Entering the room Boran immediately headed to the extra forge inside the room.

"So what do you want to do here?" Boran asked, taking a nearby hammer and playing with it. He asked as he wanted to know what Eldrian's plans where.

"I would like to learn blacksmithing."

"Do you just want to learn the basics, or more?" Boran asked, looking at Eldrian sternly. Seeing his look Eldrian felt certain this question was an important one.

"I want to learn everything I can." Eldrian replied honestly.

"In that case, you will have to become my apprentice."

"Sure! I was actually hoping to become your apprentice!" Eldrian replied, quite excited that he could still become Boran's apprentice.

"Are you sure? Do you even know what it means to become someone's apprentice?"

"Doesn't it mean I work for you until I learn what you know?"

"No, it is more complicated. What you describe is the apprenticeship for none tiered occupations. For tiered occupations it is a binding contract between the mentor and the apprentice."

"What does that mean?"

"Due to the knowledge being shared being more important there have to be limitations. The first and most basic limitations being that you can't share the knowledge and you have to work for me."

"That seems like a given" Eldrian replied, feeling like it was common sense that he couldn't share the knowledge and that he had to work to earn it.

"Well that is just the most basic, the other limitations is that you cannot take any other mentors for the areas I will teach you in."

"For how long does this count?" Eldrian asked, causing Boran to start laughing.

"Bwahaha. Normally I would say don't even worry about it, but I will tell you the condition for becoming someone else's apprentice. You either have to reach my level, or I have to die. If neither happens then you can never get a new mentor."

'So this is basically a life long decision...' Eldrian thought, thinking back to how some players had already entered such an agreement with other NPCs. He felt it was critical to choose well, seeing as it would determine how far you would be able to go. At least this would be the case if your mentor actually couldn't teach you. Then you would be blocked from advancing.

"What level are you at?" Eldrian asked, needing the information to make an informed choice.

Boran laughed again before answering, "I see you are aiming high. Good!"

"But you should know it will likely take years for you to surpass me, heck I think you will die before you can."

"Doesn't hurt to aim high!" Eldrian replied, causing Boran to look at him curiously.

"True, never meant to dissuade you from that. I am a Tier 6 Blacksmith, a Tier 6 Runesmith, a Tier 5 Inscriber and a Tier 4 Jeweler."

'That's fucking insane!' Eldrian thought, failing to keep his composure. He had a limited idea of Tier 6, and people at that level seemed to always be in important positions.

"From your expression I assume you know what Tier 6 means. I guess you did learn some things during the past week." To which Eldrian simply nodded.

"If you want to know where I stand in the kingdom, then I am in the top 5 blacksmiths. I am actually the best runesmith in the kingdom." Boran added, trying to inform Eldrian of how difficult it was to reach these tiers. Boran was actually not trying to brag, but help Eldrian in making his choice.

'I guess that is good...' Eldrian thought, not sure if it was a good thing or not. It meant the quests he was going to get were likely going to be really hard. Yet on the other side he was likely going to be able to learn more from Boran than others.

"Which occupation's tier will I need to reach?" Eldrian asked, feeling like it might actually take him years to reach them. He felt quite certain that getting over Tier 5 was going to take most players over a year. He believed this way, as most NPCs explain the gap between Tier 4 and 5 as massive.

"Depends on which ones you want to learn. But I think it would be best if I become your mentor for Blacksmithing and Runesmithing, as they are my best crafts."

"Will you teach me about the others even if I don't take you as my mentor for them?"

"Yeah, I don't really care too much about them. But I won't teach you about any trade secrets."

"That's fine." Eldrian replied, feeling happy with being able to learn two occupations to such a high level already.

"But that is putting the cart before the horse. Can you use magic, as you won't be able to do anything unless you can."

'Ah shit, I forgot about that.' Eldrian replied to Boran, "No, not yet. I am working on it with Dave though. I feel it will take me a few more days. Maybe a week or two."

"I won't be able to really teach you much then. Guess we can start with the more basic stuff at first."

"Do you want to become my apprentice?" Boran asked after a short pause. He wanted to get this part out of the way first, as it didn't really make sense to postpone it until Eldrian managed to learn magic. It wouldn't really affect anything, Eldrian would just be unable to ever reach his level. Yet he might still make a good non-magical blacksmith.

"I think so, are those the only limitations?" Eldrian asked.

