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Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

Blacksmith vs. the System by Dirk Grey

Chapter 7

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I examined the camp as I moved forward. As far as I could tell, the camp population had dropped significantly to something around two hundred, which no doubt made any dungeon incursion a bigger challenge. Even working overtime, most of that number had to be dedicated to camp defense, which probably ruined any chance of making decent progress with the dungeon until the reinforcement Rosie promised arrived.

I had a feeling that Rosie would offer them another batch of recruits, naturally with some premium for emergency recruitment. But, I kept my mouth shut about that. Whatever deal they had was between them.

I just wanted to make some money. And, maybe, get a few skills in the process.

We soon arrived at the largest building. "Wait here," she said as she went inside with the swords. I said nothing, ignoring the hesitant glances of the camp visitors, no doubt wanting to ask the newest face some questions.

Their anxiety was understandable, but I deliberately avoided their gazes, not giving anyone a chance to interact. Whatever that was going on was complicated enough to make sticking my head out — any more than I already would once I started churning out a ridiculous amount of swords, at least — an unwise choice.

"You can come in," Eleanor said when the door opened once more. "Lady Maria is ready to see you."

I nodded and followed her, taking note of the decorations. It was well-furnished. Much better than what I would expect in a camp in the middle of nowhere. Either Maria was even more spoiled than I had assumed, or her family was even richer.

Either way, the trouble they posed had just got bigger.

I refrained from sighing in despair even as Eleanor led me to an office that was filled with parchments, leather-bound books, and many glowing objects, all clearly enchanted.

"Eleanor tells me that you can repair five times faster than our other blacksmiths. How?" she asked, trying to look serious and in control. She wasn't particularly successful. Luckily for her, the memory of her burning multiple monsters with a wave of her hand was more than enough to compensate.

I thought about breaking down the process, and dumbing it down to the most understandable piece, but after some consideration, I decided against it. She didn't seem like someone who would appreciate anything she couldn't understand.

"May I ask how familiar you are with math, my lady? I'm using some scientific methods to expand the benefits of the skill. It allows me to bypass some of the steps given by the Repair skill."

"And you know it works, how?" she asked, the challenge in her tone clear.

The answer was simple trial and error, but I had a feeling that she wouldn't appreciate that. "A proper explanation would call for some detailed formulas. May I proceed with it?" I asked.

I caught a hint of panic on her face before she looked frustrated. "I was a college senior when the Cataclysm hit, and more importantly, I'm a Fire Mage. With Intelligence, I can easily understand anything a mere Blacksmith could come up with."

Her confident declaration made me even more confident about my choice. I paused for a moment, remembering some of the formulas I had read in the journals I had found. Formulas were nothing more than intellectual curiosity as they were mostly random, scattered articles with no proper link.

Still, they were good enough to dazzle an overconfident student whose understanding of math probably ended in algebra, and Intelligence was not useful in understanding completely unfamiliar concepts.

"Let's start with a simple basis. JMA equation for the recrystallization process of metals. The formula is simple." I paused for a moment, jotting down the first formula.

[X(t) = 1 - exp[-(kt)^n]

"X represents the volume fraction of the material of transformation, t represents time, k is constant, and n represents an exponential of dimensionless number that reflects the dimensionality of the growth and nucleation behavior during the transformation…"

She tried to hide it, but I taught for years. The glassy expression of a student who had lost track was too familiar to miss. Under any other situation, I would have slowed down, and explained every concept one by one. This time, I threw more and more complicated concepts.

I wasn't good enough in material sciences, but dragging the discussion to a more pure math basis wasn't too hard. Fifteen minutes later, I was deep into a small, confusing lecture on the fifth-order differential equations and their effectiveness in solving wave propagation.

"Enough, I have got the gist of it," Maria cut in, unable to keep her frustration. "The math looks solid, and Eleanor already confirmed the weapons are good enough. So, go ahead and start teaching the others how to do it. We'll need a lot of swords soon."

I was about to cut in, when Eleanor cut in first. "We currently don't have any other Blacksmith in the camp, madam."

"How? Only the six of them were under family contract."

"Yes, but we still hired the others through the usual channels. That contract has the escape clauses. They … they decided to pay it off."

"They paid fifty gold each," Maria gasped. "That bastard must have given it. Can't we …"

"We don't have evidence," she said.

