Blacksmith vs. the System 16-20

— Chapter 16

My dreams of sleeping until noon had been ruined by a sudden stirring. Panicked, I opened my eyes, only to see Eleanor looking at me with a sharp expression. “Explain!” she ordered.

I froze. I hadn’t expected to be discovered, not after spending the whole night cleaning. Could it be that Maria had revealed something and Eleanor managed to connect the dots.

One good thing about being forcibly woken up by a scary woman with an even scarier aura that felt like a sword, my exhaustion had dispersed quite easily, my mind working overclocking in panic. The first question was what exactly she knew.

I had many secrets. Some mild, like the fact that my Forge skill had a perk it shouldn’t have, and some significantly more radical, like my Forge skill, wasn’t just Forge anymore. Answering the wrong question would only make the problem more troubling.

I decided to pick the safest option first. “I’m sorry. I have used more bronze ingots than we had agreed upon, but Lady Maria said that —”

“I’m not talking about it,” she growled, her aura tightening further. I knew she wasn’t talking about it, but the challenge was to know what she was talking about. “Tell me, what are your intentions towards her?”

This time, I didn’t need to fake my expression of shock. I truly didn’t understand what she was trying to say. “Is this about wasting her time by asking for her help?” I probed, confused.

She said nothing, examining my expression. I had no idea what she was looking for, but she must have found it because her aura receded once more. “Good, you know your place,” she said.

“Of course, ma’am,” I replied, a hint of military respect feeling appropriate. I didn’t know what it was, but nodding in acceptance seemed like a safe bet.

“Good. Now, prepare. You’ll be leaving with Maria soon. No funny business. Understand?”

With that, she left as sharply as she came. Her sudden intrusion into my living space was annoying, but the camp was similar to a military operation. And, there was no privacy in the military. Especially when I was the weaker party.

I quickly donned my armor and took my helmet. I touched them, enjoying the wave of new information provided by Mana Repair, allowing me to enjoy the intricacies of the products even more. Multiple enchantments overlapped, creating a confusing outlay, one that I doubted that I could handle even with my current abilities. But, if I could find a workaround —

I stopped that line of thought. As much as the idea of playing around with them was fun, I couldn’t afford to do so. Unlike the swords I brought to repair, my new armor and hammer were not disposable assets. Damaging them would attract undue notice.

And, even if I was willing, I didn’t have time.

“Ready for another day of adventure,” Maria greeted me cheerfully.

“Always,” I replied, this time, not even faking my excitement. I was looking forward to clearing the first threshold, curious what I would find. Not to mention, I had many questions that needed to be answered, and Maria was the best candidate. She was strong and came from a strong family, which meant she knew far more secrets than I did. Combined with her careless approach to secrets — at least minor ones that didn’t matter to her — she was the best target for probing.

I had thought about asking Eleanor, but her erratic behavior this morning had changed my mind.

For the first part of the flight, we played chess. Maria crushed me even harder than usual, though I was happy. Between moves, I managed to wheedle some stories from her. Mostly stories of previous battles, mostly about how she single-handedly managed to save the day.

She was clearly bragging, but that didn’t make her stories untrue. I had seen her destroy thousands of monsters without breaking a sweat. I couldn’t even imagine just how impressive she was when she actually faced a threat requiring her to push herself.

“ … And then, I created a wall of fire, enveloping the monsters as I hit from the side, saving the elites of the guild from certain destruction,” she finished another story.

“Wow, fascinating,” I said. “You must have been really proud. I wish that I could fight just as well, saving people rather than … being a worker.” That was so far from my true sentiments that it wasn’t even funny. While I envied the benefits of the stats granted to others, the last thing I wanted was to spend my days on the battlefield, risking myself every day.

I much preferred staying in my forge and tinker. It was not a replacement for a proper research project, but it was far better than going around fighting like another grunt. The world had enough of them already.

“If only I could change my class,” I baited. Faking sorrow wasn’t too hard. I just focused on the fact that I was thousands of feet above the ground, and started shaking.

Maria noticed my distress as she shifted in her seat, hugged me, and patted my back. A surprisingly kind move from her, which made me feel guilty about manipulating her. Still, I was already committed.

“Too bad the class promotion is not triggered by external skills. You would have made an excellent warrior with your determination,” she said, revealing a piece of information that I had been searching for.

“Yeah, it’s a pity that it only works with class skills,” I said, acting like it was something I knew all along. “Worse, it’s impossible to get skills for Production classes.”

“Not impossible, but very difficult,” she responded. “There had been one auction for Uncommon skill, though ultimately we weren’t able to afford it.”

“You couldn’t afford it?” I asked, shocked.

She blushed. “Well, only because this operation is … well, complicated. Our budget is limited, so ultimately, we decided an Uncommon Repair skill was not worth paying for.”

“May I ask how much it went for?”

“Two hundred platinum coins,” she replied, which shocked me. A platinum coin was worth a hundred gold coins, making that skill worth twenty thousand gold. I thought myself rich just because I had fifty gold coins.

The new economy didn’t make sense. Though, it was inevitable when money was generated by killing monsters, and used in mysterious shops with even more mysterious goods.

“Are all uncommon skills that expensive?” I asked.

