Spending time with father

Two figures, one adult and one child walked one next to the other. Those two were Shingi and Garry, and they were heading to the local Blacksmith's shop.

Shingi tried to remember any information for the local Blacksmith during his free time, especially after hearing his mother's story.

Still, other than the Blue Moon Festival, he knew little about the town other than a few stories of it and quests of some of its people and nothing about its Blacksmith and not even heard of his mother's in-game name.

He mainly focused on information on the tower and people with rare skills and abilities. Still, there were millions of players worldwide, so he couldn't have heard about everyone with these requirements. But through the few stories he heard of her and facts about her, he learned an interesting one.

Angel Feather's class was the same one that he tried to make Annoue earn. She fitted the description of an Arcane Blade as she was used to putting her equipment at many temporary enchantments. She seemed to have five active on her simultaneously, which is impressive that few can do. The more enchantments active, the more focus she would need to keep them active. It would be even more challenging if they targeted the same person. Even if they are of the same source, one may mess with the other, so the caster should keep them from not interacting with each other if not needed.

On their way, he kept checking Garry and tried to understand how skillful he was from his body type, possibly. Shingi was someone who had taught an NPC who is currently almost a Grandmaster. Hence, his eyes could understand things differently than others even if he didn't have his Eagle Eyes. It would help a lot if he had since he could make better assumptions about Garry's skills.

'It seems like he hadn't stopped his work on crafting things for more than a year; probably it was helping to keep his mind clear for some time. His hand seems rough enough, and he has worked many years holding heavy tools, so he probably isn't much on the minor details. Even if his muscle after not working for so long and drinking has changed, the years of hard work are still there. He doesn't seem to be more than a Base Blacksmith but a medium one at least.' [Shingi]

Those facts impressed him, and they made some sense. Even if he had the support of a Player who could make a fortune if they were good ones, if one didn't have the skills to support the shop, the town wouldn't just let it go.

He was also surprised that the mayor or someone had done nothing for the shop, like using it to be something else. Still, from the way Aneta spoke of his mother, she showed to respect her too much. She wanted to help her family as much as she could.

They made their way to the shop and got inside. This time, since Shingi had his PERCEPTION skill, which he was always keeping active with his MANA SENSE, to be safe, he noticed how bad the shop's situation was. It barely held even the sign over the door, and if someone closed the door with force, it would likely make it fall. The rest of the place was in a terrible state or just the front wall, as the rest was in a terrible state. If they left it like that, it would soon be in a condition that a heavy wind could bring the whole thing down.

He noticed Garry was moving in the shop without worries like he wasn't aware of his shop's state. Even if Shingi had a powerful skill, Garry should know the shop like the back of his hand, so he should know its state more than anyone, so there was only one case.

'He doesn't care anymore. But then why did he bring me here, and why does he keep it?' [Shingi]

The town had so many players coming and going, even low-level ones; they were good customers, and the blacksmith shop would make a good amount of money.

"Now we have to turn on the forge. There is some charcoal on the back. I will go get them while you clean it up a little." [Garry]

He pointed at a corner of the store, which had a simple-looking forge full of dust and empty bottles.

Shingi said nothing as he looked around the room, and he found a clean, or at least as clean as he could find here, and could use some of his Light mana to clean it up a little, which led to learning a new spell.

================================

SPELL LEARNED

The spell FILTH EATER (ungraded) has been learned

================================

An ungraded spell wasn't one too powerful to have a rank, but the opposite was that it was too weak, and one that could barely use mana close is not considered a spell.

And so with his now clean cloth, he covered his mouth to breathe without worry and went his way over to clean the forge, moving the bottles with his MANA HAND and making some dust disappear with FILTH EATER as he monitored his father cause he didn't want to see him casting spells yet.

So the forge was clean of dust, and he put aside the bottles in less than two minutes. Then, since Garry wasn't back yet, he started gathering with his hand the rest of the bottles around and even cleaned the space around the forge, and so he noticed that this wasn't a simple forge as he thought.

'A mana blower at a base one's blacksmith shop? It seems like she was making some money if she could get one.' [Shingi]

Of course, by she, he meant his mother. The mana blower was a device suited under the forge that could produce air to feed the fire. It used the surrounding mana to make that air or could even use the user's mana, so both people could use it to use mana and people who couldn't. But creating one was expensive that few, at least NPCs, could afford it unless they were like Master Rank crafters or people of power or wealth.

Then he noticed that there were two blowers connected to the forge. Still, one seemed to be of the ordinary kind connected to a pipe that wasn't too long and had a small opening left at the end. There were some bellows around that should be fit in that hole so that you could use to blow air in the forge in a more traditional way, probably in the case of the mana blower, one stops working, which was a tricky thing to do, or for someone who isn't familiar with how to use it.

In a matter of almost 10 minutes, he had cleaned the whole forge and around it, gathered all the bottles in a big empty sack he found, and investigated the state of the forge, especially the mana blower he was familiar with.

And then, Garry returned with a big sack over his charcoal over his left shoulder. He seemed surprised to see the forge clean as new and his son sitting in front of it, relaxing like he had done nothing.

