Blacksmith vs. the System

Unfortunately, working on switching skills wasn't going as smoothly as I expected. "Umm, do it faster?" I suggested.

"Really, do it faster?" Eleanor grumbled even as she repeated the attempt, which was not any faster than her previous hundred attempts. The only thing that changed was her condition. She looked exhausted, unnaturally so. It reminded me of the time I pushed myself trying to modify my Meditation skills.

It was a good idea to stop it. I just needed to find a way to present it to her, which was hard, as every failure was making her more frustrated. "Is this all you have? I thought professors are supposed to be good at teaching."

I couldn't help but blush. "Actually, no," I said. "I'm not exactly a good teacher of basics."

"Really? But, you were a professor for a decade. Don't you need to be a good teacher for it?"

"Not entirely. Being a professor has very little to do with actual teaching. That's especially true for my case, where research was more important."

"But, you were able to teach me how you have combined your hammer style with Stalwart Guard perfectly. And, there were the plans you prepared for the Blacksmiths, and they were able to learn from it."

"That's different. With the other Blacksmiths, I knew exactly what they knew, and what they didn't know since we share the same skill. Discussing martial skills with you is similar. You're the expert, which is something I could keep up with easily. Teaching the basics to someone is different."

"I hope it's not an excuse to stop teaching me," she said.

"Certainly not. Having a stronger protector is a necessity for a poor weak production class member like me," I said, which earned a snort from her.

"Yes, you're the epitome of weakness. Not even level fifty, and already soloing dungeon bosses."

I chuckled. "Speaking of making you stronger, I have a different exercise in mind."

She looked at me stubbornly. "I don't want to stop it before I can perfect it. It's more valuable. I don't care what else you have in mind."

"As valuable as gaining the ability to use mana?" I asked.

The way her expression froze was beautiful. "But again, you're the teacher. I should listen to you, right?" she responded, as if she wasn't the one that declared it earlier.

"Let's go and open the dungeon first. Then, we can work while watching the place. We might even catch a few spies."

"We don't want to reveal our training —" she started, then corrected herself. "We don't have to. We can just climb on top of one of the hills and watch everyone without obstruction."

"Exactly," I said as I glanced around, measuring just how much my range improved after consuming thirteen crystals in total. I was glad to note that my vision had increased exponentially. Even on the third floor, I could comfortably see farther than a mile. "Our enemies will have a nasty surprise the next time they try to infiltrate the dungeon."

"Yes, they will," Eleanor said.

"Why don't you go and reopen the dungeon while I pick up the necessary equipment," I said.

"Equipment?" she asked.

"Yeah, I need to bring a small forge to the first floor. Maybe some excess gold and other equipment wouldn't be amiss."

"And, do you think it would be enough?"

"Frankly, I don't know," I answered. "It's not like I have any baseline other than experiencing it myself. There was a chance that your Epic skill would make it easier. Or, maybe it would be the opposite, and it'll slow us down. Either way, we need to experiment and see."

"Fine," Eleanor said, disappointed by my lackluster commitment.

"See you in half an hour," I said.

"With one condition. We focus on teaching me how to use mana above everything else."

"Except for an actual emergency," I added, curious exactly why she had been focused on that aspect.

"Well, obviously," she responded, her smirk making me think that I had missed something. "Now, anything else?"

"Actually, yes," I said. "I want you to use every attack given to you by your skill while I observe the results."

"Do I have to walk closer?" she asked after a slight pause.

"No need," I said even as I passed her a small, thin gold chain. "Just wrap this at the hilt of your sword, and it'll be enough," I said.

She nodded even as she followed my direction. "Every single attack?" she asked.

"Yeah, from the simplest to most complicated, as slow as you can manage," I directed. "I'll signal you to stop once I get a good handle on their structure."

She cycled through her attacks, and each slowed down as I requested. Even as I did my best to memorize the attacks, I appreciated the display of trust she was showing. No matter what, the exact workings of her skill were a dangerous secret to give. I could design an armor to counter the special features of her vitality attacks, which would've made her life much harder in combat.

It was a good feeling to be trusted.

However, rather than lingering on that warm feeling, I focused on the concrete details of her skill to be able to help her properly. Not only would it be a good reward for the trust she was extending, but it would also help me.

A stronger Eleanor meant a safer dungeon.

