“`
Gazing at the strange ore, a dagger made of an unknown black metal, eighteen gold coins and seventeen silver coins, along with a collection of bottles and jars containing poison and its antidote, Rein pondered for a moment before deciding to put away the gold coins and silver coins first.
Then, he sorted the poisons and antidotes, placing them in a wooden box which he hid under his bed.
As for the curious piece of ore, Rein picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and planned to consult with the blacksmith Boris about it the next day.
Worried that blacksmith Boris might covet it?
As if the greatsword were just for show!
Rein had no concerns about this at all.
Finally, he picked up the black dagger, plucked a strand of hair and placed it upon the blade.
With a gentle blow, the hair was instantly split in two by the edge of the dagger.
“Hiss! Sharp enough to cut hair!”
After thinking it over, Rein decided to carry the dagger with him for self-defense as the dual-handed greatsword was sometimes too conspicuous and not always convenient in certain situations.
Having dealt with the spoils of battle, Rein turned his attention to the panel.
Name: Rein Carlan
Profession: Blacksmith lv1 (52/100) / Night Watchman lv2 (207/300)
Constitution: 9
Strength: 10
Agility: 9
Spirit: 11
Remaining attribute points: 0
Remaining skill points: 0
The Blacksmith’s Strength lv3, Hammer Mastery lv1, Danger Perception lv1, Giant Bear Sword Technique lv4 (0/1000).
The one attribute point he had held in reserve was gone.
This disappointed Rein a bit.
He no longer had that trump card for a turnaround.
“However… I’m over halfway to the next level of the blacksmith profession, and nearly two-thirds through the Night Watchman level. If I really buckle down these next couple of days and focus on improving one aspect, I will again have an attribute point to use.”
“It’s no big deal.”
Although Rein had spent the entire day traveling, fighting, and ending with an assassination attempt,
thanks to his recent boost in constitution, he was still feeling quite good.
Therefore, Rein decided to go ahead with his practice of the Giant Bear Breathing Technique as usual.
“Diligence leads to excellence, play leads to ruin!”
However, when Rein started practicing the second movement of the Giant Bear Breathing Technique today, he noticed a significant difference.
The second movement, resembling a Russian kettlebell swing, had become increasingly easy for him to perform as his strength rapidly grew, but he still hadn’t managed to sustain it for half an hour or more.
He had improved from the initial five minutes to eighteen minutes just a couple of days ago.
Yet today, Rein persevered for a whole twenty-seven minutes straight.
[You have practiced the Giant Bear Breathing Technique, and your understanding has improved!]
[Your Skill Giant Bear Breathing Technique has improved, experience +2]
[Your Skill Giant Bear Breathing Technique has improved, experience +2]
…
This was getting very close to the thirty-minute mark.
It also meant that Rein was soon going to be able to practice the third part of the Giant Bear Breathing Technique.
This realization filled Rein with excitement!
He also noticed that the rate at which he was gaining experience for the Giant Bear Breathing Technique seemed to be increasing according to the system notifications.
In one hour, he had gained a total of 26 experience points, advancing the Giant Bear Breathing Technique to lv2 (77/300).
Of course, there was a daily limit to how long one could practice breathing techniques. With Rein’s current physical condition, one hour was nearly the limit.
To do more would be to damage his body and overdraw on his potential.
The quicker experience gain made Rein reflective.
“Could it be that the improvement in both my constitution and strength is causing the breathing technique practice to yield significant progress?”
“`
“The increase in Strength before made it easier for me to perform the second form, and now the further improvement of my Constitution has enhanced my endurance,” Reincarlan noted.
The training of the Giant Bear Breathing Technique enhanced Constitution and Strength, and in turn, the increase in these attributes facilitated the progress of the technique itself.
They complemented each other perfectly.
Reincarlan nodded.
“Right, that seems to be the case,” he agreed.
The next morning, Rein arrived early at the blacksmith’s shop in the small town.
“Rein, you’re here!” the blacksmith Boris greeted him with a smile.
“What do you plan to learn today? Or are you going to forge some horseshoes again?”
“Not in a hurry, Uncle Boris, I came to ask you something.”
Rein looked around, turned his back to the other apprentices, and pulled out the strange mineral that emitted a blurred soft light from his chest.
Blacksmith Boris’s eyes immediately bulged!
The next second, he snapped back to reality, glanced around quickly, and then grabbed Rein, pulling him into the storeroom behind the blacksmith shop. He asked, impatient and eager, “This is Glowstone!! Rein, how did you find such a rare mineral?”
“Glowstone?”
Rein showed a puzzled face; it was the first time he had heard this name.
However, it seemed Boris recognized this mineral.
It looked like he had come to the right person.
“Yes! Glowstone, very precious!”
“Uncle Boris, is it even more valuable than your star iron?” Rein inquired.
“Exactly, several times more valuable than star iron!” Boris confirmed, nodding emphatically.
This immediately filled Rein with elation.
Setting aside its use, such a small piece was actually worth dozens of Empire gold coins.
Even before Rein could ask about its use, Boris had already started to explain non-stop.
“Once incorporated into a weapon in a certain ratio, Glowstone imbues the weapon with special exorcising capabilities, which is why it is so valuable,” Boris said.
“Exorcising?”
Rein stumbled upon yet another unfamiliar term.
“Yes, to drive away evil. You must have heard of that, Rein,” Boris said, looking at him and continued.
“In this world, there are some strange places that spawn skeletons, zombies, or other evil Spiritual Bodies, as well as minions of demons or Evil Gods from other worlds.”
“Normal weapons hardly harm these monsters; only special weapons can do the job.”
“And weapons mixed with Glowstone, called ‘Glowstone Weapons’, can inflict significant damage on those evil beings when swinging.”
Now it made sense.
Rein suddenly realized.
“But Uncle Boris, how come I’ve never encountered any of these evils?” Rein couldn’t help but ask curiously.
Boris rolled his eyes and replied,
“Of course there isn’t any near Flashgold Town. Generally, the Empire and the major churches’ Transcendents have already cleared up the evil within the Empire’s boundaries.”
“Besides, if you had encountered these evil creatures, would you still be alive to come back and talk to me?”
“However, there have been rumors lately of Cultists conducting blood sacrifices, so it’s not impossible that some evil has popped up in our County Town.”
“You never know, you never know!” Boris shook his head.
Since there was a special effect of ‘driving away evil’, Rein naturally wanted to infuse his greatsword with this Glowstone.
“Uncle Boris, could you incorporate this Glowstone into a Dual-Handed Greatsword?” Rein asked hopefully.
“That’s not that I’m unwilling, but my forging skills simply aren’t up to the task,” Boris said.
“Also, melting Glowstone requires a higher temperature than melting iron ore, and our forge isn’t hot enough.”
“If you want to fuse the Glowstone into a greatsword, you’ll have to go to the County Town!” Boris suggested.
“Only the advanced blacksmith shops there have blast furnaces, and there are skillful Swordsmiths who can help you infuse the Glowstone into a Dual-Handed Greatsword.”
“County Town, huh?”
Rein nodded, deep in thought.