Thank you all for continuing to read my story. I love the comments that I have been reading even those with strange point of view. I appreciate them all and I will try to incorporate them into the upcoming chapters. The poll result are in the new powerful weapon Hiro will get is a spear. It will happen sometime in the next few chapters.

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Chapter 23

Hiro woke up late the next day. The sun was already high in the sky. It was shining through the large window in his bedroom illuminating the beautiful face of the woman he loved who was sleeping softly.

Hiro smiled and thought to himself, “Foria, you are absolutely beautiful. I can’t believe how lucky I am to get someone like you.” Hiro stroked her long hair and pulled the cover up onto her shoulder. “This life isn’t so bad but I can’t lose focus. I must continue my training.”

He stood up and stretched his arms.

“Ouch! My shoulder still hurts. That is strange. Usually my injuries are all gone by the next day. Could it have been because my injured internally and with poison? Did my body not completely heal yet?”

He rubbed the spot where he felt pain as he went to the large window where he saw the townspeople already busily working in the town. Hiro got dressed in the pants and shirt that Foria had brought him to wear. They were simple clothes, a black pair of relaxed pants and a white shirt. They both felt almost like linen. Then he went downstairs and saw Leo sleeping soundly.

“It was rough day yesterday. Go ahead and sleep partner.”

Hiro left to go out to get something to eat. He couldn’t believe his eyes the town seemed like it had grown even more since the last time he had paid attention. There was now a smithy shop and a restaurant. The training grounds had been improved with wooden dummies for the soldiers to practice on.

“The townspeople continue to impress me with their dedication to their craft. I’m going to have to do the same with my training”, he said to himself. “Since there is a restaurant I should try eating there.” He went to the restaurant and sat down. The waitress came up and showed him the menu. She then said anything you want is on the house Hiro.

“Thank you for rescuing our town.”

Hiro smiled and order some steak with a side of soup. The waitress took his order and return shortly. The meal looked delicious. He thanked the waitress and dug in. In no time Hiro had devoured all of the food. He felt stuffed. It had been a long time since he ate like this. After he finished eat his shoulder pain was gone.

“I guess it works for me just like it does for Leo. When I eat my health and strength returns. Hiro then left and went outside to visit the dwarves at the smithy.

He opened the door and noticed that the shop was bare on the inside. It was to be expected the shop had just been built today. He called out for the dwarves. They came out and greeted him with large smiles. Their short stout bodies were covered in sweat. They must have been working hard. Hiro noticed that about their heads their names and levels were showing.

“I guess that new status ability is going to work for everyone.”

To be polite and not let on about his new found ability Hiro asked, “I have been very rude. I’ve never asked you guys your names.”

The dwarves smiled and replied one at a time, “Our names are Brandani, Lun, and Harailt.”

“I am pleased to meet you gentlemen.”

Hiro opened his bag and took out the large wind gem and the small fire stones. The dwarves’ eyes got very large. Then he asked, “When you make my armor and weapon can you use these?”

The dwarves said, “Of course what would you like your armor to be?”

“I’m not sure.”

The dwarves explained the enchanting process. The said that fire properties increase strength attack power, earth properties raise defense, water properties raise vitality and thus your life, lightning increases your speed and thus your ability to dodge attacks, wind increases you wisdom, and thus improving your ability to use magic. Hiro was impressed with the knowledge possessed by the dwarves.

“Ummm… I want to have my blade made with fire gems, my boots from lightning, my gauntlets from wind, my breastplate from with water gems, and my shield with earth gems.”

The dwarves smiled and said “Young man, what you are looking for is elemental armor. It is extremely rare due to the components needed to make it. First, you will have to gather an adequate amount of spirit gems. Then you will have to find metals suitable for embedding these types of gems into, we suggest titanium or mithril due to their strength and weight.”

“Ok I will get them.”

The dwarves smiled again and said, “Those materials are difficult to mine as they are only found in the deepest parts of a dungeon where the most dangerous monsters live.”

Hiro thought for a moment and said, “If I get them can you make my armor and weapon?”

The dwarves huddled for a moment and Brandani, who seemed to be there spokesperson, returned saying, “We will make you the finest armor and weapon in the land if you obtain the materials that we asked for.”

