Liam suddenly woke up as the light from outside peeked through the window suddenly shined over his eyes. He let out a yawn as he stretched his arms and legs. He then rubbed one of his eyes still full of sleep as he sat up and slowly dragged himself to let his legs dangle over the side of the bed.
Even though he was so sleepy from the night before, he felt like every second was well spent. He hadn’t felt that good in quite a while. As he slowly woke up, he thought about everything that happened last night.
He had spent majority of the night out in the forested area of the craft and harvesting area with Uncle Naro. The giant bear-folk of a man had made one massive feast and wouldn’t let Liam stop eating until he was completely full. Even though the food he made was completely different from what he was used to, he had to admit it was extremely delicious.
Naro had helped him understand more about the Chef Craft as he made the food. For the longest time he thought it was called Cooking crafting, but he had found out the actual name was Chef Craft.
As Naro was teaching him, he began to understand why Artem was so interested in the craft. A lot of the sections of the craft were connected. For example, two sections were intertwined depending on the types of food ingredients a Chef crater worked with. They were Food Prep and Food Handling.
The Food Prep section helped a Chef prep the ingredients better before the actual cooking started. The better prepared the ingredients were the better the quality the end results became. The other section, Food Handling, could intertwine with Food Prep by cleansing the ingredients of any poisons, venoms, or other nasty ailments hidden within them depending on the ingredients being used.
He didn’t know this until Naro had explained, but there was a section that came with a skill that was like a variation of his Gathering Craft Focus Point ability Harvest, called Butcher. Unlike Harvest, where it collects different materials from a killed creature or harvestable ingredients, Butcher only focuses on cooking ingredients of killed creatures. The higher the level of the skill the better the meat or other cooking ingredients get. It is also used more outside of dungeons and more in businesses as well.
The other section of Chef crafting that is tied into Food Prep is Mystical Seasoning. If a Chef uses the right seasoning and combination through Food Prep and cooking the food then special buffs and more will appear when eating or drinking the finished product.
The other section that he learned is tied to the end results. It’s called Culinary. Just like Potion Making in Alchemy, after you fully cook or finished making the food or drink then this levels up. The higher the level the better the quality. However, just like Alchemy many chefs try not to make higher end meals. They start off with smaller amounts or simple food recipes.
However, unlike Alchemy, Chef crafting can be done in teams while making meals. This helps out the last Section Liam had learned about, Large Feasts. This section allows Chefs to work better with other chefs when making larger meals meant for a few to a lot of people. This also shares experience amongst all who had a part in making the meal. Albeit, the Chef only gets experience in what their portion of the work was in though.
As Liam learned more of this craft and worked on what Naro had tasked him with, he grew a new appreciation for the work Artem put in to the food he had made for him and the others back in the Tutorial Area. Chef crafting was no joke and needed a lot of your focus when crafting meals.
He vowed to help Artem more in this craft whenever he could if they were ever to team up again.
Thanks to Naro’s guidance he was able to get a few things to level up. His Chef Craft leveled up to five as the Food Prep and Culinary sections reached the same level. His Large Feast, Butcher, and Food Handling reached level two as well. He was able to get his Mystical Seasoning to level one, but the buffs he was able to produce was really low.
After they had eaten, Naro stayed true to his word and taught him better techniques using his mortar and pestle. He show him how to properly hold the pestle and how to move his wrist when smashing and grinding ingredients. Thanks to that, he was able to reach level five in Medicinal Creations.
Naro also gave him some pointers on Potion Making and how to better use his Extraction and Distilling so he didn’t waste some of the extracts he had made. Apparently he was wasting about ten percent of his extracts when he was letting them distill into potions.
Thanks to the tips and tricks he was able to reach level seventeen in Potion Making. He was also able to bring his Extraction and Distill to level twenty, bringing his Alchemy as a whole to level twenty.
Those weren’t the only crafts Naro gave him pointers on. He also talked to him about Tailoring and Blacksmithing. He gave him some tips on what to focus on when he worked on his Tailoring which helped him out a lot.
He was able to get a better grasp on what to look for and what kind of stitching techniques he should focus on corresponding to his level and what he should practice on to get a better feel for before reaching certain levels. Thanks to that he was able to reach level seven in Tailoring as a whole and his Sewing section to level seven as well.
As for Blacksmithing, Liam had told him what Fia had advised he should focus on and Naro was impressed. Liam showed him what he had been making and how his Bone Smelting technique looked. Naro showed an interest in how he made his bone ingots and explained that there were two other ways he could do it. He promised to show him those other ways another time if he was interested, but for now he gave him pointers on how he could round his current technique to pave the way for when he was ready to make better quality Bone Ingots.
