Gregory had gone to bed early the night before, completely exhausted, but woke up only an hour later. From the notification, sleep in an owned bed, for any period of time, would fully recover status and even give a bonus to skill advancement. However, Greg wanted to try something different today. Rather than doing something potentially dangerous like he had the previous day, he wanted to instead volunteer at a blacksmith's shop that was close to his home. It had always intrigued him, but now he wanted to learn it for sure. The ability to craft his weapons and armor was always a favorite part in games for him, so the ability to do so in real life would also likely be a very important and beneficial portion. However, he also knew that he needed to learn enchanting and herbalism, since they were two other skills that would likely play a huge part in personal advancement. He had learned that items gathered from farming are good, but the truly best items are those that are crafted personally. However, he also knew that they were the skills that were the most grind~y, since they required the base material which were found between monster drops and actual gathering skills. Still though, he began with heading to a blacksmith for the day.
Upon arrival, the blacksmith looked up and recognized Gregory instantly. Greg was a frequenter of the shop, and had even offered help before, so it wouldn't be unusual to help again as volunteer work. This could be my opportunity to gain a blacksmithing skill, though it would probably also require a forge, which is something I don't think I could fit in my inventory, right? Regardless, I need to learn how to blacksmith now, so that I can use it to create armor and weapons capable of fighting off the monsters I have already seen. The man working then spoke to Greg in his usual manner Come to help today, have we? Greg responded to the man with what he thought would sound a bit odd, but something he needed if he was going to start blacksmithing. So, I was hoping to actually forge something by myself today, what do you think? The man let out a small whistle, his thick brown beard surrounding his mouth a contrast against his bald head. You think you are ready for it? If so, follow me. Gregory didn't even think twice, he followed right behind the man, Stanley was his name. As Stanley stopped at the smelter, he told Greg Just do whatever you can alone Greg, if you get stuck, come to me and I will give you some guidance.
Greg didn't even wait for the man to finish, he began to start pumping the bellows to heat up the furnace. He knew it needed to be hot to melt down the ore to a usable metal. Channeling some fire mana into the furnace, he noticed that the ore began to melt almost immediately. He would need to be careful now, as getting it too hot would damage the ore and metal irreparably. Now that the ore had liquefied to molten metal though, it was time to start forging it. Greg grabbed the metal with the tongs, and then place it upon the anvil. He began hitting it at a medium slow pace, kneading the metal out with the hammer to form a long strip for the blade. Continuing the process of heating the metal and hammering it, Greg had eventually got it to a nice even height all the way down. The form was of a unique weapon he had seen in a video game, it was called the Xi Blade. It was in the form of a katana, but longer with a heavier blade. It was meant only for the strong to wield, but also boasted higher cutting power to those who could wield it.
Upon completing the forming of the blade, he moved to the spinning whetstone, which this blacksmith still had using a pedal. While it was very old fashioned, it was one of the things that Gregory enjoyed most about this place; everything was done so that it was possible with more technology, and there was no lower technology that could be used. This gave Greg the advantage of being able to work any kind of blacksmithing in the world, and could give him advantages of knowing how to better work everything with the newer methods where some things are recorded by computer. Still though the old method cannot be beat. As Gregory was grinding away on the sword against the whetstone, running the blade edge from dull to sharp. It was taking time, but this is what the world was for, to work hard and do something that could really be considered beneficial to people. Of course, this was just beneficial to him and his body right now, but that didn't mean it couldn't be used to help others. As he worked, he had just the grip and hilt to finish. As Greg assembled the pieces, anchoring the grip and hilt to the blade, using molten metal to fill and merge them together, and finally letting it set, he finally gained the BLACKSMITH skill.
