I was standing on top of a hill, overlooking what seemed to be a small town. Behind the town was the foothills of a mountain that the sunrise was barely peaking out of. There was a road from where I was that lead straight into the town. The dirtroad had dense trees on both sides of it. As I walked down the road I thought to myself “They really need to get these roads paved, someone is going to get a flat tire.” Then I remembered that I’m in a new world there might not even be any cars here, I mean I haven’t seen any so far, of course I’ve only been here for about 30 minutes though. As I reached the gates to the town which seem like it was an old medieval type of place with houses made from wood, sort of resembling cabins. I seen men women and children going about their daily routines. Kids were running around playing some men were fixing what looked like damage to the outside of buildings. Some women were chasing their kids around while other were fixing damage to the building as well. There were actually quite a bit of people here. The town looked a lot smaller from up on the hill.
“Hey, what are you doing standing at the gate?” said one of the guard's.
“Ya, either get inside or get the hell out of here.” said the other guard.
Both guards were dressed in the exact same type of armor, both had what seemed to be a leather chest piece, leather shoes and a leather cap. They each had a sword on their left side and a dagger on their right side.
“Well, I guess we don’t wear regular clothes here.” I thought to myself. This seems like I really am in a game. I might as well scratch everything from the old world off, meaning no cars, no cell phones, no social media, no internet....... Then it struck me, something that I wasn’t expecting to be of such importance from the world I came from, I stood there like I was frozen in time, the feeling of dread making its way to the the front of my head till finally the thought surfaced “I hope these people wear deodorant”.
“Hey! Boy! You deaf or something? We’re talking to you!” Said one of the guards.
“Oh uh, sorry,” I was stumbling on my words “I’d like to enter this town please.”
The guards stared me down, I kept looking away to avoid prolonged eye contact.
“Hurry up and get yer ass in here boy, or else you be monster food.”
“Monster food?” I thought to myself.. I didn’t even think about what type of wildlife is around on this world. I didn’t even see any type of animals on the way over here. Now that I think about it, the only animals I seen was the flock of birds I fell through when I was making my second entrance into this world. “I need to keep an eye out on the wildlife here” I thought to myself. As I walked passed the guards, I figured I might as well try to scan them and see exactly how far behind I am. “Scan” I thought to myself as I concentrated on one of the guards. The window popped up:
Stats:
Name: Borrik
Class: common
Rank: Guard
Alignment: neutral
Strength: 30
Dexterity: 19
Mental: 10
Health: 358
Mana: 296
Stamina: 190
“That’s interesting, I can’t see any of his skills, they must be private or something.” I also noticed that his stats were much higher than mine. “I wonder how much strength has to do with health”
“What did you say boy?” Said Borrik.
“Uh......nothing.....sorry....I was just thinking out loud” man I really have to stop doing that. It’s gonna get me killed.
“Then hurry up and get the hell out of way” Borrik scoffed at me.
I continued walking into the town there were a couple cabin looking buildings on my left and with some women grouped around talking to each other. There was also a small shop on my right. It had a big window in the front and I was able to see some weapons and armor hanging from some manikin looking things. The sign up top of it said “Jay’s Armory”. Nice! I found a blacksmith. I walked into the armory and was immediately stunned by what I seen, there was glass cases of dagger, swords, throwing knives, shields, all inside of what looked like display cases that you would see in a jewelry store.
“Can I help you?” A scruffy voice came from behind one of the cases.
“Hi!” I said eagerly. “I’m just looking around, I just arrived in town and not really sure where I should go first. I seen this store as soon as I came into town and my body kind of walked in on its own.” I laughed and put my hand behind my head embarrassingly.
“Well you don’t look like you’d be the kind to be shopping here in an armory, I’ve seen tons of travelers coming through my doors and all of them have at least some sort of armor or weapon on themselves. You look like your a peasant or a slave”
I looked down at myself for the first time since I arrived, he was right I do look like I’m a peasant, not sure what a slave looks like here in this world but the way I was dressed I would say I looked like someone who was homeless from my world. I had a dirty white shirt on with sweat and grime stains with some cloth pants on that seemed like they were made from canvas or something like that. The pants had a draw string at the waist that wasn’t even tied. I had to think of something to say fast. Not sure what exactly it’s like living here in this world. So here goes nothing.
