Chapter 19: You’re My Real Brother!
Editor: Atlas Studios
"What? You actually obtained so many Level 10 Iron Ores? Not bad! It seems that you're a very hard-working person. Give me the Iron Ore and I will give you extra rewards. I hope that this forging craftsmanship can shine in your hands!"
As expected, this little trick had existed all along, the only difference being when it was discovered. After handing in all the Level 10 Iron Ores to the blacksmith, he smelted the Iron Ores into Iron Ingots under his guidance before he forged a Level 1 staff. He had officially learned to forge.
While looking at his full 100 points of proficiency, Fatty only felt satisfied for a while. Although it had taken him a lot of time to mine the Level 10 ores in the mineshaft, he was able to raise his forging proficiency very quickly, which virtually saved him a lot of time. Although Fatty wouldn't dare say that he was the first in the game to forge Level 10 weapons and equipment, he was definitely one of the first ones.
Weapon forging requirements of proficiency were divided into several stages. After reaching 100 points of proficiency, the player could forge Level 10 to 19 weapons. However, if they wanted to forge a Level 20 weapon, they would need 400 points of proficiency, while forging Level 30 weapons required 900 points of proficiency. This also meant that the proficiency needed to forge the weapons happened to be the square of the equipment level! In the later stages, the proficiency requirements would become higher.
After looking at the system time and realizing that it had almost gotten dark ever since the game beta trial had opened, Fatty spent three and a half hours walking from the Novice Village to the main venue. In the mineshaft, he had spent nearly two hours mining, which added up to nearly 6 hours! The day-to-day conversion of the system took place every 6 hours. Right now, it was almost time to switch. To verify his conjecture, Fatty did not plan on going out to level up. He just waited at the blacksmith's to forge a staff and test it.
However, there was nothing wrong with standing there. Upon seeing so many players pulling other players to help them forge weapons and acquire proficiency, Fatty followed these players and started shouting.
"I'll help you forge weapons above Level 10! Bring your own materials!"
Once he shouted, the players on the street of the blacksmith immediately were dumbfounded. One by one, they turned their heads to look at Fatty.
Many players were forging weapons for free on this street now, but only Fatty could forge weapons above Level 10. It would be strange if he did not stand out!
Every time a weapon was forged, the proficiency acquired depended on the weapon level. After forging a Level 3 Weapon Blueprint, the forger could obtain three points of proficiency. Likewise, a Level 5 blueprint would allow the forger to acquire five points and a Level 10 one ten points.
Theoretically, forging ten Level 10 weapons would allow a player to acquire sufficient proficiency. However, there was a problem there. Without 100 points of proficiency, a player could only forge a weapon below Level 10!
Forging a Level 3 weapon required forging more than 33 weapons to put together enough proficiency, while forging a Level 5 weapon required 20 weapons. So many players learned to forge that there was a strain on business. Plus, there were very few blueprints currently. Even after shouting for a long time, some players did not manage to solicit any players who wanted to forge weapons. Thus, it was indeed not easy to help forge for free and acquire 100 points of proficiency.
That was why Fatty stood out among the crowd… After all, the other players didn't know the little trick necessary to raise their proficiency.
Fatty shouted so loudly that it actually worked. Immediately, a player ran over and looked at him before he asked, "Can you really forge a Level 10 weapon?"
The player looked at Fatty and Fatty looked at him. This was a Level 12 Undead Thief, so his level was considered high. Fatty nodded and said, "I can. It will cost you two Silver Coins!"
The Undead Thief player was immediately taken back. "What about one Silver Coin? Other people are forging for free. You're the only one collecting such a high fee. Two Silver Coins are equal to 200 Bronze Coins! Why don't you rob me instead?"
Actually, Fatty had never thought business would find him so quickly. The price he had quoted just now had been casual. After hearing this Undead Thief player, Fatty felt uncomfortable and answered lazily, "Go find someone else to forge for you since they are doing it for free!"
The Undead Thief player suddenly choked. What a joke! Find someone else to forge for him? Did they even have enough proficiency?
If their proficiency was not enough, they would likely forge a Level 10 Weapon Blueprint into a Level 5 weapon. Since Level 10 Weapon Blueprints were currently hard to obtain, the market price was also relatively more expensive. It was around 10 Silver Coins. This Undead Thief player had obtained a suitable Level 10 Dagger Blueprint with a lot of difficulty. If he asked somebody else to forge it to a Level 5 weapon, wouldn't he weep to death?
Therefore, the Thief hesitated for a while before he asked Fatty, "Big Brother, can you lower the price? It's too high!"
In front of the controller, Fatty couldn't help but rolled his eyes. This was already the second person who had said that the price was too high. Was that really the case? This was slander!
Thus, Fatty replied impatiently, "Take it or leave it!"
When he said that, Fatty felt that this was very familiar. It seemed that before he had gone back in time, a player had also told him something along the lines of 'take it or leave it'. He hadn't expected that he would actually say this to someone that day…
This was not simple. Fatty sighed as his cheeks started streaming with tears…
Upon seeing Fatty's firmness, the Undead Thief could only grit his teeth and say, "Wait. I'll borrow money from my friend!"