He had also helped him understand how to make more than just daggers. He was impressed with his idea of getting a better feel for the weapons before making them, but insisted that he still tried so he could use these earlier products as examples for what not to do.
Thanks to that, Liam was able to make a couple Crude Bone Short Blades, a couple Crude Bone Spears, and even a couple Crude Bone Whips. The whips were harder since it had to be a lot more flexible than the previous weapons he had made before. However, thanks to that he was able to get a better understanding on not only the whip, but the three weapons he had made before.
He was able to level up his Blacksmithing some thanks to the practice. His Bone Smelting reached level ten while his Bone Forging reached level seven. Thanks to practicing making the three new bone weapons he was able to get Swords, Spears, and Whips to level two in his Weapon Craft section in Blacksmithing. It was still a far cry from his Daggers which was at level eight in Weapon Craft, but now he wasn’t a one trick weapon maker in that section.
Even though he had gotten all of these levels and experiences in his crafting the one he was really excited about leveling up was his class skill Mobile Crafter. He was able to get it to level six after all the switching around and crafting he did using it. He wasn’t entirely sure how it leveled up and Naro wouldn’t tell him, but he figured it had to be a mix of him summoning a station and how much he crafted on it while the selected station was summoned.
Liam stretched one more time before letting his thoughts land on another Class skill he had received recently but hadn’t used yet. He had forgotten to ask Naro about it since he was so focused on everything else the giant bear of a man was advising him on. He felt like Naro was just as excited to guide him as he was to learn what the man had to offer.
He wasn’t entirely sure how the ability worked and due to how he had received it he had a suspicion that it might have to do with spirits or Souls due to its name. He pulled it up to get a better idea about the ability.
“Anima Forge. Ability type – Crafting, Instant, Non-chant. MP Cost – N/A. Spirit Pool Cost – 25. Item Requirements – Small Kiln or Small Smelter. Requirements – Spirit Stat Will Sub-stat Zen level 20. Description – Creates a small Anima Forge by turning a regular flame into a soul flame allowing the user to forge spirit orbs into a completed crafted weapon, armor piece, or tools into it. This ability levels up Soul Smithing in the Blacksmithing Craft.”
Hm. That’s pretty cool. I haven’t heard anything about Soul Crafting yet. I wonder if it’s an Advanced type of Crafting. Liam thought as he stared at the notification.
“You can say that it is, but it is also a Lost Craft. – Eri.”
Liam blinked a couple of times as he stared at the text Eri had sent him. He wiped his eyes and looked back at it to make sure he wasn’t still sleepy and was misreading what she had said. The text was still the same.
What do you mean by a Lost Craft? Liam questioned, fully awake now.
“Exactly how it sounds. Your new class, the abilities it came with, and that Craft were all thought to have been lost over the years. I honestly don’t know how you were able to receive the class since it belongs to a race that is no longer on this planet. – Eri.”
How is that possible? Aren’t you a goddess? How can there be something you don’t know? Liam inquired with a very confused expression plastered on his face.
“I have my theories, but until some of things I’m unsure about get revealed then I won’t know. – Eri.”
Some things you’re unsure about? What are you unsure about? Liam asked.
“For now, one of the things that needs to get cleared is that Seed you have that is only ten percent processed. – Eri.”
That Seed…, Liam started to think until he realized what she was talking about. It was that notification he had asked her about. The one that appeared when his Devour ability provided him when it finished processing that thing. You mean…
“*Nods* Yes. That Seed might be a clue to your recently evolved class and abilities. As of right now you have a class that no one really knows about, and I will suggest you keep it that way until we know entirely what is going on. – Eri.”
Are you saying I shouldn’t use my new Class abilities? But, there are already a couple of groups that have seen me use some of my abilities. Liam argued.
“You don’t have to worry about those groups. They too have secrets you witnessed. Since all members of each party has seen certain secrets they carried they will keep quiet about yours. As for you not using your new class abilities, I want you to limit how, where, and when you use them. I will advise you don’t use them openly. Maybe use them when no one can see you. That Spirit Weave ability of yours will come in handy when you finally start checking things out at the Fiddler’s Spider Web and can be used in other situations, but as for the Anima Forge, you will need to be discreet when using that ability as well as with what you create. I am not entirely sure how the items you make will come out so we will have to wait until you make something with it. However, for now you must not let anyone know about your new class nor your new abilities. Do I make myself clear? – Eri.”
Liam frowned at what he read. He did understand what she said, but trying to find secret places to use his Anima Forge ability would be kind of hard since he wasn’t sure where he could use it.
