Blacksmith vs. the System

The rest of the night had gone well. I even had a chance to catch a short nap. One that barely lasted three hours, but it was all I could get sleeping in the dungeon.

Once that was done, I went to the third floor, piled everything into a new cart — which included a small batch of fertilizer mix — and went back to the second floor, then the first floor, deliberately using the gates at the opposite sides. The gate was a good place to camp. It was away from the operations, while it was also fitting to expand the operations between two floors.

When I arrived at the first floor, I found Harold, along with fifty farmers, each holding a crossbow, practicing with targets they had set in a corner. "Good initiative," I said to him.

"My pleasure, sir," he replied, while the rest of the Farmers looked settled into their roles.

"Take four guards with decent Strength, and follow me," I said. "You'll be responsible for the defense of the new camp." That was not a part of the agreement I had with Maria, but sometimes, it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Not that they would have refused. Our deal was heavily skewed to their favor — something deliberate on my part — while five guards were nothing they couldn't give up.

I wanted them for two reasons. First, they would be responsible for cranking the crossbows until I could make a device that could handle it, but, more importantly, they were there to prevent any possible harassment from other guilds.

The guards might have refused, but my reputation for generosity proved useful. Instead of trying to get away from the task, the guards were competing for the opportunity. And, the best part, they still worked for Eleanor.

No other guild's freelance work would have been treated as such an advantage. Admittedly, I would have shared that opinion a week ago, when I was trying to scrape funds for my experimentation, but the current situation wasn't the same.

"Gather together, and don't make too many sudden movements," I warned the farmers. "We will protect you, but if you panic and run away, I can't guarantee your safety."

Then, I left the command to Harold, who was far more capable when it came to handling things while another guard started pulling the cart I had brought. Meanwhile, five of the farmers were dragging a large, wooden water tank with wheels, which was necessary to slowly grow the trees.

I took the point, killing the monsters with a slash while I used the extractor — the old, clumsy one made of bronze — to remove the shell.

"Watch carefully, you'll be doing that as well," I warned them even as we slowly traversed for a distance.

It was a good chance to show the process and remind them about my capabilities at the same time. The Rare skill flowed even more smoothly, enough to fascinate them. I was so lucky that Thomas had sent his assassins without proper time to practice, or my fate could have been different.

"We're here," I said as we finally arrived at the spot I had picked as my guild's permanent camp. The epicenter was just a hundred yards away from the dungeon gate leading to the second floor. Meaning, we didn't have to deal with it currently, but as we expanded, the small fort could grow to take it in, with a corresponding defensive structure on the second floor.

With the ability to easily produce arrowheads, it should be easy to scale up. I just needed to purchase more crossbows.

The rigidity of metals didn't allow me to make a bow out of them entirely.

"Now, I want you to be responsible for the camp security while I handle the construction," I said to Harold and the guards while I passed them five swords I took from my assassins, which I had modified further.

"Sir, are you sure?" Harold asked as he grabbed the sword, his expression wide. "These must cost a fortune."

"They are valuable because I won them in battle," I responded. "So, I won't be happy if they leave the camp."

"Wouldn't it be better to use them to hunt directly," he asked.

"Not unless you're confident you can kill two thousand insects a day," I responded. His widening gaze told me that it was not exactly a viable strategy. It wasn't a surprise. Any guard that was willing to join a new dungeon where they could only level up to thirty — well, forty was the absolute limit, but that was hardly efficient — wouldn't have a valuable class.

And, getting Rare skills wasn't exactly easy, even with my setup. It required piling multiple giant monsters, and then it needed to give a combat skill rather than Nurture, which seemed to be the most common skill stone.

"Still, wouldn't it be better to find five elites and rely on the swords to finish the dungeon?"

"No," I said, but I didn't bother explaining further, maintaining a sense of mystery. "Just kill any beast that gets near," I said. The guards looked hesitant. "Don't bother trying to keep the shell intact. Just cut them, and shout if there's any sign of a swarm," I said.

I cracked open the first metal container, one with farming implements and other construction tools, though they were made of more ordinary alloys. "Now, grab a shovel, and start piling the dirt to the side," I ordered while I started digging a deep pool, which not only started to agitate the nearby monsters but also the farmers.

"Sir, shouldn't we be responsible for manual labor?" one of them asked hesitantly.

