Chapter 74 : Blacksmith's Talks

The test was finally came to an end with Rei's victory against the Guild Master of the Adventurer Guild. Despite that, he felt that he was just very lucky back then.

The fact still stands that he couldn't beat him and ended up falling unconscious afterwards, which made him thinking about his victory differently. He needed to become much stronger and stronger without stopping.

That's why the next day after the test, instead of resting...

He stood in front of the Blacksmith Workshop where Gudmund is currently working at.

'Since I promised him today, I need to put up an act.' Rei thought.

This time, instead wearing any of his armor, he wore a simple shirt without his helmet on because today is when he's going to show himself up to Gudmund like he promised.

'Well be careful on that, Blacksmiths are more perceptive than anyone else.' Ray warned him.

'Thanks for the advice, but don't worry, I am good at acting!' Rei reassured confidently.

'Uhhhh...now I have bad feelings about this.' Ray spoke while sighing.

'Now then, here I go!'

*CREAK* *CLING* *CLING*

Rei opened the door, "Excuse me–"

*SWOOSH* *TAK*

Suddenly, he was greeted by a piece of sword flying towards him. On reflex, Rei moved his head aside, avoiding the sword and watched it gets stuck on the door behind him.

'W-what was that?!–S-so scary.' Rei was shocked and for a good reason too.

"Who was there?!" Gudmund shouted, standing before him with a pair of googles on.

"Are you okay?!" Gudmund asked when he saw the sword stuck on the door right beside his head.

"Y-yeah, I am okay." Rei replied as he tried to relax his tense shoulders.

Gudmund sighed, "I'm glad...sorry about that kid, I made a mistake when trying to forge a sword."

Rei smiled at him, "It's okay, sometimes mistakes like that happen."

Gudmund nodded while observing Rei for a bit.

'Hmmm, he looks so young but his physique is very good, he must have trained a lot before.' Gudmund thought.

"Well...you are pretty lucky, but what are you here for? I'm quite busy here and waiting for someone."

"Ahh–sorry, I totally forgot!"

"Hmm?"

Rei looked at him with a smile and bowed his head, "I shall introduce myself, my name is Ray Houston and I..."

He took out something from his bag that he brought, then he showed him his helmet, "...am the one who created Crimson-san's armor."

Gudmund widened his eyes, "Ohhhh!! You are the one who make that remarkable armor!"

Rei laughed a bit, "Come on, it's not that remarkable, i'm not like you Gudmund-san." He spoke while rubbing the back of his head.

Gudmund laughed, "Hahaha! You shouldn't underestimate yourself, you are quite talented, also come on in!" Gudmund spoke with a smile as if he was happy to meet a fellow Blacksmith and for some reason he is more friendly and open than he meet him as Crimson.

'There is a saying that a good Blacksmith recognized other good Blacksmith, as long you don't bring any hostility, you will be fine.' Ray spoke.

'Ohhhh, okay.' Rei nodded.

As they went inside of his workshop, the two of them took a seat across each other and started their conversation.

"Sorry, this place is quite dirty and shabby."

"It's fine, I heard from Crimson-san you make an excellent weapon, so I was hoping to meet you sooner."

"He told you about me?"

"Of course, I mean his armor was quite different than before, but only on the arms part." Rei smiled.

Gudmund laughed again, "I see, I see, but thank you, it was fun for me to make something so unusual."

"Indeed, it was hard for me since the material he brought was very special, I doubted myself if I could create a good item for him at first."

So far so good, acting seems to come to him so naturally that he made it sounds like he and Crimson wasn't the same guy.

"Ohhh, may I ask something? What kind of monster he brought for those armory."

"Hmmm...if I remember, it was a giant wolf."

"I see...it seems to be a [Wolf Leader]."

"I think so too, but the fur is quite different."

"Different?"

Rei nodded, "He said...it was a [Unique Boss Monster]."

"A unique boss monster?! How did he managed to subdue one?!"

"I don't know the details but he told me he defeated it with the help of a certain Noble who came to subdue the monster."

"I see...but of course, a monster like that cannot be defeated by a single person." Gudmund shook his head.

"No...the soldiers from the Noble did help out but...the one who killed that monster...was Crimson-san himself."

