Krios woke to the sound of an explosion the next morning originating from the laboratory in back.

-BBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!-

"AAHHHH!"

Krios jerked awake and promptly fell out of the chair.  Getting up off the floor and picking up the chair, Krios let his rapid heart beat slow down as he called out to check in on the old man.

"Hey Altheazar! You okay in there?"

"What's that boy?  I can't bloody hear you! Speak up!"

"I SAID, ARE YOU OKAY IN THERE?!"

"I'm fine stop shouting ya damn fool."

Judging the old man's grumpy response to be a good sign, Krios dusted himself off and righted the chair he had knocked over when he woke up.  Judging by the amount of clanks and whistles that emanated from the laboratory, Krios correctly assumed the old alchemist was busy experimenting again.  It had been a week since he had started living at the shop.  He had done as Altheazar asked and compounded a bunch more potions from Altheazar's herb stocks managing to raise his alchemy  proficiency by 7 levels.  He had also gained a variety of stats thanks to training with the heavy granite compounding set Altheazar let him use.  He also had an extra boost from his new skill Doing it the hard way.  While the reason he got the skill still pissed him off, the random stat gain effect was too good to pass up and it was his only real way of training his non-distributable stats such as sustenance and endurance.  Krios's alchemy was now beginner Lv. 8, but the experience returns from making basic potions and antidotes had severely dropped off.  He suspected that he only managed to increase it this much because creating reductions and pills seemed to be treated as making a new type of potion by the system so when the returns for basic potions dropped off around beginner Lv. 5, he started making concentrated versions and variations on the pills Altheazar had shown him.  Some of the recipes for the food pills Altheazar had shown him were extremely strange including all kinds of ordinary and extraordinary ingredients.  Usually the old man used a base of ground oats, flour, bone powder, and bacon fat to create most of the pill.  The leftover herb substrates that were leftover from the reduction process provided much of the necessary vitamins and proteins the way the old man explained it to Krios.  Together with the high energy base, the completed food pill was basically a condensed version of a mid-grade loaf of bread.  Adding other ingredients would also upgrade the basic recipe so it gained medicinal properties.  The pill's effects however couldn't completely compensate for a proper meal and as stated by the alchemist when describing their effects, repeatedly substituting meals with the pill led to diminishing returns.  Currently, Krios had produced over 700 potion batches and  earned  around 70 gold in total, however he had purchased an complete alchemy set from Altheazar for 50 gold and had to pay back the cost of ingredients to the old man so his net profits from all his efforts yielded only 9 gold in the end.  This was still a rather tidy sum compared to the average purse size of the newbie player and potion making was extremely profitable compared to hunting rabbits and foxes the way most players ended up trying to build up funds.  With about 2 weeks to go till his restriction was lifted, Krios decided it was time to move on.

"Old man, I'm heading out now.  Did you need anything picked up or delivered today?"

"What's that boy?! I can't hear you!"

"I SAID... ah never mind, see ya old man!"

Krios gave up on trying to hold a conversation with the addled alchemist and decided to just leave.  Today his goal was to finally train his combat skills.  He still didn't know if he wanted to be a melee fighter, a ranger, or a mage of some kind.  His ridiculously high intellect made becoming a mage seem like an easy choice.  Still, he had always wanted to become a badass melee fighter like his fictional hero Drizzt that hailed from the city of evil in the Underdark.  It was the primary reason why he chose the Dark elf race instead of a high elf even with the penalties on familiarity with a variety of other races that the high elves weren't affected by.  Thanks to his extra stat boosts from Unicorn Corp. he didn't lose out to the High elves in terms of magic power, but there were still other disadvantages to consider.

