We were woken up the next day at 5 o’clock, at this time everyone begins preparations for the day. I too hesitantly make my way out of bed and head for the smithy.

Prior to breakfast, I manage to smelt 2 more [Copper Ingots], with the best one having a quality score of 3.87. It seems my progress has stalled…

Well...whatever...I head for breakfast which was again broth, though a different type...Do they know anything except for broth over here?!?!

And in such a sour mood, I headed out of the Blacksmithing Guild to the Adventurers Guild...only to be greeted by rain…

Does god hate me or something?!?! Did I do something to them? At this rate, by the time I get 1 silver saved up, the library will really burn down… * sigh *

Giving up yet again, I decide to just smelt copper for the rest of the day...and as expected, someone up there really hates me...Despite the hard and gruesome work due to my lack of strength...after making 8 more copper ingots, the best quality score I managed was only 3.98... Aka, I am stuck!

Should I ask for help? I really don’t want to waste my chance with an Intermediate Discipline on just smelting...Smelting was suppose to be the easy part...so I can imagine I’ll need far more from smithing…Should I ask a fellow Junior Disciple? Or will I just embarrass myself?

While I have not gotten to know anyone yet, not even my roommates, I really don’t want a repeat of last time where they look down on me for not knowing the basics…

Lets give it one more day...maybe I’ll find something in the library as well to help me.

The next morning was a repeat of the prior, where I made 2 [Copper Ingots] in the morning, this time getting a quality score of 3.99. Seems like breaking into 4 is going to be a problem after all...Luckily, this time around after breakfast, the sky was pretty sunny.

So with things finally looking a bit brighter, I walk to the Adventurers Guild. Of course good things can’t last for long, because when I got there, it was flooded with people picking up requests...as one would expect from the morning rush...

I really wanted to ask the receptionist a question about the whole dueling thing. But I guess that will have to wait till later, I don’t want to waste time waiting in line for an hour or 2. Dejectedly giving up, I head out of town towards the forest.

Unfortunately my body is aching like hell from all the strain I put in yesterday, but regardless I press onwards. I can’t afford to take a break just yet.

My goal this time in the forest is simply herb collection, to make enough money to access the library. Of course I also want to see if I can find all the new herbs as well. As for fighting monsters, that will have to wait until I at least get better gear. Taking the situation with the monkey as an example, if I had a helmet, then I wouldn’t have been stun locked to near death.

Speaking of gear! Now that I think about it...there is a third way to get higher strength isn’t there? That would be gear! Unfortunately my mithril dagger is pretty useless despite it giving strength because I need to hold it in my hand to use it. Without that, I do not get the stat bonus, but I can’t hold it because my hands are occupied with either the hammer or maintaining balance.

If I can make or buy equipment that gives [STR] for each part of my body and get a better hammer than the default crappy one provided, which gives nothing. Then I can probably raise my strength enough to be able to make things more efficiently. So after this, I’ll also stop by the nearby equipment shop and see what kind of stats to expect and what kind of prices these things cost as well. It would be good to know market price of equipment anyways when I get promoted.

My trip around the forest netted me a total of 12 herbs for the day. With both my [Sense Smell] and [Sense Presence] there was no exciting and unforeseeable events that happened. If anything, what was unforeseeable was that even after storing the the [Blue Hoya] and [Sleepy Jasmine] in the [Item Box], I still managed to collect a total of 42 iron and 50 copper.

Knowing my luck, I expected to somehow be 50 copper short…

The library is on fire isn’t it? Isn’t it?

Though when I came back to the guild to cash in the quest, to my surprise, the library was not on fire!

After cashing in the quest at the material exchange, I head for the information desk.

“How can we help you?” asked the elf receptionist at the desk.

“Uhm...I was wondering...is there any training grounds where I can get live combat experience? Of course preferably in a safe manner...I am also fine with viewing it from a distance like duels or etc” I inquire.

“If you are looking for something like that, then I would suggest signing up for our training courses” responded the receptionist.

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“Training courses?” I question.

“That’s right. Once a week, the Adventurers Guild holds a training course ran by a Rank C adventurer for adventurers below Rank D. The cost of the training is 2 silver per person and lasts for 6 hours. There is a limit of 5 spots per week. The next training course is scheduled in 2 days and we have 2 spots open, are you interested in signing up?” responds the receptionist.

Grr...are you trying to tempt me away from my library?!?!

