“You must make something beautiful. Beauty is something which cannot be appreciated in such a dark hall. The competition will be held in exactly 4 weeks from now. Please take this time to rest and enjoy yourself. I recommend exploring the city while you can however for those of you who would like to perfect their skills, please feel free to use these forging halls.”
TRRRRINGGG!
Congratulations! You have advanced to the final round of the blacksmithing competition! If you clear this you will go on to become an apprentice of Theodore!
The competition will be held in the Great White Halls of Skyholm Mountains! You will not be provided any materials or equipment for this final round! So please remember to bring your own items and ores!
You are no longer bound to be penalized for non attendance.
- Please confirm your attendance -
“Yes!” at once all fifteen finalists shouted. The apprentices had their eyes fixated on the three new comers, an elf, a female and a small boy.
“Well then, let’s grab some lunch shall we?” Theodore broke the silence that had crept in.
The players nodded in agreement and the tension they felt soon dissipated. They hurriedly began following Thedore who picked up pace. He had built himself quite the appetite with all the judging, kicking and shouting he did.
“Congrats!” Pallidus whispered to Weed.
“Congrats to you too!” Weed winked back.
“Did you learn dwarvish blacksmithing as well?” Pallidus asked.
“Yes.”
“From whom?”
“Tizen Fuko, in Lavias City.”
Pallidus froze in his place. “Tizen Fuko?”
“Yeah from Swords and Charms. He own’s the place.”
“Never heard of it.” Pallidus frowned. All the research he did indicated that the only way to learn dwarvish blacksmithing was through Skyholm. There were no teachers other than Theodore in Lavias.
“Well he’s down by the South block, his skill level is ridiculously high.”
“…well that explains why his apprentice is so good, eh?” Pallidus asked enviously. Theodore only unlocked the dwarvish blacksmithing profession for him but never gave a single lesson. Most of the players had to experiment dwarvish blacksmithing on their own or do their own research before they could figure out how it worked.
"..." Weed didn't say anything as he didn't know better. It was true that Tizen never really did teach him anything but at the same time, he got a chance to observe the mastero at work.
They quickly exited the practicing halls and found themselves in front of a busy underground dwarvish street. The ceiling was no more than eight feet high and was glowing in a warm fiery goldish colors; unlike the dark practice halls. It was the first time for all the finalists inside a dwarves city. Unlike previous games, which were heavily influence by Royal Road, RREV did focus on traditional dwarvish architecture. The glowing ceiling was a clear example. Furthermore, the inner city construction was more than just rooms carved out in the ground; it was a proper underground city. It had its own sky, own buildings and own unique flora. Needless to say the players were left with their mouths wide open. Theodore seemed quite pleased with the reaction.
TRRRINGG!!
You are the very first players to discover Northern Mountain City.
Reward: Fame +100.
Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type in this region. Subsequent kills will drop common items.
Some of the players smiled at the message. The apprentices were glad they competed so ferociously with each other, it finally paid off. By attending each apprentice test repeatedly, they were amongst the first ones to find the rumored dwarf city near Lavias.
The group attracted all sorts of stares from the NPC dwarves. Dwarf participants were greeted with warmly and with well wishes for the final round. The human participants were ignored and treated as lumps of meat consuming precious space in the world. The lone elf however received the harshest of treatment. From angry stares, to being openly cursed at, one dwarf even through a bucket of water at Weed. Weed desperately tried to hide his ears which he believed were the give away to his race, however his facial features were too elvish like to hide.
After crossing through the busy street, Theodore was joined by dwarf soldiers who stood on both sides of the players. The NPC dwarves were no longer allowed to come near to greet or curse the participant(s). The dwarvish participants glared at Weed. They were deprived of their rightful glory because of him. They already disliked Weed for being an elf; it also didn’t help Weed that Theodore favoured him by waiting till he finished the grandfather clock to end the second round. Weed however refused to participate in the glaring competition; he was more interested in the new world around him. He was really thankful that the guards stepped in between him and the dwarvish population but his instincts told him they weren’t here for him; there was something off about the whole thing. Weed just couldn’t figure out what it was but he had an ominous feeling warning him to be on his guard.
The guards accompanied the players and Theodore to a dining hall for dwarvish blacksmiths in training. The cafeteria could serve up to a thousand dwarves a meal. Theodore beckoned for the head chef and then dictated a long lunch order…dwarves truly ate a lot. The other players could only salivate as they heard the food being ordered. There were few good cooks in RREV and most of the food was still very expensive. To be able to eat the delicacies which Theodore ordered was the biggest reward some of them could have hoped for.
Lunch passed away with only sounds of players devouring the food away. Theodore had to repeat some dishes six times and the very best dwarvish delicacies were ordered till the cafeteria had no more to offer! Satisfied with their meals, most of the finalists decided to go their own ways. The female blacksmith declared she wanted to go shopping and no one offered to accompany her. She was definitely a beauty, but the seasoned players knew better. Never accompany a woman when they want to go shopping.
Thor and Cynbel logged out at the same time. Soon after Pallidus and the little boy did as well. Only Weed and the nine other apprentices were left. Six of these were dwarves and they decided to return to the practicing halls. The other 2 human players seemed to know each other and began wandering about the city. Weed was left on his own, it didn’t bother him it was something he was used to.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Weed decided to prepare for the upcoming competition. He still wanted to make most of exploring the Northern Mountain City but the competition took precedence.
