[SP-F1] <<Earning a Living>> Way of the Forge [Complete]

[Percival 0]

It was a beautiful and typical day in the Starting City for Percival. Taking advantage of the day, Percival decided to make a few rounds around the city to both make himself familiar with the sights and facilities of the city as well as listening to the other players gossip on training locations, quests, and other basic information.

While making his rounds he overheard from a group of players of a certain quest that gave a good amount of benefits on completion, and one of those was the of a chosen profession. This quest was known by <<Earning a Living>>, and Percival knew exactly what he wanted from this quest. It was to be a blacksmith.

With the thought in his head, Percival was determined to see this through as soon as possible. Just the thought of being able to make grand pieces of gear with enough time and training made him giddy with excitement.

With a light hearted sigh, Percival began his search for a local blacksmith.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

He began his search around the city, and soon learned that this was going to be a tedious task in itself finding an NPC blacksmith willing to help him. To top it off the difficulty of trying to avoid players in the process was proving quite troublesome. 

With a heavy sigh, Percival leaned against a close wall. "What am I going to do...At this rate I am going to be searching forever. On top of that get noticed by another player is close to inevitable." He shudders at this. He can't let that happen. Being a burden to everyone is something he can't bear the thought of. Especially when now everyone's lives are on the line. Best that if he were to die that he would not be missed and die alone.

He looks to the beautiful clouds rolling above him in the sky, and tries his best to push the thought out of his head. It shouldn't be too far now right? He goes to turn down the street and freezes dead in his tracks. A group of players are walking his way! Panicking he tries to find the closest door to him and tries to go into it. He tries the handle, but his gut drops...the door is locked. Crap, now is not the time to run into bad luck!" He mutters to himself. Maybe if I stay in this doorway I won't get noticed? Trying his best to hide in the door frame, Percival leans against the door.

The players get and closer and closer, and all the while Percival's heart sinks more and more with each step they take. Just as they are getting close the door he is leaning against opens!

[Percival 0]

Percival's heart began to beat out of his chest as hell fell backwards through the door. In an attempt to catch himself, Percival throws his arms about wildly to try to grab hold onto the nearest surface. He manages to grab something, but to his dismay was far from solid and goes crashing to the floor with him. 

"Well, that hurt a little" Percival sighs, lying flat on his back on the floor. He turns his head to his right, and to his horror, sees a broken display case with weapons scattered along the floor. "Oh no...Please tell me that was like that when I got here." He thought to himself. He turns his head back towards the ceiling, and is shocked to see a man standing above him.

"Get off my floor, and get out of my shop." The man said to me in a very bitter tone.

"So I guess I really did do that." Percival thought to himself. I stood myself up and took a quick look at the man standing in front of me. He was a fairly built character, short rough brown hair, brown eyes, and had an apron with a set of tools inside the pockets. As he eyed the tools one in particular caught his eye "That's a Blacksmiths hammer!". He took a quick look around the shop and it was indeed a blacksmith shop! This is exactly what he was looking for all along!

[Percival 0]

"Hey! You daft? I said get out of my shop!" The man was beginning to shout at this point.

I quickly bow and place my hands together and plead to the man "I am so sorry! I did not mean to break your display! I have been searching for a blacksmith for so long, and I will do anything to help replace that case!". I continued bowing and kept my eyes slammed shut. I really need this mans help. 

I heard a noise that to me made no sense in a situation like this, and for a moment I didn't believe my ears. Was that laughter? I shot up and saw the man laughing hysterically in front of me. "Has he gone mad?" I thought to myself. "What is going on?"

"You should have seen the look on your face! Oh my goodness that made my day!" He could barely speak due to his insatiable laughter. He calmed down after a moment, and looked me in the eye with a stern demeanor to him. "Don't worry about the case. I can replace that no problem. What did you need from an old blacksmith like me?"

"Yep hes gone mad" I thought to myself. I looked to him and with a sternness of my own "I want to become a blacksmith.".

[Percival 0]

He looked at me with a puzzled look "You wish to pick up blacksmithing eh?". He seemed to ponder the question around a bit before finally coming to a conclusion. "Well that is a pretty big undertaking. You sure you want to do it?"

With his last statement a little menu popped up in front of me "<<Earning a Living>> Will you accept?". Without hesitation I pressed yes. I looked again to the man in front of me "Yes, I am sure I want this Mr....oh..pardon me. I forgot to ask for your name. Mine is Percival."

"Well Percival." He comes over and shakes my hand. "My name is Holme" he looks to me with a smile. "Oh by the way" He points to the other side of the room "That is the front door. So next time how about you come through there instead of sitting on my back door like some lost cat."

"Yea that would help wouldn't it?" I say as I face-palm myself. Looking back to the mess I caused "I guess I should start with helping clean up this mess that I caused." I go to the weapons strewn about the floor of the shop and pick them up.