New quest available: Find the materials for the elemental armor.Do you acceptYesNoReward: Elemental Armor

Hiro quickly selected the yes button.

“Until then young warrior, please bring us your current equipment so that we can repair it“ , said Harailt.

Hiro agreed and went home to get his weapon and armor. Upon inspection of his armor and weapon he said to himself,

“My armor is nicked up pretty bad and my sword has a crack straight down the middle of the blade.” He looked at the spear too. “This spear that I looted from the Cobraman isn’t in any better condition. I hope the dwarves can fix them.”

He grabbed the equipment and returned the smithy.

The dwarves took his equipment and inspected it.

“I’m sorry Hiro your claymore is beyond repair.” said Lun. “The blade has been fractured. If I try to repair it the metal will be too weak for you to strike it against anything solid.”

“Are you sure? You mean you can’t repair it at all?”

The other 2 replied, “Lun is a master blacksmith specializing in weapons. If he can’t fix it none of us can. We are sorry Hiro.”

Upon hearing the news from the dwarves Hiro’s face turned sour. “That weapon has served me well. It was the first quality weapon that I had since I have been in this world.

“If you want a quality sword then give me one of the swords you took from the kobold champions and I’ll repair it.”

“Really!?” Hiro’s face returned to its normal cheer. “Thank you, Lun. I will take whatever you can give me.”

“Your armor and shield are a mess too but we can fix them” said Brandani.

“Umm…. The spear is going to take some time. It has been enhanced with a lightning gem but the gem has been damaged. I will need you to find a lighting gem of equal or greater quality in order to fix it” said Lun

“Thank you I will find the gem. Is it a really good weapon?”

“I would estimate that when it is repaired it would be a high quality item. It is not in the rare or legendary category but it would definitely be a big step up from the weapons you currently have.”

“Wow! I will get to work on finding that gem. Do you know any where I might find a gem like that?”

Brandani replied, “Usually gems are found from monsters that possess that attribute or from mines where they are found inside of ores.”

“Hmmm…. I’ll have to make trip to the mine as soon as my armor and weapons are ready.”

“We’ll get on that right now.”

After talking with Hiro, the dwarves grabbed up his equipment and went into the back. Hiro remained out front and waited. A few hours later, the dwarves returned.

“Hey ummm…..The armor looks different. It seems to be a bit smaller.”

Brandani replied, “I resized the armor to fit your body rather than the body of the Kobold. It should afford you the same protection with less restriction in your movement.”

“I melted down your shield and re-forged it with one of the fire gems you left as well” said Harailt

“Your sword you left was in bad shape so I re-forged them with the fire gems you left here. The result was better than I had hoped” said Lun.

“What do you mean better than you hoped?” Hiro said as his eyes began to light up.

“We know you have the ability to use fire magic so we know you have an affinity for fire. These weapons that we forged will react to your fire affinity. Now your armor, shield, and sword will do so as well.”

Hiro donned his armor, shield and sword. “The dwarves were right. The armor felt much better. I don’t feel restricted at all. My arms feel loose and my legs feel.” He then put on his sword and shield. “Ok. I’ve equipped everything. What did you mean by it will react to my fire affinity?”

The dwarves felt the power of Hiro’s aura. They told him, “Since you have a fire affinity to mana or ki also has a fire affinity within it. Feel the fire that is flowing through you and release it slowly into your armor shield and sword.”

Hiro closed his eyes and focused. “In my body I can feel my ki but I don’t know how to distinguish between my different affinities.” Hiro said to the dwarves.

“You have more than one affinity to magic?”

“Yes I have an affinity to darkness, wind, and fire.”

“Impressive”, said Harailt. “Just simply push your ki into your equipment slowly and we will see what happens. Maybe the armor will react because your ki has the correct affinity in it.”

“Ok.”

Hiro began to channel his ki into his armor. He began with his boots, then moved to his greaves. Following the greaves his ki traveled to his breastplate and helmet. Finally it moved to his gauntlets. From his gauntlets it moved to his sword and shield.

“Nothing is happening” Lun said.

“Just wait” said Harailt.

