Greyblood: Adventurer Academy: A LitRPG Series Read online

  "I think so," Lugor coughed. "I've nearly gotten my breath ba-"

  "Not you!" Garrol snapped. "I'm talking to Betsy." Garrol bent down and picked his hammer off of the floor. "I'm so sorry I had to throw you, my dear, I was just so very angry."

  Lugor sighed in exasperation. In his time working with him, he discovered that Garrol had quite a few eccentricities. Not least of which being his bizarre obsession with naming his tools.

  Garrol's eyes snapped back to Lugor. "You want to say something boy?" he asked.

  "No Garrol."

  "Good. Now get up off the floor, you're getting it dirty."

  Lugor got to his feet. Garrol was still staring at him. "What is it?" Lugor asked.

  "Bend down here, I want to tell you something."

  Lugor leant over, putting a strain on his back with the considerable height difference between the two. Being a little way over six feet, Lugor had a height advantage on most people. When he got to Garrol's eye level, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head as Garrol hit him with a hard thwack. "Don't be late again!" he shouted. "We've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it, if I lose money on this order it's coming out of your pay."

  Lugor rubbed his head to ease the pain. "This is an apprenticeship Garrol, you don't pay me anything."

  "Oh, that's right," Garrol said, thinking. "In that case, I'll give you some money and then take it back straight away. Now come on, we've got work to do!"

  Lugor rolled his eyes and followed Garrol into the back of the shop.

  3

  Lugor followed Garrol as the man made his way to the back of the shop. Inside, the walls were lined with basic weaponry and armor. Swords, Spears and Arrows lined one wall, the opposite wall displayed various pieces of Iron plate and chainmail. Shelving units in front of the counter held various tools, including pickaxes, shovels, rakes and hoes. The village of Estor was primarily a farming town, which was where Garrol's shop made most of its revenue. The back of the shop opened into the main workspace. The forge lay in the middle of the room, a chimney leading up and through the roof to stop any smoke from remaining in the shop. Small slats lined the walls, which could be opened to allow cool air to flow into the area. The workshop was in pristine order, Lugor had been on the receiving end of more than a couple smacks before he learned Garrol's obsession with keeping everything neat and tidy.

  The two of them stopped in front of the main workbench. "I've got a special task for you today Lugor," Garrol said. "I know you've been tired of making horseshoes and farming tools and want to try your hand at crafting a sword."

  "You're finally going to let me work on the weapons with you!" Lugor punched the air in excitement.

  "Absolutely not."

  Lugor deflated with disappointment.

  "If you had been on time today I might have let you, but now there's no time for it seeing as you took your sweet time getting here this morning," Garrol explained. "Today I want you to take the metal from the scrap pile and make as many items as you can, we need to get your Smithing levels up before you can get started on the more advanced stuff, like special orders. You need a good grasp of the fundamentals before you can go off script."

  Special orders were unique items ordered bespoke by a customer. An Adventurer might want a weapon for a specific task or to have a unique property. Lugor had already seen Garrol create a staff that could collapse in on itself for easy concealment, that item was ordered by a Monk that had passed through the town a couple months ago. Any blacksmith could create a sword by virtue of levelling up the Blacksmith skill, it was learned automatically once they reached the correct level. The true indicator of a Blacksmith's skill lay with how creatively they could modify the things they knew in new and unique ways.

  "What should I be making?" Lugor asked.

  Garrol rubbed his chin. "That depends on how much scrap metal we have and what gives you the most experience points when crafting. What's your level again?"

  "One second," Lugor replied. He held the first two fingers on his right hand against his forehead and chanted, "Display skill, Blacksmithing."

  Golden writing appeared in the air in his vision. "Well, what does it say?" Garrol asked, tapping his foot against the floor. Without using inscription paper, the only way to relay the information was for Lugor to read it aloud.

  Lugor scanned the words, his eyes moving quickly.

