Lone jolted awake in a cold sweat and frantically looked around before sighing deeply. "Just another nightmare..."
He took a moment to collect himself and calm his breathing. He looked over to his side and was happy to see he had neither woken Soph nor Kyuubi. 'Haha, one may be a Russian immortal and the other may be a fox, but they're both equally as attached to sleep, huh?'
He leaned back into his pillow then chuckled at himself self-deprecatingly when he thought on his recent nightmare. "I never once saw his face under that armour of his but he still haunts me even in my sleep along with those... unfortunate kids..."
He pulled himself together again. This wasn't the first time he'd woken up like this and it certainly wouldn't be the last. He had to be stronger than this to defeat his internal demons. It was no choice but a requirement in his mind.
Lone rested his eyes for a while, trying to get back to bed but ended up failing. Before long he decided to get out of bed, gently woke up Soph and then have a morning bath with her.
Once cleaned and clothed, they both collected Breena. Of course, the girl had been awake for hours already despite the steamforged artificial sun of Krieg Moor and its many street lights only having been turned on for less than 30-minutes at this point.
Regardless of the Crimson Foxkin's worrying sleeping hours, the trio had breakfast together then went their separate ways for work.
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Wilbur nodded at Lone when he arrived. "Mornin'."
"Good morning, Gramps," Lone replied as he made for the backroom. "More mining gloves today?"
"Nah. Ye've made enough of them over the past few weeks. Today's the day ah try to teach ye how to steamforge, so ah need ye at your sharpest, got it?" the old man said, surprising Lone.
He'd been working here for three weeks now and had renewed the guild quest once already since it was just a temporary gig.
During that time he'd just been doing repairs, simple requests and selling the wares on busy days. Most of the time he was forging simple pickaxes and ordinary mining gear like helmets and gloves.
Excitement immediately filled Lone's expression upon hearing his teacher's words. "Really? You think I'm ready?"
"Feck no. Ah wanted to wait a few more months but demand for steamforged weapons is shooting up since more mysterious things are happening in the krieg as each day passes," Wilbur said with a shake of his head as he entered the store backroom with Lone following him.
The pair then moved to the building's steamforgery and the dwarf asked, "What're the levels of yer smithing related skills now?"
"Give me a second to check," Lone requested.
Over the past three weeks Lone had tried his best to avoid paying too much attention to his skill level-ups beyond dismissing the system notifications when they appeared. He was trying to learn how to properly perform the craft, after all, and not rely on said skills too much.
He was far too much of a skill addict to not incessantly think over any rank-ups so Lone felt it was wiser to just cut that out of his life entirely during his apprenticeship. However, if Wilbur needed this information then he'd happily oblige.
He called upon the system to show him his Blacksmithing, Woodworking and Steamforged Tool Mastery skills.
Passive Skill: Blacksmithing A skill that allows the host to craft with metal 30% faster and 30% more skillfully. Cost: N/A Mastery: Advanced Level 4 [+3 levels]
Passive Skill: Woodworking A skill that allows the host to craft with wood 15% [+10%] faster and 15% [+10%] more skillfully. Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 7 [+8 levels]
Passive Skill: Steamforged Tool Mastery
A skill that allows the host to use steamforged artefacts 15% [+10%] more skillfully.
Gives the host a 2% [+1%] chance to immediately understand the method to use a steamforged artefact the first time the host holds it.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Intermediate Level 6 [+14 levels]
Lone nodded to himself then said, "Blacksmithing, Advanced Level 4. Woodworking, Intermediate Level 7. Steamforged Tool Mastery, Intermediate Level 6."
Wilbur froze. "What? How in the name of the Stone did ye feckin' manage to get so many levels so fast? Ye ain't yankin' my beard, are ya?"
Lone smiled wryly and scratched his cheek. "I'm a very quick learner. I did tell you that when I started here, didn't I?"
Wilbur crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "There's fast then there's whatever the feck ye're doing. Ye must be a natural-born smith, boy."
"Eh... yeah, probably," Lone replied as he thought, 'Actually you probably are, Gramps. I mean, Growth Accelerator keeps insisting that a forging apron is your ideal armour and a smithing hammer is your ideal weapon...'
The old dwarf shook his head. "Kids these days... Well, whatever. If ye're being honest then all the better. Hopefully it doesn't take the better part of a whole month just to train ye how to assist me even slightly like I thought it would."
