( Cervantez's POV )
Cervantez was a man on a mission as he rode hard from his beginner town towards the royal capital, monopolizing every possible quest on the way.
Having secured a horse as a rented mount, he had successfully cut short his journey time from 4 days to just under two, however, the actual speed depended on external factors such as bandits and road quality more than it did on himself.
His goal was to reach the royal capital, the de facto holy ground of Terra Nova Online where 70% of the most important events of the game were going to take place and there he wished to establish a base of operations before every Tom, Dick and Harry had the same plan.
Before a player had enough strength to enter territorial politics and become a Lord, the royal capital was the single most important place in the entire game because only in the royal capital could one find endless opportunities for growth.
There was constantly some small or big tournament on-going winning which could turn one's fate upside down.
Every major NPC trade organization or Guild had a presence within the royal capital with the most important NPC figures such as the Emperor, The Hero and the rest residing in this city.
It was the hub where the most important quests were going to be issued in the future and the place where Cervantez planned on earning enough wealth to be able to run his guild while his members individually developed.
To be able to establish a guild, one needed to have 5000 gold, one guild establishment token and at least 100 fame.
It was a barrier that would take the common player several months to overcome, however, Cervantez already knew how to tackle it.
He already knew the secret to earning 5000 gold as he knew the winning numbers to the grand lottery.
He had already obtained a guild establishment token from the village chief of his starter village after clearing all the monsters from the vicinity.
Finally, he was accumulating 100 fame points by clearing bandit camps that attacked solo travelers on the road and had successfully killed 4 such bandits earning 20 fame points already.
If everything proceeded as per his plan, he felt like he was on track to establish the first guild within the game in one weeks time.
However, while he was closer to establishing his guild, he still had no clue about the identity of 'TheBoss' who was growing at a frightening pace.
Cervantez had a gnawing feeling in his heart which told him that if he was unable to rope in 'TheBoss' within the first week of the game, then he would become untouchable.
Time was of the essence to recruit him while Cervantez could still offer him tangible benefits to join his guild, however, his identity was still shrouded in thick mystery as ever.
*************
( Amanda's POV )
"Strike it here dear, Strike it near the handle, you're bending the shape of the dagger by hitting it at the center…. This won't do" the old granny scolded Amanda who felt utterly exhausted following the old granny's instructions.
It was the seventh failed dagger of the day and let alone learning about metallurgy or the other processes involved with smithing, Amanda found herself stuck at the very basic stage of shaping a weapon which she could absolutely not master uptil her master's satisfaction.
The old granny had weak vision, so much so that she could not tell apple from orange, however, when it came to blacksmithing her eyes magically became sharper than a hawk.
Metals that seemed perfectly straight to Amanda were bent as per the old granny as she discarded Amanda's work entirely from the second she made a single wrong stroke.
"Here, give it to me. I'll show you how to hammer with rhythm" the granny said as she took up Amanda's hammer which easily weighed over five pounds and began hammering with it over red hot iron as if it required no effort at all from her part.
Unlike Amanda, every single strike from her, molded the iron slightly, giving it a proper shape as she continued to strike it with a single rhythm.
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
Only moving the hammer ever so slightly with every strike, granny uniformly flattened the entire piece of iron and formed a flat looking sheet of metal with it.
" Don't shape it like a dagger from the get-go, trust the process, first learn to flatten the sheet then we fold and flatten it again and again and again to form a blade from iron that's stronger than titanium.
It won't work if every sheet is not uniformly flat or not uniformly hammered.
Have patience and learn to flatten the metal first before learning how to shape it" Granny said as Amanda took her words to heart and decided to trust the process.
Unlike most players in the game, she was not focused on leveling up at the moment and was instead spending all of her gaming time looking after an old woman or working in the Smithy.
Some would call her insane for taking such a path, since she was bound to receive a demotion in player evaluation a few days later, however, Amanda did not care.
In her heart she knew that if she became a good enough forger then someday her talent would be recognised and respected, however, until then it was only hard work and anonymity for her.
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
Slowly but methodically, she began to flatten her next sheet of iron, making sure that she put all her focus behind each strike and to do it as evenly as possible.
Whenever she made a mistake, she replaced the old sheet with a new one, throwing the old one in the furnace for remelting without the old grandma having to point it out as her biggest improvement was the fact that she could recognise failed and successful products on her own and no longer needed grandma to tell her that she had made a mistake.
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/// A/N - This bonus chapter is for hitting the PS target. Thank You everyone for your consistent support ///