Talent

"It is said that saying the name of a woman before introducing yourself means that you willl marry her." Leonila let her hair down as she wiper her hands.

"Too bad, I'm underaged, Sister Leonila." Zypher said as he giggled.

"So, why do you want to hire us?"

Hiring a mercenary.

Yes, that's right. He was hiring them. A mercenary certificate costs nothing, but giving money means he is hiring.

"That fast? Aren't you curious who am I?" Zypher teased.

"If you want to give your information, when they aimed their weapons to you, you had given it, but you didn't."

"Smart, as always." Zypher said as he took another gold coin from his pocket.

"Sonar Dust, Brittle Gold and Adamantine pieces."

"Woah, and now you want us to be your personal shoppers?" The mage said as she poked Zypher with the cane.

"As if I'm not paying you." Zypher said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"When do you need it?"

"Later at noon. I will enter the dungeon tomorrow night."

"Hmph. Arrogant." The spearman retracted his weapon, and so did the others.

"Hey boss, I have some Adamantine Shavings here, you can buy 1 kilo for 10 silver!" A man, with a fierce face laughed and presented a sack. Everybody laughed hard with him.

Suddenly, a big silver coin flew and lodged on to the table where they were eating.

The whole in became quiet as Zypher looked at the man and opened his hand.

The man, with shock in his face, looked at the coin and the sack he has.

But then, and evil thought appeared in his mind.

He opened the sack, and poured all the contents on the ground.

The whole inn became heated as he did that, but what happened next surprised everybody.

Three bronze coins flew to his head, heart and groin, all hitting at the same time.

The sound of crushed balls was loud that everybody laughing felt dread when they saw it.

The man, who was now breathing heavily on the ground, has his face on the Adamantine Shavings he poured earlier.

"Wow, what a great clown." Zypher said as he smirked.

No one laughed with him, but after a moment, a thick killing intent was sent outwards from the laughing Zypher.

This made everyone in the inn pause their breaths as it was like a dragonic snake used it's poison breath and everything is a poison to them.

It was like being in a guillotine but you are facing where the blades come from.

It is like being beheaded by using a rusty knife, and does it by slicing one by one.

It is like being pierced by a needle too shallow to make it a wound but too deep to inflict the pain.

"Ha..Haha..HAHAHAHAHAHA."

While tears appeared on her eyes, one of the mercenaries laughed with fear.

After this everybody else followed as their heads were filled with so much embarassment and fear.

"Oh, that's better." Retracting the killing intent, he smiled and looked at Leonila.

Three sacks appeared in front of him.

"These are what I have with me right now. I will buy more with the budget you gave me."

"No need, this is more than enough." Zypher said as he swiped the sacks away.

He walked out of the inn while everyone is laughing, and he waved his hand.

"Tomorrow, same time." He said while closing the door.

As soon as he closed it, sounds of gasping, heavy breathing and groans can be heard.

Leonila, who saw it, took a paper and wrote something in it. When she was done, she threw it in her back, and a hand caught it, but it vanished right away.

"Interesting guy." She said as she took her coat and fixed her hair, and now, she looks like a he.

"Hey, Sister Leonie, where was the blacksmith guild again?" Zypher appeared outside the door again, with his innocent face.

All the people inside stopped their breaths and looked at him like he was a devil.

"Leonie?" The swordsman said like he heard a good joke.

"Aren't you supposed to be--"

"Oh, nevermind, I'll find it alone.". And then, he left, leaving Leonila who didn't finish her sentence.

And all of them sighed a breath of relief.

- - - - -

The rhythmic clash of metals resounded as the heat went up.

Hammers, swords, armors and even arrows are made one by one, and some natives and players are helping each other out.

Zypher arrived at the said blacksmith guild as he was asking around.

The smell of sulfur plus the metallic taste in the air makes this experience last.

"This game really can connect to the five senses."

The revolutionary way of the game is for players to experience the "life" inside the game, and make a "feeling" out of it.

As Zypher entered the smithy, people with muscular bodies and bandanas on their head appeared. The bandanas are used fo stop their sweats from getting to their faces.

For the meantime, as everyone is busy, Zypher decided to watch how people were smithing. Although this is a game, there are more to the AI that makes the Natives of the game have different varieties and giving their creations and skills differ.

A moment later, a young lad approached Zypher. He was also sweaty, but his fair skin is testimony that he has not yet reached the peak of blacksmithing.

"Hello, are you here to use a furnace?" The boy asked as he wiped his sweat with his apron, making black soot smear on his face.

"Yes, I'll have one." Zypher said as he pulled a silver coin from his pocket and handed it to the boy.

"Sorry, we don't accept payment, but in return, please teach me how to smith!" The boy said as he pushed Zypher's hand away and bowed in front of him.

Zypher was a bit startled, but then, he refused.

"My smithing skills are different from what you are using. It is already ingrained in you, so teaching you another thing will just make your efforts go to waste."

