I open my eyes to the bland white of my ceiling. I’m filled with an odd sense of dread, like I’m stuck in a never-ending loop of despair. I wallow in it for a moment longer, until I remember what I’m doing. Yes, I finally have the chance to not be ugly! That was seriously getting old, everyone being terrified of me. I reinitialize the game and fall into it.

I open my eyes to a bright blue sky, waves crashing on the beach, and wind blowing through the dune grass. It’s almost dark outside, but there should be enough light for me to make my way to Liber’s shop. As I sit up, I notice my nose itching. I reach up and scratch my nose, only to bring myself to the brink of passing out due to the pain. After I catch my breath, I run my fingers across my nose as gently as I can. I feel my nose is turned up at a odd angle, and I am missing the bridge of my nose. I guess the last time it was hit, the damage was enough Doc thought the bone would die. God, I can only imagine what color my face is. No wonder everyone it so terrified. Also, I guess the mild itching means I’m regrowing the bone, but how fucking long will it take? Days? Months? God I wish I knew what animal they based that serum on. Wait, Liber might know!

I turn my head towards the path I used to get here, “Nah, I’ll just cut across the dunes.”

I start off trying to carry the shield back, but carrying the guns and that mangled piece of metal doesn’t seem like the safest idea. The climb up wasn’t so bad once I left shield, but now that I’m on the other side, I’m having a hard time seeing. I’m trying to watch where I’m putting my feet, but the dune is blocking most of the sunlight. Wait, what is?... Awe fuck, what is this?

About 50 yards from Liber’s shop, there is a hole. It’s about three feet deep and two feet wide. It has a wide piece of wood laying beside it two buckets. One is full of torn rags, the other bucket is full of water. I look inside the hole to see torn up rags, and some brown sludge. Is that… nah, surely not.

As I get closer to the shop, I see a glass of Liber’s go-go juice sitting on the table with a note beside it.

“Here, drink up. If you’re gonna help me make shields, I can’t have you falling behind.”

… I’m pretty sure I’m paying you to make these shields Liber. Eh, whatever, it couldn’t hurt to see how the work is coming. I down the drink, and holy shit it’s bitter. I could only imagine how bad it would taste if I had a sense of smell. Right about then, I hear metal striking metal. Well, I also feel it. Everytime the metal is struck, I feel vibrations run up my legs.

As I push the door open, I am awestruck by what I see, “What the fuck.”

I see Liber standing over an anvil, holding a piece of red hot metal in place with a pair of tongs with one hand. In the other, is a huge hammer. The head of this hammer is shaped like a football that has its front three or four inches cut off. The thing has to weigh 20 or 30 pounds, and when he strikes the piece of metal, I feel it in my chest. It feels like the entire building is shaking, and the craziest thing, it doesn’t hurt my ears. It’s not the high pitched ring you normally associate with hammering metal. It’s a deep thud, more akin to thunder. I can’t help but fear this skinny little man. He could quite literally break me in half right now.

“Liber, Liber, LIBER!!”

I break Liber’s concentration, and his intimidating presence disappears in an instant. The hammer’s momentum jerks Liber off his feet. He lets go just before the hammer rips his arm out of socket. I watch the hammer as it comes into contact with the wooden wall. It punches a hole straight through as flies outside.

“Dude, are you ok? Shit.”

Liber blinks a couple times to oriente himself. He recognizes me, and he proceeds to recoil as if I was wearing a halloween mask… which I might as well be.

Liber shakes his head to clear the cobwebs, “So, I guess I forgot to mention that my new perk is basically a trance I go into. If my concentration is broken, I go back to normal, and normal me cannot control that beast of a hammer. I’m actually quite proud of that one. I made it early this morning, and it’s probably doubled how fast I can make those shields.”

I walk out of the building, and I see the hammer sitting there in its little crater of sand. I wrap my hand around the smooth handle and lift it up. Which almost gives me hemorrhoids. Damn, this thing has to be at least 40 pounds. I look back at the door to see Liber fixing some more go-go juice.

“Liber bud, you think you should take it easy? You haven’t slept in about 60 hours. Have you even eaten anything?”

“I know, I know, but it’s so hard to stop. I’ve made so much progress in such a short period of time. I just want to keep it going!”

I hang my head, “Alright, well, show me how your making the shields then.”

Liber gives me a crazy ass smile, “Oh I’d love an assistant. If you can hold the metal, I can swing the hammer with both hands. I'll be able to smash it into the shape I desire.”

“I hope that came out a lot creepier than you meant it to.”

Liber just laughs as he walks through the door, “Bring the hammer would you?”

