Day ~53~Part Two~

Rea made her way down a main street of Vestlei while absently leaving rainclouds over some of the ruder merchants she had the pleasure of knowing.

Ability [Cloudburst Rank Up]!

Reveling in the sensation Rea quietly approached the east end merchant's quarters.  She had seen large amount of black smoke rising in this direction, and if she was right it would be a blacksmith's forge causing the phenomenon.  Rea's next order of business was going to be much more difficult than tailoring, and it'd be something she could only do in a city with proper facilities... Rea pondered what it would take for her to smith something out in the field.  After a few seconds she gave that line of thought up since she didn't even know what goes into the normal process.  While deciding it would be best not to tell this person of her time limit, so as not to get a repeat of what happened with the baker, Rea came upon the building from which smoke came.  Rea had to laugh at this typical city's typical smithy.  A swiveling wooden door attached to a large dome shaped stone building, plenty of shafts to vent smoke, and a few protruding structures, one rectangular, likely for storage.

When Rea walked through the door she was ignored by a massive burly man as he pounded out a rhythmic attack of concise hammer strokes upon a glowing blade.  The man was definitely taller than her when standing, completely bald, incredibly muscular, and not too friendly looking.  Rea took a seat on the floor and watched his movements carefully as he proceeded to thrust the blade back into a fiery forge and remove it.  Time after time he would pound the blade as it cooled, reheat the blade, and pound the blade more.  Rea was very attentive, she watched the state of the blade, the way he was molding it, the way he struck it.  The smell of sweat and iron didn't bother her at all.  When the man began to make some final engravings on his work as it cooled, Rea turned to inspect some of the tools and finished pieces laying around his forge.  Rea quickly jumped and turned as he slid the blade into a long bath of cool water, causing steam to fill the forge and move towards vents.  As he removed the blade, gave it a final inspection, then placed it on a rack to his side, the man turned and gave Rea an inquisitive look.

Rea sensed his silent gaze and spoke, "Please teach me the basics of forging."

The man looked Rea up and down then began to laugh heartily, Rea still hadn't gotten to the ~with great power, comes great responsibility~ part yet, so she proceeded to drop the man a raincloud.  That amused him to no end, what shocked Rea is the fact that as soon as she cast the spell he swung a hammer skyward and it dispersed.  "You want to learn forging from me lass?"

Rea being Rea she answered, "Aye"

The man wasn't sure if she was mocking him but he chose to ignore it, "Yolaf!"

Another person, a young man, probably about Rea's age came in from an adjoining structure.  He was a bit taller than Rea and had some visibly impressive muscles on him.  It was the first time Rea had spotted a redheaded man since she'd come to this world, messy medium length hair really didn't suit a smith. "Yes master?"

"This wee lass wants your apprenticeship, arm wrestle for it.  You know I only take the stronger disciple."

The young man cocked his head at Rea as she pursed her lips.  Rea already knew the guy was obviously stronger than her, especially if he'd been working in a forge.  She hadn't had the chance to do some intense strength training yet.  While ignoring the fact that if she'd still had the toned body from her past life this guy would be a chump she formed a plan.  When the two sat down at a wooden table the master had them lock hands.  As the master raised his hand in the air Rea prepared herself to go for the win.  As his hand came flying down to begin the duel she conjured water below her opponent's elbow.  The young man gaped as she effortlessly slammed his hand to the table.

*PfftAHAHAHAHAHA!*

Ignoring his master's laugh Yolaf gave Rea a heated glare, "Cheater."

Rea blew on her fingertips, "Does that mean winner where you come from?"

Before Yolaf could start shouting the master interjected, "She got ya good boy!  I'll teach ya my craft lass."

This time Yolaf was panicking, "But master Thorin!"

Thorin glared at Yolaf as Rea beamed happily, "I'll teach you both for the time being, but for now, you teach the lass.  Think of it as training for when you take your own apprentices in the future."

Yolaf's panicked expression turned into a grin as he faced Rea, "I'll be teaching you the basics, starting today.  My forge is in the back, this way miss..."

Rea returning his conniving grin, "Rea."

She was a bit put off that the man who she had admired earlier wouldn't be teaching her directly, but Rea wasn't about to complain, she had gotten a teacher.  The only problem now would be taming the man.  She seemed to have really ticked him off with that trick.  

