‘Is he a royalty of the fallen Heart Kingdom or another kingdom? No that can’t be. No kingdom would easily allow foreign royalty to take root in their lands like this. If he is a local royalty then what the hell is he doing here?’

Sato was stunned at the result of the inspection. Even though he never knew that the Triastis was the royal family of the Fallen Heart Kingdom, seeing the title addressed to Blacksmith master Owen he concluded that this should be so.

‘I really need to take time out to visit the library otherwise I might come across an evil god and die without knowing why.’ Sato sighed inwardly.

Picking up the slightly huge upturned book on the table together with the other players in the room, Sato took a look at the front which had written on it, in bold form, the words ‘Blacksmith beginner’s guide for total dummies’. Slightly below those words was another text written in a smaller font ; ‘I mean utter dimwits in blacksmithing’. It seemed like at that very second, all the faces of the players twitched with silence reigning over the entire room.

*sigh*

Eventually, the silence was broken by the sigh pf a player. With that, the remaining players including Sato regained themselves and begun browsing through the book until a System notification appeared;

[[ System Notification :

Do you wish to learn ‘Blacksmith beginner’s guide for total dummies’, ‘I mean utter dimwits in blacksmithing’ Edition?

System : Yes/No ]]

‘So that was the edition’s title?’ Inwardly sighing at the ability of the book’s author to frustrate his readers, Sato agreed to the notification.

Instantly, he felt a gush of information, filled with basic knowledge on blacksmithing, materials, metals and alloys, rushing towards his brain. Considering the size of the book, it took him about 15 seconds to recover from the head-pounding ache. Apparently, he was among the first group of people to recover together with the cloaked girl, the burly young man and surprisingly, the green haired girl. They had recovered at almost the same time with each other with the rest of the players recovering within a gap of a few mini-seconds to 2 seconds from them.

‘ If I’m correct, then the speed at which we absorb the knowledge depends on one’s mental capacity and processing speed. Those two are most likely experts so it’s understandable, but this girl…’ Sato stared at the green haired girl with a little bit of shock in his eyes. ‘A black horse?’

It seemed like the other two had reached the same conclusion as Sato as they both stared at the green haired girl in surprise. Sensing their gaze, the green haired girl bent her head down bashfully.

As most of the players had recovered, they began to take their leave, moving towards the auditorium. As they were walking, Sato tried to use the [Inspect] general skill on the green haired girl however, he got a System response telling him that he can’t use it on players.

‘Well that’s disappointing.’

The blacksmith guild’s auditorium was located on the first floor[1] of the main building. Considering that it was made to be able to address a lot of people, it was quite huge, taking up at least 40% of the entire floor.

Once they went through the doors, they were greeted by the sight of a huge hall with a stage at the other end, on which stood five people, one of whom was the Master blacksmith, Owen Triastis. At the audience’s position sat a couple of NPCs numbering around 17 or so.

“Oh? You’re finally here eh? That was quick. Alright, everybody take your seats and get ready to be assigned a teacher. These gentlemen and miss beside me are the majority of the blacksmiths currently available here in Riverdale Town. As you can see, there aren’t a lot of us. That just goes to show you how tough it is to become one, a professional at that.

“Today, you will all be assigned an instructor and would have your free 1-hour classes today. This is because most of our staff are all busy with their various practices and experiments in pursuit for a higher level. Once the classes are over, you can visit your assigned instructors whenever they are free and pay for a lesson or ask questions you don’t understand. I advise you though, not to abuse this privilege by troubling your instructors all the time as this might exasperate them.

“Alright let’s begin. Numbers 1-7 please come forward. Your instructor will be Blacksmith Chris. 8-14, your instructor would be…”

As Master Owen called out, the individuals, be they NPC or player, with the assigned number walked forward where they met their instructor and immediately left the auditorium heading to a suitable room to hold the class.

“Numbers 22-28. You guys are the last group today and your instructor is Miss Trevale. Try your best not to incur her ire. As beautiful as she is, she’s a thorn in the bush.”

“Hmph. If they can’t handle my attitude, they might as well quit right now. Let’s go.” Miss Trevale was a blue haired beauty with smooth skin and the only female blacksmith in Riverdale Town. Despite being a blacksmith, she wasn’t burly, having a physique and stature befitting of a model.

