Son of the Night - Volume 2 Chapter 24

After adding the new bonus skill points to his stats, Akira opened the stat and skill windows to see how far along he had progressed.

Skills:

Sword Mastery: (Beginner Lv: 5 | 20%)

Heavy Armor Mastery: (Beginner Lv: 1 | 64%)

Shield mastery (Beginner lvl 4| 0.00%):

Shield Bash: (Beginner Lv: 4 | 9%)

Sword Slash: (Beginner Lv: 3 | 33%)

Exotic Cooking: (Beginner Lv: 1 | 25%)

Son of the night class skills:

Call of the Wolf Pack Summon Shadow-Wolf 1

With a pleased smile after seeing the numbers, Akira closed both of the windows.

As he took a quick glance around the room he was able to see all the Aorium ore scattered around the room. He was still amazed at the amount of ore that was in just this one room.

His gaze landed on spider eggs for a second, then continued on looking at the other ore piles.

Wait a second! shouted Akira in his mind. Looking back to where the pile of eggs were. There were still hundreds of eggs undamaged, just sitting on the ground. They were ticking time bombs.

He scanned the room for Delgar, but he had already left the boss room in search of a cart to transport the ore.

Jeez can he not be so blinded by the Aorium ore, that he forgets about finishing up the job of destroying the spiders eggs before they hatch and cause us trouble again, thought Akira.

He hurriedly walked into the tunnel where they had left the shuttered lantern with its fire still burning, he used the fire from the lantern to light a new torch.

Quickly walking over to the eggs, he used the torch to set multiple eggs on fire. The eggs that caught on fire began to burn fiercely as if they were old dry wood. The flames leaped from one egg to another the smoke that was emitted from the burning eggs was an acrid and very unpleasant smell.

The smoke slowly rose up to the ceiling and began to escape through a small unnatural hole in the ceiling.

When Akira was finished checking the whole area for any eggs he may have missed, Delgar finally returned pulling the mine cart that had been behind the handcar.

What are you starting fires for? Dont you know its not smart to start large fires in mines because youll suffocate? Not to mention youll die from breathing in all the smoke, said Delgar.

I was taking care of the spider eggs that you forgot about in your hurry to collect all the ore. There seems to be a hole in the ceiling where the smoke is escaping through, I can barely see it because its so far up. Come to think of it I think that was the spot that the Queen spider descended down from, said Akira pointing to the faraway spot on the ceiling.

A hole in the ceiling? Asked Delgar.

He looked to where Akiras hand was pointing and with trained eyes, he looked at the small hole and the area around it. His face turned grim after studying it for a few moments, beads of sweat fell from his wrinkled forehead.

Whew, not only are we lucky in finding all of this Aorium ore, but we also stopped an outbreak. That hole and the area around it were not formed naturally, it seems that the Queen spider was slowly mining towards the surface trying to escape this dungeon. If we had not come here to search for the Aorium ore, clearing out the Spotted spiders as we went then they would have escaped the mine a few months from now, said Delgar wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Damn, that was close call, said Akira with a stunned look on his face.

To close for my liking. I hope this doesnt affect our luck later in life, said Delgar.

They both continued to stare at the hole in the ceiling for a short while until Akira coughed and said, Well, we better get to work on loading the Aorium ore into the cart so we can take it back to the forge.

Right you are! Lets pick it all up and if there is still some room we can mine the rest on the walls, Delgar agreed.

While gathering the Aorium ore Akira found a pile of the Rare Puminium in one corner of the large cavernous room.

Hey Delgar do you know what type of metal this is or its rarity? asked Akira holding up a few pieces of the ore.

Delgar looked at it before answering, Never seen it before, Must be uncommon or rare. Better make sure to put some of that into minecart so we can test it out when we get back to the forge. We might be able to make something nice with it.

