Will has been busy for the last 2 days with his new job at the weapon shop and with his system.
As it turns out, Will could not craft any sort of metal tools and sell them, not because he can't, but because there was a law in this world that prohibits him from selling any of his crafted tools, because he's not a registered blacksmith.
Just like on Earth, one cannot become a doctor, electrician, engineer, or anything without first getting a license of some kind.
Since Will is not a licensed blacksmith he could not sell any sort of tools that he's made, or else he'll be fined and/or sent to jail.
But like that one saying goes 'it's not a crime if you don't get caught.'
Will secretly crafted steel tools inside the shop and got some pretty good items out of it.
{Steel chestplate}
{Defense 10+}
{Strength: +20% strength}
{Tank: +20% defense}
{Durability 120/120}
{Steel helmet}
{Defense 8+}
{Feather: -30% weight}
{Durability: 90/90}
{Steel boots}
{Defense 7+}
{Strong defense: +25% defense}
{Resistant: +50 durability permanent}
{Durability: 130/130}
{Steel leggings}
{Defense: 9+}
{Godly: +20% in all stats}
{Marksmanship expert: 2x damage to enemies when using projectile weapons}
{-30% stamina cost}
{-100% in weight}
{Durability: 150/150}
{Steel gauntlet}
{Defense 7+}
{Agile: +15% agility}
{Durability: 70/70}
This is Will's strongest armor to date. Of course as a thank you for letting Will craft steel tools, he decided to give Jack most of the items he had crafted. If it weren't for Jack he would have never been able to craft steel tools. He never kept stuff like swords and such, because he finds it easier to just shoot the enemy rather than using a sword or spear and such. And Will also got his share of coins because Jack insisted. And that way Will made some money.
Will wasn't lucky at first. The first few times he had crafted his steel armor it had terrible debuffs. Then once he crafted armor with good buffs, he kept it for himself.
Jack at first was a bit against the idea of Will crafting and selling weapons illegally. Student blacksmiths could make tools and such, but they couldn't be sold.
But after seeing his skill, Jack had changed his mind. Not only could Will craft at an insanely fast rate, but Will actually used less materials than him and his family. Humans are not perfect, they tend to make mistakes in their line of work.
Will's crafting system could make anything perfectly without wasting unnecessary materials. Sometimes his crafted tools would have debuffs, but that's life.
Jack was a good friend to Will. Not just because he's a 'hero' but because Jack was a naturally good person. His mind was that of an innocent child that has yet to be tainted.
Will also crafted a new set of steel helmet and boots that had good buffs. When he wore the steel armor it did not feel like metal at all, but cotton instead. He could even sleep with the armor and not feel uncomfortable in the slightest. But when someone else touches his armor, it will feel like metal instead of cotton.
Right now, Will was making tools and selling them illegally, Jack also helped him out. The shop has never done better.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Hero Will Connor?"
Will tried to get Jack to stop adding 'hero' and 'Connor' every time he spoke to him, but Jack held an enormous amount of respect to all heroes, and Will wasn't an exception.
Only when they were in public Jack only called Will 'Will' because Will had told him that it is better to keep it a secret that he was a hero. Even up till now, he wasn't sure if he was a hero or not.
Jack wholeheartedly agreed to keep his hero status a secret. Why wouldn't he when he sees all heroes as his idols? Keeping a secret with his idol is the equivalent of a fangirl who goes out with her famous idol on a date, but keeps it a secret from her fangirl friends.
"How do I become a licensed blacksmith?" Will wanted to become a blacksmith for 3 reasons, 1 so he doesn't have to hide and face jail time; 2 because it could provide him with more and better crafting ingredients; 3 profit.
The best blacksmiths are sought out by the richest people and most powerful kingdoms. They would even bring rare materials to those blacksmiths, materials that are better than most metals out there. It would save Will so much time and deaths, and it would unlock more crafting recipes. It was similar to the Witcher game.
"Hero, in my uncle's village, there's a building for people who want to become blacksmiths. It's a lengthy process but I am sure that Hero Will can do it. In fact, the first time we met it was also the day I became a recognized blacksmith." Jack waved his blacksmith badge around full of pride.
"How long does it take to reach your uncle's village?"
"By foot, 2 weeks. By horse or other means of transportation, 3-4 days. But there are things you must know about before becoming a blacksmith."
"Like what?"
"For example, right now you are not a blacksmith, but a student. You can only register to become a blacksmith only if your teacher, which is me, gives you permission. To graduate from being a student, you need to know how to make any weapons and tools that require steel, and also bows, arrows, and guns."