"It's faster this way. Just grab a shovel, and start piling them to the side. I want a square, with twenty yards on each side, to my left." For now, it was just a slightly elevated ground where the crossbowman could stand.

It was small, but once completed, it would function as intended.

Once the pool was deepened enough to easily hold all the water we had brought, I let it pour. It was not the ideal way, but since it was going to be a temporary one, it should function well enough.

Sometimes, good enough is all that's needed.

"Now, who has the highest farming skill," I called. They looked hesitant. "Anyone with Farming above twenty-five," I asked. None of them raised their hands, but their regretful expression showed that they were not happy about it. "Fifteen?" I asked. This time, three people raised their hands.

While that number was low, I couldn't blame them. After all, didn't I suffer from the exact same thing when I was trying to improve Repair and Forge?

Production classes required a lot of resources to improve. And, if they were valued enough by their previous employer, they wouldn't have accepted Maria's offer to come to a mana dead zone.

"Good, how about Perks," I asked. While asking about the Perks might be considered invasive for the combat classes, production classes didn't share the same concern. Particularly the Farmers. "Tend," two of them answered. "Resistance," the third one answered.

"Alright, all of you, come here," I said even as I pulled three potted bushes I had brought from the third floor. I wanted to see how their abilities stacked.

For two of them, I put some alchemical booster and watered them well. At the same time, I used some of the broken shells that the guards had collected in the process to the base of the plant. For the third plant, I didn't add any alchemical boosters and assigned the one with Tend to it.

"Now, I want you to use thirty Health on the plants," I said. They did, looking exhausted in the process.

The two plants only got slightly greener, while there was no reaction with the one without an alchemical booster.

"I … I gained a point of proficiency," one with the Resistance perk gasped. One of them with Tend shared the same expression, while the one without the alchemical booster looked disappointed and fearful at the same time.

"No need to panic, we're just testing," I said. "Go and eat something," I said even as I called two more with Tend perk. "Now, I want you to spend all of your Health to keep the plant alive," I said. Then, I added a few drops from my alchemical mixture.

The plant died, while the two who tried to save them looked shocked and guilty at the same time. "We're sorry, sir —" they started, their panic obvious, only to fall silent when I gestured.

"Don't panic every time," I said. "We're just trying something here. Now, is there any improvement?"

"No, sir," they said, which didn't surprise me. A dead plant was a clear-cut failure, and skills rewarded success. It might have been different if they could have improved the plant until they stopped feeding Health, but even as they used the skill, the plant died.

"Should we set a Nurture circle, sir?" one of them asked.

"Nurture circle?" I asked.

"We pick a plant, add a lot of fertilizer, and use our Health one after another to enable the growth. It's the fastest way to grow plants."

"Interesting, but we don't need to waste time on it for the moment," I said. Instead, I uprooted one of the bushes, and put my hand on the other. "Just set a bucket chain."

"S-sir. Too much water without a Nurture circle would kill the plant —" he started, only to gasp when I put my hand on the bush, and fed it with my Health.

[-42 Health]

The difference between Common and Rare Nurture showed a difference. I didn't spend any more Health than they did, but the bush not only grew, but it also transformed, its misshapen branches straightening as it turned into a tree.

It was good, but not as good as using the poisonous water from the fourth-floor swamp.

The farmers around me froze, gasping in shock as the newly apparent tree had grown to an incredible size. "You have Nurture, sir?" Harold asked, shocked, who was close enough to watch the show.

"Of course, you never know when you're going to need some emergency food in the wilderness or a dungeon," I answered.

"Well…" he started, but I could see the hesitancy in his face, often when people were about to say something extremely insensitive. I guessed that there was some prejudice about warriors 'wasting' a skill slot.

"We can talk about it later," I said. "Now, you bunch look like you have a question."

"S-sir. If we're not needed to grow plants, why are we here?" one of them stammered, no doubt afraid to be discarded. I hated the way poverty and discrimination ground people's will into dust. But, fixing it would be a slow process.

Especially since the people in power preferred it to stay that way.

"You're here to kill monsters, of course," I responded. "Why do you think you're training with the crossbows," I said. The shift of emotion was fascinating. "But, you can't start leveling before we finish growing these trees. Now, buckets!"

This time, they moved at a fascinating speed.