The Strongest Wizard

Blacksmithing Captain Guild Leader

29th December 1018 / 2018 0622hrs

"Right guys, have you got anything else to do? The Master Sergeants are going to trade off all the pieces of armours and weapons. We would only be trading off the semi-precious topaz and white zirconia which we had in abundance in our storage." In a single vote of confidence, the core members and the casual workers had decided to contribute the semi-precious gemstones instead to the Guild. The core members had also voiced out not to retrieve the 8,000 credits that I owe them.

"I do not know what to say, guys, you had done so much for the Guild in a single day, and I am so thankful for your thoughtfulness. By the way, you also need to have credits regularly, right? In that case, I better go and learn the Blacksmithing and Armoursmith as soon as possible. Hmm, in the meantime, I could rent the crafting room in the Crafter's Avenue to perform the Blacksmithing since the permanent one for our Guild would not be ready in a few days. Since those Lifestyle Gamers that had gone for Coal, Copper and Tin mining, stored all the thousands of ores inside the Votrieburg City Storage. Right now, since there was no response from the forums that Tinkerbell advertised for a Blacksmith and Armoursmith, might as well I am the one who would be performing it."

I announced to the core members, and they understood that being a Guild Leader requires one to sacrifice certain matters like levelling up on adventurer's skills.

"Captain Guild Leader, are you going to the Crafter's Avenue right after this? We would be trading these semi-precious topaz and white zirconia with the NPC Merchants later. We would be going mining for more of these as well as top up the Tin, Copper and Coal ores for you. After midday, we would be grinding some Level 25 mobsters. Are you coming along with us, Snowbunny? You really need to level up as well."

Snowball highlighted to me, and I knew that they would be doing this for our cause and had invited Snowbunny over to grind and level up.

"Sure, of course, I am coming with you guys. I would like to exchange some moves with the mobsters. I am just a lowly Level 12 MT but don't you ever look down on me, yeah? Hahaha...my casual party members had seen me move and I would like you to pick up some skills too."

"Sure...Sure...Anything you think that would be good for me, I would gladly pick up the right skills from the NPC later on. Hahaha... I wondered how we move since we are both wielding a shield each."

The core members sure looked excited since their first task would be farming for resources. Then they would be looking for some life-saving or attack moves that would be beneficial since I had mentioned to them earlier.

"Alright, Captain Guild Leader, we would be heading out to mine at the edge of the town first, yeah? See you later..." Snowbunny winked at me as he walked past me and waved his hands. My heart fluttered for a moment, and then I had to walk away and head towards my intended destination. I would not let these type of sentiments to cloud whatever I need to do at hand.

I went to Votrieburg City Storage and went to retrieve 2000 pieces of Copper ores and the Blacksmithing Skill Book. Some scrolls could help me in the Blacksmithing Skills, and I took them away as well. At the moment, I am unable to meddle with other ores, so I have to settle with copper ores first.

I walked over to the Crafter's Avenue, and I located it after several twists and turns. I walked in leisurely since there was no queue at the building that I wished to enter. There is no need for a laborious sign at the building, and it only had a square piece of flat wood with an engraving of an anvil.

"Good morning, adventurer. Ah, Beast Tamer, it seems and Baroness Za. What can we do for you today?"

"Hello there, proprietor. I would like to rent one of your rooms, please. The Apprentice one should be a good start. How much would it cost per hour?" I am unable to book a room for several hours at first without asking for a price, or the NPC would even think there might be a system glitch on me.

"Ah, the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room would cost 50 credits and hour. The Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Blacksmithing Room would cost 100, 250 and 400 credits respectively. How many hours are we looking at Beast Tamer, Baroness Za?"

I looked at the time behind the counter and saw that it was almost 0700hrs, and midday would be the time the core members would go and grind for mobsters.

"I would book for 5 hours, please. Here you go, 250 credits for the rent of the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room." I handed the proprietor, a coin pouch containing 250 credits and then I headed to the room after I was given the key.

The Apprentice Blacksmithing Room was on the ground floor, and there are 4 floors altogether. The higher the room, the better the chances for one to produce the ingots. It would mean that I need more than 2000 thousand pieces of copper ores to even become a Basic Blacksmith. Now I am just a nobody right now, but fortunately, I have the Blacksmithing Skill Book.

I inserted the key into the keyhole for one of the Basic Blacksmithing Room and entered. In the middle of the room was a pair of bellows, a flatbed coal furnace, a large bucket of water, a tong to pick up the heated ores and also an anvil with 5/10/20 pounder blacksmithing hammers on the floor.

There was a large vent above the furnace to extract the air out, but there was nothing to actually cool the one that wields the Blacksmithing hammer. There was a small cushion for one to sit and evaluate the works, and so I sat down on it and removed the Blacksmithing Skills Book out from my spatial storage space. I opened up the Blacksmithing Skill Book and saw the attributes on it.

Luck +10% Blacksmithing +15% Success +10%

Not bad for a Blacksmithing Skills Book that I had bought for 15,000 credits. Now its time for me to start Blacksmithing...!!!

Since I had opened up the book, it became bonded to my account. It was unlike those recipes where one would read, and it would dissipate in the air. There is a big difference between recipes scrolls and professional skill books. It would be great having recipes scrolls to make specific pieces of armour by the Armoursmith. In the early stages of the game, a lot of gamers were looking for such shops selling armour and weapons, but there are only two shops that sell only light and heavy weapons. Other than that, the gamers have to grind for pieces of armour that the mobsters drop. It is a different type of gaming here in The Lord Of Red Dragon.

The scrolls that could assist me in my Blacksmithing were Luck and Success Rate, and these scrolls do increases +5% each respectively. It would be better than nothing, and now my Luck, Blacksmithing and Success Rate is 15% across the board. This means that I would have an ingot for every 5 ores that I destroy... Sheesh...!!!

I threw in 6 pieces of copper ores inside the furnace and worked the bellows. Since I was alone inside the Blacksmithing Room, and there were no closed-circuit cameras to monitor me inside. I took off my wizard's robe, set it aside along with my staff and then began to worked the bellows in just my sports bra and boxers.

"Phew...! What a relieve...! At least I could work more effectively in this way rather than to clad myself with the leather apron instead."

I worked the bellows as the bed of coals turned red-hot. Once I had it heated up, I used the tong to pick up a piece of copper ore and placed it on the anvil. I then picked a 5 pounder hammer and stood with my legs slightly apart as I took a stance. I hope I am doing this right since you would not find any girl who would be doing a man's job.

*B A N G*

*B O O M*

*C L I N K*

*C L A N G*

*B A N G*

"Damn...! This is sure a difficult job for me. I could only hit the red hot copper ore squarely, and it would sound as a CLINK or a CLANG. If I missed just a little bit, I would be hitting the anvil instead. The recoil from the hammer on the anvil is quite unbearable...!!! Maybe I should not swing the hammer too high...! Sheesh...!!!"

I continued with my hammering, and I do not bother much about the statistics on Metallurgy. This was reflected clearly within my system panel. It would count as success hit every time the hammer connects with the ore squarely.

After I had hammered about 100 times, I picked the piece of so-called ingot and threw it into the bucket of water.

*S P L U T T E R E D*

*H H H I I I S S S S S*

It spluttered and hissed and after a few moments, I dipped my hands inside and withdrew it for closer inspection.

*D I N G*

*You had failed to forge a copper ingot. Please try again. Good luck.*

"Dammit... Haish. Guess I have to keep on trying then as I opened up my system to take a look at the stats fr Metallurgy.