  Skill: Blacksmithing

  Skill Level: 4

  Experience required for the next level: 430

  Crafting Items Available:

  - Basic Farming Tools

  - Basic Mining Tools

  - Basic Mount Equipment

  - Basic Weaponry

  - Basic Armor

  "My Blacksmithing level is currently level four," Lugor replied. "I need 430 experience points to hit level five."

  Garrol nodded in response. "OK, that's not too bad. What was the last available crafting section you unlocked?"

  "Basic armor."

  "In that case," Garrol said, "Stick to crafting Horseshoes for now. We need more of them anyway."

  Lugor groaned. "I've been crafting horseshoes all week."

  "Tough tibbles!" Garrol snapped. He leaned back against the work table and crossed his arms. "If you try crafting something you've only just unlocked, you're more likely to mess it up. Horseshoes are the most efficient method of getting your experience points. Consistently crafting better quality lower tier items will get you more experience than pounding out a load of chest pieces and hoping that one of them is better than poor quality. Besides, we can't sell armor made from scrap, but we can sell horseshoes made with it."

  "Fine," Lugor relented. "But can I please start working on weapons and armor soon? I can't make farming equipment forever."

  "You can work on weapons and armor when I tell you that you can. Now stop moaning and pull your finger out!"

  Lugor frowned. "Pull my finger out?"

  Garrol turned away and started collecting his work tools for the day ahead. "Yeah," he called over his shoulder. "Pull it out of your arse and get on with it!"

  Lugor stared at Garrol in disbelief as he walked away. He'd been convinced when he first started working with Garrol that he'd get used to the Smith's oddities, but Garrol wasn't exactly the kind of man you ever got used to. Lugor dragged the cart of scrap metal towards the forge, despite not having a class and the physical improvements that came along with it, he was naturally strong, mostly due to his Orcish heritage. He recalled the race information that had plagued him for all his life.

  Race: Half-Orc

  Racial Trait: Orcish Physique

  Effects: The effects of the Strength and Constitution stats are multiplied by 1.5

  Dismissing the thought from his head, Lugor kicked some wooden stoppers under the cart's wheels to stop it from rolling away if he bumped into it. He had to beg Garrol for a week straight to let him back into the forge after he accidentally squashed Garrol underneath the cart a couple months ago.

  Rooting through the scrap cart, he began sorting through the contents. It was filled with items that Garrol had crafted but came out in poor or bad quality. Crafting was a tricky thing, you could have created a sword a hundred times but there was always an element of luck with how it turned out. Some of the scraps could be used in other items by melting them back down but some of them were beyond that. Rifling through the contents, Lugor placed the irredeemable items into a separate container to be disposed of later. He was still left with a fairly sizeable amount of metal for his task.

  Breaking off the non-metal components of the items, like sword and rake hafts, he then tipped the metal into the top of the forge. It was specially designed and insulated by enchantment, which allowed the user to simply insert the ore or scrap metal and increase the heat. Once the right temperature was reached, the user could lock the temperature and release a lever to pour the molten metal out of a nozzle and into a mold. After shovelling more coals onto the fire, Lugor began wor
king the bellows, once the forge got up to temperature, he activated the runes to keep the temperature steady. He then inserted a mold in the shape of a rectangle. He carefully poured molten metal from the forge into the mold and allowed it to set. Grabbing some thick gloves, he picked up a hammer and quickly removed the metal from the mold before striking it repeatedly on a nearby Anvil. He didn't need to think too hard about where to hit it, his blacksmithing skill level automatically guided his hands to the correct places. Before long he had finished his first shoe of the day.

  You have crafted a Horseshoe of Common quality.

  +20 Blacksmithing Experience Earned

  Experience required for the next level: 410

  Lugor set the horseshoe aside into a container and repeated the process, settling into the flow of his work. Notifications filled his vision as he crafted over and over again.

  You have crafted a Horseshoe of Poor quality.

  You have crafted a Horseshoe of Poor quality.