“Oh ya, I guess I do look sort of peasant-ish, on my way here, I uh.....was attacked by some bandits. They stole everything I had and the horse I was riding ran away during the attack. Since I didn’t have a horse when they left I had to walk the rest of the way.” I was hoping that it made some sort of sense the the store worker. As I felt the fear and nervousness start to creep up my body like if I was being interviewed for a job. The store worker stared at me while rubbing his chin.
“That’s gotta be rough kid, there was an attack here a couple weeks ago that caused some damage to the buildings. As you can see some of the citizens are still working to make the repairs. Luckily we were able to fend them off thanks to Borrik and his men. Those were probably the same bandits that got you on their way out from here”
“Holy crap, I can’t believe that worked” I thought to myself.
“Ya they probably were the same ones” I said reluctantly. “I don’t have any money as I lost everything in the attack some I’m kind of just browsing to see what I I can get when I am able to make some money again”
“Well, my name is Jay, I’m the owner of this armory. I don’t have much here since a lot of it got stolen in the raid, but I’ll help you out. I’m not going to give you anything here for free but I need some help here taking care of the shop. There are some building repairs that need to be done and I also need to run a few errands and need someone here to man the shop while I’m gone. I can’t pay you much but it’s some honest work for some honest pay. I can pay you 100 vels per day. Does that sound fair?” Jay stood up and crossed his arms waiting for my answer, he was a big burly man looked about 6ft tall and sort of reminded me of a Viking with his long beard and medium length hair. He had some tattoos running down both arms that sort of resembled some tribal tattoos from my world. He was wearing a brown shirt that was torn at the sleeves with a sort of black smithing apron on him.
“Ya that sounds great”. I said with anxiousness. This was perfect I already had my first job and what better place to learn about the so called “monsters” and wildlife than here at a weapons shop. Hmmm...maybe if I ask I can learn a few skills to see what’s possible here.
“I have one request though, would you be able to teach me the basics of smithing or some sort of crafting? I don’t have any skills in that area and would like to see if I’m able to learn.” “Come on take the offer” I thought to myself.
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There was a long silence between us as Jay seemed like he was mulling the offer over in his head.
“Ok sounds good, I’ll teach ya, but, if I teach you I can only pay you 80 vel per day.” Jay said as a counter offer
Hmm...80 vel, I’m not sure if that’s enough, if I put it into currency from my home world that’s either 80 cents or 80 Dollars if I do it at a 1-1 ratio. Of course that’s not feasible for any job at my home world. But what the hell, the worst thing that can happen is I just quit. Wouldn’t be the first job I quit.
“Ok deal! 80 vel per day and some training for basic smithing or crafting skills” I said with excitement. I pictured myself crafting the best sword ever, hammering the metal, quenching the hot blade in a cold water and sharping and honing the end of it like a master sword smith from the samurai era of the world. “This is going to be awesome” I thought to myself.
“Then you got yourself a deal bud, what’s your name by the way?” Jay said
“My name is Hiro....Hiro Wolfe, nice to meet you” I said nervously
Jay smiled at me “are you sure you don’t have any money mister Wolfe, usually people with 2 names have some sort of rank above common and that usually is accompanied by wealth” he said eyeing me up and down.
Was it really that uncommon to have 2 names?. Back in my world it was common to have 3 names, a first middle and Last name, it was uncommon to have 2 names without a middle name.
“Ya I’m sure, I’m just a commoner like everyone else, probably even less than everyone else” i was starting to sweat and felt my face getting flush.
“You can scan me if you’d like if you don’t believe me.”
“Already ahead of you Hiro, and it looks like your telling me the truth, your class is common so I guess no harm no foul, you start today!” He threw me what looked like a dirty smithing apron and a brown shirt that has the same type of ripped sleeves like his did.
