Free Web NovelChapter 14: Chapter 14- First meeting with Shen.
Leo Checked his interface.
[LEVEL 7 ACHIEVED]
[STR: 114, VIT: 94, DEX: 74]
[INT: 34, WIS: 33,STM: 45 ]
[CHA: 40 ,FT: 40,LCK: 50]
[HP: 1880/1880, MP: 680/680, STM: 450/450]
[Free Attribute Points: 12 (allocated: +5 STR, +4 VIT, +3 DEX)]
[DROP LIST:]
- Cinder-Hide (Rare Material — fire-resistant leather)
- Bear’s Heart Core (Crafting Reagent — unstable flame essence)
- Skill Book: Slash (Common — Swordsman)
- 45 Silver
Leo crouched down and picked up the dropped items. A fist-sized heart core drew his attention. It looked like a mass of condensed tissue pulsing with an orange glow. After reading its description, Leo found that it was a material used as a crafting reagent.
Then he noticed a skill book for swordsman. The cover was plain without any illustration except for a sword slash pressed into the leather cover.
Players will not be able to learn a skill related to another class. But Leo’s mythic class had a passive skill called Weapon Memory.
So, even if Leo could not learn it now, he would be able to learn it when his sword proficiency reached the novice tier.
[SKILL BOOK: Slash (Common)]
[Requirement: — Swordsman]
Leo picked up the skill. Then a bunch of notifications flashed one after another.
[SKILL BOOK: Slash]
[Mythic class Eternal Forge detected.....]
[Passive Skill Weapon Memory detected...]
[Skill requirement bypassed.... skill is learnable.]
[Required proficiency in Sword for Weapon Memory to activate: Novice Rank]
[Proficiency requirement not yet met. Please increase your sword proficiency to Novice Rank to learn the related skill.]
Sure enough, Leo did not meet the requirement yet.
But just as he was about to put it in his inventory, his status panel flashed once again.
[Unknown condition detected...]
[Error...]
[Unknown factor detected...]
[Requirement bypassed; the skill is now learnable.]
[Do you wish to learn this skill?]
[Yes/No]
[Unknown factor in action; the prerequisite has been bypassed.]
Leo froze upon seeing the system notifications. He read the notification again.
Unknown factor?
He did not know what was going on, but he was definitely willing to learn an attack skill.
[SKILL LEARNED: Slash]
A basic vertical cleave.
Deals 120% STR damage.
Cooldown: 5s.
Leo read the skill description and chose to learn it. He pocketed the rest of the loot and looked at the robed man.
The man was gasping for breath, looking haggard.
Still, he walked toward Leo and expressed his sincere gratitude.
"Thanks," he said, extending his hand. "That would have been an ugly fight if you hadn’t stepped in."
Leo shook the man’s hand and carefully examined him. He noticed paper seals tucked into every possible place of his robes, his fingers stained with ink, and a golden jade pendant hung from his neck.
Leo nodded as he sheathed his blade. "No problem. It looked like you would have done just fine if I hadn’t stepped in."
"Your fighting style is truly unique. You also seem to have quite a... stack of talismans."
"I would have run out of talismans sooner or later," the man replied with a bitter smile. "And these things aren’t cheap—it’s not like they grow on trees."
"Fair enough." Leo glanced at the clearing — the scorched rings, the collapsed bulky body of the bear starting to fade away. "What were you doing out here, by the way?" Leo asked curiously.
The man scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I was just walking around... getting lost... haha, ha, ha, ha." He gave a stiff laugh.
"I was on my way to Ironhaven. I think I took a wrong turn or something and found this weird bear bastard instead."
Leo studied him again; the robes were travel-worn, so the man really did look like he had been on the road.
"I’m Shen," the man offered. "A Talisman Warrior."
He tilted his head, studying Leo with curiosity visible in his eyes. "You don’t seem to be a swordsman, but you still hold a sword better than a few I’ve seen. Are you from around here?"
Leo nodded. "You can call me Leo. And yeah, I’m from Ironhaven."