"Yes, just set them on the counter for now." Holme says pointing to a nearby counter. "Now how about we get started with your training shall we?" He states smiling at me.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

Looking over to Holme "What did you have in mind? Just as a heads up though.". I do a quick little twirl "I am not combat ready. So if we can keep it away from killing monsters that would be very helpful.". 

Holme gives a light hearten chuckle "Well there goes killing the dragon." Raising his hands into the air and closing his eyes "I guess there isn't anything I can do for you.".

"Oh please tell me your joking!" I blurted out as my heart sank.

With insatiable laughter Holme can barely speak "You fell for it again! Jeez kid you got to lighten up a bit!" At this point he is almost rolling on the floor in laughter.

"I swear I am going to kill him." I thought to myself as my eyebrow twitched. I cross my arms and look at him "Seriously, what do you want me to do?".

Holme straightens himself out and turns to me "Well how about you go and gather some materials. You can't blacksmith from nothing can you? Gather me 3 ores from outside of the Starting City, and we will go from there ok?" I am pretty sure he noticed my worried look on my face because he quickly added "Don't worry. Where you will be going there are no monsters. So your life won't be in danger."

With a sigh of relief, I look to Holme "Yes that sounds perfect. Thank you so much. You won't regret this!". With that I head out the front door this time, and begin my journey to finding these ores.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

I make my way through the city, trying to avoid as many players as possible, to get to the gate leading out of the city. "Hopefully things will go smoothly out there and this is a simple item grab." He thought to himself. After a bit of walking he finally made it to the gate. As he takes a look outside the gate "Things look peaceful out there. I wish that could be the case everywhere. How many people have lost their lives to this death game.". Shaking his head muttering to himself "Get those thoughts out of your head Obediah. You got work to do.".

Stepping outside of the safety of the city filled him with mixed emotions, scared, determination, excitement, are just to name a few. Despite all this he needs to get this done if he ever wants to be able to help others let alone help himself. Looking forward to the road ahead of him he sprinted forward to concur his goal.

Not too long into his run he arrived at the location Holme gave him to begin his search.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74108
• Battle: 4
• Craft: 8
• Loot: 17
• MOB: 9

Percival took a quick look around the area to survey his surroundings. With the first floor being a majority of grassland, rock outcroppings are fairly easy to spot from a distance. He does not spot anything of interest nearby, however he thinks he spots something a short run away. 

"I will be ready for a marathon by the end of the day with all this running and walking I have done." Percival says to himself getting closer to what he can identify as a small rock structure.

When he finally arrives to the rocky outcrop he starts to search for the ore he needs. To his surprise it does not take too long to find a piece of ore he needs! He kneels down and snatches up the ore, putting it into his inventory. "Well that's one down. Only two more to go" As he stands back up he takes a look around to see if there are any more rock outcrops nearby.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74111
• Battle: 1
• Craft: 12
• Loot: 17
• MOB: 3

"Well its just my lucky day today." He says to himself spotting another rock formation nearby. "Lets hope its got the stuff I need." With that he starts to run to the next location. Upon arrival he begins to survey the area, but there are no ores that he is able to find out in the open. "Could they be hidden? Maybe one of these rocks holds some secrets." He says scratching his head. 

He begins searching through the rocks. Lifting one after another, but to no avail. There does not seem to be anything here. "Well that just sucks!" Frustratingly thinking to himself. "I was so certain there was going to be something here." With this he flings a large rock at a pile of rocks destroying a few in the stack. Something catches his eye over in the pile, and Percival goes to go check it out.

To his amazement there was an ore hiding underneath the pile of rocks! "That's what i'm talking about!" He says on the verge of shouting in excitement picking up the ore. "Now we just got one more to go. Lets hope this luck keeps going. It's going to be getting dark soon and I'm not going to be stuck out here in the middle of the night." 

Standing up he takes a survey of his surrounding once again.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74113
• Battle: 8
• Craft: 7
• Loot: 9
• MOB: 8

Continuing to scan the area, he can't spot anything outright. Maybe walking a little more might prove some luck. So Percival begins to walk for a bit to see if he is able to spot anything. After a few minutes go by, he takes a pause to look around the area. He finally spots something a short distance away near a couple of trees. "Let's hope that has what I need." He says as he begins to run towards the trees. 

As he arrives, to his dismay, they were just some bushes. "Great. That's exactly what I needed. The elusive and rare ore bush!" He says kicking the bush in frustration. "Maybe I might be able to spot something from the top of these trees?" He surveys the tree and it looks like it will hold his weight. Just to be safe he stashes his starter iron breastplate and iron war hammer away into his inventory. With that done he climbs up the tree. "It's been a while since I climbed a tree." Nearing the top "Let's see what we got around here."

