Most of the cleanup of the caves was finished when Akira left the central cave, so after he had informed Varbu of the elders wish to talk to him, he started to look for something else to do in order to ward off the boredom.
“Hey Coinin, is there a forge here?” asked Akira.
“Yes, there is one next to the armory. Why?”
“I want to create something. I might also be able to make some spare weapons for the armory.”
“Are you skilled in blacksmithing? Then could you take a look at everything in the armory and repair or replace the weapons that have rusted? The armory and the forge haven't been used in over ten years so you might have to clean up the place first.”
“That should be an easy task,” said Akira happy for something to do while the others sat around chatting and waiting for the grand elders to make a decision.
The armory and the forge were placed right next to each other allowing Akira to not have to walk long just to get from one to the other. After a thorough inspection, he found that they were both still in good condition.
It only took a few minutes of dusting and sweeping out the dirt and cobwebs to get both of the rooms back to a decent standard. Akira went over to the furnace and cleaned out the old ashes from who knows how long ago and added new charcoal into the furnace and started a small fire so that it would be ready when he needed it.
Now with that all done he decided to take a look at the weapons and armor left in the armory from the last war.
The armory was not that big and only had enough weapons and armor outfit Around 100 people it was mostly used for the guards that of the Caves during the war.
Compared to the rooms and other tools in the forge, the weapons and armor were in poor shape.
Akira spent several minutes separating everything that had a small amount of rust but could still be repaired from the weapons and armor that the rust had completely destroyed, which was the majority of it.
Akira went to the shamans that had nothing else to do and asked them to help him take the two separate piles to the forge, where he started to work on removing the rust from the smaller pile of weapons and armor.
He was well-practiced in cleaning armor and weapons so everything was finished in half an hour.
When he finished oiling the last sword he let the shamans take the repaired weapons and armor back to the armory.
Akira made sure to add more charcoal to burning fire in order to raise the temperature even higher while he pressed the bellows.
When the temperature was just right he started to add as many pieces of rusted armor and weapons in the forge as he could and waited for it to melt.
It took some time but the former weapons and armor were eventually all turned into iron ingots with all the impurities removed.
With hundreds of ingots stacked up against the wall, he could now start the process of creating new weapons and armor for the armory.
Varbu showed up several hours later and stayed quiet in order to not disturb Akira while he was still hammering out new swords, arrows, and various armor to replace the old useless junk.
Almost everything he created was ranked common and had a low enough level requirement that the majority of the werewolf warriors could use it without encountering any problems.
Ding!
Dexterity +1
Dexterity +1
...
...
The repetitive actions of mass-producing several of the same thing over and over again helped Akira get a better understanding of blacksmithing as well as giving him a mass upgrade to his dexterity. It was just too bad that his blacksmithing skill was stuck and 99%.
After all this time he was still unable to find out why it would not upgrade to the intermediate. But if he had to guess it would probably have to do with the same reason his level was stuck.
When he finished his task of repairing and upgrading the armory he took a short break to replenish his energy with food and water.
Varbu was still silently standing near the entrance of the cave.
“How did it go?” asked Akira as he wiped away the sweat from his face and neck.
“I was able to reach an agreement with the Grand elders,” said Varbu with a smile.
“That's great! Are you planning to head back to your clan now that you have completed your mission?”
“How could I go back right now when such trouble is brewing. I'll stay to help you and your clan fight if this turns into a war. When we win, I'll be able to proudly return with two great achievements and even much more honor,” said Varbu with his fist thumping his chest.
“Are you done here? The heat here is worse than the time we were in the desert!” asked Varbu.
“Almost, I still have one more thing to create. I'm just taking a short break.”
“I'm going to wait outside where it isn't so hot,” said Varbu before leaving the cave.
Since Akira didn't know how much time he had left to work on his special project before the elders finished their discussions he could not afford to mess around or take an overly long break.
When he finished eating and did a few stretches to keep everything limber he threw himself back at the task in front of him. He focused his mind on what type of weapon he wanted to create before looking in his bag to see what ore he still had that he could use with his current skill level.
