Arriving at the City and the Blacksmith Guild

A moment later the carriage started to shake, and William knew they had started to move. Peeking out of a hole in the carriage, he saw the other carriage also start to move.

Jack, Harlow, and Grant were sitting together, discussing the upcoming entrance exam and what it would entail. Alone, Freddie was hiding in a corner, while Cody was hiding in another corner drawing circles, apparently still upset about not becoming leader.

Without anything to do, William took a random manual from his spacial ring and started to read it. Several minutes later, the door leading to the front of the carriage opened and one of the guards came in.

"Well be on the road for three more hours before we stop for thirty minutes. Overnight, we'll also stop for eight hours to rest before we continue. This journey will take ten days, so you boys better find something to do or this will be the most boring ten days of your life."

The guard left and William continued to read. Suddenly, William felt something poking his side,

"What is it, Lucky?"

Lucky: (ˉ﹃ˉ)

"Oh, you're hungry."

William checked his storage ring.

"Crap. I forgot to bring food for Lucky."

Lucky looked stunned.

"Don't worry, I'll get you something."

William nabbed a piece of bread from his inventory and gave it to Lucky. Then, he opened the shop. Lucky couldn't eat bread for the next ten days they would be on the road, he had to find some real food for it.

'Show me something that Lucky can eat.'

______________________________

...

[Ear of Corn] [1 SP]

[Sunflower Seeds (50)] [2 SP]

[Ear of Spirit Corn] [10 SP]

[Spiritual Sunflower Seeds(50)] [15 SP]

[Ear of Golden Corn] [50 SP]

...

______________________________

William looked at the options. He was pretty rich now, but it was best not to waste too much money. However, he did have some money to spare.

"Give me three ears of spirit corn and two packets of spiritual sunflower seeds."

"Purchase [Ear of Spirit Corn (3)] for 30 SP?"

"Purchase [Spiritual Sunflower Seeds(100)] for 30 SP?"

"Yes. Put them in my spacial ring."

After making sure everything was there, William looked at Lucky. It seemed quite happy with the bread for now, so he would give it the new food at its next meal.

"Well, back to reading."

William reopened the manual and continued to read it. There were still ten days until they reached the city. There was plenty of time to increase his proficiency with these techniques.

...

Ten days passed by in a flash, and one of the boys suddenly noticed something outside.

"Guys, I see the city!"

"Wait, really?!"

Everyone crowded around the two windows in the carriage. William also peeked outside, and he saw Goldenrod city. Honestly, it didn't seem much different from Woodmist city. Its walls were slightly higher and were made of some golden material, and it did look much bigger, but that was about it.

Still, the other kids in the carriage had never seen a city before, so they were very surprised.

"Woah, it's huge!"

"Wow! I-it's so shiny!"

Their carriage quickly arrived at the city's gate, and they went through a quick inspection before they were led into the city. At that moment, a guard came in.

"Okay, boys. Listen up."

Everyone sat back down on their seats and listened.

"We'll be stopping at the Red Grizzly Hotel. Grant, you'll go with the leader of the guards and Charissa, the elected leader for the girls. You'll be registering for the entrance exam. Everyone else, you can either stay at the hotel or go look around the city. However, if you do, you have to stay in a group, and we will go with you."

"We want to explore the city!"

"Me too!"

"I-I want to go too!"

"Very well. Grant, when we arrive at the hotel, follow the leader. The rest of you, just sit tight and wait until we get the rooms, then we'll follow you through the city. However, we can only explore for an hour before we have to go back, because the leader will be telling us about the entrance exam."

The guard left, leaving the excited boys to excitedly discuss what the city would be like. Over the time they had been in the carriage, they had all become familiar with each other and their personalities.

William was also pretty excited. Goldenrod city was a tier two city, meaning it would probably be much better than Woodmist city.

A few minutes later, the carriage came to a stop in front of a large, wooden building.

"So this is where we're staying?"

The Red Grizzly hotel was very different from the hotel he went to when he was with Fletcher and Ryan. That one was pristine, looking very clean and pleasing to the eye. However, this one... well, the walls were made of old, rotten wood, and there were stains all over the building. That, along with the clear signs of shoddy repair on the building, made William frown.

The inside was no better than the building's exterior. It had the same look as the outside, with the addition of a puddle of an unknown grey liquid. The leader of the guards went to get their rooms, and everyone eagerly exited the hotel.

"Can we go explore the city now,?"

The guards leading them sighed.

"Remember, we have to be back in an hour. And if you run off, we won't go find you, so don't expect a whole search party when you get kidnapped in some random alley. Got it?"

"Yes."

"I know."

"Whatever, let's go!"