"Sounds like a lot of work."
'But not to me. I already know how to craft all of those.' Will thought.
"It is. Once you graduate you become an apprentice Blacksmith. Only after becoming an apprentice blacksmith can you sell your stuff legally. After becoming an apprentice, you can become an expert, and lastly a Master blacksmith. But I've seen your skills and I believe that you can become a master blacksmith in a few years."
"So why are you telling me this now and not 2 days ago?"
"I didn't know that you wanted to become a blacksmith until you asked."
"...fair enough."
"We can go right now. I can close up the shop for a few days if it means that the hero can get his apprentice blacksmith status."
This touched Will's heart.
"Jack…"
"Yes, Hero Will Connor?"
"You're a good friend."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
These past few days Will has learned a bit about Jack, he loves his mother, his grandmother, idolises all heroes, he loves his blacksmith career, and treats the shop as if it were his own baby.
The fact that Jack was willing to close the shop just to escort Will to become a blacksmith showed how much he valued Will. It was like putting your lover first and your child second.
"Thanks. And besides, mom should be here any day now."
"Oh yeah, you never said why your mom has been gone these past few days."
"I don't know. She left me a note that said that she had something important to do and left me in charge of the shop until she returns."
"I see…"
They then started packing.
Will was feeling a bit conflicted right now.
His plan was to become a legal blacksmith to avoid any problems, gather materials, and ultimately move out of this village.
Will has been doing a lot of thinking the past 2 days. And he thought that staying in this village would hinder his progress. He wanted to explore and see what this world had to offer.
Not only that, but he thought of something else, what was his purpose here? In Terraria and Minecraft, they both had a goal of defeating a final boss. So, did that mean that this world had a final boss, or was there something else?
Unfortunately Will did not know the answer because there was no one to tell him.
Will also wanted to explore the full capabilities of the system, and one of its major capabilities is to build. He wanted to build castles, kingdoms, underground cities. He has never done that in any of his video games because he got bored easily, but now seems like a good time to learn, and it also depended on his life.
Will could not simply ask Jack to follow him and leave his life behind. There was a good chance that Jack would say yes, but Will did not want to bring him, because even he cannot guarantee his own safety. And if he cannot guarantee his own safety, then how is he supposed to protect others?
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
*Ring*
The doorbell rang obviously.
"Jack, you here?" It was the voice of a woman, but it was raspy as if she had been smoking since she was born.
"Grandma."
Jack ran up to his grandma and gave her a big hug.
Will obviously recognized the old woman, it was the same one from the counter in the inn. She's Jack's grandmother.
She has no idea that Will is a hero.
"Happy birthday. This is from me and your uncle."
She handed him a basic red gift box.
"You remembered!"
Will was shocked. He did not know that today was his birthday. Did that mean that Jack was willing to waste his birthday so Will could get his blacksmith license?
Jack opened the box gently, not destroying the wrapping or the box.
"OH MY GOD!!!" Jack yelled in pure shock.
Inside, was a fancy shirt. The shirt glowed a magical, flamelike, indigo, like a fancy enchanted version of Minecraft. Sort of like the awesome weapons from a Minecraft youtube animation called 'Songs of war' by Black Plasma Studios. (Check it out right now)
"IT'S AN ENCHANTED SHIRT! THANKS SO MUCH!" Jack gave his grandma one more tight hug.
"I never got a chance to give you something for becoming an apprentice blacksmith. So I thought I'd make up for it on your birthday."
"It's the best gift in the world!"
Will was fascinated by Jack's shirt. It was very badass. He had never seen anything like it before, even the best cgi in movies paled in comparison.
Another thing Will noticed is that the material was similar to that of the shirt he sold to her. Everything else had been changed drastically that he almost didn't recognize it.
This is the reason she wanted to buy the shirt from Will, it was for her grandson.
"Where's your mother at?"
"I don't know. She should be here any day now."
"Ah… then it's my fault she isn't here." She pulled out another cigarette and started smoking.
The reason it was her fault is because she posted flyers of Jack's mother for men to court her. Incest is legal in this world, but there are those who don't agree with that, and she was one of them. Jack's mother is right now tearing down all the posters that she had set up which is why Will hasn't seen her since then.
"Grandma, I love you and I love your gift, but no smoking is allowed in here."
"Then I guess I'll leave. Once again, Happy birthday." She left the store.
"Hero Will Connor, do you want to see this shirt?" Jack handed Will his shirt.
Will would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in the shirt.