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74116
• Battle: 6
• Craft: 4
• Loot: 4
• MOB: 10

As he is about to reach the top, there is an unpleasant *Crack* sound. "Oh you have got to b-" Not even able to finish his thought, the branch snaps under him causing him to tumble out of the tree with a large thud, knocking the wind out of him. Rolling onto his side gasping for air, "Well...not....doing...that again.". Grabbing onto his side he hobbles over to the tree sitting against it for support. "You know...this is all your fault you freaking ore bush." He sarcastically retorts to the bush, throwing a rock at it as well.

After a couple minutes of rest, to regain his composure, he stands up and equips all his gear he took off before climbing the tree. "So now that's out of the question. What now?" He says as he walks a little distance away from the tree. "Should probably start making my way back to town. It is starting to get dark now. I'm pretty sure it will be close to impossible to find the ore in the dark. Let alone the monsters that come out."

With that he begins to make his way in the direction of town. Still scanning the distance for any rocky outcrops. 

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74117
• Battle: 1
• Craft: 11
• Loot: 3
• MOB: 2

"Man that fall really took it out of me. At this rate I'm going to get to the gate as soon as it gets dark." He states to himself, still in a little pain from the fall earlier in the tree. Taking a quick moment to catch his breath he takes a quick look around at his surrounds to see if he spots anything nearby. To his dismay there is nothing but empty fields in the area. 

"Maybe a slight detour might prove beneficial. It won't be too far off the beaten path, but it's still in the direction of the gate." He thinks to himself taking a slightly different path than the one he originally came from. A few minutes into the detour, he takes a quick stop to survey the area once again. "Come on. Show me the money. I'm not giving up that easy." Squinting at something in the distance, but with it so far away he can't tell for sure. 

"Well, it's better than open field. Might as well check it out."

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74118
• Battle: 2
• Craft: 4
• Loot: 3
• MOB: 10

He makes his over to the object he saw in the distance, and as he gets closer and closer his heart begins to sink. It's just another bush. Percival lowers his head "Well, bush...You win again. You happy? Is this because I threw a rock at you?" Picking his head up to look to the sky "Look at me. I'm talking to a bloody bush. Obediah this game is making you crazy." Lowering his head, he takes a moment to once again look around the immediate area spotting a small group of rocks.

"It's slim, but let's try it." he retorts, making his way over to the rocks. Closer inspection to the rocks proves his fears. "There is no ore here." Taking a seat in the group of the rocks. "I can't waste anymore time. I have to go back." He gets up and gets his bearings to the gate and begins to head in that direction.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74120
• Battle: 3
• Craft: 10
• Loot: 3
• MOB: 9

On his way to the gate he spots something off in the distance. Thankfully it was on the path he was on to get back to town. As he got closer he gave a slight chuckle, because it was just another bush. "You know, you guys are starting to make me feel wanted at this point." he says to the bush passing by it. 

He makes it to the gate safe and sound as it turns to night. I guess I can make my way to one of the inn's to stay the night. With that he makes his way to the nearest inn. 

When he gets inside the room he immediately flops onto the bed. Staring at the ceiling he could not help feel discouraged that he was not able to complete the quest in one day, but also was proud that he was able to at least track down two of the three he did need. Maybe with a good nights rest and an early start to the day will prove bountiful. 

He closes his eyes and falls fast asleep.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

Morning rolled about too soon for Percival. He groggily opened his eyes to see the blinding sun through the window.

"Morning already?" He mumbles as he tries to lift himself from the comfort of the bed. Slowly he made his way to the edge of the bed to stand himself up. Doing a few stretches and snacking on some food he prepared himself for the big day ahead of him. "Today for sure. I will get that last piece of ore, and finish this quest." He says to himself raising a fist in the air walking to the door.

It was another beautiful morning in the Starting City, and with how early he got up other players were not really out and about yet. Getting to the gate was much easier than yesterday. That's for sure. He thought to himself approaching the gate to the outside of the city. As he passed through the threshold he took a quick look around to admire the beautiful day. It was a tranquil sight as winds blew through the fields, sun was bright in the sky, and there was not a soul in sight. "Today is going to be a good day." Almost on the verge of shouting to himself.

Smiling, he began to walk in the direction of where he found the first set of ore. 

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

• ID: 74135
• Battle: 4
• Craft: 1
• Loot: 15
• MOB: 8

He made his way back to the original area that had the first two ores, and upon arrival he took a quick look around. Spotting a familiar silhouette in the distance he gave a soft chuckle. "I would recognize those bushes anywhere now." Shaking his head "Guess I can go give that bush a quick good morning.".