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"Is steamforging really that complicated?" Lone asked.
"Complicated? Nah. Taxes are complicated, steamforging is simple as can be. Problem is, simple doesn't mean easy," Wilbur replied.
Lone nodded. "Makes sense. It's simple to rank up, all you need is sufficient levels and enlightenment. Trouble is, killing enough monsters to reach the level thresholds and gaining said enlightenment could be so difficult you never end up getting past I-rank in your entire life."
"Like most people don't. Good example, by the way. That's exactly it," the old man complimented. "It's simple in that it's just normal forging but with the application of steam, it's difficult in that it's what people call a magic art without the use of magic. Not really, anyway. It also requires extremely precise control."
He reached into a chest at the side of the room and pulled out a small armour plate of some kind no larger than his hand. "Place this next to yer heart, boy. It'll expand and wrap around yer whole body."
Lone nodded and took the steamforged artefact from Wilbur. Immediately details filled his mind of its usage. "Oh, the 2% chance proc'd. This protects from explosions? Dare I ask why?"
He put the device in front of his chest and it then expanded and wrapped around his entire body like skin. Glass covered his eyes so he could see and something in the artefact was producing breathable air without breaking the seal that protected the user's body.
It looked strange having gears and copper plates and pipes jutting out of it at the joints, but if it did the job then no one who's life it saved would be complaining about if it looked silly or not.
Wilbur smirked. "Steamforgin's also tough to master because if ye feck it up even slightly everythin' goes kaboom. The different types of steam used are all very, very, very volatile. Steamforgin' is often compared to alchemy in that regard. By the way, 'proc'd' is a weird way to say 'activated'. Is that a Golden Foxkin thing?"
"Ahaha, something like that," Lone answered, his voice sounding far different to his normal one due to the protective suit. 'Honestly, I'd rather not be wearing this. Who knows if I could get a skill like Explosion Resistance without it? Well, I can't go around showing off my unique skills all willy-nilly so fingers crossed I get a skill even with this suit on.'
"Ah see. Well, keep yer eyes peeled, boy. Ye're gonna be wearin' that ghastly thing for a while until ah know ah can rely on ye to help me with the easier parts of steamforgin'. For now, just watch me do it from the sides," Wilbur said. "If a chance shows up ah'll let ye do some of the easiest parts of the easiest stuff."
Lone nodded. "Yes, Gramps."
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Lone sighed in relief as he stopped watching Steamforger Wilbur. During the process of the steamforging he'd been given two chances to offer his help.
Both times nothing exploded, which was a fantastically lucky result. "All done?"
"Yup. ah'm shocked, honestly," the old man answered. "Y'know, ah only chose to make a steamforged dagger that can have its blade's temperature altered via a toggle on the haft. Really simple stuff by all accounts but still way above a normal smith's capabilities. Ah was 85% confident it'd explode if ah let ye help. Was willing to take the financial hit since ye seemed so eager but colour me surprised. Ye did great helping me regulate the steam for a complete newbie."
"I'm a fast learner," Lone said.
Wilbur nodded. "Aye, ah could tell. Ye really are absurd, y'know?"
Lone chuckled faintly. "Yeah... I, uh, well it's not something I can really help."
"It's a good thing, boy. No need to sound so insecure," the dwarf grumbled. "It just means ah have more time to complete my life's work before ah finally croak."
"That's why you need an apprentice?" Lone questioned. "You're certainly skilled enough to not require one. So you have one final project lined up before old age defeats you?"
"Something like that. We've all got our dreams, right? One of mine is to make a particular technological advancement in the field of steamforging. Sadly, ah can't do it alone," Wilbur confessed. "Though that's neither here nor there right now. Give me back my Blastproof Full-body Mantle and head on home. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sure," Lone answered before doing as instructed.
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Lone decided to go to the tailor shop where Soph and Breena were working since he'd been let off early.
He saw Soph or Sophie in her armour standing outside the front door. He wasn't quite sure which one of the girls was in control right now though. To find out, he figured he'd have a bit of fun.
"Excuse me, young lady," he said to her, "are you this place's protector? Aren't you a bit too young and adorable to be wearing such heavy armour and doing such a tough job all by yourself?"
An immediate sigh met him as her response.
"Ah, Sophie then," Lone said with a short laugh.
"... What are you doing here, Lone?" Sophie asked him.