Gudmund who heard it jumped from his seat, "Oh my god! I can't believe he defeated such a thing! I guess from his appearance, he's already strong enough but since he got all of those items he should be much stronger now."

"Indeed."

"But it's also very foolish to fight it alone, even an A-class Adventurer could die for it. He's pretty lucky to be alive after fighting against that thing, he should have just run away instead." He grumbled.

"He do want to run from the fight..." Rei looked grim for a moment, "but because he doesn't have any choice, he stayed."

"And why is that?" Gudmund asked, sensing there's a story behind it.

"Because if he ran away...the monsters will surely attacked my village, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him." Rei smiled while looking at him.

Gudmund widened his eyes, feeling a bit guilty for saying all those things to that man before even it wasn't directly to his face, "Sorry about that lad, I didn't know."

"It's fine." Rei nodded, "The village was saved and it's all that matters."

Gudmund smiled, "I see, I understand."

"Yeah, ever since then, I worked hard to repay him and so I created that armor...I don't have any sense of fashion though so i'm sure the helmet gave a terrible impression to people."

Gudmund who listened to his story chuckled, "Well that's true, you didn't have any style for it."

"Ugh–" Rei felt an imaginary arrow struck his head from his words.

"But...that doesn't mean it wasn't good, it's very hard for someone young like you could create an Epic Grade armor such as that.

"You amazed me boy" Gudmund praised, grinning widely, "So be proud of yourself."

Rei blinked as he felt his cheeks started to heat up. He looked away in embarrassment after being praised for his creation, it was the first time he ever got it from someone.

"Hehehe~" Rei laughed awkwardly.

"But still, you have no style" Gudmund huffed, crossing his arms to his chest.

"Ugh–Sorry." Rei apologized, looking down to his lap.

Gudmund smiled, "Then all you need to do is improve yourself, right?" As he talked, he got up from his seat.

Rei looked at him and blinked for a moment, "Huh?"

"What are you waiting for! Let's get ready!" Gudmund shouted while getting into his gear.

Rei who was still dumbfounded eventually got up from his seat, "Y-yes!"

"Also-Gudmund-san!" Rei stopped for a bit and called him.

Gudmund turned around to look at him, "Hmm?"

"Could you teach me how to use [Weapon Fuse]?"

Gudmund who heard that skill being mentioned suddenly widened his eyes, "You have that skill?"

"Um...I do have it but I don't know how to use it." Rei nodded.

'Unbelievable...here I thought he was a genius for being able to create those armor despite being so young...but I never thought he also has [Weapon Fuse] skill that only a few people have it.'

'Genius my ass...this kid is a damn monster.' Gudmund thought, 'Am I allowed to teach this youngster?'

Gudmund observed this young man for a while without saying anything.

His silence made Rei nervous, 'Is that a no?'

"I will teach you how to use that skill." Gudmund eventually spoke, breaking his silence.

Rei's whole face lit up as he smiled, "Really–?!"

"But first...let me ask you a question."

"Yes?"

"I want you to be honest with me...what is your goal to learn that skill, because I can't teach just anyone of how to use it." Gudmund explained, looking somewhat concerned about something.

'My goal?' Rei blinked for a moment and smiled at him, "Is that it?"

"Huh?"

"I thought it was something else...but Gudmund-san is pretty kind." Rei spoke as if he saw through his intentions for asking that.

"W-what are you talking about! A-ahem." Gudmund were taken off guard when he spoke like that, "Just tell me!"

Rei chuckled, "My goal...is to be of help for everyone else around me, by learning it I can also protect them even if I'm not there."

Gudmund was astonished with his answer because the way he spoke just now felt like what Crimson would do

'The way he said it...almost the same like him. Hmmm, I wonder if he taught him about it.' Gudmund wondered.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know that the person he thought was the same person as the young man standing before him.

"Hah, I get it I get it, you're pretty humble for a boy your age."

"Hahaha, not really. I'm still very young." Rei deflected with a smile.

"That reminds me, how old are you?" Gudmund asked out of curiosity as he prepared his tools along with Rei.

"Me? I'm still 8 years old~" Rei answered with innocently, but that made everything suddenly fell apart.

"W-WHAT?!!"

After that loud shout of his, Gudmund was in shock and went crazy about it. Rei who was beside him had no choice but to calm him down for a while before they could start with their training.

