Tec Mage Chapter Six: A Winning Moment

Ben awoke in his home 2 hours later, washed and had a sandwich, he put some fresh cloths on and got ready to log back in

Back in game Atlas got up, it was still night time just like he planed, he activated mana flare so he could see, moving out of his room he woke his apprentices up from there separate rooms and got ready, as he was cleaning him self Atlas was nervous, it was a mix of new job nervous and not wanting to go to work sickness, he spoke to the kids " don't forget to eat a lot, we probable wont get a break"

"Do we have to do this" asked Kevien "i mean its Mary who wants to be a blacksmith not us"

Atlas looked at Kevien "you need to help each other in the future and the blacksmith skill will help you in your life, once you gain the skill it will be up to you to increase the skill" Atlas left the dojo with the kids

"Use your flare its still dark out side" Atlas told the children

Walking though town Atlas was a bit surprised at how many people were about, he realized that most of them were players "Atlas, i don't want to go" Kevien moaned

"I understand, i feel the same but i wont let him hurt you, just manage to withstand the taunts and insults, we are using him to get the skill and i suspect that he is doing these evil things so he doesn't have to pay you or teach you blacksmith and that makes me want to beat him physical and mentally but i don't have the raw power to take him and nether do you, in fact if we joined all of our strengths together we still couldn't beat his power, we just have to buy some time"

Atlas was outside the blacksmith, it was still dark but it was a good ideal to be early rather than just being on time,Atlas pushed open the door and went inside, banging could be heard from the forge, Atlas and the kids made there way to the forge

At the forge room Atlas stood at the entrance, "master blacksmith we are ready to start work"

The dwarf looked up quickly "what are you doing here" he looked shocked

Atlas was satisfied with the look on the dwarf face, by the look on the dwarf face it would seem that he didn't expect Atlas to be back " we are here for work" Atlas told the dwarf

The dwarf looked even angry then before " take you fucking place then"

"hehe"?

Atlas went to his place but looked around, he could of sworn that he heard something

"Today you little shits i will be making a couple of choice swords, you just watch me while you make those terrible pieces of shit sword" the dwarf got down to it

While Atlas and the crew started to melt the iron and prepare the moulds, the dwarf started to heat up a piece of steel that was attached to a thin bar of iron "what are you doing sir" asked Mary, the dwarf looked up and raised his hammer "aurhm" coughed Atlas while looking directly at the dwarf, the dwarf lowered his hammer "i'm heating up the steel to fold the steel over and over again to make sure that the carbon content is evenly distributed

During the day when the dwarf would wait for the steel to heat up he would check the work of the apprentices and Atlas, WACK "do that better" said the dwarf to Atlas

"yes sir, i'll heat the metal up better" Atlas was being sarcastic

"WHAT DID YOU SAY" shouted the dwarf

Atlas was thinking was this a good ideal but even the best temper people can lose there temper when hit, "i said, yes sir, i'll heat the metal up better" Atlas was using passive aggressiveness

The dwarf raised his hammer and thew it at Atlas but he was expecting it this time and side stepped it

"PICK IT UP" screamed the dwarf

"pick what up sir" Atlas said sarcastically

"THE.. THE GOD DAMN HAMMER" the dwarf was fuming

"Yes sir" Atlas picked up the hammer and turned around, just standing there Atlas did nothing with the hammer

"WELL GIVE IT TO ME THEN" the dwarf was sweating with anger

Atlas was waiting for The dwarf to say this " ok" Atlas was smiling, he lifted the hammer and threw it at the dwarf

"FUUU... YOU LITTLE SHIT" the dwarf just dodged the hammer but stumbled a little

"hehe"?