He decided to take out the last pieces of Desorium ore and began the process of creating a new weapon for himself.
Ding!
Weapon created!
Short spear with a pointy end (Uncommon):
Durability: 50/50 | Damage: 65-77
Requirements: Lvl 50 required, STR 135
The reason the spear had such a high STR requirement was due to the fact he had used the leftover iron ore infused with Desorium ore to create the shaft of the spear instead of wood.
Ding!
You have a magic stone that can be used.
Would you like to automatically use it on the weapon Short spear with a pointy end?
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Yes \ No?
It had been a long time since Akira had used a magic stone on a piece of his equipment.
He felt sad when thinking about it because he had to sell most of them whenever he was able to find them so that he and everyone else that traveled with him would not starve or lack any other types of supplies.
“Yes, do it.”
A magic stone in his bag was removed by the system and with a flash of light, the spears tan and light gray metal was dyed red.
Ding!
Successful upgrade!
Sturdy short spear with a pointy end(Rare):
Durability: 85/85 | Damage: 69-77
+25% damage on critical hits
Requirements: Lvl 50 required, STR 135
This spear can only deal piercing damage and a bit of blunt damage if used properly. Don't let the word short fool you, it still has a longer reach than most common swords.
Because of the material used and the successful upgrade, the shaft of the spear is far more durable than most low tier weapons of the same type and can be used to block attacks as well as whack the people that annoy you over the head(blunt damage).
'Yes, whacking people over the head is good,' thought Akira agreeing with his new spears description.
He was extremely pleased with himself for creating one of his best pieces of equipment yet. With the high durability, great attack, and the bonus damage there was not much more he could have hoped for.
The spear was far heavier than the training spear he had been using while he had been tortured by Azura.
It would take some time to adjust to the weight. He wanted to test it out as soon as he could to see just how durable it really was.
Although he now had a new weapon the sword would still the main weapon that he had trained with for many years.
The spear was only there as a second option. It would be helpful too if he needed to fight something at a longer distance than his sword would allow.
After cleaning up the forge he left to rejoin the others out in the cool air that was like a breath of fresh air.
Several messenger birds could be seen flying into the air with the leather tubes attached to their backs. Each bird flew off in a different direction.
“Looks like the elders have finally decided what to do,” said Coinin as the watch the birds disappear.
***
It took them less time to return back to Bluemoon City since they did not have to stop at every village or town on the way back.
Akira was resting on the couch in the main living room of the house he shared with his two other family members.
Wulfric was sitting across from him explaining the decisions made at the meeting to Azura who was sitting next to Akira.
“For now we have sent a letter to Beorin to demand that they stop their attacks. We have also sent letters to the other demon clans detailing the situation we find ourselves in. Right now we have to go to each of the small clans, villages, and wandering nomads to escort them here so we can better protect everyone,” said Wulfric.
“Akira, you will join the wolf pack I put together a while ago. I expect you to follow the orders given to you and work diligently at the task of making sure that the scattered werewolves are able to get here safely. Azura you're staying with me to help take care of everything here.”
“You're lucky big brother, you get to do all the fun stuff,” complained Azura.
“Akira, the wolf packs are getting ready to leave so you better go and join them. Make sure get to know some of your new packmates before you leave,” said Wulfric.
Ding!
New mission:
Join the wolf pack and help warn and evacuate the small clans and nomad werewolves.
Reward: One step closer to leading a pack of your own.
Akira waved to Azura and left the treehouse to join the gathering werewolves on the ground floor.
There were four groups of around fifty werewolves all gathered and quietly talking to each other as they checked over their equipment.
“Akira over here!”
Turning Akira was somewhat happy to see Klyn calling him over to the group the farthest to the right Mileena and Maya both stood with him.
“Is this the group I'm supposed to join?” asked Akira as he walked up to Klyn.
