Chapter 62: The Beggar’s Unwilling Path and the Crafter’s Hope

‘Hold on a moment? Is something amiss here?

‘I distinctly recall choosing ‘Assassin’!’

‘What in the world is a ‘Beggar’? There’s no way I’m going around begging for food!’

Fortunately, the dialogue box offered an option to return to the previous menu.

[Return to previous menu.]

[Please select and learn about one of the following sub-professions.]

[Sub-professions: Assassin, Bard, Merchant, Escort, Rogue, Diviner, Beggar.]

This time, I cautiously clicked the ‘Assassin’ button, exercising extreme care to ensure there would be no mishaps!

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

….

Refusing to believe it, I returned to the previous menu once more.

This time, I selected ‘Rogue’.

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

….

‘It truly seems as if some mysterious, unseen force is compelling me to become a beggar…’

Returning to the previous menu.

Selecting ‘Merchant’.

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

Selecting ‘Escort’.

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

Selecting ‘Diviner’.

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

Selecting ‘Bard’.

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

Selecting ‘Beggar’.

[Beggar successfully chosen. Please proceed to the Beggar profession mentor, the Little Roadside Beggar, to learn more about the Beggar profession.]

It appeared I was locked into the Beggar sub-profession; no matter what, there was no escaping it now.

‘What on earth possessed me to break the server so thoroughly that even I couldn’t fix it? Was there something wrong with my head?’

Alright, Beggar it was. While it wasn’t the sub-profession I desired, the concept of class balance certainly existed within the game. Even if being a Beggar wasn’t particularly dignified, its abilities might not necessarily be inferior to other professions.

Each of the six sub-professions boasted its own strengths, with none truly weaker than another; it merely came down to personal preference. Besides, this was only the first sub-profession; upon reaching level 45, a second sub-profession would unlock, allowing me to choose something else to play.

However, I simply couldn’t muster any interest in the utterly ridiculous Beggar sub-profession, so I decided to put its tutorial quest aside for the time being, my gaze instead falling upon the crafting-based life skills.

Since the blacksmith shop was closest to me, I first hurried back there, grandly selling a piece of junk equipment to the female shop assistant at the system price, then used the proceeds to purchase a portable blacksmith’s hammer and a forge.

After making my purchases, I initially intended to try them out right by the roadside. However, due to Aethel’s traffic management regulations, I was compelled to take my hammer and forge and find refuge in a sparsely populated area.

[Aethel Traffic Management Regulation Article 8: Adventurers are prohibited from occupying carriage roads and sidewalks. Adventurers are prohibited from performing any crafting operations in the middle of the road. Violators will be fined 15% of their cash, have their crafting license revoked (requiring re-examination of Aethel traffic safety theory to reinstate), and be penalized with 15 days of inability to use crafting skills.]

This was an incredibly harsh, strict, and utterly ridiculous game rule.

In any case, I was utterly curious! This marked my very first attempt at personally forging a piece of equipment; in my previous life, all my blades were custom-made by master blacksmiths.

Those who frequently faced mortal danger developed an almost obsessive attachment to their weapons, for the quality of a weapon directly impacted one’s very life.

Every weapon was its user’s beloved, and the mere thought of crafting my own beloved with my bare hands filled me with immense excitement!

‘I wonder what I’ll forge!’

‘Could I suddenly get a burst of luck and forge a divine artifact?’

Though I knew it was impossible, a person had to have dreams, right?

[Please select the type of weapon you wish to forge.]

I chose a longsword.

I couldn’t equip a longsword, but Yingning could.

Yingning’s original green-grade longsword was already excellent, but what if I forged a divine artifact? A person had to have dreams!

[Please select the level of the weapon you wish to forge.]

After some thought, I selected Level 30, surmising that Yingning and I would leap to Level 30 in one fell swoop after defeating the Red Water Dragon.

[Required materials: Grade 1 Wrought Iron x6, Grade 1 Refined Steel x6.]

I possessed none of these materials, but a function called ‘Equipment Disassembly’ existed.

Disassembling a weapon meant tossing it back into the forge to be re-melted and solidified. The forge, imbued with a magic array, could disassemble an item in just 10 seconds, recovering ten percent of the equipment’s crafting materials.

I disassembled a full twenty pieces of junk equipment, only managing to extract six wrought iron and six refined steel. Each junk item yielded only one material, and the type of material was random. I wasn’t sure if my luck was simply poor, but refined steel proved significantly rarer than wrought iron.

Switching the forge from disassembly mode to crafting mode, I then unceremoniously tossed in the six wrought iron and six refined steel. Before long, the materials transformed into a uniformly proportioned molten iron, which flowed out from a small tube at the bottom of the forge and into a pre-prepared rectangular mold.

Several minutes later, the molten iron had completely solidified, cooling under the influence of magic.

[You have obtained a weapon blank, which can be processed into a weapon of random quality.]

‘Random!’

‘I absolutely adored those two words!’

‘The very cradle of all dreams!’

The next step involved heating the blank until it glowed red and softened, then repeatedly folding and hammering it to expel impurities like carbon with the hammer.

The number of folds and hammer blows wasn’t a case of ‘the more, the better’; different weapons required different numbers of strikes, and the forging count would also influence the final attributes of the weapon.

For instance, an extra strike might make the weapon relatively softer, potentially adding 1 durability and 1 toughness. Conversely, one fewer strike might result in a harder weapon, granting +1 attack power but reducing 1 durability and 1 toughness.

These nuances all needed to be discovered through practical experience; with the server only just launched, no master strategists had yet compiled guides. In short, it was a truly intriguing design!

[During the forging process, you may optionally incorporate magic crystals into the hammering to enchant the weapon. The quality of the added magic crystals will affect the weapon’s final quality and attributes.]

This explanation remained rather ambiguous, making it difficult to ascertain the exact impact of a single magic crystal on the weapon. This could easily lead novice players to mindlessly throw in magic crystals, ultimately squandering all their wealth.

‘Online games are designed to trap naive newcomers like you, full of dreams but lacking in luck!’

Then… I retrieved all the scattered magic crystals I had previously collected, piling them all onto the weapon blank in one go, and silently began hammering away with a clanging din.

‘…I would never be one of those naive newcomers who lost everything!’

‘Oh ho ho ho ho, the moment to witness a miracle has arrived!’

‘All you unlucky souls, kneel and welcome the arrival of your Lucky Emperor!’

“Come forth! Fire’s Delight!”