“Alright, ladies and gents, divide and conquer,” Kazzrak says with a sharp nod.
We all agree and separate to the different trainers. There are only seven workstations, so I’m assuming some of the trainers double up. Probably the ones that use the materials they match with.
Kazzrak and I head over to the male nymph pounding away with a large hammer on a piece of red-hot metal he is holding with some tongs. He is moving the metal with what looks like practised ease. We patiently wait till the metal cools enough that he has to reheat it in the forge.
He finally turns to us and gives us each a nod. “Well, you’ve already passed the first test. You will need patience if you want to become a blacksmith. Or are you here to train Mining?”
“Both, actually,” Kazzrak says. “My name is Kazzrak and this here is Sybaal.”
The nymph’s eyes widen a little before he frowns. “You don’t mean Lord Kazzrak and Lord Sybaal, do you?”
“One and the same. However, we are here to learn, not have everything given to us on silver spoons,” replies Kazzrak.
“Well then, looks like you two have yourselves a trainer. My name is Faland,” Faland says, giving both of us a nod.
Expert Blacksmith Faland is offering to teach you both Blacksmithing and Mining. This will use up two of your profession slots. If you change later, you will lose any levels gained in this profession permanently.
Accept?
Yes/No
I grin as I hit accept. I love blacksmithing so much that I built myself a forge out in my shed years ago. I used some of the principles from DSR1 along with a whole lot of forums and videos on the internet to learn.
I may not be a master smith in real life, but I certainly know how to make quality knives and swords. Fuzzy has been right there in the forge beside me, although he normally focuses more on the Viking era of weapons and armour.
You are now an Apprentice Blacksmith!
You are now an Apprentice Miner!
“Well, now that is taken care of, let me give you your free bags of apprentice equipment and run through them,” says Faland with a smile as he turns around to the cupboard full of various tools behind him.
“Free? Are you kidding me?” splutters Kazzrak. “That bitch!”
Faland turns back to us with a frown. “What do you mean?”
“Voria the merchant sold us all bags of profession gear when we said we were going to be headed to you to train,” I clarify.
“And you bought them?” Faland says incredulously, his eyebrows shooting up. “Show me.”
We both pull out our Blacksmithing and Mining bags and show Faland.
His frown is replaced with a hearty laugh. “Those aren’t the shitty apprentice bags I was going to give you for free. Those are Expert bags, able to hold more and have better tools within them. This is good. It means your creations are more likely to succeed.”
“Oh, okay then,” Kazzrak says, visibly settling down.
“We don’t normally sell these higher-quality bags till you reach the appropriate level, just because the initial outlay of the bag is quite high for apprentices,” Faland explains.
Now I’m glad that we did buy them. It would have probably taken us a lot longer to level up our professions otherwise.
“Alright then. Empty out your bags on the bench over here, and I’ll explain each of the tools and their purpose,” Faland says.
We do as we are instructed, and he proceeds to go over everything we already know about Blacksmithing and Mining and the tools used by them. Both of us were miners and blacksmiths in DSR1, and the process is exactly the same as before. All I have to do is start from scratch again.
“I’ll start you off easy.” Faland grins mischievously. “Learn these recipes you have here already, and I want you to make me a bronze dagger in your signature style with the materials provided over here.”
Kazzrak and I just look at each other and laugh, much to Faland’s puzzlement.
Picking up the recipes gives us the option to learn them, so we do that quickly before putting the items we won’t be using back in our bags. We both move the tools we will be using to separate anvils.
First things first, we take several pieces of tin and copper ore from the crate next to the forge. Then we place them in a couple of crucibles, which we set within the fires of the forge with long heavy-duty tongs.
Faland is watching us with a small frown, but remains silent.
Probably because of game mechanics, the ore melts together rather rapidly, and we then separate the newly created bronze from the contaminants. We pour the bronze into six long, relatively thin bar-stock moulds that will make the blades. Then we fill a couple of smaller ones for the guards and pommels.
The waste we pour into another container carefully, pulling out several chunks of malachite and tiger’s eye as we go.
There are enough bars to make three knives each. Notifications keep popping up, but I dismiss them without looking at them due to the concentration required in getting this right.
While we wait for the bars to cool, we repeat the process, and when it comes time to pour again, the first batch is ready to remove from the moulds. We set the new bars on a metal counter and refill the moulds.
We repeat this process several times over the next ten minutes and end up making enough bronze to make thirty knives with hilts.
If you are going to try to max your profession levels quickly, it is a really good idea to make enough materials to make several of your end product instead of just one.
So now we work separately and begin the process of turning bars into daggers. Heat the bronze, then hammer the metal with just the right amount of force, as we don’t want to crack it. Slowly it takes the shape of a dagger.
The funny part about bronze is that when you hit it repeatedly, you can generate enough energy within it that it stays relatively hot. You need to be skilled in your hammer strikes though; otherwise you will end up with a hot lump of nothing.
Once the blade is as finished as I can make it, I use a grinding stone to sharpen it. I then pick up the smaller bar for the guard. Using different parts of the anvil, I begin to drift a hole in the guard for the tang to slide through. I lengthen the two ends of the guard and make little ovals on the ends.
