16: Smith's Trial 1

James was in awe of the hammer the old man was wielding unable to take his eyes off of it even if he didn't understand how special it really was.

The old man had noticed how stuck James was and walked up to James putting his hand out and flicking the bottom of James' jaw causing his head to fly back hurting his neck a bit, "Eyes off the hammer scaly boy, Ik it's a masterpiece and all but you can't prove anything other than your stupidity by gawking all day."

[You took 2 damage]

James came to pretty damn annoyed but realized how he was wasting time, "You're right and that's my bad, you're pretty strong old man but I guess that's common sense as you're a blacksmith."

The old man chuckled a bit, "Oh kid you really don't know anything about me do you, I'm an elder dwarf and one of the best blacksmiths of my kind so of course I'm strong. Dwarves in general are known mostly as warriors, miners, and blacksmiths because of our natural affinity for stone and ore as well as our durable bodies. Now enough of this and follow me lizard boy, we'll head down to my workshop where I test the more promising candidates."

James was immediately more excited at knowing he was a dwarf more specifically an elder dwarf who are known as the best of the best among dwarves some even surpassing the dwarf king in craftsmanship and smithing ability. James followed eagerly while his tail is swishing behind him showing his excitement without his knowledge which the dwarf noticed and silently chuckled to himself.

They slowly descended a long staircase after passing an old forge that seemed to have been abused greatly and falling into disrepair and along the way down the stairs James decided to make use of his 50 Free Attribute Points that he'd been stockpiling as well as quickly take a read of the books he got from Cloud. James put 7 points into strength, 11 points into dexterity, 18 points into intelligence, 10 into wisdom, and the last 4 points into charisma feeling a massive surge of power throughout his body feeling his body change as his muscles expanded and contracted beneath his scales making him stronger but making the added muscle mass more lean making his frame change very little but overall stronger and faster which didn't go unnoticed to the smith and he was immediately more curious about this strange lizard that appeared in his smithy.

After James had allocated his stats he opened the [Axemanship] skill book first and was immediately given a notification.

[Would you like to learn the common skill Axemanship?]

James replied in his head, "Yes."

He was immediately flooded with information on basic forms for wielding the axe and the ways to swing and distribute his weight effectively giving him a small headache before he immediately opened the other 2 books and learned them right away learning the [Mana Circuit] skill before the [Lightning] spell book which hurt a lot as James tried holding it together it felt like his veins throughout his whole body were on fire boiling inside him with every step he walked started to stumble as he grit his teeth doing his best to hold on till it was done the pain subsiding and leaving a cool feeling as he could properly feel the Mana in his body now and could manipulate it then finally learning the spell feeling a much bigger headache learning the composition of the [Lightning] spell, the formula of magic that created it and the natural law of magic, and how he can to turn his mana into the spell in the first place but also a massive surge throughout his body as if his very blood had awoken making the electric arc pattern on his scales glow a deep blue in slow pulses for a few moments before subsiding.

[You have learned the uncommon skill Mana Circuit: Mana Circuit opens up all the pores in your body letting your Mana be releasable from your body much easier and is the foundational skill of all magic users and it merges the Mana in your body with your veins creating the "circuit" throughout your body]

[You have learned the basic Lightning spell: This spell allows you to conjure an electric bolt from your hands, wand, magic staff, or magical orb. With practice as this is the starter spell of lightning magic you could possibly learn more spells or even evolve this spell into a stronger or specialized version suited to you]

[Lightning spell costs 10 Mana per cast]

[Lightning spell is capable of evolving now as you have the @?!#!#? Bloodline, would you like to evolve the spell for 140 evolution points?]

James was immediately amazed and also concerned and chose for now not to evolve the spell as he didn't wanna waste his hard earned EP plus he already had a killer headache and wasn't sure what effect that would have on him right now.

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[Status]

Name: James Stormblood

Lvl: 6

XP: 210/600

EP: 240

Health: 358/360

Mana: 250/250

Race: Lizardfolk

Class: N/A

Height: 7ft 9in

Weight: 310lbs

Attributes:

Strength- 25

Dexterity- 20

Intelligence- 25

Wisdom- 15

Constitution- 24

Charisma- 8

Skills:

Active- Rage, Primal Intimidation

Passive- Hand to Hand Combat, Axemanship, Mana Circuit

Spells: Lightning(evolveable)

Traits:

Dragon Eyes, Iron Stomach, Monster Eater, Strong Body, Tracker

Aspects: Blood of The Dark Blood Wolf

Free Attribute Points: 0

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As James finished up everything they arrived at the bottom of the stairs entering a large spacious room much bigger than the shop above being equal to the first story of a home at the back right corner of the room being a massive and expertly crafted forge of similar make to the dwarf's hammer and it oozed Mana as the pure white flames danced over a pool of lava eager inside the forge somehow no heat escaping the confines of the forge to melt the room and beside it a large anvil made of some strange metal James couldn't identify that is covered in deep amethyst runes, to the side of the forge and anvil are several tables with varying tools some for armor and others for weapons and a pitch black grindstone that almost seemed to have shadows moving and changing within which James also couldn't identify what it was made from either.

On the other side of the room several humanoid dolls made of a metal of some kind all wearing built in armor of the same metal all carrying a different weapon from swords, axes, daggers, and spears of different designs to staves, orbs, and large gauntlets and in the center of the room a pedestal with a blue orb with low pulsing light coming from it and lastly at the back of the room several weapons of varying styles and sizes all humming with Mana with runes and stones embedded in them and of exquisite make some being more brutish and others much more elegant than others but below them a large case covered in a crimson drape but none of that could hide the aura emitting from it similar to that of Cloud when he was pressuring James.

James was starstruck in awe yet also slight pain as his senses were being overwhelmed with all this concentrated Mana and the aura coming from the case but it all quickly ceased as the dwarf dispersed the mass of Mana with a swipe of his hand, "Enough gawking already! It's time to for you to prove yourself, first go to the orb and put your hand on it. You don't have to put Mana into it but doing so makes it go faster so we can move on. If you pass my trial we'll do introductions but till then frankly I don't give a shit, for now you're just another dumbass looking for a shiny new sword or an "invincible" set of armor so prove you're worth my skills and I will make sure you never regret it!"