It took over twenty minutes to fill the large mine cart, judging by the amount of ore left it would take them at least five more trips to transport all of the ore back to the forge. It was unknown if they could even do that without getting caught by the other townspeople.

Delgar and Akira slowly pushed the heavy minecart through the long tunnels, pulled it back onto the tracks, and connected it to the back of the handcar.

Damn that thing is heavy with all that ore I dont know if I have five more trips in me after a full night of fighting, said Delgar.

You can always come back for the rests at a later time, said Akira.

They began pumping the lever of the handcar quickly picking up speed and traveling through the tunnels at a faster pace than before. They only stopped to pick up the bones of the deceased dwarfs and lay them on top of the ore to transport them out of the mine.

When they reached the entrance Akira pressed his foot down on the break and along with Delgar hopped off the handcar and pushed open the large metal door after a few tries.

It was early morning outside, the sun was slowly rising lighting up the shack through the dusty window.

Damn it we took too long guess this will be the only load we can do today. Lets hurry up and take this to the forge. Then we can divide our spoils and have some fun with it, said Delgar.

They were able to reach Delgars shop and unload the ore without anyone noticing. After they returned the mine cart and locked up the mine, they exited the shack and were shocked to be coldly greeted by a trio of old dwarfs.

What do you think youre doing messing around here? Dont you know how dangerous that mine is? asked an elderly female dwarf.

I knew it had to be the problem child causing trouble, said the dwarf in the middle who had a long braided gray beard.

The last of the group an old male dwarf was silent and looking at Delgar as if asking for an explanation.

We werent messing around, and its been over a hundred years since I was a child. How did you guys know we were here? asked Delgar.

You would have to not have a nose in order to ignore the awful smoke coming from this direction. Were you trying to wake the dead because if that was your plan Im sure you could, scolded the gray-bearded dwarf.

Hey you should be thankful, the two of us entered the dungeon we stopped an outbreak, said Delgar.

What were you burning to cause such a stench? asked the old lady ignoring Delgars last statement.

The spotted spider eggs, said Akira Quickly.

Spotted spider eggs? asked the gray-bearded dwarf.

Finally, the third old dwarf that had been quite the whole time spoke asking Delgar and Akira, Do you mean to tell me that the two of you entered the mine and cleared out all the monsters that were breeding in the mine for many years?

Yes mayor, my friend needed some Aorium ore, and after telling him about the problem with the mine he offered to help clear it. With the reward for clearing it being some of the ore, said Delgar.

So it has been fully cleared? Thats pretty amazing! To be able to clear this mine when many have failed in doing it, said the mayor smiling at Akira.

It was nothing I had Delgars help. If it werent for his help I wouldnt have been able to defeat the Queen spotted the spiders, said Akira.

I have things to do, so are we free to go? asked Delgar.

Always a rude child talking that way to your elders, said the old lady.

Yes, you may go. Ill have a few people come to your shop later to get the keys to the mine so that they can do a thorough search. If everything checks out we can open the mine back up to the public, said the mayor.

***

Back at the forge Akira and Delgar split the ore evenly between them. Akira gave a few extra pieces to Delgar as payment for the armor that Delgar had given him yesterday.

With this ore, I can save some of it to create a great masterpiece that will bring my familys name back out into the open, said Delgar as he thought of the many items he could create with all the ore he managed to get a hold of.

I look forward to the day when that happens, said Akira.

Ill be busy for the next few hours sleeping so dont bother me. You can use the forge and my tools while I sleep. Now if youll excuse me my bed is calling me, said Delgar swiftly exiting the forge.

Im still fully awake so its best to get this quest done so I can continue my search for Yuki and Grand, thought Akira.

Picking up 20 pieces of the Aorium ore he placed them all into a pile onto the large wooden table.

Ding!

Quest update! Blacksmith Sub-Class Quest Part 2:

In order to receive the blacksmith subclass, you will be required to create a shield with Aorium ore in order to prove your skill as a blacksmith.
Second goal: Smelt the ore, follow the instructions on the blueprint.

