AQUA

Arya's pov 

Despite finding my reaction amusing, he did start teaching me seriously. 

"Ok first off. This is a flame pond, it's where all the crafting happens and honestly, once this is done, you're practically done. Every pond has two holes that are not fire but just light, those holes are where you put your hand and you continue from there. Understand?"

I nodded seriously as my eyes locked on the place he placed his hands.

"Good. The containers are the next step, they are made with runes engraved in them so when the liquid is sucked in the runes activate and the weapon is morphed inside. Remember to make sure the metal will produce enough liquid or you get a failed product."

"Who makes the containers?"

"Well, depending, you can make your container and take it to an enchanter to inscribe the needed runes or you just buy the available containers, up to you. Now let's see you try, put your hand in. Try to make sure you place your hands in the hole."

I nodded as I gently placed my hand in, I had been watching him seriously so I already knew the location of the hole, with that done I looked at him and he spoke without wasting a second 

"See, that was easy. Now you should know how to melt the metal. It's the same as casting runes but instead of runes you write the number of stardust you want and circle it, that is going to pull out your stardust and well you know, melt the metal according to what you wrote. This is the hardest part of blacksmithing as every person has to figure out the number combination that's needed to melt the metal perfectly, everyone is different after all"

"Number combination? Not just one individual number?"

"Mmm. Three numbers is the minimum combination so try to melt on that. But like I said every person is different and you might actually need five so explore it yourself."

And with that, he threw in a red metal piece, a small one. Though curious as to how hard this might be, I quickly put in my three numbers and watched with amusement as it melted into the fire before disappearing.

"Fail. Try again."

He threw in a bronze metal this time and the same thing happened again, I frowned at this rate before a smile appeared when he threw in the next stone, I didn't hurry this time and slowly wrote the three-number combination and was successful this time! The red liquid was silently bubbling in the pond as he brought a container and sucked the liquid out. With my hands still in the pond I looked at him as he said, his eyes filled with amazement 

"That was brilliant! Never have I seen someone get a combination so fast! But don't get complacent though. You only have your combination for this specific metal, the other ones still need to be explored, but impressive!"

The smile on my face didn't diminish though and while I looked at the containers floating in the pond I asked 

"Can two metals be melted at a time?"

"Not only is it possible, but it is recommended as the more metals there are, the better the weapon will be. Want to try."

He didn't wait for my answer as he threw the bronze-colored metal in and this time I also got the combination correct, unfortunately, it wasn't the same number. Seeing that I had gotten it correct, he silently threw in the bronze and red metal. I was going to fumble around and see if the numbers had a pattern before I simply decided to add the two combinations together and use it, surprisingly it was correct and I was soon looking at a bronze-red liquid which was also removed instantly.

"Yeah. I have a genius on my hand but since it seems you already understand this let's get to ammo making, it's a bit different after all."

I left my position and watched as he took place and threw a metal in, with it melted he then got some black powder and sprinkled it on the liquid and in a flash he sucked it into a wider container before placing it on a surface that was pulled from the pond.

"So, unlike making the weapons, you should know that the metals that have been melted can stay as long as possible but on the matter of ammos, when the powders are put you have three seconds to remove it else it blows up on your face. And, unlike equipment that follows the color rankings, ammos follow the tier system which unfortunately means that even if you do make higher-level ammo, you can't use it unless your class corresponds with the ammo which is why a high-level weapon is necessary, after all, you can have a blue weapon but be stuck with q tier one ammo"

"I understand that but I'm guessing depending on the weapon the powder changes yes? And when melting can anything be added as long as the liquid color doesn't change?"

"Yes. Like the medic class, for example, you'll need to use a different powder called Elis. After all, they don't injure, even the metal used is a special metal, rare too but either way yeah. For a blacksmith making the semenic serum and volit infus is as annoying as it is beautiful but ignore that and you can add anything under the earth as long as it's not in the ammo, you'll blow up faster."

I blinked twice before I asked 

"The medic class has two bullets?"

"Technically yes, except the serum is just liquid and is made by alchemists and the infus is made by blacksmiths. It's liquid ammo throughout but ha.... Right, you also shouldn't place the ammo back in the fire when in the container, you place it in water. Got it?"

I nodded 

"Great, then congratulations on becoming a blacksmith! You still have five hours left to use the room so go crazy."

