“Holy crap!” Archie exclaimed, staring at the two pieces of equipment. “80 points from the amulet and 130 from the pants.”
"I wonder what happens if I wear two necklaces?" he thought, placing the Amulet of Infernal atop his Frostiron Claw Necklace. Opening his status page, he saw no change.
"Oh well, worth a try," Archie mused, before putting the necklace away and replacing it with his new amulet. He then slipped on the new pair of pants.
"I look like an idiot," Archie joked to himself, glancing at his reflection in the iron sword he pulled from his spatial ring. I look like a knight who lost his pants and wore whatever he could find. Archie didn’t even want to mention the mask covering his face, as that was a whole new can of worms that if addressed he wasn’t sure how he was going to handle.
Suddenly remembering the promise he’d made to himself, Archie opened his status page and dumped all of his free points into Wisdom.
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human E-Grade Lv 64
Class: Nature-Attuned Pugilist Lv 65
Profession: Novice Forgesmith Lv 57
Health: 3894/5382
Mana: 163/2497
Stamina: 2481/5244
Stats:
Vitality: 468(538)
Strength: 491(613)
Endurance: 456(524)
Agility: 318(349)
Intelligence: 272(299)
Wisdom: 227(249)
Willpower: 158(189)
Perception: 239(262)
Free Points: 0
General Skills: Identify (Initiate), Nature's Meditation (Epic)
Class Skills: Wrathful Martial Combat Mastery (Uncommon), Savage Charge (Rare), Adrenaline Rush (Legendary), Pugilist’s Grit (Uncommon), Retaliation (Uncommon), Relentless Flurry (Rare), Taunt (Rare), Thornscourge Expansion (Rare), Spirit Bond (Rare)
Profession Skills: Forgesmith’s Flame (Uncommon), Basic Smithing Mastery (Common), Basic Rune Scribing (Rare), Material Insight (Uncommon)
Bloodline: Adrenaline Junkie (Unique) [+10% to Strength and +10% to Willpower]
Affinity: Greater Nature Affinity (Epic)
Blessing: Blessing of the Forgefather (Moderate) [+5% to Strength and +5% to Endurance]
Titles Collected: Bloodline Progenitor [+10 Vitality and +5% Vitality], Flawless E-Grade Evolution [+10 all Stats], Legendary Innovator [+20 to all Stats and +10% to all Stats]
Tutorial Points: 207,069
"More mana is good," Archie commented, admiring his larger mana pool. "Can I use mana when I shape metal?" he wondered, walking toward the dungeon exit.
As he stepped out, Archie glanced back, waiting for the doorway to explode like they normally did. But unlike the dungeons he completed in the Solo Tutorial, this dungeon did not implode on itself.
“The hell?” Archie vocalized his confusion as the doorway regained its door and brought up the same message as when he first read it.
"Is this because I’m in the group tutorial now?" Archie mused. "I guess that would make sense. I’m not alone anymore, and the system said this dungeon is for Tutorial Participants."
"I’ll let Michael know about this dungeon. We can form a party, I'll deal with the minotaur alone while he does the first and second floor," Archie said, a grin forming on his face. "I can already imagine the taste of a level 85 steak... Next time, I’ll just beat it up instead of tossing it off the platform."
Walking from the giant volcano with a smile, Archie headed back towards the camp. He had to pick up the bowstring from Sarah. But he was going to do it the fun way.
Archie walked towards the outskirts of the volcanic area and flung his arms at the treetops in front of him. Vines shot out from his arms and latched onto the treetops, pulling them towards him.
Slowly walking backward until the tree bent far enough, Archie kicked off the ground and was catapulted deep into the jungle.
Shouts of excitement echoed from Archie as he flipped through the air, with brief moments of silence before he soared overhead, launching himself deeper into the jungle.
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Archie arrived at the camp in record time; it barely took him fifteen minutes to get there. Looking around the perimeter, he noticed a larger number of people patrolling around and manning the walls.
The majority of them were low-level, very low-level. However, one or two in the groups seemed to be mostly in their high 30s or low 40s.
"Probably making the people who’ve been hiding away in the camp all this time pull their own weight now," Archie guessed. Judging by the number of people tripping over their own feet and accidentally smacking themselves with their own weapons, he was most likely right.
"I wonder why they aren’t going to the Assistant village for training from an expert?" Archie muttered. "Wouldn’t it be better to seek advice from an expert if you're lost? Speaking of which, I should go visit Xelgar later and see if he has any tips for me.
Walking through the camp, Archie noticed it was more active than usual. They had expanded the camp—specifically, the right side—adding a sparring pit.
