The Manaverse

North East Penthouse - Crafting Room.

Slatewell Safe Zone

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Jut's Smithing Hammer fell repeatedly as he focused. After the ninth strike in a row, he grinned. He used his tongs to move the finished piece from the anvil and stuck it into the quenching barrel.

With a loud sizzle and steam rising from the barrel, a window appeared in his vision. Alex had stayed out of his way while he worked. They would only drop hints and reminders about the black smithing process as needed which was rarely at this point. Jut could almost forge on autopilot now.

Are you sure telling her was wise? She works for them still.

Wendy insisted. She didn't really give me a choice either. Jut rolled his eyes. She's a big girl and can decide for herself, remember?

You weren't exactly subtle. Do I need to show you your reaction?

How can you even see my face anyway?

Your body knows the faces you made and your reactions can be recreated....wait.

Don't change the subject.

Jut sighed audibly and pulled his craft from the barrel. He didn't want to think about that just then. He had been so keyed up after putting the pieces together, he had to distract himself. He had decided that finishing another Quest was the best idea before he completed as many he could. Jut had labored for the rest of the day after his walk with Wendy. Today alone he had been at the forge for hours. He was so close, he could taste it. For nearly week he had stared at the requirements to ascend his Smithing Skill to Stone Rank.

Skill Upgrade Requirements:

Smithing: Smelt 150 Normal Rank Stone Metal Bars: 185/150.

Forge 25 Normal Rank Weapons, Armor Pieces, or Tools: 126/25

Forge 10 Stone Rank Weapons, Armor Pieces, or Tools: 11/10

Forge 1 Normal Rank Weapon, Armor Piece or Tool with Superior Quality and Rare Rarity: 0/1

Jut turned his eyes down and examined the bare sword blade in his tongs, visually first, then with the System.

It was nothing special. Just a Stone Metal double edged, straight sword. There was no handle or cross guard yet. The edge gleamed softly in the forge's fire light. Everything appeared to be in order so far.

It wasn't finished completely, but it was the core of the project. If this piece wasn't at the right quality or rarity, he would have to start over. Again.

What determined quality and rarity was a combination of the materials used, the quality of those materials, and how well he did during the shaping phase. Did he manage to keep the temperature stable? Was the Stone Metal pure enough? Were his strikes precise enough? Did he channel his Mana into his Smithing Hammer consistently the entire time? He would only know for sure after competing the project.

The System's information popped up next.

Item: Stone Short Sword Core

Type: Weapon (incomplete)

Slot: Main Hand or Off Hand

Rank: Normal

Durability: 100%

Damage Type: Slashing

Rarity: Rare

Quality: Superior

Description: A Stone Metal, Normal Ranked blade. Can be made into a Stone Short Sword.

Creator: Jut Zoak

Jut let out a relieved sigh and tried to dam up his feelings of elation. He still had to finish the weapon, but he was pretty sure he had succeeded. With a sigh, he skipped the Empowerment step and went right into Finalization. He responded to Alex as he did.

Yes. Telling Wendy is a risk. She could very well betray us. I don't think she will though. Her mother and uncle died in the Wave. Jut fixed the sword's cross guard into place and secured the new leather handle to the blade. No use worrying about it yet. Can you show me the Quest and finally let the other Quests complete? I think it's time. Include updates and end with the Goddess's Quest please.

Jut tied off the last piece of the grip a moment later. He looked at the best Normal Ranked item he'd made and the promised windows opened. He used a Skill Upgrade Token and the first window changed before his eyes, the text re-writing itself.

You have completed a Quest.

Quest: Upgrade Your Skills

Objective: Upgrade Your Equipped Skills to Stone Rank.

Rank: Stone

Rarity: abundant

Difficulty: Hard

Description: Upgrade your equipped skills to Stone Rank before you ascend to Copper Rank. 5/5

Check Point Objectives: Collect 3 Mana Stones 3/3.

Perform the Ritual of Conversion on 3 Mana Stones 3/3.

Collect 3 Equipped Skill Upgrade Tokens 3/3.

