Chapter 98 - The Art Of Blacksmithing

Draco started working on the iron armor sets first.

Iron ingots needed to be melted and filtered before turning into a malleable form that could be shaped into whatever you were making it. However, Draco did not need to filter the iron ingots as he had refined them with a perfect trait.

They were at the highest point iron could reach, so there was really nothing more to do here. He directly melted them in the furnace until they became very supple, allowing him to use his Three Pound Origin to begin the hammering and shaping.

This stage was a breeze for Draco, as his Three Pound Origin was far too overpowered for crafting something as simple as iron armor sets.

It was akin to using a laser sword to cut spiderwebs. Just how much hatred did you have for those poor webs that you would go so far?

Draco started with the chestplates first. Since he needed to make a set, he figured that the most arduous part should be done first. Well, it was usually arduous, but in this case it was just time-consuming.

Draco spent over 15 hours of non-stop work on producing the iron armor sets, which had no enchantments. After all, this particular Hidden Quest involved his skill as a blacksmith, not an enchanter.

Enchanting and Blacksmithing went hand-in-hand, like husband and wife. Still, they were each distinct fields of work that had their own difficulties and nuances.

He took the bulk of the 15 hours working on chestplates and greaves, the other parts taking far less time and using up far fewer resources.

Efficiency due to high Tradeskill level wasn't limited to the preparation stage. It was present in the action stage as well, with how many ingots of a mineral that one would need to craft a weapon or armor piece on average against their level.

In other words, if someone needed 2 ingots to make a set of pauldrons, one could use just a single one, or even half of an ingot, depending on how high their Tradeskill level was contrasted with the rarity of the mineral and the rarity of the armor being made.

Another example was trying to make a Rare armor set with no enchantments. One would need to use a Rare metal to craft it, like Adamantium. If one wasn't at least, Master Rank in Blacksmithing (level 61-80), they could forget about hoping to achieve 100% success rate, much less high efficiency.

As a high level blacksmith in the Master Rank, i.e level 75-80, one would have the maximal efficiency with Rare metals. This would also include their forging success rate for Rare items.

So while using fewer ingots of the Rare Rank to craft an item of any rarity, it would also take fewer to craft a Rare equipment piece specifically.

After all, one could use only Rare metals to craft a piece of equipment and end up making an Uncommon item that was really strong for its rank, but not a Rare item. Crafting items of a certain Rank had its own difficulty, which was separate from using materials of a certain Rank to craft anything at all.

(Author's Note: If you're still confused, don't worry. I'll explain more about it when we encounter new Tradeskills in the future.)

As such, Draco had used far fewer iron ingots to make these iron armors than a level 20 Amateur blacksmith would. Out of the almost 1200 ingots he had, he had only used less than 400 to craft a hundred 5-piece iron armor set with a weapon.

｢Iron Sword – One handed sword

Rank: Common

Atk spd: 0.2

Dmg: 9-16

Effect: None｣

｢Iron B.r.e.a.s.tplate – Chest Plate

Rank: Common

Def: 25

Effect: None｣

｢Iron Pauldrons – Pauldrons (2)

Rank: Common

Def: 9

Effect: None｣

｢Iron Arm Guards – Arm Guards (2)

Rank: Common

Def: 9

Effect: None｣

｢Iron Greaves – Greaves

Rank: Common

Def: 25

Effect: None｣

Even the basic name showed exactly how elementary this set was. Draco didn't try to be fancy in anyway, he followed the blueprint of the basic armor set style to the letter. The difference was that he had been much more efficient in his crafting and the items possessed slightly better effects than most others of the same tier.

Draco put these away and didn't even take a break before he started melting the steel ingots. Making iron armor sets was not a challenge in anyway to him, though it was tedious. The old him would have had to take many breaks during the process, but his rebuilt bloodline body had almost limitless stamina and vitality.

His mind was on the same level as his body with his Dark Angel Inheritance, which focused on beauty and psychic abilities. His mind was not something that could be easily worn down by stress anymore.

Unlike with the iron ingots where Draco could begin hammering away, he had only refined these particular steel ingots at the Exquisite quality, which was only one level below Perfect.

Still, anything below Perfect needed to be filtered before use. Draco had managed to circ.u.mvent this when making the Dragorugio sets because Orichalc.u.m was a magical ore with properties that eliminated impurities.

Steel, while incredibly useful for all purposes, was not magical in anyway.

Draco spent another three hours filtering all 120 ingots of steel into the best possible state. Filtration did not increase an ingot's quality level, just made it less likely to create problems in the finished product when the forging was complete.

After the filtration was complete, Draco began work on the proper forging. His unleashed his Three Pound Origin technique to its fullest, and what a wonderful technique it was.

Since it was created based on Draco's use of Control, it had naturally become stronger when his body had been rebuilt and his Control had strengthened. It hadn't broken into new level, still staying at rank 3 of 10.

Still, Draco did have to put in some effort with these sets. Unlike the iron sets, steel was at his crafting level, meaning he had no efficiency support, only 82.5% basic success rate which was boosted to 100% with the help of his title and Mystic Flame.