He touched it, and he was shocked by what he saw.
{Fancy shirt(enchanted)}
{This shirt was made after several modifications had been added}
{Enchantment: Projectile protection II}
{Enchantment: Strength II}
{great: +2% in all stats}
{Durability: 100/100}
But the enchantment did not go into his crafting ingredients, only the shirt but that was it. Which meant that Will did not learn to enchant items.
Regardless, this now changed his view on the world. It was actually possible to enchant items? He honestly didn't think that this world could do it.
It even had roman numerals just like in Minecraft.
"How was she able to enchant the shirt?" Asked Will. He needed to know.
"Well, blacksmiths are able to enchant their items as well. But to do so, you one needs to be at least an expert to do it."
"Does that mean your grandma is an expert blacksmith?"
"No, my uncle is an expert. She probably contacted him or something."
"Hm… if an expert can enchant items, what can a master blacksmith do?"
"Master blacksmiths can create magical items. It can make a simple sword do impossible things, like extend its reach, make it unbreakable, shoot freaking lasers. Combined that with an enchantment one can make it a national treasure. Though it is extremely hard and requires a lot of materials to make it. Even so there is a chance that it could break due to having so much power. In fact, only the Great sage, and the Fat Empress have magical and enchanted tools. They're without a doubt the strongest in existence."
Will remembered that he had a 'magical' gun. It can shoot explosive rounds and other things, something that a normal gun shouldn't be able to do.
If his gun also had an enchantment, then could his power increase by many fold.
'I have to become a master blacksmith.'
He had a new goal in mind, it was out of his reach for now but he believed that he could do it.
"Do you still want to go to my Uncle's village to get your apprentice status?" Asked Jack.
"Not today. It's your birthday. We'll do it tomorrow."
"If that's what Hero Will Connor wants."
...
After confirming that it was late, Will left the store and was headed straight for his home to sleep. Now that he had a new goal of becoming a blacksmith, he had to pack his bags for tomorrow. His goal for now is to figure out how to enchant and craft magical items.
Meanwhile…
In an enchanted forest, there were 12 elves in a room arguing with each other. It was a loud mess. In the middle of the room, was the corpse of the zombie.
There were 2 more elves that stood above the rest. One was sitting on a throne carved from wood. And the other was protecting the corpse of the zombie.
"That's a lot of crap. This thing shouldn't even exist anymore. I refuse to believe it."
"We need to eradicate the village where Grace had found the zombie. It's the only way to ensure that the plague doesn't spread out again like 300 years ago."
"We don't need to kill the villagers. We aren't sure if they're even infected."
"That's not a risk I'm willing to take. I am expecting children and I do not want to put their lives at risk."
"How about if we let it spread and let the humans destroy each other. They all deserve to die anyway after how they've treated us these past few centuries."
"That's a dumb idea. If the humans turn into these things, then that would affect us gravely as well."
They continued throwing around their ideas and beliefs.
Then Grace's father, who is named Arbor, raised a wooden staff that was enchanted.
As soon as the 12 other elves saw the enchanted staff raised, they quiet down and sat down on a round table.
"We have heard your ideas. Some of you don't want to eradicate the humans, and some do, while others want to know if they're infected and cure them."
One of the female elves raised her hand.
"Yes, Rias?"
"I believe that the best course of action is to know if the humans are infected. This will allow us to experiment on it, and possibly find a cure for this disease. If the possibility of another plague were to spread once again, then we would be prepared for it."
"I don't believe that's wise," Said one of the male elves, "don't you remember how the elves suffered 300 years ago due to this virus? Many of our friends, families were infected. We had to watch them die and kill each other like hungry, ravenous beasts. I will not take the risk of it ending the entire elf race. Do you really want to risk our lives so you can play doctor?"
"I don't want to risk it, but if we don't understand how to counter this virus properly by finding a cure, then we can never be truly safe from the virus. Knowledge is key to our survival, and ignorance will only bring us harm."
"Why bother even finding a cure when we can just destroy it? It's the humans fault for summoning those blasted heroes anyways. And yet they blame us because we didn't help them clean up their own mess. So even if we find a cure, those humans are sure to screw up once again."
"I also heard that a few days ago, the kingdom of Reyes summoned 100 heroes again. When will the humans ever learn?"
"Actually, I know a human friend that works there, and he says that only 99 heroes have been summoned. Any details of the 100th hero haven't been confirmed yet."
"Oh good, one less hero to worry about."
"Heroes aren't so tough. They might have super strength, speed, reflexes, and regeneration, but they can still die as easily as an ordinary human would."