Making the two pieces fit snugly, I then pick up one of the pommels. It is a small fat cylinder shape, and I repeat the process of drifting a hole in the centre of the pommel.
I then turn to the crate beside the cupboard and pull out a pre-made wooden handle with a small hole drilled in the middle. I heat up just the tang of the blade, using the edge of the forge, and then place the wooden hole over it.
Slowly but surely, I burn the handle onto the tang and then fit the pommel on the end. Thankfully, I measured it properly, and now there is a small tip of the tang protruding. Taking my hammer, I gently tap the end, which heats up quickly and slowly mushrooms into the pommel, making the entire hilt lock in nicely.
After the last tap, a chime sounds and a new notification pops up.
You have created an Elegant Bronze Dagger.
Your blacksmith level is now 47.
Looking through the rest of the notifications, only one stands out. Apparently smelting worked to level up both Mining and Blacksmithing. My Mining is now at level 45. Damn, I need to get Jewelcrafting before I smelt anything else, just in case something crosses over.
A moment later, Kazzrak makes a satisfied noise and I see he has also created a slightly different version visually, but it still has the same name as mine.
“You level 47 Blacksmithing too?” I ask Kazzrak.
“Yep, sure am. Guess all our previous knowledge isn’t going to waste, then.” He grins, hefting his hammer.
“If you gentlemen keep making pieces as fine as these, then you will be past my level in no time,” Faland states seriously as he gently picks up my dagger and admires it.
The time on my interface says its 6 a.m., so we have only been at this for ha
lf an hour. Ten minutes to make the stock and twenty to make the dagger. So it will take me another four and a half hours to use up the rest of the stock we made.
Not like we have anything better to do right now.
Sybaal: Hey, guys, Kazzrak and I are level 47 in Blacksmithing already. We still have about four hours of stock to make though. You guys good to do your own thing with your professions?
Ezekial: That’s fine. I’m only level 32 in Leatherworking, and I have plenty of mats available here. That’s the perks of our titles. It would suck for everyone else though, having to go out and grind all this before being able to use it.
Dosan: I’m brewing a bucketload of potions so that we don’t have to buy them. At least that’s the plan. I’m level 18 in Alchemy so far. I’m going to be here a while, especially if I make another explosion… But it will get easier very shortly, as I will access multiple batches at once.
Ifalna: Ha, that was totally funny as. Did you see the way his lizard arse went flying? You ain’t no dragon, Dosan, so keep your feet on the ground. Ha!
Kazzrak: Damn, I missed it! Warn me beforehand so I can stop, point and laugh at you, Dosan.
Ifalna: Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out, as I almost disenchanted the wrong item, lol! Enchanting is actually quite mana intensive. I’m level 45 already, but that is because I have a large mana pool. Progress is going to slow soon, I think.
Sybaal: Lol. Okay, profession grind time.
The next three hours went by in a breeze. I was able to shave my time estimate down by an hour and a half because I was getting quicker with each one, though I couldn’t get it any faster than ten minutes. Kazzrak kept up with me stroke for stroke, and our pile of bronze bars quickly diminished.
Faland had gone back to focusing on his own tasks sometime through watching me make my third dagger.
Every dagger I made increased my blacksmith level by two, which was awesome, however time consuming. It’s the many hours of repetitive work now that grants the skills for the much more difficult materials. Especially those in the higher end of the scale, like mithril.
That shit is a bitch to work with no matter how you work it.
Our last daggers let us hit level 75 and we officially become journeymen blacksmiths. Booya! Iron ore, I’m coming for you!
We wait till Faland has finished with his latest creation, a Fine quality breastplate of what looks like steel, but the item isn’t telling me.
“Faland, why is it that I can’t tell what material you made that breastplate out of?” I ask, not understanding the mechanics.
“Oh, that’s pretty simple. There are three ways for you to see an item’s description,” Faland answers, wiping the sweat from his brow. “The first is to create an item yourself, and that unlocks that material.
“The second is to buy a spell that anyone can use called Item Identify. It is a passive ability that can see an item’s description up to a certain level, and after that there is rumoured to be someone who can discern the extremely rare items.”
“I see. Are there many of these spells that everyone can learn? Where would we be able to obtain them?” Kazzrak asks with a squint, as if he already may have an idea.
“Well, there is a scribe named Mertle who makes them; however, he is only an apprentice, as he doesn’t have any recipes that can let him increase his profession,” answers Faland. “Last I heard, he made a deal with Voria to only sell them to her. Better watch that one, I tell you.”
“I think we will have to give this Mertle a visit sometime. Where is he located? Actually, never mind, I’ll have Elder Sylan give him some space in this room,” I say, wondering where the old nymph has gotten up to lately.
“By the way, we are both level 75 journeymen blacksmiths,” Kazzrak boasts, his chest puffing out a little.
“Are you now? Well now, that is definitely a very quick ascension among the ranks,” states Faland. “I would normally then say let’s get you started on iron ore. However, we are running quite low on it, and I need it for the steel items I am making for those out in the field. We need to find more deposits since we just don’t have enough. There are also higher-level beasts in the way.”
