Blacksmith vs. the System

In the end, I was able to kill three more gargantuan beasts before exhaustion won over me.

To my surprise, finding them had been the easy part. All I needed to do was to grow a lot of trees, and once the number had passed a certain point, a gargantuan beast attacked. While the reason for their hatred was a mystery — the disruption of the mist was my best guess — the effect was not disputable.

It helped me to draw them closer, and my vision expanded significantly in the process.

As I absorbed the resulting light, my vision increased even further. Session one added three more yards to my vision, the third one added almost four, and the last one added slightly more than five, which was more than I had expected.

Compared to that, the excitement from another level up, bringing me to level forty-three, faded in importance.

Initially, even my most optimistic assumption was for it to turn into some kind of additive effect, with each boss monster expanding adding some more to my view, while the more realistic assumption was for its effect to lessen with each consumption.

The quasi-exponential growth it was displaying was certainly welcome.

I was tempted to hunt a couple more, but my need for a nice, long sleep proved to be more important. I was exhausted.

Walking around in the dungeon with a significantly expanded range of vision felt amazing. Even with my skills and armor ensuring my safety, walking around blindly in a monster-filled pocket dimension was not a comfortable feeling.

Especially since I had already dealt with two assassination attempts.

Once I reached the second floor, my range of vision barely surpassed two hundred yards, which was an incredible benefit against any potential assassins. And, that advantage would expand even more as I continued to hunt for the gargantuan beasts.

With every day, the dungeon was starting to feel like home.

Once I reached the outpost, I decided to check the immediate surrounding area, making sure to stay outside the view of the hunter teams, watching the way they operated. I had checked their operation many times, but the benefit of distant observation was valuable.

I immediately caught two problems. The new recruits who had classes other than farmers were bullying the farmers. It wasn't anything too extreme, mostly slurs, mixed with occasional pushes and shoves, but I decided to nip that in the bud.

I might lack the power to fix that anywhere else, but I wouldn't allow that to happen in my own guild.

The second thing I noted was several farmer teams, doing their best to steal some of the shells, embezzling from my profit. That, I decided to ignore. It was not ideal, but there was a limit on how much I could pay them before my actions started to be treated as not just stupidly generous, but actually suspicious.

And, I had too many secrets to handle such a suspicion. Letting them steal a few was a good idea. Maybe I should ask Harold to create a semi-official channel so that they weren't ripped too badly by the other guild members.

Harold was not in the base, so after a quick walk in the base, I returned to my room. "Let's see," I muttered even as I put my hand on one of the silver murals that covered my walls, using my Advanced Observe Perk to check every place that was connected to it, checking the existence of various metal seals I had created.

It was not paranoia when I had multiple enemies, with one of them already showing a willingness to kill me.

Then, I moved to the next stage, which was sealing the room. Locks, even the intricate ones that could have been used as a bank vault, were not secure in a world with both Dexterity and Perception. However, as a blacksmith, I had a much easier trick. I welded the door shut.

It was not impossible to breach the reinforced door, but it was impossible to do so without alerting me.

Only after that, I laid down, not removing my armor. Sleeping in armor was not comfortable, even with Health to resolve the worst of my stiff body, but it was another sacrifice I had made for my security. I closed my eyes, letting sleep claim me, my overactive mind replaced by restless dreams that were impossible to remember.

However, even that restless sleep proved to be a luxury, when I had been woken up by the insistent ringing of a bell.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"L-lady Eleanor is here for an urgent meeting, sir," the unlucky member said.

"Really, what a bad timing," I grumbled in frustration. "Just as I was trying to sleep," I added, and caught a surprised expression, one that he schooled immediately.

"Spill," I said.

He looked uncomfortable. "I don't know what you mean, sir," he said, looking panicked.

"No, you clearly wanted to say something. Speak," I ordered.

"I … It's just that I didn't see you work in your chambers for so long, sir. Ordinarily, you leave the paperwork to Sir Harold."

It felt weird, before I remembered to ask an important fact. "How long have I been in my room?" I asked.

"About two days, sir," he said.

"Working on new tactics is time consuming," I said, throwing out a simple excuse for the situation, one that might not have been entirely believable, but hierarchy had its benefits. People not bothering to ask questions was one of them.

I said nothing else as he led me outside, where Eleanor had been waiting for me. Her expression, more enthusiastic than anything else, suggested that she was here for a spar more than anything.

Luckily, it had been more than ten days since I had received the skill from her, so there was no harm in showing my great progress. Whether to reveal the full extent of it was a different question, which I would decide based on her reaction.

"Follow me," she said, her impatience clear. From anyone else, that dismissive attitude would have been a grave insult, but I knew that she was obsessed with the art of the sword as much as I was obsessed with my studies, so I understood her frustration.

I would have been equally irritable if I had been distracted by a week of non-stop meetings in the middle of my studies.

I managed to keep my desire to tease her suppressed until we left the outpost behind, knowing that teasing her in front of the guild member would affect the authority we had been reflecting. It had been a fact I had dealt with for a long time.

"So, how was your week," I asked even as we moved deeper into the dungeon. She groaned in frustration. "Come on, it can't be that bad."

"No, it's worse," she said, making a face. "Now that we're making some money, there's a lot of purchases that need to be done. More siege weapons, construction material for the town, new skills…"

"Sorry about that. I know it's all my fault —" I teased her, which she interrupted by throwing a rock at me.

"Don't be a smartass, or I'll bring you with me next time."

I chucked. "Hey, it's not like I had a better time," I said. "I spent most of my time forging the arrowheads, which left time for nothing else."

"Really?" she said, but I could see her disappointment.

However, her disappointment only made me amused. I chuckled even as I drew my sword and attacked her. She drew hers to parry mine, which launched a short yet intense duel where she stayed defensive, letting me show my abilities.

"Impressive," she said as she shifted from the defense to offense, and I found myself defending, while her attacks escalated more and more, her frown turning into a big smile.

I didn't hold back, but I didn't push myself to my full capacity either, and just relied on the sword skill.

A reasonable time had passed since I had received the skill, and even if she had realized that I had reached the limit of the Rare skill she had gifted to me, I could explain it. She already believed that I was some kind of sword genius, and even if she found that unconvincing, I could reveal the existence of the composite swords I designed to make the attacks more reliable.

"Not bad. You have worked hard," she said even as she started putting in an actual effort. She was nowhere near the real limit of her skill, but it was an actual challenge. In a way, the situation was very similar to the chess games I played with Maria.

I had no chance of victory — as long as we relied on swords only — but unlike Maria, Eleanor didn't enjoy a one-sided beatdown. Instead, she limited herself in certain ways to make our sparring an actual challenge.

However, just as we fought, I noticed something distressing. Two people, both dressed in black cloaks, approached us silently, paying more attention to the ground than their surroundings. Interestingly, the monsters around them ignored their presence, which I suspected to have something to do with the subtle blue glow surrounding them.

And, once they were about a hundred yards away from us, they stopped, waiting for something. My guess was that they were waiting for us to speak and confirm our identities.

It was not good news. I realized that, without exploring the fifth floor and killing the boss monsters, there was no chance for me to notice them. It was that confidence that made them act like that. "Try not to overemphasize the defenses of your extremities," Eleanor said even as she attacked from below.

"I don't want to lose a leg," I said while I defended and retreated at the same time, but my focus was on the unexpected presence of the two. The moment Eleanor and I spoke, confirming our identities through the mist, they started moving back.

Leaving me with a decision to make.