"Yup, I mean I can also ask you to do something and you have to do it." Seeing Eldrian's face light up in alarm Boran added, "Don't worry it won't be life threating."

'But it is likely going to be insanely difficult!' Eldrian complained internally, nodding to Boran's words.

After Eldrian calmed down Boran added, "You will also have a daily task you will need to finish. I think it would be best if you come to work here from 8 to 4. You will need a crazy amount of practice to really master everything."

"Would it be possible to not have a fixed time?" Eldrian asked, worried it would affect his real life if he had to commit to such a harsh time requirement. He had plans this week and with uni picking up he felt he was going to have to log in later and later as more time progressed.

"Sure, you just need to complete the tasks. Why don't you want a fixed time?"

"Well, I also want to keep training magic with Dave. I might also become busy with other stuff."

Rubbing his chin Boran thought for a while, "That makes sense. You don't want to just learn smithing right. I guess you also want to continue training on how to fight."

"Yes, so hopefully the tasks won't be too much."

"I'll keep that in mind. Now let us complete out mentor-apprentice relationship."

"How do we do that?"

"Quite simple, you have to swear by the god of your faith."

"But I don't believe in any gods."

"Really? The heck is wrong with you? How do you think you are currently here?" Boran asked in shock.

'Oh, the NPCs believe we were summoned by the gods. Right...' Eldrian thought, realizing that his answer must be really weird in a world were gods exist and people can actually interact with them at will.

"Sorry, I just don't believe..." Eldrian added, trying to bring Boran out of his stupor.

"I guess you can just swear to the goddess of life then. You do know here name right?" Boran asked the last part aggressively.

"I do yes." Eldrian replied quickly, glad that he had asked Dave about it.

"Umm, how are we going to swear to the gods?" Eldrian asked, having no clue how he was supposed to do it.

"Just repeat what I am going to say, for the start. The rest you just have to swear to the rules you agree with and that you will work under me."

"Alright."

"I, Boran Brokkr, swear to the god of fire, Dragos, that I will take Haru as my apprentice for Blacksmithing and Runesmithing. I will teach him all of my craft and in turn he will provide me with his loyalty. He will do the apprentice tasks I give him and I will compensate him for his labor. These tasks will be reasonable and Haru will be given enough time and materials to finish them on his own."

'That's it?' Eldrian asked himself, finding that it seemed far simpler than he had thought it would be.

"Now you. Don't worry about messing up, as we can recant the oath during the first few minutes. If you do mess up that is."

'Good to know,' Eldrian thought about what he wanted to include in his oath before finally swearing it. He also received a system message.

[NPC Boran Brokkr has offered an apprenticeship to player.]

[Please complete the oath to become the NPC's apprentice]

"I, Haru, swear to the goddess of life, Asteria, that I take Boran Brokkr as my mentor for Blacksmithing and Runesmithing. I will fulfill the tasks given by my mentor, to the best of my abilities. I will also keep all the secrets I might learn and take no other mentor until I reach Boran's level in the craft."

[Player has sworn an oath with an NPC]

[Player, Eldrian, has become Boran Brokkr's apprentice] (*1)

[Player, Eldrian, will be punished if breaking the oath]

[Congratulations to Player for finding a master.]

-

[Quest: Boran's Apprenticeship.]

[Quest giver: Boran Brokkr of Phallos kingdom's Agosstead]

[Quest Rank: SS -> SSS due to race]

[Quest Progress: Tier 0 / Tier 6]

[Quest Time Limit: Lifetime of Boran or Player]

[Quest Success: Title - Master Blacksmith]

[Quest Reward: 1.8M XP / 5-Levels] [Whichever is more]

[Quest Success Title: Masterful Blacksmith Apprentice] [Improved relation to all friendly kingdoms.]

[Quest Failure Title: Incompetent Blacksmith Apprentice] [Decreased relation to all friendly kingdoms]

-

[Quest Daily Task: pending]

[Quest Daily Task Failure: Pending]

[Quest disqualified: Title - The Ignoble] [When player has failed three daily tasks without proper reason and exemption from mentor.]

'Holy shit, a triple S-ranked quest. You got to be kidding me.' Eldrian complained internally, realizing that Tier 6 was more than he had thought.

-

(*1) The name here not being Haru is not just for reading sake, but actually of import.