*****

Gudmund coughed after he finally calmed down, it seems like these days he's losing his composure very easily to people.

'I felt like we are in de javu.' Rei sweat dropped as he felt bad for making him panic.

"Ahem, well then...shall we started?"

"Yes!" Rei saluted hum.

Gudmund smiled and nodded, "But before we start I need to explain to you what kind of skill [Weapon Fuse] is..."

Rei nodded.

"Okay then, as you know [Weapon Fuse] is a high level skill and it requires strong sense and focus to combine two kinds of weapon. There's a high chance you will fail this because the success rate is only around 15%" Gudmund explained.

Rei nodded as he listened, 'Just like in the description.'

"To increase that chance is where your mana and focus come into play, and also..." Gudmund suddenly took out some sort of blue crystals from his pocket.

"You need this..."

*THUD*

The size of those crystal is just like a penny but from Rei's observation, it contained something within.

'Huh? [Mana]?'

"Yes." Gudmund spoke as if he knew what Rei was thinking based on what's written on his face.

"This is a [Mana Crystal], a crystal that contained mana that helps people these days to do their job."

"If you think that this thing is similar to those [Monster Core], you got it all wrong because despite containing mana inside, the mana have already been contaminated with other kind of energy to form into some sort of monster."

"That's why us [Blacksmith] need to refine these things before using it."

'Refine them?' Rei asked.

'Yeah...by using your fire and [Blacksmith Flame], the tempature and the mana were solely used to refine those materials.'

'I never knew.' Rei thought.

"So unlike that, this one is the purest form of mana, from nature itself." Gudmund continued.

"Nature?"

"Yes...the whole place we are living in contained mana, although not that dense like in the forest but every place have mana all around."

"Then some of those mana began to form into another thing...a solid and beautiful crystal which is this...[Mana Crystal]." Gudmund explained.

Rei nodded while understanding his explanation, of course he read some of those from a book but never thought he could see one in front of his eyes.

'You never mention there's something like that Houston.'

'Well because you aren't ready to use it yet...and also there's another reason for that.' Ray replied.

'Another reason? Which is?' Rei asked him.

Gudmund took a piece of the Mana crystal in his finger, "This thing can also help a Mage with their magic. Since it is so precious, it costs quite a lot to get one."

"How much?" Rei asked when he heard it.

"Well this small thing...costs around 10 Gold coin."

Rei widened his eyes, they looked like they were about to pop out just from listening to him. 'That small thing cost that much?!!'

'Yeah...that's the reason why I don't mention it to you.' Ray spoke.

"The most precious one is called [Mana Stone], the mana density of that thing is much higher than any [Mana Crystal] so they're more expensive, maybe around 100 gold coins." Gudmund explained.

Rei was even more shocked than before, Gudmund who saw his mouth dropped decided to stop by clearing his throat but found his reaction to be very amusing.

"Ahem, I'm sorry about that lad, that's how precious these things are...but enough of that!"

"Now, I shall explain to you why [Weapon Fuse] requires these things."

"The reason is simple...because us Blacksmiths, our mana is pretty low...and by using these crystals, it will compensate all of those required mana to fuse weapons."

"The other reason is because in the process, we need mana to surround the weapons as they are forged into one."

"We used mana to stop the rampaging energy coming from a single weapon...that's why the quality of the weapon needed to be checked first."

"The quality?"

"Yes, because an ordinary sword that was forged with any kind of metal and a sword that was forged with monster's material have different properties."

"How so?"

"Hmmmmm...the only explanation I can say is...a sword that was forged with metal doesn't have any soul within it, unlike a sword forged with monster's material that contained monster soul in order to inherit one of their skill, isn't it?"

"Mhm."

"So the process between the two of them is much easier than forging two swords forged with monster's material...do you know the reason why?" Gudmund asked.

Rei thought about it for a moment until he got what he meant, "The two souls began to rampage and fighting against each other?"

"Bingo, the qualities between those two weapons need to be checked first...if it's made by a monster's material that have similar grade, they will collide and fight for domination."

"That's why we use [Mana Crystal] to keep these two weapons under control so that we can start combining them into one single weapon. There's also a possibility that their skills would merge into one."

