[Mana Repair (Rare) 293 - 297]

"Well, that was straightforward," I called even as I finished forging a very intricate silver-gold sword that gleamed densely with mana. To my surprise, improving Forge hadn't required anything particularly clever. I just needed to forge various types of pure gold equipment and push the skill higher and higher.

That way, I was able to bring both skills to the threshold before dawn, even when I took multiple breaks to show my face upstairs, making sure everything was going well.

During the forging process, the only change I made was to stop bleeding into the molten metal. Unlike the earlier bursts, the denser Health I learned thanks to Nurture was easier to control, staying in the metal and allowing Mana to latch on easily.

That, combined with my steam-powered Mana crusher providing a Mana density that could hardly be matched outside, allowed me to rapidly push Mana Forge near the limit in less than eight hours. The ability to monopolize a dungeon floor was certainly an incredible opportunity.

It had been a shockingly efficient process, even when I didn't neglect to improve my Repair skills in the process. Currently, both skills are at the edge of improving.

"Let's just hope improving them again won't be too hard," I muttered even as I forged another weapon, this time pushing Forge to its edge.

[Mana Forge (Rare) 299 - Mana Forge (Epic) 1]

The sensation of improving a Class Skill was much smoother than absorbing an external skill stone, but that wasn't because it contained any less information. The biggest thing, the Forge skill came with its own way of condensing Health, one that was different from both Nurture and combat skills.

It was closer to Nurture when it came to feeling, but with more viscosity. It felt heavier and moved slower. The differences were noteworthy. The modified energy worked far better to bond with the metal. And, more importantly, it was under the direct control of the skill, meaning the improvement in the skill quality was incredible.

But, all this improvement came with a very unfortunate side effect. Just like it had been the case for the previous mana attack trick, its effectiveness to improve had dropped considerably. Luckily, that was not my only trick.

While the skill was at one, it only contained the recipes for copper. Instead of forging them again and again, I once again used Nurture to imbue gold with mana, pushing my skill forward once again. It wasn't as rapid as the previous attempts, but it was rapid enough.

Unfortunately, its effectiveness stalled when I finally reached a hundred and unlocked the proper forging recipes for pure gold. A big problem, but I preferred to focus on the benefits first.

For one, I learned that the different types of metals actually required slightly different types of Health to maximize their potential benefits. It also meant that there might be other ways of using Health that created some unusual patterns.

That was a research direction that required far more than just a day to explore comprehensively.

Worse, I was afraid that it was too much for one person. Unfortunately, I wasn't in a position to hire people, not without opening a dangerous box that I might not be able to close back up.

I repeated the same effort with the Mana Repair, and soon, both my class skills were Epic Grade. Interestingly, unlike Meditation, the skill name didn't change. I had a feeling that, just like the Perks, it changed by the actions leading to the improvement.

Unlike External Skills, Class Skills seemed to have a memory for the actions leading to their improvement.

[Mana Repair (Epic) - 101 [Advanced Observe]

Mana Forge (Epic) - 102 [Advanced Creative Forging, Mana Control]]

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However, even as I looked at the incredible development of my skills, I had a frown on my face. My trick of forging with the environmental mana had stopped working even when I was working on gold.

The reason for it was simple. Epic Mana Forge didn't just have a method of condensing Health, it had a way of condensing Mana as well. From a certain point of view, it was excellent news, as it allowed me to forge incredible weapons.

Like the tiny spearhead in my hand, which was a unique iron-silver-gold alloy, based entirely on the new condensed Health and Mana I was able to utilize. It was superior to anything else I had in my possession. Not only was the material stronger and more flexible, but it also maintained an absurdly sharp point that could pierce through a rock without using any Vitality or Mana to reinforce the attack, and the thin wings it had on the side had an edge sharper than anything I had forged previously.

These attributes alone made the weapon incredibly valuable, but those paled compared to its real features. It enhanced the impact of Vitality and Mana attacks to a shocking degree. Not only was it easier to use those attacks, but also the damage was stronger than I was able to forge previously.

Several times stronger.

However, despite all the newfound advantages, its inability to use environmental mana was a deadly drawback. It meant I had to stop, absorb the Mana, deplete it back in just two blows, and repeat the process. It meant repeated pauses while working.

And, for the tiny spearhead I was holding, I had to stop almost two hundred times, which had extended the time of forging drastically— and this new method of forging was hardly time-efficient in the first place. Even the tiniest weapon I could think of took almost three hours to make. Forging a sword would take a full day, and I couldn't even imagine how long it would take to put together an armor set.

That timeline didn't annoy me from a practical perspective, though. I was sure that this tiny spearhead I was holding would go for an absolute fortune if sold in an auction. It would probably be enough to buy the dungeon I was currently in.

It was a bit of a stretch, but I was confident in my assumption. I had already used Observe on Eleanor's sword back when I was learning the Vitality attack from her, and it was not made of anything that could compare to what I had in my grasp. And, Eleanor was rich enough to be a minority investor. If she was able to purchase something made of my alloy, she would have.

Knowing her, she would never turn away the opportunity to purchase a better sword.

More importantly, she was part of a large family, and worked as a bodyguard for one of their core members. I suspected that the family purchased a sword like that for her if it was possible. Meaning, either they didn't have the access, or it was valuable enough not to be given to a guard.

Either way, it meant I needed to be even more careful. The previous ones, I was afraid of revealing because I didn't want them to affect their profits. However, my new creation was of strategic significance.

That kind of importance could get assassins involved, and not the ragtag bandit Thomas had sent. Professional ones.

Admittedly, my experiences with Assassins were limited. Most of my knowledge came from the Pre-Cataclysm era, when I had temporarily joined a government project as a consultant. While my role as a sociologist was merely peripheral, I still had to go through a weeklong training to avoid assassinations due to regulations.

The number of ways someone could be assassinated was truly shocking, and that was before magic turned into a part of the world, adding thousands of other methods. "I wonder if there's an Assassin class," I said with a deep sigh, but stopped wondering.

Ultimately, I was not ready to reveal my secrets before I got a better understanding of the landscape, and that hadn't changed.

Unfortunately, the need to keep a secret wasn't my biggest problem. No… My biggest problem was a simpler one.

It would take a long time to improve Mana Forge to its limit.

I lost the ability to rapidly improve my skill by forging hundreds of weapons in quick succession. I had tried a few tricks, but the moment recipes with gold appeared in the skill, none of those worked. It seemed that I had to use the methods in the skill to forge the weapons.

And, even the simplest weapons were requiring tens of thousands of mana to be forged. I would be lucky if I got a skill point in three hours, and it would probably get more challenging as I improved.

"How quickly one gets spoiled," I sighed, mocking myself. A month ago, I was happy to increase one proficiency point in less than a month.

Now, I was turning my nose to improving my Epic skill because a day would mean improving it only in single digits. I was still hopeful that platinum would benefit me the same way gold did, but I needed to work harder to get my hands on some.

Alternatively, maybe I could figure out a way to automate a portion of the process, or try to see if the more dangerous dungeons contained materials that could allow me to bypass some steps.

"Let's shelve Forge and Repair for the moment," I ultimately decided even as I started forging myself a collapsible spear shaft, steel with a gold core, though it was made with the old methods.

Since I had already created myself a superior weapon, there was no harm bringing it around for safety. And, once that was done, I went upstairs.

I wanted to be there for the creation of the outpost for the second floor.