This was akin to agreeing to the deal. As he watched that Undead Thief player fly around to borrow money, a group of players looked at Fatty enviously. This business competition would drive one to anger. They were helping others forge for free here and couldn't wait to betray their bodies like a brothel pulling in customers and losing money instead. However, Fatty's two Silver Coins were not bargainable, and he was awesome. In the end, the Thief had even been afraid that he would go back on his word, so he had gone to borrow money. What kind of world was this?
Fatty was surprised, as he hadn't expected that the Thief player would actually agree to his forging deal and even compensate him with two Silver Coins as a fee.
This was really… He had just learned how to forge and he was already starting to earn money. Was there anything more blissful than this?
Fatty didn't wait long before that Thief player returned. He told Fatty as he gasped for breath, "Big Brother, I've put together enough money. I'll entrust you with this."
"Let's do it!" Fatty answered.
The players could also entrust somebody to forge at the blacksmith's. After the player took his materials out, he would appoint someone to forge on his behalf before he added the commission fee. The player in charge of helping them forge could forge at the blacksmith's. The forged goods would automatically be returned to the player. This setup could prevent players from cheating other players out of their materials and blueprints.
Upon seeing that Fatty was prepared to start work, the players near the blacksmith all gathered over and watched anxiously to see what kind of rank would be produced after the weapon was forged. Of course, these players were envious and jealous of Fatty for collecting a high fee, but they shouted deep down, "Normal Rank! Normal Rank! It has to be a Normal Rank!"
They couldn't wait to see Fatty forge trash. This way, they wouldn't need to be afraid of this person, who could already forge Level 10 weapons, stealing their business…
As a result, the players' gazes naturally harbored evil intentions. Fatty had always been sensitive to such gazes. When he saw a huge group of people gather behind him and eye him covetously, he was taken aback.
Then, he understood that this group of people was waiting for him to make a fool out of himself!
There was a risk for everything. As long as he forged a weapon with a good rank or a Refined Rank, Fatty would make his mark. However, if he ended up forging a Normal Rank weapon, he would be scolded to death by others. After all, he had collected a high fee of two Silver Coins to help someone forge!
For a moment, Fatty felt somewhat nervous and hesitated to accept this business. After looking at the system time, he realized that it was going to get dark soon. Clenching his teeth, he made a firm decision to test the Thief player's Dagger Blueprint!
Fatty was certainly confident about his conjecture on forging weapons. After all, a piece of Superior Rank equipment was not easily forged. According to the official statement, during the equipment forging process, the chance of a Refined Rank appearing was 15%, the chance of a Superior Rank appearing was 5%, and the chance of a Legendary Rank appearing was 1%. Fatty had forged many weapons, but he had only managed to forge a Superior Rank weapon once.
He had always been unlucky, so he didn't believe that he would be lucky this time. After a lot of thought, he could only blame his conjecture, thinking that if he forged when the system data refreshed, there would be a higher chance of a Superior Rank result.
Therefore, in order not to disgrace himself this time, Fatty could only put his hopes on this conjecture.
While he calculated the system's time conversion, Fatty mumbled, "I don't ask for too much, just a Refined Rank. This has to happen!"
After obtaining the Undead Thief's entrusted quest, Fatty stood beside the anvil and took out his mace. When he saw that there were 15 seconds left before the system would go into night time, he started to forge!
There was a progress bar while one was forging a weapon. Fatty calculated that this progress bar lasted precisely 15 seconds, which also meant that when the progress bar was finished and forging was completed, it would be time for the system to enter night time!
Upon seeing that Fatty had started to forge, all the players stared at his movements, especially the Undead Thief player, who looked nervous. Although he knew that the chance of producing a Normal Rank weapon was generally high, nevertheless, every forging attempt was different. Everyone hoped that their own blueprint could produce equipment of a good rank and stats. As an involved party, he nervously expected this to be normal.
With a clank, the progress bar filled up and the system entered night time. Fatty's forging process had been completed!
System: "You have forged a dagger. Its current status is unidentified!"
System: "You have completed the forging process and have obtained 2 Silver Coins. After deducting the commission fee, you have obtained 1 Silver Coin and 98 Bronze Coins!"
The weapons and equipment forged were usually unidentified. However, the system had an NPC that sold Appraisal Scrolls. After the Undead Thief player took his dagger, he hurriedly fished out the Appraisal Scroll and used it on the dagger!
All the players looked at the Thief anxiously, including Fatty. As the forger, this would determine whether he would make his mark.
After the appraisal light dispersed, the Undead Thief player looked at the stats of his dagger and shouted, "I've made it big!"
Upon hearing that, Fatty was relieved. He knew that at least this wasn't a Normal Rank weapon, so he hadn't disgraced himself this time.
After the Undead Thief player roared, he actually rushed up to hug Fatty and shouted, "Big Brother! You're my real brother! My real brother!"
-- Gift
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