Eva

Rakna had left the Pavilion half an hour before his promised appointment with Old Wang and was currently floating above the city of Black Steel while sitting cross-legged on an expanded barrier made by his Gradation Hex Buffer, GHB for short. He had left Tyran and Pronos behind who were all but willing to leave their seat in front of the television.

He was now waiting for the agreed time while continuing to read his book. He had already come a long way with his new defensive skill. Not only could he use it as an airborne platform but, if he did it right, it would also be possible to use it as an attack method. And the more he leveled it up, the easier it was to change its shape while also improving its movement speed.

"{Hm, this is completely different from the previous,}" Higure commented all of a sudden. "{A story about a young man, made to combat foes crushingly stronger than him, only to be betrayed at the end of his struggle.}"

"Indeed," Rakna nodded. "Nothing I haven't read before but this… he went back in time, not to take revenge but to find his way around betrayal. No matter how many times he gets betrayed, he never hates them and he tries again and again, doing his best to learn about other people's feelings. This is something you'd be hard-pressed to find back on my planet."

"{Why is it?}"

"Humans, where I come from, are predominantly greedy, self-centered, and dreamers to a fault. In dissatisfaction with their lives and wallowing in their pride, they would never value the tale of a martyr who does not seek retribution for himself. They would find it stupid," he said and turned to the next page. "Infuriating, boring, and unrealistic."

"{Hmph, what is wrong with the humans in your world? If they can't admire the fortitude of a man seeking acceptance and peace, what do they admire?}"

"That's the problem. Very few people develop admiration for someone else because, as I said, they are too self-centered to allow themselves to consider another as better than them," he said with a detached voice. "Well, I take solace in the fact that not everyone is like that. I'm grateful to see that other races here may not have the inherent vice of humans."

"{It's odd to hear from a former human like you. Is it common for your race to hate your own kin like that?}"

"You'd be surprised," Rakna replied with a snort. "We can be everything. From a savior to a killer."

"{Is that so…}"

"Anyway," he said and bookmarked the page he was on. "It's time," he added and made the barrier disappear under his feet. He free-fell whilst maintaining his center of balance straight and landed softly on the ground with a gradual application of Flash Step.

"Show off much, eh, sonny?" Old Wang, who was closing his stand, commented with a smirk as he saw him descend from the sky. "I can feel with certitude that you're several times stronger than this morning. You're terrifically talented, aren't you?"

Rakna shrugged as he walked to him. "I got lucky for the most part." He wasn't even being humble.

The dwarf chuckled as he locked his booth before putting it inside a storage ring. "All right. Follow me. We'll use my home's forge," he said and led his apprentice-to-be back to a small house he owns in a quiet and scarcely frequented area.

Old Wang opened the front door and entered after the lights turned on by themselves. "Come in and make yourself at home. Give me ten minutes to settle and eat something and then we'll be good to go," he said and headed toward the kitchen. "Do you want something too?"

"Thank you but no. I'm already full," Rakna replied as he closed the entrance behind him. The truth was that he hadn't eaten anything other than the drake heart for the entire day. However, that had been more than enough to satiate him. Even now, he still felt full and he had no idea how long it would last.

"All right. Wait here," the dwarf said and performed his routine.

In the meantime, Rakna found himself inspecting the house. It was certainly modern-looking and some contraptions that he never had seen before were lying around. But, compared to the rest of Black Steel, it was a bit out of date. In fact, some of the furniture seemed to be very old at first glance and the decoration was in the same kind of spirit.

'A soothing environment…' Rakna commented internally. 'Maybe I should buy a house somewhere with the money I have. It wouldn't hurt to have a place I can call home in the System.'

"{I agree with that idea,}" Higure said. "{A place to return to, no matter how simplistic or small it is, is a good thing to have. There's nothing that trumps the sense of peace you get by resting in a place that you own.}"

Rakna grunted positively at her words. 'Alexa, give me an estimate. What is the average price of a house like this one?'

[1 000 000 Talys. However, that's only if you're willing to search far from the center of the city or you might find the price reaching the eight digits. I recommend you try to look for a place in the higher Plateaus where demand is considerably lower.]

"I see…" Rakna whispered then got an idea. 'Forget what I said. I want to know if there's a regulation to claiming terrain in the System. For example, if I went into the wilderness, built a house, and decided to live there, would it be allowed?'

[That… is different. Technically speaking, there is nothing stopping you. But, as you already know, the System resets every month. Since you haven't been informed yet, let me explain the details of that specific mechanic. The reset does several clean-ups.]

[The first is to get rid of all corpses still in the wilderness. The second is to generate new monsters to fill the empty spots. The third is to change the Trials' and other hidden ordeals' locations and specifics. The fourth is to remodel the dungeons. The fifth is to terraform the land randomly while erasing anything that stands in its way.]

'So, a house would be destroyed by the reset, huh?'

[Correct. However, as you must have already deducted, Black Steel and independent villages like the one you visited are spared by the reset's alterations. That is because they have indeed been claimed and thus put under protection by the System. The entirety of Black Steel is claimed by the Mayor and he is the one who sells parts of it whenever someone wishes to buy them.]

'So, how would one go about claiming a terrain?'

[By appealing to the System,] Alexa responded.

'Appealing… you mean through a Terminal?'

[Affirmative. I don't believe I have told you yet, but the System has a core infrastructure. A sort of super artificial intelligence commonly referred to as Eva that supervises everything happening in the Plateaus. If you wish to claim land, you have to appeal to Eva and it will either refuse you or give you the right to claim through a contract that satisfies both of you.]

