After breakfast, I went to the counter and picked up my pass. Then headed towards the Advanced Disciple section to meet Gregon.

“Hey there missy, so ya ready? First, I’ll show ya how to smith a high quality [Steel Dagger]” said Gregon as I entered in.

From then on he proceeded to smith the dagger, while explaining things that I should know and take note of. After he was done with that, he began work on an Enchanted-steel sword.

The difficulty in smithing the enchanted sword came from balancing the mana while smithing. From what Gergon said, the mana practically leaks while smelting the ingots and smithing the item, and the smith’s job is to contain the mana to the best of their ability. Even for Gregon himself that proved quite a challenge.

Your skill [NP][Smelting] has become Level 7

Apparently, making that [Steel Ingot] back then did not push him enough to make use of his true skill...

Smithing that Enchanted-steel sword took up the majority of the day, but there was still some time left. So afterwards I requested him to smith all kinds of other things starting with boots, which thankfully he had no issue with complying since he said he needed to smith those things anyways, due to different requests he had backlogged.

When there was only 3 hours left till dinner, Gregon stopped smithing and turned to me.

“One last thing missy, did ya already use up that [Iron Ingot] ya got from ya’r last quota?” Gregon inquired.

“Uhm… no… not yet why?” I questioned.

“Take this [Coal Ore] and attempt to make a [Steel Dagger]. I want to see how well ya improved from my teaching” said Gregon.

“Uhm… but I was kind of saving it to make a [Steel Blacksmithing Hammer] to help me with the competition...” I helplessly retort.

“Hmm… Tell ya what missy, if ya can manage to make a [Steel Dagger] with a quality score of 5 or more. I’ll personally provide ya with enough materials to make ya’r [Steel Blacksmithing Hammer]. But if ya fail, ya will have to pay for the [Coal Ore]. How does that sound missy?” offered Gregon.

“Okay!” I instantly agreed.

I then began smelting the [Iron Ingot] and [Coal Ore] to make a [Steel Ingot]. My abilities have improved quite a bit since my last attempt, in both understanding my skills and in stats. The result of the smelted [Steel Ingot] was an astounding quality score of 5.8341!

I then began smithing the [Steel Dagger] for the second time. This time around I did not luck out like last time with the bonus.

Steel Dagger

An average dagger made out of steel

+5 STR +5 DEX +5 AGI +5 VIT +100 ATK

[Made by Shiro]

Durability: 1000/1000

Quality 5.5186/10.0000

Regardless, the results were rather satisfying!

“Ya know missy, I have a hard time believing it every time I see it... Are ya sure ya not some illegitimate half-dwarf child of a legendary blacksmith or somethin’? The rate ya are improving is terrifying to say the least...” Gregon murmured.

The best part is, since this is made out of my materials, I actually get to keep it! Though I would have liked a bonus…

“So... I get materials for my hammer right?” I gleefully questioned.

“Yeah, yeah. Here ya go...” said Gregon handing over 2 [Iron Ingots] and 2 [Coal Ore] for my hammer.

We went over a few other things, but soon ran out of time. After agreeing for another lesson prior to the day of the competition, I asked if I could borrow a [Coal Ore] to practice making steel with which I would return after I get my quota. In response Gregon just gave me the [Coal Ore] and said that if I win the competition, there is no need to return it. Obviously I wasn’t going to reject the goodwill...

After that, I went to eat dinner and did my usual thing.

...

The next day, I began working on smithing my new steel hammer! During the morning prior to breakfast, I smithed the ores into [Steel Ingots]. And after breakfast I began smithing the hammer.

I put a lot of effort into it, opting to spend 9 hours to make sure it comes out the best it can. And the results did not disappoint!

Steel Blacksmithing Hammer

An average blacksmithing hammer made out of steel

+50 STR +10 DEX -50 AGI +8 ATK

+25% improvement for Blacksmithing

Bonus: 1% improvement for Blacksmithing

[Made by Shiro]

Durability: 2500/2500

Quality 5.9125/10.0000

Thus Caroline was born!

I took an hour break due to the overwhelming fatigue and stress of the process and then began working on upgrading my leather boots by plating them with the [Bronze Ingots]. With the help of both my [Blacksmithing] and [Leatherworking] skills the process was not too difficult.

I spent 3 hours making the boots to make sure everything comes out well, and my results were pretty good.