Walking away from the shop Krios stopped by a few food stalls that had popped up in the fountain square.  The Lord of Morata, Weed, was usually absent but when he did come back from adventuring, he always made changes to the city from domestic affairs of the lord.  The lunch stalls and new guild houses  were proof of that.  A few silvers and a sandwich later, Krios finally arrived at guild street.  The Lord Weed had managed to erect multiple guild houses in the city all in the same area.  Morata had all kinds of classes to choose from including all the crafting classes with a heavy emphasis on art, as well as a variety of combat classes.  Morata still lacked proper mage towers, but you could still find a few NPC's willing to teach you the basics of magic if you knew where to look.  Altheazar had told him an old acquaintance made his residence somewhere around the base of the mountain, so Krios began his search there.  As he wandered through the streets all kinds of tough looking players passed him.  Since the majority of guild houses currently in Morata belonged to the close range figher classes, there were an abundance of burly thug types walking in the streets.  Krios was careful to avoid them for now since he had zero combat skills at the time.  His bulging purse also made an excellent target for the less savory types.  The Paladins of the church of Freya were excellent peace keepers, but there was a limit to there vigilance and with the city constantly growing, the number of thieves had also grown considerably.  The Paladins always picked up on any crimes happening in the city and were quick to punish criminals, but they often got there after the fact and meted out justice once it was too late for the victim.  So Krios was careful not to offend any of the scary looking warriors and stuck to the main streets.  He was never bullied in life and he did have training in a few styles of martial arts, but it always helps to be cautious.

After several hours of searching, Krios was tired and irritated.  He had not found any trace of the supposed reclusive mage nor had anyone he spoke to known about the mage in question either.  At this rate the whole day would be wasted.  Krios stopped by the fountain once again to get a drink and purchase a few more snacks from the food stalls there.

*This is lame.  I've been walking around all day with nothing to show for it.  Those snacks weren't cheap either, though they were tasty.  If I don't find someone to teach me then I'll have wasted the whole day.  I could always go to the dojo and train with a sword or something, but I don't know how to use a sword .  I could always go to the rogues guild and try picking up a few skills there, but I don't really want to use a knife since knife fighting relies on extreme close range combat.  There are too many videos showing melee fighter type players getting crushed in boss fights cause all their attacks are melee based and they can't dodge the heavy attacks while being so close.*

Krios contemplated his dilemna as he finished off his snack by the fountain.  As he sat there he noticed a bunch of players going by that were carrying two-handed weapons, mostly bastard swords and other heavy weaponry.  This all reminded him of the quest that he forgot about, so he took out the great war hammer Ironhand had given him from his inventory to look it over again.

*My identify skill has improved quite a bit, though it's not at the intermediate level yet so lets try examining this thing again.*

"Identify!"

Ancient Hammer ???

Attack damage: 10-50

Damage type: Crush

Item bound to character, cannot be dropped

"Hmm, not bad.  There are obviously some more secrets that I still can't identify but since I'm able to equip it now it doesn't really matter I guess."

The description still lacked details but it seemed that he could at least equip the weapon in the meantime.  He was grateful that it could be used as a weapon despite it being a quest item, which deviated from what he knew about most RPG logic.  After resting for a while, Krios made the decision to go to the dojo to get some training in with his hammer.  He had intended to take advantage of his increased intellect to become a mage oriented character, but until the Lord Weed came back and added some mage towers to Morata it was simply too difficult to try and learn magic on his own.  Krios stood up from the fountain and made his way towards the training hall.  As he got closer to the training hall the number of beginners also increased.  There seemed to be a lot of players coming here to develop combat skills before they left on quests.  Krios knew that for combat based classes weapon style proficiency was crucial to upgrading their damage output.  Leveling up skills made the individual attack type have increased damage but leveling up weapon proficiency gave a passive damage boost to all attacks with that weapon type no matter if it was a skill or a normal attack.  However it was incredibly difficult to level up weapon proficiency.  According to online sites it was possible to level up proficiency much more quickly if you had some real life skills that transferred over such as kendo or fencing.  However this only boosted proficiency gain in the lower levels.  Unfortunately Krios had zero weapons combat training.  He had some hand to hand martial art skills, but unless he wanted to become a monk or a kung fu master his skills were unnecessary.  Krios made his way through the crowded streets and into the interior of the training hall.  Inside hundreds of people were steadily hacking at practice dummies with a variety of weapons.  From what he could see there were short swords, long swords, bastard swords, great swords, rapiers, sabers, daggers, axes, and a few people were even practicing with shurikens and throwing needles.  Krios stood there taking in everything for a few minutes.

