The cost was no longer a concern to him. He would take advantage of the crafting hall had to offer. Daniel knew he wanted to make a new maul for himself. The one he had was okay, but it was still made out of just steel. With the knowledge he had gained from his feat Daniel knew just how many types of metal existed out in the wider cosmos.
When Daniel entered the crafting hall he finally got a response to his question from the voices in his mind. A faint voice young sounding and highpitched spoke telling from the names of two complementary metals: Cryonite and Thermonite.
Daniel smiled. He decided that he would make two new mauls. He would sell one of them, and then with the money he earned he’d buy the other one from the workshop. He thought it was a good plan. He still had roughly twenty thousand coins from when he had sold off all of his weapons to the shop. With that money and what he would make from selling one his items it should be enough to buy his other weapon.
Daniel focused back to the matter at hand. He thought about the two metals that had been recommended to him. Cryonite and Thermonite, and as he did his mind began to populate more information about the two metals and how he could use them. The metals were identical in most ways. The main difference being how they were formed.
The metal both of these alloys were made from only naturally occurred on massive planets with low mana and extremely high gravity. On planets with such high gravity there were only so many types of species that could survive. One of these creatures were giant worms that tunneled through the earth. When the metal was eaten by these underground worms the metal would go through some kind of refinement process in the worm's digestive tract, and when excreted a new type of metal is made.
The name of this new metal has no name that can be translated to English, but roughly means ‘metal born of worms.’ Cryonite and Thermonite are formed when these worms excrete this metal in areas of extreme temperature. Areas of extreme cold and of extreme heat. The metals begin to absorb the ambient mana in these regions and gradually begin to take on their environment's properties. ‘Metal born of worms’ is basically impossible to obtain in its pure form, for once it is exposed to mana outside of the worm's body it begins to change taking in ambient mana. It is one very mana-sensitive, and is greatly prized by all kinds of crafters who are looking to make weapons of extreme mana sensitivity.
These two metals in their dormant forms can be shaped just like steel and don’t require special tools to forge. Metals like Adamantite required some insane tools and equipment just to begin forging. Like forges that needed to get hotter than Earth's sun.
With the question of what metal he needed answered he once again turned towards the voices in his mind and asked a new question. ‘What other materials do I need to forge these items?’ Daniel of course knew what he would need to finish these items, but that was with mundane materials. He didn't know what magicals items he would need.
Words entered Daniels mind, and without his conscious decision to start speaking also began to pour out of his mouth. “I need twenty pounds of refined Cryonite and Thermonite. I also need an elemental sapphire of Permafrost the size of a golf ball and an elemental ruby of Blazing inferno also the size of a golf ball. Lastly, I will need five feet of leather strips from an ancient fire wyrm and the same amount of leather from an adult arctic Yeti.” Several seconds later each of the items appeared on the workbench in front of him one by one. “Oh, could I also get two mortar and pestles large enough to hold each of the gems?” A moment later those also appeared, and it was time for him to get to work.
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Time passed quickly as he forged. Part way through the crafting process Steve came back, and seeing that he was working left him after informing him of his return. It had only been a brief distraction as Daniel worked on both of the mauls simultaneously. As one was heating up in the forge he would be working on the other. This process made sure that he had no downtime between when he was working and when the metal was heating up. It was exhausting work, but with all of his new stats and skills he was able to keep up this grueling pace he had set for himself.
At one point early on he had even requested that the workshop make or bring him his power hammer from his shop outside the training hall. He had a lot of metal to move that would have taken a truly ridiculous amount of time if he tried to shape it with his hand hammer even with his vastly improved strength.
Cryonite and Thermonite, while similar to steel in many ways, but still had their own unique traits. The main ones being their higher working temperature and significantly lower malleability. It took him a little bit of time to get used to but after a while, it began to feel second nature to him. While he worked he heard nearly constant whispers in his head about the proper way to shape the metal, how long to keep it in the forge, when he should work by hand, and when he should use his larger machinery. He didn't know why the voices told him some of the things they did, but he listened the best he could and he soon began to see the logic behind his own actions. The work felt effortless and sooner than he expected he was done with the shaping process.
Each of the hammers were significantly different; the one made of Cryonite was sleek and narrow. The flat of the hammer was no wider than the flat of his own hammer, the spike on the other side came to a wicked point, the whole hammerhead was very elongated like an icicle. The maul made of thermonite was almost the opposite. The flat, striking surface of the maul was wider than the rest of the hammer, giving it a bit of a lip, the spike was short and stubby, and the handle was a bit shorter than expected. It looked like a regular maul had been squished while the Cryo maul looked like it had been stretched out. The Thermo maul might be wieldable in one hand while the cryo one would require two hands. He had used almost all of the cryo metal in the forging while he had used only half of the amount he had requested in the thermonite one.