"It seems we found a talent of yours." [Garry]

Garry chuckled over it, but Shingi didn't put it in mind. He kept his senses on him during his cleaning up, so he knew Garry didn't take him that long to get the charcoal. It seemed like he met a figure at the back of the shop and talked for a few minutes, and then this unknown person left through the back door.

He could barely hear the steps of this figure. However, with his MANA SENSE, he could tell that he was of a somewhat Arcane background as he detected some mana coming from him but not like the aura of players. So he used his MANA SENSE to him but not too much, or it would react to it since he used a small amount of his mana on this figure, in theory, so someone of extraordinary abilities could notice it and maybe track it back. 

Of course, if he raised his skill, the rank would be harder to detect, but he was far from that state.

He tried to hear what they were talking about, but he couldn't hear anything. The reason behind it seemed to be a device on the neck of this unknown figure that seemed not to allow their voice to get too far.

Shingi was familiar with those types of magic items and knew that even the simplest one was worth quite a few coins that even messengers of nobles could barely afford, but most had.

It tempted him to try using his STEALTH skill to get closer for them to be in his detection range and maybe read their lips, which he could do. Still, these people covered their mouths most times, and he didn't want to risk it either way. But he tried to keep in his mind everything he learned of this person, like how his mana felt. Different people's mana gave a different feeling cause of its owner element, mana skills rank, etc. Also, he kept his smell in mind that he barely could take and even the sound of his steps and heartbeat.

After getting his INT to 16, things were easier to organize. He was also wondering if his unknown blessing was helping at all on that. After his sleep and weird dream, his mind was more precise than ever, and his way of multitasking was better than ever.

But now, since his father was back and didn't even take even a moment of mentioning the reason, it took him that long as he reached the forge and started filling it with charcoal.

Shingi could tell from how Garry was putting them in and spreading them that his skill was still here and not too rusty. And after finishing that, he pulled out some old papers and, using a flint and steel one by one, put them on fire and placed them in some spots in the forge. The forge was in a circular shape of almost 2 meters in diameter. There was even like a chimney over it, having a free space of a little less than a meter, covering a little more than half of the forge to lead the smoke out.

Then Garry went over to the side where the mana blower was and put his hand on a panel with a drawing in the shape of an open hand.

Seeing that, Shingi thought Garry was ready to use his mana, which was weird since Shingi could tell that he didn't have a Mana Pool. Still, Garry did that seemingly to check its state and then pulled slightly a lever next to the panel, which let the blower gather the mana from its surroundings and produce air from that mana. Of course, the more you pulled the lever, the more mana would get used, and the air would be more robust, so you could control it better than using the bellows.

Garry looked like one who has done that many times as the fire kept getting stronger and stronger at a fast pace.

Shingi could even tell in Garry's eyes while working on the fire signs of bringing him back memories of great importance for him, but remembering them brought him pain.

"Look around for any metal and bring them here." [Garry]

He usually could do that in less than a minute, as he had already seen most of the shop and noticed where some metal was. Still, he didn't want to draw too much attention. He knew he had some time until the fire was ready to be used, even for the simplest forging, so he took his time and made it look like he looked for them around.

He brought some iron that had been in a good enough state.

Garry was then ready to ask for something else but then looked towards Shingi and checked him from his toes to the top of his head with his eyes. After that, he disabled the blower since the fire did not need any further air and went over to the desk, the same one he was sleeping on the other day. He picked up something that was under it.

A hammer.

It seemed like a typical blacksmith hammer, except for a few details. It had some carvings all over its handle and its size, which was the size of a war hammer. Garry seemed to pick the hammer with no problem. And then something interesting happened.

The hammer became smaller, getting in the size of a standard light hammer. Even its head seemed to change its shape slightly, but barely noticeable for anyone other than Shingi.

'A Spirit Hammer? Just what background does this family have?' [Shingi]

A Spirit Hammer was something that even High Graded Master ranked blacksmiths were dreaming of having. It is a hammer with a spark of L'liw, the God of Smiths. It can allow the user to use his skills like they are a Rank higher than average. This meant it would consider a Base Rank crafting skill as a Master Rank and a Master Rank to be a Grandmaster one, or at least in theory. However, there were limits even to a hammer-like that.

But this type of hammers was unknown where to be found or even created, and when one was found, people would even die or kill in the progress of trying to get it first. But there was something that could keep others from trying to steal it or even do anything harmful to its owner.

The first one that used the hammer with a relevant crafting skill would create a bond that would break only in death. When that individual dies, the hammer will turn into a normal one, and a new one would appear somewhere secluded. Then, all one could do was try to persuade the person to let it to them after they die or work for them. After the mysterious figure's appearance, Shingi started thinking if Garry had made a deal like that.

The hammer changed its shape to different hammers suitable for unique work, as its use will make it the perfect and only hammer needed by him. Unfortunately, it could be only a hammer; otherwise, it would be the only tool they would need, but it was something that even Varic would go crazy over.

And so Garry threw some of the iron into the forge to heat it to prepare it, but then he did something unexpected.

He brought the hammer in front of Shingi.

"Let's see what's your talent in this kind of work, boy." [Garry]