Baldemar Keep coalesced into being at the same time as his competitors, and hit the ground running. The desire to choose a Class ran secondary to the desire to try out his shiny new Cheat Skill, [Master Blacksmith]. While his mostly-helpful System was vague about how the aforementioned Skill actually worked, it didn't take a Mind stat of 100 to know how to make use of it. Armed with nothing more than slightly anachronistic winter clothes and a height that lead itself to bumping his head on doorframes, Baldemar found the warmest building in the large dwarven port town of Gaham, and offered his services to the Terran creatures of greed and productivity.
"You're lucky ol' Granaec the Grindstone's out on an errand." Challenged the smithing apprentice. "I've been up to my, no, your eyeballs in squan. Go ahead, show me what blades your lank arms can spit out"
Not questioning the unfamiliar words but guessing at least two were swears, Blademar picked up a spare hammer and struck away at the forge's warm ingots. His aim was unfamiliar, his impacts uneven, until half an hour in when the System reminded him of it's existence.
[Skill: Blacksmithing has advanced to level 2]
A splash of knowledge poured into his mind, and all at once his aim steadied. Intuitive knowledge of where and how to strike guided his hammer ever so slightly, and pointed his vision to mistakes.
Which, a hour and a levelup later, was most of it. Material fatigue had set into the misshapen sword blade, cooled too far to do anything with. With a sigh, Baldemar unceremoniously dumped the blade onto the scrap pile.
"You're getting us naywhere dirking around with the metal like that"
"And the day's not over." Baldemar challenged, tongs drawing another ingot from the pile.
The second swordblade graduated from scrap to passable. "Only three-quarters bad" The apprentice praised.
"If you want to help, hammer at my work rather than me." Snarked Blademar, earning a smirk of familiarity from the apprentice.
The third pushed Baldemar's Blacksmithing level to five, and earned a look of reluctant impressedness.
"I can see some soldier using this. Nothing for a real fighter however."
"What's got you needing so many blades?" Baldemar challenged.
"kobolds." the dwarf answered with a scowl. "They've been rowdy of late."
Needing no motivation to fight kobolds, Baldemar was about to retrieve another ingot from the forge when something caught his eye. A small System notification on the bottom corner of his vision. The notification to level up to 5 was different from the others
[Skill: Blacksmithing has risen to level 5. Upgrades available: Advanced Blacksmithing. Weaponsmithing. Armorsmithing. Metallurgy. Metalcraft. Metalwork]
After reading through the descriptions, Baldemar concluded several things. Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing were obvious in nature, Metallurgy handled smelting and alloying, Metalcraft and Metalwork were for small and large metal objects, and Advanced Blacksmithing was a weaker but balanced increase to all 5 points of this metallic star.
Not wanting to be pidgeon-holed, Baldemar chose Advanced Blacksmithing.
[Skill: Blacksmithing (I) Level 5 has evolved into Skill: Advanced Blacksmithing (II) Level 1]
The next blade saw no difference in quality as the day passed, but towards the end of it a new notification arose.
[Skill awarded: Blacksmithing (I)].
Over the day, his Skill levels had risen. Three in Advanced blacksmithing, five more in regular blacksmithing to evolve it into first-level weaponsmithing, and four, to only mild surprise, in Hammer Proficiency. The last two swords he made eclipsed the reliable craftsdwarfship of Granaec, personal flair beginning to show
"Not bad, not bad. You earned yourself the day's meal and a bed for the night. Name's Daredrik, son of Towerond."
Baldemar gave his own name, had a simplistic but hearty dish of purple potato-mushroom hybrids and side of oversized grubs in a reddish-brown sauce, and started to settle down to sleep, when he heard something move. Something dark red in the dark, atop an oversized, rugged-looking wolf with two heads. It brandished an oversized spear in one hand, torch in the other, and simplistic armor of furs and scavenged plates.
Baldemar knew that he wasn't completely safe here. He needed a way to defend himself against the monsters of the world, let alone the other Contestant. He needed a Class and he needed it fast. The [Master Blacksmith] scrolled down the list of options, stopping just four letters in once he found something that worked.