Suddenly his armor, shield, and sword started to heat up. The dwarves began to step back as the heat became unbearable. They all wiped their brows as they had instantly broken into a sweat. The heat increased even more then suddenly Hiro’s equipment burst into flames. The dwarves backed away in awe of Hiro.

Hiro said calmly, “I am on fire but I am not being burned. This is awesome. I think I will call this the Armor of Wild fire.”

The dwarves told him, “Alright that is enough. Relax or you will burn down our new shop.”

Laughingly he took a deep breath and released his ki. As he did the flames subsided and the armor cooled off. The armor was amazing. Hiro inspected his new equipment.

Wildfire HelmetDefense+ 28Fire resistance: 10%BreastplateDefense+ 50Fire resistance: 30%Wildfire GlovesDefense+ 17Fire resistance: 15%Wildfire ShieldDefense+ 45Fire resistance: 25%Wildfire GreavesDefense+ 25Fire resistance: 20%*Set bonus: +20 strength. Fire absorption allowing you to gain health and mana equal to 25% of the damage inflicted by a fire based attack.Wildfire SwordAttack: 65+20 strength10% fire damage to enemies.[/table]

Hiro thanked the dwarves. He then pulled out one of his whetstones and sharpened the blade.

Due to your sharpening the weapon now has a +5 to its attack damage.

The dwarves were impressed and asked, “Are you a blacksmith”

“Yes but I’m just learning.”

“Well we’ll teach you whatever you would like to know.”

You gained a new title Blacksmith ApprenticeBecause are now being taught by several master smiths you have gained the title Blacksmith Apprentice. With this title you will now gain smith 2x the experience in your trade skill of blacksmithing.

“That is great! So learning under a master will help to improve twice as fast. Hmmm… I wonder how fast I will learn sword skills under Master Matsuro?” Hiro thought to himself. After a moment he focused on learning blacksmithing from the dwarves. Hiro removed his armor, shield, and sword then asked the dwarves, “What should I learn first about being a blacksmith?”

Before answering, they asked him to come into the back of the store. There he saw a forge. They asked him to take out the raw ore that he found. He took out the copper, tin, and finally the large iron ore from his bag. The dwarves’ eyes lit up.

“You mined all of this ore at the cave where we were being held captive."

Hiro smiled, "I sure did."

"Let’s start with the basics of blacksmithing. In order to create anything as a blacksmith you need to have pure metal to work with. Ores are filled with impurities that must be removed before you can work with the metal. Copper as it is the most common of the ores and the one you have the most of so we will start with that" said Brandani.

Brandani took two of Hiro’s copper ores and placed them in the forge. The heat began to melt away the impurities and all that was left was the pure copper in a liquid form. Brandani then poured the liquid copper into a mold. Once the mold was closed it was allowed to cool. A little while later the mold was opened and there was a shiny copper bar.

Brandani gave it to him and then said, “Your turn”. Brandani talked Hiro through the process and he made all of his copper into copper bars while under Brandani’s watchful eye. When Hiro made a mistake that like not letting all of the impurities burn off then Brandani would tell him to wait a little longer. When the metal was done and he had not taken it out of the forge, Brandani would tell him to stay focused.

Blacksmithing increased to level 3.

Then he did the same for tin. As he worked Brandani watched but began to say less and less as he felt that Hiro was learning quickly. Now it was time to work with the iron ore.

“My turn to teach our new apprentice.” Lun said with a smile. “First you should cut the large Iron ore it into some smaller pieces to fit inside the forge. I suggest you try your new sword.”

Hiro agreed and took out his wildfire sword. He placed the large iron ore in the middle of the room. Then he moved his kiit with his ki. He slashed at the large ore 6 times and cut it into 12 pieces that were similar in size and shape to the other ores.

“Good. You have pretty good technique with a sword. Now you have some smaller pieces to work with. Now try smelting the iron.”

Hiro tried to smelt the iron. He began the process the same way but he failed on his first try. Lun smiled and said to his new apprentice, “Iron was a little more sensitive so you will have to heat it on a lower temperature so that the iron did not completely melt away.”

Hiro then tried again and this time the impurities left and he was left with a spongy substance.

“What is this, Lun?”