The second to last step was wrapping the metal handles in their complementary leather. He used a light adhesive to keep the leather in place for the time being, but once he awakened the metal that adhesive wouldn't be needed. It was only a temporary measure to make sure the leather stayed in place. By the very nature of the weapons, the Cryonite maul would freeze the ancient fire wyrm leather to the handle like if you stick your tongue to a lamppost in the winter. While the thermonite maul would slightly melt the adult yeti leather to the handle making it almost a single piece. Once he had finished wrapping both of the handles it was time for the final step: the elemental gems.
He put each of the gems in their own mortar and began to arduously grind them into a fine powder. He alternated between the two gems, never getting too far ahead on either of them. It took him over an hour to grind each of them to dust and the only reason he had been able to was that the gems weren't actually true gems like how he knew them on earth but mana constructs that weren’t nearly as hard as true sapphire and rubies.
Walking over to the two hammers that were lying finished on his workbench he began to slowly sprinkle the elemental dust on their corresponding hammers. He did this at the same time because once again the voices in his head were telling him that this was the proper way to do it. He did not currently understand why, but he figured that would be revealed soon just like the many other things they had told him to do.
He slowly sprinkled the powdered mana gemstones onto the hammers and watched as the dust absorbed into the metal. He marveled at the gradual transition from the gray of steel to vibrant ice blue and the ever-shifting color of lava. He felt the heat and cold radiating off of the weapons increasing with every passing second as he added more and more of the powdered gems. He noted that while he could tell the temperatures of the weapons were increasing and decreasing, the temperature around him remained the same. It was almost as if the weapons were balancing each other out. Then it clicked. This was why I needed to do both at the same time. I could have gotten heat stroke or frostbite if I did them one at a time. Then, with a flash of light, it was over and new messages entered his vision blocking the view of his newly completed weapons.
Your skill, Master of the Forge, has activated. The quality of the paired weapons increased by one level.
Cryonite Maul:
Quality: Exceptional
Rarity: Common
Awakened Enchantment Quality: Decent
Awakened Enchantment Rarity: Uncommon
Awakened Enchantment:
Exploding Icicle: Effect 1: Shoot an icicle at an opponent from the spiked end of your hammer, explodes on contact. Icicle regrows over time. Regrowth speed based on ambient mana.
Effect 2: Stab spiked end of maul into an opponent leaving behind an icicle. The icicle explodes five seconds after separating from the hammer. Icicle regrows over time. Regrowth speed based on ambient mana.
Thermonite Maul:
Quality: Exceptional
Rarity: Common
Awakened Enchantment Quality: Okay
Awakened Enchantment Rarity: Common
Awakened Enchantment:
Searing Blows: Heat slowly builds up inside of the maul. After enough energy has been gathered it can be released in a single melee attack that does bonus fire damage with a small chance of lighting the target on fire. Energy gathering speed based on ambient mana.
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Congratulations, you have crafted a Exceptional Quality two-handed Cryonite maul of common rarity, and have received 1,600 profession experience (800 experience directed to main class: Juggernaut)
Congratulations, you have crafted a Exceptional Quality one-handed Thermonite maul of common rarity, and have received 1,600 profession experience (800 experience directed to main class: Juggernaut)
Congratulations, you have completed the Quest: In Pursuit of Advancement 1 and have been rewarded with Profession experience, and the Quest: In Pursuit of Advancement 2. Experience reward has been increased greatly for exceeding the base requirements for the quest
You have received 12,800 Profession Experience (6,400 experience directed to
main class: Juggernaut
Blacksmithing Lore: Lv. 17 -> Lv. 18
~~~~~~
Quest:
In Pursuit of Advancement 2: Crafting 3 items of Well-Crafted quality or better out of Common Rarity materials.
1 of 3 items completed.
Reward(s): Profession Experience based on quest completion, Quest: In Pursuit of Advancement 3.
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Your profession blacksmithing has reached level 10 (9 -> 10) you gain +1 points to strength, +1 points to endurance, and +1 Profession points.
Your class Juggernaut has reached level 8 (7 -> 8) you gain +4 points to strength, +4 points to constitution, +1 free attribute points, and +4 Skill points.
~~~~~~
For what Daniel believed to be the first time ever he felt almost zero pain after he completed the quest and his blacksmithing lore increased a level. He could still feel the slight throbbing of a headache, but it was almost unnoticeable, and even as he focused on the slight amount of pain it was slowly going away.
