Iron helmet, check.

Iron dagger, check.

Iron ingot, check.

Iron ingot hammered into a plate, check.

Iron plate cut and sharpened into a cleaver, check.

More of Joseph’s spare iron turned into a kitchen knife, fire poker, a hook, and a spatula, check.

Only a single item from the list remained, and it was an item that wasn’t actually for one of the other villagers like everything else on the list that Joseph gave her was.

Tongs.

One of the most important tools that a blacksmith could have. Hammers were important, yes, but not as important as a good pair of tongs.

So, Joseph thought that it would only be fitting for the final Blacksmith path requirement to be tongs.

Tabitha wasn’t thinking about any of that, though. All she wanted to do was make more stuff! It didn’t matter what it was. She didn’t even realize that she was only a single item away from unlocking the Blacksmith path. She got so absorbed into the process of crafting, not to mention that she was starting to fall asleep while doing it, that she was just in the zone and making things without even really thinking about it.

Was it a good idea to be blacksmithing while falling asleep?

Absolutely not.

Did Tabitha care?

No.

Joseph had no interest in stopping her, either. He knew he should, but he wanted her to prove her determination to him. She was already so close to finishing her tenth item, too.

Each shank of the tong was already complete with a hole near the end for them to get connected, and they were connected by sticking a heated nail through one shank, setting it down on the anvil, and then sliding the other shank down over the nail. Once both shanks were in place with the nail connecting them, she hammered the nail down to shorten and widen it to fill up the rest of the space in the holes she made for the shanks.

After that, following Joseph’s instructions, she took a sheet of iron and held it between the end of the tongs to test them out. The gripping ends of the shanks needed to be leveled out a bit more, so she heated them up and hammered them into shape while still holding the sheet.

That was the final step needed for her tongs to officially count as finished.

The sun was down, she felt exhausted, her stomach was growling, and she wanted nothing more than to sleep… but that didn’t stop Tabitha from triumphantly holding her tongs up over her head while wearing a proud smile on her face.

“I know you’re full of confidence, but I didn’t think you had it in you,” Joseph said, clapping his hands for her. “Good work.”

“Thanks… old man,” Tabitha said before setting the prongs down and wiping more sweat off her forehead. “To be honest… that potion wore off a couple of items ago, but I couldn’t give up. Kinda can’t feel my arms now.”

A heavy sigh left Joseph’s lips. “Listen, I didn’t stop you this time, but you have to be careful. You’re going to ruin your body if you overwork yourself like this.”

“Heh. No… no promises. But I’m sure my body’ll get a chance to relax when traveling. Unless I get a wagon and set up a workin’ forge in the back of it…”

While Joseph sighed and grumbled, Tabitha noticed the multiple windows floating in front of her waiting for her to check them out.

Item Information

Name

Iron Blacksmithing Tongs

Iron tongs made for blacksmithing.

Rarity

D

Quality

49

Element

Earth

Bonus Tag

[Durable]

There was nothing out of the ordinary with that one. What really interested her was the other window. She saw it pop up earlier after making the cleaver, but it was just an achievement message that she didn’t pay enough attention to for the window to close. Now, though, it had another achievement to go with it.

System Menu

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Rookie Toolsmith

Awarded for forging your first tool.

Reward: 5 Dexterity

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Beginner Blacksmith

Awarded for forging ten unique items.

Reward: 5 Strength

But more important than both of those windows was the final one waiting for her to read it.

System Menu

A new Path is now available to you!

Blacksmith

The Blacksmith is a Path that focuses on crafting techniques focused on the forging of weapons, armor, and tools while primarily using metal as the main material.

Specialization Paths available upon reaching a high enough level with Blacksmith and satisfying additional prerequisites.

Starting Skill: Sense Metal I

Level Bonuses: +3 Dexterity, +2 Strength

Primary Path Bonus: +3% Dexterity, +2% Strength

Would you like to acquire this Path?

Total Paths Available: 1/2

“Hey, old man,” Tabitha said. She somehow managed to sound like she was full of energetic excitement again which caused him to tilt his head in confusion. “Two questions for ya real quick. What’s a primary path bonus, and what’s up with total paths available? I can’t just get as many paths as I want?”

“Right,” Joseph said, “didn’t even think of mentioning the total paths before. You unlock one path for every ten achievements you get. So, if you really plan on getting all the crafting paths out there, you’re going to have to get as many achievements as you can. As for that primary bonus, you know how on your status card it said you were an Apprentice?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s what your primary path is set to. The starting paths like that don’t get bonuses, but everything after them do. You only get the bonus for whatever you have your primary set to.”

“Huh. Alright. So I’ll get the bonus percentage increase if I have it set to Blacksmith, but then lose it whenever I switch to something else, until I switch back to it?”

“Right.”

“Got it, got it. Anyways, that bit about needin’ achievements for more paths is a bit worryin’, but it just means I’ve got to do my best to get as many achievements as possible!”

“You’ll get one as soon as you unlock the Blacksmith path, too.”

“Then that’ll take me up to eighteen achievements, so I’ll only be two away from getting’ another path. Yeah, that ain’t too bad. Alright then! Oi, Menu! Give me that Blacksmith path!”

System Menu

Blacksmith Path acquired.

Remaining Paths Available: 0/2

Would you like to set Blacksmith as your Primary Path?

“You know it!”

System Menu

Blacksmith has been set as your Primary Path.

Active Primary Path Bonus: +3% Dexterity, +2% Strength

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Path: Blacksmith

Awarded for acquiring the Blacksmith Path.

Reward: 1 Lump of Random Rare Ore

Tabitha raised her eyebrows when she read the line about being awarded a random rare ore just in time for it to appear in front of her, falling to the ground. She had to be quick to reach her arms out to grab it, forgetting to consider that her arms already felt dead and it would probably only do even more harm to them trying to catch what looked like a sizable lump of unrefined metal.

Only, it was impossible for her to reach forward quickly enough to grab it. The lump of white ore fell with an extreme amount of speed that broke right through the wooden floorboard below.

Tabitha looked up at Joseph, ready to apologize, but she stopped when she saw just how amazed he looked. He looked more impressed than anything else as he crouched down to check out the ore. She did the same, crouching down and placing a hand on it to use Analyze.

Item Information

Name

Gravitite Ore

Ore of raw gravitite.

Rarity

SS

Quality

137

Element

Gravity

Bonus Tags

[Dense Gravity II]

[Rare]

“Oi, old man,” Tabitha said. “Ya ever hear of…”

She would have finished her sentence if it wasn’t for the shocked look on Joseph’s face.

“Old man?”

Joseph had to force a gulp down before he could say, “And here I thought what I got for my achievement reward all those years ago was good. This is… this is on a whole other level. You don’t have any idea how valuable this is, do you?”

“Nope. Well, I figured it was since it’s got an SS rarity and that super high quality, but that’s it.”

“You’d be screaming loud enough for the neighboring nations to hear if you had any idea how valuable that is.”

“Maybe I’m just too tired to really appreciate it right now. Ah well. Oi, Menu. Tell me about that Dense Gravity II tag.”

System Menu

Dense Gravity II

This item is incredibly dense to the point where it has moderately enhanced weight and produces a gravity field around it that slightly draws nearby items toward it.

“Well then,” Tabitha said as the rest of her energy came back to her. “Don’t that just sound like the perfect material to make a hammer out of?”