She snorted. “Not even close. My own Rare meditation skill had merely cost four platinum coins. It’s just the rarity driving up the price. Some groups are trying to find a way to trigger upgrades for production classes. It’s a waste of effort.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because a rare skill is a minimum requirement to trigger a class upgrade,” she said. “People worked very hard to trigger class upgrades for production classes during the first days of Calamity.

“Before we discovered the System Shops,” I completed.

“Exactly. With the shops in place, the production classes are pretty much useless —” she started, only to freeze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Don’t worry about it. I can’t blame you for telling the truth,” I said, once again looking despondent. But, I was very happy with her unintentional insult. It meant that she would be looking for an opportunity to change the topic. “Too bad we can’t upgrade the skills ourselves, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, it would have been nice not to depend on dungeon drops for rare skills, not to mention anything higher,” she muttered in frustration. “You can’t believe how long I had stayed in a dungeon just to get my epic skill.”

“I’m sure there’s a good story there,” I responded, changing the topic once more. Her words already confirmed to me what I needed to know. I could ask further, but I decided not to appear too curious.

I had already received my most important answer. Rare production skills were either unheard of or their existence was suppressed.

I didn’t know which. There was a possibility that I was the only one that achieved it in the whole world. If I said that to someone else, they would certainly feel like it was arrogance. However, I couldn’t discount the possibility due to a combination of several unique factors.

First, the fact that I was a genius was an undisputed fact. Otherwise, I couldn’t have been one of the leading figures in my field before my peers could even finish their education.

Then, there were the three years I spent constantly working as a Blacksmith, which gave me some unique insights that proved very useful.

In addition, I had been lucky. Extremely so. If Maria hadn’t been a fire mage, if I wasn’t working in a location without environment mana to interfere, the experiment would have failed.

Yet, the biggest differentiator was a difference in belief. Everyone was dazzled by the benefits of the System, too ready to discard the learnings of the past. Maybe because technology had failed us, they believed science did as well.

A mistake. Technology was just a tool. If it was broken, you could always just develop a new one. Science, on the other hand, was a way to dissect and understand the world. It helped our ancestors to understand the mysteries of thunder and the seas.

I had no reason to believe it couldn’t do the same for the System.

But, ironically, my discovery had given me a reason to keep my head down. Science had allowed us to understand the world, but it didn’t always end well for the scientist in question. Galileo was almost burned at the stake, and Giordano Bruno was actually burned. Many other scientists had been killed, ostracized, or otherwise ruined for revealing the truth.

Particularly if that truth affected the established economic benefits.

No, as much as I wanted to reveal the truth, I didn’t dare to.

“Amazing. Then what,” I muttered, not paying attention to Maria’s story other than knowing when to nod and encourage — an ability I perfected in endless department meetings — while I charted the next stage of my strategy.

“Then, we gathered together and …” she said, then paused. “Too bad we have to stop. We have reached our destination,” she asked.

“Of course,” I said, then looked around, and realized it wasn’t the same location. “We’re not at the same place, right?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “Since you are already at level twenties, I decided that we can handle a more dangerous location.”

“Whatever you say. You’re the expert,” I said. I wasn’t entirely happy with it, but trying to argue against it was pointless considering she didn’t even ask my opinion in the first place.

I twirled my hammer. It was time to fight.

*****

— Chapter 17

The moment we landed, monsters gathered around us like moths to the flame. Then, Maria took action, turning that into a rather unfortunate pun.

While she fought, I tried to feel the mana around us, but failed. I had managed to feel the presence of mana when I had been working, but that was only through a combination of two of my skills. Without activating them, I couldn’t sense the mana around me.

I wondered if it would have been different if I spent my time practicing yoga — or other activities that I wrote off as nonsense — instead of working on science, but I didn’t really care about it. Too bad I couldn’t just get a skill like Meditation without corresponding Stats.

However, even as I moved the first wounded monster, I was thinking of ways to cheat. Luckily, I had my multipurpose hammer with me along with the warhammer. I looked toward Maria, and saw that she was busy with the next wave of monsters.

It was the best time to experiment. I pulled my multipurpose hammer, and tapped against the surface of my armor, doing my best to activate my Mana Manipulation perk.

As I did that, the head of the hammer worked like a magnet, some mana gathered to its head. I maintained my focus even as I smashed it against the wounded monster. It dispersed before I could kill the monster.

“No matter,” I said as I moved to the next wounded creature, repeating the trick again and again. My increased Strength allowed me to kill them with much more ease, though my faithful hammer was struggling under the blows.

Success, however, was fleeting. I was familiar with switching between the effects of the two skills. I had pulled that trick between Forge and Repair many times. Unfortunately, back then, I was pulling that trick between swings, just as a way to check the designs.

Now, I was trying to maintain the mana around the hammer, which was significantly more challenging. Switch too soon, and the mana dispersed. Switch too late, and the System didn’t register it as a use of Hammer of Might.

Worse, I was under a time crunch. The first wave of the monsters was the most dangerous one. Distracted by it, she wouldn’t notice my trick with the hammer, but that wouldn’t be true once the number of attacking monsters dropped to a manageable level.

Just as I was fearing I would have to stop before I could finish my experiments, I managed to switch just in time. The monster died under the blow, and a notification appeared.