Some ideas did pop into his head, but he couldn’t test them while inside the city. He couldn’t run out to the designated crafting area yet because he needed to go to the Crafter’s Association to get his C.I.D. and showcase some of his items to find a seller so he wouldn’t have so much back stock and carry it all around.
He looked at his internal clock after thinking about that and noticed it was close to noon. Liam stared at the time. He blinked a couple of times as he stared at it.
“It’s already almost noon?!” Liam suddenly shouted.
“After all that work you put into crafting and the time you finally came back to the inn to sleep it doesn’t surprise me that you slept this long. – Eri.”
Liam pulled up the wardrobe feature in his character profile and clicked on his casual clothes as he stood up. His pajamas puffed into a black smoke all around him and were replaced with the clothes he had picked.
He then cracked his neck before heading for the door and said, “Let’s see how this goes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liam walked through the open double doors of the Crafter’s Association building and looked around. The entrance room wasn’t completely full, but still had four decently sized lines waiting to speak with the receptionists that were answering all questions asked and getting each person ready to go through the door.
Before Liam could pick a line to enter, he noticed someone approaching from his right. He turned to look at who it was and recognized the black haired, blue eyed Cat-Folk girl wearing the same uniform as the other employees.
Liam saw the nervousness in her facial features as she tried to put on a smile and greet him. “Welcome back Mr. Liam. If you could please follow me.”
Liam was a little confused as to why she wanted him to follow so he asked, “Hello Elatrix…where are we going?”
Before Elatrix turned to walk she looked back at Liam and informed, “Mr. Lyca has been waiting for your arrival and has asked me to guide you to his office when you arrived.”
“Well that’s nice of him,” Liam stated as he followed her to Lyca’s office in the corner of the room.
Elatrix knocked on the closed door as they approached and announced, “Mr. Lyca…Mr. Liam is here to see you.”
Liam heard the reply through the door telling Elatrix to let him in before she opened it. The Cat-folk woman took a step in and to the side, allowing Liam to walk by her.
“Good afternoon Mr. Liam,” Lyca greeted with a wide toothy grin. He then looked at Elatrix and stated, “Thank you Elatrix, go ahead and close the door and stay with us. Once when we’re done in here I would like you to help Mr. Liam out with some stuff.”
“Yes sir,” Elatrix replied as she closed the door and stood against the wall next to it.
“Go ahead and sit down and we’ll get right to it,” Lyca started as he slid a small box across the desk.
As Liam sat down, he stared at the box. It was one of those pop off card shape boxes. After eyeing it, Liam looked back at Lyca and asked, “What’s in the box?”
“Go ahead and open it,” Lyca said as he waved a hand at the box.
Liam slowly reached over and slid the top of the box off to see a thin raven black card resting on a silk cloth inside the box.
“It’s a C.I.D.,” Lyca started to explain as Liam pulled the card out and looked it over.
As Liam checked it out he didn’t see any writing or designs on it. It was just a simple thin raven black card. He raised a brow as he looked over at Lyca.
“It’s not completed yet. It only has your name and which location you received this card from on it,” Lyca continued. “Once when we have completed the ritual it will have all of your craft information and will be binded to you.”
“Oh? How do you do that? Drop a small bit of my blood on it?” Liam asked with a small chuckle.
“Gods no,” Lyca answered as he grimaced.
Liam shook his head. He was joking, but it looked like the joke went over the man’s head before him.
“I will guide you on what to do,” Lyca started back up. “First, pull up your Crafting Section in your Personal Sheet.”
Liam did as he was told.
“Now focus on the card while you keep your Crafting section up and channel some of your mana into it,” Lyca informed.
Liam felt his mana start to outline his body. As the mana covered his hand with the card on it he felt some of his mana cover the card as well. As soon as it did this a new notification appeared in front of him.
“Would you like to bind your Crafting information to Crafter’s Association I.D.? Yes No?”
Liam raised a brow as he stared at this notification.
“I am going to assume the look you’re giving is because you received a request to bind your Crafting information to the card appeared, correct?” Lyca asked.
Liam nodded.
“Good. Go ahead and accept,” Lyca stated.
Liam wasn’t sure about binding personal information onto a card like this. He wasn’t sure about the safety of something having his personal information that could be seen by anyone. “How safe is this? For example, what would happen if someone stole this card and tried to impersonate me?”
“It is good to be wary, but that wont be an issue. Once you have binded the card with your information then only you can pull up what is on the card,” Lyca stated. Before Liam could ask him, Lyca continued to explain. “These cards are sensitive to a person’s mana. The mana you channeled into the card to get that notification will be the only way any information can appear on it. When you are not channeling mana into the card then it will become what you currently see. A blank black card. It’s a safety mechanism we have created for a crafter’s privacy. In other words, it will only react to your mana.”
