Jason stared at the new title that he had gained. Forerunner Forger was a godly title that would pretty much guarantee his success while forging! This was an insane title to have since the success of forging a higher-grade item decreased with each grade above uncommon.
Typically, a forger would have a 50% chance of creating a rare item, 40% chance of a platinum item, 20% to create a mithril, and normally the chances of creating anything legendary and above was below 10%.
With this title, it meant that 1 out of 5 times he would be able to create legendary items or higher. All he would have to do is obtain the materials necessary.
A forger could increase the chances of obtaining a higher-grade item when using higher grade materials, but the difficulty would increase dramatically when using higher grade materials. When trying to make items of mithril or higher, the necessary materials were needed in order to make something of that grade.
[System Message – Forging Proficiency obtained]
Jason didn't even glance at this message as ideas raced through his head of the possible items he could obtain, and how he could outfit an entire raid group in legendary gear or higher.
'A group of 20 people with legendary or mythical gear? With an artifact or two in the group? Not even the Demon Overlord Driblark would be able to stand against them!' Jason began to laugh jovially, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel leading to his family's and humanities safety.
The dwarf walked over to Jason and seeing that Jason seemed to be mesmerized by his interface, he decided to pick up the shield that was just forged.
"This shield isn't bad at all…" He muttered to himself, "I'd be lucky to forge something this good!" He paused for a moment pondering.
"Oy, boy! I got a proposal for you!"
Breaking away from all the ideas and possibilities that were in front of him, Jason looked down to see the dwarf holding his freshly forged shield.
"What is it?" Jason asked, already knowing what the dwarf was going to offer him.
In the past the top ranked forger would brag in the forums about how he had gotten started. He had talked about a dwarf who was terrible at forging, who had fallen upon hard times. His brother who had been a well renowned forger had gone on an adventure 10 years ago and ended up never returning.
Ever since then, the dwarf holding Jason's shield had attempted to become a forger in order to carry on the business but ended up never being able to get the hang of being a blacksmith. Even with the mithril ranked forge that his brother had left behind, the best that he could make was uncommon equipment. Forging an uncommon equipment was even a rare achievement for this dwarf
In the past this top ranked forger had stumbled upon this dwarf and the forge within the first week of the game. With the aid of The System, this User has quickly learned how to forge and became the main supplier of equipment for the dwarf. This user not only had the opportunity to use a mithril ranked forge, but also had a dwarf who would sell all the equipment for him with only a slight commission fee.
Due to the synergy between the two, the User quickly increased his blacksmithing proficiency and rank, forever holding the position of top blacksmith among the forgers.
Jason had come to this forge not only to forge his equipment for nothing but a few bottles of beer and silvers, but also to obtain the business of this dwarf.
"I'd like to offer you a job lad." The dwarf continued, "Me name is Foryun Hammermight, and I run a shop that sells armor and weapons." The dwarf gazed at the shield Jason had just built.
"I can tell yer a great blacksmith lad, and seeing as ya needed to use me forge, I reckon that ye don't have one. Nor a shop I presume?" Foryun tore his gaze from the shield and looked up at Jason.
Jason smiled and nodded his head. "You are right. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Jason placed his right hand over his heart and bowed slightly, the proper way to show respect in Socrathia. "What's your proposal Foryun Hammermight?"
"No need for such high manners here lad! Ye have the talent to be a great blacksmith boy! I have the tools and shop to sell your equipment. I say we work together to turn a great profit! Ye provide the equipment, I sell it, and we split it 20/80?"
Jason placed his hand on his chin and pondered for a moment. He was just putting on a show for the dwarf; he didn't want to appear desperate.
"As long as the 80 is my profit, it's a deal." Jason outstretched his hand for a handshake.
A huge smile appeared on Foryun's face as he grasped Jason's hand in a firm grip. "It be a deal then!"
Foryun then handed Jason the shield and walked off saying "Ye can come in here whenever ye need! I'll be off to tidy up the shop!"
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"Wait!" Jason hastily grabbed the dwarf's shoulder, "Do you by chance have any rare materials here?" Jason wanted to put his new title to immediate use, the only thing he lacked were the materials.
Foryun paused and turned around. He went to the back where the anvil was lying on the ground and placed his shoulder against it. Heaving with all his might, he slowly began sliding it to the side.
As the anvil moved, a small hidden handle in the ground appeared. After the anvil seemed to be far enough from this handle, Foryun walked over to the handle and with a deep grunt he lifted it in the air revealing a wooden trapdoor that had been covered in dirt that was now sliding off as he lifted the door.
As the light from the candles shone into the newly formed hole in the ground a faint shimmer of white light shone out.
"Dis be me stash o' materials. I have no use fer it other than to sell it. Make some fine equipment and let's get rich!" The dwarf grinned, seeing Jason's wide eyes at the fresh materials that were literally under his nose.
