dirk_grey

Blacksmith vs. the System 73

“Code red sixteen,” Harold shouted, and the hunters immediately released their arrows before retreating, while all the farmers currently in the garden retreated into the first layer, each grabbing a spear as they climbed the walls.

A few more orders, and the outpost was ready to face a...

Blacksmith vs. the System 72

Before I started experimenting, I visited the first floor to show my presence and keep the area secure, again with a cart filled with shells. This time, there were no surprises. The defensive walls were sprouting at an impressive speed that would make a Roman legion proud, while the others were a...

Blacksmith vs. the System 71

When I stepped through the gate to return to the first floor with another cart holding five hundred shells, I met with a welcome sight. The small outpost had progressed far more than I had expected.

The internal fort I envisioned was already completed with solid bricks, perfect enough to s...

A little update on schedule

Hi everyone.

Just a few updates about how the future of the updates will continue.

First, Blacksmith vs. the System will continue to be updated with at least the current frequency. I have realized that, focusing on one or two stories rather than splitting my attention into multiple ...

Blacksmith vs. the System 51-55

— Chapter 51

I had a large smile on my face, flipping and playing around with a coin in hand, using Observe to examine it. There wasn’t anything other than perfectly aligned microstructures inside the metal, surrounded by a complicated enchantment I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. ...

Blacksmith vs. the System 46-50

— Chapter 46

“Time to return,” I said to myself serenely, and started walking back.

Of course, I knew it was not true acceptance. However, once the heat from the realization was gone, I was able to put it back into the pile of things I would deal with in the future. It was a bi...

Immortal Freeloader 151

Once the battle was over, I brought the Burning Ice cultivators back to the Misty Mountains, but only to put them in charge when I brought out a much larger team, making sure all of them got some experience against demonic cultivators as I attacked any base I could find.

It was a dangerous...

Immortal Freeloader 150

Merely ten minutes later, I was on the deck of my flying ship, hidden behind an illusion formation and waiting. Underneath me, lay a city built atop a sharp cliff, easy to defend but hard to reach.

The wilderness at night was eerily quiet, but not enough to alert the guards. While their nu...

Immortal Freeloader 149

I retreated back to Markas once the mystic land had collapsed, but it wasn’t an escape. No, it was just a momentary retreat until I could come up with a new strategy.

But, my heart was still beating hard, still trembling at the risk I had taken. It was the most impulsive decision I had e...

Blacksmith vs. the System 70

Going to the second floor and leaving the operation alone was deliberate. While I wanted to set up a sustainable hunting operation, I didn’t forget the real reason for it. Money was nice, but it was still a side benefit. A space I could freely experiment in was the part I truly valued.

Ye...

Blacksmith vs. the System 69

“Not bad,” I called twenty minutes later, examining the tiny orchard we had created, though speaking out loud was mostly for the benefit of the new hires, as they still looked skittish.

After all, the orchard was underwhelming compared to what I had created, there were merely ten trees...

Blacksmith vs. the System 68

The rest of the night had gone well. I even had a chance to catch a short nap. One that barely lasted three hours, but it was all I could get sleeping in the dungeon.

Once that was done, I went to the third floor, piled everything into a new cart — which included a small batch of fertili...

Blacksmith vs. the System 67

I first stopped by the fourth floor to bring a large cart filled with iron ores. These ores would be used for all the necessary materials, which came in three main categories. Namely, armors, weapons, and various other implements — farming, construction, shell removal, and arrow making.

...

Blacksmith vs. the System 66

I stayed with the Farmers while the raffle was being prepared, and watched while the schedule was set. I even made a copy of it in the view of everyone. I had no intention of checking the schedule of eight thousand Farmers, but just having that opportunity would intimidate some with bad intention...

Blacksmith vs. the System 65

The meeting didn’t end after we agreed on the details of my guild. There were still a lot of small details that needed to be determined. They were unrelated to me, and most of it was exhaustingly monotonous like the town layout and patrol schedule, but I stayed.

Having even an unofficial...