“Get yer ass behind the counter and help out the customers, we some travelers comingin right now”
I looked behind me and seen 3 people walking towards the door. I scrambled to get behind the counter. I quickly took my shirt off and put on the brown shirt and the apron. Once I was behind the desk I took a better look at them. It was 2 men and a woman, both men looked pretty ragged, like they just got done fighting. The men were wearing metal armor, looked like it was some sort of steel, it fully covered their chest and stomach. They had metal legging that went all the way down to their feet, they had a full helmet on that covered their entire face, resembling a knight. The armor was scratched and chipped all over with blood stains on them. Some of the blood looked fresh, some of the stains looked old. The woman was a couple of steps behind them and she was wearing full leather armor and had a bow on her back with a dagger on her waist she didn’t have any blood on her. The only blood I was able to see was the blood on her arrows and some blood that dropped onto her arrow quiver. She had a lather cap on where I can she she had her brown hair up in a ponytail”
“Hey Jay!” One of the guys said as they walked through the door.
“Hey Red” said Jay.
I guess they know each other, I thought to myself.
How’s it going Griz and Remmy” jay said to the others.
Hmmm, Griz and Remmy must be the other man and woman, but which one is the girls name as I looked at the girl up and down trying to see if I can spot any type of skin showing on her.
“We are doing good Jay” said Red
“We are here to get our armor repaired and to pick up some more arrows for Griz here.”
What the hell! I thought to myself I was putting my money on the girl being Remmy and the man being Griz.
The woman that I knew now as Griz glared at me as I stood there with my eyes wide open like a cartoon character. I really hope she couldn’t read my mind even though my body language probably gave away the fact that I was shocked that her name was Griz. She then turned to look at Jay.
“ya that’s right Jay, I need more arrows, these ones I currently have are soaked in blood and are throwing the weight off when I shoot, not as accurate and I should be with some fresh ones”
Remmy then said, “ya and my amor is messed up, those goblins that were out there did a number on both Red and myselfs armor.
So there are monster here, just the type of confirmation I need. So I’m guessing I’m in some sort of world that would be called a fantasy world. With that info and the fact that I have a stat called “Mana” I’m guessing that I can also perform some type of magic. The wheels in my head started to turn as I started to imagine the hordes of monsters I’d be able to fight and the types of spells I’d be wielding. I imagined myself throwing bolts of lightning like Zeus off of mount Olympus crushing the evil doers. Some time must have passed as I was daydreaming, Jay yelled at me.
“Hiro pick up those sets of armor and the quiver of arrows, we have some work to do.”
I didn’t even notice that the 3 of them left. They were already outside walking towards what seemed like a bar or Pub that was across the road. I could see them walk through the door and it was packed with people eating and drinking. I could hear faint music comming from the place when they opened the door. The music stopped once they entered and the door shut. I need to go check that place out next, I thought to myself. I walked towards the items the trio left and bent over to pick them up, they were a lot lighter than they looked. I was expecting them to be somewhat heavy but they only weighed about the same as a 24pack of soda from my world.
“Good, looks like your strong enough to carry those with ease, you might be able to swing a hammer easy enough. Take those to the back of the shop and put them on the table. I’ll be there in a couple minutes and we can begin your training.” Jay said with a smile.
Hmm must be the strength stat I have, I thought to myself. I walked to the back with the armor and quiver in hand. When I entered the back room there was a workbench on the left an anvil in the middle and furnace on the right side that wasn’t lit or anything. I put the items on the workbench to the left what I figured was the table he was talking about. I spread the armor set and quiver so they had some space between them. Shortly after Jay walked in.
“Good, now the training begins!” Jay said. “Grab those arrows Hiro, I’m gonna start you on the easier stuff, I can’t have you messing up a set of armor.”
“Ok sure.” I said reaching for the quiver and pulled out the 10 blood soaked arrows.
“Grab that hammer and knock off the arrow tips” Jay said with a smile, he looked like he was in his element, his eyes has fiery shine to them as someone who performed their passion as a job.
