From Player To Npc

Two figures, one adult and one child, were walking one next to the other. Those two were Shingi and Garry, and they were heading at the local Blacksmith's shop who is supposed to be Garry's.

During his free time, Shingi remembered any information for the local blacksmith, especially after hearing his mother's story.

Still, other than the Blue Moon Festival, he didn't know much about the town other than few stories of it and quests of some of its people and nothing about its blacksmith and not even heard of his mother's in-game name.

But he was mostly focused on information on the tower and people with rare or unique skills and things like that, so even if she wasn't one, he knew of being like that. Still, millions of players in the game from all over the world, so not hearing about one with these requirements as possible. But through the few stories he heard of her and facts about her, he learned an interesting one.

She seemed like her class was the same one that he tries to make Annoue earn. She fitted the description of an Arcane Blade as she was used to putting her equipment at many temporary enchantments. She seemed to have 5 active on her simultaneously, which is an impressive thing that not many can do. The more enchantments active, the more focus needed to keep them active and even more if they are at the same person. Even if they are of the same source, one may mess with the other, so the caster should keep them from not interacting with each other if not needed.

On their way, he kept checking Garry and tried to understand how skillful he was from his body type possibly. Shingi was someone who had taught an NPC who is currently almost a Grandmaster. Hence, his eyes were able to understand things differently than others. Even if he didn't have his Eagle Eyes, which would help a lot here, he could make accurate assumptions.

'It seems like he hasn't stopped his work on crafting things for more than a year; probably it was helping to keep his mind clear for some time. His hand seems rough enough, and he has worked many years holding heavy tools, so he probably isn't much on the small details. Even if his muscle after not working and drinking has changed, the years of hard work are still there. He definitely doesn't seem to be more than a Base Blacksmith but a medium graded one at least.' [Shingi]

He was impressed over those facts to tell the truth, but they made some sense. Even if he had the support of a player who can make a fortune if they are good ones, if one didn't have the skills to support the shop, the town wouldn't just let it go.

He was also surprised that the mayor or someone hadn't done anything for the shop, like using it to be something else. Still, from the way Aneta spoke of his mother, she seemed to respect her too much and wanted to help her family as much as she could.

And so they made it to the shop and got inside. This time since he had his PERCEPTION skill, which he was always keeping active with his MANA SENSE to be safe, he noticed how bad the shop's situation was. Even the sign was barely held over the door, and if someone closed the door with force, it would likely make it fall. The rest of the place was in a bad state or just the front wall, as the rest was in a terrible state. If it were left like that, it would soon be in a state that a heavy wind could bring the whole thing down.

He noticed that Garry was moving in the shop without worries like he wasn't aware of his shop's state. Even if Shingi had a powerful skill, Garry should know the shop like the back of his hand, so he should be aware of its state more than anyone, so there was only one case.

'He doesn't care anymore. But then why did he bring me here, and why does he keep it?' [Shingi]

The town had so many players coming and go, even if low-level ones; they were good customers, and the blacksmith shop would make a good amount of money.

"Now we have to turn on the forge. There is some charcoal at the back. I will go get them while you clean it up a little." [Garry]

He pointed at a corner of the store, which had a simple-looking forge full of dust and empty bottles.

Shingi didn't ask anything as he looked around the room, and he found a clean, or at least as clean as he could find in here, and was able to use some of his Light mana to clean it up a little, which lead to learning a new spell.

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SPELL LEARNED

The spell FILTH EATER (ungraded) has been learned.

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An ungraded spell wasn't one too powerful to have a rank, but the opposite, it was too weak, and one that could barely use mana close do not be considered a spell.

And so with his now clean cloth, he covered his mouth so do be able to breathe without worry and went his way over to clean the forge, moving the bottles with his MANA HAND and making some dust disappear with FILTH EATER as he was keeping an eye on his Father cause he didn't want to see him casting spells yet.

And so the forge was clean of dust, and the bottles were put aside in less than two minutes. Since Garry wasn't back yet, he started gathering with his hand the rest of the bottles around and even cleaned the space around the forge, and so he noticed that this wasn't a simple forge as he thought.

'A mana blower at a base one's blacksmith shop? It seems like she really was making some money if she could get one.' [Shingi]

Of course, by she, he meant his mother. The mana blower was a device suited under the forge that could produce air to feed the fire. It was using the mana around it to produce that air or could even use the user's mana so it could be used by both people able to use mana and people who couldn't. But creating one was expensive that not many, at least NPCs to be able to afford unless they were like Master Rank crafters or people of power or wealth.

And then he noticed that actually, there seemed to be two blowers connected to the forge. Still, one seemed to be of the normal kind connected to a pipe that wasn't too long and had a small opening left at the end of it. There were some bellows around that should be fit in that hole so that you could use to blow air in the forge in a more traditional way, probably in the case of the mana blower, one stops working, which was a tough thing to do or for someone who isn't familiar with how to use it.

In a matter of almost 10 minutes, he had cleaned the whole forge and around it, gathered all the bottles in an empty big sack he found and investigated the state of the forge, especially the mana blower he was familiar with.

