I woke up in a feeling that I could not explain. The comfort and sense of peace I had was incomparable to any experience I have ever had. Fluffy had curled up at our feet some time during the night and Cas and I were wrapped up in my wings. We had kicked off the blankets some time in the night because my wings were plenty of warmth.

Cas was practically laying on top of me and had a very content smile on her face. I figured that it was time to wake up so I kissed the top of her head and that made her stir slightly.

“Morning sexy.” She said in a slight slur.

“Well I don’t know about sexy but good morning to you to gorgeous.” I replied.

She lightly slapped my chest. “You are probably the best looking man in this dungeon.” She said as she moved to get up.

“Ugh my head!” She groaned while holding the offending body part.

“Well we did drink quite a bit there.”

“Did we fuck?” She asked. There was also a hopeful expectation in her eyes.

“No. I thought about it but you were way to drunk for my tastes.” I had to be honest with her.

“Wait. Are you telling me that you didn’t take advantage of me?” She seemed almost irritated.

“Yup. I feel like it would have been wrong of me to not let you experience a wonderful first time with me while sober. Really it was for your benefit.” I used this approach rather than explain my culture to her. It was easier.

“Huh! Well fine then! You better show me a damned good time bud!” She seemed happier now. Looks like my plan was a success.

“How about we go get something to eat?” I suggested.

“No. You can but I still have a business to run. Oh and before I forget. If you actually show me a ‘good time’ you get free room and board. I am not running a charity here.” She said grumpily before she left.

I was in shock at her words. Did i just become a prostitute? How the fuck did that happen?

As she headed out the door she turned back towards me with a sinister smile. “Now then my little play toy. It’s time to eat.”

This woman is going to kill me. The sexiness in her voice gave me an erection immediately.

I got up off the bed and followed her down the stairs. Fluffy silently followed as well. Once we were back at the dining area Cas served Fluffy and I some eggs and sausage with a strong cup of dark tea for breakfast.

While eating I couldn’t help but think that I needed a teacher to help my skills grow. I figure that Cas is the best informant I have so why not ask her. “Hey Cas. is there anywhere I can go to be taught about my Class?”

She pondered for a moment before answering. “Yea. go Back to the dock area and head inland towards the forest area. You will find an old abandoned looking house that an old man named Bob lives in. He can train you in the path that you have chosen.”

Bob? Really? He couldn’t have had some sort of badass nickname or something? “Ok and how much is this going to cost me?” I know that she isn’t trying to swindle me or anything so I might as well just go with it.

“Oh that? Nothing. Just tell him that I sent you. That should work.” She casually said as she went to clean some mugs for later in the day.

How many books have I read that this same scenario is used in? Too many to count! It’s not like she’s his daughter or anything. I mean come on, that would just be ridiculous.

I finish my food and head out to go find Bob. Seriously though, Bob? Did his parents have no imagination?

I head out to the street and back down to the docks. It was pretty early in the morning so I didn’t have to deal with too many people. The few people I did see gave me a wide berth as they went about their business.

I arrived at the dock area in about twenty minutes and then headed towards the forest. I walked for a good hour before I started to hear the clang of metal hitting metal. Fluffy had decided to ride on my shoulders and was soundly asleep. Cute little bastard.

I make my way towards the sound and quickly find myself in a clearing that had a single house. A man was hammering away on an anvil as he forged something. His arms were monstrous and the hammer he was using had a head that was at least twice the size of his.

“Hello!” I shouted so I wouldn’t be accused of sneaking up on him. “Cas sent me to see a man named Bob.”

He stopped hammering when I said hello and once he heard the name Bob a foul look grew on his face. “That’d be me but I ain’t called Bob.” He spat out with disgust.

“Well then may I know your real name?” I figure being polite would be a good way to start this new relationship.

“My name is Robash.” He replied.

“Well it’s nice to meet you.”

“Yea I guess. What ya want boy? I never seen ya before so I can only assume you are trying to complete the dungeon. Oh and what buisness ya got with Cas?” He started to get a little aggressive at the end.

“Well she’s a pretty good friend of mine, I think at least, and she sent me to get some training unique to my class.” Might as well be honest.

“That no good daughter of mine. I bet she said you wouldn’t need to pay too huh?” He huffed.

Are you kidding me! So damned cliche. I sighed before responding. “Yea she did. I can pay if you want? I really don’t mind.”

“Huh you would actually pay? Fine you can pay by becoming my student. I have a good feeling about you boy. I know my daughter is only two thousand years old but she has good instincts.”

Well that was easy. “Um. Sure.”

“Be a little more excited why don’t ya.” He grumbled.

“No I am excited. I just didn’t expect it to happen so fast. I imagined you would want to test my skills first.”

“Well of course I will be testing your skills! Now accept the system prompt and become my official student.”

I was slightly startled as a notification popped up.

You have been asked to become the student of Robash Dragar. Warning- By becoming his student your skills will change to what he is teaching you.

I accepted and the notification went away.

“Good. Now come and fight me. I need to see how good you are.” He said as he put the hammer down.

I brought out my swords and readied myself. He brought out two giant swords that looked like they should weigh about seven hundred pounds each. He handled those things as if they weighed nothing.

“Are you ready?” ha asked.

“Let’s do this.” I was pumped.

We circled each other for a moment before I went on the offensive. I swing in with both swords as fast and as hard as I could. No skill involved, I have never been trained, and it shows. I may have overpowering attack but no skill means i can’t hit anything and if I can’t hit then I am not attacking.

He dodges effortlessly and knocks the blades out of my hand with a simple flick of his wrist. “Terrible! Have you never trained in the sword before?”

