Chapter 7: Hard work made the man

Due to my 10 points of luck, prayer buff or Donar's pickax, or maybe all together I found one decent sized chunk of ore.

Copper ore

Common

An ordinary material used by blacksmiths

Weight: 1,8 kg

Nice, I thought, extra reward here I come. After I smashed that boulder into pieces I found only that one chunk of ore. I went to Donar to ask for the next task. I handed him that piece of ore and asked what next. He looked at it, nodded his head in approval and showed me a place not far from his and said to just go at it. And I did. Not only did I focused so hard at swinging I even forgot about going hungry. If Donar didn't call after some time to hand me a piece of jerky, I would probably collapse from hunger.

After replenishing our energy we continued with the mining. Thanks to Donar's pickax it was going smoothly. I found one more chunk of ore a little smaller than the previous, and I also gained 1 strength and 1 endurance point due to the hard work. It seems that one day of mining is worth one and a half day of farming. We finished soon after. Donar already dug out two full sacks of ores and I could see that most of them were iron, with even few pieces of silver and gold. I put one sack on my back while Donar took another, and we walked down the mountain.

Good thing was that we were going down, if I had to climb with full sack I would probably stop half way. As we were going down, the sun also followed us slowly going down the horizon. When we arrived at the gates one of the guards came to Donar, pat his shoulder and they talked a little. From the silence when we were together I thought that Donar doesn't have any friends, but I guess I was wrong. We arrived at the smithy shortly after. I put the sack down and waited for the end of the quest. Donar took two chunks of ore tossed them to me and said

, Thanks for the help bringing the ores down the mountain."

I heard the notification saying I finished the quest and gaining 2000 EXP points, but there wasn't any extra reward. I noticed that two chunks of ore were the ones I found. I looked at Donar with confused look, which he noticed.

, You found those, so they belong to you. I only need you to carry the sack anything you found would be yours."

, Thanks" I said and looked at two chunks of ore, and suddenly an idea popped in my head , Donar could you make me a weapon with this, I could compensate you for it."

, There is no need for that" he said , I can make you a weapon, but with this much ore, I could only make a knife. If you want a better weapon you would need more ores. Come to my smithy tomorrow, I will lend you one of my pickaxes, then you can go to the mountain."

I could only thank him and say goodbye until tomorrow.

Finally, Friday came and with that the end of the school week. Now I will have more time to explore in the game. At school I talked with Maria and Anna about the game and how are they doing. Yes, Nick was also there, when he heard that Maria and Anna are farming in their village, he also started bragging that he is also farming and that he is the best in his village. I barely stopped myself from laughing out loud. Because he was too busy with making himself look good in front of Anna he didn't notice. But Maria did, and I could see a small smile coming from her. I smiled back to her and thought to myself, you fool when will you talk to her alone and ask her out. But since she and Anna were always together at school I didn't have the courage to get near her. A little more I thought, a little more time and I will do it.

When I came back home I left those thoughts in the back of my mind and started concentrating on the game. Before lunch, I finished the test for classes next week and looked around forums a little. It seems that the strongest players are level 3. Well, lack of monsters and their power made a situation like this. Players also complained about the lack of necessary beginner stuff, like weapons and money, but game officials stayed numb to players plight.

, Hard work made the man" or something like that, was a saying in the past, but since now all hard work is done by robots, we human beings forgot about it and want everything on a silver plate.

First thing I did when I logged in was to pray at the temple. When I got the blessing from Horz I went to Donar's smithy. He was already there refining ores from yesterday. I could feel the heat from the forge all the way until the smithy's entrance. I said hello and he gave me one smaller sack and one of his pickaxes. I almost started running to the mountain mine, but one realization stopped me in place. What am I going to do about food? Thus far villagers and Donar supplied me with meals. I may be able to catch something but preparing it was a different thing. I turned around and asked Donar,

, Donar do you know where can I get a meal to take with me?"

, Do you have money?" he asked.

, 10 copper coins" I said, Of course, it wouldn't be free. In this world, the meal must be earned.

, Go to my wife, she can make you something." he said and gave me a direction to his house.

At first, I was surprised that Donar is married, but then why wouldn't he be. Then the second surprise arrived when I saw his wife. Even though she was middle-aged lady her beauty was still there. When she was younger she must have been the most beautiful girl in the village. How did Donar marry such beauty is beyond me. I said to her why am I here and that Donar sent me.

She was very polite and for 5 coppers gave me a loaf of bread and one piece of jerky. She also gave me one small leather bag to put food in it and one water flask which I filled at the village well. Before I went my way she said if I had money I could also come tomorrow for a meal. Well with five more coppers I had one more meal guaranteed.

