After the flurry of system notifications, Thomas was simply ecstatic! He couldn't stop himself from grinning like a madman and even jumping for joy a bit. The first player created magic weapon! He didn't even do anything special and he made a magic weapon! How awesome was that?! In most games you needed to understand magic to make a magic weapon. Or make a weapon and then enchant it heavily to make it a magic weapon. All he did was use some forging techniques and he'd made one!
Thomas stared at the weapon with a look of utter joy for a long moment. But nothing happened. After managing to calm down a bit Thomas began to frown. Usually, in games, magic weapons would have special properties. So he'd expected to at least get an information window to explain the properties of the kukri. Once again AoG had messed with his expectations and experience garnered from years of other games.
Rock made his way over to Thomas while Thomas was grumbling and staring at his kukri. Rock held out a finished pair of matching daggers, the apprentices had added the handles and finished sharpening the blades. They'd even made a matching set of leather sheaths to store the daggers, "Kid, you forgot these in the smithy yesterday. You shouldn't just leave nearly finished items laying around!"
Embarrassed at the oversight Thomas accepted the daggers and asked, "How much do I owe you for the materials?"
Rack waved dismissively, "Don't worry about it. Thanks to you we're making a fair number of those kukris of yours. Whats a few gold here and there?"
Thomas smiled and held onto the daggers then looked over at Rock, "Hey Rock, what does it take to make a magical weapon?"
Rock rubbed his stubbly chin as he answered, "Well kid, to make a magic weapon a blacksmith needs to not only have a decent rank at blacksmithing, but he also needs to either be a really good spellcaster or have studied enchanting. From what I know they combine their knowledge in one of those fields with blacksmithing to produce a magic weapon. I'm not sure on the details since I focused most of my attributes into my Power and Endurance so I could forge faster and longer."
Thomas listened to Rock's explanation but couldn't help being shocked at the last sentence, "Wait. People here can earn experience and set their own attributes too?"
Thomas didn't have any qualms asking this question, Rock had been the one to mention attributes so clearly he knew about them. Most importantly it didn't touch on the taboo that was saying 'NPC'. Rock grinned playfully at Thomas, "What kid? Did you think that was something special to you otherworlders?" Rock threw his head back and laughed, "Any kid off of the street knows how to get some experience to increase their attributes. How do you think the guards for the city get so strong?" Rock gave a loud belly laugh at the dumbfounded look on Thomas's face.
Thomas was once again completely shocked by how the developers had set up AoG. To think that the NPC's would have the ability to gain experience and increase their attributes! This was completely unheard of! Usually, only main story characters could get stronger, and only as the story and patches to the game dictated. If what rock said was true, then it was entirely possible for even the kids he'd met the other day to gain experience and possibly be stronger than the players!
This... this changed everything. If the NPC's could grow in strength, then didn't that mean it was possible for the top tier NPC's like kings and master magicians to always be more powerful than the players? Thomas couldn't help but grin, if that was the case didn't it mean that the players who liked to take over kingdoms were in for a very rude awakening? Seeing Thomas grin Rock spoke up once more, "The only thing making you otherworlders different from us are the special abilities you all get when you're summoned here. Other than that, anything you can do we can do and we can usually do it better!"
Thomas laughed along with Rock as he retrieved his bag and stuffed the twin daggers and the unfinished magical kukri into it. He couldn't help but wonder what the look on Rock's face would be like if he was to point out that he'd managed to do something Rock probably couldn't do. Make a magical weapon without magic! But... was it really a magical weapon? Thomas was rather confused on this point. The system said it was magical, even granting him a title for it, but the kukri itself didn't seem even remotely special and there was no information about it.
Since the day was done, Thomas decided to worry about it after finishing the kukri tomorrow. With his decision made he bid Rock farewell for the night and headed to The Swans Nest where he paid another 27 gold for a good meal, his room, and laundry service. Upon retiring to his room Thomas changed into his linen clothing and lay down on his bed. He pulled up his character sheet and smiled at the large chunk of experience he had to spend on his attributes.
With all of his attributes sitting at seven, he decided to keep with the theme of raising his attributes evenly for the time being. He immediately spent 320 experience to raise all of his attributes to eight each leaving him with 270 experience. That left him with exactly enough to raise three more attributes by a single point so he chose Power, Endurance and Agility bumping them all to nine. He was quickly closing in on the theoretical maximum of a regular human. Once he hit eleven on his attributes he would enter the realm of a superhuman. He was greatly looking forward to that!
Spoiler: Character Sheet
Name: Thomas Dakrose Experience Gained: 1,300 Experience Spent: 1,300 Experience Remaining: 0 Power: 9 (+) 100 Exp Endurance: 9 (+) 100 Exp Agility: 9 (+) 100 Exp Magic: 8 (+) 90 Exp Innate Abilities:
* Transmutation ( A ) // Rank 1 // 0/20 Exp
* Quick Learner ( C ) // Rank 6 // 21/70 Exp
* All Seeing Eyes ( S ) // Rank 2 // 17/30 Exp
Skills
* Serenity // Rank 6 // 44/70 Exp
* Blacksmithing // Rank 17 // 117/180 Exp
Abilities
* None
Titles
* Magical Blacksmith
With his experience points completely spent on upgrading his attributes, Thomas didn't feel very different. Then again the changes this time weren't as big of a surge as when he had pumped up his Magic attribute previously. At this point he was only 490 experience away from reaching ten in every attribute and coming to the edge of 'human limits' in the real world. This made him extremely happy. With that done he began to focus on using his 'All Seeing Eyes' to once more stare at the wooden ceiling of his room. If the developers knew that a mythical 'S Class' Innate Ability was being used to stare at a ceiling they would probably cry.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
When he felt his mana getting low Thomas stopped using his 'All Seeing Eyes' and instead used 'Serenity' to lull himself to sleep. He didn't feel the need to use his mana to the point of passing out yet again.