It finally felt like all of the skill points he had invested into his reinforcement skill tree were paying off. With this result Daniel felt comfortable enough to continue blacksmithing without the fear that he would suddenly keel over and die, and he could also ponder the idea of spending his skill points in other skill trees instead of going straight for his reinforcement skill trees capstone.
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Daniel turned his mind back to the profession quest he had just completed. The quest had only required a decent quality item, but had exceeded that requirement by four levels. He had known that he gained additional quest experience for doing more than what the quest required, but this was not something he had expected. He had gained 8x the experience, and even though the mauls he had made were paired the second quest said that he had already finished one of the three required items.
He decided that his next task would be to finish those last two remaining items for his quest. Hopefully with the experience given by the quest he would be able to get his blacksmithing profession to the second tier. With that decision made Daniel turned his attention to his two new creations.
He asked the workshop what the two items were worth, and Daniel was surprised at the answer to the prices. The Cryonite maul was worth over fifty thousand coins, and the Thermonite maul was priced at about thirty six thousand coins. It probably had to do with the differences between the quality and rarity of the enchantments on the two weapons. The awakening process was random so it did make sense that the two items wouldn't be the same, but the differences still surprised him.
Daniel decided that he would keep the cryonite maul and sell the thermonite one to pay for it. Daniel thought the higher quality enchantment would be worth the price. After selling the maul and purchasing the item from the shop he was left with only 10,421 coins. It had been cheaper to purchase because he didn't need to pay for his own labor.
Once the purchase was finalized he forced on the new skill points and profession point he had gained. He decided to hold off on making a decision on that front until later. He was close to level 11 in his profession which should increase the tier of his profession and unlock a new profession skill tree for him.
As for his skill points… he would hold onto them for now. He had still yet to make a decision on whether he would continue to save up for his capstone or branch out in light of his efforts at mitigating the effects of The Crafters Legacy feat showing some results.
With everything taken care of for the time being, Daniel got back to forging. He had two more items he would need to complete for the next quest. Daniel once again called upon the voices, and this time they came much easier. He would once again let them guide him in the choice of material and crafting process.
Daniel listened to the voices for several minutes, but found it hard to differentiate between them. After a while he came up with the start of a plan. He had no idea if it would work, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Many times in the past he had heard about people who made libraries of information in their minds. This was supposed to be a mental exercise as a way to link information with an object in your mind to allow information to be more easily recalled.
This type of trick had never worked for Daniel in the past, but with the system he saw no reason why it wouldn't work. Who knows he might even be able to gain a skill for it. Daniel sat down as he continued to listen to the voices, give advice, argue with each other, and in some cases talk to themselves.
He started with visualizing the workshop in its current form. It was difficult, but after several minutes of effort, but he managed it. Next he surrounded his circular workshop with tiered seating similar to an auditorium. Once that process was finally done he was struggling to hold the whole image together, and as soon as he tried the next step the whole image crumbled away.
Surprisingly when Daniel opened his eyes he was sweating. He was surprised at that, but he was also surprised at how far he had managed to get with the mental construct he had been making. Never before in his life had he managed to make such detailed objects just with his mind.
He didn't know if it was because willpower had started as his second highest base stat or if it had something to do with the partial psionic awakening he had undergone. Either way though he had failed, and he would need to experiment more if he wanted to figure out where he had gone wrong.
His first idea was that he had gone too big. He had tried to visualize an auditorium with something like twenty tiers. He had tried to make room for each of the voices in his mind. He had no idea how many there were, but he knew it had to be a lot.
This time he went smaller in scale. He still started with visualizing his forge here in the workshop, but he started with only one tier of seating around his forge. Once that was done and held firmly in his mind he started to add the physical manifestation of the voices in his mind.
However after making just a couple of shadowy incorporeal bodies for the voices the construct once again broke apart and faded away. This irritated Daniel. The mental construct had broken apart much sooner this time even though he had visualized much less. He didn't know if he was doing something wrong or if he had still gone two large with the construct.
He decided to go even smaller. He once again started with his visualization of the forge. Then he made a single wooden chair next to his anvil. As the voices continued to argue in his mind he tried to make a detailed body for them sitting in the chair. However he quickly found out that this wouldn't work how he wanted. He wanted to make distinct humanoid bodies for the voice, but he was having trouble picking out a single voice, and every once in a while when he did the voice would stop talking and he would lose it.
Daniel decided to simplify his process for now. He decided the form he would make for the voices would be simple. Humanoid in shape similar to the shadow constructs in the training hall he had practiced with. Once that was done with the basic shape he picked out a voice and assigned a color to it. Now anytime the voice spoke it would appear in his conjured chair in the color he had assigned to it.
