Blacksmith vs. the System

I couldn't help but frown as I twirled my hammer thoughtfully. The changes in my Forge skill were fascinating.

[Mana Forge (Rare) - 10 [Intuitive Forging]]

Too bad it had come with some interesting but potentially dangerous implications. How dangerous, I had no idea, mostly because I didn't know what was common knowledge, what was known but kept as a secret for strategic reasons, and what was genuinely secret among the elites.

I was glad that Eleanor's awkward yet pointless intervention had been timely enough to give me a chance to come up with an explanation, bending the truth as necessary.

The first fact was the rank of the skill. The existence of rare skills wasn't unknown, but every time I had heard about them, it was in the context of external skills, and exclusively as combat skills. That was true for basic and common skills, and especially true for uncommon skills.

There was a reason why Eleanor was able to give me that skill almost without thinking, yet failed to get even one Uncommon skill for their Blacksmiths despite their urgent need.

Rare production skills were hard to come by.

And, now, I had a Rare production skill. It would have been dangerous enough if it was an external skill. But, it was a class skill.

It was common knowledge that a common class skill was better than an external uncommon skill despite the latter granting more knowledge, for one simple reason. Class skills granted perks, while external skills did not.

This was why every warrior was obsessed with getting an improved version of their skill, improving their rarity, but still maintaining their Perk advantage.

I was aware that I didn't know everything — a fact that was getting more and more clear with every passing day. Maybe external skills could grant Perks but require higher proficiency. Not many people focussed on improving their external skills. I was familiar with a few people with production classes who decided to focus on combat, and brought their external combat skills to forties without receiving a perk, but it was hardly conclusive evidence.

But, even if that was true and external skills began getting perks starting from level fifty, it would give my Rare skill two additional Perks, making it far more valuable than another skill.

And, in addition to all of those factors, my new skill allowed me to create mana-based alloys, which could be strategically very relevant even if the System Shop had been selling them for cheap. And, even if it was not, it was still valuable.

"Damn, what a complicated mess," I growled. I should be feeling pure happiness rather than frustration. What happened with my skill was potentially dangerous for too many reasons. I decided to keep it a secret until I could interrogate Maria more about skills. That way, even if she didn't reveal strategic secrets, she would reveal what was common knowledge.

"But, that's enough gloom," I said as I slapped my cheeks. "Let's see what this new skill can do."

I tapped into my skill by melting an ingot of ordinary metal, which offered me multiple recipes instinctively. Methods that only included the required materials but also a direct infusion of mana.

The first thing I realized was just how lucky I had been. My crazy weird method had apparently only worked because there was no environmental mana to interact with it when Maria infused the flames. The same technique would have failed if we were in a less hostile location.

Was that a lucky coincidence? Certainly, but I wasn't the first scientist or inventor who had gotten lucky. Many products, from penicillin to rubber, had been discovered by accident.

Luckily, the skill had included many methods to actually use the mana present in the environment during forging, meaning I wouldn't need to beg Maria in the hope of improving. It also meant that, as long as I was in the camp, I couldn't do any mana forging, which was a bummer.

I wanted to play with my new toy.

"Patience," I muttered even as I repeated the same treatment for other base metals. I had discovered about a dozen different mana ingots, mostly copper and bronze, each designed for a specific type. The variant that was used for swords was absent, and so was any iron-based recipe.

Clearly, my skill level was not high enough.

A problem that I could hopefully solve without mana. It would be very frustrating if it only improved by forging mana ingots from scratch.

Just to be comprehensive, I started by forging ordinary metal daggers. Naturally, there was no response. I spent my next three hours forging the standard dungeon-based ingots and using them to forge various small weapons.

My patience didn't go without a reward.

[Mana Forge (Rare) - 10 - 11]

"Excellent," I said even as I stopped using them. Ultimately, the aim of that exercise was to understand whether ordinary materials could improve the skill, or whether mana alloys were a necessity. Confirming that it was not, I happily reached for another bronze ingot and turned it into a dagger, though I still repeatedly touched the swords to give me direction.