[Hammer of Might (Uncommon) 7 -> 13]

Success. Well, technically, partial success, as the skill didn’t suddenly turn into a mana variant, but what I got instead was one of the reasonable results. The external skills and the class skills were different, so the lack of an upgrade was understandable.

This meant that the best-case scenario was out, but that didn’t make the experiment useless. Not only did it confirm the viability of the skill upgrade method for other skills, but also gave me a chance to upgrade my sole combat skill far faster.

Ordinarily, improving combat skills faster required fighting against more dangerous monsters, just like how repairing more valuable weapons improved repair faster. However, it had certain limits, particularly for someone like me with little experience in combat. After all, killing a wounded beast in one blow didn’t improve it as much as a deadly fight where one pushed oneself to the limit.

The jump of six skill levels for one blow, when the target was lying helplessly, was incredible enough. It meant that I had a rapid way of increasing my combat skills, which mattered a lot. I might not like fighting, but it was far better to be good with a hammer and not need to use it.

The post-Cataclysm world was filled with dangers by default. Having a better skill was certainly worth it. Every point mattered, particularly for an uncommon skill, which was harder to improve. Improving six points with one blow was incredible indeed.

While Maria was distracted, I killed fifty monsters with mana blows successfully, though I attempted many more. Technically, I could push my luck more, but factoring in diminishing returns and increasing risk of getting caught, I decided against it.

The rewards were rather fascinating.

[Level 22 -> 23]

[+2 Vitality, +2 Strength,, +1 Dexterity]

[Hammer of Might (Uncommon) 13 -> 53]

As much as confirming that external skills not granting any perk even at proficiency level fifty was a bummer, I was very happy with the gains. With an uncommon fighting skill at level fifty, I was actually qualified as a decent fighter, the kind that the expedition groups would try to hire rather than me trying to join them. Combined with my improving Strength, I was actually confident of defeating the monsters that were attacking us.

Well, one by one, with breaks in between. If I dared to come to a location like this without Maria’s assistance, I would have been shredded into pieces easily.

Ignoring the dreams of enacting the life of Conan the Barbarian, I shifted back to using the warhammer, and started demolishing the immobile monsters. Not an epic tale of cutting through the wilderness, but the steady effort of a workman, smashing again and again.

“How is it going?” Maria asked as she approached. I felt a sense of mana invading my body, one that disappeared just as quickly. “Level twenty-three, very good,” she said.

 I realized two things in quick succession. Her identification spell didn’t work on skills, just levels, or she would have reacted in a much more extreme manner. And…

I had just experienced a very close call, one of neglect. I never faced it, but it was not impossible for the others to have skills or spells that could see through not only the level but the other details.

“A quick question. How does your Identify skill work?” I asked.

“Nothing too fancy,” she replied. “It just shows the level of the target, and nothing else. Unfortunately, a basic one has its limits.”

“Are they even harder to find than Production skills,” I asked, always happy to learn more.

“Basic ones are, but the better versions are much easier to find,” she replied.

“Really?” I asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does when you factor in the requirements,” she said. “The basic one only requires Essence stat, but the common one needs both Essence and Perception. Not exactly a common combination,” she replied.

I nodded, feeling slightly more relaxed. It meant that I wasn’t facing the risk of revealing all my secrets immediately. Especially since it was rude to use Identify on people so it shouldn’t be too big of a risk.

Still, I made a note not to walk around in the camp. The last thing I needed was to get caught by a spy.

Inconvenient.

“So, are you ready to pass the threshold,” she asked.

“Frankly, no. I don’t even know what I need to do.”

“First, you need to prepare yourself for horrible pain,” she said.

“Oh, really?” I asked, chuckling. She wasn’t a good liar.

“Yes, when the mana hits, it feels like fire going through your veins. It’s the kind of torture you can’t imagine,” she said. I gasped in fear, acting like I believed her. She started giggling. “Don’t worry. You don’t need to do anything. It’s like getting a new perk. Once it hits, you get a choice.”

“Even if I have only one option,” I asked.

“Yes. It’s probably a safety measure. Once you trigger it, you start absorbing mana from the environment immediately, which can trigger the approach of monsters. Worse, you can trigger it in the middle of a mana-dead environment. It wouldn’t be pleasant.”

“Is it safe to do it here? Should we go back to town?”

She chuckled. “Don’t worry. With me defending you, there’s no risk,” she guaranteed. “Do you think there’s a monster in a ten-mile radius that can threaten me?”

“No, you’re amazing,” I said, enjoying the way she blushed. For a rude young woman, she was certainly weak to compliments.

“I … shut up and continue working. That’s enough for a break.”

“As you wish, my lady,” I said, giving an exaggerated bow. She smiled. Now that she warmed up to me, she was easy to deal with.

[Level 23 -> 24]

[+2 Vitality, +2 Strength,, +1 Dexterity]

“Another level,” I called, after another fifteen minutes of steady monster killing. Working in a more dangerous location was paying dividends. Another twenty minutes later, another notification arrived.