'I see! So that's why [The Golden Fang Sword] have a skill that I never heard of.' Rei caught on.

"And that's also why a sword forged with metal combined with a sword forged with monster's material is much easier, because the other sword will swallow that sword and there's a possibility the grade will increase because of the quality of the metal being used."

'I see...is that how he upgraded the [Black Arm Guard] into [Black Claw of the Unknown Beast].' Rei thought.

'The method is the same but also different...because it's just an upgrade, not fusing.' Ray explained.

'Why not?' Rei asked.

'Because fusing two weapons...created another kind of weapon that was combined into a single new weapon and new power.'

'The thing that he did was a simple upgrade but with different materials that managed to pull out the monster's skill that we weren't able to do before.' Ray explained.

"The same goes to two swords forged with metal, but it's much easier because we don't have to maintain our mana that long because there's no fight between two weapons. Though it can be called as a simple upgrade since nothing much changed because it's still a sword forged with metal." Gudmund continued.

"I see...that is true." Rei mumbled.

"There are other special case where that sword contained another soul though."

"Another soul?"

"Yes...a [Blacksmith Soul]." Gudmund spoke while pointing his left chest.

"A [Blacksmith Soul]...?" Rei gulped after hearing it.

"Yes, we [Blacksmith] sometimes poured our own soul into the weapon we are making...you know, like focusing our whole heart into making this one single weapon."

"We imprint our soul into this one weapon and when someone hold it they could feel...just how hard the [Blacksmith] worked on that weapon." Gudmund explained.

'I see...is that the same as [Blacksmith Will] skill in the swords I made for Iris and her brother?'

'Yeah, it's similar but you are quite lucky to produce those two weapon with little materials though. Your focus and the will you have is so strong that enough to overwhelmed the soul coming from the monster.'

'I see.'

'Though It's a good thing that you learned how to separate the core if not you wouldn't be able to make three weapon with similar skill.' Ray explained.

'Yes I know, Thank you very much sensei!!' Rei praised him.

'Heh, your welcome.' Ray spoke with a proud look on his face.

"So do you understand it so far?" Gudmund asked him.

"Ah–yes! I understand now...but I have a question."

"Mhm, go on."

"Does the soul from Blacksmith soul collide with other soul? Such as Monsters and other Blacksmiths?"

"Hmmm...that's a good question, they do collide but at the same time they don't."

"The first one between Monsters and Blacksmiths, they collided but it's about whose soul is the strongest. If the monster is the strongest, the soul from the Blacksmith imprinted within that weapon will disappear."

"But if the Blacksmith's soul is stronger, they won't collide but they will reside together with the monster's soul."

"And if two weapons have Blacksmith Soul within them, they won't collide but it strengthened the soul instead, and the weapon was recognized as the creation of the two people who made them." Gudmund explained.

"I see...so basically a weapon forged between man and monster's sword will collide but a weapon forged by man won't collide but instead it strengthen the soul?"

"Correct, you are quite a fast learner, huh!" Gudmund laughed boisterously.

"Thank you, it's thanks to your explanation. It is very easy to understand."

"Heh, well that's all I can only explain to you. We don't know what may happen in the process, so sometimes we also rely on luck." Gudmund spoke as he nodded his head.

"Well then shall we begin with the process?"

"Yes! But first, can I be in charge on using Crimson-san's material?"

"Crimson's material? You mean the one he left behind?"

Rei nodded, "Yes, the Ogre one."

"Hmmmm...that would be difficult, since he's still my client you know."

"It is fine." Rei spoke with smile, "Cause he told me that he needs me to improve myself."

Gudmund widened his eyes a bit and chuckled, "I see I see, that is true but...I don't know what kind of weapon does he need this time cause that guy used other kind of weapon with ease."

"Which is somehow creepy." Gudmund commented.

"Ahahaha..." Rei laughed awkwardly though he is somewhat felt hurt from the indirect comment like that because he is Crimson himself.

"So? What is the weapon he requested this time?" Gudmund asked.

Rei blinked for a moment when he asked that then he smiled, "He requested me...

.

.

.

.

to make him a [Shield]."

"Huh?? A shield?" Gudmund was taken off guard with such an unexpected request.

As the progress of his quest, continue once again...

To be continue...