"I'm sure Rosie could find a few more experts in the case of our current emergency. They don't need Level 25 Repair. As long as they have Analyze, I can teach them," I offered. I thought about asking Maria for a bonus, but I chose against it. I had already annoyed her enough. I could talk to Eleanor about it. "But, I can't repair all day," I said.

"Why? You already signed the contract," Maria said.

"Because my level is not high enough. Four hours already drained most of my Health. I need to be at a higher level."

"That's easy," Maria said, looking at Eleanor. "Where's the closest wild spot we could visit," she asked.

"But, I can't leave the camp with the guards gone, and we don't have any guards strong enough to help him."

"Doesn't matter. I'll help him," Maria replied. "I can't stay here and defend the camp without depleting our mana potions. Just escort him to the armory and give him armor. I don't want him dead."

"I will do as you wish. Should I arrange for an escort—"

"No, I don't need any," she replied, her tone final. Eleanor looked frustrated. Maria sighed. "You know we can't afford any. Not unless we are willing to clean the dungeon entrance again."

Eleanor sighed. "You're right, but I don't like it," she said. Then, she turned to me. "Follow me," she said.

I followed as she brought me to the basement, which was filled with weapons and armor. Most of it was the type the guards had been wearing, but a few of them looked better. "I don't have to tell you if anything happens to her…"

"I understand," I said. I didn't appreciate being threatened, especially since Maria was far stronger than me, but it was not exactly a helpful conversation to have. Instead, I focused on something more productive. "My contract doesn't have anything to do with teaching," I reminded her.

"You want more money," she said, her tone not exactly welcoming.

"That would help, but I have something else in mind. Something that could help your side as well."

"What do you need?" she said.

"I need books from before the Cataclysm," I replied. "Preferably about material science, manufacturing, and similar topics, but I'm alright with anything. If it has numbers, it might help."

"What's the point?" she said.

"Well, you have seen my trick with repairing the edge. I can only do that because my calculations gave me the ideal temperature to work on the edge. There's a chance I can find an even better method as long as I have the necessary material."

"And, you can do that as a Blacksmith," she said.

I shrugged. "I have a Doctorate in Math," I said, giving her a simplified version of my background. No need to muddle it with my other expertise. "And, unlike what most people claim, math can still be useful."

"Not as useful as skills," Eleanor replied.

"Probably," I said. I strongly disagreed, but after three years of having the same conversation many times, I was bored of explaining to people why it was ridiculous to restrict themselves to the System just because it was easier. "But, I'm assuming you don't have one of those useful skills, or you would have already given it to your old blacksmiths."

"Well, no," she said. "Skill stones for production classes are hard to find. The System Store hardly stocks them, and they rarely drop from dungeons."

I sighed. I certainly knew that, which was a pity, because the biggest advantage of production classes was having more skill slots. One unfair detail, of many. "So, that's why I'm asking for books. I assume it won't be too difficult for you. Even I was able to collect some, and I live in a small town."

"Probably, I need to check it," she said. "But, meanwhile, we can discuss your salary —"

"No, I'd rather leave it to Rosie," I replied, cutting it short. The situation was too complicated for me to navigate. I didn't even know what kind of money I could ask for. "But, I wouldn't say no to a combat skill if you have any."

"You use hammers, right?" she said. "You're lucky. We have one uncommon hammer skill. We also have several uncommon sword style variants if you're interested," she added.

"For now, it's better if I stick with hammer skills," I said. It was better to stick to one weapon, especially since it paired better with my class stats. However, I was fascinated by the casual manner she pulled a glowing rock from a box and threw it at me.

[Skill Stone: Hammer of Might (Uncommon)]

As the notification popped, I was glad that I chose to bargain with Eleanor rather than Maria. She was certainly the more generous one. Not for no reason, as I had just solved their biggest logistic challenge, but I knew many that would spit on my face rather than listen to it.

I was more than happy.

I closed my eyes, absorbing it slowly.

[Overhead Strike (Basic) 4 - Hammer of Might (Uncommon) 1]

I groaned. It was the second time I was absorbing a skill stone — since repair and forge had come with the Blacksmith class — but replacing a similar skill felt much more different. It was dizzying and painful. I barely registered Eleanor checking several armors to find one that would fit my size.

Absorbing skills was painful.

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Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

Blacksmith vs. the System by Dirk Grey

Chapter 8

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I had acquired a new set of armor, a new uncommon fighting skill that increased my fighting capabilities significantly, even a proper warhammer on my back. Unfortunately, none of them helped against the challenge I was about to face.

Another flight. This time, with my new boss.

