The bladesmith's test

He needed to sell the items before attracting too much attention. He headed first to the tailor. It was a big building with a large sign in front of it that said Tailor so it was easy to find.

As soon as he entered an elf greeted him. It had long white hair tied up. He was very polite even though Orion was looking mostly like a beggar with two bags of trash on his back. Orion took out all the armor, clothes and pelts that he had and put them on the counter. The elf started to study the items and after finishing he said

-“I will give you 5 gold for these items”

-“10” Orion stared in his eyes not budging,

-“Fine…you seem to know what you have. Good. Many who come to me don’t even know what they have.”

Orion didn’t know either before meeting Faron. Thankfully he helped him by teaching him some tuff he knew. Orion took the money and now he moved faster since one of the bags was now almost empty.

Next he headed to the blacksmiths. He just followed the sound of the hammer striking metal and found a dwarf striking a piece of red, hot metal. The dwarf was really short but had big muscles. He had gray hair and beard. Orion didn’t interrupt and after the dwarf finished he noticed a man with a big bag on his bag looking at him.

-“What do you want?”

-“To sell some weapons”

-“Are they any good?”

-“No, but you can melt them and use the material”

Orion took out all the weapons he had and the dwarf only glanced at them.

-“It seems that you really only have weapons that are useless. I will give you 5 gold for everything.”

-“Deal”

The dwarf paid him but Orion didn’t left and stared.

-“What else do you want?”

-“Uhmm…I have a friend who would like to learn blacksmithing. Could you teach him?”

-“I could teach him bladesmithing…maybe. Have him come here and I will see if he has what it takes.”

-“I will let him know. His name is Orion and he will pay you a visit soon”

Orion left and now only had a few items left. He searched for Faron and sold him the miscellaneous items. He gave him a good deal and Orion sold them for 2 gold.He asked him if he knew where the library was and gave him directions. Orion then headed to the library. As he headed towards it the houses got fancier and fancier, and more there were more guards patrolling.

When he finally reached the library he was greeted by a young man. He had short hair and glasses on. He was wearing a robe.

-“I’m here to read some books”

-“1 gold for library card”

-“1 gold?!Why are they so expensive?”

-“Books are precious and someone who appreciates knowledge doesn’t care for gold”

He was a bit weird but Orion remembered he had some books.

-“What if I give you these books? Would you give me a library card?”

-“Let me see the books”

As Orion got the books out and put them in front of him the young librarian got up and quickly picked them up and started to look at them. Orion of course didn’t take all the books out. Especially the one about curses after reading it he destroyed it. The librarian was looking at the books and slowly mumbled while nodding.

-“Granted. Here is your library card. You can use it to enter anytime you wish. Also since some of the books are rare your library card will also grant you access to the second floor where some of the rarer books are.”

Orion now received a small metal card made from a black metal with two solver lines on the side.

When he exited the library he looked back and noticed that there are more floors than two. From outside he could see at least 5. But went to the back of some alleys and canceled his merchant persona. He now looked like a young elf again. He was now confident that elves and dwarfs are not hated. He left the alley and headed to the tailor again to buy some armor that was his size and actually offered protection.

As he entered the elf tailor smiled gently.

-“What can I do for you?”

-“I would like to order a custom armor set”

-“Of course but it’s expensive”

Orion took out two gold pieces

-“Is this enough?”

The tailors eyes shined at the sight of gold.

-“Yes, yes. What would you like your armor to be like?”

-“It should be for a level 26. It should allow high agility and be light but offer good protection.”

-“Yes, I have the perfect material for that. Also with some small enchantments it will be better but will cost more.”

-“No problem. Also I would like for the armor to have some hidden pockets”

-“Of course, no problem”

Orion then remembered that he had trouble caring loot.

-“Do you also have some enchanted bag packs or something to improve my inventory?

-“yes we do. For the inventory only mages and some books from them can help but for bags we have common ones for 1 gold, uncommon for 2 gold, rare for 10 gold.”

-“What is the difference?”

-“Well common ones are one meter wide and can store up to 50 items and reduce the bag weight by 50%. The uncommon ones are 30 centimeters wide and can store the same amount but reduce weight by 60%. And the rare ones are the size of a pouch, can store 100 items and reduce weight by 90%.

Orion though for a moment and bought the rare one. Then he sold the 5 common ones he had on him for a total of 4 gold. He was told to come tomorrow and check to see if the armor is done. Orion left with a smile on his face. The pouch he bought could easily store 100 items and reduce the weight by a large amount. He put the pouch in his inventory since it was empty.He tried to put the two bags when they were full back at the cave but couldn’t. It seems that bags can be put in the inventory only when empty.