‘I need to bring my own resources to the competition.’ Weed thought about it carefully. Theodore had already revealed what was to be prepared for the next round. Going by all his actions so far, Theodore was not moody or fickle in anyway, he was very deep. The first rule to make something useful had a direct connection to the next round. In all honesty, Weed considered himself lucky for making a crafting knife. Had he not been limited by low levels of dwarvish blacksmithing, he might have gone for a big sword as well. ‘So would the items in the second round have any use in the third round?’
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
There was also the added element of being exposed to the Northern City, it too was most likely to be related to the competition in some way. Lastly, Weed didn’t have much time left before the deadline of Rodriguez quest. His plan had always been to wrap up Theodores test in one day and then set out to make the ring, but the final test was schedule 1 week for the time limit of his quest. Weed sat down on the middle of the street and closed his eyes. It was another problem that he had to solve. There were many unknowns and many possibilities that would arise as a consequence of his actions now. He only needed to only think of what needed to be done to become an apprentice of Theodore. Images of all that happened since the first test began flashing in Weeds mind; the first test’s riddle, finding the moonstone, preparing for the second test, the last two competitions…they all had one thing in common, Theodore always played around with words. His words were the only thing that held any significance. The riddle spoke guided him to the moonstone, sending him to the blacksmithing guild and the title of each competition round. Theodore always gave enough hints if one looked at it closely. Weed squinched his eyes as he recollected Theodore’s exact words for the third round…
“You must make something beautiful. Beauty is something which cannot be appreciated in such a dark hall. The competition will be held in exactly 4 weeks from now. Please take this time to rest and enjoy yourself. I recommend exploring the city while you can however for those of you who would like to perfect their skills, please feel free to use these forging halls.” He spoke out aloud.
Weed’s presence was almost negligible till he spoke. Thus, few of the dwarves who had been passing by were suddenly startled by Weed’s words. They looked at Weed in disgust and walked away. Elves bad enough, elves sitting on the street, with their eyes shut and talking to themselves? Just as expected.
‘Beauty is something which cannot be appreciated in such a dark hall.’ - The first suspicious line.
‘Why can’t beauty be appreciated in the dark? The dwarves live underground, they make things all the time underground, and darkness should be their second cousin.’ Weed frowned as he tried to solve the riddle. ‘However, a dwarven city is not dark but rather artificially illuminated. So does this mean the hall was not the best place to hold the competition? But if it was not the best place to hold the competition…then what makes the Great White Halls of Skyholm better? The only difference between a good place and a bad place would be…darkness…lighting?’
Weed smiled in delight, he knew he was on to something. ‘Lighting would matter if it came down to using something that required to shine…like a precious stone…or a diamond?’
Weed wore the biggest grin he could, he was getting better at this. ‘The beautiful object needs to be made of precious stone, most likely diamond or something which has a higher refractive index…so now I know what I need.’
“The competition will be held in exactly 4 weeks from now.” Weed muttered. ‘Surprisingly, he has given plenty of time to prepare. Theodore gave 4 weeks for the first test, 4 weeks for the next test and 4 weeks more for the last test. If time is a measurement of anything to go by then, this last round should be as difficult as any of these previous tests. But why?’
Weed scratched his chin as he thought about it. ‘Diamonds are relatively easy to find, anyone with a high enough level can engrave on them…either the level is very high or the stone is not diamond? Or is Theodore programmed to give a 4 week break at the end of each major break’ Weed wore a puzzled expression, he wasn’t too sure if he should read deeper into these words; there were just too many variables to consider.
“Please take this time to rest and enjoy yourself.”
‘…Not sure what to make of this.’ Weed sighed in frustration. Either he was going paranoid and reading too deep into everything or there really was a secret message hidden away in each and every line.
“I recommend exploring the city while you can however for those of you who would like to perfect their skills, please feel free to use these forging halls.”
‘He definitely wants us to explore the city and then use these very forging halls for practice…why? Why is he insisting we explore the city? It’s so big, it would take forever to explore. Another deadend?’
Weed sighed, the first part was easy, but after that there were just many possibilities.
‘He’s told us what to make, he’s told us what to use…he has given us time to prepare…and he has told us where to prepare. What does not fit in is why rest and enjoy ourselves? And why should I explore the city?…I guess if the answer doesn’t come to me, it’s best I should go the answer?
Weed opened his eyes and noticed that the streets were empty and most of the flaming torches on the walls had been dimmed. The glowing ceiling too had dimmed. ‘Interesting material..it glows as much as light there is…Could this be it?’ Weed excitedly jumped and touched the ceiling. It was not transparent like a diamond but it shone according to the light around. It would have appeared as a dull stone in the dark forging halls but in a brighter place it would shine more…
Weed hurriedly ran around the streets hoping to find someone to talk to. He needed to find a library in this city; answers were always present in books! But no matter whichever direction Weed ran in, there was not a soul insight. It seemed like the dwarves were all asleep and had returned to their homes. Weed looked around and frowned…he didn’t recognize where he was. In his excitement to find the library he ended up lost in the dwarven city. Dwarven cities should never be under estimated in terms of their size and complexity. If players considered the East block of Lavias complicated, then any dwarven city would qualify as a maze that would take an eternity to solve. Dwarvish cities were gigantic, Lavias would be considered a dwarf in comparison to one of these cities. To add to this Dwarvish cities were built in layers, one city layer on top of another. If Lavias was two dimensional then dwarvish cities were three dimensional. However, what really made dwarvish cities confusing was the lack of navigational facilities / maps. Lavias was a beginner’s town, so it had maps all over the city for players to refer to. In contrast, dwarvish city’s like Skyholm were known for intentionally not publishing maps; the dwarven community made a sizeable profit margin on selling maps. Weed began panicking… ‘What if I am stuck here for all eternity?’
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Authors Note:
1. Will be edited soon.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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