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SKILLBLACKSMITHING[INTERMEDIATE]PASSIVEGrants the ability to create weapons and armor with materials of up to ADVANCED quality. The level determines the likelihood to create a unique or extra powerful item. Weapons and armor may be of up to GRAND quality if using ADVANCED materials and creating a UNIQUE item.LEVEL = 54COST = N/A
Using reveal on the weapon he had just created showed more than Greg had expected to see. The weapon he made actually had the name Xi Blade, and a unique ability to be able to ignore all forms of defense in attacks. It also had stats that made him wonder if it was really a sword that could be made with earthly stats. It had an attack power of 35. If he knew his games, then Greg knew this meant quite a high damage rating. First, the damage was augmented by STR and AGI for bladed weapons, and then any skills that affect bladed weapons. Since he had Blade Mastery, it meant that the sword could likely do close to 100 damage for every attack. To top it off, it cut through all defenses, meaning that even those with the best magical or physical defenses would still take this damage. I have just created a really overpowered weapon here, best to store it in the inventory for now, don't want it falling into the wrong hands.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
As he was about to leave the blacksmith's, the blacksmith gave him a book to read. Glancing at the title, he noticed some system generated text next to it. "Skill Advancement Text - GRAND" read next to the title. [i]Seems that this is a blessing. A text that can level my blacksmithing to the GRAND level and likely even keep current proficiency. There is probably some drawback though, such a book would not just show itself to me. Upon examining the book, he discovered no real drawbacks, except that it would mark him as one of the greatest item crafters of his era. He then questioned something. As he tried to learn the book, it came up with a notification. It seemed he was incapable of studying this book, as he did not have the necessary skill in two skills available to him. The first was TAILORING, which used fabrics to create different clothing which could be used by mages and the like. The second was JEWEL CRAFTING, which allowed creating jewelry and could be used to store high level enchantments permanently.
As he left the blacksmiths, he also stowed this book in his inventory, making sure he wouldn't lose it anywhere. It was perhaps the single most valuable item in his possession, as it would allow him to gain all skills to GRAND level upon reaching at least INTERMEDIATE in each. He then decided to test out another skill. He wanted to see if he could create an enchantment skill. He knew it would require channeling magic into an item, but wasn't sure how to keep it there. Perhaps he could create some kind of rune, like one from the games he plays. Sewing a rune onto the back of his black dojo jacket, he started channeling his magic in, not sure what kind of magic he was channeling in until it noted that it would increase magic resistance by 5%. The two skills he had just gained were TAILORING[BEGINNER] and ENCHANTING[BEGINNER].
SKILLTAILORING[BEGINNER]PASSIVECan stitch embroider's onto clothing very effectively, but can only make low quality clothing otherwise, The higher the level and proficiency, the better quality the clothing becomes.LEVEL = 3COST = N/ASKILLENCHANTING[BEGINNER]PASSIVE/ACTIVEThe user can channel their mana and spells into items to give them bonuses to stats or skills. Enchantments gain power based upon wisdom, but gain most of their power and strength from the tier and level of the skill. Only runed items may contain a permanent enchantment, but gems can hold stronger enchantments.LEVEL = 5COST = 100
These two skills seemed very powerful, at least the enchanting skill anyways. It would be the one skill that would allow Gregory to finally boost his power in a big way. He could channel any passive skill he knew into clothing to improve the strength of it, or channel any active skill he knew into a weapon to contain it there and give the weapon a power boost. This was a unique opportunity, and one that he did not want to pass up. For now though, he would need to find a jeweler to train under, so that he could create his own jewelry. He would also need to find out how to create potions for himself, which he figured he could do with enough practice and study. Perhaps creating a wine or other brew at home would do for discovering the skill. They used herbs and plants to create a drink which altered the body, that is effectively what herbology, or potion crafting depending on the game did. Although, Greg did wonder one thing, where were all the wooden or bone bows and the leather armors. He did have a hunch though, searching the blacksmithing skill, he found that they were listed underneath the possible crafts, which were found by thinking available crafts and then selecting a skill.
Below is Greg's updated Status window. I'd like to thank you all again for all the positive encouragement to continue the novel. I hope that you all enjoy the coming chapters, and the course I have planned for this story.
NAMEGREGORY NEAL FROST CLASS/CLASSESTHE LEGENDARY GAMER, LEGENDARY GREAT SAGE, LEGENDARY LUCK MASTER TITLENOVICE LEVEL9 HEALTH170/170 MANA3260/3260 STAMINA200/200 STR19 VIT17 AGI20 INT163 WIS225 LUK517 UNSPENT STATUS POINTS45