Atlas looked at the kids, they all were looking shocked but silent

Before the dwarf could start off again Atlas pointed out that steel bar was ready

The dwarf hobbled back to his part of the forge while looking at Atlas in a weird way

The rest of the day went without instance, the dwarf explained further on what he was doing, after the dwarf had folded the steel many times he folded the steel over in a kind of square c and placed a bar of iron in the middle, he also placed a piece of wet paper and ash over the two metals

"why did you do that" asked Mary nervously

The dwarf looked at her briefly then at Atlas " the steel gives strong cutting power and the iron is the soft core that absorbs shock the paper and the ash is to stop the air from getting in between the 2 metals and cause corrosion and impurities ", after he heated both types of metals he hammered the metal in to a square and lengthen the bar in till it was a straight sword then left it for the day

The day was almost over and with out as much shouting and the extra knowledge from the first day Atlas and the kids made 143 swords using the moulds

"Right, get lost you ass holes" the dwarf seemed a bit more quieter "Atlas stay for a while" the kids left just like before

Atlas new better than to feel sorry for this monster "what do you want this time, SIR"

The dwarf looked at Atlas "ok, what did i say before" the dwarf threw some coins at Atlas and rushed Atlas

Every stat Atlas had the dwarf had at least 5 times more "your my bitch, but you need to be taught how to behave with pain" the dwarf grab Atlas hand again and started to pull towards the forge

Atlas predicted that this would happen again, he grab the dwarf wrist that had hold of his hand with his free hand and pulled up, locking the dwarfs wrist and bringing the dwarf onto his toes, Atlas twisted around the arm that had a hold of his hand while keeping the wrist locked

Atlas was side to side with the dwarf and had his arm lock at his shoulder, Atlas pulled down on the arm while kicking the back of the dwarfs foot, the dwarf fell on his back, Atlas then leant his whole body weight against his arm and face

"What now little man" Atlas was taunting the dwarf to keep he's mind enraged and thus keeping the dwarf from making smart choices, when Atlas had finished the taunt, he looked out the window to see the sun down, he no longer had to do what the dwarf said or even be near him

"GET THE FUUU.. GET OFF ME YOU GOD DAMN FREAK" screamed the dwarf

"hehe"?

"THAT'S IT YOU FIRED, I'LL NEVER TEACH YOU BLACKSMITH OR YOUR LITTLE HOES"

"why not little man, i've not broken any of your rules" Atlas said sarcastically

I DON'T FUCKING CARE, YOUR OUT" the dwarf carried on to say

Atlas looked at the dwarf and said "are you sure, breaking the agreement we have means that i would go to the law to report you for torturing me"

"NO, YOU SAID I COULD DO THAT, YOU AGREED TO IT" screamed the dwarf

"But only if you teach us blacksmithing" Atlas told the dwarf

"hehe"?

The dwarf was silent, Atlas moved to the side and stood up, moveing to the money that the dwarf threw Atlas picked it up "thank you for the money, i'll see you tomorrow or the police will see you tomorrow"

"hehe"?

As Atlas left the forge he could hear crashes from the shop and a very faint laughing "who's laughing" Atlas asked him self, the dwarf and Atlas was the only people in the forge, Atlas didn't care he had won a decisive victory and made his way home

Atlas was walking home with 50 extra silver and his mana flare activated, as he walked home he passed the tutoring guild and saw the old npc woman locking up, it seems she was having trouble locking up

Atlas walked over to her " hello madam, do you need some help or even some light"

"Oh yes deary that would be lovely" she could lock up even faster now she could see with the help of mana flare

After she had completed her chore she turned around to Atlas "oh it you deary, weren't you looking for a tutor"

Atlas decide to walk the old lady back to her home helping her to see using mana flare "yes i was and still am but there was no one at the guild last time i checked"

"ahh that's good, wisdom will sever you for all your days" explained the old woman "in fact a new person has just joined the guild he cant leave the city for a month so how about coming to the guild tomorrow"

"I can't have a tutor right now, i'm learning blacksmith and have to spend my time with him but can i make an appointment to meet up with this person in about two weeks

"Ohh yes deary i can do that for you, your such a good lad to walk a lady back home"

