Chapter 223 - 217 : Rigged Steel

Blacksmithing was a job that required intense dedication, focus and endurance and these requirements weren't excluded in IR either. Unlike most VR games were players would simply wait for a loading bar to fill up and check the status of their creation, IR used the hands-on feature making it so that the efforts of players were intricately tied with the end result of their product. Players had to actively participate in the production of their equipment as the result actually depended on them. Just like blacksmiths in reality, players had to perform but the smelting, hammering, quenching and the other processes.

Of course, IR wasn't the first game to have done this. Some other fantasy games had achieved the same making it such that players weren't surprised nor frustrated at having to do such since a majority must have had prior experience at this. While it wasn't the first, IR did add in some new features to make the process not just easier and convenient but also fun and more realistic. In reality, blacksmiths need to train their endurance and strength as most of them could spend anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. But IR implemented the some but neat feature that linked one's attributes with their daily life in the game.

In most games, one's attribute points normally affect their fights and battles and not their daily life. One could have their strength at 100 points and be a "beast" in battles yet, the effect of their strength isn't noticed in their daily activities say for example, in lifting a cup or opening a door. It's as if there was no difference. The increase in attributes would only be noticed in battles and no where else. However, IR worked differently. An increase in attributes, be it [Strength] or [Agility] would be noticed in one's daily life, especially once the increase becomes large. With the constant increase in attributes, players' abilities would increase and this would also affect their abilities in their various subclass profession. Take for instance the Blacksmith profession. Increasing one's [Strength] would help players be able to shape their works with less strikes and it would also help them handle tougher and harder materials. One can't expect a player with 10 points in [Strength] to be able to hammer the toughest metal in IR even if it was heated.

Another feature that made blacksmithing fun in IR was the existence of various blacksmithing methods of which quite a few of them don't actually exist in reality. 

While quite a lot of people would be interested in the fancy of making their own weapons and equipment, not everyone was a fan the idea of sitting close to a furnace for hours while hammering a specific work at specific intervals and rate. Why some people might not have an issue with this, a lot of people would. So, to make the sub-classes more attractive, there were various kinds of Blacksmithing methods like mana forging, cold forging, reshaping and so on. These methods could be more difficult or easier compared to the usual 'furnace runs' but it was undeniable that they brought in a different taste to the sub-class though at the beginning of the game, these 'unorthodox' methods weren't easily available. Luckily for somebody though, the library of the Great Hall of Grey Chaplains had a few manuals on them.

"Before you begin, I received a piece of information from the guild master earlier on in regards to the test."

'The guild-master?' Sato was surprised.

"You have 2 choices. You either take the usual test but with 3 hours instead of 9 hours or, you take the second one with an increased difficulty." Miss Trevale said.

"The second one?"

"You will work with a tougher material but with a longer allocated time." She replied.

"Material rank and test duration?"

"Peak 2 star. 7 hours."

Sato frowned at the response as he began considering his available choices. While it wasn't impossible, it was not within Sato's current ability to be able to forge a weapon each 1 hour or each 1 and a half hour., if he went with the first test. He needed at least 2 hours to be sure of a successful product and this wasn't possible with the first. However, while the second option did provide him with more than the minimum amount of time he required, a peak 2 star rank material wasn't a joke or something he could easily handle.

"I pick the second option."

"Okay." Miss Trevale nodded. "The white blueprint on the table would be for your test. You can begin now."

*Ding*

[[System Notification :

Master Owen's trial

Mission Rating : B

Become an official blacksmith in 1 week time(In-game).

Rewards : Unknown 

Penalty : Banned from ever becoming a blacksmith

+30% increase in price when purchasing from Blacksmith guild

Relationship points with Blacksmith guild becomes [Hatred]

System Description : Go big or go home.           

Duration : 9 hours          ]]

'Let's see.' Sato approached the table and picked up the white blueprint.

"Rigged Steel long-sword."

Rigged Steel is a special variation of steel that ended up as a 2 star material. While the material itself wasn't rare or anything, the technique behind the production and the the logic behind it was an extremely guarded secret. This was because Rigged Steel was one of the very few 2 star ranked materials that formed with the aid of mana and other arcane forces. Unlike most minerals and materials that were produced naturally, Rigged Steel was one of the very few ones that had to be created artificially. It should be recalled that only 3 star and above materials can be formed with the aid of mana and other bizarre forces and because of this, the toughness of such materials supersede anything man could create. But Rigged Steel had actually reached this standard, albeit barely. It was developed by the Blacksmith guild of Fallen Heart Kingdom and the formula to do so was held tightly in their grasp to the point that even the Royal family doesn't know it. 

The reason was simply because Rigged Steel was one of the strongest 2 star metals, surpassing even Dawn Steel in toughness though by just a bit. What makes it even more amazing was that it could be made from the 1 star metal, steel. Unlike natural 3 star and 2 star materials that needed certain preconditions to form, as long as steel existed, Rigged Steel would always exist and the term 'scarcity' wouldn't be applied to it. Considering that iron was one of the most abundant metals in IR, the market for Rigged Steel could be said to never lack a supply. Sadly, due to the monopolization of the production method, an artificial scarcity was created leading to a hike in price. But still, the metal was worth it thanks to its absurd characteristics for a 2 star ranked metal. It even had an unofficial nickname cause of that; the false 3 star element.

'As if having such a limited time-span wasn't hard enough, I still have to work on one of the most toughest metals ever. Sigh, they really are making this test a whole lot difficult.' 

Being an apprentice blacksmith, Sato obviously knew about Rigged Steel and with the knowledge from the Hall of Grey Chaplains' library, he knew more. Yes. Apparently, the formula to produce the metal wasn't created by the blacksmiths of the kingdom but by the Caventry. The blacksmiths were just lucky to have stumbled upon an old site of the Caventry and excavated the place, finding the blueprint there. Sato also knew that the reason why there was a low production rate for Rigged Steel wasn't because the blacksmith guild had done so intentionally to hike up the price but because the manual they have is incomplete, resulting in a low success rate for the metal. Sato knew this because the real Rigged Steel had a strange rigged pattern that looked like both a wave and a crack on it and the one before him didn't look exactly the same or even similar. He had read all these at the library and had taken special interest in it since the metal was one of the few artificial ones in existence.

Such a crazy coincidence was actually good for Sato as while the blacksmiths of Fallen Heart had a barely complete manual, Sato had studied both the creation process and the manipulation process. So without a doubt, unless a blacksmith Caventry were to come here, Sato could be said to be the only existence in the town who knew how to perfectly manipulate the metal.

'This is going to be fun.'