"Hey you! If you're not here to train then get out of way or leave!"

An angry looking bearded barbarian shouted at Krios while coming closer.

"Sorry about that sir.  I'm new and I'm trying to decide what weapon I should use."

"Ohhhhh... Another adventurer then here to learn how to use blade eh?  Fine then, but stay out of way else you're likely to catch flying sword through brain.  These weapons may be blunted, but that doesn't mean can't kill people who too stupid to get out of way, got that!"

"Yessir,  I'll be more careful."

Krios hastily moved closer to the weapons racks on the walls.  Each rack held an assortment of training weapons, all blunted to make sure no one cut off their own arm.  There were hundreds of swords lined up next to one another.  To Krios all the swords were the same.  Sure he understood on an intellectual level that certain types of swords were for piercing and others for cutting, but in practice since he had absolutely no skills with blades outside of the kitchen, he had no idea how to choose one that suited him.

*Honestly what's the point of all these different swords.  In the end, people just hack away at the target with skills so it doesn't really matter what you choose right?*

After giving up trying to select the perfect weapon, Krios randomly grabbed a normal looking short sword.  His strength may have been greater than normal thanks to all the training he did while earning money, but he was against the idea of trying to dual wield swords.  Using one was more than difficult enough and he wanted the option of equipping a shield to increase his defense.  Most elven players chose archery or dual dagger mastery in order to increase their damage rate to accommodate for their decreased strength compared to other races.  Thanks to his special skills Krios didn't have to worry about racial stat penalties but in return he leveled up slower than normal.

After getting his weapon, Krios found an unused space and  approached the practice dummy.  He took a few warm up swings to try and get a feel for the blade but it still felt awkward to him.  He persisted though and eventually worked out a comfortable movement that felt somewhat natural to him.

*Okay, time to start training.  How hard could it really be if everyone is doing it?*

Krios took his first swing at the target.

THWACK!

"FUCK!"

He quickly dropped the sword as the vibrations from the blade affected his grip on the handle.  The practice dummies were wooden with some basic armor attached to them.  This unfortunately did not account for the texture of flesh and bone.  Hitting it with a sword only resulted in the kinetic energy of the swing being dispersed into the users hand numbing them in the process.  This was why the instructor had warned him about flying weapons.  People who used too much strength and lost their grip would inevitably end up throwing their swords across the room.  The ricochets off the walls were also deadly if you weren't on the lookout for random swords flying around.  Krios danced around as he attempted to massage feeling back into his fingers.  He had not taken any damage from the recoil but it was still painful.

*Dammit  that hurt!  How am I supposed to use this damn thing?  Most monsters have particularly tough skin and some even wear armor.  If every blow gives feedback like this then I won't be able to hold on to my sword for the whole battle!*

Krios knew that using a sword was more about targeting the weak points in an opponent's armor.  By their nature most swords were too slender and fragile to hack through armor.  The only exceptions were bastard swords or great swords that had enough mass to crush as well as slice, and legendary weapons that defied common sense and were able to cut through armor or deliver direct damage to the enemy.  Unfortunately Krios was unlikely to find any legendary weapons and two-handed weapons had their own limitations.  He sighed as he came to this conclusion.  Most warriors simply increased their strength to handle the recoil from attacks and developed armor penetration skills to overcome the enemy's defense.  Speed-type attackers such as rogues and assassins focused on dealing backstab damage to lightly armored or unprotected areas to inflict massive initial damage, then used poisons and rapid attacks to whittle down the enemy's health till they died.  Archers could simply change out arrowhead types to gain armor penetrating properties and mages were unaffected by physical defenses.  After recovering from his blunder, Krios picked up his sword and tried to swing with less strength.  Even then he still found using the sword to be rather awkward for him.  The goal of his training was to use the sword and rapidly target all the weak spots outline on the practice dummy.  This included all the joints in the armor and other lightly protected areas.  This required both precision and impressive strength since most attacks against the dummy bounced off or skittered to the side depending on what angle he struck at.  Feeling frustrated Krios tried slowing down and just striking at one area.  Even then his attacks varied in speed and power.  He was unable to consistently strike the same area and more often than not his sword would twist in his grip as he couldn't align his blade to strike at a perpendicular angle to the target.