Gathering Quest: Clear the way I.
Rarity: Normal.
Details: Artisan Miner Faland needs his miners to be able to access the iron ore deposits deeper in the forest; however, the beasts there are too high for the miners. Escort the miners to the ore deposits and return with at least 200 iron ore. More ore equals more experience.
Conditions: Protect the miners and return with 200 or more iron ore.
Failure: Possible death of miners and loss of respect with Faland.
Reward: Variable experience. A weapon or armour piece from Faland’s stock.
Accept quest?
Yes/No
Of course I accept this. Just the kind of quest we need to get the blood flowing and be able to up skill our Mining. “We’ll do it. I’ll have to talk with the others on how long until we can leave, but I’m sure it shouldn’t take too long.”
Faland gives me a discerning glance over before grinning the widest I have seen so far. “Perfect! Looks like I’ll be able to make a lot more gear sooner than I thought!”
“Alright then, see you soon,” I say and only get a few steps away when I hear Faland calling after me.
“Hey, do you mind running the daggers you made over to have them enchanted? Don’t forget to take the gems too. I really need to get back to work.” Faland then pulls out a bar of metal and shoves it into the forge before calling over his shoulder, “Don’t be just standing there. Go and get me that ore!”
“Jeez, bossy much,” Kazzrak mutters under his breath.
We place our daggers into our inventories and head over to where Ifalna is concentrating on a pair of leather gloves that are glowing. With a little bit of a flash, the glow subsides and is absorbed into the gloves.
“Phew!” Ifalna says as she wipes the sweat from her face when she notices us. “That one was draining to the max.”
“Hey, Ifalna, how’s the Enchanting going?” I ask coyly with a shifty look.
Ifalna’s guard is immediately up as she squints at us. “Why? So far so good. I’m level 60 now, so that is cool. The material cost is not too high, but there is a shortage on gems. That means I’m pretty much as high as I can level quickly without more items or farming some better-quality mats.”
“Ha!” Kazzrak grins and points at himself with his thumb. “Level 75 journeyman, bitch.”
“Whoa, that was fast,” exclaims Ifalna. “I thought you said four and a half hours?”
“Yeah, practise made things go faster.” I grin as we produce the thirty Elegant Bronze Daggers and put them on the bench she is working on.
“Oh, purdy,” Ifalna purrs while casting a shifty look around. “These won’t hold a higher-level enchantment, so I’ll just put plus two Dexterity on them.”
Within a minute, she has finished and shouts over to a nymph who is using another bench, “Artisan Pottle! I have quite a few nice daggers here ready to be handed out among the groups!”
“What?! Where did you get those?” asks the enchanter as he shuffles his way over to us. He squints at the daggers before moving his gaze to us. “You made these? So you can make gear, can you?
“Well, then. We are a little short supplied here with that order from the new duke putting a spanner in the works. Telling everyone to get off their lazy arses. Hmph! What if we wanted to just laze about all day? Oh, but nooo, he just has to give everyone a purpose. Drive them to bettering themselves. Well, I ought to go give this so-called Lord Sy—!”
I think something clicked in his head, because he abruptly shuts his mouth. He turns to Ifalna with a look that is surprisingly similar to either biting into a lemon or a fresh turd. Quite similar, if you didn’t know. “Apprentice, why haven’t you introduced your friends yet? Very rude, I must say.”
Ifalna just rolls her eyes and gestures between us. “Artis
an Pottle, meet Lord Sybaal and Earl Kazzrak. They have just crafted these daggers for us to enchant, which I did, and then to distribute.”
“Why, you don’t say. Thank you ever so much, my lords,” Artisan Pottle forces out semi-politely in a slightly strangled voice.
“Lady Ifalna here was just informing us that there is a shortage of the higher-tier Enchanting materials. Is this true? Where would we be able to find these materials?” I ask, trying to hide my grin and failing utterly.
“If the miners would be more careful when gathering their ore, and if the blacksmiths would do the same when extracting the metal from the ore, then there would be a lot more, I assure you!” Artisan Pottle scowls.
“We extracted several malachite and tiger’s eye from the copper and tin ore we combined into bronze to make these daggers,” I say, puzzled. “How many gems do you need per enchantment?”
“Well,” Ifalna begins, “I need to first imbue them with mana and then crush them into a powder. That powder I sprinkle over top of the item we want to enchant, with varying amounts and combinations. Finally, I cast the particular enchantment spell that has the stats I want to increase, and imbue more mana into the powder to make it set.
“So a normal-sized malachite would give me two basic enchantments or one higher-level one. Mixing powders also generates a more powerful stat increase.”
“Interesting,” I say thoughtfully. “So you need quite a lot of gems if you were to enchant all our gear with even the basics.”
“That’s the one,” Ifalna replies.
“And my apprentice here just used up the last of the tiger’s eye. So we will have to find some more if we are going to be enchanting anything else.” Artisan Pottle sighs. He looks Ifalna up and down before looking like a light bulb went off in his head again.
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 22