Difficulty: Unknown

Reward: Blacksmith subclass and its related stat.

Akira slapped his cheeks with both of his hands to get pumped up and said, LETS DO THIS!Multiple images flashed through his mind showing him all the detailed steps to properly create the shield.

He began to follow the instructions, exiting the forge and walked to a separate room where the coal was stored. He quickly filled a large wooden bucket with the coal he would need and went back to the forge where he threw a large portion of the coal into the furnace. The furnaces fire from the night before was nearly out and was soon brought back to a roaring blaze after Akira poked the coal around letting it catch on fire.

After building up the fire to the right temperature, Akira added all twenty pieces of the ore into the furnace and began to pump air into the furnace increasing the heat. After an hour of tirelessly pumping air into the furnace, he wiped the sweat off his face and drank a full glass of water.

He opened the small door at the bottom of the furnace and began to poke at the ash and burning coal until the molten ore began to flow out.

Once the ore was slightly solidified he used a pair of tongs to take the large chunk over to the anvil where he lightly tapped at the ore with his hammer, having the slag fall away leaving the pure Aorium ore.

While he let it cool down Akira decided to see if he could also smelt the Puminium. Placing the ore into the fire he began to raise the temperature until he received a message window.

Ding!

Well that sucks, said Akira. He took out the ore which was surprisingly still cool to the touch.

When the Aorium fully cooled he again placed the large chunk of ore back into the furnace heating it up so he could start hammering it into the shield that was shown in the blueprint.

An hour of hammering and reheating the lump of Aorium ore had passed, turning it into a decent sized round medium shield.

After quenching and tempering the shield he began polishing it. Following the blueprints instructions, he began to drill holes into the shield and fasten three different leather straps onto the inside of the shield.

Ding!

Blacksmith Sub-Class Quest Complete!:

Reward: Blacksmith subclass and stat Dexterity.

Blacksmith: Able to make weapons and armor with different ores when requirements are met.
Enchant: A special skill of blacksmith subclass that allows the merging of magic stones with items created depending on the rank of the crafted item.

Dexterity: Measures how nimble your fingers/hands are with crafting professions. Also helps with accuracy when attacking.

Useful Aorium shield (common):

Durability: 40/40

Defense: 20

Yes! shouted Akira. He felt a sense of pure happiness after completing the shield and looking at the defense stats

Ding!

Able to enchant Useful Aorium shield with 1 magic stone.

Choose a magic stone compatible with the shield.

Akira was stunned for a moment after reading the message but soon recovered and opened his bag and pulled out the two magic stones he had received from the two different bosses.

The large blue magic stone he had just received only a few hours ago began glowing while the red magic stone that dropped from the mother rat did not react.

Following the instructions, he placed the blue magic stone onto the finished shield.

Akira gasped as the magic stone began to melt into the shield and slowly started to change the color of the shield into a light blue. The shield let off a blue light for five short seconds before it slowly faded.

Critical success!

+5 Defense

Unknown effect unlocked at lvl 15.

Useful Aorium shield (common):

Durability: 40/40

Defense: 25

+Unknown effect Unlock at lvl 15

Jackpot! shouted Akira.

He eagerly equipped the blue shield and moved his arm around testing the weight and getting a feel for it. It was a lot heavier than his old wooden shield, but to make up for that it could withstand much stronger attacks.

Akira was stupidly gazing at his new shield Delgar walked into the forge.

Ah, so you were able to make it after all. I was worried I would wake up and find you making a mess of my shop and ruining the ore. Here Let me take a look at that, said Delgar.

After inspecting it he let out a grunt.

Its not bad for your first time. But its no masterpiece, said Delgar handing it back to Akira.

Well I need to go and get some sleep, creating this has made me extremely happy but also very sleepy, said Akira before leaving the forge and walking to the guest room and falling fast asleep.