“Nope.” I was frustrated so I answered curtly.

“Well then you did fairly well! Now come inside. We will talk and go over what you will be taught.” He turned and headed into the house.

Seeing no choice I follow him in. The inside was very plain. The house was really one large room with a bed, chair and fireplace to cook in. He sits on the bed and motions for me to take the chair. It was made out of solid wood and fairly uncomfortable.

“Tell me your story boy. Then I will teach you how to smith.”

“Why smithing?” It sounded a little odd but very helpful. I mean who wouldn’t want to be able to make awesome blades and make some money!

“Let me first answer you with a question. Do you cook? Ok so when you learn to cook you need to learn about your ingredients. The same applies to wielding a blade, or any weapon for that matter. Knowing how it is made and becoming one with the metal is the first step to becoming one with your blade.”

That makes a lot of sense actually. Once this revelation was revealed to me I got a notification.

You have learned more about the ways of the sword. The Skill Blades has been changed to One with the Blade and the skill has been reset to Level 1.

“My skill just changed!”

He chuckled. “Good! That means that I won’t be wasting my time in training you. Now tell me your story.”

I told him my story so far including all my Stats, minus the Luck, and he pondered for awhile.

“So this God put your whole race into this situation?” He queried.

“Yup”

“Well that sucks. Nothing we can do about it though. Now come, it’s time to learn about metal.”

I was very eager to get started so I left the house in a hurry.He led me over to his work area and I looked around. I knew a little so I could tell that he had a forge of coal, an anvil, a hammer for sure and various tongs to hold the hot metal.

I pointed out all that I knew and Robash nodded along. He then handed me the hammer which was so heavy that it dragged my whole body down to the ground. “How fucking heavy is this thing?” I asked.

“Too heavy for you apparently. Here use my small hammer.” He chuckled slightly as if he was calling me a weakling.

He handed me the “small hammer” which was literally half the size and probably half the weight. I was able to hold it with one hand but picking it up took all of my strength and my Titan Grip allowed me to barely keep ahold of it.

“Good. now you can start hammering some metal. Try to lose yourself in the feeling of the hammer hitting the metal. Do not force it. You get bad blades by doing that.” He said as he handed me a pair of tongs and pointed me towards the metal that was stacked in a corner.

I pick up a piece of metal that was about double the size of one of my swords, about five feet long and two feet wide. I place it in the forge to start heating it up.

“Now use the bellow on the side to make the fire hotter. You will have to work it hard since the metal you chose is of higher quality than almost all other metals.”

I grab ahold of a lever on the side of the forge that he pointed at and started moving it up and down. The air that was being forced through made the forge heat up at a dramatic rate and soon I was sweating profusely. Once i had heated the metal bar to a nice white glow I took it out with the tongs and while holding it in one hand I hit it with the hammer in my other hand.

As I started to shape the hot metal my mind began to wander. I still had to focus on what I was doing but it was a simple focus. Kind of like eating. You don’t have to really worry about doing it you just do. This helped me shape the metal from a solid bar to a slightly longer bar, it was a lot of metal after all and I have never forged before so it’s not like I was going to make a sword in five minutes. That’s just crazy talk.

I had to stop because my arm was way too sore to continue.

“Good. Now switch arms. This will ensure that your arms won’t be uneven in strength and dexterity.” He said.

With a huff I put the metal back in the forge and repeated the process. This time I last for six minutes. I place the hammer down and relax.

Rob, that’s what I’m calling him now, comes and sits beside me. We don’t talk at first instead we just sit and relax. After a while I start to get restless. “So when should I get the Smithing Skill?” I was a little perturbed by not getting the skill after all that.

“Oh you have to finish the blade first. You only get skills after you complete a task that uses that skill or you have to go through a special circumstance. Like me telling you about being one with blade.” He replies softly.

“Wow I still have so much to learn.” I sigh.

“Want me to enlighten you a little on the new reality you are in?” He asks.

I nod quickly. I need all I can get after all. He procedes to tell me by starting at the beginning.

Long ago, way before time was counted, Mana flowed through everything and everyone. This gave rise to many creatures that were stronger than anyone could imagine. Among these creatures were the Gods. The Gods loved Mana and everything it did.

Sadly Mana was giving rise to cruel Monsters that cared nothing for life and they destroyed many species and planets. So the gods devised a way to seal the mana. Making it so that you had to fight as hard as you could to get the Mana you were supposed to have. This way became the System.

The System quantified the strength of something by putting a numerical value to it, these became known as levels. Now levels do not show true strength but they do show a general level of strength. This System also affected the Gods.

For a while the universe was in chaos since nothing was governing it. Spacial storms raged and more and more creatures came into being. The Gods fought and eventually gained their powers back but a lot of them died. The Gods then decided to add Skills to the System to help those using it to become stronger faster.

These Skills were the only thing that saved the universe from collapse of the monsters that had grown as strong, if not stronger, than many of the Gods. Sadly the skills were not enough to make everything balanced so they added Classes as well.

This finally leveled the playing field. Many things have been adjusted over time but they have all stayed fairly the same. Bloodlines were the last update to come to the System. This created people like me. Cheats that could become Gods as well.

No one knows why the Gods do this but many speculate that the Gods are lonely. The rise back to godhood created many divisions amongst them and that created the definition of Good and Evil which were also implemented into the System and got further defined into a basic morality system within the System.

What he told me wasn’t a lot but it did fill in the gaps and only left me wanting to become stronger. Now I don’t want to become stronger to right wrongs or anything like that. No, I want to be able to do whatever the hell I want and when I want.