*****

Five hours later, Krios had still not received the sword mastery skill and he was growing frustrated.  After striking the dummy repeatedly, his coordination had not gotten any better.  There were simply too many variables to account for in a single swing.  He had to purposely target a weakness in the armor, then strike decisively and powerfully.  His blade had to hit the area at a perpendicular angle or else it would be deflected away instead of cutting into the target.  Additionally, when hunting monsters he had to account for the position of bones and joints; otherwise his weapon was likely to become wedged in the monster's bones or at the very least have a significant loss of durability and sharpness from repeatedly striking such dense objects.  Finally, he had to hold on to his weapon the entire time and then repeat the maneuver as quickly as possible to decrease the amount of time he was open to a counter-attack.  On top of all this, real opponents would be moving and fighting back making any precision strikes nearly impossible.  If any of these factors were lacking, his attack would be ineffective and deliver a minimal amount damage.  Normal players simply overcame this by trying to level up rapidly in order to increase their stats and relied on system guided skills to deal damage.  Truly skilled players were able to take their real life experience and translate that into correct forms that delivered much greater damage.

*dammit... why haven't I gotten the skill?  Even though I trained with the sword for hours... with my special ability it should have already happened so why...*

Dusk had arrived and the instructor of the training hall commanded everyone to wrap up their practice sessions so he could go home.  Exhausted and hungry, Krios threw his sword down in frustration.  Unable to learn the skill for some reason, he had given up on trying to learn swords skills since his coordination was relatively low even with racial dexterity bonuses.  Angry at his own incompetence, he stalked back to the weapons rack and stuffed the sword back with the rest of the training weapons.  He was feeling depressed and mad and wanted to hit something, anything  to let out his intense emotions.  As he left the weapons instructor grabbed him.  Krios immediately snarled at the barbarian and tried to punch him in the face only to be slammed against the wall with one hand.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Control yourself boy!"

Upset by his loss of control, Krios immediately calmed down leaving only a feeling of sadness.

"Calmed down have we?  Good, stop glaring at me.  If this wasn't the training hall I would have killed you for that.  Remember that boy."

"Haaaahhhh...it's pointless anyways.  You saw how badly I did in practice.  Even with all that effort I didn't learn anything."

"Yes, you are inexperienced like everyone else no?"

"It's more than that.  I know what I'm supposed to do but I just can't convince my body to do it right."

"Not everyone is meant to be warrior.  Once I wanted to be silversmith like my father and his father before him.  I watched my father as he worked in the village crafting delicate art work to sell to traders and women of the village.  I too wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a silversmith."

"Then why didn't you become one?"

"Look at me boy.  People cannot do everything.  Some things are simply beyond reach.  By my tenth nameday I was already taller than my father and by my fourteenth nameday I was the strongest in the village.  My father tried to teach me his craft but these hands were never meant for delicate crafting.  I could only create mediocre pieces at best and often made mistake because my hands were too big to properly work the tools.  So I become warrior."

"Why does this matter.  Why are you telling me this?"

"Because boy, not everyone can become silversmith.  Just like not everyone can learn the sword.  If you try harder than anyone else than it is possible to learn.  But you will lack the skill that others have and only be a normal warrior at best.  Sometimes you have to make hard choice and accept what you can and cannot do no?"

Seemingly finished with his speech, the barbarian instructor stood up and walked off into the fading sunlight.  Krios remained there in front of the training hall contemplating the instructor's words.  It was a difficult truth to swallow but he knew deep down that the barbarian was right.  All men are not created equal.  Even though parents told their children they could be anything they wanted, it was simply a lie to support children as they pursue their dreams.  And he realized that he was untalented at using a sword.  Even if he did come back and keep trying till he learned the skill, he would never be as talented as a real swordsman.  Perhaps not even as talented as an average swordsman.

"haaaaaahhhhhhhh... I forgot to ask what his name was."