This process quickly caused problems for Daniel. The voices were almost constantly talking over each other causing multiple voices to be in the chair he had made simultaneously. He decided to take a step back. Assigning a unique color for every single voice was a challenge, and eventually it was hard to keep all the colors straight in his mind.
After that he began to filter the voices. For the moment he would only assign each voice one of three colors. Green, yellow, or red. A voice assigned the color green was one Daniel had deemed helpful. Red would be assigned to voices that were actively unhelpful or seemed insane spewing endless incomprehensible words. Yellow were assigned to voices he was unsure of.
It took a while to filter through the voices as he worked, but eventually he was done. Once all of the filtering was done he tried to mentally push away all of the voices assigned a red and yellow color to a corner of his mind. This process turned out to be easy and once he raised the mental walls blocking in the voices the near constant noise in his mind quieted immensely.
There were still some voices conversing in his mental space, but compared to before his mind seemed almost quiet. Daniel paused in his work and took a deep breath. As he did he felt something change. The mental space he had made seemed to strengthen and solidify. Daniel suspected he must have just gained a new general skill, but he was afraid that looking at it would distract him too much and make him lose all of his progress. The sorting process alone had taken him what felt like hours.
Focusing back on the present he got back to work with a new determination. His first item was close to being finished. His body had been mostly on autopilot while he had focused on making his mental constructs, but that was no longer the case. Before he continued forging he consulted with the newly minted helpful voices in his head. That was a line Daniel had never thought he would think of in his life. For a moment he once again wondered if he was going insane. Consulting with voices in one's own mind couldn't be healthy behavior right?
~~~~~~
Thirteen hours later Daniel had finally completed forging the last two items he needed to complete the next stage of his profession quest.
Congratulations, you have crafted a Well-Crafted Quality hand and a half, mana infused steel, bastard sword, of Common Rarity and have received 200 profession experience (100 experience directed to main class: Juggernaut)
The first item he had made had been a slight disappointment. He had been more focused on refining his mental construct than on forging and the quality of the item had suffered because of it. However that failure didn't stop him from trying to make his next weapon even better.
Congratulations, you have crafted a Fine Quality one-handed, Blue Steel, Falchion Sword of Common Rarity, and have received 400 profession experience (200 experience directed to main class: Juggernaut)
This one had been a bit better in quality, but not by much. The voices had directed him to use a common metal called blue steel. Like Cryonite and Thermonite it had a similar malleability as steel, but the entire time he had worked with the metal something had just felt off to Daniel that he hadn't been able to put his finger on. In the end he could only assume that nagging feeling he had been unable to figure out was the cause of the item not getting the quality he had wanted.
However, with the completion of that weapon he had completed the next stage of his profession quest.
Congratulations, you have completed the Quest: In Pursuit of Advancement 2 and have been rewarded with Profession experience, and the Quest: In Pursuit of Advancement 3. Experience reward has been increased greatly for exceeding the base requirements for the quest
You have received 10,600 Profession Experience (5,300 experience directed to
main class: Juggernaut
Blacksmithing Lore: Lv. 18 -> Lv. 20
When Blacksmithing lore increased in level again he felt a small twinge in his mind, but it was gone in the next moment. He was happy that all of his effort at minimizing the effects of his feat had so far been very effective.
~~~~~~
Quest:
In Pursuit of Advancement 3: Crafting 5 items of Fine quality or better and 1 item of superb Quality or better out of Common Rarity materials.
Reward(s): Profession Experience based on quest completion, Quest: In Pursuit of Advancement 4.
~~~~~~
Your profession blacksmithing has reached level 11 (10 -> 11) you gain +1 points to strength, +1 points to endurance, and +1 Profession points. (Additional stat points and profession points held in reserve until tier 2 profession has been selected)
Your class Juggernaut has reached level 9 (8 -> 9) you gain +4 points to strength, +4 points to constitution, +1 free attribute points, and +4 Skill points.
~~~~~~
Congratulations, your Blacksmithing profession has reached its second tier. Please select your new specialization and profession skill tree.
Available Tier 2 Specialization Options:
Weapon Smith: You have devoted yourself to the pursuit of making weapons of war. By choosing this specialization you will gain access to additional profession skill trees that will improve your effectiveness at making weapons.
Blacksmith: You desire the path of a generalist. You don't want to increase your proficiency in just a single aspect of blacksmithing, but want to improve your overall skill. By choosing this specialization you will gain access to additional profession skill trees that will improve your overall Blacksmithing proficiency.
