Clang!
The instant the hammer struck, the NPC blacksmith lounging in the smithy suddenly raised his head.
He had merely been standing by the furnace, watching the young Adventurer who had just arrived in the village.
To him, every Adventurer trying forging for the first time was much the same.
They strode excitedly into the smithy, convinced that smithing meant swinging a hammer a few times.
But once the iron was glowing and the hammer came down, even with the system's assistance, something always went wrong. The temperature was off, the strike misplaced, or the force uneven. What they produced wasn't even fit to be a farm tool.
He hadn't paid this newcomer much attention, either.
Until that first blow fell.
It neither ruined the blank, as beginners so often did, nor left hairline cracks from uneven force.
The hammer landed roughly four inches toward the rear of the blank. The blow wasn't heavy, but it pressed down on precisely the dark line that had just risen inside the metal.
With one strike, the iron seemed to have had its temper subdued.
Sparks scattered.
System notifications appeared before Lu Tiechen.
[Forging assessment initiated.]
[Current material: Low-Grade Iron Blank.]
[Current tool: Common Forging Hammer.]
[Player has not learned Basic Forging. The result will depend entirely on the player's own ability.]
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[Manual forging detected.]
Lu Tiechen ignored the notifications.
Still, being able to forge without learning the Life Skill had surprised him.
Apparently, the rules of Age of the Ancient Gods weren't completely rigid.
He had no time to dwell on that now. All he could see was the iron on the anvil.
It was a thoroughly unremarkable blank.
Back at the Lu Family Smithy, it would barely have qualified as scrap.
It contained many impurities, had heated unevenly, and had little potential as a material.
But this was a game.
This was the first time Lu Tiechen had swung a hammer in Age of the Ancient Gods.
He hadn't expected to produce some divine weapon on launch day.
He only wanted to confirm one thing.
Lu Tiechen lifted the iron with his tongs and returned it to the furnace.
Flames licked the metal, slowly turning its dark red glow orange.
A player who had just entered the smithy saw this and chuckled.
"Seriously, man? You're training a Life Profession?"
Lu Tiechen didn't turn around.
The player didn't mind and kept talking. "I just read about it on the forums. Life Professions are a total trap early on. The success rate's terrible, and whatever you make is worse than your starter gear. You'd be better off fighting for spawns outside the village."
Another player joined in. "Yeah, the guy at the top of the level rankings is already Level 4. Keep this up and there won't be any monsters left for you."
The other players rolled their eyes. Telling someone else to go fight for monsters when they'd come strolling around the smithy themselves?
Lu Tiechen still said nothing.
He watched the color of the iron's surface.
Almost.
A little longer.
Now.
The iron returned to the anvil.
Clang!
The second strike landed farther forward than the first.
At the impact, the scattered patterns inside the iron began gathering toward the center.
Lu Tiechen could clearly see tiny impurities being squeezed toward the edges, like dirty water forced from cracks in stone.
The NPC blacksmith's expression finally changed.
He even forgot to set down the flask in his hand.
"This kid..."
Clang!
The third blow.
Clang!
The fourth.
Lu Tiechen didn't work quickly.
Before every strike, he paused to study the heat, the patterns, and the subtle changes within the blank.
But that slowness was what made him precise.
Every blow landed exactly where it should.
Every return to the furnace came at the right temperature.
The smithy gradually fell silent.
At some point, even the players who had been urging him to go level up had shut their mouths.
They knew nothing about forging, but they could still see that Lu Tiechen was different from ordinary players.
An ordinary player struck whichever spot the system lit up.
Lu Tiechen didn't.
He seemed to genuinely know where the iron needed to be hammered.
After a dozen or so blows, the blank had been drawn into the beginnings of a sword.
It wasn't long, and its design was simple.
The basic materials provided free in the beginner village could never produce an elaborate weapon.
Watching the sword take shape, Lu Tiechen felt little excitement.
The material was too poor.
At best, he could make a serviceable beginner's iron sword.
Beyond that, skill alone could no longer make up the difference.
Even the best cook couldn't make a meal without ingredients.
Lu Tiechen understood that well.
He glanced at the materials rack in the corner.
Low-Grade Iron Ore. Ordinary wooden handles. Low-grade whetstones.
Nothing but the most basic supplies.
Free materials were never going to be exceptional.
With these, no amount of fancy hammerwork would produce anything beyond low-level gear.
To forge weapons that truly mattered, he would have to level up, leave the beginner area, and obtain better ore.
Hiss!
The glowing sword blank entered the quenching tank.
White steam billowed up, filling half the smithy.
Lu Tiechen briefly closed his eyes, then swiftly drew the blank out again.
Someone nearby murmured, "Is that it?"
"No idea. It looks pretty convincing, though."
"How good can anything made in the beginner village be? Gray Gear at best."
Lu Tiechen offered no explanation.
He laid the blank back on the anvil and began the final adjustments.
Flatten the spine.