*****

As the night darkened, Krios slowly made his way back towards the old man's potion shop.  He had been unsuccessful in learning any weapon skills and his funds were reduced to merely 7 gold.  He was exhausted, hungry and depressed about his failure.  A rowdy commotion could be heard from the nearby taverns and suspicious characters lurked in the shadows of passing alleys.  Krios stuck to the main streets to avoid trouble but he increased his pace all the same to get off the streets.  Thanks to the influence of the Church of Freya's paladins and the Light Tower, there were few thieves bold enough to enter the city, but that didn't mean that the streets at night were completely safe.

*CRASSHH*

Suddenly, Krios could hear shouting from the closest tavern.  As the sound of fighting escalated, a small stocky figure smashed threw the window.  The dark blur flew through the air and crashed right into Krios.

"BWAARRGGHHH!"

"EEEHHHHHHHHHHH!"

*THUMP*

"GET OFF OF ME!"

"BWAHAHAH! YOU WANT TO FIGHT?  COME GET M... oh it's you boy."

"Ironhand?"

"Bwahahah, haven't seen ya in a while boy.  Blacksmithing too much work for you?"

"No it's not that..."

"Ohhh, why the long face boy?"

"It's nothing, just having a bit of trouble.  I was trying to learn how to fight but..."

"Fighting is it eh boy?  Then leave it to ole Ironhand here.  I'll teach ya how to fight!  I used to be a champion fighter!  I fought every day and every night.  I slayed monsters from dawn till dusk with me bare hands. I..."

"Nonono, I was trying to learn how to use a sword."

"Pbbtt.  Swords are just bits of metal with a pointy end.  They ain't no good against the bigger monsters with tougher hides so don't you go worrying about that."

"But I have to learn how to use a weapon, otherwise how else am I supposed to defend myself..."

"Boy ya sure are dumb aren't ya.  What about that big hammer I gave ya before you left to go adventuring?"

"I still have it but I don't know how to use it."

"Hhaaaaaaaaaaahh... I guess that be rightly my fault for not teaching ya.  Fine then, I spent all me money on ale already so come with me."

"Right now?"

"Yes right now boy!"

As the dwarf marched off with a slight wobble to his step, Krios followed closely behind.  Eventually, the dwarf arrived at the forges and quickly walked inside.  At this late hour, few smiths were still working at their forges, steadily pounding away at the glowing metal.  Ironhand approached a smaller domelike forge connected to the great hearth by a small chute.  Even now the great hearth burned intensely as the smith apprentices steadily fed the flames turning ores into high quality bar stock and slag which they skillfully skimmed off leaving only a small portion behind.  Ironhand reached up to open the chute.  The ingenious design allowed Ironhand to bring hot coals from the great hearth to his smaller forge, allowing him to start working much more quickly instead of having to wait hours for the forge to reach the proper temperature.  Krios worked the bellows without being instructed as Ironhand added a few shovels of coal to the forge.  Then the two rested as they waited for the forge to heat to the proper temperature.

Krios sat down and sipped from a canteen to rehydrate himself.  The dwarf simply sat there silently.

"Boy, do you know why I brought you here?"

"Umm...no?"

"It is to continue your training."

"I thought I already learned how to blacksmith?"

"You learned the basics of the craft, but you still lack the understanding."

"Understanding what?"

The dwarf did not answer as he turned away from Krios to look at the coals.  Grunting in satisfaction, Ironhand proceeded to pull out his tools from a nearby rack.  He placed them on a workbench and moved towards the main forges.  There stacked in a neat pile to the side, were hundreds of iron ingots and bar stock ready to be turned into weapons and armor.  Ironhand searched through the pile, tossing them aside until he found one that satisfied him.  He returned to the smaller forge and shoved the barstock into the coals.  He motioned for Krios to work the bellows.

"So we're making weapons?"

"Quiet boy, you'll see..."

As the metal turned a yellow red, the dwarf pulled out the iron and placed it on the anvil.

"Look closely boy, when you look at the iron what do you see?"

