Second World

"Unique grades? Wow, I'm genuinely impressed that you both managed to get such high-grade ones," Hedite said. Jack and Jet were now back at her workshop handing in the runic metals. "The higher the grade of the runic metal, the harder it is to mine it. You people managed to break the deposits in less than one minute? You are much stronger than the other average people of your level."

'Damn it! This woman knows it is not an easy task mining the metal if they go deeper but she left these details out,' Jack cursed within.

"So, can you work these into pet armors?" Jack asked.

"Sure I can," Hedite replied. "Stay around, it will take me a few days to work on them."

"Oh… How many days?"

"Well, for both of them, I guess ten or twelve days should do it."

"Ten or twelve? We are only allowed to stay in this village for ten days. That's eight days left now. Can't you finish them before we have to leave?" Jack asked.

"I can only work the armor one at a time. It takes me six days for one armor," Hedite answered. "I can only complete one before you have to leave, one of you will have to come back here to take the second one."

Jet immediately said, "Well, Jack boy. You have to be the one coming back then. You are the only one that can track the route to this village."

Jack gave him a side-eye. "Didn't I already tell you to just follow the white rat? You are just scared of having to go through the Lost Forest again, aren't you?"

"Damn right I am scared! I'm not going into that blasted forest again. Also, didn't you say following the rats have a small chance of ending up somewhere unknown?"

"It's just a small chance, but if you pay attention to the white ones, you should be fine," Jack said.

"Small chance is still a chance, and I might mistake a light grey rat for a white one. I'm not doing it! Miss Hedite, please craft the armor for my pet first," Jet uttered.

'Bloody hell. This is your gratitude for me helping you get that unique grade?' Jack complained within, but he didn't reject. It was indeed much safer for him to travel back here.

"Are you okay with that arrangement?" Hedite asked Jack.

"It's okay. Work on his first," Jack said.

"I know you are a reliable person, Jack boy," Jet hugged Jack. Due to his dwarf's stature, he was hugging Jack's butt instead. Jack felt the urge to kick him away.

"All right. I will get right to work," Hedite said. "Sorry for your need to return, I am the only blacksmith in this village, after all."

Hearing that, a thought came to Jack. "Hey, will it help if I help with the work?" Jack asked.

"Oh? You can do blacksmithing work?" Hedite asked.

"My blacksmith grade is Advanced Expert," Jack answered.

Hedite gave an impressed expression. "Didn't your kind only arrive in this world less than ten months ago? Are you a skilled blacksmith where you come from?"

"Uh, no," Jack said.

"Anyway. Yeah, you can help. You just need to follow my instruction to the letter. With your help, I could probably cut my time to eight days and complete the armors before you have to leave."

"That will be great!" Jack uttered.

"What about you? Do you want to help as well?" Hedite asked Jet.

"I don't know shit about blacksmithing," Jet replied.

"Well, then get the hell away from my workshop. We will start working soon," Hedite shooed Jet away.

"Go train your skills. Don't waste your time here," Jack reminded.

"Okay. Don't you slack off in your work as well! I will want a refund if I'm not happy with your work!" Jet returned.

"Bloody heck! I paid the coins for your pet armor, remember?" Jack uttered.

"I still want a refund if I'm not satisfied!"

"Take this refund then!" Jack took out his magic staff and shot a mana bullet.

Jet jumped back while punching the mana bullet. "So uncivilized, losing a debate and using violence instead," Jet said. He was walking away while keeping his attention on Jack.

"You outworlders are weird. Isn't he supposed to be your elder?" Hedite asked.

"He is what you call a childish elder. Never mind him. By the way, since I help with the forging process, shouldn't I get a discount?"

"I don't mind working alone. You are welcome to come back twelve days later to pick up your pet armor."

"Let's start working!" Jack uttered.

"All right. Here," Hedite handed a runic metal to Jack. Jack checked it and found out it was his since the description said it was linked to him.