All previously offered Profession Skill Trees will still be available for selection once you have chosen your specialization.
Daniel only had two options available to him, but to him his choice was obvious. Sure he had made a lot of weapons while he had been advancing his profession, but there were other things that he wanted to make, not just weapons. Getting better at making just a single category of items did not appeal to Daniel, so he continued down the path of a blacksmith.
Congratulations, you are now a Tier 2 Blacksmith new Profession Skill Trees are now available to you.
Available Profession Skill Trees:
Path of the Generalist: You do not make items out of necessity, but out of a desire to improve. Gain access to the Generalist: Profession Skill Tree. +1 to Agility, and +1 to Dexterity, and +1 Profession Skill Point per level.
Path of the Hammer: Your hammer is the most important part of your blacksmithing style: improving it will only make you a better smith. +2 to Strength, and +1 Profession point per level.
Path of the Anvil: the surface in which you work your metal is the most important part of your blacksmithing style: improving it will only make you a better smith. +2 to Endurance, and +1 Profession point per level.
Path of Fire: The heat of your forge is sweltering, but the heat can not touch your skin. Gain access to the Heat: Profession skill tree. +1 to Endurance, +1 to Constitution, and +1 Profession point per level.
Path of Perception: Your work is perfection. Not even the smallest imperfection can escape your notice. Gain access to the Perception: Profession skill tree. +1 to Dexterity, +1 to Perception, and +1 profession point per level.
Daniel had three new options to pick from. Both the Path of Fire and the Path of Perception were options he had access to when he had first chosen his Blacksmithing Profession. Like before they seemed like okay options, but they didn't resonate with Daniel like the three new options did, so he dismissed the idea of picking them now.
Daniel didn't really think his style of forging revolved around his anvil in any way. He used several of them during his forging process, so he decided against picking that option. Now it could be said that his hammer was a part of his forging style. He used the same hammer for all work that needed to be done by hand and not his equipment. While that option did somewhat resonate with him he decided on choosing the path of the generalist. This just seemed like the option that would do the most for him.
After he made his selection a new window popped up and showed him the first available skill of his new skill tree.
Profession Skill Tree: Generalist
Master of All ( 0/5 ): Why be a master of one thing when you can be a master of everything. Cost to increase 1 Profession Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): increase your proficiency in all metal related crafting by 1%
It was a good skill and assuming the scaling was the same as other similar skills he had. He would be 15% better at all crafting involving metal. Daniel didn't exactly know what that ment, but it had to be good. He would just have to chalk it up to do with some system shenanigans.
Daniel put one of his new profession points into the skill and then looked at next skills that had been revealed.
Master of Speed ( 0/5 ): You pride yourself at not only the quality of the items you make, but also the speed at which they are produced as well. Cost to increase 1 Profession Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): Increase the speed of all crafting related processes by 10%
Master of Precision ( 0/5 ): You pride yourself on not only the quality of the items you make, but also the exacting dimensions you make your items with when using blueprints or schematics as well. Cost to increase 1 Profession Point(s).
Level 1 (Active): You are able to make a mental copy of any schematic or blueprint. Once copied you are able to overlay the copied schematic or blueprint to the item you are making. Costs a low amount of stamina per second
Level 1 (Passive): You are able to measure the distance between one point and another with your mind and know its exact dimensions in whatever measuring system you are most comfortable with.
Daniel thought he had heard a saying like this before. Would you rather have more speed or accuracy cause you cant have both. Choosing one of the skills would make the other one unavailable to him forever.
Daniel carefully thought over his choices for a while before finally coming to a decision. At least at the first level ‘Master of Precision’ just seemed like a quality of life upgrade, and while that might change as he upgraded the skill he didn't want to take the chance. The real deciding factor for him though had been that the ‘Master of Speed’ skill affected all crafting related processes. That not only meant his metal would heat up 10% faster, but when he was making and refining ingots they would cool that much faster as well.
In the end Daniel did not mind having to get a tape measure while he worked; it meant he could work that much more efficiently. Making his choice he put one more profession point into the ‘Master of Speed’ skill leaving him with only a single profession point remaining.
Daniel sat back in contentment and sighed. He had just made more progress in becoming stronger, and it was a good feeling. The voices in his mind had long ago gone quiet which reminded him he still had an unread notification. He wanted to know what his new general skill did, but before he was able to open up the window a new message forced its way into his vision which he was then forced to read.
For reaching Tier 2 in a profession your Feat ‘The Crafters Legacy’ has activated. You may now select a new Tier 1 profession.
Daniels' thoughts grinded to a halt when he read the message.