Warning: time remaining 01:22:19:30
Jake sat in front of the cauldron with a chunk of twisted metal in his hand.
“This is harder than I thought it would be. I can't seem to split my concentration three ways. I need to control the flame's heat by constantly changing the amount of arcane energy, also control the mana shield matching it to the flame's power, and finally control the arcane hammer to form the shape needed to make the key.”
Grabbing a fresh ingot out of the ring, he tried again until all the time he had left was two hours.
“Only enough time left for one more go. I need to relax. I need to clear my mind. Instead of trying to control everything, I need to go by instinct. I can't see everything at once, but I can feel it. Maybe I should put all of the free points into Perception. No, Jake, that would be stupid. Be smart. While it would give me a better feeling of what is going on around me, that's not going to help me now. Putting points in the others is not going to help much right now either. So, just clear your mind, Jake.”
As Jake got into forging the key, he looked like a mindless robot just completing its task. As the key started to form, Jake pushed and squeezed the metal, finally forming the key. It popped out of the cauldron and landed in Jake's hand.
Identify:
* Item: Key of New Beginnings, Unranked. This key was forged by a budding smith. It can open a specific lock.
* Title: Budding Smith. As a budding smith, your path has been opened. +1 free point to all level advancements but not grade level advancements.
Ding! Profession level increased +2 points
New skill (Empty Minded, Common): Enter a state of meditation to help regenerate lost stats and to split your focus on multiple tasks.
Warning: time remaining 00:00:01:10
Reading how much time he had left, Jake ran and put the key in. Once he did, the key started to disintegrate. Jake thought he had screwed up, but then a welcome message appeared.
“Congratulations, you have completed this part of the test. Keep up the good work. The next test will begin shortly.” Jake sat down to meditate while he waited for the next test.
“Welcome to part two of the test. In this test, you will need to make a simple firearm of common rarity. Time duration 90 days. If you are unable to complete this task, you will be forcibly removed from the test, sent back to your true body, and you will receive permanent soul damage from the removal of all knowledge of the Wandering Arcane Smithing path. May your path rule supreme.”
In the room, Jake noticed that a bookshelf had appeared. It had a range of information on the art of smithing and alchemy. Then there were a few books on the general knowledge of newly integrated universes and the like.
Warning: time remaining 89:23:58:03
With time ticking away, Jake set forth on his new long journey to recreate his beloved F88 but with some advancements like a self-loading feature, increasing the damage output, and much more. But to get to that, Jake needs to be able to create a basic firearm. Maybe even just a blunderbuss would be a good starting point. Jake went over to the bookshelf and picked up the first book on smithing, "The Beginner's Guide to the World of Smithing." The image on the cover was a short, long-bearded man hitting a piece of metal on an anvil with a large hammer.
"The Beginner's Guide to the World of Smithing," written by Garok Stormhammer of the Rock Eater tribe. Chapter One: "The Hammer is Mighty, So Wield it with Pride." To shape the metal, you must use precise pressure. To do this, we must first forge our bodies to wield our tools. For a smith, this means strength is the name of the game. Our tools are heavy." The book went on like this for quite a while. It did go over some useful stuff, such as temperatures and the fact that the traditional smiths really didn't like arcane smiths at all. Arcane smiths, it seemed, were outcasts in the eyes of the smithing and alchemy paths.
“So, I'm basically on my path with little to no information to guide me. I did find it odd that none of the books on this bookshelf have anything to do with arcane smithing, and it seems this wandering arcane smith never decided to make any.”
Jake spent all his time in between smithing and reading books. One of the things he learned from the books was that strangely enough, he had the requirements to do some alchemy. He just couldn't do any advanced stuff. He should be able to make the potions that he has been using the whole time he had been in this test, but that would be it. And he couldn't even make them any better than they are. One of the reasons for this is that due to him using an arcane flame, he was no longer able to create a soul flame. Jake didn't care much about this information, as alchemy is not a path he wished to follow. He may dabble in it, but that is all. As for normal smithing, he could still do that for now, but why would he? He would need to put basically all his points into strength, and that just didn't sit well with him at all. So, Jake continued on his path with even more enthusiasm. Unlike the paths he read about in these books, Jake's path was not written. It was truly his path to write. There was no right or wrong way to do anything on the path of the arcane smith. Other than that, there was some information on the person who set up this test. It seems that this person once came from a planet where arcane energy was in abundance. When their universe was integrated into the system, powerful forces descended upon the planet to harvest its resources. The planet was strip-mined and left a dead, dry wasteland. All of the people were taken as slaves. The creator of this test, being the only one who did the tutorial on her planet, had just enough power to escape and hide on the dead planet. She stayed there until she could build a shuttle, then she set out into the cosmos. There were also some statistics on how many people have passed this test. Out of one million, 10 people have passed the second test, being able to keep the knowledge they acquired, and 0 people have passed the third and final test. This just made Jake want to succeed even more. To do that, he would have to push his smithing to the limits, and then he will need to keep going.