----------------------------------------
The next morning was the same as the day before, retrieving his clean clothing and a nice warm breakfast. It didn't take long for Thomas to arrive at Rock's Armory and head into the finishing room. He wanted to spend the time to properly finish off the kukri and see if that made a difference.
This time he started by making a bolster, a think round piece of iron that went between the handle and the blade to help secure the handle more effectively. He only made a rough shape using the handsaws and files on hand, he would finish it along with the handle later. He performed the same task of cutting off a chunk of wood, cutting it in half, and hollowing it out to fit the tang nice and snug. Lastly, he also prepared the butt cap to finish securing the handle to the tang.
With the pieces ready he began the task of assembly. He chiseled and filed the handle, bolster, and butt cap before beginning the process of using the mysterious glue and leather thongs to bind everything together. He wasn't quite finished by the time lunch rolled around. If there was one nice thing about working at Rock's place, it was the free hearty lunch. It always consisted of a hearty soup and bread, but it was always tasty.
After lunch, Thomas continued his work of carefully filing the handle until it was contoured into an excellent ergonomic shape and the glue was set. The next thing he did was to buff the wooden handle with beeswax to seal it and give it a nice glossy coat. He picked up the kukri and examined it in his hand, the only thing left to do was the sharpen and polish the blade. Taking his time with each stroke of the blade over the sharpening stone Thomas carefully honed the edge of the kukri to a razor's edge. When it was finished he felt like he wouldn't mind shaving with the weapon!
System Notice: You have finished creating a Magical Kukri. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 320 Blacksmithing experience and 80 experience.
Weapon Type: Kukri Rarity: Magical Quality: Excellent Description: A weapon made of simple iron that has been forged and worked beyond the basic limitations of the material creating a pseudo-Magical ranked item granting it increased lethality and durability. This weapon provides +3 Power when wielded.
The moment Thomas held the kukri in his hand it glowed with a soft blue light that caught the attention of the apprentices in the room. Shocked by the sight, the apprentices all quickly left. Thomas, on the other hand, was too busy looking over the sudden appearance of the information for the kukri. Reading the description answered the question of how the weapon could be a Magical rarity weapon without him having used magic to create it. He'd just broken through the limits of the material and made a pseudo-Magical item!
As Thomas was examining the kukri with a gleam in his eyes Rock came barging into the room and shouted, "Is it true?!"
Startled Thomas turned to look at Rock, only to see the large man nearly hyperventilating with his eyes opened wide in an almost fervent gaze that really made Thomas feel uncomfortable, "Is what true?"
Rock manically gestured to the kukri in Thomas's hand, "Did that thing glow blue when you finished it?"
Looking back and forth between the kukri and the nearly crazed Rock, Thomas slowly nodded his head. Rock dashed over to Thomas and stared hungrily at the kukri in his grip, "Please, please let me hold it."
Rock's voice had a whiny begging tone to it that sent shivers down Thomas's spine. Not wanting to hear Rock beg in that voice anymore he quickly passed the kukri over to him and took a few careful steps back. Just to be safe. Rock eagerly accepted the kukri and studied it closely, his eyes growing bloodshot as his breathing quickened, "It's true..."
Rock's bloodshot eyes turned to focus on Thomas like a predator focusing on prey, "How did you do it?! It's only pseudo-Magical but it's still magical! How did you do it?!"
Between the crazed gaze and Rocks repetitive questioning, Thomas felt extremely uncomfortable, like his chastity was at stake, but still managed to answer in a somewhat quiet voice, "I just... used some techniques from my world..."
Rock very gingerly set the kukri down on the work table, took a few deep breaths in a seeming effort to calm himself down before charging over to Thomas once again and grabbing him firmly by the shoulders and practically screaming, "TEACH ME!"
Right now Thomas was really regretting his idly wondering what Rock's face would look like when he found out the kukri was magical...
Spoiler: Character Sheet
Name: Thomas Dakrose Experience Gained: 1,380 Experience Spent: 1,300 Experience Remaining: 80 Power: 9 (+) 100 Exp Endurance: 9 (+) 100 Exp Agility: 9 (+) 100 Exp Magic: 8 (+) 90 Exp Innate Abilities:
* Transmutation ( A ) // Rank 1 // 0/20 Exp
* Quick Learner ( C ) // Rank 6 // 21/70 Exp
* All Seeing Eyes ( S ) // Rank 4 // 7/50 Exp
Skills
* Serenity // Rank 6 // 62/70 Exp
* Blacksmithing // Rank 19 // 67/200 Exp
Abilities
* None
Titles
* Magical Blacksmith