Jason handed him his newly forged shield, keeping his eyes on the new materials. "You can start off by selling this piece. I'll make several new pieces for you to sell today, and I also need to make myself some gear. You can take the material costs out of my cut."
The dwarf nodded and seeing that Jason was distracted with the new materials in front of him he walked out through the door.
Jason began looking through the materials. There were plenty of steel ingots and materials from rare creatures in there. He also saw several mithril ingots!
'This is more than enough to make new gear, and with my new title I'll quickly turn this pile of materials into rare gear! I'll hold off on the mithril for now, my forging proficiency is nowhere near high enough for it.'
He decided to send a message to his wife and kids before he started though. They had all been in the game for several hours, and even though he knew that time flow was different in this world, he didn't want to worry them.
{Hey, the time flow here is different just so you guys know! 3 hours here is 1 hour back home, so it'll be lunch here soon. I'm still pretty busy so I'll see you all for dinner tonight!} Thanataion.
As he started organizing the materials, he received a message from his daughter.
{Hey dad! Mom wasn't able to figure out how to message so she asked me to tell you that we're all doing fine, and we'll see you at dinner! We're having pizza! Don't forget that Grandpa is coming for dinner too!} CutiePie
Seeing his daughter's name that she chose for this world Jason chuckled. 'A warrior name!' That was the nickname he would always call her since she was a baby.
He was glad Jessy had reminded him about his father coming for dinner, he had truly forgotten. He was looking forward to seeing his father again; before his dad had contracted his illness they would always plan activities to do with each other.
Looking at his newly organized pile Jason smirked, 'What kind of rewards will The System give for the first rare item forged without the system?' Knowing that The System enjoyed rewarding first timers, Jason immediately got to work.
The rest of the day had passed, and as the large pile of new equipment lay before him, Jason could only jump for joy! He hadn't failed a single time while forging!
This was only natural due to his Forerunner Forger title and the effects of the Mithril Forge. With his 80% success rate of forging uncommon through platinum items and the additional 20% success rate added by the mithril forge, the only way Jason could fail would be if he purposely tried to mess it up.
He had first used the rest of the iron ingots to level up his blacksmithing proficiency to intermediate so he could work with the rare materials without any issues.
After he had leveled up his blacksmithing proficiency to intermediate, he used up all the rare materials that were in the hole except for the mithril ingots.
With the number of materials available he was able to make 1 full set of gear and some special equipment for himself. He had decided to first practice a bit with the materials before he added in the monster materials to put extra stats and effects into the gear he wanted for himself.
He was going to give the uncommon equipment he had made with the iron ingots and the first set of gear to Foryun to sell. Jason wanted to give him special instructions to sell it as a set, and to not sell it for a week. Jason had the idea that he could market it to the User Guilds and set it out as an item to be auctioned.
Jason had used the steel and monster materials to specially make himself a breastplate, heater shield, and a double-edged longsword.
For the breastplate Jason had added blessed water into the ingot, the sword had an Ice Crystal embedded inside, and the shield had hell hound teeth added on the edges.
After examining his gear for any imperfections Jason checked his notifications.
[System Message – Blessed Breastplate – Rare
Defense: 50
Durability: 100/100
Constitution +8 Strength +3
Passive: Necrotic Resistance +15
Skill 1: Stalwart – Increase defense by 15% for 3 minutes. 10-minute cool-down
A breastplate made by a rising blacksmith. Holy water added for extra undeath resistance.]
[System Message – Frosty Longsword – Rare
Attack: 30-47 damage
Durability: 50/50
Strength +10 Dexterity +5
Passive: Builds up frost on the enemy with each attack. -2% Movement Speed, stacks up to 5 times.
Skill: Ice Spike – Shoots an ice spike at target, 50 Ice damage, adds 3 stacks of frost. Cooldown 60 Seconds.
Longsword made by a rising blacksmith. Ice Crystal embedded for ice damage.]
[System Message – Hellhound Heater Shield – Rare
Defense: 45
Durability: 75/75
Attack: 20-30 damage
Constitution +15
Skill: Spike Growth – Slam shield into the ground to grow earth spikes in an outward fan up to 15 feet. Spikes cause 15 damage with each step the enemy takes inside. Slows enemy movement speed by 50%. Cooldown – 3 minutes.
Shield made by an experienced blacksmith. Hellhound teeth added for additional damage.]
Jason was more than happy with the equipment he had obtained for himself. This balanced out exactly what he would need for the first few quests he wanted to complete in addition to giving him powerful offense and defense. He even obtained a long-range skill and an area control effect from the sword and shield.
Jason placed the equipment for Foryun in the hiding place and replaced the anvil over it, erasing all traces that the anvil had every been moved. He then sent a message via the interface to Foryun Hammermight telling him he left the goods in the special spot.
Checking the time, Jason decided he had just enough time to knock out the first hidden quest he had decided to tackle.
He walked up to the door, scanned the room one last time to make sure he left everything in place, and set out to go on his first adventure in this new life.