Ruby thinks "Okay I'm going back to sleep, wake me up if you need me."

"Okay I will, sleep well."

I then pick up the tongs and use them to put an ingot in the forge and watch as it heats up. Then I grab the smithing hammer and put the ingot on the anvil and start trying to hammer it into a shape.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Blacksmithing has progressed to level 3!

Blacksmithing

Level 3

Str +3 Fire Resist +3

You can turn metal ore into crude items.

My first attempt fails miserably, but I am able to melt it back down into an ingot and try again. My second attempt also fails but I learn I am not using enough steel so I start over with two ingots. I get closer the next time but still fail.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Blacksmithing has progressed to level 4!

Blacksmithing

Level 4

Str +4 Fire Resist +4

You can turn metal ore into crude items.

Okay, I'm at least getting the hang of hammering it into the shape I want, but I should probably take a break for a bit. I head back to camp to eat and then return and sit on the stone bench and start reading.

It only takes me a couple of hours to finish the Diary of an Archmage. Before I start Magic Theory I decide to do some inner world meditation.

Ruby thinks "You know that book isn't his real diary right?"

"AHHH! Don't scare me like that!"

Ruby thinks "He heh. It's not my fault you screamed like a girl."

"I did not! And what do you mean, not his diary?"

Ruby thinks "That book was edited and published by the empire, his real diary was always on him."

"Hmm, I would love to read his real diary then!"

*DING*

New Quest is Available!

Locate the Archmage

Objective: Find the Archmage's Remains 0/1

Reward: 5 STAT Points.

Do you wish to accept the quest? Y/N

"Yes. Wow, just talking about it created a quest to find his remains."

Ruby thinks "A quest? What do you mean?"

So I tell her about the quests I have done so far and the rewards.

Ruby thinks "That is so weird! I've never heard of anything like that!"

"I have no idea how it works, I just know it does and so far it has been worth it to do them."

Ruby thinks "Well, if you can find his remains it will definitely be worth the effort. He never went anywhere without his personal dimensional bag."

"Please, tell me that's what I think it is. A bag that holds way more than it should be able to?"

Ruby thinks "Yes, that's it exactly!"

"Woohoo! A bag of holding!! That settles it, I'm not leaving here without finding his remains!"

Ruby thinks "Aww, you are so cute, master! Anyway I'm going back to sleep now."

I blush and sit down to meditate but it takes me a lot longer than usual to clear my mind. Once I finally do and sink down into the inner world I find a strange light that hasn't been here before, when I look at it I find the puff of light that is Ruby.

"What are you doing here???"

Ruby says "I don't know! I don't even know where this is! I was sleeping then suddenly I am here!"

"This is my inner world meditation where I can work on improving my core."

Ruby says "Oh! Maybe it's because my amulet is connected to your core?"

"It is? I didn't know that!"

I take a closer look at my chest and sure enough I can see the amulet and tiny threads connecting it to my core. Since they are much smaller than my mana channels I figure these can be called mana veins, and unlike my channels which bring mana into my core these were allowing mana to pass from my core to the amulet.

"So, my core feeds mana to the amulet and it converts it to spirit power for you to recover?"

Ruby says "Yes, as far as I know that is how it is working."

'Hmm I wonder if I can create more mana veins to spread mana throughout my body?'

But if I do that I will need more mana coming in, so I should widen my channels first. I start from my core and slowly start to widen my mana channels, I am doing it slowly for fear of ripping them.

I often stop to thicken a wall of a channel if it looks thinner after the widening. I can only do a little bit at a time as I keep having to stop and meditate normally to recover my mana.

Anytime I am working on my inner world the little red puff of light is always right there with me staying close and keeping me company even if she doesn't say anything. The only time I take a break is to go catch, cook and eat food, and I spend over a week doing this before all my mana channels are widened.

*DING*

Congratulations! You have gained the ability Mana Regen!!

Mana Regen

Level: 1

You constantly regenerate mana. MP +5/Hour

'Yes! Now I can recover mana no matter what I am doing!'

So I start creating mana veins a little at a time, then once my mana is spent I will practice blacksmithing for hours while my mana recovers slowly. During the second day of this I have my first success with blacksmithing.

*ITEM CREATED*

Crude Steel Pickaxe

'No! Why is it crude? After all that? This sucks!'

And so I throw the crude pickaxe back into the forge to start over yet again. I make a crude pickaxe two more times before my mana is recovered enough to make more mana veins.

The first mana veins I complete are going to my heart, once mana is constantly flowing into my heart I find I get tired a lot less and can go longer without resting. After feeling these effects I decide to connect veins to all my organs first before worrying about the rest of my body. Next I start connecting veins to my lungs but I am soon out of mana and go back to blacksmithing to wait for my mana to recover.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Meditation has progressed to level 10!

Meditation

Level 10 MAX

Wis +10 Int +5 Cha +5

A skill for recovery. HP 50/hour MP 50/hour

'Huh so level ten is the maximum level? Good to know I guess.'

As I go back to trying to make a pickaxe I have to add another ingot as each time I restart a little material is lost. I have to repeat this process a few times over the next twelve hours as I reforge the pickaxe again and again until I finally get it good enough.

*ITEM CREATED*

Steel Pickaxe

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Blacksmithing has progressed to level 5!

Blacksmithing

Level 5

Str +5 Fire Resist +5

You can turn metal ore into useful items.

'Well finally! It only took eight ingots!'

I carefully put the pickax aside, I will have to make a haft for it later. Then since my mana is full I go back into the inner world to create more mana veins to my lungs. Once my mana is drained again I get up and go back to camp to eat again before returning to blacksmithing.

Now I start working on making steel tool sets for my other crafts, I also want to make some woodworking tools to see if I can use them on the big mushrooms to make useful items.

Ruby thinks "Why are you so dedicated to all this crafting?"

"Because since I can't gain levels my best bet for getting stronger is all the stat ups I get from leveling skills. Besides, being able to make what I need for myself is going to come in handy once I get out of here and am stuck in a hostile kingdom."

Ruby says "Well, you do have a point there, from what you have told me once you get out of here you will have soldiers hunting you right?"

"Heh, I may have an entire army hunting me for all I know. What I do know is that this kingdom and its king are definitely on my enemies list."

Ruby thinks "Well, if they are your enemies then they are mine as well, anyone who tries to hurt you will burn!"

"I do want them to pay for what they did to me, and I do plan on fighting them, but I don't want to get hung up on revenge. I want to explore this world and experience all its wonders, not turn my heart dark with hatred and revenge."

Ruby thinks "Okay, I will guard your heart for you!"

"Thank you, Ruby, I'm really glad I found you down here or I might have already been lost."

As I go back to blacksmithing Ruby is really glad that I can't see her face right at that moment.