  You have crafted a Horseshoe of Common quality.

  You have crafted a Horseshoe of Poor quality.

  Lugor dismissed them each time as he worked, only interested in seeing the level-up notification. He was slightly frustrated with the number of poor-quality items he was producing, although that was to be expected when working with recycled metal. Then a new prompt appeared that he hadn't seen before.

  Trait Unlocked: Basic Mount Equipment Mastery

  Requirement: Craft 200 items from the Basic Mount Equipment Category

  Trait Effects: You are much more likely to produce Basic Mount Equipment of higher quality

  "Huh." Lugor said out loud.

  Garrol looked over from his own workstation. "What is it Lugor?"

  Lugor dismissed the notification, setting his tools aside as he looked over to Garrol. "I just unlocked the basic mount equipment mastery trait, I didn't realise that was a thing."

  Garrol set down his own tools as well. "I could have sworn I'd mentioned these, didn't I?" Lugor shook his head in response.

  "Well," Garrol continued, "The more you craft items from a category of Blacksmithing, the better the items you produce. That's why if you ever go to a bigger city, you'll see specialist shops that focus on the product of a narrower weapon or armor type. That way they can cater to higher level Adventurers who have the coin to drop on Masterwork quality items."

  "I see," Lugor said. Lugor thought back to the conversation he had with his mother that morning. "Would it be alright if I crafted some Rasps for a bit?" Garrol nodded his head in affirmation before returning to his station. Rasps were worth roughly the same amount of experience as horseshoes, so it was no bother to him if Lugor wanted to mix it up a bit. Lugor turned back to the forge and started crafting some rasps.

  You have created a Rasp of Excellent Quality.

  + 80 Blacksmithing Experience Earned

  Blacksmithing skill increased to level five.

  Experience required for the next level: 6000

  Continuing past the level up notification, Lugor kept crafting. Lugor felt his strikes growing more precise, more methodical. He was beginning to see the metal shaping with more ease and speed.

  You have created a Rasp of Good Quality.

  You have created a Rasp of Excellent Quality.

  You have created a Rasp of Good Quality.

  Lugor stopped for a moment, thinking about his troubles with hiding his tusks. The main thing that he needed from a rasp for that task was two sides with differing fineness. One slightly rougher to get them down to normal size and a finer edge to shape them better so they didn't appear so jagged, hopefully, the finer edge would reduce the pain a little as well. Keeping his needs in mind, he took great care to craft the next rasp exactly how he required it.

  Congratulations, you have created a Rasp of Masterwork Quality!

  + 1000 Blacksmithing Experience Earned

  Experience required for the next level: 4750

  Lugor stopped and stared at the notification in amazement. He stood still for a minute, unable to believe it. Noticing the silence, Garrol looked over at him. "Why are you standing there looking into space boy? Those levels aren't going to earn themselves."

  "I just crafted a Masterwork rasp," Lugor replied.

  Garrol snorted and walked over. "The odds of doing that at your level of the skill and with scrap metal? I don't believe you." Garrol placed his hand on the Rasp and stated, "Inspect item." He was quickly proven wrong, as he looked at the Item information with pure amazement.

  "Well," he said. "Congratulations Lugor, you're a Gods damn prodigy."

  4

  "You can keep that," Garrol said, handing the rasp back to Lugor.

  "Wait, seriously?"

  "Yup." Garrol nodded. "Every Smith gets to keep his first masterwork, it's a big achievement."

  Lugor looked at Garrol with uncertainty, he was ecstatic that he'd be able to take a rasp home without having to steal one, but he could never tell when Garrol was being honest or testing him. "Are you sure? Couldn't we sell it in the shop?"

  "Nah, it's not worth it. Anyone from this village will only ever buy a standard rasp, the cost of a masterwork item just wouldn't be worth it to these people." Garrol puffed his cheeks as he blew out a big breath. "I gotta say though, it's extremely uncommon for a common tool to be of masterwork quality. They're normally only created when making a weapon or a piece of armor. How the hell did you do it?"