Bronze-Plated Leather Boot of Greater Agility

An average boot made out of dire fox leather modified to fit for children and plated with bronze

+4 AGI +24 DEF

Bonus: +1 AGI

Restrictions:

Minimum Level:

Level 15 – Benefit: +1 AGI | Penalty: 90% reduction in stats

Owner Restriction: Shiro

Benefit: +1 AGI | Penalty: 90% reduction in stats

[Made by Shiro]

Durability: 100/100

Quality 5.9826/10.0000

Bronze-Plated Leather Boot of Agility

An average boot made out of dire fox leather modified to fit for children and plated with bronze

+3 AGI +2 VIT +29 DEF

Restrictions:

Minimum Level:

Level 15 – Benefit: +1 AGI | Penalty: 90% reduction in stats

Owner Restriction: Shiro

Benefit: +1 AGI | Penalty: 90% reduction in stats

[Made by Shiro]

Durability: 122/122

Quality 6.1023/10.0000

I lost out on some stats due to the leather being of lower tier than the metal. But the bonus and quality increase overall made up for it. Smithing bronze when you already made steel is pretty much a piece of cake.

Now normally you can sync the two pieces to increase probability of similar stats when making pairing items. But in the case where my skills improve more and more the better I understand them, I chose to make them separate.

Fully satisfied with my work, I head off to that poor excuse for a dinner… I am really getting sick of eating broth! And end the day as per usual...

…

When I wake up in the morning, since I have nothing to do. I decide to make plans for now. Today and tomorrow, I have pretty much free, the day after tomorrow I have my quota to fulfill and the day after that will be the last private lesson before the competition.

I doubt I can find 2 more skill levels to raise my [PER] that easily unfortunately. There is the art shop, but from what I have seen there are guards there and I don’t want to get into trouble… So maybe I should go hunt [Dire Foxes] and gather herbs in hopes of getting a level up? That is probably the best option, and I want to also try out my new equipment as well!

Like that, after breakfast, I head out of town. Now that I was dual wielding daggers and had a boost in speed from my new equipment, things went a lot simpler and I easily stocked up on 5 [Dire Fox Pelts]. I even had pretty good luck with herbs, getting a total of 15! Of course like before, I stored the [Dire Milkweed] in my [Item Box] and brought the rest to the guild.

I hand in the 10 herbs, getting a total of 50 iron coins with the reward. Then I hand in the [Dire Fox Meat] and [Dire Fox Pelts], getting 2 silver and 11 irons coins. Bringing my total savings to 7 silver and 84 iron coins!

I then place my hand on the orb to get completion credit.

“Ha?” I exclaim.

Suddenly the orb begins to glow in different colors… I hope I didn’t break anything…

“Hmm… It seems you qualify to move up a guild rank. I suggest heading to the counter to update your guild information” informed the dogkin at the materials exchange booth.

So I already got 20 points ha? I didn’t even keep track… Well I guess it won’t hurt…

Thus I head to the elf receptionist at the counter.

“Hello, how may I help you?” said the receptionist.

“Uhm… I was told at the material counter that I qualify for a rank up, and was told to come here...” I responded.

“I see… please put your hand on the orb there and I will begin processing your information, then I will update your tattoo” said the receptionist.

“Okay...” I replied and placed my hand on the orb.

The receptionist then placed their hand on a similar orb and both began to glow.

You have acquired a new skill [CP][Receptionist: Information Processor] Level N/A

Due to a special action, a new special [IPR] stat has been unlocked

[CP][Receptionist: Information Processor] Level N/A

Increase information processing of all skills by 20% + 1% for every level in your non-combat class + 0.5% for every point of [IPR]

What in the world is that…

“Congratulations, you have now become a Rank F adventurer. All information has been inputted in your guild tattoo, and your points have been reset to 0. Please remember that from now on, you will not receive any more points for Rank G requests.” announces the receptionist, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” she then added.

“Uhm… yeah.. I mean No, that would be all for today...” I respond and quickly head out of the Adventurers Guild.

As I head back to the Blacksmithing Guild, I ponder to myself if I have any skill that would make use of information processing...

Logically speaking, my [Creationist: Analyze Everything] does process information to an extent no? Maybe my [All-Observing-Eye] too? Especially when I am smithing, there is generally too much stuff my [All-Observing-Eyes] picks up. Maybe it will help with that… I guess I’ll test it the day after tomorrow.

I completed the day as usual and went to sleep.

…

When I woke up in the morning, I kind of regretted not signing up for the Church to see if I could find the priest. I was so distracted by the new [IPR] stat and skill, I totally forgot… Wish it could have helped organize my thoughts better!

So now what should I do? I could maybe attempt to see the priest normally, but remembering how crowded it tends to get in the front of the Church, that is probably not an option without some sort of appointment. I could go hunting again for [Dire Fox Pelts], but based on the feeling I get I doubt I’ll get any levels. The XP from hunting monsters far lower level then me is kind of small. And I need to get better gear so I can hunt stronger things…

Maybe today I should just relax? I’ve been struggling over a month without a day of breaks and it is taking a toll on me… It wouldn’t be good if I collapsed during the competition due to fatigue after all… Yup lets do just that!

And like that, I waddled in my bed the entire day like a lazy cat… this is the life…

…