Leo paused and added, "I’m a blacksmith, for the record... So, you know, not the best class for fighting."
Shen blinked. "I see... That explains a lot." He looked at Leo’s stance, grip, the way he was still resting one hand near the hilt out of habit. "Some of your moves almost look like you were swinging a hammer trying to drive a nail through the bear."
Shen’s eyes drifted to Leo’s sword, which was quite eye-catching — the blade had golden veins along it, and he remembered seeing Leo use golden fire that felt a little familiar, though he couldn’t quite place a finger on it.
"Okay, since I’m heading to Ironhaven, we will probably cross paths again," Shen said, extending his hand for a second time.
Leo nodded and shook his hand once more.
"Whoa, your hands are covered with some serious calluses — blacksmith, huh?" Shen muttered.
"Anyway, are you heading back? If not, could you please point me to Ironhaven? I don’t want to get lost again."
"Go southwest from here. Just take this route and stay on it — you should see the town," Leo said, pointing toward the road.
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Shen said, unfolding his map, taking a look, and heading out.
He paused for a moment, as if weighing something.
Then he turned back. "Oh, one more thing..... since you’re a blacksmith, do you know of any famous NPC blacksmith there, or have you heard of any blacksmith who uses... unusual materials for forging?"
Leo felt something weird about the question. "Unusual how?"
Shen hesitated. "Just.....unusual. Different from the standard stuff?"
Leo thought for a while. "I know some blacksmiths, but I don’t know what unusual materials they use. What kind of unusual material are you talking about?"
Shen hesitated and shook his head. "Nothing, just a question. Don’t mind it; I’ll find the blacksmith."
Shen headed for Ironhaven.
Leo watched him disappear into the winding routes that passed through the forest.
He wanted to hunt a few more rounds, but after checking out the nearby areas, he didn’t find any easy targets, and he was also out of potions, so he decided to head back too.
The way back was quiet. The forest gradually thinned out.
On his way back, Leo checked his status. He had reached level 7, and he also had some rare materials now, so he could try to craft something useful. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
He pondered about the new skill he had gained and the "unknown factor."
Unknown factor... Does that mean even the system doesn’t know the reason?
...
Well, whatever....
By the time Ironhaven’s outer wall came into his sight, the sky had already turned orange, indicating the late evening.
Leo walked back to Ironhaven without any problem, while Shen, on the other hand, was hard to track — Leo thought he would catch up to Shen, but either Shen was fast on his travels and had already reached the town, or he had gotten lost again.
.....
Shen, who was first to leave, walked in circles within the woods. He was following the route Leo had pointed out. But he was occupied by thoughts of the blacksmith mentioned by his quest, and he took a single wrong turn unknowingly.
Then he could not find the way back.
Heh..? Is this west?? Or east??...??????
What Shen did not know was that the blacksmith he was looking for was Leo. He had already met him, but Shen always thought he was supposed to meet an NPC, so he could not link Leo to the quest.
....
Leo, on the other hand, had already reached the town.
The market was winding down; merchants were starting to pack up their goods.
Leo was in a good mood because he had materials he could work on to forge something good, and he had learned a new skill mysteriously.
Leo made his way straight to Hugh’s Smithy. The old blacksmith was sitting on a chair, resting and reading something that looked like a newspaper.
The old blacksmith looked up. "Oh... You’re still alive. Good."
"Hehe, missed me again, old man? Or what — you want me dead or something?" Leo asked cheekily.
"Yeah, right — you still owe me money; that’s the only thing I’d miss even if you ended up dead," the old man replied with a grunt.
"Yeah, yeah, got it, old man," Leo shrugged it off and went to the forge.
Leo pulled the cinder hide from his inventory; the leather was warm to the touch, and the corrupted fire residue was still lingering, faintly pulsing.
Hugh noticed the hide and walked up to check the materials. Hugh caressed the hide and whistled. "Where did you get this?"
Leo smiled. "I killed the bear and skinned it — well, technically it dropped."