  Lugor scratched his head. He couldn't exactly explain it, but it felt like his own need and exact knowledge of what properties the rasp needed to fit his requirements helped. But he couldn't easily say that to Garrol. "I, uh, just thought really hard about making a really great item?". 'Great cover up, that's much less suspicious' Lugor thought to himself, ears burning with embarrassment.

  Garrol's eyes narrowed. "You...thought really hard?"

  Lugor nodded in response.

  Garrol stared at Lugor for a few more seconds before shrugging his shoulders. "Well if it works, it works, I guess," he said. "Seriously, congratulations lad. Just because your first masterwork was a simple rasp doesn't make it any less special, I'm proud to call you my apprentice."

  "Th..thanks!" Lugor stuttered, avoiding eye contact by looking at his feet. Praise from Garrol was hard earned, for him to say he was proud of Lugor? Unheard of. Mostly because Garrol usually spent most of the day yelling at him. Lugor knew the general opinion of the townsfolk was that Lugor wasn't an especially accomplished Smith, but that was only because they only ever heard Garrol screaming when he messed something up. They never heard the quiet moments of pride.

  Garrol cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. "You know this has brought back big memories of my first masterwork, you never forget the feeling of pure wonder."

  Lugor looked up in surprise, Garrol rarely told him anything about his personal life. "What was your first masterwork item?".

  Garrol grinned as he leant back against a table and cracked his knuckles. "Well, I don't like to brag, but you're looking at the maker of the one and only Brightshield."

  Lugor's jaw dropped. "No way."

  "Yes, way."

  "You're telling me that you were the one who created Maric's shield!?" Lugor's head was spinning. Maric Brightshield was one of the most famous Adventurers of the age, the only person known to hold the Champion class. Nobody even knew his last name, he was just known as 'Brightshield', a name given to him due to the properties of his legendary equipment.

  Garrol's grin turned into a nostalgic smile. "Finest work I ever did." He picked up Betsy and rolled the handle of the hammer between his palms. "I attended the Adventurer Academy at the same time he was there, though I was strictly doing Blacksmithing and trade skills only, I never had any interest in fighting monsters."

  Lugor didn't say anything, he only waited for Garrol to continue. He didn't want to interrupt in case Garrol thought he wasn't interested.

  Garrol carried on with his story, "I remember when Maric came in
to the Academy's forge. He was a strong looking guy, confident and charismatic. You actually remind me of him you know."

  Lugor straightened his back, it was an honor to be compared to someone as incredible as Maric Brightshield. "How so?"

  "Because he'd made an appointment with me, and he was late!" Garrol shouted. "He wanted me to make him a shield. 'I want to be able to blind my enemies with it, without using any skills. It also needs to be able to withstand heavy blows', he told me. I called him an idiot, said that it couldn't be done. I assumed that was that, but every day he came into the forge and begged me to try. Eventually, he changed my mind."

  "How did he convince you?" Lugor asked.

  "He didn't. I was just tired of listening to him bloody whinging every day, I had nothing better to do and fancied a challenge."

  "But how did you make the Brightshield?" said Lugor, bouncing on his feet. "It's one of the most memorable crafted items in existence, how did you do it?"

  "Crystals."

  "Crystals?

  "Yup," Garrol replied. I was prospecting in a cave one day when I came across these magnificent crystals growing from a rock. The further I went into the cave, the more crystals I saw lining the walls until the stone was impossible to see and the crystals were all that was around me. That's when I noticed that they were reflecting the light from my torch, but they weren't just reflecting it, they were amplifying it. When the crystals reflected light into each other, the light increased in intensity, not decreased."

  "How is that possible?" Lugor wondered.

  Garrol scoffed. "Probably something magic related. I imagine some Wizard was doing some experiment hundreds of years ago and didn't foresee any long-term effects on the landscape."