Second World

Grenmir started to talk about the blacksmithing process. Since Jack joined them in the middle of their curriculum, he had no context about what Grenmir was yapping about. Jack was starting to regret joining this blacksmith training by this time. He wished he was with Samuel inside the guestroom and just trained his martial arts or casting spells. Instead, he was stuck here listening to things he had no idea about.

But soon the lecture touched a subject Jack knew. It was about materials. Grenmir described that there were unlimited blacksmithing materials out there, but the ores served as the basic materials that every blacksmith had to work with. These ores were not only used for upgrading equipment levels but were also the standard materials used in the creation of new equipment.

There were two different ores for every grade. Iron ore and Steel ore were the common ones, which Jack most used to. They were also the only ones that could be bought in the shop. Uncommon ores consisted of Copper ore and silver ore. Rare grade had Gold ore and Black Iron ore. At Super Rare were Titanium ore and Mithril ore. Unique ores had Adamantine and Magicite ores, these were the highest grade his Transformation Prism could create by fusing the lower grade ores.

The highest Legendary ores were Astral ore and Orichalcum ore. Any mining deposit discovered for these legendary grade ores could trigger a war between nations. Currently, the only known mining place for these two legendary ores was in the Republic of Palgrost, which was also the homeland of the dwarfs. To avoid conflict, the seven great countries had signed a treaty for joint custody of these mines. The ores mined from here would be divided equally amongst the seven of them.

After finishing the subject on ores, Grenmir informed everyone that it was time for practical training. Jack was elated to hear that. But at that time, he also received a notification that due to Grenmirʼs lecture, his blacksmithʼs proficiency had increased by 10%.

He was surprised. After reaching Expert grade, it took an awful lot of proficiency to increase the level. Some players had focused only on their blacksmith skills, but even for them, the highest level they currently had was the same as him, at basic expert. Although the progression of their proficiency bars was much higher than him.

The highest player in his guild who focused on blacksmithing skills was at 70% proficiency. Jack himself was only at 12%, despite he had done a lot of leveling up on the guildʼs equipment for core members. Now, by only hearing Grenmirʼs lecture for a short one hour, he had gotten a 10% increase, putting his proficiency bar at 22%. This was an unexpected boon. He suddenly wished Grenmir would give another lecture again.

The practical training was crafting uncommon equipment. Grenmir gave them a set of items. A 3D hologram appeared above their work table as it displayed the recipe and its crafting process. The only equipment Jack had crafted was his previous Blood Guard Scale Armor. The process was similar to the last time he crafted that rare armor. He had to hit the materials in a rhythm as demonstrated by the hologram display until they became the appropriate shape, before combining the parts together.

Grenmir walked around giving his advice to each of his students, including Jack. They didnʼt just work on one uncommon equipment, their work tables continued to spew up new recipes once the previous was completed, with Grenmir supplying the materials. The finished products were of course taken by the dwarf as well. The recipe of the equipment he had crafted did not register in his known recipe list. All Jack got for working here was skill proficiency.

Jack lost track of time. They had been working on three rare equipment already by the time Grenmir concluded the training. Jack saw that his proficiency was at 62%, catching up to the best blacksmith in his guild. He didnʼt forget to also use his runecrafting every time he worked on the recipe, increasing its proficiency as well.

Jack wondered if he was allowed to join this training again. He asked Grenmir about it, to which the dwarf answered that this was a one-time bonus. If he wished to receive Grenmirʼs training again, he would need to join the faction and worked up to a high enough rank for that.

Hearing that, Jack aborted the thought. He didnʼt have the time to tackle another faction. He was not that eager to become the best blacksmith anyway. He simply thought if his blacksmith grade was higher, it would help him save more materials when leveling up his equipment.

When the class was dismissed, Jack approached Grenmir and asked him if there was a way for him to purchase or request the crafting of super rare equipment. Again, Grenmir replied that it was possible if he joined the faction and got a high enough rank.

Giving up on trying to get more benefits, Jack retired to the guestroom. Samuel was already sleeping on the bed. They were given a room with windows that opened to the outside. Jack looked out and saw that it was late at night already. The blacksmith training did last for a long time.

Jack didnʼt skip his meditation training just because it was late already. He still spent one hour meditating to sense the flow of mana. He realized during his meditation that the structure he was in was not a normal building. Mana flowed strongly within these walls. There were also some hidden rune diagrams spread around the outer walls, probably for protection purposes.

The next morning, he woke up at the usual time. Samuel was already up as well. A maid brought breakfast into their room. Jack did his routine exercise in practicing his Formless Flowing Sword style and Eight Diagram Illusory Steps.

”That is some peculiar training you do,” Samuel commented. ”Is that outworldersʼ way of combat?”

”Itʼs what we called martial arts,” Jack explained without stopping his practice. Samuel continued to watch him with interest.

The same maid came again later and informed them that Haestus was ready to meet with them. Jack and Samuel followed the maid, who brought them to a large grand hall with an enormous oval table. Jack saw Grenmir sitting before this oval table with two other persons. The curly blonde-hair woman who was next to Jack in yesterdayʼs training, Kirsi. Jack could see now that she was indeed a beauty, her face was no longer covered with soot. The other one was a tall bald man with a thin beard.

Jack used Inspect on the bald man and found that he was the person they were looking for, Haestus. He was a level 50 rare elite human. His Blacksmith level was at Basic Grandmaster, one step higher than Grenmir and higher than what prince Alonzo mentioned. Did this blacksmith increase his blacksmithʼs level recently?

”Greetings, Sir Haestus. My name is Storm Wind. I represent Prince Alonzo to form a formal alliance with Blacksmith Circle,” Jack announced in a proper manner.

”Hm, you are more polite today,” Grenmir commented.

ʼDamn! This dwarf still carries the grudge from yesterday,ʼ Jack thought.

Haestus chuckled. He said, ”Grenmir told me about you joining his class yesterday. He spoke rather highly of you. He commended your concentration in working on the task at hand. You made very few mistakes in yesterdayʼs practical training.”

”Hey, that was supposed to stay between us!” Grenmir complained.

”Donʼt be so stingy with praise. It will motivate your students better,” Haestus said.

”He is not my student,” Grenmir said.

Haestus laughed. He then said to Jack, ”I believe you have something for me?”

”Yes,” Jack took out the miniature treasure chest in his inventory and handed it to Haestus, who opened and studied its content. There were various rare materials and a rolled-up letter inside.

”I valued the third princeʼs generosity,” Haestus said. ”To be honest, the first and second princes had also approached us recently, but I had expressed my neutrality to them. Firstly, because I donʼt like those two. Secondly, my deals with Themisphere had always been with the Royal Advisor Mason, and Mason highly recommended Prince Alonzo. I thought at first the third prince was still too young and too weak, but after meeting him a few times, my opinion had slightly changed. Especially our meeting the last time after he returned from the expedition with the Duke, I can see he had matured. I heard about the assassination attempt, how is the third prince doing?”

”He was weak, but his life is not in danger. He will return to health again soon,” Jack answered.

”Good.”

”So, you will sign the letter?” Jack asked, indicating the letter inside the miniature chest.

”Well… I would love to, but…”

Jack sighed. Should have expected there would always be a but…

”Donʼt get me wrong, Iʼve talked with our factionʼs other upper echelons. We are mostly in agreement to support the third prince. However, at the moment, I am preoccupied with our own crisis. Of course, if the third princeʼs champion was to help us with this crisis, we can expedite on validating this cooperation agreement.”

Jack raised his brows. ”What kind of crisis?” He asked.

”Slaying a rare elite monster underneath this facility,” Haestus replied.

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