper around so that Izuku could read it.
Business Deal #1!
Participants: Mei Hatsume/Izuku Midoriya
Izuku Midoriya, Adventurer, will supply 90% of any [Enhanced Steel] for free to Mei Hatsume, and in exchange, Mei Hatsume will be Izuku Midoriya’s exclusive [Magic Smith], getting a 100% discount on items she makes with said materials.
Option selected:
Sign here:
-------------------- --------------------
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the contract.
He glanced up at Mei, who was resting her face on her fists, her cheeks getting squished up as she watched him expectantly. It was a classic case of puppy dog eyes, something that Izuku himself had used in the past, but it turned out that didn’t mean he was immune to them.
“So, Mei.”
The girl perked up immediately. “Yes! What is it, Midoriya?!”
Izuku hummed as he held the contract up. “Wouldn’t you be better off not giving me stuff for free, even if I’m giving you so much material?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You’d think so, but no. Do you know how expensive [Enhanced Steel] of this kind of quality usually is? And this size too? More than I’d make in a week selling [Enhanced Iron] gear!”
Izuku’s eyebrows raised at that. Mei continued. “No, getting a semi-consistent supply of material like this for free? It would increase our savings and our profits by so much, giving you gear for free wouldn’t even put a dent in them.”
Izuku nodded, kind of understanding it. He might not be a merchant but he understood a little about business from some books he had found. What Mei was saying made sense. “So essentially, me supplying you with materials for free far outweighs the potential costs of making things for me?”
Mei’s smile grew even further as she nodded rapidly. “Exactly! So what do you say? You even get to keep 10% of the material for your own purposes! You can sell it, throw it at things, whatever you want!”
Izuku read over the contract again. This was a passionate [Magic Smith] offering up free equipment in exchange for something that Izuku would be collecting any chance he got anyway. He picked up the pen, ignoring the squeal of joy that came from Mei as he signed the paper.
For a low-level adventurer like him, this deal was quite possibly a miracle.