Ding - job accomplished 

You are now a blacksmith 

Due to being the first player to become a blacksmith you have been rewarded an orange flame pond

Rewards have been placed in storage 

'That wasn't hard!'

"Right! I almost forgot, equipment from Grey has um you know restrictions, if you make the equipment, it's up to you to write whatever you want as the restrictions. Bye!"

With that, he was gone and I went into full-on exploration to make different equipment, weapons were the easiest to create but when it came to the other equipment, it seemed they become armor which while having better defensive properties, is not suitable for everyday wear, but it is what it is, I'm a blacksmith, not a tailor, armor is also extremely important so I spent the hours I have left making all sorts of equipment, I had to take a break when my stardust finished but by the time my hours were over I already had an in-depth understanding of my job. I went to the shop area and bought containers of guns, daggers and full body armor set and also tier 1 and 2 powders for ammo and went straight back to my apartment.

It was still empty and I wondered at this rate if my roommate moved out, I didn't dwell on it long as I brought out the orange pond and placed it in the corner of the room with the empty surface extended, I also placed the containers in areas that were easy to reach and finally placed some of my metals and the powders in the cabinet I bought.

I set the pond fire to black and started to get the combination, I got the combinations in ten minutes for both the metals but sighed at how much stardust was needed, due to that I couldn't mix metals but I did put in five kilograms of clasks and when it became black glowing liquid I prepared the delt container and poured tier two black powder into it before simultaneously sucking it into the container and placing on the surface. I switched off the pond and waited ten minutes before opening the container and seeing the long black delts glowing, there were two hundred delts in it!

'I knew buying the big containers for ammo was worth it! This is perfect!'

Tier two rare delt - made by lloud

Damage - 3000

The damage dealt by just the delt was impressive so I quickly equipped it into the elm rifle was there a fucking difference from the previous tier one delt

Black elm rifle - 1000

Ammo - 3000(rare)

Damage - 4000

I wonder if I make a rifle it will also be rare. I didn't think long though, once my stardust was replenished, I started making it and soon I sucked the glowing liquid into the rifle container and threw it in the pond.

I removed the container ten minutes later and smiled as I removed the perfectly made rifle from it, every part of the rifle was glowing, and the rune field was not excluded as I checked the stats

Rare clasks rifle - made by lloud (black)

Damage - 6000

Ah. Seems like extra stats really start from grey but this is awesome nonetheless! So that means my weapon damage is now 9000? Yeah that man might have lied about a lot of things but he was right about one thing. Making your gear is the best. I looked at the metals and then my stardust while also remembering that I could still enter the tower, I gritted my teeth and started making it, it took two hours to make everything as I had to melt the metal in batches to before I had enough to fill the containers for the full body armor and my secondary weapon. But soon I was done. Looking at the big containers that held delts, a dagger and the armor parts I slumped on the bed exhausted as it morphed, the armor parts took longer so I could rest a bit. Waking from my nap and removing everything from their containers I was extremely speechless 

"I was expecting the armor to be medieval style but damn! This is better!"

I exclaimed as looked at the full body armor, it had a black helmet that was glowing with red lights twinkling where the visor was, the second part was a full body hug liquid metal armor that covered the neck, hands and legs. The next part was long big boots that reached my knees with a metallic sleeveless vest and finally metallic shorts.

It was all black, but like glowing black! 

'I could sell this... Let's check the stats.'

Rare aeronium twin dagger - made by lloud(black)

Damage - 4000

Rare aeronium V metallic helmet - made by lloud(black)

Defense - 2000

Rare aeronium V body hug liquid armor - made by lloud(black)

Defense - 10000

Rare aeromium V metallic boots - made by lloud(black)

Defense - 3000

Rare aeronium V metallic vest - made by lloud(black)

Defense - 7000

Rare aeronium V metallic shorts - made by lloud (black)

Defense - 5000

Rare aeronium gloves - made by lloud(black)

Accuracy - 3000

Defense - 2000

Equipping the whole set along with the gloves and rifle, I moved around but felt no discomfort, due to the body hug, I couldn't feel the metal surface on my skin so it was really comfortable and surprisingly light, I'd say it's an attribute of the metal and on the helmet, it was truly metallic but weirdly soft inside and my sight seemed to be surprisingly clearer.

"This is enough for today. I'll enter the tower Tomorrow." 

So I cleaned up and wore shorts and a sports bra before getting on the bed and logging out.