"What does the tutor teach" asked Atlas

The old lady thought about it "some thing called chemistry, i hear it's a different form of alchemy

The old lady stopped at her door way "thank you dear, that light is really useful, who taught you that"

"I read it in a book and worked it out my self" explained Atlas

"oh i see deary, i see" muttered the lady

"Well i'll see you in about two weeks" Atlas said his good byes and moved away

The lady watched Atlas walk around the corner "what a good lad", she turned around and tried to open her door but couldn't see the hole for the key because of the darkness, she looked around for someone to help her but the place was quiet, she gave up on some ones help and opened her other hand, a small ball of fiery light appeared and illuminated the area around the door, she let her self in

Atlas was almost back home when he passed the square, the place was packed with low level players coming back from hunting, during the night monsters get a 30% increase in power so newbies came back instead of fighting the beefed up monsters, Atlas had an ideal, he wanted to increase his skill with mana deflection but being burnt was painful, Atlas thought it would be a good ideal to hire a healer for the night, a player would be cheaper and would be able to work though the night without tiring

Atlas cleared his throat "LOOKING FOR A LOW LEVEL HEALER FOR THE NIGHT, WILL PAY....... WELL" in truth Atlas didn't know how much money was a good deal so he was being vague. No on one was answering, maybe they thought that this person was crazy that he wanted to go hunting during the night

Atlas tried again "LOOKING FOR LOW LEVEL HEALER FOR THE NIGHT TO HELP WITH SKILL LEVELLING HERE IN THE CITY, WILL PAY WELL" almost as soon as Atlas had said he's last word there was a light tapping on his shoulder, turning around there was a girl about 16 years old in a cheap wool white cloth

"How much are you paying" asked the girl

"First what level are you"

"I'm level 10 cleric and i have healing hand but i have to physically touch you to heal you, that just how it works"

"How much do you want" said Atlas

"mmm 2 no 3 silver for the night" demanded the girl

Little did Atlas know that 3 silver was very good price for beginners,

"That sounds fine, follow me to my place and we will get started" Atlas pointed the way

"Wait, my friend is coming with me, is that ok with you" the girl was being smart about it, a young girl following a older man at night time could end in tragedy

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Yes that's fine but i'm not paying extra for your friend" said Atlas

Just as Atlas was getting tired of waiting the girl's friend turned up "hi there Sam, sorry i'm late i was just getting my gear repaired" the boy also looked 16 but was a foot taller than the girl and was in cheap leather, Atlas thought the boy could be a warrior or a rouge but in truth it didn't matter

"This is my friend Isaac" said Sam "and my name is Jeanne d'Arc or just Arc if you want" explained the girl

Atlas had forgotten to introduce him self "i'm sorry, my name is Atlas" after the introductions Arc, Isaac and Atlas made there way behind the training hall to the dojo that was Atlas home

"Who are they" asked Mary

Atlas introduced Arc and Isaac "they are here to help me train my skills"

"What about us" pleaded Kevien

"Have you learnt magic missile" asked Atlas

"No" Kevien said quietly, he was sulking the fact he had learnt fire flare so quickly and haven't seen a improvement on his fire missile hurt his pride, he just couldn't get the hang of it, the first step was super easy the manifestation of mana which for him was a small ball of fire but he couldn't get it to move with any force, the top speed of the fire ball was just above his fire flare about 1 mph not enough to make it in to a weapon

"Kevien try to work it out for your self today and if you still need help I will try to give some pointers but I can't promise anything, after all I'm new to this as well", Atlas didn't want to fob his apprentice off but he had already paid Arc the 3 silver and wanted to get his money worth

Kevien went off in a huff, muttering under his breath, Atlas heard every word because of the skill careful listener, kids was I like that at his age, Atlas decide to talk to his real life mentor soon and ask him

Back to business, Atlas faced towords Arc "I want you to heal me when I've finished my skill"