Day ~55~

For two days she had done nothing but pound an anvil with a hammer, her power boost and explosive power had gained a few ranks.  She was getting seriously bored and impatient.  Rea really didn't have time for this and the apprentice Yolaf was starting to piss her off.  Once again Rea hadn't gotten to the ~with great power~ bit yet...  So this time when Yolaf left to get lunch she followed him.  Rea had noticed that Yolaf had a crush on the cute girl that delivers their lunch, she looked about mid thirties in age.  So this time as he accepted lunch the girl had cause to avert her gaze.  Yolaf looked down and, to his horror, it seemed like he'd wet his pants... Rea snickered and walked past him to introduce herself.  As the two walked across the street to get a beverage Yolaf gaped.  Ten minutes later Rea was kissing the girl.  A minute after that the girl was leading Rea off by the hand.  Yolaf would forever regret pissing Rea off because that afternoon she did many of the things he'd wanted to do for years now.  Needless to say Rea had quit her apprenticeship and spent the afternoon taking out all of her pent up stress on the delivery girl.  The girl had no illusions about the nature of their liaison, Rea had been very straightforward.  Happy and satisfied later that evening Rea made her way to the library and picked up every book they had on blacksmithing.  She was sort of relieved that Selene happened to be out, Rea was feeling a bit worn out and just wanted to get to her next destination quickly.

Arriving at the horsemonger farm Rea's gaze settled on the unused blacksmith's forge, she hadn't wanted to upset Melody or Corn by using it, or even asking to use it.  But her goals were at stake and her time was limited.  It was still prior to sundown so she found Melody mucking out horse stalls.  Melody happily greeted Rea from a distance and continued her task.  When Rea inquired as to the whereabouts of Corn she simply said that he's still on his holy mission.  Rea snickered a bit before getting the glare from hell.  After Melody finished her task she led Rea inside, both of them were looking pretty worn out right about now so Rea didn't decline when Melody led her to the bath.  To Melody's surprise Rea made no attempt to seduce her, even more surprising was that the ophidian just snuggled up and enjoyed her company.  It was at that point that Rea was informed of a particular trait she hadn't noticed.  Melody stated that at first she thought the reason she had felt so energized whenever Rea was around was simply because of the fact that she was, well, excited to be with Rea.  The shameless ophidian snuggled in closer when Melody admitted that, but it turns out the reason for her energizing was definitely [Relaxing Aura].  Rea hadn't paid too much attention to the ability and just left it active whenever she wasn't busy.  At Melody's behest Rea inspected her ability and found that it indeed had become something that increases the regeneration of stamina and reduces fatigue.  Rea clearly remembered that it had no such effect when she'd first gotten the aura.  That made her wonder if she should start checking her other rank ups more thoroughly.

After they'd dried off and made their way to the kitchen both were just happy to be in each other's company.  Rea wasn't sure how she felt about getting attached to anyone, but at the moment she couldn't care less.  The fruit Melody was sharing with her happened to be very delicious, Rea was always pleased while stuffing her face with something tasty.  After Rea informed Melody of what she'd been doing with her days, leaving out various escapades, Melody began to get the picture.  When Rea mentioned that she'd gotten those books after leaving the forge behind she knew exactly what Rea was about to ask of her.  Surprisingly Melody had no problem with it at all, she was even happy that the forge would be getting a little use again.  The farmer had assisted her husband many times in the past so the first thing she did was lead Rea out to the forge and prepare to light it up.  However, the place was in obvious need of a cleaning, Melody didn't seem to want to be inside the forge much so Rea hurried her out before starting to dust and sweep.  Melody apologized to Rea and told her to read through the books tonight.  Rea agreed with Melody and continued her task.  Once Rea was just about finished she could see Melody peering in from a good distance away.  Rea recognized some of the emotions she could see on the widow's pained expression, at that moment she decided that rather than reading those books she'd give tonight to Melody.

Day ~56~

Rea was running out of time to learn some basics of blacksmithing but she couldn't move yet.  Last night had been pretty different from their previous encounters.  Last night was something she remembered doing often as Noel, last night was more about comfort than pleasure.  This morning Rea didn't wake Melody up, she just let the woman's head rest against her shoulder while staring at the ceiling.  It really didn't please Rea to see anyone in that sort of condition, especially someone she was fond of.  Before she got moving today Rea was still determined to console the grieving widow.  It hadn't taken long for Melody to stir.

