Chapter 14: The blacksmith shop

"We're here." Vivian turned around to face Eldrian before continuing, "Let's go in."

Eldrian was quite surprised that this was the place she was talking about. While it was a three-story building, which was rare. It didn't have any fancy decorations, only a sign saying.

[From iron to adamant]

[Sidirourgos]

"So, this is your dad's friends' shop?" Eldrian asked as he followed her into the plain shop.

"Yeah. I know it doesn't look like much from outside. But it is one of the best blacksmith shops in the city."

Eldrian was surprised by the amount of armor and weapons on display inside. All the walls were decorated with weapons of a fast array. From daggers to greatswords in shelves around the room and then polearms and bows hung on the walls. There was also armor stands blotted around the room in a manner that didn't make it hard to walk around, or view the different works.

The place gave Eldrian the feel that it was a real blacksmith shop like he often saw in fantasy shows.

Vivian walked up to the counter and talked to one of the shopkeepers. The girl then ran into the backroom, seeming to go get someone.

Eldrian approached Vivian and asked her what that was about. To which she replied that she just asked the girl to go get the manager.

Eldrian heard an angry voice coming from the backroom just a few seconds later.

"Goddam idiot! Who would come and disturb me while I'm working? Everyone knows I don't like interruptions." The voice was deep but soft, clearly, this person was just complaining to himself and didn't actually want others to hear. Unfortunately for him, his voice carried easily in the quiet shop.

As the man came out of the door and saw Vivian his expression changed from annoyance to happiness, "Ah if it isn't Vivian. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

When Eldrian saw him his first thought was, 'A dwarf.'

The man was shorter than Eldrian by a good amount, only reaching his chest height. But this didn't mean the man looked small, rather due to his build the man looked far sturdier than any other person Eldrian had seen so before.

"Hey Boran, I brought you a customer." Vivian said as her voice turned a pitch higher before continuing, "And maybe a new apprentice?"

"What this elf behind you. Why on earth would he want a weapon, he has obviously lived a sheltered life. Not even speaking of taking him as an apprentice, he would crack in a day." Boran countered as he looked Eldrian over.

"Certainly, you can never truly understand people from just looking at them. Boran, Haru is hardworking and very talented in learning. At least this is the case for when he trained." At this point Vivian leaned over to speak directly into Boran's ears, "You see, in just two days he already mastered a weapon to rank 1."

Hearing this Boran was very impressed, even left seeking words for a moment.

"Nonsense! The fastest record of someone gaining the needed levels was you, and it took you five days. You want me to believe he didn't just train enough to be able to rank up in two days. But also succeed in finding insight to master a weapon to rank 1 in the same two days?"

"It is true. He managed to succeed in ranking up in just an hour or so of sparring against me."

"Impossible! That defies all we know." At this stage, Boran seemed to have become anxious, as if this would ruin his worldview.

"I think it is because he is one of the Chosen," Vivian said this, leaning closer to Boran again. Hearing this Boran visibly calmed down.

"Then that makes some sense. Even you needed two weeks to gain the insight needed to rank up. But if he is a Chosen, then he could have used a blessing from the gods to level up quicker." By now Boran looked at Eldrian differently.

"What weapons are you interested in?" Boran asked after turning to Eldrian to address him directly.

"Ah, sir. Currently, I am planning on using a few different ones. They are, an arming sword and shield, double-headed spear, poleaxe, and maybe a bow." Eldrian decided to say the weapons he believed he would like to use when he goes to fight.

"Why on earth would you want so many different weapons?"

"I plan on becoming an adventurer after I have learned the basics, sir. So, in this case, I would like to have different weapons for different situations."

"Oh, and how do you plan on traveling with so many weapons?"

"This is quite simple actually. I plan on wearing the sword and shield. The rest I will store in my inventory."

"Inventory? What is that?"

"Oh yes. Only we Chosen have this, I guess? It is a dimensional storage." When Eldrian said this both Vivian and Boran's eyes flew open.