"Wait, you live here, this place must of cost a arm and leg" said Isaac

Atlas thought about explaining the whole story but it would take to much time "mmm, lets get started"

"Who are those people, are they using magic" Isaac was pointing at the kids

Atlas realized that this man was going to eat up his time if he didn't give him some thing to do "hey Isaac do you want to make some money, if you do i would like you to give some weapon training to these kids, of course you wont get the same as Arc, 1 silver"

"what? i can make that easy, if you give me 6 silver yea i would do it" said Isaac

"At this point Atlas felt cheated, mmm no i don't think so, you need to be here for your friend, i only need you to teach them for 4 hours so you can either get paid or not, plus your life not in danger why would i pay you more for less work"

At those words Isaac was angry in a fit of rage he squared up to Atlas who was sitting down "you don't think i'm worth it"

Atlas was wondering what kind of luck he had, first within 2 hours of starting to play the game he was almost mugged and then this dwarf business and final this kid getting all upset with negotiations

Atlas stood up, towering over Isaac, he raised his hand and pushed Isaac gentle away from him so he had some personal space " take the deal or don't but don't be a child and get up set" Atlas was getting annoyed, dealing with the dwarf and Kevien being a bit spoilt, Atlas was feeling a bit underappreciated, working all day for nothing but pain then to come back to this it was no wonder that Atlas was angry

"Thats it i'll kick your ass" Isaac started to withdraw his sword

Atlas was wondering what just happened, Isaac had a cheap poorly made copper sword, " now what mmm," Atlas was sick of peoples attitude "stop lets make a deal"

"What's wrong you coward" Isaac was being smug

"New deal we fight one on one, no weapons and if you win then i'll pay your 6 silver but if i win then you pay me 4 silver and train the kids for free" Atlas was confidant that he would win as long as he stuck to aikido

Isaac just laughed, he had armour and had a warrior class, " yea alright i'm up for that"

Over here away from the fire, "Atlas walked over to a clear space

"Are you ready for all of this" Isaac was tapping his chest

Atlas didn't know what to say, Isaac ego was massive, so instead he took his stance , one foot forwards and hands raised to protect his centre

Isaac was still laughing "im going to call you kung fu kid"

"With all the noise the apprentices started to watch "kick his ass" cried out Dracken

"Shut up, i'll show you who's going to kick ass" Isaac stepped forwards while throwing a punch, Atlas pivot on his foot and spinned around the out side of his punch and hit Isaac in the back of the head with his elbow, Isaac staggered away, Atlas punched Isaac twice in the back then moved back

"you coward" Isaac moved forwards and grab Atlas around the waist, with Atlas hands pined to his sides he had only two choices head butt or the thing that Atlas choose was a knee in the balls

"Kuuuuf fu fu huuu" Isaac drop to his knees but still had ahold of Atlas hand, he wanted to punch Isaac hard in the face but knew better, Isaac was a warrior type and Atlas was bare handed so hardly any damage would be taken so instead Atlas grab Isaac's left hand with his right and twist his left hand around Isaac's wrist, pulling it down with his weight

"CRACK, argg" the pain that Isaac felt when his wrist was broken was a dull pain compare to the sickening pain of his balls, Isaac let go of Atlas hand but it didn't fall, Atlas still had hold of he's wrist and moved his hand down Isaac's arm and placed it on the elbow, Atlas then lifted up Isaac's arm to his face and pushed it in to his head making Isaac fall on to his side, once he was on the floor Atlas pulled him on to his front and stood directly over him with his arm in Atlas hand he pushed the arm over his back and broke Isaac's arm and dislocated his shoulder, that finshed he locked Isaac's arm

"I think i've won" said Atlas

"NO I CAN STILL GO ON" isaac was almost pleading but still shouting his defiance

Atlas looked at Arc, she didn't have any emotions, either Isaac did this a lot and Arc had seen thyis all before or they weren't that close

The next step Atlas took he would never have done in real life, freeing one of his hands he raised his hand and brought down with all his might on the back of Isaac's neck

