"Welp...this is one hell of an improvement."
[Report. Success! The E-Rank Mana Crystals have been successfully absorbed.]
[Mana Capacity gained from all the E-Rank Mana Crystals: 3285.]
[Extra Mana Capacity gained from each E-Rank Mana Crystal absorbed with the use of Fury of Dantian Skill: 6.]
[Total amount of extra Mana Capacity: 3600]
[Total amount of Mana Capacity gained from Mana Crystal absorption: 6885.]
[Report. Advancements in the Subject's overall Warrior info have been detected as a result of recent actions.]
[Now calculating advancements...]
[Cultivator Skill has advanced from D-Rank to C-Rank. Cultivator's Sub-Skill Astral Unification has advanced from D-Rank to C-Rank. Cultivator's Sub-Skill Fury of Dantian Skill has advanced from F-Rank to D-Rank.]
[Weapon Fanatic's Sub-Skill Bladework's effects on the Subject's Stats have increased. Effect on Strength has increased by 400. Effect on Speed has increased by 450. Effect on Health has increased by 1800 and effect on Intelligence has increased by 2500. Now redesigning the effects of the A-Rank Bladework Sub-Skill on the Subject...]
A-Rank Bladework Sub-Skill: Effects When Active
• Strength +1300
• Speed +1570
• Health +2760
• Intelligence +3720
[Furthermore, Mana Capacity has increased by 3350+6285. Strength has increased by 550. Speed has increased by 650. Health has increased by 1200 and Intelligence has increased by 1800.]
[Now redesigning overall Warrior info...]
Name: Raid
Surname: ???
Affiliation: Awakened Warrior
Class: Blacksmith
Skills:
• Craft D-Rank : Can craft high level equipment, weapons and amour from scratch as long as the necessary products to do so are present.
• Repair D-Rank: Can fix broken equipment, weapons and amour.
• Weapon Fanatic C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of understanding of how various weapons operate, including how to use them in battle.
•• Bladework A-Rank: Possesses an apex level of mastery with blades.
••• Sunset Slash: A very powerful slash with the power to bend nature to its will.
• Treasure Hunt B-Rank: Can expertly locate mines with products and minerals for crafting within a 1200 kilometre radius. Tip: Mines found in dungeons have the best products.
•• Soul-Piercing Eyes C-Rank: Exponentially increases sensory perception, allows one to spot a large number of weak points in their opponents and see many various hidden secrets of nature.
• Mine D-Rank: Can masterfully mine products and minerals for crafting.
• Item Space B-Rank: Massive space to store equipment, weapons, armoury, products, minerals, etc...
• Brawler C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in hand-to-hand close-quarters combat.
•• Demolition Strike: A very powerful strike that releases shockwaves of incredible force that can demolish anything of weaker strength.
• Cultivator C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in Mana manipulation, through the use of a Dantian.
•• Astral Unification C-Rank: Allows one to unify many aspects of oneself through breathing for the purpose of increasing sensory perception, Mana manipulation efficiency and overall amount of Mana.
•• Fury of Dantian D-Rank: Sizeable Dantian that acts as the Mana Source of the Subject. Can temporarily increase Subject's Mana Capacity four-fold. Significantly increases Mana manipulation efficiency. Adds 140% extra Mana Capacity when absorbing Mana Crystals.
• Resilient Regeneration D-Rank: Can heal almost all damages to the body, regenerate any body part including organs except for the heart and brain, speed of regeneration is dependent on the scale of damage and Skill Rank.
• Hypermove E-Rank: Can increase one's speed drastically through the use of electric Mana. Said Mana also acts as a shield against air resistance.
Rank: F
Level: Locked
Mana Capacity: 16648
Strength: 3240
Speed: 3463
Health: 4254
Intelligence: 5090
"There's three things I've learned through absorbing all three-hundred and fifty-seven of those Mana Crystals."
