Stanis woke up, his upper body instinctively straightening in a second and his arms at the ready. It was as if he had been hit by a hammer as he saw the walled room he was in, his mind blank.

He sat there blinking for a few seconds, his mind racing to catch up to reality.

Eventually, the memories flowed like a stream and his mind understood. It was at this time that he realised his body was covered in a small layer of sweat. He yawned and stretched his arms, trying to act casual but the idea wouldn't leave his head.

His subconscious was scared of comfort…

He had woken up perfectly well every day when rough sleeping, his body ready to fight. But he had been absolutely beaten by the four walls he found himself within and the soft bed he found himself on. Comfort was nothing but a veil that hid danger, after all, there was always someone gunning to kill him, right? Right?

His mind seemed to be questioning the void as he got no response.

"Argghhh" he roughly scratched his head. There was no point in thinking about this, only time would tell what his body and mind actually feared.

He then got out of the soft bed and stood up, stilling once more as another thought struck him.

Blacksmithing, there was something peculiar about it, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. What was it? He felt it was something unique to him but his subconscious gave up no grounds, forcing him to aimlessly think with what little information he had.

"ARRRRRGHH". He roared this time, frustrated at his mind. He told himself to shut up and just forced himself into action, walking out of the room and into a residential area. Not to say that it was lovely or anything, rather it looked like a dump just like the rest of the world after the apocalypse, but Stanis wasn't one to complain about how decorated his surroundings were.

He went to the market and followed his nose to a stall selling some type of meat dish. It was without surprise that the stall-owner instantly handed him a plate, the stall-owner only regaining colour in his face once Stanis had accepted the plate.

It was fear; they still feared him.

Usually such a thought wouldn't affect him but he seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, or better still, the wrong bed, as his mind seemed to be more volatile than usual.

After devouring down his meal, he once again told his mind to forget it before walking towards the Smithy. His hands were itching for action, although he wasn't sure whether it was because they were excited or instead whether it was just because he just wanted to be thoughtless for a while.

Ruun was at the entrance like yesterday, the large man wearing a grim countenance. This frown turned upside down when he saw Stanis, although a few parts of it were still jagged. Clearly, someone had told him who Stanis was since the grim man wouldn't have changed his attitude just after seeing his blacksmithing.

Stanis's subconscious was about to take another hit from this when his active mind told it to shut up; was it his fault that he was so strong? No, it wasn't. He, however, knew that the thought had been merely silenced and not killed, but lost all energy to care nevertheless.

"Hello ser" announced Ruun.

"It's Stanis, Ruun" grumbled Stanis while walking in, surprised to see that the Forgery was already filled. Well, not really because there were only five people in there, but that was filled for the Forgery because it was only these five people who ever came, other than Kevin of course.

"Hey Stanis," beamed Rikkey," Back for more, eh?"

Stanis chuckled at this, at least there were people who still treated him the same, at least for the most part as he could see the fear and worry in her eyes.

"Sure. I'll be trying to find my own feet this time so I won't need that much help" said Stanis, cracking his neck sideways while saying so, before moving onto stretching his limbs.

"Calu, you help him with the process, ‘right?"

"Mmm" replied Calu.

Stanis nodded at the medium-statured African who weakly nodded back before grabbing himself a good bit of the Rikkey's best metal. He ran over to the forge and was about to put in the fuel when Stanis offered otherwise,

"Let me do it. Need to get some practise anyway." To which Calu weakly nodded once again.

There was no point in being annoyed at others treating him like a dangerous person who was far-away from their hearts when he acted like that in the first place. The reason why they were so scared was because of what he had shown them so far, if he wanted that to change, he would have to change his actions first, right?

He picked up a bucket of coals and poured a quarter of that into the forge, the forge firing up in life, literally. He then took the piece of metal from Calu's hands and put it in the forge, throwing some wooden blocks over the top.

What followed was Stanis going through the whole sword-making process with Calu helping him by the side.

This was how most of the day passed as Stanis spent hours in the Smithy, his clothes sweaty and dirty by the end of it. However, he had also made great progress due to that.

He had learnt that softer strikes were better to get the desired shape when Forging the metal. How it was better to slowly cool the metal instead of rapidly doing so during Annealing. How Grinding wasn't so much about the number of sparks as it was about your precision and control. And how Hardening and Tempering wasn't just about freezing the blade in little time, but instead about how controlled you were when you went about it.

Due to having learnt all of this, the last sword he made in the day was easily able to slice through yesterday's one with little resistance. He had also been circulating mana the entire time and had made some gains in his stats as well.

Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 257(regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Level 47 (Progress to the next level is 10%)

Class: Origin

Strength: 89 [51 -> 53]

Dexterity: 89 [50 -> 55]

Constitution: 91 [52 ->55]

Intelligence: 85 [38 ->40]

Wisdom: 82+5[37 -> 40]

Tenacity: 84[51 -> 54]

Skills: Layman's Rush, Scout and Sense, Light Healing, Destructive Mana Recharge, Ice shot, Blueshot spitfire, Lightning seed

During the time, he had also learnt that Calu wasn't as scared of him as he had thought, instead just innately a quiet guy. Calu was a very easy person to work around as he was always quiet, only speaking when absolutely necessary. In thanks for his help, Stanis had also helped Calu learn how to circulate mana when in the blacksmithing process.

Now finished, Stanis took off his protective clothing and decided that was enough for today, the sun already setting. He had noted that Sil had come into the Forgery near midday, waiting a while before leaving once she had realised how focused Stanis was in his work.

The first thing he did after getting out of the Forgery was go towards the market, grabbing a fresh pair of clothes and a bunch of bottles before leaving. It was by chance that as he was walking out of the village that he saw Sil walking in, stopping dead in her tracks as she saw him. He dropped his items and gave her a warm hug, sneaking in a kiss and retreating his head before she took the offensive.

"Where are you staying?" he asked.

"I'll show you" she responded while winking, walking ahead of him while shaking her hips provocatively.

Stanis burst into laughter half-way through, causing a chain reaction in her as she too stopped and giggled, holding her stomach as the giggles grew into hearty laughter.

It was about fifteen minutes and plenty of kisses later that they finally reached her home, a large building all for herself. It had clearly been well-furnished in the day as the decorations were still there, just duller and deader than they once were in their prime.

Stanis dropped his items while Sil closed the door, instantaneously moving towards him with elegance as she hugged his back, causing him to turn around. She, however, was always a step ahead as she had already taken his lips by storm, falling under her vicious offensive.

Clothes were quickly stripped off and responsibility and power were thrown out just as quickly, the two more than enjoying the other's company.

One thing Stanis had discovered after first kissing Sil days ago was how she loved to be on top in the relationship. This was, of course, hard for her to do with Stanis but that clearly hadn't stopped her trying. Not that Stanis minded though, it was a cute distraction from the rest of the stuff he had to worry about.

The two of them had already downed quite a few bottles and so Stanis left her house with less than half his original bottles. He made a quick break towards the market to pick a few more, the vendor smiling greasily as he realised his biggest customer was also the one who took everything for free.

Stanis then walked towards the Eastern Forest, his mind relaxing in the moonlight.

It was along the way that Stanis began musing about his darkness manipulation, after all, it was something he had meant to get back to. Just as he was entering the forest, he saw the shadow of a particularly large tree and simultaneously dropped all the bottles, his mind lighting up in an eureka moment.

This was what his subconscious had been hinting at the entire morning, his hands itching fully with excitement as his mind tumbled down the path.

What if he could merge his abilities with blacksmithing? …