He wanted to squeeze out his skill as a former Master Rank Blacksmith in his past life to forcefully increase efficiency without relying on stats and assistance from the game.

This was like being a child and trying to benchpress 20kg weights.

His mental and physical stamina was impressive, but he still began to sweat lightly. Draco had stamina, but that was a passive benefit. Since he couldn't properly use any of his Inheritances actively, they were limited when it came to actively assisting him.

If we were to quantify his mental stamina, it would be 300 points, where a normal human male or female had 10 points. His mental resistance however, would be 30 where the normal human male or female had 10 points.

It was lower not because the Inheritance was weaker, but because he simply didn't know how to use it well. He could easily achieve higher levels of stamina and resistance with training.

As such, since his resistance was barely higher than others, the strain from trying to overcome a herculean task that was only made easy with the help of the system began to eat at his mind.

Draco fought on and fought hard. Every strike of his hammer was rapidly calculated ten times before his hand could even land on it. His movement speed outside of combat was outrageous, but his enhanced mind coupled with the Pinnacle Intelligence passive skill that he got from King made his mind even faster.

Naturally, Draco made mistakes as he went, but he quickly corrected them. This was due to a mixture of his analytical abilities, his talent and most importantly, the Insight passive skill that Roma gave him.

Draco's skill acquisitions seemed random and very compartmentalized, but the truth was that they were extremely useful to him at all times and in many different areas that weren't initially intended.

By the time he had finished the chest plate of the 12th armor set of the 30 he needed to make, Draco had reduced his ingot requirement from 4 ingots per set to 3 ingots per set.

It didn't seem like much, but it was a great improvement on his own.

Draco breathed out heavily and close his eyes for a bit as he felt the special feeling of success.

It was an incredibly gratifying to be able to improve your skill in a certain field that was very vocational. When an artist got better at drawing, or a writer got better at writing, the feeling of success and confidence it gave them was much different from being told your were handsome or beautiful.

Roma, who had been watching Draco work in utter silence, suddenly moved forward and ripped a piece of her dress to wipe off his sweat. She didn't have any napkins or handkerchiefs, so she made do.

Draco simply smiled and gave Roma an appreciative glance. His sweat would not stick to his skin and roll off him in time, but she had ripped a part of her attire, which was the only thing reminding her of her home and her people, just to wipe his sweat.

This spoke volumes about the importance of Draco to Roma, and he greatly appreciated and trusted her because of that.

Re-invigorated by the presence of Roma, Draco resumed working hard on the steel sets, his hammer smashing into the ingots with such power and vigor that one's heart felt constricted.

It was as if what he was pounding wasn't metal, but one's own heart instead!

Draco spent more than 6 hours finishing all the steel armor sets. When he was done, he inspected each and every one of them to make sure the quality was consistent throughout.

｢Steel Sword – One handed sword

Rank: Uncommon

Atk spd: 0.8

Dmg: 16-24

Effect: Damage boost +5%｣

｢Steel B.r.e.a.s.tplate – Chest Plate

Rank: Uncommon

Def: 80

Effect: Defense boost +5%｣

｢Steel Pauldrons – Pauldrons (2)

Rank: Uncommon

Def: 30

Effect: Defense boost +3%｣

｢Steel Arm Guards – Arm Guards (2)

Rank: Uncommon

Def: 30

Effect: Defense boost +3%｣

｢Steel Greaves – Greaves

Rank: Uncommon

Def: 80

Effect: Defense boost +5%｣

Uncommon equipment pieces usually had at least one effect due to the nature of the material used. Coupled with Draco's skill and Three Pound Origin, not only were the sets stronger than those of the same type, even the effects were noticeably better too.

If an absolutely normal, yet perfect Steel Armor set would be given an A+, Draco's Steel Armor set would be given an S+ because it went slightly above what a perfect Steel Armor set would possess in terms of quality.

Draco nodded his head with satisfaction and put these sets aside.

Then his face hardened as he brought out the 7 Mithril Ingots from his inventory. They way he looked at them was no different from a man heading to his final battle with his arch-nemesis after saying 'I love you' to his woman.

It was a bit comical, but Draco was absolutely serious.

Making a Rare set would be easier than making the Dragorugio sets which had been Semi-Epic with his much higher level. Not to mention that his body was no longer easily weakened like before.

However, the true difficulty of making a unique Mithril set was compound.

Firstly, he had fewer materials to work with. He had only 7 ingots and with his current level, there was a penalty to efficiency since he was at the Elite Rank when Rare items/equipment crafting was aimed for those in the Expert ranks (level 41-60). This was why he strained himself with the Steel Armor sets, because it would allow him to lay a foundation for working with this set.

Secondly, he had limited materials to work with. If he only had 7 ingots but could acquire more from somewhere, it would be stressful, but manageable. Here's the case where 7 ingots was all he had in every way. Nothing, not even a single extra ore, would be available to him in anyway. Once he messed up, that was it.

Thirdly, Mithril was not like Orichalc.u.m which had magical potency. Mithril was a more physical metal that had the trait of impenetrability. Since that was so, enchanting it would be three times harder than when Draco had done so for the Dragorugio set.