One, how the Bladework Skill works. Or rather how all Skills, A-Rank and above work. The effects they have on a Warrior's Stats isn't determined by the strength of the Skill, rather by the strength of the Warrior. The effects are set to match the current Stats of the Warrior. So the higher the Stats, the higher the effects. Furthermore once a Skill reaches A-Rank, its further advancements to higher Ranks isn't determined by the strength of the Warrior but by their willpower, however unlike how effects work, this concept isn't something the System told me, rather a theory I came up with on my own. Now for the second thing I learned, how the Fury of Dantian Skill works, specifically, at first, it said it could temporarily increase my Mana Capacity two-fold when it was F-Rank, now it's says "four-fold" instead since it's now D-Rank. What I've gathered from this is that it adds a fold when it goes one Rank higher. Then there's the extra Mana Capacity it gives when I absorb Mana Crystals which was 120% before and is 140% now, indicating that it adds 10% each time it goes one Rank higher. My conclusion is that by the time the Skill reaches SSS-Rank, the temporary increase in Mana Capacity will have reached ten-fold while the extra Mana Capacity it gives when absorbing Mana Crystals will be 200%. Then there's the fact that the Dantian now acts as my Mana Source. All living beings, rather all living beings that can generate Mana, have what is called a Mana Source, which is where their Source Mana mostly resides. For monsters, their Mana Source is their monster core, for Warriors, it varies from person to person between the brain (similar to how it was for me), the lungs and heart but since I got the Dantian that became my new Mana Source, it's possible I have a Mana Source that might have the highest potential in Mana manipulation efficiency. As for the last but not the least of the things I've learned; the ins and outs of Mana Crystal absorption, or to be more specific, the ins and outs of my Mana Crystal absorption. I've learned that the way I absorb Mana Crystals isn't necessarily similar to how all the other Warriors do it. While I'm still uncertain about their exact methods, one thing is for sure, no other Warrior has a Skill that allows them to absorb Mana Crystals. Furthermore, ever since my Cultivator Skill reached D-Rank, There isn't any Mana Crystal of any Rank that I can't absorb. The only aspect that is currently fixed is the amount of Mana Crystals I can absorb at once depending on the Rank. To be more specific, the Cultivator Skill allows me to absorb 100 Mana Crystals that are of the same Rank as itself at once. And that number either decreases or increases by 10 when dealing with Mana Crystals of either higher or lower Ranks respectively. Because of that, I was able to absorb 110 E-Rank Mana Crystals at once at a time. And from now on, I'll be able to absorb 120 of them at once. I can't, however, absorb Mana Crystals of varying Ranks at the same time, nor do I want to. The amount of Mana Capacity one gains from each Mana Crystal is determined by the crystal's Rank. Specifically, all Mana Crystals of a certain Rank give five times as much Mana Capacity as Mana Crystals of one Rank below. For F-Ranks, it's 1 Mana Capacity, for E-Ranks, it's 5, for D-Ranks, it's 25 and so on. In my case, I'm only getting extra Mana Capacity because of my, shall we say, "unorthodox" methods of absorbing Mana Crystals. I've found three different methods of absorbing Mana Crystals and all of them vary in the amount of Mana Capacity they give me. I had tried them all when absorbing those 657 Mana Crystals. The first was to simply use only Cultivator to absorb them. I absorbed 7 at once and I didn't get any extra Mana Capacity, just a measly 35 while my Mana Capacity Stat along with the others increased a little on their own. The second method of absorption was to use the four Skills I had used before, there was still no extra Mana Capacity but in addition to gaining 250 Mana Capacity from it, said-Mana Capacity along with the other Stats increased by a lot. I then absorbed the crystals using all four of the previous Skills in addition to the Fury of Dantian, my Stats incomparably increased even higher and the amount of extra Mana Capacity made me dizzy. The conclusion was that Stats increase as a result of achieving certain feats, the more difficult the feat, the higher the increase in Stats. Hence the difference in the increase between using one Skill to absorb and using four Skills to absorb. While it's true, I could achieve the same objective of extra Mana Capacity, absorbing Mana Crystals through the use of two simple Skills being Cultivator and Fury of Dantian, the increase in my Stats in particular will undoubtedly diminish.
Which led me to make a decision.
"From now on. I'll absorb Mana Crystals using five Skills
total! The pay off will be humungous! Mwahaha!"