"We're getting sidetracked here." Arbor added. "Since we all can't seem to come to an agreement and we're wasting valuable time, I say we let his majesty decide. Does anyone here oppose that we let his majesty decide?"
The rest of the elves shook their heads.
"My king, what do you want us to do with the humans, who have possibly been infected with the virus?"
*Snore*
The elf that had long white hair and was sitting on the wooden carved throne. There was an obvious snot bubble forming on his nose. He's the wisest and strongest of the elves.
The king of the elves had been asleep for quite some time now.
"Silvas!" Arbor loudly said.
"Oh, what? I was just resting my eyes. So you guys finally decided to stop barking at each other like wolves." Silvas woke up and stretched his arms and legs in a lazy manner.
"We need your guidance in a very important manner."
"Okay, but first, can someone be kind enough to bring me some tea, please? Lipton tea would be nice."
"Sigh… yes grandfather." Grace, who was also in the room, left to get him some tea.
"Silvas, we really shouldn't waste time and we need to come up with a decision."
"Arbor, we cannot make rash decisions. Even if we do come up with a decision today, it'll take us 2 days straight to arrive at this village. And besides, according to Grace, it has already been 2 days since she left the village."
"That's exactly what I mean. If some humans were to be infected then the longer we take the more humans will be infected, and if that happens then we too will suffer."
"Are you suggesting we exterminate the people living in the village?"
"No-"
"Yes!" One of the elves interrupted.
"My king, I am sorry for interrupting, but we need to properly dispose of all of their bodies and burn them and destroy the virus. We cannot afford to take any risks."
"Not everything can be solved with violence. Violence is like a double edged sword. But I do agree with the one who mentioned curing this disease, Rias?"
"Yes, my king?" the woman named Rias stood up.
"I'm sending you, Grace, and two other guards to go to this human village and monitor them. Should anything happen I want you to report back. But whatever you do, do not come in contact with the humans."
"My king, I am opposed to this. Even if these humans aren't infected, there is a good chance that our people will be killed or kidnapped by these humans. We aren't exactly at peace with them."
"Which is why I am sending my strongest and most trusted men with them, which is Arbor and you, Radix."
"Us two?"
Radix is the one elf who has more hate towards the humans than any other elf. Arbor doesn't necessarily hate humans, but fears that their actions will bring unforeseen consequences to the world like 300 years ago. In his eyes, the humans were like children playing around with fire, a fire that will destroy them all.
Radix and Arbor might have been alive for a long time, but they have never gotten well together. Their ideas and beliefs don't always coincide with one another.
"Yes, do you three have any objections?"
"I just have one question: why are you sending Grace, your granddaughter? This is something dangerous."
"The world will always be dangerous. The best we can do is learn how to survive it. And besides, she's the only one who knows where this village is, and she just recently arrived home after two years so she has more experience with humans than any of us. Tell me something, Rias, Radix, and Arbor, when was the last time you three have been to the human world?"
"300 years ago." All three said.
"Come here." Silvas waved his hand at them.
They walked a few steps closer to Silvas, and he waved his arm and them, and their appearance changed. They looked like ordinary humans, less charming, and less pointy ears.
"Exactly my point. You 4 will monitor this human village from a distance. Whatever you do, do not kill unless it is necessary. You will leave in an hour. Dismissed."
Every other elf left the room. Rias seemed the most ecstatic out of all of them. She has longed to be in the human world for a long time to discover what was out there. Rias is very curious about everything. Some would argue that she is the most knowledgeable of the group.
Radix took one good at Arbor, he scoffed and he left the room.
Once Arbor and Silvas were alone, they could finally talk.
"Why are you sending Radix? We both know he carries a strong resentment for humans. It wouldn't surprise me if he skins the first human he sees."
"I know. But this is dangerous and it involves my son's and grandaughter's lives. Whether you like it or not, Radix is the best bowman and magic user, only second to me. Whereas you are the strongest swordsman and fighter in this village. And Rias is also very knowledgeable when it comes to stuff like this. She could very well find the cure for the undead."
"I don't doubt that. If she wasn't a kid 300 years ago she could have found a cure. But we could send another elf that isn't Radix? There are a lot of other elves that are almost as good. I just don't want a loose cannon when we are-"
"I want to ensure the best for my family's sake. Now go get ready. And on your way, do tell Grace that she'll depart with you 3." Silvas interrupted him. Nothing that Arbor could say will change his mind.
Arbor looked at Silvas for a second, then left without uttering another word.