"I'm sorry Rea, you came here to study..."

Rea absently ran her fingers through Melody's hair, "You have nothing to be sorry for, mind if I ask you something personal?"

Melody snuggled up to Rea and surrendered to the attention, "You can ask me anything."

Rea let out a long winded sigh, "What was it like?  Loving someone I mean."

Melody had been an innocent girl when she'd fallen for the smith who would become her husband, "It was like the world became a brighter place, it was like every day became the best day of my life.  No matter what I did he was in my thoughts, I couldn't breathe without thinking that I wanted to be near him.  If that wasn't what it means to love someone, I don't know what is."

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"That's how it felt to be with my daughter... I meant how it feels to..."

Melody could see what Rea was getting at, "I don't think there's much of a difference Rea, the only thing I can think of is that I wanted to sleep with my husband.  I love my son and most days he lights my world up the same way his father did.  So yeah, the only key difference is that I wanted to do dirty things with my husband... what are you making me say!?"

Rea chuckled ruefully, "I've never had someone light the world up for me, and be someone I want to sleep with.  I guess it really isn't possible for me to fall in love that way."

Melody's expression soured a bit, "I'm sure there's someone out there who can tame you... never mind there probably isn't."

Rea laughed while smacking Melody on the top of her head, "Gee, thanks."

Melody let out a light sigh, "Thanks for this Rea, I... when my husband died I had to be strong for my son.  Looking back on it now I don't feel like I got a chance to mourn.  I hadn't realized that until we were in his forge."

"I'm sorry too, I should be able to console someone without taking them to bed," she remarked sarcastically.

*Haha* "Well, it was enough."

Rea ran a hand along the gentle features of her pained expression, "If losing yourself in me will help, then you can have me.  I won't stop moving forward, but every time our paths cross, I'm yours."

Melody didn't say anything and just snuggled up to Rea.  It wasn't till early in the afternoon that they were going about the day normally.  Melody tended to her farm as Rea laid on a wagon nearby and read her books.  Rea read through a pretty interesting book on the properties of metals like their different melting points, malleability, purification, and crafted traits.  She was very excited by some of the things she'd read and pulled out a small piece of metal she had plundered from Saul's stash.  If she was right about what it is then this chunk of metal was worth an arm and a leg.  Sure enough her [Psychometry] was now identifying the metal as orichalcum, a brass rich in zinc.

Ability [Metallurgy] learned.

She really wasn't sure what to do with such a small amount of it, especially with her non-existent skill set at the moment so she just pocketed it and went back to reading.  Determined to take full advantage of her memory blessing Rea meticulously read about all the different known metals of this world.  When she finished with two full books on that sort of stuff Rea looked to the blacksmithing books.  The first one was quickly tossed aside, it talked about putting your ~soul~ ~chi~ and ~funk~ into your work.  Rea sighed audibly while moving onto the next book.  Before she could open it Melody handed her a plate of assorted meats and a jar of liquid.  Rea watched with utter amusement as the woman climbed up on top of the wagon with her.  The two happily passed a good half hour snacking and passing the jar back and forth.  Rea immediately recognized the stuff as java juice XXX, seriously that stuff was probably the reason she'd been so damn lost in the city at first.

To Melody's chagrin, Corn arrived in the evening and raised both hands triumphantly, Rea chuckled a bit while thinking that he had indeed found an older woman to taint him.  When Rea inquired as to who the lucky woman was he happily recalled the story of their meeting.  Rea had to refrain from laughing.  He had met a delivery girl earlier that day who was having trouble walking and helped her home.  Rea was pretty sure that she herself happened to be the reason that girl was walking funny.  Not wanting to ruin his moment Rea just gave him a small applause and warned him that unless he wanted to get locked in the stocks for the next two years he should listen to his mom and calm it down.  Melody nearly threw the empty jug at him when he said that it'd be worth it.

Various shenanigans aside Rea picked her book back up and opened the cover.  Corn recognized the book immediately and hopped up on the wagon to join them.  Melody had no idea that her son had already learned everything he could about his father's craft.  Not only that he was vehemently interested in it.  Corn had grown up gazing at his father's forge but never had the nerve to ask his mother about it.  Melody let on a motherly smile when Rea and Corn began to talk about what little she already knew, it was at that moment the Melody decided to go light up the furnace.  When Rea and Corn noticed the smoke rising both quickly made their way to the forge.  Melody made them promise to be careful before she left the two childishly giddy characters alone.