My maniacal laugh echoed through the quiet empty room.
"Ahem...now then, what should I do next now that I'm done with the absorption. Hmm... I'd like to see about some crafting, using either some Cold Iron or the weapons and equipment I sto-I mean "borrowed" from the Zeke Party. Yeah, let's do that... Open Item Space."
[Report. Command accepted. Now opening Item Space...]
Item Space B-Rank contents:
• Hammer of Unknown Origin: A fiery and sturdy hammer that the Subject can use to craft equipment and the like... its origin is unknown, it possesses a small yet strong ego and emits an otherworldly energy signature. It's Grade cannot be measured yet due to how little information is known about it. It has completely acknowledged the user as its master.
• Great Pickaxe: A strong and sturdy pickaxe with magical properties. Its Grade is unknown due to its bizarre and foreign properties.
• Great Shovel: A strong and sturdy shovel with magical properties. Its Grade is unknown due to its bizarre and foreign properties.
• Dragon Furnace: A furnace that can produce flames powerful enough to melt down almost any metal.
• 595 kilograms of iron, approximately. Fifty nine bars of iron in total, each weighing 10 kilograms plus one chunk about the size of half a bar weighing about 5 kilograms.
• Everchanging Anvil: A special anvil that can change into any desired shape to be able to produce any weapon.
• Various planks of wood.
• Various fabrics: Leather, cotton, silk etc...
• Twelve Whistling Daggers: Twelve strong sharp daggers made of Poison Steel, each in the Last Stage Intermediate-Grade. While they cannot be used by the Subject in battle, they can however be used as material to craft a new weapon/s.
• Trispirit Staff: A great and powerful magic staff that enhances one's Mana output, the three gemstones on it enhance the, Fire Elemental Magic, Wind Elemental Magic and Water Elemental Magic of those who wield it respectively. The wood the staff is made from is called, Viss Wood found in one of the countless various Great Spirit Trees of the Spirit World. The staff is in the Middle Stage Intermediate-Grade. While it cannot be used by the Subject in battle, it can however be used as material to craft a new weapon/s.
• Drakeduke Armour and Drakeduke Longsword: Incredibly sturdy knight wear and longsword set made from the scales of a B-Rank Wyvern monster. They're in the Last Stage High-Grade. While they cannot be used by the Subject in battle, they can however be used as material to craft a new weapon/s.***
• 11300+ kilograms of pure Cold Iron. Chunks varying in weight and size.
• 1 D-Rank Mana Crystal. Can be sold for currency or used to increase Subject's Mana Capacity with the Cultivator Skill.
• Great Werehyena's claws, canine and spine: Ten times stronger than Cold Iron. Can be used for blacksmithing.
• First Dawn: Subject's first creation. Incredibly sharp, shiny and sturdy blade made of iron with very high Mana conductivity. Cannot be stained and cannot be used by anyone except the Subject unless the Subject allows it. The blade is in the First Stage Super-Grade.
"Right, I still have First Dawn, my trusty blade."
I took it out and held it.
"Weapons can't increase in Grade but they can increase in Stage through the process of refining either in a Weapon's Forge or in battle. Increasing a weapon's Stage through battle is the more efficient method between the two though. But I'm The Blacksmith."
A steamy room with constant sparks of flames. The sound of metal clashing against metal.
"Now that's what my Class is all about!... Right, I've decided. I'll increase the Stage of First Dawn....but, how exactly am I supposed to do that. Do I have a Skill for refining weapons? Lemme check, open Warrior info..."
[Report. Command accepted. Now opening overall Warrior info...]
Name: Raid
Surname: ???
Affiliation: Awakened Warrior
Class: Blacksmith
Skills:
• Craft D-Rank : Can craft high level equipment, weapons and amour from scratch as long as the necessary products to do so are present.
• Repair D-Rank: Can fix broken equipment, weapons and amour.
• Weapon Fanatic C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of understanding of how various weapons operate, including how to use them in battle.
•• Bladework A-Rank: Possesses an apex level of mastery with blades.