"This bear seemed to be cooking itself from the inside out, apparently," Hugh said, slapping the hide a few times. "This is good material — rare. Are you sure you’re up to it?"
"I want to try making a sword out of it."
Hugh nodded and tossed the hide back to Leo. "Okay, just make sure you don’t waste your time and materials."
Leo nodded and started arranging the hide to begin crafting.
Just as he was about to start, the door to the smithy opened.
Leo turned to see who it was and was surprised to find a familiar figure.
Shen stood at the door, looking haggard again. Leo chuckled, guessing this guy must have gotten lost again.
"You."
Leo looked at him and smiled. "You made it."
Shen pointed at Leo and asked, "What are you doing here? Do you work here?"
"I circled the same ridge three times." Shen said it like an accusation. "And you’re already back from the jungle. Did you point me in the wrong direction?"
Leo stared blankly at Shen, as if looking at an idiot.
"No, I pointed the right direction, but it seems you stumbled onto something on your way. Did you just arrive?"
Shen’s face turned beet red. "No, I meant..... I...arrived earlier and was strolling around." He gritted his teeth. "Haha... ha...ha."
He stepped inside and glanced around. He saw Hugh hammering something; Hugh noticed Shen and Leo eyeing each other, so he just ignored them.
Shen looked around the forge, saw the tools and coal, and finally his gaze settled on the hide. "Isn’t that the hide that dropped after we slew the bear?"
"Yes, that’s the one."
"You can work with that quality of material?"
"I think I can make do with it," Leo answered.
"Heh, so when you said you knew a few blacksmiths, you didn’t include yourself?" Shen asked.
Leo just whistled away, as if he hadn’t heard the question.
Shen let it go. "I came to Ironhaven to look for a smith related to my particular quest. Something told me there was one here, but it didn’t give me a name."
"Something told you?" Leo asked.
Shen nodded. "The road and fires in the smithies."
Leo’s face turned strange.
Road? Fire? Is this guy nuts? He must have been dropped on his head when he was a kid, poor kid.
Seeing Leo making a strange face, Shen quickly replied, "My mission gives me hints."
Leo nodded and asked, "If you want to forge something, I can help with that. I might not seem like it, but I have a hidden blacksmith class."
Shen thought for a moment. He had seen firsthand Leo’s fighting style and knew that must be it. freewēbnoveℓ.com
"Okay, let’s talk about it."
Shen started to describe the weapon he wanted to forge.
He wanted a one-handed sword, balanced for defense, and his requirement was that it should be durable enough to take hits without breaking and could be infused with a great number of talismans. This was Shen’s vision of the ideal sword for his Talisman Warrior class.
"I can make the blade, but I don’t think talismans are my thing," Leo replied honestly.
"Don’t worry! You just need to forge the sword; I can handle inscribing the talisman runes," Shen replied confidently.
"Just make sure it’s durable enough, as the blade needs to be able to take inscription without breaking apart." Shen said, drawing an invisible shape in the air with his finger.
"Most swords can’t handle the runic inscription. If the metal’s too uniform, the rune just sits on the surface and flakes off the first time it takes a hit. I need something with more... grain and texture for the ink to anchor into it."
Leo thought about it, and the notion of working together to forge something was entirely new to him. He couldn’t help but become excited about it.
Then he looked at the cinder hide on the bench. The vitrified striations, the texture and grains...
He looked at Shen and then at the cinder hide.
Then he looked at Shen again.
What the hell? Isn’t this perfect for him — what a coincidence.
Leo could only nod. "Okay, we can add this cinder hide to the sword to get the grain and texture you require, but are you sure? Do you know what you’re about to do? Any prior experience?"
"Yeah, my whole class quest started with talisman forging — no sweat," he continued. "The whole skill, quest, and skill tree are tied to talismans, ink weaving, and seal crafting; it’s all part of the same chain."
Leo nodded, understanding that Shen had done a fair share of labor and hard work. "Okay then, let’s work together again."
A collaboration.
Sounds fun.