Liam was impressed with the explanation. If what he said was true, then he didn’t have to worry about someone using his card to impersonate him. It also meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about having to prove who he was when it came to anything crafting related.
“Go ahead and accept so I can continue to explain the functions of the card,” Lyca said as he watched Liam eye the card more.
Liam mentally accepted and watched as the card suddenly came to life.
The background of the card was still raven black, but running along the edge of the card were different symbols. Some of the symbols were grey in color while some were colored in Bronze. As he studied the symbols that were colored in Bronze, he recognized what they represented. They were a vial with smoke symbol for Alchemy, a hammer and anvil for Blacksmithing, a knife and fork crossing over each other for Chef Crafting, a wand with smoke lines swirling around it for Enchanting, and a needle and thread for Tailoring.
Within the card, words started to form. They read, “Name: Liam. Mentor for Craft: Blank. Crafting Businesses Associated with: Blank. Guild: Blank. Clan: Blank. Crafter’s Association Card received from: Cashat Port, Arkadian Kingdom.”
“Why are Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Chef Crafting, Enchanting, and Tailoring colored in a bronze color, but the others are all grey?” Liam questioned. “Also, why is the Mentor section blank? What is the Business Associated, Guild, and Clan part about?”
Liam heard Elatrix suddenly shuffle for a brief moment as Lyca’s body suddenly jerked.
“Did you say you have Enchanting colored in already?” Lyca inquired.
Liam nodded as he suddenly felt like he probably should have brought that up.
“Did you just recently learn it? You didn’t mention you were practicing that craft already yesterday,” Lyca stated.
Liam grimaced. “It’s a long story that I don’t feel like going into right now. Let’s just say I had an opportunity and took the chance to try it out. It’s not something I have a lot of practice in yet.”
Lyca nodded as he recomposed himself. “I understand. I won’t pry. To answer your first question, any craft you have practiced will appear on the card colored in based on the level you have that craft in. Has any of your mentors mentioned the levels of crafting yet?”
“Do you mean the whole Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Master levels?” Liam asked.
Lyca nodded. Then informed, “Yes. So, each craft you have experience in will have a color that represents the level it has reached. Bronze represents the Beginner level. Silver represents the Intermediate level. Gold for Advanced, Emerald for Expert, and Iridescent for Master.”
“That’s pretty simple to remember,” Liam stated. “Why does that matter though?”
“When dealing with new clients or businesses that you wish to sell your wares to, some require to know what level your craft is at before they accept. This is to show where your craft stands,” Lyca answered.
“What if they want to know more about the section of the craft instead of the craft itself?” Liam asked.
“That is simple. All you have to do is click on the symbol for the craft they are requesting. For this example, go ahead and click on Alchemy,” Lyca requested as he leaned over his desk to help Liam.
Liam clicked on the Alchemy symbol and saw the information appear. It read, “Alchemy – Level 20. Alchemy Sections: Extraction – Level 20. Distill – Level 20. Mana Extraction – Level 18. Potion Making – Level 17. Medicinal Creations – Level 5. Poison Craft – Level 13.”
Liam was amazed by this as he read the same information he had on his Personal Sheet. It left out the description of each section, which Liam thought was a good idea because it saved room on the card.
Lyca’s mouth dropped as looked at the information that was displayed.
Liam caught the look on his face and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lyca recomposed himself as he replied, “I am sorry, but I didn’t expect your level into Alchemy to be this high already. Not to mention you already have Mana Extraction and to have it at the level it is. You must have focused a lot on Alchemy while you were in the Tutorial Area.”
“You could say that,” Liam responded, deciding to keep any information on his crafting focus to as minimum as possible.
“Anyways, whenever you get someone who wants to know what level your section of the craft they want to employ you for or see the capabilities of the items to make sure you’re not falsely claiming you crafted something you didn’t; then you show them this to calm their worries,” Lyca explained before sitting back.
Liam nodded. “That’s good to know.”
“As for your other questions,” Lyca continued. “They are just information you can add or change whenever you’d like to show who is your backer or where you belong. Be careful inputting that information. If you lie on any of those and someone finds out then your crafting accountability will be questioned by all.”
“That’s good to know,” Liam said. “One last question, does the crafting information automatically update on its own or do I have to do something to update it?”
“Every time you access your card it will automatically update on its own. Since it is tied to you and your mana, your mana takes care of it for you.”
“That’s pretty convenient,” Liam said.
“It is. Also, if you lose your C.I.D. you can just request for a replacement. However, you will need to pay a fee for that,” Lyca said.
“Sounds fair,” Liam nodded.