"May Lea's spirit guide you."
Silvas grabbed the enchanted staff and touched the zombie on the ground with the tip. The zombie's corpse disappeared in a flash of light.
...
Will travelled deep into the forest. Behind him was a trail of trees that had been cut down. There even appeared several goblins that had bullet holes on their heads.
There were even deep holes that went 10 feet deep that were created by him. At the bottom of the holes were the rotten corpses of goblins, which had been impaled with long stone spears. Will purposefully made a deadly trap for goblins and killed them all Vlad the Impaler style.
As it turns out, Goblins were a real nuisance around these parts of the forest. So Will took it upon himself to eradicate whichever Goblins came his way. They provided some disturbing things for him when he gathered their bodies.
{Goblin eyes}
{An ingredient used for crafting useful tools(potions, items, etc)}
{Goblin teeth}
{An ingredient used for crafting useful tools(potions, items, etc)}
{Goblin heart}
{An ingredient used for crafting useful tools(potions, items, etc}
And there were many other goblin parts. Will had to cut off the parts of the Goblins by hand, because he thought that it might be useful for something. And he was right, he could use goblin parts for crafting potions. There were many games that used monster parts to craft several items.
But any thoughts about drinking potions made him feel grossed out. Who knows what other potions actually carry inside them. It was like a hotdog.
Weirdly enough he has only encountered goblins, it got to a point where killing goblins became easy, but their poison arrows still hurt, but his new armor could deflect it easily. He expected more monsters, but he thought it was a blessing that he didn't need to fight stronger monsters.
As for the trees, he planned on creating a house using wood and stone. It was possible to cut down so many trees with the help of his new steel axe.
{Steel axe}
{Damage: 12}
{Efficient: 200% in speed when cutting wood}
{Lumberjack's luck: 10% chance of getting extra wood}
{Durability; 90/100}
The steel axe was much more efficient than his iron axe. Cutting down trees has never been easier.
The durability of the weapon was below 10 at one point, but with the help of the anvil station, Will was able to raise it's durability. It was rather easy fixing steel tools. All it required was one steel bar, an anvil, a damaged steel weapon and it would fix itself.
The same applied for other types of weapons. For example; a damaged wooden sword needs wood to fix it. A stone tool fixes stone, iron fixes iron.
Deep into the woods, Will arrived at a terrible looking cottage house that was 2 stories up. It looked as if a witch was living in this cottage. This is his own house, and he was proud of it. It's like when a noob minecraft player constructs their very first dirt house.
It took him a few hours to construct the whole thing, mostly because he was getting used to the building mechanism of the system. And it also did not require a lot of wood as he thought. The cottage house might look unbalanced, terribly built, but this was his first house that he created in his world.
He even made a target area for him to practice with his guns. Will created another gun because his other one has low durability. Since his other weapon was magical he needed more than just simple materials to fix it, so he had to create another gun. These materials were out of his reach, and even Jack said that those are hard to come by for even expert blacksmiths.
{Single shot pistol}
{Damage: 20 per shot}
{Instakill: 0.01% of killing a target with one shot}
It was not as good as his other gun, but it would do for now.
Inside the cottage there was wooden furniture, and a crafting table and a comfy bed on the second floor, that was his new spawn point.
And hiding underneath the floorboards was an iron chest.
After unlocking all the iron crafting recipes, he got a new chest to store his stuff, it could carry much more in comparison to a wooden chest. Which came at a perfect time because he was running out of space in his wooden chest.
But now his iron chest was running out of space as well. He can't place a full chest inside a chest, but an empty chest is fine. It's kinda similar to how shulker boxes works,
This made him realize that he needs a permanent base. Somewhere he can store his stuff and not worry about being robbed.
"After I get my apprentice blacksmith badge, I'll have to leave this village and say goodbye to Jack…"
Will had to get his blacksmith badge to be able to earn money. Even after working with Jack in his weapon shop, he wasn't earning fast enough. Money is very important in this world.
He's gonna miss the only friend he had, who had helped him a lot. He made himself a promise that in the future he will help him when he gets stronger. Will is someone who always returns favours.
"But, what should I get Jack as a present?" Will was wondering what he should give to Jack for his birthday. After everything he had done for him these past two days, he owed him something.
He pondered about it as he took a shower, which he installed. And then he slept on his comfy new bed. He got the materials to make a better bed from a shop that sells cotton clothes.
{Cotton Bed}
{Spawn point set}
{Durability 60/60}
{Heavenly: +5 temporary HP}