Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Ikram smirked at that offer. Where had such a person suddenly come from in these sticks? No blacksmith worth his money had visited Zhiqe since the surrounding had become this dangerous. Not to mention living here. Ikram did the best they could to stabilize the cities situation together with his father the lord, but the surrounding kept becoming more dangerous and regular trade had almost stopped. They could not buy better equipment, even if they had the money to!

"Hmm, yes go ahead. Nazim, have a spar with this man. Let´s see what his wares are worth. "

If this man could really bring a major improvement, it might be worth getting a loan from the system bank.

Nazim unsheathed his scimitar and charged at the young blacksmith, while the young master was deep in thought. He was a lv.30 guard with <Swordsmanship (Adept) lv.9> and stronger than many adventurers currently present at the guild.

< Nazim has requested a duel! Do you accept? Y/N>

Seth accepted and pushed magic power into the sword and it´s edge glowed in a dim blue light. He barely managed to react to the man's charge and deflected a downward slash. The force behind it made his arm tremble. The enemies blade had a big gash in it from this impact. Nazim easily recovered the deflected strike and angrily started a barrage of strikes in fast succession. Was this a skill?!

Seth manages to deflect some and dodge the others as he kept stepping back. Each collision brought another notch in the opponent's weapon, but the other showed no signs of stopping.

Although he could keep up in speed and strength. The difference in skill was obvious. This was different from fighting some brainless mobs or cheesing it, this was really dangerous. Nazim did not look like he would leave it at a spar, he was out for blood!

Alright! If he wanted a serious fight, he could have it!

Seth took some distance from Nazim, baiting him to follow. Suddenly the pale blue Soul Fire covered his sword and he did horizontal strike in front of the charging Nazim, as if to warn him. The other was surprised by the sudden light and averted his eyes, successfully interrupting his charge.

He fixed his eyes on the young man, that kept running and dodging. Again, he charged at him to execute a powerful strike and split him in two halves! Suddenly his charge was interrupted again, he stumbled and fell. A terrible pain flared up from his foot and the side he fell on. Caltrops! The ground was covered in them! "When? This little!", with an angry thought Nazim picked himself up, ready to slaughter Seth!

In this moment, a dim blue edge broke the scimitar in his hand and a sharp tip bit into his throat, threatening to take his life, if it went just a little further.

< Ding! You have won your first duel! PERS +1. You have earned exp.>

"I guess, I win?", Seth said with a smug smile as he saw a whopping 10% increase in experience.

"You cheated!", Nazim scowled and spit on the ground. With the end of the duel all injuries healed. Watching Nazim's wounds heal and the caltrops being pushed out from his flesh made Seth remember the tutorial. He had totally forgotten that you cannot actually die during an official duel. He had fought serious for no reason at all!

The badly battered scimitar, compared to his still pristine sword would have been more than enough to proof his point. He did not have to win the duel in the first place! He even fought dirty to win...

As Seth was reprimanding himself, he heard a clap echo in the empty market place.

"Very spectacular! Even so you have a crafting class and did not even cross lv.20, you defeated my guard. Despite using some...unconventional means, that is truly impressive. ", Ikram walked over to them and picked up the broken scimitar. The edge was broken and serrated, making it look more like a saw than a blade. This might be worth it, even if they had to get a loan.

"So, Seth the Blacksmith, you have proven the quality of your works. And I am indeed interested in your services. That leaves just one question: What is your price? I think you can tell from the state of this city, but our treasury is... not far from empty.", he smiled wryly. Even he could not deny, that their home was broke.

"I already have an economic alternative for you, but first, how did you know my level? I didn´t feel anyone use <Observation> on me?"

"Oh?", Ikram looked puzzled, "How come you don´t know about it? As the son of the city lord, my class is obviously also city lord. As such I have a skill called <Lords Insight>, which tells me the rough information of anyone in my territory. It´s common knowledge that most nobles possess this skill, or a similar one. It´s similar to <Appraisal>, but specific to people."

"I see...."

Seth was baffled. No wonder Fin called <Observation> a low-tier skill. There were skills that did the same, but a lot better! Just not being detected would already be a huge bonus! Seth really needed to find out more about skills and he had the perfect source in front of him.

"Anyways. Here´s the deal: As the lord you probably have a library, right?", Ikram answered with a nod and Seth kept talking, " Good, I will give you a discount on the weapons, if you provide me a place to stay, access to the library and the material."

"The first two are easy. But what is the discount worth if we have to purchase the materials first?"

"You don´t purchase it. You probably have an armory, right? Just give me all the old weapon, armor and scrap you don´t need and I will melt it into the raw materials myself. Deal?"

Ikrams expression brightened when he heard that Seth could smelt the materials himself, if they provided their old junk. Ikram was honest. They really had a lot of old and broken weapons clogging up the storage rooms and armory.

Zhiqe had often purchased new weapons in its heyday and stored away the old ones. They were forgotten, until they got into a monetary crisis. Weapons often broke after the guards had to take over the subjugation work of the guild. The broken ones were simply stored away until someone got around to deal with them and replaced by old and dusty ones, they fished out from one of the other storage rooms. The current weapons the guards wore were decades old and restored to be barely usable. So Ikram more than readily agreed.

Did Seth want to go to Ora? Sure. Was he in a hurry, though? Not really! This was a good chance to grind his skills, why not take it? He just had to explain it to Fin, later.

"Seth, do you have time right now? If you do, would you come with me to the palace and talk to my father. We need his approval to settle this deal."

Seth was free until evening, so he agreed to go to the palace with Ikram. He really wanted to inspect the armory and library. Browsing the collection of a fallen noble powerhouse might yield unexpected results!