'I see. I guess that makes sense. It would be chaotic if just anyone could claim land. Then what are the criteria for someone to be accepted?'

[They are unknown. Though most believe that the key to be granted the authorization is to have a valid reason and motive, there have been cases of people with no such thing being accepted.]

'So, I won't know until I try. Is that it?'

[Affirmative.]

'And? Can I use a Terminal if I ask the Pavilion?'

[Normally, there would be procedures but with your Badge of Honor, a de facto nobility, you can bypass those and use the Terminal whenever you desire.]

'I can only hope then.'

[If you were to ask me, I have a strong belief that you will be granted the right.]

'Why is that?'

[You may have joked about it before, but the System indeed plays favorites from time to time. Or to be exact, Eva does. There have been instances of it directly rescuing Hosts in the past. In respect of the potential you have shown, I wouldn't put it beyond Eva to give you preferential treatment.]

"{Hm… Eva, huh? I've heard things about that entity,}" Higure said. "{I always thought of it as some sort of spoiled child. Creating dungeons, gifting items, saving Hosts; all on a whim. I heard once that it punished a Host for calling it, and I quote, 'stupid machine'.}"

Rakna almost snickered at that. 'That makes me curious. Based on what I saw from Alexa, I can expect a super AI to also have some amount of sentiency,' he stated and glanced to his right as Old Wang reappeared.

"I'm done. The forge is down, let's go," he said and led him to a certain door. They climbed down the stairs and the pseudo-modern décor turned into something completely different.

Stone walls, ceiling, and floor. A permeating heat coming from a large forge that spat fire with seemingly no physical combustible. There were a few wooden workbenches with schematics on them as well as many tools, several of them being hammers of different sizes. There was a big anvil in the middle of the smithy and to the far back corner laid many crates of materials together with many weapons.

"What? It wasn't what you expected?" Old Wang asked with a smirk when he saw Rakna's face. He then grabbed a pair of thick gloves on one of the workbenches and put them on.

"Well, yes and no. It just seems very… conventional?"

"Heh! If you were expecting machinery or some enchanted gear, forget it. All I need is this," he pointed to a hammer he picked up. "And this," he motioned his chin toward the anvil. "Sure, I could do things more easily with actual items from the System or presses but I wouldn't want to. It's just a trap to make your skills stagnate. Here's your first lesson, kiddo, a real blacksmith forges with blood and sweat, not oil and magic."

Rakna slowly nodded at that. Now that he thought about it, his uncle's smithy was also lackluster when it came to design and usability. Sure, the walls were made with Eion reinforced material and the forge could produce flames that could melt steel in seconds, but other than that, just like Old Wang, there was just a hammer and an anvil.

"So? I have to ask you, what do you want to learn exactly?" The old dwarf asked, jolting him out of his thoughts, as he grabbed an ingot of steel. "Swords? Spears? Armors? Accessories? Which one are you aiming for?"

Rakna raised an eyebrow and thought about it. "If possible… all sorts of weapons. Scythes, daggers, axes, and tridents among other things. The more the better. Additionally, things like needles and arrowheads would be nice too."

"Haha, you have a lot of work then," the old dwarf laughed good-naturedly. "Especially those last two demand a bit more finesse. In normal circumstances, I would say that it's better looking for mass-produced versions since forging it as I do is a waste of time… well, that's only if you're not looking for quality. But I suppose it's not what you want."

He continued speaking as he picked a plier to put the steel inside the blazing forge. "But well, we'll get there in time. Before starting, let me introduce you, this is Karna," he said while pointing at the fire of the forge and Rakna tilted his head in confusion, which soon evolved into shock when the flames moved to form a smiling face.

"He's what we call a Celestial Kindle. They are living sentient flames capable of adjusting their temperature at will. They're a providence for blacksmiths. They can be found on the Plateaus from 45 to 49. So, if you want one in the future, look there," Old Wang said and Karna returned to normal before starting to heat the ingot of steel.

"Anyhow, today will be the basics of basics. There are three primary branches when it comes to smithing; forging, welding, and heat treatment. We'll focus on forging and heat treatment. Welding isn't something you should bother with for now. Today, I'll have you try the first forging technique, drawing," he declared and pulled the glowing red ingot to put it on the anvil.

While keeping it still with his pliers, he lifted his hammer with a sharp intake of air and brought it down. Rakna's eyes widened as he felt literal wafts generated by his movement.

"When drawing, what you want is to bring the original material to the length, girth, and thickness you want it at," he said in between strikes. "You heat the part you want to draw until it's at forging heat and strike it whilst keeping the flat part of your hammer aimed directly at your target."

"The steel you hit 'flows' outward from the center of the hammer's face. Keep that in mind, it'll be important later on; the flow of the heated material is crucial. In any case, you will strike until it's thin enough for your liking and do so everywhere. Obviously, the steel cools down over time and you have to reheat it if you don't want to risk breaking it and ruin what you have already done."

"With each 'heat', you have to plan a method that will make you accomplish the most possible on your work before it cools down," he instructed as he returned the thinned down ingot inside the forge. "The fewer heats done on a single task, the better. You can't allow wasting time. That comes with experience mostly."

"Now," the old dwarf put down the pliers, letting the ingot in Karna's care, and tossed his hammer to Rakna who caught it in a daze. "Your turn. Take the pliers and get me that ingot to 5-10mm of thickness and keep it as straight as you can. I'll guide you."

Rakna blinked at the hammer in his hand before taking off his jacket. He rolled his sleeves back and began his practice under the old dwarf's coaching.