[SP-F1] Learning a craft <<Earning a living>>(Complete)

[Kurou 0]

As Kurou walked through the streets of the starting town, he was faced with one blatant fact, he was broke. Looking at all the weapons and armor that lay on display across the many stalls that lined the streets, he knew he was going to have to figure out a way to generate some cash. Deciding that a quest might be a good way to start, he opened up his map and set course for a quest marker located inside the city. "A quest inside the starting city shouldn't be to hard."  he thought to himself.

 

As Kurou walked into the outdoor area of the forge, he began to wonder what type of quest this was. Seeing the npc hard a work flattening a piece of steel, Kurou called out to him. "Hello there, I'm here to accept the quest."

 

"So you want to become a blacksmith do you?" The npc said as he turned to face him.

 

 

"Hmm, so this is a quest to learn a profession" Thinking that if he could simply make his own gear he wouldn't need to acquire as much col. He decided that he would accept the quest. "Yes, I accept this quest to become a smith!"

[Kurou 0]

Watching as the large dark skinned man stopped hammering on the piece of steel and walked towards him, he began to wonder what exactly the quest would entail.

 

"Very well" the npc said "First off your going to need to gather 5 bronze ores."

 

"Got it" he replied "What do I do after I have the materials"

 

"Come back here and I will teach you how to craft an item of course!" With that the npc turnaround and went back to hammering out the piece of steel.

 

Right, 5 ores, this shouldn't be a problem he thought to himself as he exited the forge area.

[Kurou 0]

Entering into the fields outside the starting city, Kurou was shocked by the amount of players roaming the floor. "It would seem if I want to avoid the crowds I'm going to have to advance." he thought to himself. Setting his mind to the task at hand however, he began to scour the floor for any signs of ore veins which he might mine. Walking across one of the many plains on the floor, Kurou came face to face with a snarling boar. Drawing his sword, he wasted no time in engaging it. Sprinting forward he laid down a ferocious onslaught of attacks that resulted in the boar squealing loudly and try desperately to get away.

 

ID: 18014 BD: 9 MD: 4

 

Kurou- 5/5

 

Boar- 1/3

[Kurou 0]

Watching closely as the boar desperately tried to recover from his last attacking. Kurou took a quick moment to catch his breath before planning his re-engagement of the enemy. Observing as the boar stomped it's hoof, he guessed that the animal was preparing to charge. Setting off with a quickness, Kurou's hope was that he would be able to close the distance before the boar was able to generate any type of serious moment. See the player set off towards it, the boar immediately began its charge. As both Kurou and the boar neared collision with each other, Kurou quickly juked to the right, avoiding the head on hit. Still attempting to salvage the attack, he swung his sword out hard to the left. Hoping to strike the boar as it passed. Sadly, he was to slow and the boar blew past leaving him to miss wildly. 

 

ID: 18016 BD: 1 MD: 2

 

Kurou- 5/5

 

Boar- 1/3

[Kurou 0]

Turning around to face the boar quickly, he didn't want to give it a chance to charge him from behind. Watching as the boar stomped its foot once more, he knew that it was about to charge again. Taking of yet again towards the boar, this time he wasn't going to move out of the way. As the distance closed between them, both trying to gather as much momentum as possible. Kurou lifted his sword as if it were a lance and pointed it straight towards the boar. Colliding into each other, he felt the boars tusk piece his leg. Undeterred by the pain however, Kurou kept his wits about him and drove his sword straight into the heart of the mob. Watching as it shattered into thousands of hexagonal pieces, he collected his loot and continued on his way.

 

ID: 18017 BD: 8 MD: 7 LD: 12

 

Kurou- 4/5

 

Boar- 0/3

 

+ 1 Material

+ 25 Col

[Kurou 0]

Holstering his sword onto his back, Kurou noticed a gleaming rock sticking out from the hill side a short ways away. Walking over to it, he stood there for a moment  and inspected it. "Although I've never seen a mineral vein in real life, this is what I imagine one would look like." Deciding that this was most likely what he was looking for, he hadn't thought about how he would mine the ore up till now. "Well, I believe the normal protocol would be to use a pick axe, but I don't seem to have one." he thought to himself. Pulling his sword from his back, he wedged the blade between the mineral and the ground. Using it as a pry bar he tried hard to free the mineral from the soil. Pushing down will all of his might, he was dismayed when the mineral shattered and instantaneously disintegrated. "Note to self, be more careful next time."