Many of the level 40s were training the level 20s, depending on their chosen classes. Higher-leveled mages taught how to cast spells, similarly leveled archers taught how to properly shoot a bow, and warriors and vanguards sparred with each other. However, there were also several level 40s sparring against each other as well.
From what Archie could see, they weren’t bad at all, but none of them showcased any skills that really stood out. The only thing that caught his attention was the group of healers sitting off to the side, observing the fights and tending to those injured in the spars.
Walking over to the healers, Archie patiently waited in line until it was his turn. No matter who you were, respecting the line was a must. Besides, everyone waiting was injured, with the most serious being a severed arm and a few third-degree burns. While he was just fine, his left foot was already fully healed.
When it was finally Archie’s turn, he stepped in front of Sarah, who was downing a mana potion like it was a shot. “Hello, Sarah,” he greeted.
[Human Lv 53]
She’s evolved recently too it seems, Archie noted.
After emptying her mana potion, she tossed the empty potion bottle into a half-filled crate of empty potion bottles. “Hello…Archie, was it?” Sarah asked, a bit embarrassed about having slightly forgotten Archie’s name.
Archie chuckled softly before nodding. “Yep, that’s me.”
“Great, great. So, what’s up? Need a heal?” Sarah asked, getting straight to the point.
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“Nah, I’m good. Just wondering if I can get a spool of string, I’ll need it to make James’ bow.” Archie answered, causing Sarah’s eyes to light up in remembrance.
“Oh, right! Yeah no problem,” Sarah answered before rummaging through her robe pockets pulling out a large spool of pink-colored string, and handing it to Archie. “Here you go.”
“I’m not going to ask why it's pink,” Archie chuckled, sending the string to his spatial ring and paying Sarah, 300 Tutorial Points. “James will get a nice surprise, to say the least.”
“Congrats on the evolve,” Archie said before leaving the tent.
“Thanks!” Sarah replied back before she yelled out, “Next!”
After a few minutes of walking around camp, Archie found Evelyn cooking up a delicious meal. Definitely a Pot Roast, Archie thought while sniffing the scent.
“Hello Mrs. Evelyn, how are you?” Archie asked, sitting down on the new stools in front of her stand.
“Wonderful, thank you for asking dearie. And you?” Evelyn responded back, pouring the pot’s contents into a large bowl and passing the bowl to Archie. “It’s Pot Roast.”
“Even better now that I’m eating your food,” Archie responded in between large spoonfuls. “Say-”
“Ask after you finish your food,” Evelyn interjected. A mirthful smile on her face at Archie’s slightly embarrassed expression as she smacked Archie’s fingers with her ladle.
Feeling his fingers sting a bit, Archie identified Evelyn for the first time.
[Human Lv 37]
Not bad, I’m gonna guess that she’s maxed out her Profession and it’s her Class that’s lagging behind, Archie thought.
Savoring the last spoonful, Archie passed Evelyn the empty bowl and paid her the 100 Tutorial points. “So, you’re not that far off with your class. What is your Class anyways, I just realized I never asked.”
“I chose to be a Healer,” Evelyn responded while placing the bowl into a basin of water. “I used to be a nurse back in my youth, so choosing to be a healer felt fitting.”
“Do you need any help with leveling up your Class?” Archie offered, with the attacks on the camp from Oliver, Eveyln would most likely be rushing into the battlefield healing everyone. Out of the frying pan into the fire, indeed. Archie thought while looking at Evelyn.
“Oh, no I’m fine,” Evelyn said, giving Archie a soft smile. “I help out in the healer’s tents every few days when they’re understaffed. I gain my levels from there. Besides I would only hold you back, with my current level and all.”
“I insist, I wouldn’t mind at all. There are times when I needed a healer badly.” Archie insisted before doubling down, “Besides with Oliver sending more and more people to attack the camp, an all-out war is inevitable.”
Eveyln gained a pensive look, looking off into the distance for a few moments before facing Archie once more her expression steeled. “Okay, are you free tomorrow? Noonish?”
Archie smiled at her response. “No problem. I’ll finish up a few things and meet you here tomorrow.” Then Archie got curious, “Do you have a ranged healing skill?”
“No, I chose a skill that generated a field around me that boosts regeneration around me instead. But, I was told by the other healers that the ranged healing skill is always offered in every skill choice.” Evelyn replied.
“Okay, no problem. I’ll go beat up some E-Grades and you’ll heal me up.” Archie said.
“Are you sure? E-Grades are no joke,” Evelyn asked, concern lacing her tone.
“Yeah, no problem. I’ve killed quite a few E-Grades already.” Archie replied, brushing off her concerns.