••• Sunset Slash: A very powerful slash with the power to bend nature to its will.
• Treasure Hunt B-Rank: Can expertly locate mines with products and minerals for crafting within a 1200 kilometre radius. Tip: Mines found in dungeons have the best products.
•• Soul-Piercing Eyes C-Rank: Exponentially increases sensory perception, allows one to spot a large number of weak points in their opponents and see many various hidden secrets of nature.
• Mine D-Rank: Can masterfully mine products and minerals for crafting.
• Item Space B-Rank: Massive space to store equipment, weapons, armoury, products, minerals, etc...
• Brawler C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in hand-to-hand close-quarters combat.
•• Demolition Strike: A very powerful strike that releases shockwaves of incredible force that can demolish anything of weaker strength.
• Cultivator C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in Mana manipulation, through the use of a Dantian.
•• Astral Unification C-Rank: Allows one to unify many aspects of oneself through breathing for the purpose of increasing sensory perception, Mana manipulation efficiency and overall amount of Mana.
•• Fury of Dantian D-Rank: Sizeable Dantian that acts as the Mana Source of the Subject. Can temporarily increase Subject's Mana Capacity four-fold. Significantly increases Mana manipulation efficiency. Adds 140% extra Mana Capacity when absorbing Mana Crystals.
• Resilient Regeneration D-Rank: Can heal almost all damages to the body, regenerate any body part including organs except for the heart and brain, speed of regeneration is dependent on the scale of damage and Skill Rank.
• Hypermove E-Rank: Can increase one's speed drastically through the use of electric Mana. Said Mana also acts as a shield against air resistance.
Rank: F
Level: Locked
Mana Capacity: 16648
Strength: 3240
Speed: 3463
Health: 4254
Intelligence: 5090
"Hmm...is it the Repair Skill? But First Dawn isn't broken though. Well, it's not like it said it can't fix un-broken weapons. I'll try it out."
So I activated the Repair Skill. Knowledge I didn't possess before suddenly started flooding into my mind. I instinctively knew what I had to do next. Moving the bed to the side again, I conjured out the Hammer of Unknown Origin, along with the Dragon Furnace and the Everchanging Anvil.
"I understand everything now. Refining is a process of breaking something down to then rebuild it back up anew. To make it stronger, better, tougher. First Dawn in the first place is made of normal iron but if I rebuild it out of Cold Iron which is exponents stronger, or even some of the materials in the weapons I stol-I mean uh...borrowed from the Zeke Party bless their souls may they rest in peace, then, it might even reach the Last Stage. Heck I could even add some of the Werehyena's parts I got from clearing the Dungeon."
First I took First Dawn, destroyed its hilt leaving only the blade and placed it in the Dragon Furnace to make it more malleable.
I then decided to melt down a mixture of around a quarter kilogram of Cold Iron along with a piece with around the same weight that I had cut off with First Dawn from the Drakeduke Longsword, was about a third of it or so and a single small tooth from the Werehyena's canine. The molten mixture shone an annoyingly bright whitish silver. I decided not to use the Poison Steel of the Twelve Whistling Daggers since I didn't think 'poison' really matched First Dawn's nature. I then made the Everchanging Anvil form a hole in it in the shape of First Dawn. After that I took First Dawn out of the furnace then used the anvil to scrape some pieces off of it to make it thinner. I then placed it in its it-shaped hole in the anvil, made sure to balance it well, then poured the molten mixture from before in the hole along the spaces in the sides. After that, I activated my Cultivator Skill.
"Now then. My Intelligence Stat has entered the C-Rank Minimum. It'll be higher if I activate Bladework so let's get to it."
I activated Bladework to increase the Intelligence Stat placing it over 8000. Using Cultivator, I then generated Mana and transfered it to the blade and molten mixture. First Dawn was to absorb the molten along with the Mana .
"Alright, the absorption will be done in thirty minutes. I should get dressed in the meantime."
I calmly went to first moisturize my body and then got dressed. I wore shorts, a pair of sandals and a hawaiian t-shirt. Around fifteen minutes were left till the absorption process was finished.
"I should get something to eat."