Satisfied he headed to the bladesmith he met earlier in his persona. As soon as dwarf saw him he frowned.

-“What do you want elf?”

-“My name is Orion and my friend told me to you. He told me you were an excellent bladesmith that could teach me well.”

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-“He was right that I’m excellent but I didn’t say anything about teaching you”

-“What do I need to do for you to accept me?”

The dwarf stroked his beard and smiled.

-“If you can clear my small test I will teach you. Reach the highest level of the library and prove it to me that you saw the book called DMD Bladesmithing. You have one week.”

Orion didn’t receive a quest which seemed suspicious. So Orion used his skill Pact and said

-“If I pass your test you will teach me everything you know about blacksmithing. You will provide all the materials that I will use and also I can use the forge whenever I want. Do you accept this pact?”

The dwarfs eyes twitched and looked at the hand held out in front of him. Feeling confident he will win he took the hand and at the moment he said ”I accept” a white light surrounded the dwarf and Orion. And in front of them a window appeared shocking both of them.

PactIf Orion can pass Arno’s test he will be learn the art of blacksmithing from Arno with all of Arno’s knowledge and support.

Orion will also receive all the materials he requires.

Orion can now use the forge whenever he wants

This contract lasts until all of Arno’s knowledge is passed on to Orion.

Not obeying this contract will result in severe punishment.

Both parties have agreed to this contract.

Orion was glad to see that if he doesn’t pass the test he will not receive any punishment. On the other hand Arno was now shivering while he was reading. His smile disappeared and then with a serious face he spoke.

But soon enough the dwarf then regained his smile again. Arno knew that in the whole city only 10 people have access to the last floor of the library but when he looked at the young man in front of him he saw him calm and gently smiling. The moment he looked into Orion’s eyes his smile faded away and all the hair on his back stood up and remained still even after Orion left. It took him 2 hours to snap out of it and when he remembered Orion’s eyes cold shivers went down his spine.

Orion didn’t realize but he activated by mistake his skill to sense sins.When he looked into the dwarfs eyes he could see the dwarf being beaten by a bunch of other dwarfs and having his hands broken. To a craftsman their hands are the most precious thing. Then later that day Arno took revenge by breaking their fingers so that they could never craft again as well.

Everything he saw was like a movie. As he left he realized this he turned it off and left thinking he was right to take revenge and respected him even more. He saw the weapons he made and they were high quality. Even losing partially some of his skill he could still make great weapons.

While walking back to the library he looked more carefully around and saw that some people had animal ears and tails. When he looked closer he saw that they had something around their necks. He stopped and looked more carefully at them. After a while he realized. He would soon learn that they were sub-humans. A combination of an animal and human. They were being ordered around by some humans.

When he passed one he was curious about what they had at their necks. What he saw brought back the rage and memories of the cave. The sub-humans were enslaved by the same symbol that he had. They didn’t have it directly on the skin but on a piece of metal around their necks.He knew he couldn’t act rashly and calmed down while walking to the library.

When he entered the young man asked

“library card?”

Orion showed him and he nodded but Orion didn’t enter and asked

-“How do I gain access to higher levels of the library?”

-“You can using your library card. Show the library card to the guard and if you have permission, he will let you enter. Your library card has silver lines on it. The more lines it has the higher you can go. The top level, level five needs a silver library card.”

-“ How do you get more lines on a library card?”

-“By donating books and money. Oh and don’t you dare using paint on the library card. The card has mana in it and it will make the paint disintegrate immediately.”

-“How much money is needed to get to the third floor”

-“100 gold”

-“Ohh…”

As he said this he entered the library. He went to the back and saw a guard he showed him his library card and he allowed him to go up the stairs. On the second floor there were fewer books but they were also rarer and in better condition.

Orion went to a table in a corner and sat down with a book in front of him. He wasn’t reading but testing and idea. He tried using mana paint on the card and it worked. It didn’t disintegrate immediately but eventually after 5 minutes it did. It seems that he can cover the library card only for 5 minutes before the paint disintegrates.

Knowing this he didn’t hurry since he had a way up and decided to go back down on the first floor to read some books. He started reading everything he could find about sub-humans and after 3 hours he learned the sub-humans language. It was a combination of human and magic language with slight changes. He then started to read other books that seemed interesting.

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