Reward: 1 Mana Gem

Jut grinned widely. He now had two full Mana Gems. He would wait to examine the new Stone Rank effects Smithing had gained until after the updates. He could feel the increased Lore just waiting for his perusal. He needed to see the other windows first or he'd get side tracked.

Quest: Control Monster Spawns

Objective: Clear out and/or destroy Lairs, Dens, and Dungeons

Rank: All

Rarity: Worldwide

Difficulty: Required

Description: Monsters kill Ascendant Beings and Ascendant Beings kill Monsters. It's the natural cycle of the Manaverse. To survive, Ascendant Beings must stem the tide and control the frequency of Monster Spawns. Do so by destroying Monster Lairs, Monster Dens, and Dungeons.

Radiant Crusaders Objectives: [Monster Lair]s Destroyed: 2/25

[Monster Den]s Destroyed: 1/10

[Dungeon]s Destroyed or Subjugated: 0/4

Reward: Better survival odds.

This [Quest] is not voluntary and has been accepted on your behalf.

Just seeing the one next to Dens Destroyed made Jut skip forward to the next notification. He didn't want to think about that run. Instead, he would let the Goddess's Quest finalize next and see what happened.

Quest: Find Out What Happened

Objective: Discover why the Monsters awaiting redistribution attacked the Slatewell Safe Zone.

Rank: Divine

Rarity: Unique

Difficulty: Very Hard

Description: You have asked the Goddess, Ophelia, why your Safe Zone was attacked. It is up to you to claim your answers, with a little guidance.

Objectives: Speak to Randel Ashton. (Complete)

Speak to Daniel Carry (Failed)

Speak to Clara Sheffer (Complete)

Absorb Daniel Carry's Lore (Complete)

Learn More About Operation: Complete the Quest 1/1 (Complete)

Reward: 1 General Skill Upgrade Token - Stone Rank.

Note: Optional Side Quest Granted.

Jut blinked as the new Side Quest's information opened on its own.

Side Quest: What Now?

Objective: Take action

Rank: Divine

Rarity: Unique

Difficulty: Very Hard

Description: You have discovered that the Monster Wave on the night of the Lock Down was used as a method to intentionally reduce the Safe Zone's population for Adam Slatewell's Quest. This lead to the death of over a million people. Whether the bunker incident was intentional or not is yet to be seen. The question is: what do you do with this knowledge?

Objectives: Choose what do with the knowledge you've gained. 0/1

See what happens next. 0/1

Reward: ???

Accept Quest:

Yes No

Just that fact that telling Wendy hasn't ticked up the objective counter is enough for me.

Good point. Jut acknowledged as he accepted the Quest. The real question is not what to do, but what can I do? Rile up the population? Cause a revolt? Neither seems smart. Not with the Safe Zone almost fully operational as a functional town. Messing that up could make things worse.

The civil unrest or rioting it could cause would likely lead to another Monster Wave, at best.

My thoughts exactly. Jut shook his head in frustration. Wendy's advice popped up and he thought it back to Alex. It's best we act like nothing has happened for now. The idea boiled his insides, but he did not want to be silenced too. I need to know what they suspect after what Dan said in his message. They are surely watching to make sure he didn't talk. I also want to know if he is alive.

Right. Good point.

Alex's window disappeared in a puff of light, telling Jut that Alex did not really agree but was not going to argue further. They believed the answer was straight forward. Let the people know the truth and the problem should sort itself out.

Jut was not willing to take that risk. Even if the population did something to Adam, would Jut survive long enough to see it happen? Instead of dwelling on it, he pulled up his new skill. Seeing it allowed him to place the issue on the back burner very easily. The Skill's name had changed. This was first time that had happened and he was dying to know why.

Skill: Soul Smithing

Rank: Stone

Level: 0

Type: Crafting Skill

Description:

Normal Rank: Shape the minerals and materials of the world into tools, useful items, weapons and even armor. Imparts Normal Rank Smithing Lore and grants the use of a Recipe Book. The Use of Monster Cores in crafting is unlocked.

Stone Rank: Imparts Stone Rank Smithing Lore and grants the use of Stone Rank Recipes. Due to your Soul - Monster Affinity empowering this Skill: Imparts Lore of Stone Rank Soul Smithing Recipes.