The group quickly left to explore the city, taking in the sights around the city. The girls went shopping, while the boys wanted to just explore the city and see what it had.

William noticed a bucket next to a store which had maps of the city.

Quickly excusing himself from the group, he went into the store.

"How much for one of those maps?"

"25 coppers."

"Here, keep the change," William said, tossing a silver coin in their direction and grabbing a map. He quickly returned to the group, which had strayed slightly ahead of him. Suddenly, Harlow seemed to notice something up ahead and pointed at it.

"What building is that?"

Everyone turned their heads to look. There was an impressive looking building which had many people coming in and out.

"Oh, that building? It's called the blacksmith guild. It's where blacksmiths work," said one of the guards.

"Blacksmiths?"

"They forge weapons, armor, and artifacts. We can go inside if you want to know more."

"Okay!"

"Then let's go!"

They all went to the building, and entered a large with pathways leading to the left and right. There was a reception desk at the back of the room, and maps were pasted on the walls along with some pamphlets.

William got one of the pamphlets and read what it said on the front.

"Welcome to the blacksmith guild. This is where blacksmiths go to take their examinations to raise their tier, forge weapons, and take or give classes on blacksmithing. This pamphlet will tell you about blacksmiths as a profession, what they do, exams, and blacksmith tiers. There is also a small map on the back you can use for reference."

William opened the pamphlet.

"Blacksmiths are one of the nine main supporting professions, alongside others such as apothecaries, formation masters, and beast tamers. They forge weapons, armor, and artifacts to assist cultivators in battle, and play a huge role in the life of a cultivator."

"Blacksmiths, like many other professions, have nine tiers. In order to become na official blacksmith, you need to take the apprentice examination. This will test your ability to create weapons and armor. After that, you will take the examination to become a tier one blacksmith, which will require the creation of a mortal-high tier weapon. After that, you can take the exams for tier two, then three, and so on."

"Once you become a blacksmith, you'll be under the protection of the blacksmith guild, meaning you have a much higher status than a normal cultivator, and the blacksmith guild will protect you as an important member of the guild."

William turned to the back and looked at the map, which had several notes written on it.

"To the left is the teaching hall and the forging rooms. At the teaching hall, forgers can teach publicly or charge a fee for a private lesson. The forging rooms can be rented so that you can forge in a private environment."

"To the right is the examination rooms. This is where you can take the apprentice examinations, and the exams for tier one to three blacksmiths. There is also the blacksmith guild's library, which hold many manuals on forging. However, this is only available to official members of the blacksmith guild, meaning you have to be at least a blacksmith apprentice."

William looked away from the pamphlet and glanced around the room. The group was discussing something under the surveillance of the guards.

"I think we should go to the teaching hall first."

"I want to go the exam area!"

"Do you even know anything about forging? Why even bother going there?!"

"Why don't we go check out the forging rooms?"

"I'm not wasting my money to play around with a hammer. It's not like any of us can forge a weapon."

"Why don't we just go already?!"

"Can't we at least check out the teaching hall first?"

"Fine, whatever."

The group walked into the left hallway, which led to the teaching area. As they walked, the passageway expanded, creating an area 20 feet wide.

People were crowding around the edges of the hallway, which had people standing on a platform, hammering on glowing pieces of metal.

William could hear some of them instructing on different aspects of forging.

"...the great flame tempering method requires extreme heat, meaning you have to resist it in order to..."

"This new metal alloy can be used to forge spirit-mid tier weapons, and it was made using only metals graded for mortal-peak tier weapons!"

"One of the most basic parts of forging is shaping the weapon. Without this, you'll never become even an apprentice blacksmith. Therefore, I will show you the simplest way to create a sword with the..."

Everyone in the group was fascinated by the lectures, and they pushed and pulled each other, trying to go listen to one of the lectures.

"This way!"

"But this lecture is better!"

"But that guy is talking about a super cool forging method!"

"No, this way!"

In the chaos, the group had ended up near one of the platforms.

"This sword I'm forging right now is made of a special alloy recently created by a three star blacksmith named..."

Suddenly, one of the guards checked the time.

"Boys, it's time to go. We have to go back to the hotel now."

"What?! Now!?"

"C'mon give us a few more minutes!"

"Please?"

The guard shook their head sternly.

"No, we have important matters to attend to. We can come back after the briefing on the entrance exam."

"Ugh. Fine, whatever."

"Okay..."

"This sucks."

Therefore, the group returned to the hotel, meeting the guard leader at the entrance. The girls were already there, waiting for them. Grant was also there, standing next to the guard leader along with an unfamiliar girl, who he assumed to be Charissa.

"Come on. I'll take you our rooms. We have things to discuss," said the leader of the guards.