[Level 24 -> 25]

[+2 Vitality, +2 Strength,, +1 Dexterity]

[Class Upgrade: Blacksmith / Mana Mender / Mana Crafter / Mana Blacksmith]

“Well, that’s a surprise,” I muttered, once again cursing the necessity of a blind choice. And once again, I was making a choice with little information, solely based on the impressiveness of the name.

Mana Mender felt like a name for a class that focused on repair work. Carrying the indicator of Mana made it seem more impressive, but it was still enough to be eliminated.

Mana Crafter felt like a better option, but the existence of a mender implied that it would focus on the production side. More tempting than turning into a repair expert. The ability to mass produce weapons would have ensured a living for me without revealing myself.

However, ultimately, I chose Mana Blacksmith. The only reason I was able to discover the secrets of the skill upgrade was because I was able to play around with two skills, combining the information they offered. Choosing to prioritize one seemed like a bad idea.

Especially when level fifty didn’t seem too far away.

As I chose, another notification appeared in front of me.

[Class upgrade - 01%]

I wasn’t able to feel the movement of mana around me, but it must have been intense, as I could actually feel the air reacting with it, slowly circling me. Monsters at a distance started to move more vigorously, only to fall to Maria’s flames.

She even maintained enough control to leave them wounded.

“No need to stand still, go kill them,” she said. “It’ll make the process go faster.”

“I much rather try to feel what’s going on with my body,” I said. “It’s fascinating.”

“Sure, but it’ll last longer,” she warned. I ignored her as I closed my eyes, feeling the mana flow to me. I might not feel it outside my body, but it was a subtle stirring feeling once it reached my body. Merely a tickle and nothing more.

I decided to follow her suggestion and start killing monsters. Mostly because I didn’t want to make her suspicious. What if better classes required more time to change? By killing monsters, I could muddy that number more.

By killing monsters, it took ten minutes for class change to complete, and I was barely able to generate an impression of the process. A lost opportunity, but not enough to ruin my mood.

Not with my new class abilities in front of me.

[Mana Blacksmith - Level 25]

[Health 660/750] [Mana 0/120]

[Vitality 50 / Strength 50 / Dexterity 37 / Essence 13]

[Skills (4/9)

Mana Repair (Rare) - 25 [Inspect]

Mana Forge (Rare) - 25 [Intuitive Forging, Mana Manipulation]

Meditation (Common) - 1

Hammer of Might (Uncommon) - 53]

*****

— Chapter 18

“Congratulations,” she called as the mana around me calmed down. “Now, you belong to a new tier. How does it feel?”

I killed another beast and realized that my movements were noticeably smoother. For a moment, I thought that it was my increased Dexterity, but her reaction suggested that there was another reason. “Smooth, like I weigh much less,” I said.

“That’s because stepping over the threshold makes you get more aligned with your stats. It’s very helpful,” she said. “You’ll notice the difference even more as you push yourself,” she said.

“Certainly a welcome change,” I answered even as I moved on to the next monster. “It feels amazing.”

I wanted nothing more than to sit down and absorb mana now that I actually had the ability to do so. However, I ignored that temptation, for one simple reason. The moment I gained Essence, the world had shifted slightly, giving me the ability to perceive mana. Meaning, that Maria would notice easily if I tried to absorb any.

It was almost visual, though it didn’t suddenly distort the world with a blanket of blue or something equally annoying. I could just … perceive it. The quick way I could dismiss developing a completely new sense was a good indicator of just how ridiculous the System was. Miracles lost their quality of wonder once they became commonplace.

I killed another beast, focusing on other changes. Compared to other things, the slight increase in my Dexterity was less notable, but certainly welcome. A lot of complicated forge work required fine motor control and timing. Dexterity helped with both.

However, the real surprise was the sudden appearance of the new skill: meditation. The Skill mages used to collect mana.

I wondered if the appearance of it meant that it qualified as a class skill, or it was just an external skill. I would have questioned Maria about it, but I had already asked too many questions about some potentially sensitive topics. I didn’t want to alert her.

Especially since I just needed to raise my meditate to level ten to figure that out. No inconvenient questions were necessary. I just needed to show a little patience. I killed another wounded monster instead of using the skill I wanted to use.

[Level 25 -> 26]

[+2 Vitality, +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity]

Double points in Dexterity, which was less impressive than getting a point in Essence. It looked like these points arrived in an alternating pattern. Not a particularly useful information, but it was always better to know more.

Speaking of knowing more, I had one more thing I needed to learn: how Identify worked. Previously, the only thing that I felt was a subtle whisper. I wanted to see if anything would be different now that I had the ability to perceive mana.

“Look at my level,” I declared to Maria proudly, almost smugly.

“Another upgrade, congratulations,” she responded, but I was more interested in the line of mana that stretched from her to me, tickling as it touched me … and nothing. There were no complicated mana structures that appeared whenever she cast it. Just a touch.

Then, maybe it made sense. After all, it was a skill, so it made sense it worked similarly to my Inspect perk. That didn’t require any mana either. Mana just being there to create remote contact while the skill handled the rest was an easy assumption to make.

Whether that assumption was true, I didn’t know yet, but it was how science worked. Make assumptions, design experiments, and then validate.

