As I walk through his shop, I can tell this mother fucker has been going at it for days. There are tools strewn across the entire shop, and he has a huge pile of ashes set up beside his furnace. I look over at Liber and thank the Lord I can’t smell right now. He’s caked with soot, sweat, and grime. He clearly hasn’t even thought about hygiene in the last couple days.

“Alright, look over here. I have done five shields so far, and I can knock one out every few hours or so. I’m not sure since time hasn’t meant much to me the last couple days. Anyways, as soon as the XP modifier lifted, I started gaining levels like crazy in blacksmithing. It felt a lot like when I first started smithing. Knowledge came to me so fast, and problems I had in the real world were trivial to solve.”

He takes another deep breath and pants for a few moments, “Anyways, the first one took forever, but once I broke through 100 and got the strength bonus, it’s super easy. Check the shield out!”

He picks up a shield, and carries it over to me, struggling the whole way. When I grab it I kinda see why. It’s about 35 inches tall and 35 inches wide if it was flattened out. It’s bent at the middle, forming a ‘V’ shape. It’s edges are curved towards the front of the shield, sticking out about an inch. The very center is probably four millimeters thick and the rest is about three. The wooden cross bar in the center is riveted to the shield, and it has several thick leather pieces to strap your arm into. All in all, it probably weighs 45 pounds.

“Liber, this looks pretty good, but it’s a lot heavier than 25 pounds. I can pick it up, but it’s going to be hard to move around with it.”

“Ugh, yeah I know, but the 25 pound one was way too flimsy. Here, take this and go test it out yourself. I haven't had time to test it. Bye, I have more shields to make.”

He hands me a bag of shot, some powder, and two guns. One was a musket and the other a pistol. He turns and fervently pumps the bellows to get the furnace up to temp. I shoulder everything, and I make my way out to the beach.

I walk out to where the tide had hardened the sand and place the shield about halfway into the sand. I want to make sure that the shield doesn’t give as I shoot it. I step back probably 50 feet and start loading both guns.

I hope this works… I have spent a lot of money to get to this point. If these don’t stop musket balls, I might as well give up my plan to take the spanish treasure fleet…

I rub my wrist and shoulder to try and get some relief from the strain of firing the pistol… uh, couple hundred times? My shoulder doesn’t feel great either, but it was worth it. I shot the shield probably 50 times from the front and not a single ball made it through. The shield is hard and thick enough in the front to stop bullets pretty much all day. It leaves a small dent, and the ball just flattens out. Firing to the side of the center produced similar, yet completely different results. The ball would glance off and travel down the shield. If not for the curved edges, the ball would continue on into whatever poor sap that happened to be standing behind them. But, the edges held up well until they had been hit with a couple dozen shots.

Now, from the front the shield did exactly what I wanted, but from the side, it was hit or miss. I’m guessing probably half the shots made it through when they hit the shield perpendicularly. I was hoping for better, but I expected it to be something like this. I pick the shield up carefully, the shards of metal sticking out everywhere could cut me something awful. It only weighs about 30 pounds now, and looks a good bit like swiss cheese.

Now, I’m excited about the way the shields turned out, but the thing I’m most excited about is my small gun skill. I’ve gotten it to 100, and got a new perk.

Smoothbore efficiency: The amount of experience you have firing smoothbore small arms has culminated into the ability to compensate for imperfections in a gun. The more you use a unique firearm, the better you can compensate for the imperfections. This perk’s efficiency is based in one’s perception and agility. Branching skill path: All firearms are similar, but each one serves a purpose. Your small gun skill has been upgraded into Pistols: Carbines: Shotguns: Rifles. Your skill list has been updated.

In a world without rifling, this should be incredibly useful. Now, the perk is awesome, and the branching paths I have should be interesting… but I also got my first enhancement.

As a reward for reaching 100 in your first skill, you are given a choice of three enhancements. The enhancements and their respective tier levels are listed below. The effects of enhancements labeled serums are permanent. The enhancements labeled tonics are temporary. High Density Muscle serum B tier Mexican Axolotl serum S tier Eyes of a Seabird serum A tier

Well, I don’t know what a Axolotl is, but that S tier is looking pretty juicy. I guess this is gonna be one of those games that doesn’t tell you what each thing does and makes you guess. Well, at least they have a tier list. It would be beyond frustrating without them. Alright, Mexican Axolotl it is.

Mexican Axolotl serum: S Tier This serum gives the user the incredible regenerative abilities of a Mexican Axolotl. Given enough time and nutrition, the user can regenerate limbs, eyes, sexual reproductive organs, parts of the brain, and many other structures. Although, this process can take months to years, depending on the injury.

A small box appeared in my hand like it had been there the whole time. It was made of thin cardboard and wrapped in plastic wrap. It looks to be pretty damn waterproof. I find a modern syringe filled with a dark red liquid inside, an alcohol wipe, and a rubber tourniquet. There is a diagram showing you how to insert the needle into the vein in your arm once you sterilize the area with alcohol. Well damn, I guess I don’t have to be ugly forever. I wonder how long it’ll take for me to regrow my nose?

I finish injecting myself with the serum, and a notification pops up.

Congratulations on your first enhancement. In order for it to take effect, you must log out and log back in. Please be aware, significant physical changes can take place in an incredibly short amount of time. It is suggested to not do so while in the presence of NPC’s or players. Any psychological changes will disappear within a few hours.

Well, I have no idea how long it’ll take to heal my face, so I might as well get started. I go over to a secluded sand dune, and I log out of the game.