Do you think you can bend my iron will with 6 hours of stealing a Rank C adventurer’s delicious skills? Oops...I almost started drooling…

Stop for a sec! Lets think logically here, do I really need to chose one or the other? Isn’t there another option?

Frankly speaking, the cost of the library is not 1 silver coin, but 1 iron coin. I only need 1 silver as a deposit. Which should mean I can withdraw my deposit after I am done with the library? While there are many things I want to research in the library, the things that I need immediately could probably be done in 1 day. After I do the training, I could eventually save up another silver coin.

The bigger issue is timing, if I want to spend the entire tomorrow in the library. That leaves me with no time to get the remaining 96 iron and 50 copper coins. Even without the library, getting that much around these parts would be tricky…

If only I had something I could sell...there is no way I am selling the mithril dagger at this point...There is the mantle, but I have a use for it ...If only I brought some monster parts from those that were killed...wait a sec! I did bring a few monster parts didn’t I?!

I check my [Item Box] and yes, they are there! [Woodland Ant Legs]! How could I forget?!?!

“Yes, I’ll be interested. But can you give me a bit of time to put together the money?” I plead.

“Sure, no problem. I am here when you are ready” replied the receptionist.

I head straight for the material exchange again and take out the 6 [Woodland Ant Legs] that I stashed away. Each leg sold for 32 iron coins, netting me a total of 1 silver and 92 iron coins. And I also sold the [Sleeping Jasmine] and [Blue Hoya] that I stored for 10 iron coins. Giving me a total of 3 silver, 7 iron and 50 copper coins.

Somehow I have a feeling all the mental exercises I have been doing for the past few days have been for naught… Is this where that saying of “If you mind it you lose” comes in?

Anyways, I signed up for the training and put a down-payment for the library, with those two things out of the way, I head back to the commercial district.

Before I enter the Blacksmithing Guild, I do a bit of window shopping and look at the prices of equipment. Particularly, armor that increases [STR].

Looking at the armors though, I came to another realization of a slight problem...SIZE! Looking at all the combat equipment in the shops, they were simply too big for me!

So it seems unless I make it myself, the only options to buy are belts and weapons. Looking at the belts, I saw the following which gave [STR]:

Horned Rabit Leather Belt of Strength

An average belt made out of horned rabbit leather

+1 STR +2 DEF

Durability: 20/20

Quality 5.12/10.00

Price: 1 silver coins

Copper-Plated Leather Belt of Strength

An average belt made out of dire fox leather and plated with copper

+1 STR +12 DEF

Durability: 50/50

Quality 5.31/10.00

Price: 5 silver coins

Bronze-Plated Leather Belt of Living Strength

An average belt made out of dire wolf leather and plated with bronze

+3 STR +2 VIT +25 DEF

Durability: 100/100

Quality 5.48/10.00

Price: 27 silver coins

Iron-Plated Leather Belt of Strength

An average belt made out of dread wolf leather and plated with iron

+8 STR +2 VIT +50 DEF

Durability: 200/200

Quality 5.26/10.00

Price: 1 gold 10 silver coins

Steel-Plated Leather Belt of Strength

An average belt made out of dusk boar leather and plated with steel

+15 STR +4 VIT +1 AGI +100 DEF

Durability: 500/500

Quality 5.17/10.00

Price: 5 gold 25 silver

While many thoughts go through my head at how expensive the equipment is to how nice those stats look...I end up at one remaining thought...If [Steel-Plated Leather Belt] goes for over 5 gold, how much would my 2 metal tiers above [Ancient Mithril Dagger] go for if repaired?

I definitely need to level my Blacksmithing...But in terms of purchasing, the first thing I probably need is a better hammer...In terms of affordability, only these 2 fit the bill:

Copper Blacksmithing Hammer

An average blacksmithing hammer made out of copper

+3 STR -3 AGI +1 ATK

+1% improvement for Blacksmithing

Durability: 250/250

Quality 5.03/10.00

Price: 2 silver coins

Bronze Blacksmithing Hammer

An average blacksmithing hammer made out of bronze

+13 STR +2 DEX -15 AGI +2 ATK

+3% improvement for Blacksmithing

Durability: 500/500

Quality 5.25/10.00

Price: 10 silver coins

So next thing I should probably do is save up for the blacksmithing hammers…or maybe attempt at making one myself?

With that thought in mind, I make my way to the Blacksmithing Guild for dinner, then head to bed right after.