“Now do you have any other questions about the card?” Lyca added.
Liam shook his head. “Not any at this exact moment. If I come up with any others can I come back and ask?”
“Yes you can. You are always welcome to ask anything you have questions about. That is what this Association is all for,” Lyca smiled. A moment after he finished he slapped his palms together and said with an excited look, “Now that that is all taken care of now comes the fun part.”
Liam raised a brow as he looked at the man. “What’s the fun part?”
“Branding, Touring, maybe some shopping depending on if you are in need of anything, and finally showcasing,” Lyca stated.
Liam suddenly woke up as the light from outside peeked through the window suddenly shined over his eyes. He let out a yawn as he stretched his arms and legs. He then rubbed one of his eyes still full of sleep as he sat up and slowly dragged himself to let his legs dangle over the side of the bed.
Even though he was so sleepy from the night before, he felt like every second was well spent. He hadn’t felt that good in quite a while. As he slowly woke up, he thought about everything that happened last night.
He had spent majority of the night out in the forested area of the craft and harvesting area with Uncle Naro. The giant bear-folk of a man had made one massive feast and wouldn’t let Liam stop eating until he was completely full. Even though the food he made was completely different from what he was used to, he had to admit it was extremely delicious.
Naro had helped him understand more about the Chef Craft as he made the food. For the longest time he thought it was called Cooking crafting, but he had found out the actual name was Chef Craft.
As Naro was teaching him, he began to understand why Artem was so interested in the craft. A lot of the sections of the craft were connected. For example, two sections were intertwined depending on the types of food ingredients a Chef crater worked with. They were Food Prep and Food Handling.
The Food Prep section helped a Chef prep the ingredients better before the actual cooking started. The better prepared the ingredients were the better the quality the end results became. The other section, Food Handling, could intertwine with Food Prep by cleansing the ingredients of any poisons, venoms, or other nasty ailments hidden within them depending on the ingredients being used.
He didn’t know this until Naro had explained, but there was a section that came with a skill that was like a variation of his Gathering Craft Focus Point ability Harvest, called Butcher. Unlike Harvest, where it collects different materials from a killed creature or harvestable ingredients, Butcher only focuses on cooking ingredients of killed creatures. The higher the level of the skill the better the meat or other cooking ingredients get. It is also used more outside of dungeons and more in businesses as well.
The other section of Chef crafting that is tied into Food Prep is Mystical Seasoning. If a Chef uses the right seasoning and combination through Food Prep and cooking the food then special buffs and more will appear when eating or drinking the finished product.
The other section that he learned is tied to the end results. It’s called Culinary. Just like Potion Making in Alchemy, after you fully cook or finished making the food or drink then this levels up. The higher the level the better the quality. However, just like Alchemy many chefs try not to make higher end meals. They start off with smaller amounts or simple food recipes.
However, unlike Alchemy, Chef crafting can be done in teams while making meals. This helps out the last Section Liam had learned about, Large Feasts. This section allows Chefs to work better with other chefs when making larger meals meant for a few to a lot of people. This also shares experience amongst all who had a part in making the meal. Albeit, the Chef only gets experience in what their portion of the work was in though.
As Liam learned more of this craft and worked on what Naro had tasked him with, he grew a new appreciation for the work Artem put in to the food he had made for him and the others back in the Tutorial Area. Chef crafting was no joke and needed a lot of your focus when crafting meals.
He vowed to help Artem more in this craft whenever he could if they were ever to team up again.
Thanks to Naro’s guidance he was able to get a few things to level up. His Chef Craft leveled up to five as the Food Prep and Culinary sections reached the same level. His Large Feast, Butcher, and Food Handling reached level two as well. He was able to get his Mystical Seasoning to level one, but the buffs he was able to produce was really low.
After they had eaten, Naro stayed true to his word and taught him better techniques using his mortar and pestle. He show him how to properly hold the pestle and how to move his wrist when smashing and grinding ingredients. Thanks to that, he was able to reach level five in Medicinal Creations.
Naro also gave him some pointers on Potion Making and how to better use his Extraction and Distilling so he didn’t waste some of the extracts he had made. Apparently he was wasting about ten percent of his extracts when he was letting them distill into potions.
Thanks to the tips and tricks he was able to reach level seventeen in Potion Making. He was also able to bring his Extraction and Distill to level twenty, bringing his Alchemy as a whole to level twenty.
Those weren’t the only crafts Naro gave him pointers on. He also talked to him about Tailoring and Blacksmithing. He gave him some tips on what to focus on when he worked on his Tailoring which helped him out a lot.