"CRACK" the noise wasn't the loudest but it never the less could be heard all around the dojo ground

Atlas stood up and moved away from Isaac, his arm was broken in two place's and dislocated at the sholder plus paralized from the neck down his life wasn't in imdiet danger, "Arc could you heal him up he's lost and can't do anything

"That was great" Dracken was bounceing up and down, "if your so good why do you put up with the dwarf, why don't you just lay him out"

"Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character and when you have it you can make the right choices in the end what goes about comes about" Atlas said

Dracken didn't understand "just think about it" said Atlas

"Th.. that was really profound, did you come up with that" asked Kevien

"mmm no my mentor used to say it every now and again" explained Atlas

Arc came back after healing Isaac "well that was impressive, are you a warrior class"

"No i don't have a class, i've been playing for just over a week" explained Atlas "is he ok"

"His fine, just lost conciseness but that even more impressive his also level 10" said Arc

Atlas sat down near the fire "lets get started then"

Arc positioned her self behind Atlas and he explained "i'm going to shove my hand into the fire to increase my skill and i would like you to heal me afterwards"

"Got it" Arc positioned her hands on top of Atlas shoulders

Atlas shoved his hand into the fire and attivated his mana deflaction skill around his hand, the heat could still be felt but it was like a hand in frount of a fire instead of inside, what was really intresting was the flames going around his hand like a river, "oh that's strange are you a mage of some sort" asked Arc

"No, i just learnt this skill on my own" when the skill had used up all of the mana Atlas pulled his hand out of the fire, the hand was full of blisters but the pain was mangerble and didn't last long because of Arc's healing hands

Four hours later Atlas looked at Isaac then spoke to the kids " it looks like you want be getting any weapon training today, go and clean your self up and eat some thing, then bed time

"Ok" the apprentices looked more pleased than normal maybe it was just Atlas imaganion

After the kids went to sleep Atlas and Arc cairred on praticing the mana deflaction skill, Arc asked qestions about Atlas mostly small talk intill eary morning while healing Atlas

The skill had raised to level 3 as well as mana manipulation

"Definition of mana manipulation" said Atlas

Mana manipulation lets the user use spells faster and makes spells stronger or weaker depending on the users will

Increases and decreases Attack Power with a magic by -30% to +30%

Increases Attack Speed with a magic by 9%.

Definition of mana deflection" asked Atlas

Mana deflection is a basic shield of magic, not true protection where the shield stops the attack but redirects the force, later levels will increase duration and power

A true personal skill where each mana deflection skill is different to each other

Decreases mana consumption by 20% for manna deflection

Increases speed of mana deflection speed by 30%

skill takes 16 mana a second, can concentrate mana to make mana deflection stronger

With the 3 principals of heat movement, mana deflection has the ability to move heat and flame around the user

"Good start" Atlas got up he felt sore, he stretched his arms and legs and walked over to the dojo to wake the kids up, 10 mintues later they were ready to leave but Isaac was still on the floor "same time tonight" asked Arc

"what's wrong with him" Atlas said while pointing at Isaac

"He's just sleeping he's a very deep sleeper, i'll just wake him up" said Arc

"NO, i don't want to handle his personality" with that said Atlas picked up Isaac and moved in to town with him in his arms like a baby, Atlas placed Isaac on a bench and left him there

Turning to Arc he said "i can't do it tomorrow but how about the day after"

"Yea ok that sounds fine but what about him" she asked

"Bring him with you after all he still needs to give me money and a free lesson" explained Atlas

Both party's said there good byes then Atlas, Dracken, Mary and Kevien moved towards the dwarf blacksmiths place

Ten minutes later the group was in side the dwarf place and moving to the forge area, there stood the dwarf with a look of a winner and beside him was three huge men with weapons on there sides

"THAT'S THE MAN" shouted the dwarf

End Of Chapter six: A Winning Moment