Straighten and stabilize the blade.
Form the cutting edge.
Finally, he used a low-grade whetstone to hone the edge little by little.
When he stopped, a slightly dark iron sword lay quietly on the anvil.
It wasn't flashy.
There were no glowing effects or runes.
But the blade was straight, its edge gleamed, and the grip was tightly wrapped. It was far better than the wooden sword awarded by the beginner quest.
At last, the system chimed.
[Forging complete.]
[Forging Score: 87.]
[Player has not learned Basic Forging and cannot gain forging skill experience.]
[High-quality manual forging completed. Special assessment triggered.]
[You have obtained: Sharp Iron Sword.]
[Quality: Common (White)]
[Required Level: 1]
[Attack: 8–12]
[Strength +1]
[Durability: 40/40]
The smithy went quiet for a moment.
The player who had spoken earlier stared.
"White Gear?"
Another hurriedly opened his equipment panel and checked the Beginner's Wooden Sword in his hand.
[Beginner's Wooden Sword]
[Quality: Crude (Gray)]
[Attack: 2–4]
[Durability: 15/15]
Then he looked back at Lu Tiechen's iron sword, and his expression changed.
"Twelve maximum Attack? That does way more damage than my starter weapon!"
"Did you get a gear drop?"
"A drop, my ass," the player swore. "This is still my starter gear. I spent half an hour grinding and got two Copper Coins and a wolf hide. The equipment drop rate is ridiculous."
That silenced the players around him.
The equipment drop rate in Age of the Ancient Gods was far lower than they'd expected.
Since the servers opened, most players had been stuck with the weapons the system gave them.
A lucky few had looted Gray Gear from monsters, but even those weapons only had two or three extra points of Attack.
Lu Tiechen's sword was different.
Usable at Level 1.
Attack: 8–12.
And an extra point of Strength.
This was no ordinary starter weapon.
The NPC blacksmith approached.
He picked up the iron sword and lightly flicked its spine.
Hum.
The blade gave a brief, clear ring.
The middle-aged blacksmith studied Lu Tiechen for a long time before speaking.
"You've learned this before?"
Lu Tiechen considered the question. "I have."
The blacksmith's gaze deepened. "People still learn this these days?"
He was no longer looking at Lu Tiechen as though he were an ordinary Adventurer.
Lu Tiechen didn't answer.
The blacksmith didn't press him. He simply handed the sword back.
"The materials in this shop are poor. Making something this good from them is no small feat."
Lu Tiechen took the sword and nodded.
"I know."
Of course he knew.
That was why he had no intention of staying here.
He needed levels.
He needed materials.
More importantly, he needed a reputation.
In the real world, people treated the Lu Family Smithy as a joke left over from another era.
But in Age of the Ancient Gods, he would show them that forging wasn't a worthless Life Profession.
Lu Tiechen gripped the iron sword.
Then he turned and walked out of the smithy.
The beginner village was even busier than before.
Players crowded around the entrance, fighting bitterly over Level 1 rabbits and Level 2 wolves.
Someone would barely touch a monster before five or six other players swarmed it and beat it to death, leaving everyone with a pitiful share of experience.
Complaints flooded the area chat.
"Stop stealing my mobs!"
"This drop rate is way too low! I've been fighting forever without a single piece of gear!"
"Anyone grouping for the Level 3 stray dog area? You can't grind anything at the village gate."
"Level 3? Without gear, you're just going there to die."
Lu Tiechen listened without slowing down.
He didn't stop at the village entrance.
Nor did he join the crowds fighting over spawns.
With his freshly forged sword in hand, he walked straight past the busiest areas and continued farther out.
Someone spotted the sword, and his eyes lit up.
"Hey, where'd you get that sword? Is it for sale?"
"Hey! That's the high-level monster area! There are Level 4 Grayhide Boars and Level 5 Fanged Hounds out there. A beginner can't take those hits!"
Lu Tiechen kept walking.
He checked his level.
Level 1.
He had only the basic 100 Health, and his Defense was pitiful.
Under normal circumstances, a Level 1 player entering an area full of Level 4 and 5 monsters would indeed be in danger.
But he looked down at his sword.
Attack: 8–12.
Strength +1.
Its stats already surpassed the Gray Gear in the hands of most players.
Lu Tiechen tightened his grip, his expression calm.
If he wanted people to understand the value of the Lu family's forging, simply making a sword wouldn't be enough.
The farther he went, the more desolate the grassland became.
In the distance, several stocky Grayhide Boars rooted in the soil, their tusks gleaming white in the sunlight.
A system notification appeared.
[You have entered a dangerous area.]
[Monster levels exceed the player's level. Proceed with caution.]
Lu Tiechen raised his iron sword.
A Grayhide Boar spotted him. It jerked up its head, scraped its hooves against the ground, and charged with a heavy pounding of hooves.
Lu Tiechen watched its approach, then glanced at his sword's edge.
"You'll be the first."