Rea was happy to be learning something from Corn again, the kid was smart... despite his obvious flaws.  Rather than discussing more the two just jumped right into it.  Rea picked out a nice small iron ingot and held it up as Corn took hold of it with tongs and placed it into the fire.  Realizing that they did have a moment to kill he began to unload all of the forging info on her.  Once it was glowing red Corn took hold of it with the tongs and placed it on the anvil.  As Corn held the tongs steady Rea put her hammering experience to use.  Melody smiled absently when she heard the rhythmic pounding of a hammer on her farm again.  Corn was a little confused at first with what she was going for, but he didn't take long to catch on.  A small dagger was beginning to become more defined.  With a general shape made it was put back into the furnace.  Minutes later Rea was the one holding the tongs and Corn was beating on the blade.  Rea could hear Melody laughing off in the distance, her son's hammering was... way too excited.  After a while of this they were happy with the general form and moved to the grinding wheel.  Rea ordered her peon to start pedaling while she put on gloves and got to pushing the blades edge at an angle against the spinning wheel.  With the large edges mostly done the pair passed it back and forth while using handheld files, and whetstones to finish sharpening it.  Rea had to laugh when she looked up and Corn was a level 1 blacksmith, she decided not to tattle tale and let him keep it a secret for now.

Ability [Sharpening Lv. 1] learned.

Ability [Forging Lv. 1] learned.

Ability [Job-Blacksmith] learned.

Now that she had a better idea of what she'd need to forge on the go Rea took stock of her surroundings.  There really was no way she'd be able to craft equipment without a proper forge, so she gave up on that endeavor.  Without wasting any time the pair continued to pick out metals and old tools that could be reforged.  Rea was determined to become a little competent at this, and Corn was determined to live by the forge.  For nearly five days straight they put in as much time as they could, and during those five days Rea realized just how absurd the ability guidance blessing had made her.  As she was now [Job-Blacksmith Lv. 72], Corn was only level 14.  She had even gotten the passive boosts, [Sharpening], [Forging], [Cooling], [Heating], and [Repair] all the way to level X.  Rea was almost positive that since she'd just gotten them all to level X her level progression would slow down, but as it turns out, the difference was minor.  Rea's divine blessing ability guidance seemed to be effecting her actual job experience gains as well.  Not to mention Corn was a bit jealous that Rea was able to [Conjure Water] out of thin air.  Gaining a few levels in her basic water spell and mage job had been an added perk.  Blacksmithing had raised craftsman up to level 28, that came with the perks of [Deft Hands Lv. 3] and [Crafting - Keen Eyes Lv. 2].

With power boost now maxed and explosive power hitting level seven Rea was beginning to feel the difference.  She'd been hammering with alternate arms for a week now and the effects were showing.  For some reason, probably because she's a snake, Rea wasn't really putting on any large muscle.  It was more subtle, flexible pinkish muscle.  Defined but sleek, lithe even.  Rea was pretty happy she cold pack on some muscle without turning into Lucatiel V.2.0.  With some experimentation she also found that, like a snake, she could flex certain muscles to cause more exaggerated movement in her limbs.  Corn had nearly fallen on his bum when she first accelerated a hammer strike by tightening the muscles in her arm as she brought it down.  One time Melody had stomped on her face when she poked her head between the woman's legs while looking up at her with a stupid grin.  Rea had also nearly broken her neck when she decided to try a flip.  Rea could have managed flipping once in the air, she wasn't expecting to go two full rotations and land on her arse.  In hindsight she was happy to have Melody treat the injured area, seriously Rea thought it was funny as heck.  This snake muscle thing was gonna take some getting used to.

Being the last day before enrollment Rea decided to go home and say her final goodbyes to the Ainsworths before it's too late.  As she sauntered off Rea tried to keep in mind that just because she has a bunch of abilities and perks from having multiple jobs that doesn't make her inherently good at all of them, it just helps.  Rea knew that she was probably the worst level 72 blacksmith in the world right now, but the best one among all the people who had just started five days ago.  Rea stopped in her tracks when she'd realized that a craftsman must be insanely rare, seriously who picks a slow leveling jack of all trades?

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