“You’ll see” Lun said laughingly.

Lun took some large tongs and grabbed the pieces. Then he pull out a hammer. The small dwarf beat it with a hammer until it began to form the shape of a bar. Once it cooled It was a perfectly shaped iron bar.

“That is how iron is smelted into a bar. Part of being a blacksmith is trial and error. You will not know what to do until you make a mistake. It is costly like this but the experience you gain will be tremendous.”

“Thank you Lun” said Hiro.

He tried 8 more times but he was on successful 6 out of the 8. “I need to continue to improve my blacksmiting skill”, he thought.

Hammer mastery increased to level 4

"I even get increases in mastery for hammer while swinging a blacksmith hammer? This makes learning that skill very easy. I wonder what other skill will level up along with my trade skills."

When he picked up the last 2 pieces of ore he noticed that there were jewels inside the ore. He showed it to Lun.

Lun said, “You are lucky there were 6 small fire gems inside the pieces of ore. However, by removing them you will no longer be able to use the ore for smelting.” Hiro agreed.

“You are not quite ready for this skill yet so I will remove them for you. If you fail at this the learning experience will not be worth the loss.”

Lun quickly removed the gems.

Then Hiro asked them a favor. “Could you teach me to make some armor for Leo?”

The Dwarves asked, “Who is Leo?”

Hiro nodded and smiled, “He is my partner, he is a liger. You saw him in the dungeon.”

“Making armor for your pet will take some time and materials. If you gather material we can make him armor like your elemental armor affording him the same protection, attack, and attribute buffs as you.” said Harailt

New quest available: Find materials for dwarves to make Leo’s elemental armor.Do you acceptYesNoReward: Liger's Elemental Armor

Hiro clicked yes and returned to his conversation with the dwarves.

Brandani said, “If you want something now we can teach you to make body armor and helmet out of any of the metals you smelted so far using your current skill.”

Hiro agreed. The dwarves asked Hiro to go and get Leo so that they could examine his size and shape. Hiro left and went home.

“Leo wake up!”

“ROOOOAAARRR! What’s wrong Hiro?”

“Nothing I want to give you a present.”

“A present? Where is it?”

“I’m going to make it for you.”

“Then go make it and wake me when you get back.”

Hiro laughed and said, “I need you there to make it.”

“Why? What is it?

“I am learning from the dwarves how to make armor and I want to make some for you to help protect you when we go back into battle.”

“Really…?

“Yes you are my partner and my friend” Hiro said as he stroked Leo’s mane. Leo purred and then stood up. They left the house and quickly went to the smithy.

The dwarves came outside and saw Leo. They were in awe of the fierce beast but even more admiring of Hiro as he had tamed this monstrous beast. They took in his dimensions and made 3 patterns for Hiro. They gave him the pattern for bronze greaves, iron body armor, and a bronze helmet.

“Once I make the armor can you teach me to place the fire gems that I found in the iron ore into them so that Leo’s armor can absorb fire like mine?”

“Sure” said Harailt.

“Go ahead home buddy this may take a while.” Leo left and Hiro went back into the back where the forge was located. He looked at the pattern and grabbed the bars of iron and began working. As he hammered the pieces they slowly began to take shape. Hiro was sweating heavily but his work was paying off. Harailt, master armorer, looked on correcting Hiro as he worked. After several hours Hiro had completed all 3 pieces.

“Good job apprentice!” said Harailt.

Blacksmithing now at level 4

“Now it is my turn” said Brandani. “I am the master of enchantment. Come watch so that you can learn apprentice.”

You have gained the title Apprentice EnchanterYouBy learning from the Brandani the master enchanter, you will gain 2x the normal experience you would have gotten on your own.

“Sweet having a master is definitely going to benefit. I wonder though… How come I didn’t become an apprentice when I learned from Snow or Korin? Is it because there skills are not at the master level?”

Brandani sat down with the pieces in front of him. “Hiro enchanting is the process of placing the gem’s magical properties into the item.”

“So how do I do that?”

“You have to slowly place the gem into the armor and spread small links to the gem into the armor so that when it reacts the magical energy is spread throughout the item. Watch young apprentice.”

