I entered the building, and see a man sitting behind the counter. As soon as he sees me, he says:

“Get out.”

“But..”

“I said get out, you simple-minded fool. Can’t you read the sign?”

“I didn’t see any sign.”

“That’s your fault. You weren’t paying attention.”

Lifting my hands in front of me, I say:

“I know to read, there was no visible sign in front of this building.”

He lowers his book and gets up huffing as if I was forcing him to prove the sky was blue. He goes outside and starts cursing up a storm.

“Damn it, I have to do this thankless job and I can’t even get a notice they are going to change things. I still have a century to go. What the hell am I gonna do?” As he looks at me he shuts up. After a moment he turns to me. “Either way you have to leave. Only come into this shop if you have the money to buy a book.”

“How do you know I don’t have the money? I could be rich.”

“You do not have the money.”

At that moment I see a flicker in his eye, and I leap on it.

“The system is very cruel, or rather the Council.”

At those words, he notices what I’m trying to do and tries to play it off, but I caught his expression. Composing himself he schools his face and looks at me.

“Now leave, and don’t come back before you have at least a silver coin. Also do not attempt to get to the contents of these books in any way besides buying them. The consequences are severe for rule-breakers like that.”

I take notice of what he didn’t add, his slip, and how he phrases the idea of trying to sneak a peek at the books. It would be a very bad idea and he seems to genuinely not want for us to suffer the unnamed consequences.

Walking away I see a sign in front of the shop. That was not there before. A blackboard written in plain chalk.

Bookshop

Do not enter unless you have money to buy a book or face severe punishment.

Cost of the cheapest book: 1 silver.

I don’t think this is not the standard variant of the sign, but something he came up with on the spot. Chuckling I leave the whole affair behind.

The crowd is already dispersing. Only a few are still near the stairs. About 15 people seemed to be left to figure out stuff and organize everybody. I head in the same direction that most people went. The gates are probably in the general direction.

AS I leave the central square I pass for rows upon rows of smaller rooms. They look to be… are they supposed to be our rooms? They are all empty, so I figure they are there for us.

I get to the edge of the town. Marking the entry to the village a simple open gate and a single guard standing there. Beyond the gate is a typical forest.

I cross the gate and follow the bravest few towards the unknown. Another minute in I settled with a group of 6 people. All of them have improvised weapons made from branches in their hands.

No one speaks until a rabbit crosses our path. The biggest of the group uses his branch as a club and tries to hit the rabbit. He misses but the next two people get glancing blows. The de-facto leader comes down again and gives a good whack on the disoriented animal killing it on the spot.

Blood is splattered everywhere and my stomach revolts. I know that if the rabbit was all that we had to eat, I would do the same. But seeing their cheering and hooting, I know that if they had their way this single group would have enough meat for the whole village. I also came to realize, this is not my path.

I would kill to protect myself, but I wouldn’t become the monster the system seemed intent on creating. As I make my way back to the city I look over my prompt and see the message:

You have participated in a battle, your contributions have awarded you:

0 XP

I’m strangely glad I did not win any experience from this encounter. Upon further reflection, I should not judge the whole situation on this single encounter. This rabbit might not have been a threat but that doesn’t mean there might not be entire races who are.

A sense of the path I will be taking starts to form in my mind. I will be working back in the city until I understand our situation.

So I explore the city, talk to several owner shops, and try to get a handle on the economy. I even discover a couple of job opportunities. Plenty of others start to do the same.

Chuckling to myself. Typical of a game the monetary system is based upon metals. It is very simple and fairly similar to Earth’s system.

100 copper coins are worth a silver coin.

100 silver coins are worth a gold coin.

100 gold coins are worth a Mithril coin.

All coins are then stamped with a number by value. So a penny is stamped with a 1 and is the basic unit. A larger coin worth 10 times more will be stamped with a 10 and be worth 10 times more. Just like back on earth, except there aren’t only two tiers, metal, and paper. Now there are 4 tiers.

The starting wage for workers is around 10 coppers a day. If you only buy the cheapest food costs around 3 coppers a day. The housing is free and there are no taxes. At least they didn’t make it so we had to work hard simply to feed ourselves. This way we still have energy left to pursue other endeavors.

Near the end of my walk around, I get to the blacksmith. Seeing a big man, powerfully built, that seems to be in his 40s looks at me. How cliché… At least it isn’t a dwarf.

“Hey, mister.”

“Hello youngster, are you back from your hunt already. Perhaps you want better weapons and have come to barter? If so…”

I shake my head in denial.

“No, I’m not looking for weapons right now. I’m just going around town talking to people and making sense of this whole situation. Do you have any bits of wisdom to share?”

“I’m not a philosopher. Newcomers like you seem lost in the first day or two. I find that the people that succeed are the most driven. People how don’t give up when the getting gets tough…. or boring.” He finishes with a laugh.

The way he speaks imitates a few people around town in a particular point. They are always circumspect in the way they present their advice. They are not only circumspect but also vague enough that a machine might not be able to parse their meaning but a human definitely can.

