Chapter 45: You Never Learn

"This kind of resource! Did you not know that some fountains had resources hidden within them?"

"No, I don't."

Yoshino Aruven answered truthfully. He was indeed not expecting that such treasures could be found on those constructs. How many fountains had he been through by this time exactly?

He stared blankly at the female student named Ariana Aries.

On the other hand, the female student was still holding the Zeta Blade on her hands. She might have pointed at the fountain found at the center of the intersection earlier. But she was now staring at the young man as if he was some kind of an idiot.

She raised an eyebrow then asked,

"You made it this far without knowing that?"

"…"

Yoshino could not refute such a harsh comment. On his defense, the inside of the dungeon this time was not the same as what he had taken three years ago.

In addition, he was quite an ambitious young lad back then. He ignored the resources that was up for grabs and focused on reaching the exit as fast as possible.

But things were a little different right now, he was in dire need of resources and, frankly, he had a debt to settle. He should have researched about this mechanic earlier!

Miss Aries seemed to have mistaken his silence as a sign of him not wanting to talk about the matter further. Thus she changed the topic of their conversation. She said,

"Anyway, are you going to accept my offer or not?"

"Why are you so insistent in such an offer? I mean, what is in it to you?"

Yoshino wanted to ask more about how the female student had known about the treasures. Alas dwelling on the past would who only hurt him rather than help. He decided to engage the current topic. Thus he asked a different issue that bothered him.

However, Miss Aries raised an eyebrow once again. She answered,

"You have no idea? For Artisans, especially those who are further classified as crafts-makers, forging a unique-grade item, well recasting for this case, is be considered as a proof eligibility."

"Eligibility for what?"

"To be acknowledged as a true crafts-maker!"

"That's rubbish! If recasting a Unique-grade item was that prestigious, how come no other blacksmith had approached me before and offered their services like yours?"

This time, Yoshino was the one who raised an eyebrow. He could not believe that his weapon could give such a prestige to any fortunate blacksmith. As far as he know, the profession was a service that charged exorbitantly.

At some point in time, he even considered learning some blacksmithing skills just so he could have a share of such a huge pie. Unfortunately he was not compatible with such crafts-making skills.

His thoughts were pulled back to the current situation when Miss Aries spoke. She said,

"Let me guess, you frequent a blacksmithing shop run by some old folks or the sort, am I right?"

"W-well that is the safest way to have proper weapon maintenance."

As mentioned before, not everyone could equip skills that they desired. And even if you could, you would still have to hone those skills in order to become competitive. Especially if you were aiming to use those said skills to make a living.

This was indeed true for the Artisan class. One must improve his expertise on his chosen craft before he could dare to put a hefty price tag on it.

And of course there would be people who would try to sell their subpar skills as something good to unassuming customers. That was why it was still better to avail forging services from established shops.

Since the leading Guilds had certified and accredited these shop owners to have skills that were worth their pay.

But this line of reasoning seemed to have supported Miss Aries' claim as well. She argued,

"Then no wonder no one offered you to recast this before! The old folks no longer needed to prove themselves that they could recast a Unique-grade weapon."

"…"

Yoshino could not deny the point she had raised. The female student seemed to have noticed this. She pressed further,

"Perhaps they might even have thought you are too wet behind your ears to possess a completed Unique-grade weapon anyway."

"But shouldn't their apprentices have hinted this to me at the very least?"

"Wrong! The recasting is a rite of passage that all apprentices had to encounter outside on their own. They are not allowed to recruit personal customers when at the shop."

"And Miss Aries would have probably done the same if we met on a shop instead?"

"Fufufu, maybe."

Yoshino had thought of a different angle which he could ask. But it was easily denied by Miss Aries. The effort was futile but at least it was able to make the female student giggle. But just a little.

Miss Aries then smiled. She added,

"If you're being wary that the offer is too good to be true, don't worry. You would still have to be the one who gathers the necessary materials anyway."

"Then there's no real reason to refuse, huh?"

"Yes. So are you going to accept or not?"

Yoshino sighed. The was no such thing as free lunch. If he wanted to have a better weapon, he do have to work for it apparently. He was about to give his answer. But he had to confess on one more issue though. He said,

"Well to be honest, I came here together with a team. I was just doing a reconnaissance when I stumbled upon you."

"Recon? Why did you not just use the mapping app?"