[Defender]
White light poured from his System window, orbiting and clinging around Baldemar. Fine yet thick chain coalesced around his muscled winter clothing from head to toe. Metal plates integrated into them both, protecting every limb and joint, capped off by an angled helmed. As the finishing touch, the last of the light solidified a large shield, locking around his arm with ease
[Class chosen. Equipment granted. Skills granted: Armor proficiency (I), Shield Proficiency (I), Armor Charge (I)]. A kit solely built for defending himself and his allies. This could work.
Baldemar clanged down the stairs, earning a shout from Daredrik's housemate. The defender wasted no time, picking up the better half of his swords under his arm and walking around the house. In the low light of torches ahead he saw a swathe of kobolds, twenty in all, poking at half a squad of axedwarves with long spears and jumping out of the way of their shorter, heavier blades.
Baldemar ran forward, picking up speed. The clanking of plates and jingling of chains hid him from no one, creating just enough of a diversion for him to barrel into the kobold doublewolf-rider. The creature staggered back, thrown off balance, when an unusually well-made sword drove it's way into the beast's underside. It roared in stereo, rearing up to pounce at the Defender. And in this telegraphed move, he knelt. The bottom of his shield planted into the ground, catching the wolf on the sternum. Mouths chomped at air, claws swiped, and swords clattered to the ground as baldemar's arm reached forward. With a twisting pull and a yelp of uncharacteristic pain, he drew it out, brandished and dripping red. kobolds and dwarves alike turned, torch falling from the kobold's hand onto the wet grass.
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"Dwarves, to me!" His voice boomed, armload of swords held high. While the kobolds regrouped and re-assessed the threat, and the two-headed wolf panicked from it's stomach wound, the dwarves armed themselves, trading improvised axe for specialized sword. Just as the kobolds were regrouping to try and overwhelm the dwarves rather than flank, a thrown spear skewered one. Baldemar charged forward shield-first, bowling another kobold over and feeling their weapons uselessly plink off his defender armor. Emboldened, the dwarves charged, cutting down a kobold or two each before the rest
broken and run- straggling few of those clipped by thrown spears.
"Never thought I'd fight 'longside a human." Praised the largest. "Who sent ye, and what do we owe?"
"Nothing yet." Answered the human with pride. "I'm here to forge weapons and arm myself against kobold and dragon both."
"Kobolds" the axedwarf spat "are a thorn in our side. They settled in our mine, took our out best, and are stopping us from promoting another. Liberate the mine, and we'll Promote you"
"Promotion seems like a big deal." Baldemar answered warily. "What does that entail?"
A genuine smile crossed the dwarf's silver teeth. "We cover you in metal and magic. Then, you take'em both with you."
"Would you really risk a blacksmith as if he was a common soldier?" Baldemar challenged, arms wide. "I can protect you all right, and I can turn your hits from glancing blows to clean cuts- if and only if you five go to that mine and bring me more materials. Just ask Daredrik apprentice of Grindstone Granaec; every sword, shield, or chestplate will be even better than the last!"
To the dwarves of Gaham, that was the day the sun would truly rise. The night's guard were in good spirits, and the day guard clamored all over eachother for requests. Swords, axes, spears, hammers, polearms; different weapons for different foes.
And that day, Baldemar was a blur of steel. He mostly prepared for the next day; making tridents to stab fast targets and catch their weapons, metal plates designed to cover a dwarf's vitals. His creations grew more consistent as both his skills and his Skills rose; Advanced Weaponsmithing and Advanced Armorsmithing grew, and Hammer Proficiency drew close to evolving. Fire Resistance reset itself to become Fire Nullification; specializing itself on instead of resisting a fraction of damage from heat, simply ignoring the first flat amount- doing little against fire attacks but doing much against lingering heat. Though in the last two hours of the day, a project for himself. Baldemar bagged up as much scrap as he could, tying it to the end of a sword he was unhappy with and making adjustment after adjustment until he was satisfied. That very same bag and sword disappeared into the smelter, poured into ingots, and beaten into discs around a wooden cylinder. Baldemar raised his hammer with pride, leaving it to cool as he took a well-deserved rest.
That night's wave of kobolds fell easily. Their rounding-up tactic didn't work with dwarves who didn't fear their weapons, each one capable of wading into a throng of kobolds and defeating one or two before the rest of the split squad broke to regroup.