Eveyln looked at Archie for a few more seconds before nervously smiling. “Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“See you tomorrow, Miss Evelyn,” Archie replied, leaving his seat and heading towards his base.
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Archie landed in his base with a thud, kicking up a cloud of sand. Fanning the sand away, Archie took out his smithing equipment and a few ingots of steel.
I’ll start with making the daggers first, Archie thought before setting his forge alight with his Forgesmith’s Flame. Looking at the flame, however, made him stop for a second. Woah, it’s almost entirely green now. I wonder if this changes anything when I smith things.
Archie placed a steel ingot into his heavy-duty tongs and placed it over the fire, waiting for it to turn malleable. After it became red-hot, Archie placed It on his heavy-duty anvil and snapped it in two. An ingot can make two daggers, Archie thought while snapping the ingot in two.
Afterward, it was a simple repeat of what he did for his broadsword, but instead of having a ‘V’ shaped hilt guard, he made a small horizontal one.
After Archie looked at the unsharpened dagger, he took out his whetstone and started to sharpen them. In the middle of sharpening them, Archie remembered about the leather straps he needed.
“Oh shit!” Archie said, looking through his spatial ring for any straps of leather. Upon finding a few strips that he had left over from when he made his sleeves and a few ripped scraps that he salvaged, he released a sigh. “Just enough for six daggers and half the hilt of a greatsword…I should really get some in bulk.”
Quickly sharpening the daggers and wrapping its hilt with leather straps, Archie stared at his work for a minute before etching onto it the runes for Soul-Bound, Self-Repair, and Lesser Sharpness.
Identifying his work, Archie noticed that his nature-attuned mana did not affect the process, but something else did.
Steel Dagger (Common):
An iron broadsword forged by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith. Etched upon the side of the blade lies various runes; Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Lesser Sharpness scribed by Archie Gracefield. Effect: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Sharpness. Status: Perfect. Requirements: Lv 60+ & Humanoid Race.
“Shit,” Archie said, looking at the dagger with faux sadness. “Is this what it feels like to suffer from success?”
Archie then gained an idea, What if while I reforge the dagger, I focus on making the level I want it to be, level 50? I mean I willed my status page to sort, maybe that’ll work.
----------------------------------------
Archie held the six fixed daggers in his hand with a smile. “It worked, focusing on wanting it to be lower than my level worked perfectly, however, it didn’t work when I wanted it to be a higher level than my own… guess that makes sense.”
Steel Dagger (Common):
An iron broadsword forged by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith. Etched upon the side of the blade lies various runes; Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Lesser Sharpness scribed by Archie Gracefield. Effect: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Sharpness. Status: Perfect. Requirements: Lv 50+ & Humanoid Race.
Now, onto making the compound bow, Archie thought as he envisioned how it would look. I need two cams, the riser, the riser-pulley connector, and to string it. I’m not sure what type of extra rune to put on it... Probably just a basic amplifier with a Wind runic base. That should boost the speed of the arrows leaving the bow.
Archie grabbed a steel ingot, placed it between his heavy tongs, and set it in the forge. Once the steel ingot turned a glowing red-hot, he moved it to the heavy anvil. He hammered it into a long, semi-thin rectangle and then returned it to the forge for a few seconds to make it malleable again. This would allow him to shape the backbone and hollow it out slightly.
Next, Archie bent the riser over the anvil’s horn, shaping it into a squashed letter “C”. He placed the riser onto the precision anvil and began hollowing it out, just enough to provide stability when charging up a shot.
Afterward, Archie made sure to add the grip and arrow shelf to the bottom half of the riser, making it just large enough for his hand to fit and then a bit more, for adjustment.
Quenching the riser into the water, he watched as it released a burst of steam. He then placed it on the table, relieved that there weren’t any cracks in the riser.
Now, the next part is going to be the hardest, making the cams. Archie thought. Cams were just another word for a specific type of pulley. However, these pulleys are a bit more complicated than normal. They need to hold a total of three different, interconnected strings and allow them to flow together seamlessly. This process is going to take up most of my time, especially with carving out the small screw holes and various-sized ovals to run the strings through.
Archie was about to grab another bar of steel when an idea suddenly struck him. What if I make a laser cutter? It should be a simple runic script.” He thought. I’d just need to combine a fire-based rune with a regulator circuit, then connect it with another circuit featuring a fire rune surrounded by an amplifier circuit—a high-spec one.
As he finished the thought, Archie smiled. He was going to make a laser cutter. Once that was complete, who knows? He might even make a laser sword.
Archie took out a chair, a couple of iron sheets, and his runic scriber, and got to work.