 

ID: 18021 LD: 10 

[Kurou 0]

Continuing to walk a bit farther, it wasn't long before he came upon another mineral vein lodged into the hillside. Placing his hand below his chin, he thought long and hard about how he could harvest it without breaking it like he did the last. Pulling his sword once again from his back he wedged it between the vein and the ground same as last time. This time however, instead of pushing down as hard as he could, he attempted to only pry it softly. Pulling his sword from the ground, he moved over a couple inches and once again plunged it into the ground and gave it a soft push. He continued this pattern all the way around the vain, resembling the same method one might use to open a can of paint. At the last spot, Kurou finally gave his sword a hard push and watched as the mineral  popped out of the ground. Grabbing the item and placing it into his inventory, he was pleased with the method he had developed.

 

ID: 18022 LD: 19

 

+1 Material

 

(2/5 Material gathered)

[Kurou 0]

Taking a quick look around him to see if there were any other materials to be harvest nervy, he noticed a small den like cave going into the side of the hill near him. I wonder whats in there he thought to himself. Deciding that he would check it out, he cautiously entered in to the mouth. With plenty of light shinning in from the daylight outside, he was able to tell that it in fact was more of a den then a cave, consisting of only one room. Peering around Kurou was expecting to come face to face with a bear, but atlas the den was empty. Taking a quick stroll around it, he inspected for any mineral veins before exiting the den.

 

ID: 18024 LD: 11

[Kurou 0]

Emerging back out into the sunlight of the plains, Kurou had to stop and let his eyes adjust for a moment before continuing on. Feeling the weight of the sword on his back, he new he was going to have to get accustomed to it. Although he was in prime physical shape, there was nothing in the outside world that had prepared him to haul around a 15 pound sword all day everyday on his back. Spotting another vein a few hundred yards away from him, he set course and began to stroll over to it. Watching as another player approached at a jog, there was nothing Kurou could do. Damn, I wonder how many times that's going to happen  he thought to himself as he watched the player harvest the mineral before he could get to it.

 

ID: 18029 LD: 8

[Kurou 0]

Seeing the player jog back away, Kurou observed a bright flash before another boar appeared before him. Great, now I have mobs spawning within agro range on me, my luck couldn't get any better. Starting it's charge almost before its feet hit the ground, Kurou had no time to react and dodge. Pulling his sword out, he swung it in a violent horizontal motion, slashing the boar on its stout. Before feeling the full impact of the boar barreling into him. Knocked to the ground, Kurou quickly stood up and dusted himself off. "You're not going to get rid of me that easy!" He yelled out into the air, all the while preparing for the boars next attack.

 

ID: 18030 BD: 8 MD: 7

 

Kurou- 4/5

 

Boar- 1/3

[Kurou 0]

Learning from his experiencing with the first boar, he knew all he needed was one more good hit to finish it off. Widening his stance, he decided that he was going to let the boar come to him. Observing as it snarled and pounded it's foot against the ground, he could tell that it was pissed. "Here, ugly ugly ugly" he called out, taunting the boar. Setting off on another charge, the boar was able to get fully up to speed while covering the distance between the two. Allowing it to get just within range, he swung his sword down hard in a vertical motion, watching as it sliced straight through the boar. Covering up quickly and preparing to take the force of the boars hit, he was relieved when it shattered into thousands of hexagonal shards. Leaving only a loot orb behind, holstering his sword, Kurou bent down to retrieve it.

 

ID: 18031 BD: 7 MD: 5 LD: 18

 

Kurou- 4/5

 

Boar- 0/3

 

+1 Material

 

(3/5 Materials gathered)

[Kurou 0]

After picking up and activating the loot orb, Kurou set off in search of more minerals to harvest. This isn't going to bad he thought to himself, three down and only 2 more to go. Just as that thought had left his mind, he spotted another ore vein a short ways off in the distance. This time running over to it, to ensure no other player would come along and harvest it first. Kurou pulled out his sword and proceeded to use the paint can method to retrieve the mineral from the ground. Plunging his sword into the ground for the last time, sure enough, one good push and the mineral popped out of the ground just like the one before.

 

ID: 18034 LD: 19

 

+1 Material

 

(4/5 Materials Harvested}

[Kurou 0]

One more to go, he thought to himself as he set course back for town. He figured that with only one material left to grab, he could save time by heading back now and hoping to pick it up along the way. The Starting City now in sight, Kurou came to a stop at the top of a hill. Looking down to the bottom, he noticed a boar grazing amongst the tall grass. Perfect he thought I'll take this mob out and be on my way back into the city in no time. Getting a running start down the hill, Kurou slowly built momentum until he eventually had to go into a slide for fear of losing his balance. Three quarters of the way down the hill he leaped into the air and drew his sword from his back. Flying through the air towards the boar, he drove his straight through the belly of the beast as he landed. Unable to avoid the boar as it squirmed however, he caught a blow to the stomach from one of the boars tusks.