It’s something subtle if you are not paying attention you might think it is simply a cultural difference. There must be a reason. It could just be a quirk, but like the bookkeeper’s advice, it might be something more.

“Those are words of wisdom, you are sure you are not a philosopher?”

“Yes, I’m quite sure. Unless you are talking about the philosophy of metals.” He says with a big smile plastered on his face. “In that case, I’m the greatest philosopher for a hundred miles.”

“I see that.” I finish while looking around his shop. Over a hundred weapons and metal implements are hanging from the walls “Perhaps you would have an interest in acquiring an apprentice?”

“You get ahead of yourself, we don’t have a hundred years for me to properly teach you. But if you want to work for me for a time, you are welcome. Do you have any experience?”

“I have forged an Item or two.”

“Properly forged. Or just poured metal in a mold?”

“Properly forged I would guess.”

“Strength and endurance stats?”

“I have 15 and 21.”

“Very good, dexterity?”

“11.”

“Good enough.” After a momentary pause, he continues in a slightly questioning tone. “You have very high stats for your first day.”

“I got lucky.” Without Pando, I would be nothing special.

“I’m gonna need a few hands to help me anyway. In a few days, there will a big influx of money in the market and people looking to buy starter gear. A couple of weeks to start. You get 10 coppers per day of work. Your salary after that is to be decided by your work. If you are lousy, I could lower it.”

“Where do I begin?”

“Initiative, I like it. You can call me Mr. Blackwood.” At my startled look he pauses and after a moment continues. “My parents had a big sense of humor.” He wears a disarming smile. “And you would be?”

“I’m Nash,” With a smile plastered on my face as well. With all the pompousness I can muster, I continue. “Guardian of the magical forest of Pando. Heart of the World Tree, Yggdrasil.”

I attempt a jesting tone. Though deep down I know there is a kernel of truth in my words.

“Don’t kid about stuff like that, that are people that would that it way too seriously. Now, go bring me wood from the back. I‘m going to finish organizing things up in here.”

“Okey-dokey.”

At the back of the shop, I see a big pile of wood and another smaller one of coal.

This whole situation is surreal. Me becoming a blacksmithy? What would Pando think? Still, from the options around it looks to make the most sense, at least in these starting weeks as we all try to get a handle on things, I got a good feeling talking with Blackwood, This is where the action for me will be. After I can concentrate on stuff that is more up my alley.

Looking at the woodpile, I touch one of the split logs and try to sense if there is any mana, Aether, or even something new in them. All I sense a litle mana.

After a tug or two, I realize I can’t pull the mana out. I still have much to learn. Filling it away in my mind and getting a big pile, I carry it back, drop all of it besides the forge, and neatly stack it. After 5 trips caring some 400 pounds of wood, I hear the Blackwood call out.

“That is enough, we can get more later. Too much wood will just clutter the smithy.”

“Ok, you are the boss.”

He looks at me and seeing my expression, starts explaining:

“This is magically enhanced wood. An enchanter infuses the wood so it will burn hotter, but it also burns faster. That is enough for only 2 hours even in a forge this small.

“That is a lot of wood for such a short amount of time. I was wondering how wood could be used to make steel?”

“Now, you know. Come on, let me show you how to stack the logs so we can get the forge nice and hot.”

He starts to pile the logs inside the forge and explains a couple of the configurations we could use.

“Seems as we are going to be working all day we will be stacking the logs this way. It is more compact, and easier to work for the whole day only adding a log or two once in a while. I might have done it differently if we only needed the forge for an hour or two. For basic items like I will be making, wood is enough. But with better metals or alloys even the best wood might not be enough. In that case and we use coal.”

“Is wood cheaper?”

He finishes stacking the wood and he flicks his wrist. He does that as casually as someone might turn the stove and press the button to light it up. Is that the casual ease I can expect to achieve in using magic? I stop my musings and pay attention to his answer.

“Yes, by a good margin. The wood only needs a point of mana per log if they are this size. Coal however needs someone with a much higher skill level. There is only one person in this instance that skilled. It also needs much more mana. My best guess is 10 to 15 points of mana per log.

“Why is that?”

“Because you can’t add mana to something like coal easily. At least not you if you want it to burn hotter and with no disturbances from the mana. You need to add mana to the wood while it is receptive. After that, you make sure that the wood doesn’t destroy itself as you turn it into coal. I used to infuse …”

He interrupts himself and tries to play it off: “Never mind. You must know that turning wood into charcoal is a finicky process and with a small mistake you can end up with a big pile of ashes.”

“Yes, but then you get charcoal, not coal.”

“You use the same process with a simple enchantment on the vessel and the heat burns away enough of the miscellaneous compounds that you get charcoal with carbon content equivalent to coal. Most people can get 90% without problems, they just need patience and experience. I used to cook big batches every month in my old village.”

“Did you have to pay a lot for an enchanter to infuse the wood?” At my choice of words he ever so slightly lowers his guard and answers.

“No, I…” quickly realizing his blunder – “Yes, sorry I misspoke. Yes, I had to pay through my nose for the damned enchanter.” he stops and ad twists his lip for a moment before continuing.