“Yes, I'm afraid we're stuck with you. Don't worry though, I may be the only shaman in this pack but I'm no weakling!” said Klyn proudly.
“Where's Chack and Varbu?” asked Akira.
“They were put in another group. Your grandfather probably didn't want you to rely on us since we already know each other and fight well as a group,” said Mileena pointing to another group several feet away from them.
When Chack noticed Akira looking in his direction he started to smile and began to wave his arm like crazy worried that Akira might not be able to see or notice him. It was kind of hard not to notice the oddball since he was the only Griiq standing with a large group of werewolves.
“You're Akira?” asked a rough voice right behind Akira.
Turning around Akira saw a middle-aged man with a bushy brown beard and a set of even more bushy eyebrows.
“Yes, and you are?”
“I am the pack leader Saul Ermergerd. I'm warning you now, I don't care that you are the Grand elders grandson. You are a nobody in this pack and will receive no special treatment. You will follow my orders or you will receive proper punishments,” said Ermergerd.
“Understood!” replied Akira not wanting to give him any reason to be angry with him.
“Since you are new to the clan and this pack you will be helping Klyn with whatever tasks I give you to help keep the pack running smoothly. Check your equipment now because we leave in ten minutes,” said Ermergerd.
***
Over the next week, they went from town to town that had not already been visited by the Beorin soldiers and warned them of the danger they faced if they stated in their small villages and towns.
After gathering the people from several towns they formed a rather large group that would not be hindered much and were sent back to Bluemoon city with the town's own guards protecting them.
Several warriors from the towns they passed decided to join them so they could help spread the word and if needed, fight the enemy.
The trip was not very enjoyable for Akira or Klyn as they were both forced to do all the minor task such as cooking, repairing, and helping bandage anyone that hurt themselves while traveling through the dangerous swamps.
Because of the poor decision making of Ermergerd, they were constantly running into large groups of monsters which they had to fight off.
There had even been a few close calls where they had almost stumbled into the path of scouting Beorin scouts. This had a large effect on their progress in reaching all the villages.
After one such encounter with a group of [Green bobcats], Akira and Klyn were currently taking care of the wounded and repairing their weapons.
Ding!
A new skill has been learned!
With your knowledge of herbalism and your experience in the use of bandages, you have learned a new skill.
First aid lvl 0: 0% (Active skill):
When you use bandages and herbs on yourself or an ally you are able to immediately stop the bleeding of minor wounds and increase healing by 25%. Higher levels will give greater benefits.
“What's up with this guy?” asked Klyn in a whisper next to Akira making sure no one else heard him.
“I don't know, maybe it's his first time leading a pack? We've made it this far without losing anyone so he can't be that bad. I heard there is only one more place that we have to go to before we are finished with the mission. We just have to tough it out and obediently follow orders,” said Akira.
“I mean if he would stop for a moment and allowed me to, I could give everyone a full set of buffs that would help us not have to waste so much time recovering from all the fights. If he used proper scouts we wouldn't be in this mess either,” grumbled Klyn.
“True but your chants take some time to complete and doing multiple of them with only you, is even slower than if there were more shaman's helping. From what I have seen so far Ermergerd is not a patient person to wait for stuff like that. He'd rather charge forward and get stuff done as soon as possible.”
“Hey who do you think I am? I'm not some low-rank shaman! I can cast quick chants for some of the buffs it's just the other ones are still hard to grasp, so I have to do the full chant. You're lucky you have a friend like me that has learned the chants to so many buffs. My grandfather has even started to teach me one of the harder chants for healing someone's wounds,” said Klyn full of pride.
“Wow, healing people's wounds. Impressive, then why have we been bandaging everyone's wounds if you have such a great chant?” asked Akira.
Klyn looked away from Akira and started to make excuses “Well that...I only just started...and It's kind of hard to remember the chant. It uses up way too much energy and since I can only heal small things right now, I would be half dead if I had to heal everything.”
“Well keep up the good work we should reach the last place sometime tomorrow and then we can head back home,” said Akira slapping Klyn on the back.