The glowing metal exuded heat that caused the air to shimmer.  The metal burned with an internal fire that would dim with time as it cooled.  Krios knew several things about the metal from his previous lesson with the dwarf smith.  He knew that iron contained impurities that were mostly removed during smelting, but additional impurities could be burned out through hammering and tempering.  He knew that the ideal temperature for forging iron was when it turned a yellow-red color, not white.  He knew that by melding several grades of steel, it was possible to increase the blade's flexibility and durability.  But he was positive that was not what Ironhand was asking about.

"I don't know what I'm looking for."

Ironhand gripped the smoldering bar with a pair of tongs, then picked up his hammer and began to forge the metal.  His strikes were precise, yet powerful.  Under his skillful touch, the metal began to lengthen and form into a blade like shape.  As the metal cooled, it turned from yellow to a dull red.  Ironhand paused and pushed the half-made blade back into the coals.  He worked the bellows for a minute to get the flames back up, then sat down to rest while the metal reheated.

"Iron can be made stronger through forging and burning off impurities in the metal.  This turns the iron into steel and makes it more durable.  What I didn't tell ya is that no blade is perfect.  Now matter how skillfully forged, it is impossible to remove all the impurities from the metal.  In other words, every blade and every armor has a weakness.  As a smith, I can see the weakness in the metal and try to hammer it out."

Ironhand once again removed the iron from the fire and hammered it down into a blade like shape.  His hammer blows were slower this time, more methodical.  He beat on the metal in seemingly random patterns, yet Krios understood he was trying to show him something.  He bent down closer to see the glowing metal better.  He carefully watched the areas Ironhand hit to determine if there was something different about them.  He was interrupted as Ironhand took a chisel and used it to fold the flat metal piece.  Ironhand then continued to forge the metal, once again drawing it out and lengthening it into a blade like shape.  He paused a second time to place the iron back into the fire and worked the bellows.

"When you work the metal you have to use all your senses boy, not just your eyes.  An experienced smith can appraise a blade for weaknesses in a glance, but to find those weaknesses while you forge the metal is what really matters.  This takes true skill and it requires more than just your sight to make the proper judgement."

Ironhand removed the blade a third time and continued to forge it into shape.  He drew the metal making it longer while leaving a small portion of it a thick rectangle for the handle.  The dwarf worked the metal continuing to hammer it into shape.  As Krios focused all his senses he began to understand what Ironhand was trying to show him.

*Focus.  Concentrate on the blade.  See the weaknesses.  Ironhand isn't joking so you know there has to be something there.*

*Clank. Clank. Clang.  Clank.*

*Wait, that sound!*

*Clank.  Clang.  Clank.  Clank.*

*Again...there that spot!*

Krios focused even harder on the sword as Ironhand hammered the metal.  There seemed to be spots that glowed a deeper red than others. It wasn't immediately noticeable, but by focusing his senses he could see that parts of the blade were different from the others.  The spots didn't have any defined boundaries and simply melted into the rest of the blade so if he wasn't look for them he never would have noticed.

Ding!

New Skill (Active): Crush the Industry

After receiving advanced training in blacksmithing, you have discovered how to find flaws in the metal.  Enables you to see impurities as a glowing overlay while forging.   Also applies to armor and weapons allowing you to see any flaws in the enemy's equipment as red light.

Increases damage done to armor and weapon durability.

Increases the chance of getting critical hits by 1%.

Costs 5 mana/sec

The blade was finally revealed to be a simple short sword with a gently tapering blade.  The sword lacked any sort of decoration and was perfectly straight with dual edges.  It still needed to be sharpened, but its deadly purpose was clear from its simple design.  Krios could see using his new skill that the blade was perfectly forged with only minor impurities within the metal that wouldn't affect the performance of the weapon.

"I learned something new..."

"Bwahahahah! It's an impressive skill isn't it boy?"

"Thank you Ironhand for teaching me something so valuable..."

"What's the matter boy?  You still look like a bird crapped in your ale.  You don't like the new skill?"

"NO no no... it's just that I still don't know how to fight so I can't use this knowledge."

"Oh is that all boy? What happened to that big hammer I gave you?"

"I still have it."

"Good then, go and get it.  I'll show you a few Dwarven combat techniques."