Miss Aries tilted her head upon hearing the statement. Perhaps she was puzzled that some people were still relying on such an outdated method of dungeon-crawling.

"Because we do not have one. Sorry for being poor."

Yoshino answered as he smiled wryly. He did have to admit this fact eventually. So he decided to reveal it sooner rather than later.

He saw the disappointed look on the face of the female student. Haha, looks like it would still take quite a long time before the blacksmith could complete her rite of passage.

But Miss Aries recovered after a few seconds. She took a deep breath. She then said,

"Fine. I'll lend you my mapping app. But first, we must get a certain resource that I found. I have a bad feeling that someone else could find that treasure while I'm away."

"As I said, I'm on a recon. Should we not regroup with my team first to ensure a better retrieval chances?"

"No, the resource is really close from here. We can just regroup with your team afterwards."

"If it was that important, why did you leave it in the first place?"

"Because I don't have the material to retrieve it before. But with this Zeta Blade, I can extract the mineral from the fountain."

"How?"

"This weapon is made of a precious metal that is hard enough to mine the resource I have found."

"Then you are just after my blade, not me!"

Miss Aries rolled her eyes. She ignored the snarky comment and gestured to hand back the weapon she was holding. The handle was now facing its owner. She then asked,

"So, what are you going to do now? By the way, the mineral that I am after is also one of the materials needed to recast your weapon."

Yoshino had wanted to shout 'let's go!' upon hearing what she said. But he was able to hold himself back. He pondered for a few moments instead.

He had been too focused on his cultivation before. This resulted to him neglecting the upgrade of his items.

And he had been wielding the Zeta Blade for years now. But aside from the routine maintenance he had yet to invest on its development. This had to change this time.

And besides, it was not like he had to provide for all the resources needed for its recasting right now. He could search for the required materials along his attempts to reach for a breakthrough. That way, Zeta Blade would grow together with its owner.

He reached for the handle of his magic weapon. He raised the blade up high. He then answered,

"Alright, I accept your offer."

"Glad to be of service. You can call me Ariana from now on."

The female blacksmith reached out for a handshake. Yoshino accepted it with a firm grip.

***

"So have you claimed the mineral that 'we' fought hard for?"

Yoshino tried to divert the topic. There was no way he could pay back the nine Supreme-grade potions he had consumed. Well, six actually, he was just pocketing the remaining three.

Ariana furrowed her eyebrows. She seemed offended upon hearing the question. Perhaps there was too much emphasis on the word 'we'?

"You were just convulsing down the floor a while ago! Did you really think I would be so heartless that I will leave your side to take some mineral out?"

Yoshino wanted to answer 'yes' here. But even he figured out that such answer was too inconsiderate. Thus he quickly apologized instead.

"Sorry for doubting you. And thanks for not leaving my side."

"That's better. Now take out the Zeta Blade so I can extract that mineral."

Ariana nodded as she accepted the apology. She then gestured her hands that she wanted to receive something. It was of course the magic weapon the young man possessed.

Yoshino smiled wryly. Was she really worried or not?

Nonetheless, he called forth a small dimensional gate. The 30-centimeter knife appeared on his right hand. He then surrendered it to the female blacksmith.

Ariana excitedly received the weapon. She quickly stood up and bended over the fountain. She seemed to have called forth a small hammer that she was using in tandem with the knife. The poor magic weapon was being used as some kind of a chisel right now.

Yoshino had somewhat learned his lesson now. He was tactful to look away this time around. But of course, it was just 'somewhat'. In other words, he was sneaking some glimpses from time to time.

"Stop being a pervert and focus on your recovery instead!"

Ariana commented amidst her chiseling.

Dear Yoshino, when will you ever learn? That women are quite perceptive on such acts.

He could only smile wryly as he took another sip of the HP-Recovery potion. His toxicity level has yet to fully subside. But he could now take a few sips once in a while to aid his recovery.

But then,

"Rargh, what do we have here?"

"Haha, I never thought you were 'this' unfaithful."

"Thou have abandoned thy teammates. For what? For carnal desires? Forsooth!"

Familiar voices could be heard. Three sets of footsteps then followed. They were of course approaching the young man who was causally taking sips from three famous brands of beverages.

Yoshino had a bad feeling about this. No amount of explanation would suffice to appease the wrath of these people!