Chapter 56 - Quick And Dirty  

As his hands worked furiously, Liam had already forgotten all about the unexpected visitor and focused on the flames beside him.

He watched the stacks of iron ore melting and forming a sort of lump together and then melting altogether. He quickly removed this molten ore and poured it over a sand clay mold of a simple sword.

Giving the ore only a couple of seconds to take the shape of the mold, he quickly retrieved the raw unrefined sword and doused it in cold water.

He then once again placed the sword in the furnace and reheated the metal, after which he placed it on the anvil.

"Heh. I never thought that I would be doing this again." Liam chuckled. He almost lovingly looked at the piece of weapon and started hammering it.

Though it was not immediately obvious, this step was the most crucial in crafting a weapon. The more a weapon was hammered, the more powerful it became.

Though Liam had simply planned to forge a bunch of mediocre weapons to increase his skill proficiency rapidly, once he started the process he completely forgot about everything.

He hammered the simple iron sword again and again as if it was a priceless treasure. And when the metal had cooled down, he heated it again in the furnace and hammered it over and over.

His entire body was drenched in sweat from top to bottom and the grains in the sword were becoming finer and finer. However, Liam continued hammering away without showing any signs of stopping.

He had been running constantly ever since he had received this miraculous second chance. But now that his mind was centered and steady, the familiar rhythm brought in all the memories of the past and flooded him.

Dang. Liam grunted loudly without realizing and vented all his frustrations by using the hammer in his hand.

Dang. Dang. Dang. Sparks flew everywhere and the hammering sounds echoed in the crowded smithing association workspace.

A few players already had their eyes on him as he had been talking to an extremely beautiful woman a while ago and there were very few women in the game, to begin with.

Now, he was also making exaggerated loud noises as if he was performing a herculean task which was quite annoying.

Liam, however, was in his own world and ignored the dirty looks that were being given to him. He struck the sword in front of him, his every hit landing with utmost care and precision.

An entire hour passed by in this manner, followed by another couple of hours and then another when finally a system prompt appeared in front of him, snapping him out of his trance.

[Ding. Forging successfully completed]

[Ding. Overkill Iron Sword]

[Ding. Rating: Uncommon]

[Ding. Special Effect: When the target is at the last 5% of health, attack damage is doubled]

[Ding. Your forging skill proficiency has increased to Trainee Level]

[Ding. You have obtained the title 'Perfectionist']

[Perfectionist: When the title is equipped, crafting success rates increase by 5%]

Liam dropped the hammer in his hand and collapsed on the floor tiredly. He had almost used up the entirety of his stamina and he hadn't even realized it.

Since it was just common iron ore, he was able to finish the sword.

If it had been any other type of ore or even a more complex mixture of multiple common ores, then he would have sure collapsed before the weapon was completely made.

Haa… Ha… Ha… He breathed slowly, closing his eyes. "There is still a long way to go."

He only opened his eyes again after taking a couple of minutes to center himself again and checked out the notifications.

"Huh? Overkill Iron Sword? What the heck is this?" Liam was perplexed. His gaze shifted to read the rest of the description of the equipment and he became even more shocked.

The sword even had a special effect that was unheard of for common-grade weapons and only common-grade weapons could be manufactured from iron ores!

"How the hell did I manage to forge a common ore into an uncommon sword?" He glanced at the name again and his face darkened on seeing how apt the name was.

"Damn it. I ended up wasting quite a bit of time on this, didn't I?" Liam smiled wryly. He had indeed gotten carried away. "Oh! I even got a title? Not bad."

The title did not mention 'forging' trade skill specifically, so it mostly applied to all trade skills. He nodded in approval and then moved on.

It was a good thing but once again, just like everything else this was also only temporary. When the trial phase ended, everyone would be stripped clean of their titles and in-game status.

So at the end of the day, it was merely another tool to achieve his goals.

Letting out a deep breath, Liam stood up and took the sword in his hand. "Well, time to get more serious."

For getting the best rewards from the hidden quest, he needed to achieve a 'Master' proficiency in smithing.

He was quite confident in achieving 'Intermediate' proficiency, which was the next step after his current 'Trainee' proficiency, but when it came to the 'Master' level, there were a few issues.

However, these were nothing that couldn't be solved by throwing money at them. So he wasn't all that worried.

Liam quickly began to work again, this time paying attention to his speed and efficiency rather than the quality of the forging. This was the fastest way to level, quick and dirty.

He threw in another batch of iron ore and cleaned his station while the ore was being melted. He then used another common sword mold and poured it in like he was pouring water on the soil without any care.

This time he restricted to simply hammering a couple of dozen times and once again repeated the process three times before sharpening the edges and finishing the weapon.

[Ding. Forging successfully completed]

[Ding. Crude Iron Sword]

[Ding. Rating: Common]

Liam glanced at the sword once. It looked lackluster as if it was a piece of old equipment. "Heh. Now, this is what I expected. One done, a hundred more to go."

He tossed it aside and indifferently started the next one.