Chapter 35 : Refiner (1)

Ragna walked through the city leisurely. He was going to one of the blacksmiths in the city which were being managed by NPC. In this stage of the game, players who could process a rare material was as rare as phoenix feather.

Despite not showing any suspicious attitude, he could feel that there was someone who was following him. After sneaking a glance, he could see that there were 2 level 19 thieves sneaking at a distance behind him. It was apparent that the thieves were one of those with the lowest tier in whatever organization they were at. Players whose levels were higher than 25 were all focused on hunting or doing quests.

Ragna sighed a bit. In Maya, if he was given a choice, he would undoubtedly choose to not offend anyone. He had a bad experience in beating up people after all.

'If they were going to stalk me, then so be it. I have nothing to hide' Ragna muttered.

After a few minutes, he finally arrived in a big building. It was made from bricks because metals could bend in high temperature. The place emanated a hot atmosphere, clearly indicating that it was a place befitting for blacksmiths. Ragna entered the place and asked the receptionist.

"Hello, I want to make an equipment based on my material"

The female receptionist replied politely with a smile "Sure, what kind of material is it?" She reminded him, "But, I hope that you don't bring a common one because it would only be a waste of time and money"

"Relax, here it is" Ragna put the 'Shadow Wolf's Claw' he acquired from the Shadow Wolf on top of the table.

The female receptionist's eyes brightened when he saw it "Whoa, a rare material. You sure have quite a good luck in finding it. Only a few people managed to bring us this kind of material"

Ragna was quite happy with what the female receptionist said, "Hehe thanks, so can you guys make a weapon for me? A battle gloves should be alright"

"Of course it's possible. We can make a decent weapon from a rare material like this, but..." She scanned Ragna from his head to his feet. After seeing his shabby equipment, she couldn't help but ask "But.. do you have enough money? It would cost thousands of gold..."

Ragna nearly coughed a mouthful of blood when he heard what the female receptionist said. Your granny! How could I afford such price! If this bro has even half of that amount, I wouldn't be indebted to someone just because of potions!

Seeing the change in Ragna's expression, the female receptionist couldn't help but sigh. She then added "If you don't have that much money, you can sell the material to us. Even though we'll purchase it with a price lower than the Merchant Association, you'll get special benefits such as contribution points"

Ragna hurriedly shook his head, "No, I don't want to sell it. I don't know if I could get a better material later"

"That's your choice then. Do you have anything else?"

Ragna was thinking whether if he should become a merchant as his second job. The profession was high in demand and he could save some golds by repairing his weapon himself. Also, who knows if he could become one of the godly blacksmiths later?

In Maya, a player could choose a second job from numerous profession. In fact, a blacksmith could be one's primary job with a fighter being its secondary job. There was no limitation in arranging professions and classes. In Lily's case, her primary job was an Alchemist with Merchant being her second one. It was quite rare because normally merchants have easier and more related second jobs such as Analyst or Communication-related jobs.

He asked the female receptionist "Umm, do you guys still accept an apprentice? I also want to be a blacksmith" A smithy only accept a limited number of apprentices. Those number will be reset when an apprentice graduated to the next level of the profession.

The female receptionist looked a bit puzzled and then she said, "But don't you already have a second job?"

"Oh I see", just when he was about to turn around, he exclaimed loudly "wait... WHAT?"

"Why are you being so surprised? Here you can see it in your Second Profession Screen. Let me check it for you", the female receptionist fiddled with her System Screen, "Huh, I never heard of this profession.. a Refiner...?" She looked at Ragna with a gaze similar to looking at a rare animal.

Facing the female receptionist's interrogating stare, Ragna could only answer with, "I don't know... It seemed like I acquired it by chance. Heck, I didn't even realize it in the first place. Can you overwrite it with the Blacksmith profession?"

"Unfortunately no, it's weird but this profession sticks to you.. I too, don't understand why"

Something came to Ragna's mind. 'It must be the Blood Master's doing! Hmph, I thought refining was a godly skill, but it turned out that it ate one of my profession slot. Well, at least it wasn't that useless'

Ragna replied with a bitter expression "Well, nothing can be done then. I should leave. Thank you"

Just when he was about to leave the place, the female receptionist shouted at Ragna.

"Hey! Wait! You can still learn the Blacksmith skill"

"Huh? But how?" Ragna knew that without a corresponding profession, players couldn't learn a certain skill no matter what. Blacksmithing was one of those.

The female receptionist giggled, "It turned out that this profession allows you to learn. Do you want to learn the skill? Though, the learning speed may be different from a real blacksmith."

Ragna's eyes brightened, and he answered resolutely, "Of course I want to!"

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Author Note : Like I said, it would be sporadically released. It turned out that I could finish this chapter in a bit more than an hour. Please enjoy!

Also, thanks for the encouragements! It made my day!

PS : A thousand words chapter hehe. A bit short