"That's too bad then. You can still use the furnace I was using earlier." The kid said as he looked at the man in front of him.

Zypher just nodded and went to the furnace.

To be honest, he was starting to look at the way the smiths here do their works.

If the Northern Vulcan Style uses the casts, and makes arrangements, the Dwarven Style uses force to mend the metal, the other style in this smithy uses fast and many strikes to let go of impurities.

In short, it was for preparing the ores, but what Zypher has right now is the processing of the ores.

And as what he saw, this smithy is just preparing ores, and removing the impurities from them.

There are four processes in smithing: cutting, preparing, processing and finishing.

Cutting is the process of taking parts of the ore that will be prepared. This can be done by machine, or just by breaking the said ore.

Preparing is the way the ores are tested and sometimes, pressed. These tests includes the purity, weight and even the malleability of the ore. It is then pressed for the next step.

After being pressed, and also, removing some impurities and testing, processing comes faster, and from the pressed ore, the shape will be done much easier. Plus, a cooled ore is better than the raw ore, for it has still some of the other mineral mixed with it, while cooled ore is purer.

The last one is finishing. After forming the shape, touches are made such as sanding and polishing.

But sometimes, players fuse the second and third steps for time saving. Plus, they can add more things to the ore and make alloys.

{Learning Hundred Mallet Strikes Style...}

{76.2% learned.}

Due to his time spent in the smithy in the Tutorial City, the understanding of him in blacksmithing came up.

Though it is a game, a series of information comes to his head how to use and make equipments by using smithing processes.

It is like an aim robot that tells you what to do and aims where it is needed.

But, experience plays a bigger role in it. Although he has no practical blacksmithing works in his past life, living again is an advantage he can exploit.

As he made his way to the furnace, he looked at his surroundings.

"This may take a while, but it will be worth it."

Taking the sacks he had earlier, he then melted some Crude Iron that he had with him in his past smithing.

Using what he saw earlier, he then decided to strike the ore in every angle he saw the others move and how others give touches to the ores.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Continuous hits rained upon the crude iron, but instead of it being refined, the iron crumbled to dust, making Zypher frown in disgust.

As he was cleaning the dust, he went and look at the others who were busy smithing, and his eyes were glued to them after a moment.

An hour passed, and more hours passed, and the flame of his furnace was dwindling, but he did not stop in watching.

{Learned Hundred Mallet Strikes.}

(Hundred Mallet Strikes and Dwarven Style are compatible with each other, do you want to fuse?)

"What?" Zypher's eyes got bigger at the revelation.

Fusion.

This is one of the mysteries of the game. There were many things that happened in his past life, but Fusion was not a thing he experienced.

It is a hidden thing in the game, that players who discovered hidden combinations to fuse and be a one skill.

[Codex Talent Activated: Synthesis.]

{Quest Activated: Synthesis}

{Rating: EX}

{Experience Fusion and Upgrade the said Fused Material.}

{Reward: Talent - Synthesis.}

"Woah! Goggles issued a quest? Isn't Mod the one who issues them?"

(So? I'll issue one to you now.)

(Quest Activated: Maximum.)

(Rating: EX)

(Gain the 7 Talents and 2 Principles.)

(Reward: Talent - Maximum.)

[Hey, are you a kid?]

(I'm not.)

[{(NO, YOU AREN'T.)}]

<*sniff* Fine then *sniff*>

"These people..."

Zypher said as he accepted the quests and looked at the fusion prompt.

In truth, he is a bit skeptical.

What if he gets a dud ability, or the price to upgrade the ability is much worse. He needs the two skills now, and he needs to finish the dungeon as soon as possible before people knows what's inside of it.

(What's the pause, kid?)

After a moment, his mind became silent.

"Nothing, I just thought that my luck in my past life is bad."

Yes, he is quite a bit unlucky, but this is the reason why he was called as the brain.

Even in a war, their part will have a beast going rampant, or an avalanche will fall on them, but he manages it like a professional, and they win the battles they fight.

By the help of the geography, and his thinking skills, they avoided the worst so many times, and turned the tables on his enemies.

(Why not make a leap of faith?)

"You're right. I'll fuse them then."

Pushing the "Yes" button, the two abilities were merged as one.

A blinding light appeared, as the abilities were fused.

[You have learned the Uncommon Ranked Ability: Thousand Hammer Drill.]

When this happened, time seemed to stop and a new prompt appeared in front of him.

(Do you want to Upgrade the Ability?)

"Yes!" Without hesitation, Zypher said as he knew that this is a breakthrough for him.

But, her forgot something.

(Good, kid. Now, what do you offer for the upgrade?)

"What?"

As he suddenly remembered, this was the rule that the Codex have.

"How much do you want?"

Steeling his resolve, Zypher took initiative and asked.

A laughter came after, as a hand appeared out of nowhere.

(Time's up, kid. I'll be taking this.)

After that, a scream resounded inside the smithy, waking everyone in their work and looking at the young man who was now on the ground.