Her attacks were interesting. Similar to my own Epic Skills — though in my case, they were limited to forging and farming — her sword skill had two types of release, which I temporarily named ordinary and dense releases. The ordinary release was mostly similar to my own combat skills, and the dense variant worked with similar principles, only more solid and damaging.

"I think I have learned enough," I said. "I'll pick up the necessary equipment while you handle the operation."

"Fine. But, you only have half an hour, alright," she said, unable to keep her enthusiasm down. I didn't blame her.

As we split, I went back to the fourth floor, and filed a large cart with necessary items. A set of tools, some vitality-dense wood to create a fire, a manually-operated crusher to create the necessary mana density, several portable mana-resistant plates I designed to create a portable room, a thousand pounds of iron, split equally between ordinary and anti-corrosive, and some silver and gold.

It was significant extra work to carry everything to the first floor rather than experimenting here, but after the most recent ambush, it was much preferable to keep an eye on the dungeon entrance. Especially since our increased vision had made that task much easier.

Since everything was organized on the fourth floor, piling up the necessary equipment didn't take as long as I expected, so I decided to forge several swords before leaving. I didn't expect them to work immediately, but having a prototype would be useful.

I closed my eyes, remembering that fateful day I managed to attain Mana Forge, trying to isolate the steps. I had captured the mana from the fire that Maria had kept, perceived its presence through Analyze, and then connected it through Health I had forced into the metal with my blood.

And, it worked, because the absence of the environmental mana allowed the weak pull of my Health to connect with mana.

"The absence of Analyze is going to be the biggest challenge," I decided even as I started forging multiple composite swords, ones that would transfer the mana in a similar shape to her attack. Trying to create an artificial mana conduit similar to her vitality attack might be useful.

At least, her ability to freely use vitality attacks meant that I didn't need to make her bleed constantly. That had been macabre enough when I was doing it on my own, but asking someone else to do the same was too much of a mad scientist's demand for me to feel comfortable with.

It was a good red line to embrace.

Once everything was done, I pulled the cart through the familiar path, curious how much my view had increased. On the third floor, it was already more than a mile. On the second floor, it was almost three miles.

On the first floor, the dungeon mist didn't block my vision in the slightest, allowing me to see everything as long as I climbed to a high enough place. "Excellent," I said even as I watched a dungeon monster come into existence. It wasn't too different from the way they evolved. The mist coalesced into something denser, followed by a bright intensity, and they came into being.

Leaving me even more curious about what a dungeon was … unfortunately, that was not a topic I was qualified to understand yet.

Instead, I picked up a nice steep hill, about three miles away from the entrance, a good place both as a hidden safehouse and an observatory which was tall enough that even the occasional explorer wouldn't see us at the top.

Eleanor returned before I finished setting everything up, though her mood wasn't as good as I expected. "What's wrong?" I asked once she arrived on top — with just one step thanks to Floating Stride, which I couldn't help but feel jealous of as my phobia prevented me from using it as freely.

"The guilds, they have left the town," she said.

"All of them?" I asked.

"Yes —" she started, but stopped as quickly. "Well, all but one. That annoying woman's guild stayed, but their numbers are nowhere near enough to keep the dungeon working."

"How about the Farmers?" I asked.

"Well, they are still here, but we can't keep the dungeon working with only them, not unless we can find a lot more crossbows," she said. Then, she paused again. "Why are you smiling?"

I felt giddy at the opportunity. "Tell me. Financially, how long you can keep the dungeon going without selling anything to the System Shop."

"Two weeks, and that's with stopping all purchases."

"And, how about if my guild continues to operate at the same pace?"

"We should be able to hold back quite a while, at least until the first payment for the debt is due," she said. "About three months."

That made me chuckle. "There's nothing to worry about, then. I could easily surpass the number of shells the other guilds could produce, with no additional cost. All I need to do is to figure out how to make a decent crossbow. It can't be that hard. A day, two at most."

"True," she said, looking thoughtful. "Why do you ask about the payment schedule, then."

"Because, wouldn't it be better to stockpile them while letting Thomas believe that his plot to hurt us succeeded to some degree? That way, he won't be in a hurry to plan his next attack."

"Makes sense," she said. "And, in the meanwhile, if I can figure out how to use mana attacks…" Her smile widened as she fell silent, considering possibilities as she grabbed the hilt of her new sword, excited.

I smiled as well, imagining the way her face would look once she realized she wouldn't be using her precious new toy.