I thought about ordering room service but then remembered how messed up my room looked.
The employees here would go crazy if they saw a weird looking anvil with a blade stuck in it, that, toppled with the large furnace emitting intense flames and heat around the whole room, well let's just say, it's better if no one sees this but me.
"Guess that's a raincheck on the dinner. It's a good thing my stuff isn't causing any significant effects on the room outside of this extreme heat. I'm sweating buckets over here!... Hmm...the absorption's almost done. 'Bout ten minutes left. Alrighty then. Time to prepare for the next step."
So I opened my Item Space once more then took out the Trispirit Staff.
"I can use this wood for the new hilt. The gemstones too, if they enhance Fire, Wind and Water Elemental Magic then there's a chance that they might give First Dawn something similar. I can't use it, sure, but I can break it! Heh." I grinned.
I activated the Bladework Skill and Brawler Skill thereafter, gathered a ton of Mana onto my finger tips, then yanked the gemstones out of the wooden staff, one by one.
"There we go. Still though, these gemstones are way to big for me to stick them on First Dawn. Should I break them down to smaller pieces? That might decrease the firepower of their Mana though...hmm. If there's a way to decrease the size but keep the amount of Mana, heck even increase it then there's only one I can think of. I'll use my Cultivator Skill to fine-tune the Mana in the gemstones, same way I did with mine when I fought the Great Werehyena, I'll increase the Mana's density and concentration. When it's quality versus quantity, people tend to chose one or the other. I won't make that choice. I'll take both!" I declared.
The Mana spiked, circulating around the three gemstones as they levitated a few centimetres above my hands. They each started to break down to smaller pieces. The parts being discarded turned to dust and dissipated, until, finally, they were each about the size of a ring. Even their shape changed. Before they were spherical in shape, now they were kite-shaped, like eight-sided diamonds. I put them on the bed, deactivated Bladework and kept Cultivator on after I was done. I then noticed that First Dawn had also finished absorbing the molten mixture from before. The blade was renewed. I took it out of the Everchanging Anvil then transported both the anvil and Dragon Furnace back inside the Item Space since I wasn't going to need them anymore. I then started to check out my new blade. The bright shine of silver from before still remained but now with a hint of whitish glow. It radiated an incredible and almost hypnotic aura. The blade looked amazing before it was even finished. It was incomparably sharper than before, to the point that I couldn't even quantify by how much.
"Right. Now it's time to make the hilt. Viss Wood, like the name suggests is highly sensitive to Mana. If I infuse Mana in it, I can turn it to any shape I want."
I used Cultivator to infuse Mana into the staff as it started getting reformed. It was a fairly big staff. I separated about a tenth from it then transported the bigger half in the Item Space. I then compressed the piece that was left, wrapping it on the blade's back end to form a hilt around it. I molded its pommel to have three slots the size of the new gemstones then wrapped the pommel's sides with silk and the grip tight with leather. I thereafter took the gemstones and placed them in their slots on the blade. I didn't need to stick them in, the blade exerted a pulling force as soon as the gemstones were a few centimetres close, embedding them onto it.
"Looks like I don't have to worry about compatibility."
Each time it pulled a gemstone in a slot, it emitted Mana in the form of the respective element of the gemstone. Then, the new blade was done. It was a beautiful and elegant blade. I held it up and declared...
"Now then, time to wake up, FIRST DAWN!"
As soon as I said that, a white light emitted from the blade. It's name once again, got carved on its left side.
[Report. First Dawn has been successfully improved. Now measuring First Dawn's new Grade...]
[The weapons of The Blacksmith follow his will and his will alone, all other laws be damned. Their only limitation is his imagination. No boundaries he doesn't acknowledge will hold them. No heights he can reach will exceed them. No expectations he holds will overpower them. They are his possession, his proxies, his servants and He Is Their Master.]
[Thus, First Dawn is now a First Stage Hyper-Grade weapon.]
"Wait wha-"
[Report. Hidden Quest: First Product's Improvement has been completed. Now calculating rewards...]