The buzz of new information about his craft lit up Jut's mind. He was already eager to explore it all. Most of it he had already gathered through swinging the hammer and trying things out, but it was nice to get a confirmation.

Stone Metal produced Normal Ranked items. It could also produce Stone Ranked items. The difference was the use of Mana Chips, Monster Parts and other items during the Empowerment phase. However, elevating the item to a new rank reduced the quality and, surprisingly, the rarity significantly dependent on what materials Jut used. An Average quality blade could even become a Poor quality one intead.

To make the base item Stone Rank, he needed better materials. Until he found some, or could buy some, his only choice was try and employ his new Skill and try to get the Stone Metal as pure as could.

Jut checked his inventory and was appalled to see he was out of Stone Metal Ingots. He had barely tapped into the stock of ore he'd received from the Lairs and Den, but it was swiftly running out already. He almost considered melting down the weapons he made yesterday as a short cut, but instantly decided against it. Wendy and Diggy would kill him if he wasted weapons on experiments that could have been sold instead.

Jut noticed some new Lore when he had Alex pull up the Stone Rank smelting method. He wanted to give it a try right away.

Unlike when he crafted his Smithing Hammer and he used straight ore, making ingots was required for most crafts. He could, in theory, make any item out of straight ore if he used three times the number of ingots required. However, he never tried it because the final product would automatically be a lower quality. His Lore implied as much. However, he now knew how to empower ingots. The simplicity of it nearly pissed him right the Hell off too.

As he let the ore chunks begin to melt, he tossed in a single Mana Chip. He had randomly used a red one as that was the color that popped out of his inventory.

Unlike when Jut tried to infuse the ingots while they were cooling, the Mana Chip glowed and dissipated into the molten Stone Metal. He carefully poured the substance into the molds when the time was right. He would have three as soon as they cooled.

Checking the final, resulting item made Jut grin widely again, even if he felt stupid for not figuring it out sooner.

Item: Stone Metal Ingot

Type: Crafting Material

Rank: Stone

Rarity: Common

Quality: Average

Affinity: Fire

Description: A bar of purified Stone Metal that has been empowered with Fire Mana. Resulting projects will have varying Fire Magic effects based on what is created.

Creator: Jut Zoak

What really pushed the ingot into Stone Rank was Jut's control of the heat. He had smelted Stone Metal so often, he could usually produce Fine or even High quality ingots easily enough. The Average quality of these new ingots told him he still needed to practice empowering them and his heat control some more.

Jut proceeded to make three ingots of all six magic types. As he did, he examined his stock pile of Monster Cores. He had enough kinds that he had to line them up in his inventory to make sure he didn't miss any.

Dog Monster Cores x 23

Cat Monster Cores x 16

Scorpion Monster Cores x 21

Bird Monster Cores x 15

Human Monster Cores x 6

Rat Monster Cores x 13

Frog Monster Cores x 1

Snake Monster Cores x 1

Beetle Monster Cores x 3

Minotaur Monster Cores x 1

He had used Monster Cores a few times. His current club was made with one from a dog Monster. So far, just applying the Core during the Empowerment phase gave the weapons stat point bonuses. Usually between one or two points. Which stat was increased was based on which core was used. Dogs gave strength while cats gave agility. Rats gave agility while birds gave intelligence.

This made Jut curious what the Soul magic affinity would do if bonus stat points was how the process worked for all crafters using a Monster Cores. Brick had told him the same applied to armor and he hadn't had the chance to ask Isabelle about Alchemy yet. So, he did the only thing he knew he could to find out. He began to craft.

As Jut was going to be experimenting, he made the easiest weapon he could from his new Stone Ranked ingots. Each dagger only consumed a single ingot and his skill in making daggers had increased dramatically as he had made so many before. He would make one of every Magic type this time.

Jut figured he would just shape the blade quickly like he usually did. However, the Stone Ranked ingots were much harder to bend to his will and Skills than the Normal Ranked ones were. While he had expected it, it was even harder than he anticipated. It didn't help that each element reached the right temperature at different speeds. This was also true with how fast they lost their temperature, which made working each blade a wholly different experience.