Krios pulled the Ancient Hammer from his inventory and equipped it.

"Ah, that hammer intrigues me.  Even after studying it for several generations me family never managed to figure out what alloys were used in it.  But enough of that, come here boy I'll teach ya how to use that thing.  Most warriors use swords but dwarves use axes and hammers almost exclusively.  Why do you think that is boy?"

"Um cause dwarves are stronger than humans?"

"That's the common consensus, but the truth is dwarves disadvantage themselves by using such weapons.  Since dwarves are naturally shorter than other races, they also have shorter arms and therefore a smaller reach.  A dwarf swordsman would have to overcome this gap by advancing closer to the enemy while defending themselves."

"So why don't dwarves use spears or bows instead to eliminate the reach advantage?"

"Ahh, indeed dwarves could choose to use mid and long range weaponry to remove the disadvantage of their race.  However, dwarves consistently choose to use close range melee weapons like hammers and axes."

"Is it because dwarves have an inborn affinity with the earth that gives them great strength and enables them to understand the weaknesses in the armor like you showed me?"

"Bwahahahah! That's right boy.  While spears and  bows are very useful in their own right, dwarves prefer to use heavy weapons and armor because of their affinity with the earth.  That and every dwarf loves to fight and fightn's only enjoyable when ya get up close and trade blows with all yer might."

"..."

"Enough talk boy, Come at me!"

*****

As the sun rose in the sky, Krios did not get up.  He was laying on the ground in the small park behind the forge.  His whole body was covered in bruises and his right eye had swollen halfway shut.  He was pretty sure his nose was broken too, but it was too sensitive for him to touch it to find out for sure.

*That is the last time I challenge a dwarf to a fight.  Ironhand is just too strong...*

He had received a barrage of system messages probably about his combat skills hours ago, but Ironhand had still wanted to fight.  In the end, Krios had continued to fight until he collapsed from exhaustion.  He had only hit the dwarf a few times during the entire fight, whereas Krios had been hit so many times that he was sure his bruises had gotten bruises.  If it had been a sword fight he would have died from a thousand cuts.  Instead he just wished he had died from a thousand cuts.  Then he wouldn't be able to feel them.  Krios slowly reached into his inventory bag and pulled out a healing potion he had made.  He was tempted to try downing the concentrate version because he was so heavily injured but he settled for a normal potion for now.  Despite all his injuries, he still had over 30% of his health remaining, which seemed impossible since he was in so much pain right now.  When he finally managed to uncap the potion and down it, he began to feel slightly better but he wasn't ready to walk back to the potion shop yet.  He was still in a lot of pain and with all of the bruising and the weak morning sunlight he might have been mistaken to be a zombie.  Krios reviewed the messages he had ignored while fighting as he continued to rest.

Level Up: Hammer Mastery [4]

Increases attack power when dealing damage with a hammer (+40% ATK)

Increases attack speed when using a hammer (+12% ATK SPD)

Level Up: Iron Body Technique [6]

Decreases damage received while not wearing armor (+6% DMG RES)

Increases resistance to status ailments (+12% RES)

New Stat: Fighting Spirit

You can call on superhuman strength temporarily, or bring weaker monsters to their knees with a force in your eyes alone. You are prohibited from distributing stat bonus points to this stat, and it rises spontaneously, depending on the avatar’s action, especially if you fight monsters for a long time, or often confront monsters stronger than your current level.

His strength and endurance had also increased.   His other stats had all randomly increased as well thanks to his troll skill Doing it the hard way.

*Not bad considering the new skills I got.  I don't think I'll do this again though...*

Krios closed his eyes and let the healing potion work on his aching body.  The suns warm rays relaxed him and in the end he found himself drifting off to sleep despite the uncomfortable hard ground he lay on.  Several hours later Ironhand returned to the forges and found Krios dead asleep in the small yard out back where they received large supply orders.  Not wanting to disturb the boy, Ironhand carefully dragged Krios to the corner of the yard and propped him up against the lone tree inside the walls.  He stuffed Krios's bag behind his head as a pillow, then went back to work in the forges quietly chuckling to himself.