I reached for the hammer that was laying to the right of the sets of armor. I grabbed the hammer with my right hand and turned to look at Jay with the arrows in my left hand.
“This hammer?” I said raising my right hand a bit.
“No! Not that hammer boy the other hammer” Jay yelled.
I panicked and looked back at the table to search for another hammer. I didn’t see another one there. The only hammer was the one in my hand.
“Geez Hiro you really are Green” Jay said laughing. “I’m just messing with ya, of course that’s the hammer. Let me give you some advice boy. Relax, don’t be so nervous, just enjoy what your about to learn. Soak in the information, if you don’t and your thinking too much your going to end up messing up. Smithing is a passion of mine, being able to take raw ores and materials and bending them to my will to create a quality product that will protect and save people lives, homes, wives and children is the best thing you can do. Every strike of the hammer has to have intent behind it. The arrows your going to make for Griz needs to be done with passion, going through the motions with no intent isn’t going to cut it, when those 3 are out there hunting whatever it is they are hunting. You have to know with certainty that they will hold up to the test of time. They will be use and reused and if the arrows aren’t made to perfection Remmy and Red might end up dead. I don’t mean to put such a heavy burden on you with that but I’m just trying to explain that you must take pride in the craft you are learning. I will teach you to the best of my ability Hiro, that is a promise”
Jay walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, gave me a couple pats and said “Let’s get to work”
I nodded with determination as his speech lit some sort of fire in the depths of my soul. I grabbed one of the arrows and placed it on the edge of the work bench with the head of the arrow a couple inches off the side. The passion and fire roared in me as I took aim with the hammer, I pull the hammer up with right hand, I felt a tingle of electricity surge through my arm and up the hammer. The light from one of the windows glistened off the hammer as it was above my head. I swung down with precision at the arrow head. CRACK! I heard the wood of the arrow break. I immediately felt an intense pain as I missed the the arrow head and smashed my left thumb with the hammer.
“Holy shit!” I yelled as I dropped the hammer and the arrow. The pain was intense, the throbbingand swelling was instant. My mind raced and I started to regret taking Jay up on his offer of teaching me. Jay start bellowing a deep laugh
“hahahahaha, You sure screwed that one up Hiro hahahaha” as he started to slap his knee and hold his stomach.
“Geez boy if you didn’t want to learn smithing you could have just said no, you didn’t have to injure yourself to get out of it hahahaha.”
“Screw this I’m out of here” I said angrily as I was holding my thumb. “ I don’t want to learn any of this anyways” I started to make my way towards to the door to exit the shop.
“Wait, wait, wait” said Jay. “Calm down and try again, just give it one more try.
I stood there thinking it over, I needed to calm myself down. I took a couple of deep breaths after a minute or so my anger faded away and I was able to think more rationally.
“Ok your right” I said. Then there was a small little pop up window that showed up.
Smithing skill gained: level 1
“Awesome!” I shouted after reading the pop up. I clapped my hands together after reading the prompt. Again I immediately felt pain in my left thumb. I was so excited from the skill gain that I forgot the pain. I shuddered in the thought of me smashing my thumb every time as I level up. Ya...let’s not do that, I thought to myself. I also noticed that there was a pop up this time for gaining a skill. Ok, great at least I have a way to see what I’m learning.
I headed back into the room with Jay and he was still chuckling at my blunder. Once we got back the the room he said.
“Ok, lets try that again and this time don’t hit your thumb”
“Well that was the plan” I said as I shrugged in response to Jays comment. I grabbed the arrow again and this time positioned it with my hand a bit further back on the arrow shaft. I picked up and swung the hammer again. This time to my surprise I knocked off the arrow head off the blood soaked arrow shaft. One arrow down 9 to go, I thought to myself, after I finished knocking off the rest of the arrow heads I realized that my smithing skill went up to level 2. I guess acquiring the skill is easier than leveling the skill I thought to myself.
“Good Hiro, you’ve taken your first step in the long path of smithing mastery. Now let’s grind the arrow heads to a sharp point again”