Seth had finally succeeded! The Billhook looked good and felt good in his hands, he knew without using the <Blacksmith’s Eyes>, that it was a good weapon! Still, he appraised it.

<Billhook

Common

Damage: 10-20

Durability:25

This sharp tool for cutting down branches and shrubbery can also act as a versatile Weapon. It was made by an aspiring Blacksmith and has some defects. Grants 2.3x damage against small and mid-sized plant based Enemies. Grants 1.3x damage against big plant based Enemies. Can cause bleeding.>

It fell short of the optimal parameters, but it was definitely the best weapon he could get in his Situation! Seth was finally armed and ready! Well, no. he was armed, however there were still things he needed to do. First he smelted the failed scrap metal and then everything that wasn’t iron and was spared before, like brass and copper from decorations. This unexpectedly brought his <Smelting> to lv.7.

Seth went to the forge and entered the free creation. He hammered a few ingots into thin iron plates and punched holes along the rim. Seth wanted to augment the sturdy leather jacket with metal plates and planned to make rivets from the brass and copper, which meant that he had to forge them into rods before cutting them to size. He only made it roughly, so it didn’t take too long.

Seth affixed plates along the arms like vambraces, two rows of 7 on his back, and he put a wider one on the left side of the jacket, above his heart.

< Ding! You have created your first piece of armor! End+1!>

< Reinforced Jacket

Common

Phys. Def. : 25

Durability: 45/50

A leather jacket reinforced with iron plates by an aspiring blacksmith. It’s not much, but better than nothing. >

He was quite satisfied with the outcome, even when it wasn’t as cool, as he hoped. Together with his sturdy boots his defense has increased by 1/3!

<Sturdy Leather boots

Common

Phys.Def. : 5

Durability: 18/20

A normal pair of good leather boots>

Seth put the remaining iron ingots and brass rods into his inventory. He had thought about making a shield, but he didn’t have enough wood to make a wooden one, and he didn’t have the time, or skills to make something that big from iron. Now was the time to finish preparations.

The Inventory held the things he definitely didn’t want to lose. A stack of about 30 mediocre iron bars, a stack of 10 brass rods, leather, a stack of 35 water bottles, 1. 5L each. One slot was his Grandfathers cane, and he also put his fathers binoculars in there, so they wouldn’t break if he fell or something. The rest of the slots were filled with the food he had left, like canned soup, packets of noodles and a pot to cook.

Seth went to the room that had belonged to his parents before. From a drawer he took a small pendant and wore it. It was small and round, made from gold. It felt smooth in his hand and when he opened it, there was actually a picture of his parents inside. Memories started to surface, but Seth pushed those to the back of his mind and put the pendant under his shirt.

He needed to concentrate now. He packed his backpack with some of the food he couldn’t put in the inventory, clothes and a pan. Also, the buckles and straps he had scavenged from other clothing.

Looking around his apartment, he tried to think whether he had forgotten anything. Maybe a compass would be good? And his smartphone was also leaving with him, as long as it had power.

Remembering Maceguy, he thought of his motorcycle helmet he had lying around from when actually still had a bike, but he already had so little vision at night. Seth didn’t think it would help a lot.

Before he left, he checked his status, just to make sure.

Name: Seth Smith

Title: “Faster than the Thought”

Level:1

Exp: 80%

Race: Ori Huma

Sex:Male

Age:23

Class: Spirit Blacksmith (Unique)

Affiliation: None

Health: 1000/1000

Mana:100 (INTx10)

Strength:13

Dexterity:17

Agility: 12

Intelligence:10

Willpower:10

Endurance:14

Personality:7

Luck:15

Free AP(Attribute points):10

Defense:

Physical : 122 (42+50+ 25+5)

Magical :45 (20+25)

Fire Resistance :50%

Skill Window :

Calm Reaction(passive) lv.1

Blacksmith(Beginner)lv.8(51%)

Blacksmith´s Eyes lv.1

Smelting(Beginner) lv.7(11%)

Blueprint(Beginner) lv.2

Weapon Mastery(Beginner) lv.1

Spirit Smithy lv.1

Spirit Capture lv.1

Everything seemed fine, he was in top form!

“This has to do for now”, he said to himself as he went to the door.

<You are about to leave the safe zone. Once you have left the safe zone, it will dissolve and you can NOT return. Are you sure you wish to leave the safe zone? Y/N>

Seth chose Y and stepped outside into the dark hallway.

< Ding! Welcome, Adventurer! You are the 344th to leave the safety zone willingly in this region. >

< Ding! Title: “Explorer” gained. “You are among the first 1000 of your region to leave the safety zone”>

<Ding! Active Skill: Map lv.1 acquired, thanks to Title: “Explorer”>

<You have entered Field Boss “The Hanging Tree”´s sphere of influence . An ominous fear is entering you from the twilight.>

Seth felt an irrational fear spreading in him. his heart raced and he started sweating. As he was about to fall into panic <Calm Reaction> kicked in.

<Ding! Title: “Bold” gained. “Entering the sphere of a Field boss as a Level 1 is truly bold!”>

<Ding! Passive Skill: Fear Resistance acquired, thanks to Title: “Bold”>

As he was calming down, he looked through the messages and checked is status. He just went outside and gained two titles and two skills. Map actually opened a map window, but only places he had visited were shown. He looked down the hallway, but could only see ink-black darkness.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and used the flashlight to illuminate the hallway.

<Ding! Passive Skill: Fear Resistance lv.1 has become lv.2!>

He regretted lighting up the hallway. The walls were covered in roots that were growing from the walls! He really would have preferred the gore, to this! At least the floor has withstood the attempts of nature to penetrate it…

He walked down the hallway towards the staircase and came by his neighbors door. The door was actually left ajar. Seth pushed the door open only to find his neighbors home being also overgrown with roots. A dried up corpse was actually sitting in his recliner. It was totally covered in spindly thin roots, like a doll made of twigs. It looked totally macabre and disturbing.

“Don´t mind me old friend…”, Seth told him, shrugged his shoulders and looked for the kitchen. His neighbor wouldn’t miss the food anymore. What could be stacked went into the inventory, what couldn’t was…rationed on the spot. What couldn’t be rationed went into the backpack, not that there was much left.

Seth left his neighbors place with a few more days worth of food and actually quite a lot of canned stuff. His neighbor seemed better prepared than him, too bad he had died early. He didn’t take any crafting material, there was neither the space nor time for it.

Stepping back into the dark hallway, Seth made is way to the staircase. It was completely overgrown. Vines and roots were embracing the handrails and hanging down from the stairs above. However, they didn’t seem to belong to the skull-penetration kind. They just hung there and did nothing. Still, Seth was walking around with the Billhook in hand, in case some naughty vine was just playing dead. When he came to the lobby, Seth finally got his gore. The frontdoor had been broken open and there were the mangled corpses of some humans and goblins. The humans had actually been armed. Did everyone but him get starter weapons? He picked up a sword from the ground.

<Sword

Basic

Damage: 3-7

Durability: 4/8

A Simple mass-produced sword>

Wow, this was almost worse than his trashy throwing knives….

Seth put the sword back, no time, no space. He finally closed in on the gaping hole, where the frontdoor once was, and stepped outside into the night!