"As a matter of fact, if the owners work the metals themselves, the resulting armor might be improved," Hedite informed. "I will work on your friend's one while you work on yours. You can use these tools."

Hedite brought him to a large anvil next to the smelter. There were various blacksmith tools including a hammer by the side. Jack picked up the hammer and inspected it.

"U–Unique grade…?!" Jack stammered. His mobile blacksmith tools were only rare grade. Even the blacksmith workshop he rented in the capital only provided rare-grade tools as the highest option. He would have been happy if these tools were super rare grades, but instead, it was even better than he hoped.

"May I use these tools for other purposes?" Jack asked.

"Once you complete the task of forging your pet armor, I will think about letting you use them," Hedite replied.

"Sweet!" Jack uttered. He had been hoarding ores every time he entered a city. He had lots of ores in his bag, but his high-level armors also needed tons of ores for leveling up, mainly because of the high failure rate. He preferred to not use the guild's ore stock for his private use. Those ores inside the guild's warehouse should be used to help his guildmates. Hence, he had just been stockpiling materials all this time without using them yet. With these unique-grade blacksmith tools, he should be able to reduce the failure rate significantly. Thus, reducing his material waste.

"Follow this instruction," Hedite said.

A holographic video appeared before Jack, showing the forging process.

"Study it. You can ask me if there is something you don't understand. Otherwise, you can start working," Hedite said. "You don't need to worry about failure in working this runic metal. This is a special metal that won't fail. In exchange, it required a very long time to process. Hence, why I need so long to craft the armor. If you make a mistake, the process will simply not be registered, you will have to repeat it."

Jack nodded. He watched the video attentively. Hedite stayed by his side for a while. When she saw Jack didn't ask any questions, she was rather amazed. She then went away and prepared her own work.

Actually, the video showed some complex processes. However, Jack had experienced these processes during his short stay in the Blacksmith Circle. Grenmir who was the blacksmith tutor there had explained how to work out the kinks when encountering such processes. Hence, why he didn't ask Hedite about it.

The runic plate was heated first before Jack hammered it following the tutorial video. The process was lengthy, much more lengthy than the ones he had done in Blacksmith Circle, the spots that he had to hit with the hammer were also not large, so he had to take care of not making a mistake. After finishing the process, he cooled the plate inside a tub of water beside him. Then he was asked to repeat the process. The cycle went on endlessly. He could see the runic plate slowly changing shape with each cycle.

After hours of working. The plate suddenly broke apart. He was fairly startled when it happened. Terrified that he had somehow foiled the forging process.

Seeing his expression, Hedite chuckled. "Don't worry. I said before this process won't fail, right? This is normal. Your pet was big, how do you suppose such a small plate can cover its body? The plate has split so you can craft each part at a time."

Jack looked again at the broken pieces. Even though they had split into nine, each of their sizes was the same as when they were still one, probably larger even.

"Now that you are ready for the next phase. Here is what your pet armor's end product should look like," Hedite said. The tutorial video in front of Jack was replaced by a holographic representation of Therras. A version of Therras that was covered by majestic armor.

His Therras already had a bulky body, this armor added to his body mass. It made his pet look like a tank. Jack was worried if this would make Therras slow.

"Can we make the armor a bit slimmer?" Jack asked.

"Oh? You don't like the look?" Hedite asked. "I had actually made a few options when I was measuring your pet. This one will give the pet armor priority in defense. If you prefer, you can see these other ones."

Hedite made a swipe and a different holographic image replaced the current one. It was still Therras but with thinner armor. It had that aerodynamic look and even sported some sort of a backpack with small wings on its back.

"This prioritizes on speed," Hedite explained.

She did another swipe and a different image appeared. The armor this time sported spikes all over, with two large tusks by the side of the helmet.

"This enhances your pet's offense."

Another image. The armor looked more high-tech this time.

"This also prioritizes defense but not as much as the first one. In exchange, your pet gets the ability to produce a temporary force field for enhanced defense."