I said nothing as I climbed on my part of the saddle, and grabbed the leather tightly, glad that she wasn't particularly observant. I didn't exactly enjoy talking to people about my anxieties, and even if I did, my new boss was not exactly the ideal target.

"Ready?" she asked as she climbed with far greater grace.

"Yes, my lady," I replied. I might find the sudden shift back to feudalism ridiculous, but my feelings weren't strong enough to risk annoying my new boss who could successfully imitate a flame thrower. And, admittedly, the fact that what they paid me for a day's effort was more than I made in three years helped quite a bit as well.

"Good," she said as she commanded the griffin, and once again, we were suffering an unnatural, disgusting activity that humans weren't supposed to experience. I took a deep breath, ignoring the vertigo as we flew, Maria easily took down any flying beast that dared to drift closer.

I expected her not to deign to speak to me. I was wrong. "Do you play chess?" she asked without a preamble.

I sighed. Even when dealing with vertigo, I could understand her aim. While my earlier trick with the math lesson convinced her that I knew what I was doing, it also annoyed her. She wanted to prove herself.

"Yes. I was a high-ranking master before the Cataclysm," I replied, doing my best to sound proud rather than frustrated. My past with chess had been rather checkered. It was a fun game, but I had always hated how people equated it as a shortcut to prove how smart they were. And, as a genius who started teaching at a premier college younger than almost all of my students, I had been challenged many times, forcing me to learn more just to stay on top.

After the Cataclysm, it got worse. Suddenly, playing chess to prove capabilities became common. Intelligence stat allowed people to make calculations faster and multitask better, a devastating advantage to play against in a game of chess. I was quick to stop playing after that. I wasn't entirely free of competitiveness, and being demolished every time I played was not fun.

But, it looked like that was about to change.

"Do you want to play blind chess to pass the time?" she asked, her enthusiasm clear.

"Of course," I answered, doing my best to fake enthusiasm. She just asked, but I decided to take it as an order. If all it took to be demolished in a few chess games to get her in a good mood, I was more than happy to make that sacrifice.

Especially if it distracted me from the fact that I was in the air. I closed my eyes. "Pawn, e4," I said. A classical move, one that led to many of the classic openings. A few moves later, I had a significant advantage. Not only did I have absolute control of the center, but also I was ahead of a pawn.

Unfortunately, that advantage was temporary. My knowledge of openings gave me a great advantage during the first ten moves, but the moment the game settled, that advantage started to dwindle. A knight cut through the side in an unexpected move, but every attempt I made to defend pulled me deeper into the quagmire.

I sighed as I tried to come up with a good move, but failed repeatedly. Most of the moves she had made felt ridiculous. Her fundamentals were horrible, and the strategic implications didn't matter.

Unfortunately, none of those mattered when she could simply outthink me, like she was using a computer to calculate her moves. I felt like a sickly boxer fighting against a giant. I held the advantage in technique, but it didn't matter against an enemy that could shatter my bones with each move.

"I surrender," I called in frustration at move fifty, about twenty moves after my defeat had been set in stone. In any chess tournament, such a move would have been derided as pointless pride, but Maria clearly enjoyed taking my pieces one by one to lord over her superiority.

"Good game," she said, her voice far more cheerful. "Another one."

"It won't be easy this time," I replied, doing my best to sound confident. Luckily, Maria wasn't observant enough to understand I was indulging her with fake competitiveness.

As I started with another classic move, I wondered if there was a chance to make it more fun. Maybe if I could tailor my game against her. Not to win. No, that part was truly hopeless. But, I could try and optimize my game to counter her advantages as much as possible, and lose gracefully.

Also, any distraction from my current activity was a welcome bonus.

For the next several games, I focused on the way she played, trying to reverse-engineer the approach. While she played very good chess, it was very different from playing a chess grandmaster. It wasn't even like playing against a chess engine. It was more like the reverse. Bad strategic moves, only to be resolved through sheer creativity until I found myself in a position that was impossible to comprehend based on any sane application of chess theory.

It was not a complete surprise. I had already known how Intelligence worked thanks to my previous research — at least in general terms — and I had played against other people with high Intelligence until it became too frustrating.

However, it didn't make two people play chess the same way. Strength allowed people to hit harder, but people still had their own fighting style. Some chose relentless direct assault, while others fought carefully, and defensively.