 

ID: 18035 BD: 8 MD: 6

 

Kurou- 4/5

 

Boar- 1/3

[Kurou 0]

Still reeling from the blow to the stomach, Kurou was left unprepared when the boar lifted its hind legs and kicked him in the face as it attempted to scamper away. Grabbing his face in pain with his free hand, he quickly slashed the boar from behind just before it could get away. Watching once again as the boar shattered into hexagonal shards, leaving nothing behind but a loot orb. Kurou opened his status menu and took a look at his health. Damn, that boar almost killed me. Seeing that he had ended that fight with only 1HP left, he new he was going to have to get stronger. That could of been it he thought to himself, all over in a blink of an eye if that boar had gotten one more hit. Knowing that he couldn't allow himself to get emotional here, he knew that this wasn't going to be the last time he would have to stare death in the face.

 

ID: 18036 BD: 6 MD: 10

 

Kurou- 1/5

 

Boar- 0/3

 

+1 Material

 

(5/5 Materials gathered)

[Kurou 0]

Happy to have made it safe and sound back to the city, Kurou set course back to the forge to find out the next step of his quest. Entering into the open air forge, he observed as the NPC was still hammering away on the piece of steel. I wonder if he actually makes anything, or just sits here hammering away all day he thought to himself. Waving to the NPC to get his attention, Kurou opened up his menu and placed the minerals on a table near by. "I have collected all five of the minerals you asked me to retrieve and am ready for the next step."  he told the NPC.

 

"Very good, The next step in the task is to smelt the minerals into a true metal. By heating up the ore you will burn away or release all the impurities that are in it now. Once you have the metal in a pure liquid state, I want you to poor them into casts to create ingots."

 

"Got it" Kurou replied 

[Kurou 0]

Standing at the furnace, Kurou carefully heated each chunk of ore into a liquid state and exercising extreme caution not to burn himself, poured the molten metal into casts. Well this isn't to hard he thought to himself. Waiting for the metal to harden, Kurou new that there must be a quicker way. Eying a trough of water, he decided that if he were to place the casts in there that they would surely harden much faster.

 

"Stop!!" the NPC yelled as he watched him walk over to the trough. "You must allow the metal to harden naturally at this stage, if you try to cool it faster then the metal will become brittle and break much easier."

 

Having not known this, Kurou was thankful that the NPC had caught his mistake, as he didn't want to go harvest ore all over again.

[Kurou 0]

Once all the ingots had hardened, Kurou returned to the NPC. "Alright, all the ores have been smelted and the ingots have now hardened, what's the next step boss?"

 

"Alright, now through a process of heating and cooling, I want you to pound out the ingot into the shape of a dagger on the anvil. Once that is complete I want you to take it over to the whetstone and sharpen it."

 

"Understood, boss man"

[Kurou 0]

Walking over to the forge, Kurou heated the metal until it was white hot before placing it on the anvil. Hammering away he got several strikes in before having to reheat the now oddly shaped ingot. Repeating this process several times, it wasn't long before he had an item that was the shape of a dagger. Heating it one final time, he dunked it into the water and waved it around, making sure to not allow the steam to rise next to the blade. After hardening the blade thoroughly, he was pleased to see that it hadn't cracked in the process. Walking over to the whetstone, Kurou set to work sharping the blade until it was like a razor. Walking back over to the NPC, he presented the blade for judgement.

 

Feeling the tip of the blade with his thumb, the NPC expressed his pleasure. "Not to bad, next I want you to craft me a shield."

[Kurou 0]

Returning to the forge, Kurou grabbed the rest of his ingots and placed them in the furnace. Once heated to the perfect temperature, he set to work melding and shaping the ingots into a mighty tower shield. Taking much longer to shape then the dagger, Kurou began to become fatigued by the motion of swinging the hammer into the metal. Finally shaped and hardened to perfection, he once again presented his item to the NPC for inspection.

 

"Looks good, they only problem is I can't tell who made it, if your going to become a smith then you need to come up with a brand so people can recognize your work."

 

Thinking over what the NPC had said, Kurou stood there for a moment before grabbing a hammer and chisel to engrave the shield with. Working carefully, he slowly engraved an anvil with the initials KW inside it onto the shield.

[Kurou 0]

After grabbing the shield and inspecting it, the NPC spoke. "Very well, although far from perfect you have shown much promise. Hence fourth you will become my apprentice until such time that I deem you capable of managing your own forge."

 

Although Kurou had expected simply to be awarded the skill, it appeared that he would have to continue to put in work if he wanted to achieve his goal. Well, I guess nothing worth while comes easy he thought to himself. Over the next couple weeks, Kurou spent the majority of his time with the NPC learning to become a master of the forge. Creating things like war-hammers and maces, to entire sets of armor. Kurou slowly began to master his craft. During one week he spent over 14 hours each day, just learning the right temperatures at which to harden each type of metal. Another week he stayed in the forge for two straight days learning how to perfectly fold steel to make the strongest blades. What took many people years to master in real life, Kurou was doing in only a few weeks inside the game.