He expected Fire aspected ingots to be the easiest to shape. This proved false when the metal would retain too much heat and made the metal too malleable. They also took forever to cool. He had to spend the extra time granted to him by the metal being so workable correcting mistakes.

Water was the opposite, naturally. Jut had to constantly reheat the ingots to get them to comply to his desire. They took so much longer to come to temperature, the water blade took the longest to make. It barely steamed when he put it into the water to cool.

Jut only had to use a second ingot twice. Both his attempts at Dark and Earth daggers failed during the shaping process. However, instead of being able to reforge the failures like when he was working with Normal ranked metal, the projects broke apart. The Dark dagger dissipated into nothing while the Earth dagger fell into dust.

Jut skipped the Empowerment step to see the outcome. As he expected, each had an added bonus effect and were Stone Rank. He looked over the fire dagger.

Item: Stone Metal Flame Dagger

Type: Weapon

Slot: Main Hand or off hand

Rank: Stone

Durability: 100%

Damage Type: Slashing or Piercing

Rarity: Uncommon

Quality: Average

Enchantments: None

Affinity: Fire

Description: A Stone Metal, Stone Ranked blade. Deals a small amount of fire damage. May channel Fire Based Spells and Skills, increasing that Spell or Skill's potency by a small amount.

Creator: Jut Zoak

Each dagger was nearly identical. The blades were around eight inches in length with one handed grips. They curved in one direction near the tip. The only difference between them was the magical element they had listed in their descriptions and the color of each blade's metal. While they were all made of Stone Metal, the grey surface shined their elemental affinity's color softly when they caught the light.

After carefully placing each dagger into his inventory, Jut tried something else. This time, he would use his Soul Magic. He repeated the entire process again, however, when he reached the moment he would quench the blade, Jut pulled out a Dog Monsters Core, a Dog Monster Fang, and a Dog Monster Fur.

Jut started by pounding the fang into the metal, as he had done before. A Fang usually made a dagger specialize in piercing damage.

Jut set the Monster Core on the glowing blade. In regular Core use, he use the Core like he did a Skill Orb. Just intend to use it in the project and accept the prompt. It would melt into the blade instead of him. This time, however, was different.

He felt the desire to strike the Core instead. He also somehow knew he had to channel his Mana "through" his Smithing Skill and into his Hammer. The process happened automatically, but his attempts at feeling his Skills' power flows had paid off. He could sense how the Mana needed to flow to work properly.

With multiple strikes of his hammer, the Core melded with the blade, just like if it were another ingot. It made Jut scowl. Nothing happened differently so far.

His scowl deepened after her tied off the handle, finishing the project. It looked like a regular dagger should, the only difference being that it was made with Fire attuned Stone Metal and had a fur handle.

The thoughts had just enough time to process before the dagger began to glow. The entire weapon became a silhouette of light until it faded. The show reminded him of Isabelle's 'From the Brink' Spell.

Jut shook his head and examine the blade again. The dagger was longer, nearly ten full inches. The blade's curve was more dramatic and the handle almost looked to be made of bone. The tip was wicked sharp while the edge was only decently so. The pommel, which should not have existed, looked like a large wolf's tooth.

"What the Hell happened to this blade?" Jut asked aloud. He had seen small changes happen before, like the tip and edge change this time, but nothing this dramatic. It was an entirely different weapon.

He pulled up the dagger's information. He felt a powerful mix of disappointment, anticipation and drive flow through him as he read. He knew he was going to spend the rest of the day forging now. How could he not after what he just made?

Item: Dog's Fang Flame Dagger

Type: Weapon - Growth

Slot: Main Hand or off hand

Rank: Normal

Potential: Stone

Durability: 100%

Damage Type: Piercing

Rarity: Scarce

Quality: Fine

Enchantments: None

Affinity: Fire

Progression to Ascension: 0%

Description: A Stone Metal, Stone Ranked blade. Deals a small amount of fire damage. May channel Fire Based Spells and Skills, increasing that Spell or Skill's potency by a small amount. Has taken on the aspects of a Dog Monster. Once it has gained enough Experience, the blade can Ascend to Stone Rank.

Creator: Jut Zoak