He was able to get a better grasp on what to look for and what kind of stitching techniques he should focus on corresponding to his level and what he should practice on to get a better feel for before reaching certain levels. Thanks to that he was able to reach level seven in Tailoring as a whole and his Sewing section to level seven as well.
As for Blacksmithing, Liam had told him what Fia had advised he should focus on and Naro was impressed. Liam showed him what he had been making and how his Bone Smelting technique looked. Naro showed an interest in how he made his bone ingots and explained that there were two other ways he could do it. He promised to show him those other ways another time if he was interested, but for now he gave him pointers on how he could round his current technique to pave the way for when he was ready to make better quality Bone Ingots.
He had also helped him understand how to make more than just daggers. He was impressed with his idea of getting a better feel for the weapons before making them, but insisted that he still tried so he could use these earlier products as examples for what not to do.
Thanks to that, Liam was able to make a couple Crude Bone Short Blades, a couple Crude Bone Spears, and even a couple Crude Bone Whips. The whips were harder since it had to be a lot more flexible than the previous weapons he had made before. However, thanks to that he was able to get a better understanding on not only the whip, but the three weapons he had made before.
He was able to level up his Blacksmithing some thanks to the practice. His Bone Smelting reached level ten while his Bone Forging reached level seven. Thanks to practicing making the three new bone weapons he was able to get Swords, Spears, and Whips to level two in his Weapon Craft section in Blacksmithing. It was still a far cry from his Daggers which was at level eight in Weapon Craft, but now he wasn’t a one trick weapon maker in that section.
Even though he had gotten all of these levels and experiences in his crafting the one he was really excited about leveling up was his class skill Mobile Crafter. He was able to get it to level six after all the switching around and crafting he did using it. He wasn’t entirely sure how it leveled up and Naro wouldn’t tell him, but he figured it had to be a mix of him summoning a station and how much he crafted on it while the selected station was summoned.
Liam stretched one more time before letting his thoughts land on another Class skill he had received recently but hadn’t used yet. He had forgotten to ask Naro about it since he was so focused on everything else the giant bear of a man was advising him on. He felt like Naro was just as excited to guide him as he was to learn what the man had to offer.
He wasn’t entirely sure how the ability worked and due to how he had received it he had a suspicion that it might have to do with spirits or Souls due to its name. He pulled it up to get a better idea about the ability.
“Anima Forge. Ability type – Crafting, Instant, Non-chant. MP Cost – N/A. Spirit Pool Cost – 25. Item Requirements – Small Kiln or Small Smelter. Requirements – Spirit Stat Will Sub-stat Zen level 20. Description – Creates a small Anima Forge by turning a regular flame into a soul flame allowing the user to forge spirit orbs into a completed crafted weapon, armor piece, or tools into it. This ability levels up Soul Smithing in the Blacksmithing Craft.”
Hm. That’s pretty cool. I haven’t heard anything about Soul Crafting yet. I wonder if it’s an Advanced type of Crafting. Liam thought as he stared at the notification.
“You can say that it is, but it is also a Lost Craft. – Eri.”
Liam blinked a couple of times as he stared at the text Eri had sent him. He wiped his eyes and looked back at it to make sure he wasn’t still sleepy and was misreading what she had said. The text was still the same.
What do you mean by a Lost Craft? Liam questioned, fully awake now.
“Exactly how it sounds. Your new class, the abilities it came with, and that Craft were all thought to have been lost over the years. I honestly don’t know how you were able to receive the class since it belongs to a race that is no longer on this planet. – Eri.”
How is that possible? Aren’t you a goddess? How can there be something you don’t know? Liam inquired with a very confused expression plastered on his face.
“I have my theories, but until some of things I’m unsure about get revealed then I won’t know. – Eri.”
Some things you’re unsure about? What are you unsure about? Liam asked.
“For now, one of the things that needs to get cleared is that Seed you have that is only ten percent processed. – Eri.”
That Seed…, Liam started to think until he realized what she was talking about. It was that notification he had asked her about. The one that appeared when his Devour ability provided him when it finished processing that thing. You mean…
“*Nods* Yes. That Seed might be a clue to your recently evolved class and abilities. As of right now you have a class that no one really knows about, and I will suggest you keep it that way until we know entirely what is going on. – Eri.”
Are you saying I shouldn’t use my new Class abilities? But, there are already a couple of groups that have seen me use some of my abilities. Liam argued.
“You don’t have to worry about those groups. They too have secrets you witnessed. Since all members of each party has seen certain secrets they carried they will keep quiet about yours. As for you not using your new class abilities, I want you to limit how, where, and when you use them. I will advise you don’t use them openly. Maybe use them when no one can see you. That Spirit Weave ability of yours will come in handy when you finally start checking things out at the Fiddler’s Spider Web and can be used in other situations, but as for the Anima Forge, you will need to be discreet when using that ability as well as with what you create. I am not entirely sure how the items you make will come out so we will have to wait until you make something with it. However, for now you must not let anyone know about your new class nor your new abilities. Do I make myself clear? – Eri.”