Of course, to make a unique set, one would have to have enchantments on it. There was no circ.u.mventing that.

The good news was that Draco's body and mind were strong, and his Blacksmithing level had grown from 33, 39% to 35, 86%. It wasn't a huge leap, but every bit helped, especially in regards to the penalty on efficiency.

Draco began by filtering the Mithril, but this time he used Worldly Energy as the base. He filled the metal ingots with much of it as he could, taking away hidden impurities and increasing its strengths while suppressing the weaknesses.

When the filtration was over, Draco placed the ingots into the furnace and began working on them after they became malleable. His Three Pound Origin Technique was used to its fullest, his complete focus brought to bear.

Unlike before, all the Worldly Energy of the area was brought to his side as it acted like an assistant, constantly making sure every step was perfected as he went through them.

It took Draco less than an hour to finish the set with the help of the Worldly Energy, but he had to close his eyes and take a few deep breathes to alleviate his mental strain.

Still, he was only halfway done at best. Now came the truly worrisome part, which was the Enchanting.

Draco once again called all the Worldly Energy to bear as he began to draw runes in the air. He didn't even need to move his hands or anything, the runes just converged together the air as the Worldly Energy was pulled into lines and symbols that were too esoteric for the common man to comprehend.

Enchanting was separated into Naming, Power and Execution. Naming dealt with the definition of the item being enchanted. So for a sword - Sin. For a dagger - Tse. For a chestplate - Dura and so on.

Power dealt with the source of power for the enchantment. If one wanted it to be an element like fire it would be Huo. If one wanted it to be an aspect like durability, it would be Den.

Execution was the challenge though, since enchanters would use this point to state how the enchantments would function, any mistake here would ruin the enchantment and possibly, the equipment itself.

One had to be very clear as to what they were doing, which was why Draco had spent sometime visualizing what he wanted to do before he started crafting.

His aim was to make an enchantment of reflection, which would reflect some damage received to the attacker.

The Naming was easy. Whether it was for the chestplates or the pauldrons or any other part, he simply drew their relevant rune. For the Power, he drew the aspect rune of reflection - Debain.

For the naming, he chose Omno Jero Rera - Omni-directional return strike. This was so that no matter which angle you attacked from, the enchantment would be able to return some of the damage back to the sender.

Of course, such a thing required a lot of power, so Draco had to pull out 10 medium grade soul stones to power the enchantment, which was double what he needed to power the enchantment for the Dragorugio Semi-Epic sets.

After filling them up, Draco took a deep breath and chose to merge the enchantment with the Mithril Armor set.

The moment the runes fell on the armor pieces, they began to tremble and shake, like a person who was bound by a large snake. It was as if the armor rejected the enchantment and wanted to get it off, but the enchantment was too strong for it to break free of.

This directly weakened the enchantment, so Draco had so supplement its wasted energy with more soul stones. By the time the Mithril Armor set had gone silent and accepted the imposition of the enchantment, he had burned another 3 medium grade soul stones away.

Draco breathed and audible sigh and relief as the sweat fell off him, his chest moving up and down a bit heavily.

That crafting process had drained his energy away and left him more than tired. However, the results were great!

｢Congratulations on creating new set: Unnamed (Mithril)(Rare)

Rewards:

95% Exp

100 gold

150 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣

Draco's level directly rose to 60% of level 20, and his three stat points were sent into Strength, bringing it from 10 to 13.

He decided to name the Mithril Set after its future owner.

｢Lokthar – Chest Plate

Rank: Rare

Def: 1500

Effect: Defense boost +50%, Damage reflection +50%｣

｢Lokthar – Pauldrons (2)

Rank: Rare

Def: 500

Effect: Defense boost +25%, Damage reflection +25%｣

｢Lokthar – Arm Guards (2)

Rank: Rare

Def: 500

Effect: Defense boost +25%, Damage reflection +25%｣

｢Lokthar – Greaves

Rank: Rare

Def: 500

Effect: Defense boost +50%, Damage reflection +50%｣

｢Lokthar – Cloak

Rank: Rare

Def: 25

Effect: Defense boost +12%, Damage reflection +12%｣

｢Lokthar – Set Equipment (5 piece)

Rank: Rare

Effect;

- With 2 pieces equipped: Grant the passive skill 'Rebound'

- With 3 pieces equipped: +15% Defense

- With 4 pieces equipped: +10% Physical Resistance

- With 5 pieces equipped: Grant the active skill 'Impenetrable Rush'｣

｢Rebound – Passive skill

Physical Damage Reflection +10%

Magical Damage Reflection +10%｣

｢Impenetrable Rush – Active skill

Effect: Dash forward at 3x times your movement speed and inflict 200% physical damage to anything in your path. Stamina cost is quintupled.

Duration: 10 seconds

Cooldown: 15 minutes｣

(Author's Note: The contents of chapter 30 have been completely overhauled due to repeated bashing from alpha males.

Please find time to re-read chapter 7 (setting up shop) and chapter 30 (Two in one chapter - hatred and reconciliation) because they introduce new elements that are important.)