“Level twenty-six. Impressive,” Maria said, easily checking my level without any further mana fluctuations inside me. Still, it was good that I could detect if someone used it on me. Well, unless my assumption was correct. Then, I would need to be careful when touching anyone. “We might bring you to somewhere around thirty-five as long as we work hard.”

“Well, I’m a hard worker, not to mention I have endless stamina,” I declared proudly, mostly to play off her enthusiasm. It might have been the biggest benefit of the System. I hadn’t been a fan of exercising before the Cataclysm, so getting some external help was certainly welcome.

“You do?” she said, but I noticed a blush on her face. Maybe it was due to exhaustion. She must have been pushing herself harder than I had realized.

“C3,” I called, once again starting a chess game. Since she was getting exhausted, I better provide her with some entertainment to keep her going.

More levels meant more safety. We changed locations multiple times, moving once the monster density had decreased, but as the place was starting to get dark, I reached level thirty-two. Not exactly as high as Maria wished, but more than incredible for my purposes.

But, before leaving, I wanted to try one more thing. “Hey, do you mind letting one go without wounding it? I want to see if I can take it down unassisted. And, a little combat practice with my new abilities wouldn’t be amiss.”

“Good idea. Skills improve faster when you fight directly,” she said as she looked at the horizon. “And, we can still stay around ten minutes until it starts to get dangerous.” Then, she frowned. “I’m not ready to listen to another lecture from Eleanor.”

I chuckled, amused that she cared more about Eleanor’s words than the significantly increased danger factor from monster attacks. I had to admit, being strong had its advantages.

“Thanks,” I said. “Do you mind letting go of something strong but slow?”

“I have just the monster,” she answered as she adjusted her spells, and soon, one that looked like an animated tree stump lumbered toward me.

“Excellent choice,” I said as I moved toward it. Slow with incredible endurance, the target was truly a good choice. Especially since I had misled her about the aim of my practice a bit. While I wanted to practice, the aim was the opposite of what Maria had thought.

I had two objectives. First, I wanted to get used to holding back. Bringing any skill to even twenties was supposed to be a significant hurdle. Bringing it above fifty in less than a day was flat-out suspicious. So, I wanted to get used to sandbagging my physical prowess. And, as an added bonus, if I had to reveal it, I could mention that I had been working hard during my leveling trips.

It would make a good cover story for anyone but Eleanor. I doubted that anyone but her would go to Maria and ask for the exact time I spent working on my skill rather than leveling.

“Come on, buddy,” I said even as I circled around the beast, my hammer raised high. It lashed against me with one of its branches, but was met with a blow of my hammer. The beast was strong, but I was stronger, easily parrying the attack. “Wow, it feels good not to be thrown away,” I said. Blacksmith might not match most Warrior classes in Strength, but we weren’t too far behind them. Double stat points were still respectable.

But, Strength didn’t exactly translate to combat capability. An Olympic Weightlifter could lift more than a heavyweight boxer, but that wouldn’t have prevented them from being demolished in the ring. Skills were that important.

And, now, that was not a problem for me anymore. I swung my hammer with a perfect, eerie accuracy, parrying the next two attacks, before I reflexively took a step forward and smashed the trunk twice. Hammer of Might showed its name, demolishing the tree.

“Damn,” I muttered in frustration. I wasn’t planning to take it down that easily, but I wasn’t able to hold the skill back. The sudden improvement had affected me more than I had expected. I looked at Maria, expecting a suspicious gaze.

“Very good,” she just said instead. “All that killing really improved your skill, right?”

“Yes,” I said, more than happy to be underestimated. “How about if you let out something slightly faster?”

“One large bear, coming up,” she said cheerily as she allowed it to pass.

I chuckled at her callous attitude, like she wasn’t letting forward a beast that would have killed me easily in several blows before my little discovery with the hammer skill. I dodged and parried its attacks easily.

Multiple times, the skill pushed me to lunge forward to take down the bear. Just as the name suggested, Hammer of Might was a very aggressive style that focused on leveraging the benefits of the Strength to the max.

Luckily, thanks to controlling my Repair skills for three years, I was familiar with how to ignore the suggestions from the skills selectively. It was harder to apply during a combat scenario, but as I practiced against the bear, I was getting the hang of it. I managed to stretch it to one minute before I killed it.

However, I did receive a nasty blow while doing my best to keep back. Recovering from it took quite a bit.

[-42 Health]

“Careful,” she warned. “Do you want to stop, or…”

“Nothing more than a flesh wound,” I said, ignoring the fact that, without Health to help me recover, it would have likely killed me from internal bleeding. “We only have a few minutes. Let’s not waste too much time.”

“Good point,” she said. A few more fights, and I was having a much easier time controlling it against active targets. From here, all I had to do was to practice alone for a while, and it would give me what I needed. “I think that’s enough for the day,” I called. “It has been another amazing day. Thank you very much. You’re amazing,” I said, leaning a bit heavily on the compliments.

But, she certainly deserved it, helping me progress that much.

“My … pleasure,” she said, her voice surprisingly stilted.

She must have been really tired of stammering like that. I made a note to find an appropriate gift for her. She deserved it.

*****

— Chapter 19

For once, I was smiling even as I pulled myself to the back of the griffin despite my trembling hands. The trip had been productive enough that even my phobia couldn’t ruin my excitement.