“So much money I got myself into trouble. Yes, I got into big trouble. So much trouble the big bad system intervened. Now I’m forced to toil away, and every day everything begins anew. Younglings, innocent to the realities of the world are welcomed into my village. Curious younglings that should learn to fear, for they do not even know the depth of their ignorance.”

Composing himself he continues on a lighter tone: “That is all that should be said. I may have gotten a quest to test if you were suitable to become my apprentice, but that only gives so much leeway.”

“Our overlords are truly wise and benevolent,” I say giving him a meaningful glance.

“Yes, truly fearless younglings. They don’t even recognize the danger they bring to themselves and the people around them. They really should be more circumspect in their dealings.”

From that short interaction, I can infer much. It seems they don’t mind sharing tidbits of information, the problem is that they know very well the Council does not want well informed and powerful natives.

I still don’t understand the exact reasons they don’t just crush all newcomers and take everything, but I can probably make a good guess.

The system is limiting them in some way.

Yeah, that is what makes the most sense.

I find something else in my thought process. These people, likely at a much higher level and with much better skills, are forced to come here. Maybe the system informs the council whenever they provide information that is too disruptive.

That means they will probably receive some type of punishment depending on what and how much information they disseminated. Damn, this is giving me a headache. Too many rules and possibilities behind this whole thing, the council is an expert when it comes to mucking things up.

I put all out of my mind and concentrate on helping Blackwood. As I observe the process, with only a couple of exceptions, it is the same as you would find in a relatively modern shop trying to imitate a medieval workshop. The only thing that is striking in this whole setup is that instead of electricity everything powered is run by mana.

The forge itself is clay and stonework with an air blower that needs a dozen of points of mana every hour. The power hammer follows the same lines. Wood and steel construction. The hammer uses a dozen points of mana an hour if you use it intermittently. Though the smith doesn’t use it very often, only on a couple of spots to speed up the progress.

Blackwood takes ingots of steel, then cuts and welds them into shape. That however is only the very first step. Metal slowly takes shape in his experienced hands. His stats must be at least in the 40s with high-level skills accompanying it. He makes the first sword in an hour.

As the day goes by he hires another two people and the work seems to go faster. And not only because of the help he receives, but the very metal seems to wield more easily in his hand. I suspect this is another feature of the system. If there was no one in here helping him, I‘m certain our city would not have enough gear for everyone.

The weapons and armor that are displayed on the walls seem to be a cut above the rest and it seems my level is too low to properly identify them. I assume it’s probably mid to end-game gear. But I manage to inspect the few weapons we make.

Basic sword – A basic steel sword that is sharp. Increase attack power by 2.

Basic Arrow-tip – A basic steel arrow-tip that is sharp. Increase attack power by 2.

The information was nearly useless. Even that is not the whole story. You got much more information by looking at the weapons compared to the stats.

Any chance at properly appraising an item would entail comparing them by their sharpness, weight, balance, and type. You need to see if they are even suited to your combat style.

During the day I have the misfortune of witnessing people showing up with a few coppers in hand and leaving dejected.

The basic sword cost 50 copper coins. The arrow tips 7 per unit and 60 per dozen. You also get a pair of cut feathers with each arrow tip. All of that is too expensive for most people.

With the day almost ending, the richest of the lot came back with 21 copper coins but like all the others, he did not succeed. Even the cheapest reasonable option, the spear tip without its counterweight of the wooden pole would cost him 25 copper coins. More people should pool their money together.

During the day I try a few experiments like infusing my body with mana but it achieves nothing. The mana just sits there without doing anything. I mostly settle on using a flame inside the forge whenever I have a few seconds to concentrate. I wonder why I can’t infuse my body with mana. Or rather why it doesn’t do anything.

As the day ends and Blackwood starts to close the shop, I ask if I can use a shard of metal to forge something.

“How big is it?”

“Smaller than an arrowhead.”

“Fine. Here, your 10 coppers for today’s work.” He says showing me the coin and placing it on the table. “You worked almost the entire day and did a decent job. I’m going home, just close the door on your way out, and don’t use any more wood. The forge still has a little wood, if you can’t do forge with that, too bad.”

I thank him, hurry over and soon I’m hammering away. I make a small flat petal shape, then I bend it with pliers. After the initial shape is in place, the fine metalworking begins. I head to the table dedicated to it.

I look at the wall with plenty of saws and other instruments for the more delicate work until I get the wire saw with the thinnest strand. A slightly bluish hair-thin cutting wire with a beautiful handle. Almost a work of art, a sharp contrast to nearly everything else in the shop.

This saw leaves a thin and very sharp cut. After a few minutes back and forth, I go to the next station. The grindstones and finish the shaping and polishing. Lastly, Igo back to the saw and meticulously cut the middle groove.

I take a discarded scrap piece of wood, cut sand it down, and fit the little metal implement at the end. After over an hour of utter concentration, I finish and I’m proud of my work.

A simple but functional pen. Now, this is craftsmanship. It even looks like something you might buy from someone handcrafting it. Smiling widely I close the shop and leave.