The Strongest Wizard

Round #2

29th December 1018 / 2018 1015hrs

"D I N G. You have 15 minutes more to utilise the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room. Your time will expire, and if you wish, you may approach our friendly staff to book another session. Thank you for your patronage and may you have a great day ahead."

The system notification rang inside my room as I had just completed hammering down a small ingot and had just thrown it into the bucket of water.

*S P L U T T E R*

*S I Z Z L E*

The last ingot also spluttered and sizzled the moment it was thrown from the anvil to the bucket of water. For the past 5 hours, I had not rested even for a minute. I had been swinging the hammer down incessantly to achieve my target. I had done with 60 ores out of 2000 that I had withdrawn from the Votrieburg City Storage. However, out of these 60 ores and ingots, only 6 were able to turn into ingots that the system had approved...!!!

5 freaking hours and all I got was 10 ingots...?!?! What the hell...!!! But this is the path that I had taken months into the game, and I got the upper hand advantage, so I got nothing else to complain.

I looked at the system panel and discovered that I had surpassed to Level 2 and am midway through Level 3 in Metallurgy (Blacksmithing). I was wondering how long I had to suffer in this heated room since I managed to hit the 60 ores successfully for more than 400 times to churn out 10 copper ingots...!

Damn...! This could not cut it, and I need to spend more hours to reach to where I was before. I went out of the room that I had booked after wearing my robe in a huff. I was sweating like a pig, and I knew that my gaming capsule would be flooded with my drops of sweat as well.

"Hello there. I would like to book another 5 more hours, please and retain the room." I spoke to the proprietor, and he nodded his head as I passed him another 250 credits to use the facilities.

The NPC proprietor nodded his head approvingly at my progress and wished me luck, or maybe he was glad to receive my credits. There go the number of credits that I had borrowed from the core members earlier during the auctioning.

I huffed back to the rented Apprentice Blacksmith Room and closed the door behind me. I removed my robe and threw it aside as I began to work on the copper ores for another 5 hours once more.

*T I N K*

*C L A N G*

*T I N K*

*T I N K*

If I wanted to be a good Blacksmith, then I should have the patience to perform the task at hand and ensure that I hit the heated piece of copper ore to become an ingot. The copper ore was flattened after numerous hammerings, and I discovered the right stance to hold the hammer as well as the positioning of my body. After making minutes adjustment, I was able to land a perfect hit on the feated copper ore the size of a baby's head...!

"HAHAHAHA...!! This is how we do it...Yeah...!" I was singing a tune, and I sashayed inside the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room, knowing that there are no closed-circuit cameras around to monitor me at all...!!!

*H A M M E R*

*H A M M E R*

*T I N K*

*T I N K*

*T I N K*

"My goodness, I have to concentrate on doing this from the basics if I want to ensure that the Guild and Twilight Trading would have a bright future. If I take this as a chore, then might as well I go and appoint someone, pay a salary and then ensure that they perform their job well. They would not have the liberty of procuring these 2 Skill Books because there's only 2 each in this MMORPG. I am the luckies lass who could lay my hands on this and to ensure the growth of our Guild."

"Once I am done with this, I would have to return to the Armoursmith next, to forge these pieces of ingots into an armour piece. I am sure that the recipes that I had taken would be beneficial for me to make such an armour piece."

I was feeling ecstatic at the way I had progressed. I am sure that even though this is an early stage, I should be able to forge some new pieces of armour. That would be the envy of those players from Level 10 onwards. The armour pieces should be able to be par to those found in bronze treasure chests.

*H A M M E R*

*T I N K*

*T I N K*

*T I N K*

I was literally sweating buckets and the sweat pooled under my feet. It was as though I had peed through my boxers, and everything I wore was soaked. I was wondering how I would look like in the mirror if I were to wear my long robe and perform these tasks for 10 hours without taking a single break.

"Dammit...! I would gather up all these ingots once they are done, and then I would head back to rest for some time. I need to have something to replenish me. The thought of a jug of chilled isotonic drink worked me up to such pitch, and I was able to complete another 5 hours of hammerings. This time, I had hammered 100 pieces of copper ore, and I had successfully smithed 20 pieces of ingots that the system passed.

"D I N G. You have 15 minutes more to utilise the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room. Your time will expire, and if you wish, you may approach our friendly staff to book another session. Thank you for your patronage and may you have a great day ahead."

"Phew...!!! Let me check the stats and see how I progressed...!" I slumped on the cushion set on the floor near the end of the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room where I was able to count those ingots that I had successfully smithed.

When I checked the statistic for the Metallurgy, I discovered that I had levelled up the Blacksmith Skills up to Level 5 with just a 3% EXP. Well, its better than nothing as I sighed a huge sigh of relief. I counted the ingots and discovered that I had 30 pieces of ingots, and that would not be sufficient for a single piece of armour if I were to forge one later.

What I need right now is a cold shower both in the virtual and real world. I checked out from the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room with my newly smithed copper ingots. I walked over to The Unarmed King's tavern to have a cold shower and then log out to head back to the real world.

I checked in, the barkeep was eyeing me curiously, but I could not bother to give a hoot. I paid for the room, dragged myself upstairs and slumped myself on the bed, and I had never felt so tired before.

I headed for a cold shower after a short nap and then sent a broadcast to all the core members that I would be logging off and be contactable through my mobile phone.

One after another replied and I realised that the core members earlier had went mining and then went hunting for some high-level mobsters. I knew that they would only be able to find Level 15 monsters at this moment, so I sent them coordinates to where the Level 25 mobsters were currently hiding.

"Be careful out there. Those Swift Grey Foxes are wily, and they could nip your butt and give you a bleeding effect until your HP turned zero. Level up until you all had reached Level 25. Carry Snowbunny if he wishes, if not then leave him be soloing the rest of the Swift Grey Foxes. No one in the right mind would enter the grounds. Its another greyed out area for grinding. Keep the coordinates to yourself.

"Captain Guild Leader, won't you join us for a while bit if you get back on? At least you can stretch your legs while you correct us in our attack moves. We had gotten some scrolls and are using it to see if they are good enough or else we just put them in reserves."

The one who sent the message was Snowbunny, and I politely rejected his offer since I need a rest badly. Also, I would head for another 5 more hours in the Apprentice Blacksmithing Room. I would then move another few more pieces of ingots to the Armoursmith Room. I would then start reading and practising the Armoursmith Skills Book plus a few more scrolls to assist in the overall skills.

"No biggies, Captain Guild Leader. We go and level up and leave you behind. Hahaha...!!!"

That Snowbunny is really cheeky. Has been like that since I knew him before and even here in the past. Well, time for me to log off and then head for a real sower back home. This MMORPG is such a hassle as it resembles the real-life 70% of the time.

I lay down on the bare bed and got ready to log off and soon, I had awoken in my own gaming capsule back home.

"Phew, one task had been completed, and yet another one has yet to come." I lamented to myself as I opened the gaming capsule with a hiss and then stepped out. True enough, my gaming capsule's inner lining was soaked with my sweat, and I yanked it out to let it dry for the time being. I checked the time, and it showed nearly 1600hrs. It is time to grab some grub before dinner and then rest for 2 hours for a power snooze.