[Mana Blacksmith - Level 32]

[Health 960/960] [Mana 0/160]

[Vitality 64 / Strength 64 / Dexterity 48 / Essence 16]

[Skills (4/10)

Mana Repair (Rare) - 25 [Inspect]

Mana Forge (Rare) - 25 [Intuitive Forging, Mana Manipulation]

Meditation (Common) - 1

Hammer of Might (Uncommon) - 53]

“Do you mind if I ask you a question about a skill you have,” I asked. The moment I did, she tensed up. Understandable, as it was rather rude to ask such questions. Of course, using identification magic on people without permission was even ruder, but I wasn’t entirely surprised by her double standards.

It wasn’t the first time I had dealt with the upper crust.

“Which one?” she asked, her tone deceptively calm.

“Just meditation,” I replied quickly. “That’s how every mage absorbs their mana, right?”

“Just the ones too poor to afford a better variant. Meditation kind of sucks,” she said with a haughty chuckle. I didn’t care about her unintentional insult. I much preferred that to a tense Maria who would second guess every question. “Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking of the mana alloy experiment we tried. Maybe if I know how mana behaves, I can develop some new experiments.”

“About that…” she muttered. “I will be busy for the next few days. The caravan bringing the new recruits is passing through a dangerous spot, and I have to go defend them.”

For a moment, I considered volunteering, tempted to spend some time in a location that didn’t lack mana, but that thought went as quickly as it arrived. Just because I had gotten somewhat stronger didn’t mean I should turn into a barbarian throwing myself into potential danger.

Slow and steady.

“Even better,” I said, which surprised her. And, I even saw a hint of hurt on her face. “I need some time designing new experiments and working on some theories. If I prepare enough, I can make sure I don’t bore you with repetitive stuff. Science can be somewhat monotone,” I rapidly explained.

That earned a chuckle. “Don’t worry. I don’t find your company that offensive,” she said. “I would have loved to spend more time, but with this damnable challenge —” she added, then cut herself. “Anyway, you were asking about meditation.”

“Yes. How does it work?”

“Hmm, it’s hard to describe it to someone lacking mana sensitivity. But, the easiest way to say that, the mana outside our bodies is different, reluctant to interact with us. Meditation allows us to align with the mana outside our bodies and pull it into our bodies.”

“That’s it?” I asked. “Any other use?”

“No, that’s it,” she answered. “It’s a fundamental skill, but that’s it. The rarer variants have more advantages, like selectively absorbing different types of mana and such, but at its core, it’s limited.”

“Interesting. And, are there any patterns as you pull it similar to the structure of the spells you use?”

She paused for a moment, thinking. From her attitude, I could see that she hadn’t spent a lot of time pondering about it. A waste, but I wasn’t surprised. Almost everyone was like that. Just like most people didn’t know how electricity actually worked before the Cataclysm, most people didn’t really care about the finer mechanics of skills.

A waste.

“It’s … softer,” she finally replied. “The spells usually work in hexagonal patterns at the center, surrounded by more complicated mana structures. Meditation lacks that. It’s more like a gentle spiral.”

I wanted to ask a few more questions, but I could see that her frustration was already building up. “Thanks, it helps,” I said, ignoring the temptation to ask more. “B3,” I called instead.

“Interesting start,” she said as she responded, her mood shifting in an instant.

“Well, I have to keep you on your toes. Sooner or later, I’ll win,” I replied, more than happy to distract her from her earlier failure. I knew that she didn’t like to look weak, and she was proud of her, well, Intelligence and intelligence. She would ponder on the question I asked if only to dazzle me the next time.

It would work far better than bombarding her with questions she couldn’t answer on the spot.

Even as we played chess, I could see that it was working. Many times, the mana around her stirred and started flowing to her, only to cease its flow and reverse. Unfortunately, while Essence allowed me to see the way the mana moved, it proved supremely useless to glean anything. No more than I could understand a hurricane by just looking from the outside.

The mana just gathered around her in complicated patterns before disappearing into her body.

Still, I was hopeful that, once we landed, she would have interesting insights for me. Too bad those hopes were dashed the moment we landed, and found Eleanor waiting for us. She glared at me. “We have an emergency meeting, my lady,” she said.

“Sure. Devon, do you want to join?” she asked.

“He has some emergency repairs he needs to finish,” Eleanor cut in. I was pretty certain I did not, considering the halted state of the dungeon operations, but her glare was easy to read.

“True. I need to stay ahead of the curve until the other blacksmiths join in,” I replied, not willing to antagonize Eleanor just to join their important meeting.

“Alright,” Maria said. “Have a good night,” she said, and I went back to my workshop. A lot of damaged weapons were waiting for me there. A quick count confirmed their numbers at eighty. I could easily repair them in under five hours, even lower if I pulled some new tricks thanks to my improved skills. Enough to finish everything before going to sleep despite my exhaustion, but I did not do that.

First, Eleanor was still under the impression that it took me just under ten minutes to repair a sword, so it would be suspicious if she arrived only to find the order was complete. More importantly, I had yet to test my Mana Repair and Mana Forge skills properly.

I had been too busy trying to get rid of any evidence regarding my success to test them properly.