Liam frowned at what he read. He did understand what she said, but trying to find secret places to use his Anima Forge ability would be kind of hard since he wasn’t sure where he could use it.
Some ideas did pop into his head, but he couldn’t test them while inside the city. He couldn’t run out to the designated crafting area yet because he needed to go to the Crafter’s Association to get his C.I.D. and showcase some of his items to find a seller so he wouldn’t have so much back stock and carry it all around.
He looked at his internal clock after thinking about that and noticed it was close to noon. Liam stared at the time. He blinked a couple of times as he stared at it.
“It’s already almost noon?!” Liam suddenly shouted.
“After all that work you put into crafting and the time you finally came back to the inn to sleep it doesn’t surprise me that you slept this long. – Eri.”
Liam pulled up the wardrobe feature in his character profile and clicked on his casual clothes as he stood up. His pajamas puffed into a black smoke all around him and were replaced with the clothes he had picked.
He then cracked his neck before heading for the door and said, “Let’s see how this goes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liam walked through the open double doors of the Crafter’s Association building and looked around. The entrance room wasn’t completely full, but still had four decently sized lines waiting to speak with the receptionists that were answering all questions asked and getting each person ready to go through the door.
Before Liam could pick a line to enter, he noticed someone approaching from his right. He turned to look at who it was and recognized the black haired, blue eyed Cat-Folk girl wearing the same uniform as the other employees.
Liam saw the nervousness in her facial features as she tried to put on a smile and greet him. “Welcome back Mr. Liam. If you could please follow me.”
Liam was a little confused as to why she wanted him to follow so he asked, “Hello Elatrix…where are we going?”
Before Elatrix turned to walk she looked back at Liam and informed, “Mr. Lyca has been waiting for your arrival and has asked me to guide you to his office when you arrived.”
“Well that’s nice of him,” Liam stated as he followed her to Lyca’s office in the corner of the room.
Elatrix knocked on the closed door as they approached and announced, “Mr. Lyca…Mr. Liam is here to see you.”
Liam heard the reply through the door telling Elatrix to let him in before she opened it. The Cat-folk woman took a step in and to the side, allowing Liam to walk by her.
“Good afternoon Mr. Liam,” Lyca greeted with a wide toothy grin. He then looked at Elatrix and stated, “Thank you Elatrix, go ahead and close the door and stay with us. Once when we’re done in here I would like you to help Mr. Liam out with some stuff.”
“Yes sir,” Elatrix replied as she closed the door and stood against the wall next to it.
“Go ahead and sit down and we’ll get right to it,” Lyca started as he slid a small box across the desk.
As Liam sat down, he stared at the box. It was one of those pop off card shape boxes. After eyeing it, Liam looked back at Lyca and asked, “What’s in the box?”
“Go ahead and open it,” Lyca said as he waved a hand at the box.
Liam slowly reached over and slid the top of the box off to see a thin raven black card resting on a silk cloth inside the box.
“It’s a C.I.D.,” Lyca started to explain as Liam pulled the card out and looked it over.
As Liam checked it out he didn’t see any writing or designs on it. It was just a simple thin raven black card. He raised a brow as he looked over at Lyca.
“It’s not completed yet. It only has your name and which location you received this card from on it,” Lyca continued. “Once when we have completed the ritual it will have all of your craft information and will be binded to you.”
“Oh? How do you do that? Drop a small bit of my blood on it?” Liam asked with a small chuckle.
“Gods no,” Lyca answered as he grimaced.
Liam shook his head. He was joking, but it looked like the joke went over the man’s head before him.
“I will guide you on what to do,” Lyca started back up. “First, pull up your Crafting Section in your Personal Sheet.”
Liam did as he was told.
“Now focus on the card while you keep your Crafting section up and channel some of your mana into it,” Lyca informed.
Liam felt his mana start to outline his body. As the mana covered his hand with the card on it he felt some of his mana cover the card as well. As soon as it did this a new notification appeared in front of him.
“Would you like to bind your Crafting information to Crafter’s Association I.D.? Yes No?”
Liam raised a brow as he stared at this notification.
“I am going to assume the look you’re giving is because you received a request to bind your Crafting information to the card appeared, correct?” Lyca asked.
Liam nodded.
“Good. Go ahead and accept,” Lyca stated.