And then, Garry returned with a big sack over his charcoal over his left shoulder. He seemed surprised to see the forge clean as new and his son sitting in front of it, relaxing like he had done nothing.

"It seems we found a talent of yours." [Garry]

Garry chuckled over it, but Shingi didn't put it in mind. He kept his senses on him during his cleaning up, so he knew that Garry didn't take him that long to get the charcoal. It seemed like he met a figure at the back of the shop and talked for a few minutes, and then this unknown person left through the back door.

He could barely hear the steps of this figure. With his MANA SENSE, he could tell that was one of a somewhat Arcane background but not too big, or it would react to his MANA SENSE since he was using a small amount of his mana on this figure in theory so someone of skills could notice it and maybe track it back.

He tried to hear what they were talking about, but he couldn't hear anything. The reason behind it seemed to be a device on the neck of this unknown figure that seemed not to allow their voice to get too far.

Shingi was familiar with those types of magic items and knew that even the simplest one was worth quite a few coins that even messengers of nobles could barely afford, but most decided to have.

He was tempted to try using his STEALTH skill to possibly get closer to maybe get them in his sight and maybe read their lips, which he was able to do. Still, these kinds of people covered their mouths most times, and he didn't want to risk it either way. But he tried to keep in his mind everything he learned of this person, like how his mana felt since different people's mana was giving a different feeling cause of its owner element, mana skills rank, etc.; as also he kept in his mind his smell that he barely was able to take and even the sound of his steps and heartbeat.

After getting his INT to 16, things were easier to organize. He was also wondering if his unknown blessing was helping at all on that. After his sleep and weird dream, his mind was clearer than ever, and his way of multitasking was better than ever.

But now, since his father was back and didn't even take even a moment of mentioning the reason it took him that long as he reached the forge and started filling it with charcoal.

Shingi could tell from the way Garry was putting them in and spreading them that his skill was still here and not too rusty. And after finishing that, he pulled out some old papers and, using a flint and steel one by one, put them on fire and placed them in some spots in the forge. The forge was in a circular shape of almost 2 meters in diameter. There was even like a chimney over it, having a free space of a little less than a meter, covering a little more than half of the forge to lead the smoke out.

And then Garry went over to the side where the mana blower was and put his hand on a panel that had the drawing in the shape of an open hand.

Seeing that Shingi thought that Garry was ready to use his mana, which was weird since Shingi could tell that he didn't have a Mana Pool, but Garry did that seemingly to check its state and then pulled slightly a lever that was next to the panel, which was to let the blower to start gathering the mana from its surroundings and produce air from that mana. The more you pulled the lever, the more mana would be used, and the air would be stronger, so you could control it better than using the bellows.

Garry definitely seemed like one who has done that many many times as the fire kept getting stronger and stronger at a fast pace.

Shingi could even tell in Garry's eyes while working on the fire signs of bringing him back memories of great importance for him but at the same time, remembering them brought him pain.

"Look around for any metal and bring them here." [Garry]

He normally would be able to do that in less than a minute as he had seen most of the shop already and had noticed where some metal was. Still, he didn't want to draw too much attention. He knew that he had some time until the fire was ready to be used, even for the simplest forging, so he took his time and made it look like he was actually looking for them around.

And he brought some iron that had been in a good enough state.

Garry then was ready to ask for something else but then looked towards Shingi and checking him from toes to the top of his head with his eyes and instead, he disabled the blower since the fire seemed to not needing any further air and went over to the desk, the same one he was sleeping the other day. He picked up something that was under it.

A hammer.

It seemed like a typical blacksmith hammer except for a few details of having some carving all over its handle and its size, which was the size of a war hammer. Garry seemed to pick the hammer without any problem. And then something interesting happened.

The hammer became smaller, getting in the size of a normal light hammer. Even its head seemed to change its shape slightly but barely noticeable for anyone other than Shingi.

'A Spirit Hammer? Just what background does this family have?' [Shingi]

A Spirit Hammer was something that even High Graded Master ranked blacksmiths were dreaming of having. It is a hammer with a spark of L'liw the God of Smiths. It can allow the user to use his skills like they are a Rank higher than normal. This meant a Base Rank one would be considered a Master Rank and a Master Rank one a Grandmaster one, or at least in theory. There were limits even to a hammer-like that.

But this type of hammers was unknown where to be found or even create, and when one was found, people would even die or kill in the progress of trying to get it first. But there was something that could keep others from trying to steal it or even do anything harmful to its owner.

The first one that used the hammer with a suitable it crafting skill would create a bond with it that would break only in death. When that individual dies, the hammer will turn into a normal one, and a new one will be created somewhere hidden. All one could do was try to persuade the person to let it to them after they die or work for them. After the mysterious figure's appearance, Shingi started thinking if Garry had made a deal like that actually.

The hammer changed its shape to different kinds of hammers suitable for different types of work as its user was willing to make it the perfect and only hammer needed by him. Unfortunately, it could be only a hammer; otherwise, it would be the only tool they would need, but even so, it was something that even Varic would go crazy over.

And so Garry threw some of the iron into the forge to heat it to prepare it, but then he did something unexpected.

He brought the hammer in front of Shingi.

"Let's see what's your talent in this kind of work, boy."[Garry]