Of course, I had used them to make a few new weapons and fix a few others, but it was mostly following the directions of the System. Certainly not something I would call a proper test, let alone experimentation. “First, let’s gather some more data,” I muttered even as I started repairing the weapons.

Previously, I wasn’t able to see mana. The Inspect skill gave me a good idea about what I had been doing, but the difference was stark. In contrast, Essence didn’t give me the ability to see the mana trapped in the metal, but I could use it alongside Inspect to change that. Previously, I was using an X-ray, and currently, I was using a combination of X-ray and MRI, giving me a lot more information than I had expected.

And, with that information, far too many tricks to fix the weapons came to mind. I wondered if I could figure out some kind of cold forging trick with mana. Without a need to continuously heat up the swords, the repair would take even less time.

Intriguing, and utterly useless for the current situation. After all, the whole reason they needed blacksmiths to repair the weapons rather than using repair spells was the lack of environmental mana.

Technically, it was not correct. I knew that repair spell took a hefty chunk of mana. I didn’t know the exact numbers, but I had seen mages at work. They had to stop and mediate after a few times. Hard to guess the exact number without knowing their levels, but I would be shocked if it cost less than a hundred mana.

Depending on how much mana I would need, technically it could still be sustainable even without environmental mana. Of course, that was just a theory. I still didn’t know exactly what a point of mana represented, how much it would take to repair a sword, the cost of mana supplements, the speed of repair…

Ultimately, however, it was nothing more than a thought exercise. Regardless of the result, I couldn’t use it here, because I wasn’t planning on revealing my rare skills. I continued to repair the swords, trying new tricks thanks to my ability to better view the structure.

A routine task, but not without its rewards.

[Mana Repair (Rare) - 25 -> 26]

Seeing my class skills improve had always been a nice thing, but it turned into something truly wondrous now that I was aware of the benefits. So, I was more than happy to stretch the work to try new tricks with the hopes of gaining more points. It meant I was once again pushing myself to work instead of sleeping … but it wouldn’t be the first stretch when I neglected sleep.

Too bad it made me crave a hot cup of steaming, bitter coffee. Or several.

I ignored that desire as I worked, discovering some new tricks thanks to my enhanced vision. Some of those tricks even triggered some nice responses from my Repair skill, allowing it to improve far faster than I had expected. As midnight came, I had merely finished repairing ten swords.

But, the other benefits made it worth it.

[Mana Repair (Rare) - 26 -> 34]

One of my class skills had improved significantly. Now, it was time to see if I could repeat it with my newest skill.

*****

— Chapter 20

I took a deep breath in preparation for using my Mediate skill, my gaze already turning toward the only source of mana available.

The ingots.

I knew that what I was about to do was wasteful. It was like destroying a brand new phone for its materials, so far below its value it was borderline disrespectful. I still didn’t have a good idea of how much mana each ingot contained in terms of mana points, but if I were betting, I would be betting on single digits.

Low single digits.

“Doesn’t really matter,” I muttered as I reached the first ingot, heated it up, and started to destroy it methodically. It wasn’t the first time I was trying to extract mana from the ingots, so I was familiar with the process. At first, I destroyed a tiny portion, hoping that it would be enough to trigger the skill.

It was not. The little mana I managed to generate dispersed no matter how much I tried to interact with it. I repeated the process again, doubling the size of the pieces, but I failed every time. There was not even a response from my Meditation skill. It didn’t even engage with the mana.

I focused on the remaining half. First, I heated it up more, not just turning it red, but even melting the edge. Then, I raised my hammer, took a deep breath, and demolished it as quickly as I could, turning it into a liquid potty.

Then, I closed my eyes, and engaged my new skill once more. This time, I felt momentary feedback, similar to the instructions I got when I tried to repair it. I crossed my legs and took a position, but unfortunately, those instructions disappeared before I could pull some mana.

“Close enough to show viability, but not enough to actually work,” I muttered even as I heated up another ingot. The skill required a really strict pose and flow, very different from the ease Maria had displayed while she was gathering mana, but I couldn’t compare myself to her when it came to mana manipulation.

Not when my skill was just at one point.

“Let’s try again,” I said as I positioned myself perfectly before I destroyed the ingot. The mana radiated freely, and I let the skill run, not bothering to ponder on its impact or process. I just let the skill do its job. Most of the mana still dispersed, but I didn’t care about it, not when a small part of it stuck around me, grabbed by the skill.

The mana slowly circled around me before it started to approach closer. It took more than a minute, but I was fascinated with the process. The tendrils of mana circulated around me, getting closer and closer as if they were planets orbiting the sun.

Then, they touched my skin. From there, they disappeared with a soft tingle, replaced by a notification.

[+1 Mana]

I tried to understand process. I tried to touch the reservoir of mana in me, but it failed utterly. Not a surprise. I had Health for three years, and I could barely channel it, and I needed to injure myself beforehand to trigger the flow.

“Now, let’s see if I can use it,” I said as I raised my work hammer, and used my Mana Blow perk. A glow appeared on my hammer as I felt a tingling sensation travel through my hand.

[-1 Mana]

I tried to absorb it back … but it just dispersed. All my effort had just evaporated in one blow, but I didn’t let that bother me. Ultimately, it was just another experiment. One that was more expensive than I would have liked, but an experiment nonetheless.