He makes his way over to the bush, and proceeds to have a quick....conversation with it. "You think you guys have beaten me huh? Well you haven't. I am going to find this last piece of ore if it's the last thing I do." Giving the bush a good kick. Doing this however something catches his eye. He kneels down to the bush and parts the leaves away "What you got there?". Hidden in some rocks under the bush was the last ore that he needed! He quickly snatches the ore up and places it into his inventory, and proceeds to walk away. He stops for a moment, and turns to look at the bush "Thank you. Oh, and thank you for also making me crazy."

He proceeds the journey back to the gate, with his gathering part of the quest finally completed.  

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

He made his way back into the Starting City at noon. Giving him plenty of time to get to the shop and finish this quest. As he began to proceed he stopped dead in his tracks. The City was now bustling with players all over the place. "Crap. This is going to take a little longer than I thought." 

Percival took a few back street routes through the city took him a little longer to get to the shop, but at least got him there without any confrontation. Seeing the front entrance to the store filled him with excitement "I am going to finally become a Blacksmith today!". He opened the front door to the shop, dinging the small bell in the door frame.

"Welcome to the Magnum Opus. What can I-" Holme cut himself off when he recognized me. "Hey you're back! I take it you were successful?" He said crossing his arms from across the room. 

"Sure did, here they are!" I opened my inventory screen and proceeded to place the ore onto the counter in front of him.

He picked up the ore and took a quick hard look at them. Making some grunting sounds and other...interesting noises as well. Shaking his head "These are not going to do it Percival. These are just not the right quality to make anything out of."

With that sentence I fell to the ground. Heart in my stomach. "You are kidding me right. You can't be serious." I said in disbelief. "How could those not work. I spent so long finding them. I even started to talk to bushes!" Holme gave me a real concerned look at that last statement "Don't ask, but are they really not going to work?"

He takes another quick look at the ore and turns back to me and says "No, i'm sorry. They just are not of the right quality to be able to make anything. There is nothing I can do with them.". He hands me the ores with a concerned look on his face. "Hey. I will give you another location that should have the ore that you need to be able to finish this." He updates me with the new location details about where it is outside the gate.

With a heavy sigh "I will get these ores, and this time I will not fail. I will become a blacksmith. I swear it.". I turn to leave the shop, and as I begin to turn the handle to open the door I hear a familiar sound emanate behind me. Was that...Laughter???!!!

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

I quickly turn around to, of course, see Holme laughing hysterically on the floor. "Oh my- Oh my-. My sides are killing me! You fell for it again!". He gains some control and stabilizes himself against the counter still laughing "You really believed me! After- After doing this twice! Oh my goodness kid. You really need to lighten up!". After he finally stops laughing and wipes the tears from his eyes, he looks to me with a smile on his face "The ore will do just fine. I'm glad to see that you are dead set on this profession. Most would probably have given up by now."

At this point I have my arms crossed and right eye is twitching in utter frustration from this childish man of an NPC standing in front of me. "You....you sir...are going to give me a heart attack one of these days." I put my arms down and walk over to the opposite side of the counter where Holme was standing, and with a playful retort of my own "And who are you calling a 'kid' old man?" 

"Hey now! That's below the belt!" He says laughing. "Regardless, how about we get started on making some starting supplies shall we? Just to test the waters with your abilities?" He said to me with a stern look upon his face.

"Yes. Lets get this started!" I said in excitement. 

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

I placed the ore upon the counter in front of me raising my eyebrow to Holme. He let out a chuckle as he grabbed one of the ores. He walked over to the large anvil and beckoned a hand motion for me to come over. I walked over to oposite side of the anvil from Holme, and without warning he threw a blacksmith hammer to me. "Lets start off with something simple. Try to make a weapon for me. It can be anything. Just imagine the weapon in your mind and let the hammer do all the work for you."

I looked down at the hammer in my hands and looked back to him with fear and excitement. 

"Go on. Give that hammer a good swing!" Holme said to me with a fire in his eyes.

I looked down at the ore in front of me, took a firm grip on the hammer in my hand, took a deep breath, had an image of what I wanted in my head, and gave the hammer a good swing.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Percival

[Percival 0]

I beat upon the ore over and over with the hammer, and with a final swing the ore changes shape. Percival stares in excitement at the warm light, and watched as the weapon take its final shape. The light settles down and a simple small sword lied upon the anvil.

Holme picked up the simple sword. "Very nice first try." inspecting the sword from every angle. "Not something I would take into battle, but its a good start." He walked over to the counter and placed the small sword upon it. 

"I am just happy that it even took shape." I said looking down at the hammer in my hand. Looking over to Holme "You think something bigger is out of the question?".

Holme chuckled at this, and quickly answered "I would be amazed if you were able to make a large weapon already, but of course you don't know until you try!".

Placing another ore upon the anvil I proceeded with the same steps as before, but this time I was thinking of something bigger. Much bigger.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Percival