He shrugged. "I'm done with work for today. I kind of wanted to go to the guild and pick out a dangerous quest for us to do on our next set of days off. Stretch the bones and whatnot."
"Oh. Okay. We do not mind. We assume you came to ask us of our opinion?" Sophie suggested.
Lone nodded before reaching over and directly storing Sophie's helmet. He then leaned down and kissed her lightly. "Well, and to tease my lovely girlfriend."
"Oh my," a feminine yet distinctly male voice called out. "How daring."
Mister Fits'war stepped out of his store and smiled at Sophie and Lone. "Sophie, dear, you never told me you had a man... and not one so handsome either..."
"Our p-private life and our work life are two different things, Mister Fits'war," Sophie stuttered. Rare was it that she got caught off guard, now was one such time it would seem.
"I am quite good-looking, aren't I?" Lone said with a charming smile. "Then again, you elves continue to amaze me with how damned well you lot rolled with the genetics dice. Should I be worried about my lovely little Sophie getting swept away by a dashing elven tailor?"
"Oh my, a smooth-talker too. And here I thought envy had limits... May I ask why you're visiting my lovely little shop, young man?" Mister Fits'war asked with a coy grin on his lips.
"I just came by to ask something from Sophie. Maybe I'll pop in another day as a customer but for now I'm sorry to have to disappoint you. I have business at The Adventurer's Guild, you see," Lone said with an apologetic smile.
"Oh, no. Please, don't let me hold you up. That would be... unethical," Mister Fits'war teased. "Besides, who doesn't love to see a man hard at work, hmm?"
Lone didn't seem bothered by the flirtatious man as he nodded, smiled, then kissed Sophie again and said, "See you tonight."
After getting her helmet back from Lone and seeing him off, Sophie glanced at Mister Fits'war only for the elf to mutter, "For a straight man to play along with my antics... Oh, bother. I need to control myself better. I've had centuries of experience but here I am getting flustered by a D-ranker..."
He sighed longingly then reentered his store.
'See! He's dangerous! Rivals around every corner, I swear it!' Soph yelled internally at her other self.
Sophie pursed her lips a bit. "No. Lone is loyal to us but he enjoys flustering us far too much... Lone can be such an idiot at the best of times..."
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Lone frowned as he stared at one of the guild's many quest boards. "There really isn't much to choose from that isn't 'explore this newly discovered area in the Farwinds', 'help the efforts to clear this collapsed main Farwinds tunnels,' or a bunch of requests to help guard top-sider traders. There's also a handful of quests to investigate the strange going-ons around the krieg."
He had no real interest in any of these requests.
The exploration ones had many issues. To name a few, it could be either extremely dangerous or so safe it wouldn't be worth the time spent on it. Things could go wrong, leading to a long stay in the Farwinds.
His worst worry, however, would be Soph getting discriminated against since all of those quests were expedition types and humans were the least liked of the non-locals amongst the dwarves.
The assisting quests in regards to reopening closed pathways in the Farwinds were one of the ones the receptionist had warned Lone not to take a few weeks ago since it was very construction and mining-based, meaning it was something the mining caste of the dwarves usually handled on their own.
Doing an escort mission above ground wasn't a horrible idea but Lone didn't want to spend weeks, maybe months, away from his new teacher if possible.
"Huh. This quest is still here," Lone mumbled to himself upon spotting a familiar notice.
'Quest details: I'm returning my old buddy Olim's corpse to the stone near where he was born. The place is in the Farwinds and it's a bit blocked up by monsters. More details upon acceptance of the quest.
Quest issuer: Four-twelve.
Requirements: Non-dwarves only. At minimum a D-ranker. The monsters ain't too tough but there's a lot of them, so a weak-kneed grass-huffer ain't what I'm looking for. The trip'll take about 4 days there and back, so I need someone who's fine camping out in the Farwinds.
Reward: 2 gold coins total regardless of if you're solo or come as a group. I'll tell you old war stories too if that interests you.'
"I guess finding non-dwarf adventurers is a bit tough in a krieg... four days is totally doable. Soph and I will have to ask for more days off than a normal weekend affords, yeah, but it's not much of an ask," Lone said to himself as he scratched his chin in thought.
"We're both D-rankers so that box is ticked, although Breena's inclusion may need some negotiations for that to happen. The quest-giver seems to know where he's going and there's the promise of monsters... Yeah, this can work," Lone thought as he grabbed the notice then took it to a reception counter.