-Congratulations! Your level has risen from 97 to 98!

After farming for materials for the equipment that I am about to create, my level is 2 levels less to reach level 100 where I can receive the Job advancement Quest of the Versatile Class which is called the Versatile Jack. Out of all the classes, only the Versatile Class has one job advancement while the others will have either different advancement class they can choose from.

But I am not in a hurry to reach level 100, that is just not my priority and I am guessing I am going to hit level 100 before the raid boss is killed. The amount of exp I receive from the quest is enough to fill in the high amount of exp I needed just to level up. But it would be a different topic once I reach level 100, I don't think I will be leveling up as fast as right now.

I opened my inventory and check out all of the materials I farmed from the enemies. Seeing the three digits on the bottom of those items, I am now satisfied and ready to start creating my own armor.

Since my first task is to capture the West Desert, I have to go to the first town of West Desert that has not been captured by the enemies which will be the town of Araya. It is not the only reason why I went to Araya Town. Araya Town has a smithy that allows players to use it for a certain amount of gold. Most Blacksmiths do not do that and will just demand that they will be the ones who will do it.

I doubt there are fellow Pioneers on Araya Town just yet so I summoned Leona and flew directly over there. Of course, the NPCs will fear Leona as she is a gryphon so rather than landing into the town directly, I landed just outside the town where the NPCs won't see Leona landing on the ground and the surrounding area won't be affected by Leona's flaps.

...

The security of Araya Town is tight as the guards manually inspect everyone who enters. They are not this strict in the past timeline. It might be like this today because of the Dragon of Darkness and its underlings but once the raid boss died, I doubt the security would be still this strict.

"Halt, state your business in this town traveler," the guard said after blocking my path with his spear.

I pull out the document I received from the queen that she handed me before I left the palace for easy access to the towns in the West Desert. The protocols and security are very tight that they will not let anyone in so easily without any valid reason. Of course, I could just show the Pioneer Badge I received from the Goddess Titania to get access, but this document is much more convincing, so I choose it over the badge.

The guard read the document and upon finishing it, he bowed down to me and retracted the spear.

"I apologize for the delay, Pioneer-sama. We have to do this to ensure the safety of our town and its citizens."

"It's alright. Nothing harm was done and you are just doing your job. Continue the good work!"

"Thank you for understanding."

-The Captain of Araya Town Guards has a huge impression of you. You can now receive quests from him.

Heh, good manners will always help me through this situation, now I don't need to have trouble farming another batch of a reputation for the Araya Town Guard. Their help will be needed in the future.

Entering the town, NPCs are walking around the town and most of them wear anxious faces. From the looks of it, everyone in here is fearing the situation of the West Desert. The situation must be worse than I thought.

Araya Town's structure is different compared to the past timeline, the buildings here look old but they don't look out of place compared to the past timeline where there are many buildings with different kinds of looks but with common patches that are very noticeable. Also, some of the buildings I am seeing right now are not available in the past timeline so my guess is that during the past timeline's events, the invasion of demons has already gone worse and almost destroyed this town hence for the different kind of buildings missing in the past timeline.

I headed immediately to the smithy and saw a dwarf hammering a greatsword on the anvil. The workshop building is also not that big and it seems like the second floor in the past timeline has not yet been built here yet.

"Hello, is this the Gobrun Smithy? I heard this place allows normal people to handle their own forging things here," I asked the dwarf to get his attention.

"Yes, this is the one you are looking for. Are you perhaps going to use the smithy right now?" the dwarf asked as he stopped hammering the greatsword and wipe off the grime and dirt on his hands to his apron.

"Yes. I have to make something for myself and I needed to use a smithy to create it."

"Well, you have come to the right place. However, it is not in very great shape so I apologize if some of the tools there are not that good as expected. We lost a ton of things when the monsters arrived and most of the tools we used before were left behind on our last smithy that was destroyed."

"It doesn't matter as long as I can use the forge and the anvil, those two are good enough."

"If those tools are what you are seeking, then they are in good condition. My name is Gobrun and I am the smithy owner. Come follow me, kid."

Gobrun then put aside his work and led me towards the smithy workshop that can be used by anyone as long as you have the money.

Entering the building, the workshop's interior is very wide like how it was in the past timeline, the only difference is that there were limited forges here. In the past timeline, this floor houses 5 forges with their own smithy tools for players to simultaneously use while right now, there is only one forge and the tools are clearly not in a good condition. The only good conditioned things in here are the anvil and the forge itself.

"Is this place good enough kid? I am a bit sorry that this place is so run down."

"Do not worry, as I said earlier, those things are enough. How much for a whole day?"

"Use it as much as you like, the smithy might be in bad shape and needs necessary tools but I feel like I am scamming you if I let you use this place by paying me even if the state of this forge is terrible."

"No, I will pay. If I don't pay, how would this place improve? I will be using this place in the next few days so I wanted this condition to improve even just a little bit. So state your price."

"..." the dwarf was speechless and sighed.

"You can just pay me how much you like to pay in gold. I don't know how much I will charge you with this run-down place but if you decide to pay, then pay what you can pay then."

After that, he left the place as he still needed to finish the orders he needed for the soldiers to use. I grinned and crack my knuckles for a bit and started stretching.

Alright, time to work. The first project would be the hammer that I will be using for forging! After all, how can you forge a weapon without a hammer?