As I bring the hammer through the door, Liber motions for me to drop it by the anvil, “Alright, I haven't tried to work with anyone else since I got this perk, but I think we can do it. I’m gonna get this metal back into the furnace and get it up to temp. I’ll bring it back over here, and then you’ll hold it in place while I strike it. Don’t talk to me until I get it flattened… well, until I stop hammering. Then we’ll move on to shaping it. I’ll do that part on my own.”

I just nod my head as Liber motions for me to help him get the half-beaten piece of metal into the furnace. He and I both grab a side with our own set of tongs and slide it into the brick structure. Liber shovels in some more coal and waves me away. I step back as I watch Liber start to pump the huge set of bellows attached to the furnace.

At first, he struggles to pump the bellows fast enough, but then, a switch flips. His arms stay the same size, but there are massive veins appearing and pulsating with the beat of his heart. He starts pumping the bellows faster and faster. After about a minute, the fire is roaring. I’m starting to drip with sweat with how hot the room is, but Liber doesn’t even seem to be out of breath. He pauses to look at the 40 or 50 pound chunk of metal. He shakes his head and continues to pumping.

After about five minutes, the piece of metal is glowing like a lightbulb filament. Liber smiles, and grabs both sets of tongs, picking the piece of metal up himself and brings it over to the anvil, himself. He removes one pair of tongs, and simply points at the other as he goes to pick up the hammer. I grab the tongs, steadying the piece of metal. Liber picks up the hammer, and carries it over to a wall covered in tools. He picks up a large two handed maul, and pulls the handle from the head as if it were a cap on a pen. He fixes his huge hammerhead to the longer handle... using nothing but his hands. He then lightly taps his 'new' hammer against the hot metal, to judge the distance I guess. He raises the hammer above his head with both hands and brings it down.

If his previous swings were akin to thunder, these are akin to bombs exploding. The shower of sparks that shower down after each swing only adds to that impression. Each strike leaves a six inch wide impression two or three inches deep into the hunk of metal.

Liber starts flattening it out in the center, and moves out in a spiral pattern. Each strike looks perfectly equidistant from every other strike, forming little X’s all over. Then he goes back through striking every single X flattening them out. That leaves diamond patterns over the surface. He strikes the diamonds, flattening them. Each shape he flattens out is done with less and less force, and by the end, he has a surprisingly flat surface. He motions me to let go with my tongues, and he grabs his own pair to bring the metal back to the furnace. He gets it back to glowing, and brings it back over. He places it hammered side down, and motions for me to grab it again. He repeats the process again, leaving a piece of metal roughly three feet by three feet. He takes a round metal rod and puts it on the edge of the ‘shield’. He takes a relatively small hammer, and forms the curved edges on each side of the shield. He reheats the shield to a dim red, and then puts it onto a pile of sand on the other side of the furnace. He covers it, and goes down the line of piles, pulling a shield out that already has cooled.

He brings the shield back to the furnace. He tosses it in, and without pumping the bellows, he walks over to a wall and pulls out a three foot long piece of iron shaped like a triangle. He brings it over to the anvil and lays it on top. He pulls the shield out before it has the chance to start glowing, and props it against the anvil. He takes two thick, multi-layered pieces of leather, and wraps them around his hands. He grabs the shield, positioning it above the metal triangle. He starts to put more and more pressure on the shield until it starts to slowly bend into shape. Once he gets it to his desired angle, he puts it back into the furnace bent side down. Then he fills the space on the back of the shield with wet sand. He pumps the bellows, getting the shield bright bright red again. Liber picks up a contraption that looks like four meat hooks attached to a metal rod. He attaches the to the shield, and brings it over to a set of pulleys suspended over a container of some type of oil.

Now, I’ve been impressed by his strength this entire time, but carrying a 40 pound 'container', full of half-wet sand? That is crazy.

I watch him lower the cherry red shield down into the oil. It smokes like crazy, and I am so glad I can’t smell right now. After about 30 seconds he raises the shield back up. He takes a step back, and looks over in my direction smiling. His arms lose their veiny appearance, and his intimidating ‘I can break you in half’ vibe is replaced with his 'skinny guy that has done way too much cocaine vibe'.

“So, watch think? Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, I think so. How long did that take us? I’m thinking it probably cut my time in half, being able to use both hands and all.”

Before I can answer, I get a notification.

Hello Dwayne,

It has been revealed that the last update to remove the experience modifiers from players had a pretty significant glitch. We are looking to implement a fix as soon as possible, but regret to inform you that the skill leveling system has been disabled until a fix can be implemented. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

P.S. I’m glad to see you’ve been working hard like I suggested Utah. Hard work is always rewarded! Be safe!