Maria, to my absolute lack of surprise, belonged to the first category. She started slow, probably to enjoy her upcoming victory, but the moment she started playing seriously, she delivered attack after attack. I tried to trap her, but her Intelligence made it easy to catch them.

"And, checkmate," she called as we landed, smiling smugly. "That makes it, thirteen to zero."

"I'll get you the next time," I fake-growled, trying to convince her that her victories bothered me. To be fair, they would have … but it was bliss compared to focusing on the silent torture of flying. Playing against her required my full focus, distracting me from the fact that we were floating.

"We will see. We still have the return flight," she said.

I looked around, taking note of our surroundings. An empty plain, with no humans in sight. Instead, there were a lot of monsters. Some vaguely looked like animals, as if they were painted by an impressionist painter who was suffering from a drug overdose, while the others vaguely looked humanoid.

A nightmarish horde that was currently gathering toward us.

"I'm going to burn them until they can't move. Just walk through the piles and smash them," she said, utterly calm.

I couldn't blame her, not when she easily destroyed a hundred creatures with a wave of her hand, leaving mostly cinders. I moved forward immediately.

It was a great opportunity.

I stood in front of the first beast, a giant wolf immobilized thanks to its incinerated limbs, my hammer rose and fell. It was a familiar move, one that came from my Overhead Strike skill. I was glad that my new Uncommon skill had a similar move, allowing me to adapt with ease.

My hammer fell with far greater impact than I was used to, showing the difference between the two skills. The difference between the two tiers was not for nothing.

"Move faster, we don't have all day," she shouted.

"Sorry, boss. New skill jitters," I replied even as I moved. Only when I was smashing the third one, I realized that I hadn't used the more formal call. "Sorry, my lady," I said, not wanting to annoy her.

"I like the boss better. Use it when we're alone," she replied, laughing.

I smiled as well. She wasn't nearly as unbearable as the first impression suggested once she warmed up. I smashed two more immobile beasts, and a notification arrived.

[Hammer of Might (Uncommon) 1 - 2]

"Fascinating," I muttered. It was not easy to raise skill proficiency levels, or my overhead strike wouldn't have lagged merely at four. However, the basics were hardly a secret. Skills leveled up more based on external feedback than anything internal.

For example, using more precious materials made [Forge] improve faster, and the better — and more damaged — the target weapon, the faster [Repair] developed.

And, for combat skills, the stronger the beast that had been killed, the easier they leveled up. Their damaged state reduced the feedback significantly. It was hard to gauge, but the first wolf alone probably would have improved the skill by two stages, and maybe even given me an actual level as well.

Though, considering it would have ripped me apart easily, I was more than happy to take the reduced feedback. I killed a few more until the System responded once more.

[Level 7 - 8]

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

[Hammer of Might (Uncommon) 2 - 3]

"I have just leveled up," I informed her. As much as hiding it was tempting, I didn't forget her casually using a spell to check my level. No need to take big risks for small benefits, particularly since she was being considerably generous while helping me.

"Faster than I expected. Very good," she said. "Let's see if we can bring you to your first threshold," she called.

That made me gasp. The first threshold was level twenty-five. And, in three years, I was merely level seven. Yes, I didn't prioritize it, but that didn't make the gap any less impressive.

"Yes, boss," I replied, tightening the grip on my new warhammer, and moving between targets. There was no heroics, no unexpected developments, nothing. Just a steady massacre of monsters without even bothering to harvest one, leaving material that was potentially worth hundreds, rather material that would have been worth that much if they weren't burnt to cinders, and we had the ability to carry them back to the camp of gold, behind.

Soon, however, I realized another problem. Maria was getting bored. Understandable. While it was a thrilling activity that strengthened me significantly, it represented nothing but boredom for her.

"Pawn D3," I suddenly called.

"E6," she replied, her boredom replaced by some amusement. Constant defeats were not fun, but I was more than happy to accept it considering the speed at which I was leveling up. And, it helped me to analyze her play style even more. The more we played, the better I fared.

When she finally called for us to stop, it was already dusk. "Let's move back. It's not safe to hunt during the night."

I wanted to argue against it, but my arms were hurting too much to do so. Even with the System, there were limits to my endurance. "Yes, boss," I called instead. And, it wasn't like I had any right to complain.

[Blacksmith - Level 22]

[Health 660/660]

[Vitality 44 / Strength 44 / Dexterity 22]

[Skills (3/8)

Repair (Common) - 24 [Analyze]

Forge (Common) - 8

Hammer of Might (Uncommon) - 7]

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