I put my legs on the road and hurried to the mine, having a weapon will be critical for my exploration in the future. I was a little afraid traveling through the hills and mountain. Donar wasn't with me and I had only one pickax as a weapon. But I soon calmed down. In this almost barren part of the mountain, there shouldn't be any monsters or beast. Though I did hear once cry of a bird high in the mountains. Was it an eagle or a hawk I had no idea.

As soon as I made it to the right spot I started mining. Even though it wasn't that hard with the help of Donar's pickax, I couldn't help myself turning around from time to time. When you are alone in a new strange environment you may feel afraid from time to time. Even though I was here with Donar yesterday at least I knew I could count on someone if something would happen. Before lunch, I found two chunks of copper ore the size of the ones yesterday.

I ate half of the loaf and the jerky and drank water to recover my hunger bar to the full. Rest of the bread loaf I saved for the time before leaving for the village. I diligently continued my work swing after swing. Because this was repetitive work I decided to chat with Wolf and Marco, to see what they are up to.

, Hey guys, how are you doing? How are you raising your levels?"

, I am fighting of course" said Wolf , I am going with village hunters and hunting beasts, I an level 3 already, halfway to level 4. Thanks for the tip by the way. God of War is the best. Only you could discover this prayer thing so quickly."

, Wow halfway to level 4, nice. I am almost level 3, I am trying to get a weapon to level easily. Are you fighting barehanded?"

, At first, but hunters gave me an ax when they saw me fight, ha ha ha." Laughed Wolf loudly. Well, he was always a straightforward person, no wonder hunters took a liking to him.

, Marco what are you doing, what level are you?" I asked him.

, Painting, level 4." he answered.

, What?!" Both Wolf and I were surprised, we thought he is outside the game, but how did he raise his level so quickly we wondered. But then he explained us his situation.

, After you told us about the temple the first day I went to pray. I gained a 5-day buff and because I didn't know what to do I walked around the village. I found a metal knife and because I don't have any experience using it I found old tree bark and started carving on it. I was carving a picture of a village when one villager saw me. He spread the word and the village chief came to me. He said I was very good and asked me to paint a picture of him. Good thing merchant was there so chief procured the materials. When I finished the picture everyone begged chief for one. So he had to buy more materials for every villager, even kids. I was painting every day, today will be the last one, I have several more paintings to make."

Wolf and I were astonished. What could we say except wow, well done, what luck! Honestly, this kind of leveling could only be done by Marco or some other artists who have same luck and love for arts like him.

When they asked me what am I doing, they couldn't believe that I am doing manual labor. As we were talking I found one more copper ore. We talked a little more than continued doing our one things. I saw from the position of the sun that I have a little more than an hour before I had to return to the village so I hurried up.

With some stroke of lady luck fifteen minutes before departing I found one decent chunk of bronze ore.

Bronze ore

Common material

An ordinary material used by blacksmiths

Weight: 2,13 kg

With great enthusiasm, I ate my piece of bread and slowly started walking down the mountain. I even didn't pay attention to strange noises from the mountains as I was nearing the village. Donar was still in his smithy refining the ores from yesterday. I handed him the ores and his pickax with a small smile.

, Not bad'' he sad when he saw the ores I brought him,, so what is it going to be?"

, Ha?" I couldn't understand him.

, Weapon" he said,, what kind of a weapon should I make for you?"

So that is what he meant, a weapon. What kind? I had no idea. I never used one and I don't know what weapon would be good for me. Bow and arrow, no way, I don't have the eye to hand coordination for that, short weapons are for rouge like jobs so that is out if the question. The ax or sword I don't think those are for me. If a shield could be a weapon it could be a good choice.

The only close thing to a weapon I wielded was Donar's pickax and that wooden stick I found by the road. Stick? Club? Staff? Why not, I thought and asked Donar.

, Can you make me a metal staff?"

, A staff, is it?" he looked at me and nodded his head,, so that is your weapon of choice. Not bad. you are probably not familiar with regular weapons so you choose something which is easy to use for a beginner. Let me measure you so I can make it be easier to use."

Donar used some kind of a leather meter to measure my height, length of my arms and he even looked my palm and hands for a few minutes. I guess this is how blacksmiths make weapons which are suited to certain people.

When he finished he said,, Come tomorrow morning to take it" and immediately started refining ores I dug out. The only thing I could do was to log out, get some real sleep and wait for my first weapon.