The next day, baldemar joined the the day guard on their first raid to the kobold-occupied mine. Eight tridents bristled in the morning sun, their wielders backed up with a spike-tipped pickaxe each. Towards the front, just ahead of Baldemar himself, trudged a pair of dwarves coated head to toe in steel, sporting maces and daggers. And in the back, likely worth more than her allies put together, walked the town healer.
The dozen of them eliminated the door-guard quickly, lacking ranged attacks but possessing enough speed to smash through initial barricades and skewer the first kobolds. The dwarves knew their mine, compensating for the home-turf advantage, and took this chance to set up a counter-barricade of their own in the next room- the three defenders made a living, shifting wall, ready to block kobolds at every step. Yet as each one clambered over the shieldwall, it met it's end to a trident stab.
"Like stabbing fish in a barrel!" One of the speardwarves bragged.
Before even a dozen could be felled, A silence filled the air, punctuated by heavy footfalls.
"Look alive, boys" A defender urged, heartbeats before fire lit up the tunnel ahead. Wooden guards shouldered, sparse flame barely able to light up smoke pooling at the top of the cave chamber, before the black, scaled head of a dragon followed it. Horns twisted from the top of it's head to the sides of it's face, making the pointed head resemble a trident of it's own.
Cursing erupted from the shieldless dwarves, but the fire-resistant Defender was already on the move. With a swing of his hammer, a kobold broke open. another still suffered a cracking, and a third ran, dodging too far and into it's own ally's weapon. More kobolds rushed around to try and flank Baldemar, as did his spear-wielding allies, cutting out swathes of safety and keeping the kobolds at arm's length. Baldemar noticed a red light, planting his shield. An orange light leapt towards him, dragon's fire at full force. Dwarves and kobolds watched in awe, but Baldemar wasn't ready to let them wait.
"He's turning my shield to a frying pan, move!" Baldemar ordered, heat starting to accumulate painfully in his forearm. Dwarves charged forward, the two defenders catching the last of the widening breath of flame, before the dragon switched tactics from breath to claws. It slashed with a heavy hand, knocking one defender off-balance for a kobold to tackle before being caught by an allied trident. the other claw slammed down, telegraphed enough for the heavy-armored dwarf to sidestep it and punish it's claw with a mace strike. As speardwarves drew close, the dragon planted it's feet, raised it's head, and let out a mighty roar.
All at once, kobolds stood taller. The dwarves, resolute as they were, began to crack and seek shelter behind their defenders' shields rather than menace the dragon's underbelly. And just as quickly, the roar ceased painfully.
With a hammer strike to the jaw. Baldemar drew his custom weapon back, slamming his shield into the dragon's inner elbow. The weight forced it to stagger, forced it's head down, when a head of stronger armor slammed into a horn with a crack. The dragon roared in pain, hairline fracture spreading halfway down it's horn, pain growing as the first speardwarf ran full tilt into the large lizard's flank. Joined by another and another still, the stabbing trio outran a sweeping tail and hid behind the shield of a defender. Kobold morale dwindled to see their dragon in such pain, retreating to regroup rather than help their superior. Point-blank flame threatened to engulf Baldemar, second of flame all he took before his hammer cracked at the dragon's jaw. He stepped forward, swinging his hammer in a wide circle down to collide with the ailing dragon's head. The strike rang out like a dinnerbell, dwarves piling onto each side of the monster and stabbing for the weakest scales. Corrosive blood spilled, dulling wingspears already deep enough to do their damage. Flame shot out, keeping dwarves away but barely deterring the Blacksmith, and a single hammerstrike changed everything.
[You have slain: Black firedrake (III). Baldemar has advanced from level 1 to level 5. 8 skill points gained.]
The system, quiet save for messages of skill advancement, showered him in options. Options he'd make much use of. With the dragon slain, the dwarves began disassembling it. Sorting the largest, toughest scales out for armor, the claws and teeth for weapons, and one presented baldemar the sharp blade on the end of it's tail. Sharp, black, forearm-sized, and tipped in sizzling green, it spelled danger at every step.
"I can make something with this, but we're low on metal. Collect what you can, and I'll have better gear for you all by tomorrow."
Proudly, baldemar observed the harvest. Oversaw the mining. And tried to plan out where the absolute heck to spend his wealth of Skill Points.