Blacksmith vs. the System 64

Eleanor didn’t say anything material until we were once again riding the griffin.

“I didn’t miss the sensation of flying,” I said, grabbing the saddle tightly.

“We can walk if you want,” she offered.

“No. I like being assassinated even less,” I replied.

Blacksmith vs. the System 41-45

— Chapter 41

“What are you doing?” Eleanor asked the moment she entered the forge, her gaze immediately locking on the device in my hand.

“I’m trying to find a way to get the shells off the beasts faster,” I said.

The moment I said that her interest faded. “Alrea...

Immortal Freeloader 148

What I was doing was certainly heavy-handed, as evidenced by the presence of all six Foundation Establishment cultivators at the entrance, their approach banned by the formation itself. However, I ignored their intimidating presence as I stood against them, giving them a mocking smirk.

How...

Immortal Freeloader 147

The structure of the mystic land was simple. I had created fifty checkpoints, and ten groups, each group progressively difficult. Each checkpoint could be cleared after practicing one obscure technique. And, one either had to reach Minor Familiarity in all five techniques, or Minor Accomplishment...

Blacksmith vs. the System 63

While I knew Maria and Eleanor were on the way, I stayed in the dungeon nevertheless, talking with the guards to learn about the various methods that they had used to explore the dungeon. It started as listening to them about the stories, but soon it turned into a Q&A session as they proved v...

Blacksmith vs. the System 62

For the hammer, I wasn’t exactly designing a ranged attack the same way I did with a sword. I could, but there wasn’t too much of a point. It wouldn’t give me any benefits. Instead, I picked a different direction.

Namely, the quake attack.

For that, I designed a new hammer. It...

Blacksmith vs. the System 61

As much as I wanted to start forging the sword that could potentially allow me to use better mana attacks by leveraging the new materials and properties I had discovered, I didn’t do so immediately.

Instead, I sat on the ground and started working on a conceptual design and making some r...

Blacksmith vs. the System 60

“I need to find a way to contain mana for longer,” I muttered as I returned to the forge, and started working. Which meant that I needed more materials, which in turn required more time spent on mining and operating the blast furnace.

With my Quake Hammer, the actual mining didn’t ta...

Blacksmith vs. the System 59

“Too bad I have to stop,” I complained even as I smashed another giant insect, and started walking back. I had drifted away from it to hunt even more giant monsters, which had been even easier with my new hammer technique … especially since, once I got far away from the base, I stopped both...

Blacksmith vs. the System 58

“Let’s see what’s the difference between the two methods,” I muttered even as I focused, and attempted to activate my newly obtained skill. An imaginary orb once again started rotating, though both the speed of the rotation and the pull were far less than I had expected. I actually had to...

Blacksmith vs. the System 57

I decided to hold the first iteration of the next experiment on the fourth floor. While I was afraid that the corrosive effect might ruin the experiment, considering the trial and error process I had to go through, I felt that it was an acceptable compromise.

I could always use the anti-co...

Blacksmith vs. the System 36-40

— Chapter 36

The moment I stepped through the gate, I got charged by multiple monsters. I could easily count forty of them around me, making it a challenge. That would have been dangerous enough, but a few of the insect monsters had stopped their charge to spit out some kind of discharge....

Blacksmith vs. the System 31-35

— Chapter 31

After killing another three hundred monsters — half with their shells ripped, half left intact — I had received three rewards, with ascending importance. I had collected six skill stones. I had reached level thirty-five.

And, I gathered enough data to reinforce the...

Immortal Freeloader 146

Approaching the mystic land would have been a simple affair if I had been planning to stay hidden all the time to tweak its formation and defenses, but considering I wanted to use it as an opportunity to interact with the other applicants, it was slightly more complicated. I couldn’t simply app...

Immortal Freeloader 145

Making my new Burning Blizzard team accumulate Providence proved harder than I had expected.

I started by using a simple method, by trying to let them replicate the gardening process. Unfortunately, it proved completely useless. Low-level spiritual plants proved useless to trigger the effec...