"Are you serious? You all have a dimensional storage?"

"Yes, is it very rare?"

"Rare, more than rare. Even the most basic dimensional storage of only cubic meter would normally sell for over a couple of thousand gold." Boran replied exasperated.

Hearing this Eldrian was left speechless. Their storage had two compartments. A three cubic meter area where he believed they could store random stuff. The other was like a game inventory, with slots. Currently, this compartment allowed the storage of 10 items. Eldrian hadn't played with this system to figure out how it worked yet exactly.

Boran now looked at Eldrian as if he was a massive threat. Since anyone who had a dimensional storage could just take what they wanted and leave no evidence.

Seeing the warning look directed at him Eldrian didn't know how to respond. He instead tried to change the subject.

"I would also like to learn how to smith. If possible, would you train me?" He asked earnestly.

Seeing the earnest look from Eldrian, Boran decided to put aside the other problem for now. In any case, Boran reasoned he would be able to just arrest Eldrian if he tried. Even if he didn't give back the item, he wouldn't be able to do anything with it in a jail cell.

After thinking of this insurance Boran started walking back to the door he had just entered through.

"Sure, but first show me how determined you are."

Vivian and Eldrian followed after him.

As they arrived in the room Eldrian discovered that this entire room seemed to be for Boran only. Almost as big as the entire shop, yet no other people were inside. A massive forge was on the wall directly facing them. There were also four oil barrels near this forge and many anvils of different colors. Eldrian believed they weren't made of iron, which was soon proven by Boran's words.

"You don't need to look at those anvils kid, they are far past your ability. We use them to make magic materials." Saying this Boran led Eldrian to a corner in the room where a smaller forge was. Smaller, but still big. This forge was easily as big as a piano.

Boran took a few pieces of scrap metal and pushed them into the furnace.

"Here's your test Haru. Combine these pieces into a single rod. You have 2 hours." Boran said as he walked to his big forge and started heating up his metals again.

{Player has received a new quest.}

{Quest name: Basic blacksmithing.}

{Quest giver: Boran}

{Quest Description: Player must blacksmith scrap metal pieces into a complete single rod.}

{Quest Progress: 0/1 complete rod}

{Quest rank: SS}

{Quest Time limit: 2 hours}

{Quest Reward: 100 000 XP, condition to becomes Boran's apprentice}

'Are you kidding me? A double S ranked quest. How the hell am I supposed to complete this.' When Eldrian looked further down and saw the XP reward he was left stunned, 'How many levels would that give me!?' He screamed internally.

After spending around a minute just being stunned by the quest he just received, Eldrian realized that something was off. This certainly wasn't normal. Forging the scraps into a single rod would be difficult, but not to a degree this quest proposed. 'That means the scrap metal must be strange, probably a magic metal.' Eldrian concluded.

Unfortunately, he had no idea how to forge such advanced metals, so he just tried the methods he had seen on shows.

Having planned what to do, Eldrian started acting. He first got himself a hammer, some tongs, and a glove. After which he walked over to take a look at the material. It was a silver-colored metal, but Eldrian felt certain it wasn't silver. Looking on Eldrian saw that the metal didn't seem heated at all, so he decided to give it more time.

Around ten minutes later Eldrian finally took out the metal scraps to try and hammer them. They were each shaped like cracks often seen in rocks. Almost like a lighting rod frozen in time. After spending so long in the forge the metal only glowed softly.

Eldrian observed these pieces, trying to figure out how he should go about working them together to form a single rod. He observed that each one was only a few millimeters wide at most and in total there was easily over a hundred. Eldrian pictured a bundle of wooden sticks as he held it.

Eldrian readied himself to start hammering to see what would happen. As he turned to the anvil, he saw Vivian giving him a thumbs up and cute smile.

This simple act has given Eldrian a new surge of energy. Certainly, any man would want to show off after receiving such encouragement.

Eldrian thus started hammering the pieces, happy to also find that after eating his fatigue level was only at level 1 again. This gave him even more encouragement.