Sato’s group consisted of only two players, Sato and the cloaked lady, together with 5 other NPCs. As they left the auditorium, they walked over to a room at the second floor. Their instructor, Miss Trevale, pulled out a token but unlike that of the apprentices, her’s was in the form of a rectangle with weird markings, more complicated than that of the apprentice token.

Placing it on a depression identical to the token, she injected mana into the token for 3 seconds and then removed the token. As soon as she did so, the door opened and she stepped in while saying “Come in and don’t touch anything. Just find a spot to stand. As for the young lady, cloaks aren’t allowed here. I still don’t know how you made it past the reception but I personally am not a fan of disguises.”

When she heard that, the cloaked lady stopped and hesitated for a second after which she took off her cloak and placed it in her beginner’s pouch.

As expected, she was a lady but even more so, a beautiful one. Once she took off the cloak, even the male NPCs in their group couldn’t get their eyes off of her. The very sight of her can be said to be nothing more than a visual feast for the men.

A rare white colored hair, a nice oval face, aquiline nose, thin red lips, brown coloured eyes and a pale coloured smooth skin rivalling that of a new born baby. ‘Beauty’ might even be an understatement when used to address her. With a perfect proportioned body, the word ‘Goddess’ might be the only compliment that wouldn’t shame her existence.

While the males were staring at her, with the few females finding themselves lacking in appearance, Sato wasn’t lost in her magnificence or beauty. Rather upon noticing the white hair, he recalled a certain professional player that had a poem addressed to her made by a player that had been defeated by her.

‘As beautiful as the moon in the dark night sky,

As chilling as the cold in the dark winter nights.

Hair as white as the snow,

With skills that aren’t for show.

She’s the witch who has no limits,

The Queen who knows no fear,

The Goddess who stands above all,

The Snow Goddess.’

(AN : Impressive right. Well, I just made it up, not joking.)

The Snow Goddess. As long as one isn’t new to gaming, they would have heard of that name. Even if you aren’t a gamer yourself, she had appeared in quite a lot of commercials, s its’ highly possible to have seen her. Previously ranked 3rd in the Newcomer’s list a few years ago with a fight ranked 312th in the ‘Greatest of all Time’, she’s a bona-fide pinnacle class expert, a ‘Queen’ ranked 178th in the Hermes’ Guild’s ‘Gamer Expert List’. A true big figure, hegemon even, in the gaming sector.

Don’t despise the rating of 178th. If you would recall, all those ranked as from 200 and above are assigned the title ‘King’ or ‘Queen’ depending on their genders. These people are or capable of rivalling monster class experts. Monster class experts are the second strongest class of experts and players just below god level players. God level players are quite rare and every one of them are valuable assets to a guild as such, they are hardly seen unless such a guild plans to make a big move. As such, monster class experts, since they aren’t so rare and can easily be seen, are the strongest class of players for the general public. To be able to rival such a being speaks much of the strength and capability of the individual.

‘What is she doing here? Don’t tell me Emperor’s Might has set its sights on Fallen Heart Kingdom? Damn it. ‘

Currently, Snow Goddess serves as core member, and not an ordinary one at that, of Emperor’s Might, a Super guild that stands below no one. Such an important individual wouldn’t go their way to develop in a city or kingdom out of the jurisdiction of the guild. So for Snow Goddess to be here, it meant that Emperor’s guild might have already set its sights on the Fallen Heart Kingdom as a region of development.

As for whether it is the only place they have in mind or their desired headquarters in Infinite Realm, Sato didn’t know and didn’t plan on finding out.

He acted as if he was surprised both by her looks and identity just like any normal player would. But it seemed he was over reacting as she didn’t even spare him a glance.

“Alright everybody. Today we would be learning about the basics of blacksmithing and watching them being applied in live practical session.” said Miss Trevale, who wasn’t affected by the Snow Goddess’ beauty as she was a beauty of her own category. “If you can understand these principles in practice, then the test won’t be anything for you. Let’s begin.”

AN : Important Ranks for Chapter reference

Player Ranks :

God-level or god-ranked expert or Destroyer

Monster-class expert

Pinnacle or Apex expert,

Average expert

Elites

Veterans

Noobs

Guild Ranks :

Super Guild

1st Tier Guilds

2nd Tier Guilds

3rd Tier Guilds

4th Tier Guilds

Unassigned Guilds