[Craft Skill has advanced from D-Rank to C-Rank. Repair Skill has advanced from D-Rank to C-Rank. Subject has also gained a Sub-Skill for the Repair Skill known as Improve and a new Skill known as Trigon Element King with three Sub-Skills known as Ifrit, Tetrax and Marid.]
"Hold on a minu-"
[Weapon Fanatic's Sub-Skill Bladework's effects on the Subject's Stats have increased. Effect on Strength has increased by 300. Effect on Speed has increased by 150. Effect on Health has increased by 600 and effect on Intelligence has increased by 750. Now redesigning the effects of the A-Rank Bladework Sub-Skill on the Subject...]
A-Rank Bladework Sub-Skill: Effects When Active
•Strength +1600
•Speed +1720
•Health +2360
•Intelligence +4470
"Damnit I said wait-"
[Furthermore, Mana Capacity has increased by 3500. Strength has increased by 600. Speed has increased by 700. Health has increased by 1400 and Intelligence has increased by 1900.]
"Stupid System! Are you even listening to me-"
[Now redesigning overall Warrior info...]
Name: Raid
Surname: ???
Affiliation: Awakened Warrior
Class: Blacksmith
Skills:
• Craft C-Rank : Can craft expert level equipment, weapons and amour Grades Elementary to Hyper from scratch as long as the necessary products to do so are present.
• Repair C-Rank: Can fix expert level broken equipment, weapons and amour Grades Elementary to Hyper as long as the necessary products to do so are present.
•• Improve D-Rank: Can improve high level equipment, weapons and armour as long as the necessary products to do so are present.
• Weapon Fanatic C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of understanding of how various weapons operate, including how to use them in battle.
•• Bladework A-Rank: Possesses an apex level of mastery with blades.
••• Sunset Slash: A very powerful slash with the power to bend nature to its will.***
• Treasure Hunt B-Rank: Can expertly locate mines with products and minerals for crafting within a 1200 kilometre radius. Tip: Mines found in dungeons have the best products.
•• Soul-Piercing Eyes C-Rank: Exponentially increases sensory perception, allows one to spot a large number of weak points in their opponents and see many various hidden secrets of nature.
• Mine D-Rank: Can masterfully mine products and minerals for crafting.
• Item Space B-Rank: Massive space to store equipment, weapons, armoury, products, minerals, etc...
• Brawler C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in hand-to-hand close-quarters combat.
•• Demolition Strike: A very powerful strike that releases shockwaves of incredible force that can demolish anything of weaker strength.
• Cultivator C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in Mana manipulation, through the use of a Dantian.
•• Astral Unification C-Rank: Allows one to unify many aspects of oneself through breathing for the purpose of increasing sensory perception, Mana manipulation efficiency and overall amount of Mana.
•• Fury of Dantian D-Rank: Sizeable Dantian that acts as the Mana Source of the Subject. Can temporarily increase Subject's Mana Capacity four-fold. Significantly increases Mana manipulation efficiency. Adds 140% extra Mana Capacity when absorbing Mana Crystals.
• Resilient Regeneration D-Rank: Can heal almost all damages to the body, regenerate any body part including organs except for the heart and brain, speed of regeneration is dependent on the scale of damage and Skill Rank.
• Hypermove E-Rank: Can increase one's speed drastically through the use of electric Mana. Said Mana also acts as a shield against air resistance.
• Trigon Element King D-Rank: Can manipulate Fire, Wind and Water Elemental Magic.
•• Ifrit E-Rank: Possesses a moderate level of control over Fire Elemental Magic.
•• Tetrax F-Rank: Possesses a decent level of control over Wind Elemental Magic.
•• Marid F-Rank: Possesses a decent level of control over Water Elemental Magic.
Rank: F
Level: Locked
Mana Capacity: 20148
Strength: 3840
Speed: 4163
Health: 5654
Intelligence: 6990
I felt no form of exhaustion. Not physical, mental nor spiritual but every fibre of my being was screaming; 'go to sleep bro', so I did just that. Intentionally falling face first on the bed, all I had left to say was:...
"If I wake up in Chapter Seven and everything is still the same...I...I don't even know anymore...