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After some deliberation, Jake had changed his plans a little bit. He had decided to still go with the Broomstick 0.1; this is what he was calling his design. But what he would do was add auto-reload, making it into an automatic shotgun, and he would upgrade the power if he could. And as there is no point in having a firearm without ammunition, he would make some of that as well because if his guess is right, he is going to need it for the last test.
Warning: time remaining 30:00:01:09
“It's time. I've made all the preparations I can. I have leveled up and allocated most of my points. I just need to do this last big push.”
Universal Constant Interface
Name: Jake Everval
Race: Human
Grade: TG
Level: 6
Class: Trooper Shadow Mage
Class Level: 17
Profession: Arcane Smith
Profession Level: 13
Stats points Available: 18
Mana: 360
Arcane: 500
Stamina: 200
Health: 360
Strength: 16
Agility: 25
Intelligence: 50
Wisdom: 36
Perception: 27
Integrity: 36
Jake sat at the cauldron, his arcane energy blazing inside the metal. He formed the metal into the barrel, then the stock, and finally, the trigger mechanism. This process went on for days as part after part was formed. No breaks could be had, as all of the parts needed to be made together so that they could be put together into the final form. Also, Jake needed to lay enchantments on the appropriate parts as they were being made. If Jake did it in parts, the final item wouldn't be seen by the system as a whole item, therefore not being able to get that common tag at the end. As more time passed, Jake was approaching the deadline.
Warning: time remaining 02:00:10:56
Bang! The cauldron exploded.
Jake was scared; he messed up. But then his item floated into his hands.
Item:
Broomstick 0.1, Common.
Broomstick 0.1 is the first common rarity item forged by Jake Everval. With its wide-spreading projectiles, it will blow your enemies away. Enchantments: auto-reload and a damage multiplier at the rate of 1 to 1.2.
“So, the multiplier is not great, but at least it's there. Now for that beautiful sound I've been wanting to hear.”
Ding! Profession level increased +2 points
Ding! Grade level increased +10 points
Title: Initiate Arcane Smith. You have opened the path and taken the first steps on your journey. +9 points to all non-grade level advancements and +20 points to grade level advancements.
“I don't mean to complain, but couldn't I get the levels after I get the title? It just seems as if I'm getting ripped off. Like I could have just got what, 40 points then? But no, I got 12. It just seems wrong.”
Congratulations, you are the eleventh humanoid to pass the second test. The third and final test will begin in three hours. Use your time well. Jake decided to meditate and take potions when the cooldowns would allow.
Jake got up and loaded the Broomstick 0.1, ready for what he thinks is to come next.
“The next test will begin in one minute.” Jack looked at the cooldown timer, then grabbed one last mana potion and popped the cap, ready to drink it three seconds before the next test starts. He drank it just as he was getting teleported away.
The moment he felt solid ground again, a green, hairy, spider-like creature attacked him. Swinging the broomstick around to meet its face, Jake pulled the trigger, blowing its head to bits. After the first attack, he scanned the room. It was bad. He was backed up against a wall deep in some kind of cave, and cobwebs were everywhere. In the distance, he could hear the chittering of spiders. And at least he knew now what had happened to the others, as bones could be seen scattered all over the ground.
Test objectives: Escape the nest. Bonus objective: Kill the mother spider.
Information on the mother spider: She has five guardians that you will need to slay before you can reach her. Also, be wary of the shadows.
Rewards will be allocated at the end of the test scenario.
“I don't believe it. So, she now wants me to play pest control and eradicate all of these spiders. I won't say no, but really, pest control? That was what Aaron did before he joined my team and got killed on that mission. Man, did he use to go on and on about that shit? Maybe I should have listened to him. It might have just come in quite handy right now, or maybe it wouldn't. Now I will never know, and that is what's bugging me the most.”
Jake started setting up a defensive position so that he could hold off the onslaught of spiders that were heading his way, he stacked boulders up in front of himself to try and funnel the spiders towards himself.