I destroyed another ingot, once again letting the skill catch some of the mana while the rest dispersed. This time, I paid more attention to the movement of the skill, feeling a sense of rotation inside me, similar to how I felt whenever I used to inspect.

The mana pulled toward me. It was a slow, painstaking process, too complicated to understand with just one attempt. I let the mana seep into my skin once more.

On the next attempt, I tried to interrupt halfway. It worked to give me a better understanding of the process, but the mana that was under my control had dissipated before I could absorb it. A waste, but considering I wouldn’t have been able to do anything with a few points, not exactly a big one.

I thought about using the last five ingots, but I decided against it. Every ingot represented a chance to improve my Mana Forge skill, which was more important than another ineffectual experiment. I had already understood the basics, and while I wanted to experiment more, I needed hundreds, maybe thousands more repeats. One more repeat wouldn’t help.

I just needed to decide what to do with the sole point of Mana I had. “I wonder if I can release it by reversing the meditation technique,” I said to myself. It seemed like a reasonable risk. I closed my eyes, trying to visualize the same effect, wanting to see if I could control it like my other skills.

Unfortunately, I failed to engage the skill. Helpless, I destroyed another ingot, the presence of mana allowing me to trigger the skill. I tried to replicate the same effect, but pushing the mana instead of pulling. An operation that was much harder than the summarized description would have suggested.

But, I did it —

[-1 Mana]

[Meditation (Common) - 1 -> 8]

Any other time, I would be very happy to see seven points of jump in my new skill. But, right now, I had other priorities. Like, the worst pain I ever felt hitting me hard, like someone had been ripping my insides. I pushed my Health overdrive in panic, trying to fix whatever I had ruined even as I vomited blood, dazed and shivering.

The discomfort lasted for minutes while I laid on the ground, somehow managing not to shout, but it was a close call. I kept my voice suppressed, and only because I could feel that whatever damage that was done had recovered.

[-582 Health]

“Well, that was a way to improve,” I muttered as I stood up, realizing just how close I had pushed myself to death. It seemed that I had become arrogant in my recent chain of successes. It was a close call. I had lost almost two-thirds of my Health in one mistake, and that was with all my leveling up.

I didn’t even want to imagine what such a botched attempt would do to a mage. Most of them didn’t have Double Vitality to absorb the damage of accidental self-harm. And, that was only one point of mana.

Even though I had improved my skills far more than I had been expecting, I wasn’t entirely happy. The pain had been horrible, and the damage had been devastating. I stood up to go to the small attached pantry, cooking a large piece of monster steak. It would slowly recover my lost Health, but it would take a while.

So, before eating it, I took one of the emergency concentrated potions designed to replenish Health, filling it completely. Luckily, a workshop was a dangerous place with a lot of fire and sharp objects, so keeping a stock of health potions was always a smart idea.

A chain of notifications appeared, showing the slow recovery. Even with the potion, it wasn’t exactly an instantaneous process.

[+1 Health] … [+1 Health]

At the same time, I grabbed a second one, preparing myself for another attempt. Painful and risky as it might be, the ability to rapidly increase my Meditation skill was too valuable. Not only did I need to support my two skills, but I also needed to discover its secrets as fast as possible.

I wanted to see if I could improve it to a higher grade before reaching level fifty, and see if I could get a new class. The risk was acceptable, especially since this time I had brought a second potion, ready to assist.

First, I destroyed another ingot, using Meditation to absorb it. The initial pattern stayed the same. Some kind of illusory orb inside me, spinning while it captured a point of mana into its orbit, slowly dragging it close. However, the higher skill level allowed me to absorb mana faster.

[+1 Mana]

I crossed my legs, taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the torture … and reversed the flow.

[-1 Mana]

[Meditation (Common) - 8 -> 11]

[Perk Options — Efficient Absorption / Controlled Flow]

As much as I would have loved to ponder on the new stats, I was too busy vomiting blood as I trembled. For ten more minutes, I lay down, trying to catch my breath as Health did its job.

[-519 Health]

“The damage wasn’t as bad,” I muttered as I forced myself to accept the pain. It was a good sign. Maybe, someday, I could repeat it without almost killing myself.

I drank the potion as I stood up. I pondered on which perk to choose, but after a while, I settled on Controlled Flow. Once again, if it turned useless, I could just use a Perk Reset stone. Then, I destroyed one last ingot, absorbing the mana. There was a slight increase in absorption speed, but not enough to be about a new perk.

Then, I used my Mana Blow perk, and noticed the gathered mana was easier to control. “Excellent,” I muttered. Control was a much better perk than faster absorption for me; both as a blacksmith and as a scientist.

And, if it made my reversal trick less suicidal, even better.

I wanted to go and sleep. Depleting my Health twice left me even more exhausted than I had ever been, and the mental load of a close call with death wasn’t any easier to swallow. Yet, before going to bed, I cleaned the forge twice, making sure I got rid of all of the evidence.

No need to ruin everything due to a bout of carelessness.

My bed looked even more inviting than I had remembered. I threw myself to its depths. The darkness claimed me before I could hit the bed.