This time, the forging process lasted much longer, more than an hour. However, I was more than happy 'wasting' time, because the resulting dagger was a fascinating work.

[Mana Forge (Rare) - 11 - 16]

"A remarkable jump," I said as I paused, processing the new recipes I had received, the number of them available to me ever increasing. "Should I delay or continue?"

For once, I didn't care about wasting ingots. I had already wasted more than the allocated amount, but Maria's involvement gave me a good excuse for how much I had used. After all, wasting a few extra ingots was better than wasting Maria's day. At least, that should be convincing for Eleanor.

I stopped for a simpler reason. I was uncertain whether delaying reaching the next threshold would be a good choice. My previous success with Intuitive Forging suggested that the activities leading to the improvement impacted the perks, and the surprise improvement of the skill further confirmed it.

But, after considering it for some time, I decided against it. There were still perks I would be allowed to pick from at level fifty to consider if I wanted to modify it. Also, I had no idea what kind of perks it would offer in the first place, making it an even more complicated affair.

Then, I froze. If skills could change, and the perks at the thresholds could change, then, what about the classes? Was there a way to change them? Improve it, maybe?

A wild assumption that was supported by nothing, but not an impossibility. And, if it was true, I would learn it tomorrow when Maria escorted me to another leveling trip — unless Eleanor had her way.

"I hate testing theories on myself," I said, but my frustration was rather meek. If my theory was wrong, it wouldn't matter. I would continue being a Blacksmith. But, if I was correct … I didn't even want to imagine.

Six more daggers later, I received the notification I had been looking for.

[Mana Forge (Rare) - 16 - 25]

[Perk Options — Modify / Masterwork / Mana Manipulation]

"What an annoying reward," I muttered. I had no idea what Modify meant, and while I knew what Masterwork was, I didn't need it. Mana Manipulation was the best choice under the circumstances.

I wasn't particularly worried. If worse came to worst and the perk turned out to be useless, I could always use the Perk Reset stone directly. The price of three gold, which had previously been hovering over me like an executioner's blade, didn't even register anymore.

"How quickly things can change." I couldn't help feeling conflicted about it. All the benefits were also a warning. Things could improve … but also turn into disaster.

"Now, to try the next part," I muttered and turned my attention to the available sources of mana. The ingots, and the daggers. After a momentary thought, I first turned my attention to the leftover ingots that I had destroyed during my experiments with Maria. They were already mostly useless, meaning I could play with them with ease.

A few smashes later, I had once again breached the mana they contained. However, unlike the previous time, the mana had stuck to my hammer, following it. It was a small, instinctive thing. Next to nothing.

But, next to nothing was far better than nothing.

"Let's see if I can double-dip on the same trick." I brought one of the daggers I had just forged, and started destroying a small section of it. When it was just a deformation, the structure could be repaired by ordinary methods. However, once the mana it had contained leaked, the suggestion of the skill had changed, needing new material to replace the section.

A suggestion I ignored. Instead, I started steadily demolishing another dagger, trying to use the mana from it to essentially reforge that tiny section with my mana. It had been a slow, wasteful process. Not only had I destroyed five daggers, but also wasted two more fresh ingots in the process.

Certainly a terrible method to use in a mana-dead location like the camp, but I didn't care about that.

All I cared about was the notification that had appeared in front of me.

[Repair (Common) - 36 - Mana Repair (Rare) - 25]

"Success," I said. The poetic thing would have been to throw myself into the bed with a happy smile. Instead, I scoured the forge, removing every sign of my successful experimentation. No need to ruin everything due to a bout of carelessness. I didn't worry about oversleeping. Since my leveling trip with Maria had been most likely canceled, I had a rare chance to spend a morning in bed.

Too bad I didn't have a nice cup of coffee to enjoy once I woke up. Sometimes, the loss of the small comforts hurt the worst.

Dreaming of a steaming cup, I continued to work. In the end, I barely managed to drag myself to bed, but as I slept, I was happier than I ever remembered being since the Cataclysm…

I had missed the sweet taste of success…