It had been two weeks since Jake secluded himself in Master Aaron's basement.
It took him a week to refine his basic jewelry skills and learn Savoir Faire Of Inspiration. Just like he had declared before, Jake was confident in creating a fire-resistant necklace.
He achieved this goal.
Created from a fine copper piece, Jake's necklace bead received a drop of his inspiration, conjuring a fire resistance effect!
[Your item, Archer's Anti Fire Mage Necklace, has been completed.]
[Archer's Anti Fire Mage Necklace(Rare)(Accessory)(Durability(100/100)(100% Mana)]
[Lv. Requirement—20]
[Rare Passive Skill—It's warm—applies an invisible fire resistance aura to the player and his equipment. The skill's strength depends on the mana stored within the necklace. Current bonus: 25% Fire Resistance!]
Jake stared at the necklace bead resting on his palm.
A spark of inspiration urged him to create a fire-resistance accessory. It wasn't a coincidence that he chose a necklace, as Sin was the origin of that inspiration.
If anyone knew, Jake would probably go all red before them.
The skill's name, It's Warm, also made Jake recall the heat he felt upon picking up Eve's Necklace from Sin and seeing her tease him a week ago about its warmth.
'I didn't expect that inspiration to work out so well... twenty-five percent of fire resistance seems huge! Maybe if I try more, I will be able to receive fifty percent buff! This is fun!' Jake thought.
He tried not to think about the inspiration too much, but Jake's scarlet cheeks revealed that he had his meeting with Sin at the back of his head.
'After that, I should try to inspire myself with Cerberus' howl. It was Odin that had awakened Cerberus, but if I craft an accessory with an aura similar to Cerberus, my summons, particularly Odin, should benefit from it! Oh! I can make the strongest arrows for Fenrir's Thunder with accessories dotting arrow spines! It sounds so fun!'
Someone else didn't think it was fun.
Odin attacked Jake's leg as he widened his jaw and bit into his flesh.
"Odin?!" Jake slightly jumped, as it was an unexpected attack! He looked below, finding his first companion gnawing on his calf as though it was a snack. "Don't read my thoughts! Damn it! Why are you disliking the idea?! Stop biting on me!"
Because Odin's cooldown had been triggered, Odin didn't let his master go until he was forcefully taken back to the tattoo plastered on Jake's right arm.
Jake sighed with relief, "Sigh... was that jealousy? Fine! I'll learn about bows now!"
It was exactly for that reason that Jake spent one week on jewelry and another on bow crafting! Master Aaron had taught him a lot about bows, and his workplace was the perfect place to create the second Harbinger Of The Archer.
Jake particularly loved the heat furnace as it allowed Master Aaron to control the flexibility of the wood the best! It was so much better than Jake's primitive method of waving his bow's riser above the bonfire.
Each time Jake mentioned this, Master Aaron would rebuke him.
"Yer have created many bows already. Each is of the highest quality, and yer have learned my Wooden Bow Mystery Of Craft. What's stopping yer from crafting the second Harbinger Of The Archer?" Aaron asked.
Holding his chin, Jake slowly replied, "Uh... how do I say that... I've learned new methods, and the facilities here are so awesome... I also should be able to make a sight for my bow with the jewelry skills I learned. But I feel like I must learn more or add something more so that this second Harbinger Of The Archer can be my partner for a long while.
For it to be able to be continuously improved as I learn more about archery and its craft."
"Thank you, Master Aaron!" Jake broadly smiled at the old man.
Aaron said, "I'll meet Viktor, then. Yer take care of the basement and hone your craft until I return with good news!"
"Yes, sir!" Jake saluted like a soldier or a good disciple.
Aaron chuckled.
He left his house and strolled toward Viktor's workplace. It was on the outskirts of the capital, so he had a lot of time to think about Jake's request.
'Minerva is on our side,' Aaron thought as he caressed his long beard, 'She treasures Viktor as though he were her own grandson and is so close with his grandma that I wouldn't be surprised if these two had an affair in the past. We should be able to squeeze Jake into her schedule and have him follow her.'
At this point, Aaron reached Viktor's house.
He knocked.
No one replied.
'Strange... this tsundere doesn't really leave his house, does he?' Aaron thought.
That was when loud bangs came from across the door.
Aaron trembled.
He heard those peculiar whistles and those satisfying sounds of targets getting hit!
He turned down the knob and entered the house!
'Ah, this... this is a passion reignited!' Aaron joyfully exclaimed.
On the other end of Viktor's workplace—the tree plantation—Viktor stood with a bow clenched in his left hand. Various effigies with skulls wearing red mantles were lying down at his feet, all torn and utterly broken!
Arrows' ends poked from their tough hides and bones!
Those were high-level effigies that no common player could rest their eyes on!
Only soldiers of The Warmonger Empire could practice on those highly advanced menaces!
Viktor tilted his head and looked over his shoulder at the old master.
He said, "You need me?"
Aaron sneered, "Only for a short talk. I won't take much of your time, tsundere."
Viktor scoffed.
When he heard that Jake wanted to meet Minerva, Viktor dropped a peculiar gaze at Aaron. In his eyes, Minerva was such an annoying old hag that he couldn't see through Jake's idea or inspiration, even with Aaron's explanation.
"It's not up to us to question or see through Jake's archery. We have yet to see it fully displayed! Yer want to lend me a hand?" Aaron said.
Viktor belatedly nodded, "Let me take a bath first. I'll go with you to the castle."
"Good," Aaron nodded.