*Clang*

*Clang*

*CLANNGG*

Stanis hammered away at the blade in front of him, eyes out of focus as he carefully controlled his mana to the minute details. Was he successful with such precision? No, but it helped him stay within the threshold that he couldn't pass; once his mana-flow went too much out of control, the imbuing process would crack before breaking. Whatever followed that would not be a pretty sight…

His hammer was energized with the Lightning bolt and yet, unlike before, Stanis was hammering away at the blade without being violently thrown back. It was definite progress and Stanis was certain he wasn't far from the completed product. Maybe this one would be his first success…

The lightning crackled and tore out of the hammer. Stanis held his hand, his eyes foggy yet burning with intensity underneath as he attempted to control the lightning. His control had slipped for just a second there and this was the result, the lightning immediately attempting to usurp his power. Luckily, the hammer hadn't been in contact with the metal when he had lost control, otherwise it would have been a whole different story…

The usual crowd was watching him, frightened by the sudden, large bolts escaping the hammer but also trusting Stanis enough to not run away. In all truth, he had told them to focus on their own work and ignore him. But how could they ignore him when this was their neighbouring scene?

All 5 of them had progressed massively since Stanis had gifted them with a few of his circuits, especially since the circuits he had given them were the ones that specifically targeted the areas needed to improve at blacksmithing. They were now able to create mana-strengthened armour and weapons.

This had also been the reason why Alyona had used some of the stored Storage stones to upgrade the Smithy. The thing about the Storage stones were that they rarely gave rewards now. However, they weren't completely useless as the villagers could use them to upgrade their village. Still, not everyone gave in their Storage stones but the few who did were more than enough for the village to fill up their coffers over time.

After Alyona had seen the new armours and weapons, she had immediately gone to upgrade the Smithy for them. Well, for them and for herself. She had simply wanted more blacksmiths in there, creating this higher-standard equipment at a faster pace. It was hard to not feel pity for her when she realised the root cause behind all of their progress had been Stanis. It was worse when she realised their progress had been due to a gift of his, meaning such a standard of equipment was most likely impossible without that very gift.

Nevertheless, it was too sweet a honey for her to resist and she had eventually visited Stanis. She had acted very amiable and very selfless, only after several minutes putting forward her offer. He had rejected her. Well, it had been a straight rejection but not a full loss for her. He had said the other blacksmiths, who he had gifted, could impart their own skills to anyone they wished to do so for. Of course, this was a lower quality outcome than she had wanted but beggars couldn't be choosers, eh?

And yet days later, she had been forced to give up even more of her already little-ground. Stanis had ordered the blacksmiths to not impart any of their skills to anyone else until he left the village…

This was the reason why it was only the usual crowd watching him today, as Stanis preferred to keep the Smithy quieter and less hectic before he left.

All the rebellious bolts of lightning were back in the hammer and Stanis restarted his hammering. He was close; he knew it.

*CLANGG*

*CLANNGG*

*CLAAANGGGG*

A soundwave blasted through the Smithy with his final smash, the whole area silencing. Stanis forced energy back into his numbed body and moved, throwing the sword back into the forge. He wasn't even done with the Forging process yet since he had only hammered one section of the blade.

He shook his hands a bit before taking out the next heated section and repeating.

In total, the whole Forging process took 30 minutes, Stanis's hand fully numbed of feeling by the end. He was then onto the Annealing. Followed by the Grinding. Then the Hardening, before finally Tempering the whole blade.

What came out, after over 3 hours of constant work, was a slim blade the length of an arm. It was quite simple with no engravings or markings, instead a plain design. However, at the same time, it was not simple in the least. The sword screamed danger; there were no lightning bolts jumping in and out of the blade like dolphins but its appearance itself unsettled anyone who looked at it. It was the aura it gave off, an aura incredibly sharp and explosive, similar to Orena's aura but weaker.

Stanis created a custom handle over the next hour, one just as simple as the blade and attached the two sections together.

He then went out of the Smithy and ran towards the Forest, the other blacksmiths hot on his heels. He arrived and slashed the first tree he found. It was disappointing to say the least; his blade was like any other blade, perhaps a little sharper.

Stanis felt half his excitement die then and there. And then the thought struck him, one which told him how foolish he was. He flowed mana into the blade, the blade's aura increasing in intensity. Two seconds later, he knew any more mana inwards and it would break and thus stopped. He checked his notifications.

You have imbued your mana into an item. The item has absorbed 40 points of mana. This has been taken off your maximum capacity.

If the sword's aura had been sharp before, it was razor sharp now, far sharper than Orena's aura. In fact, it was to the point where if you looked very closely you would notice small bolts jumping in and out like dolphins.

Stanis slashed at the tree once more, the tree violently struggling and shaking. This might seem unimpressive but one had to remember that the tree he was slashing had a trunk half a metre wide. And it was this very tree, this very thick tree, that seemed to be holding onto its life and branches as Stanis slashed and cut.

It was after almost a minute of continuous slashing that the tree finally snapped, the trunk sliding off the base with an awful creaking sound before smashing into the ground, a massive shockwave travelling through the soil.

Stanis turned around, madly grinning all the while. The other blacksmiths looked at him with similar gazes, their eyes grinning with their mouths. This was what he had made and this was what they could make.

It was wonderful!

****

It was only after an hour had passed that the smile finally left Stanis's lips. He checked his stats:

Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 255 (Mana capacity is actually 295 but 40 points are currently in use) (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Level 51 (Progress to the next level is 4%)

Class: Origin

Strength: 101 [57 -> 61]

Dexterity: 104 [57 -> 59]

Constitution: 101 [58 -> 62]

Intelligence: 99 [44 -> 45]

Wisdom: 92+5[42 ->43]

Tenacity: 96[59 -> 62]

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

Close to a week had passed since the Jaguars had left the forest and he had made okay progress in his stats. A few of his stats had gone over 100 and so he had been given the chance to upgrade one of abilities. However, Stanis waited for Intelligence to pass 100 so that he could further upgrade Ice shot or maybe even upgrade Lightning Seed.

He had been focusing his time and attention into blacksmithing all this time, only for all his efforts to finally pay off today. And it had been well worth it!

Considering the hefty mana-capacity price his equipment had, Stanis guessed it was best to only have 2 or 3 equipment like it. The mana cost was most likely due to the strength and size of the item. Considering he wanted to have defensive articles, it meant the mana costs would be higher than for the sword he had just made.

That would take around a week at max, and in the following week he planned to spend the whole time grinding out the Rashkars. From what he had heard from the Jaguars delivering his supplies, it seemed the Rashkars had gotten exponentially stronger as the Jaguars had moved further into their territory. The truth was that Stanis's level, if based on his strength, would be at least 20 levels higher at the lower end. This meant that a little grinding could go a long way, especially when what he wanted to do afterwards was pass the bridge to tier-four.

Stanis rested his body a bit before returning back to the Smithy. He had decided the best way to reward and keep up his subordinates' strengths was to give them a little gift. And so Stanis began working on a spear for Orena, a longsword for Caleb and a rod with metal ends for Sil.

Unbeknownst to Stanis, Serb had just left with Niss at this time. The two of them were going to a secluded area in order to become tier-fours, something their instincts screamed would not be easy or safe in the least…