Brandani cut a small notch into the armor and inserted 1 of the gems. He then covered it with his hand. All of sudden Hiro could feel Brandani’s ki skyrocket. As he looked on he saw Brandani’s ki flow completely through every part of the armor. As it began to return Hiro could faintly see numerous red lines like a spider’s web spread out from the gem throughout the armor. Once Brandani removed his hand then all of the lines disappeared.

“Did you see the lines of my energy mixed with the gem?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are ready to try. The first part of becoming an enchanter is to be able to see and manifest your energy in an object. After watching you with your armor, sword, and shield I thought you might be ready.”

“Ok. I will give it my best.”

“That’s the spirit apprentice.”

Hiro grabbed one of the gems and cut out a small notch for it in one of the bracers.

“Now you have to visualize the fire engulfing the armor. Do it slowly.”

“Yes sir.”

Hiro closed his eyes and placed his hands on the fire gem. Hiro envisioned the fire moving slowly across the bracer. Brandani’s eyes widened as he saw Hiro completely the skill perfectly. Hiro began sweating.

“Brandani, the strain is incredible. Keeping my ki like this is so difficult.”

“Keep focused boy. You are almost there!” replied Brandani gruffly.

Hiro concentrated and continued on with the enchanting process. Slowly but surely the lines spread throught the entire brace. Finally, Hiro’s ki had reached its limit and returned to him. Hiro opened his eyes and he saw the bracer had changed to a white color with.

“I did it!” Hiro yelled with joy.

Enchanting increased to level 5.

“I got 5 levels for doing one thing.” He said to himself. Then Hiro noticed his mana. It had dropped by 50%. “I lost that much for doing this one time? Could it be because my skill is low? Or is it because it is a skill that consumes a lot of mana?”

Hiro went back and enchanted the rest of Leo’s armor pieces one at a time resting in between to regain his mana.

Enchanting increased to novice level 6

Due to becoming a novice you can now enchant items with 1 medium sized spirit gem or 2 small spirt gems. You will also gain 5 points of wisdom for each level you gain from enchanting.

“That was a great day’s work Hiro. When you get more materials be sure to come back. We have a lot more things to teach you” said Lun.

“Thank you so much my friends.”

Hiro equipped his armor then placed Leo’s in his bag. “See you guys later.” The dwarves waved goodbye as he exited the shop. Hiro returned home to find Leo lying on the floor relaxing.

“It’s done my friend. Let’s try it on and see how you look.”

Leo stood up and Hiro placed the bracers on each of his legs along with the armor that covered his torso and finally the helmet.

“How does it fit?”

Leo moved his legs and his head from side to side. “It feels good. It’s almost like I don’t have anything on. You actually made this?”

“What do you mean I actually made this? What you thought I didn’t have any skill?”

“Well…”

“Are you serious?!”

“I’m just kidding Hiro.”

“Let’s go outside.” The two exited from Hiro’s housel.

“Ok now what?”

“Now for the best part. You have my ability to manipulate ki so place your ki in your armor.”

“Ok.” Leo began to place his energy into the armor. Hiro could feel the heat.

“Yes keep going!”

The armor got hotter and hotter. “I have my armor on so it shouldn’t harm me” Hiro thought to himself.

The temperature increased even more then it happened. The armor burst into flames.

“What is going on Hiro?”

“It's armor made from those gems you brought me. It reacts to our affinity to fire making us immune to fire based attacks and giving strength.”

“ROOOOAAAAAARRRR!” Leo said as he breathed fire into the air.

Hiro Inspected Leo’s equipment

Fiery Bronze Liger BracersDefense+ 20Fire resistance: 15%Bronze Liger HelmetDefense+ 12Fire resistance: 10%Fiery Iron Liger armorDefense+ 45Fire resistance: 30%

“Just as I thought with his natural affinity to fire along with the armor he will be complete immune to fire. Now in battle we should be able to ignite ourselves and burn up our enemies.”

Hiro was excited about their new equipment. He also told Leo about the dwarves’ proposition to make them new armor elemental armor.

“We are going to become the strongest team the world had ever seen.” Leo roared showing his approval.

Then Hiro went upstairs to his bed and they both fell asleep.

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