Liam wasn’t sure about binding personal information onto a card like this. He wasn’t sure about the safety of something having his personal information that could be seen by anyone. “How safe is this? For example, what would happen if someone stole this card and tried to impersonate me?”
“It is good to be wary, but that wont be an issue. Once you have binded the card with your information then only you can pull up what is on the card,” Lyca stated. Before Liam could ask him, Lyca continued to explain. “These cards are sensitive to a person’s mana. The mana you channeled into the card to get that notification will be the only way any information can appear on it. When you are not channeling mana into the card then it will become what you currently see. A blank black card. It’s a safety mechanism we have created for a crafter’s privacy. In other words, it will only react to your mana.”
Liam was impressed with the explanation. If what he said was true, then he didn’t have to worry about someone using his card to impersonate him. It also meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about having to prove who he was when it came to anything crafting related.
“Go ahead and accept so I can continue to explain the functions of the card,” Lyca said as he watched Liam eye the card more.
Liam mentally accepted and watched as the card suddenly came to life.
The background of the card was still raven black, but running along the edge of the card were different symbols. Some of the symbols were grey in color while some were colored in Bronze. As he studied the symbols that were colored in Bronze, he recognized what they represented. They were a vial with smoke symbol for Alchemy, a hammer and anvil for Blacksmithing, a knife and fork crossing over each other for Chef Crafting, a wand with smoke lines swirling around it for Enchanting, and a needle and thread for Tailoring.
Within the card, words started to form. They read, “Name: Liam. Mentor for Craft: Blank. Crafting Businesses Associated with: Blank. Guild: Blank. Clan: Blank. Crafter’s Association Card received from: Cashat Port, Arkadian Kingdom.”
“Why are Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Chef Crafting, Enchanting, and Tailoring colored in a bronze color, but the others are all grey?” Liam questioned. “Also, why is the Mentor section blank? What is the Business Associated, Guild, and Clan part about?”
Liam heard Elatrix suddenly shuffle for a brief moment as Lyca’s body suddenly jerked.
“Did you say you have Enchanting colored in already?” Lyca inquired.
Liam nodded as he suddenly felt like he probably should have brought that up.
“Did you just recently learn it? You didn’t mention you were practicing that craft already yesterday,” Lyca stated.
Liam grimaced. “It’s a long story that I don’t feel like going into right now. Let’s just say I had an opportunity and took the chance to try it out. It’s not something I have a lot of practice in yet.”
Lyca nodded as he recomposed himself. “I understand. I won’t pry. To answer your first question, any craft you have practiced will appear on the card colored in based on the level you have that craft in. Has any of your mentors mentioned the levels of crafting yet?”
“Do you mean the whole Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Master levels?” Liam asked.
Lyca nodded. Then informed, “Yes. So, each craft you have experience in will have a color that represents the level it has reached. Bronze represents the Beginner level. Silver represents the Intermediate level. Gold for Advanced, Emerald for Expert, and Iridescent for Master.”
“That’s pretty simple to remember,” Liam stated. “Why does that matter though?”
“When dealing with new clients or businesses that you wish to sell your wares to, some require to know what level your craft is at before they accept. This is to show where your craft stands,” Lyca answered.
“What if they want to know more about the section of the craft instead of the craft itself?” Liam asked.
“That is simple. All you have to do is click on the symbol for the craft they are requesting. For this example, go ahead and click on Alchemy,” Lyca requested as he leaned over his desk to help Liam.
Liam clicked on the Alchemy symbol and saw the information appear. It read, “Alchemy – Level 20. Alchemy Sections: Extraction – Level 20. Distill – Level 20. Mana Extraction – Level 18. Potion Making – Level 17. Medicinal Creations – Level 5. Poison Craft – Level 13.”
Liam was amazed by this as he read the same information he had on his Personal Sheet. It left out the description of each section, which Liam thought was a good idea because it saved room on the card.
Lyca’s mouth dropped as looked at the information that was displayed.
Liam caught the look on his face and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lyca recomposed himself as he replied, “I am sorry, but I didn’t expect your level into Alchemy to be this high already. Not to mention you already have Mana Extraction and to have it at the level it is. You must have focused a lot on Alchemy while you were in the Tutorial Area.”
“You could say that,” Liam responded, deciding to keep any information on his crafting focus to as minimum as possible.
“Anyways, whenever you get someone who wants to know what level your section of the craft they want to employ you for or see the capabilities of the items to make sure you’re not falsely claiming you crafted something you didn’t; then you show them this to calm their worries,” Lyca explained before sitting back.
Liam nodded. “That’s good to know.”
“As for your other questions,” Lyca continued. “They are just information you can add or change whenever you’d like to show who is your backer or where you belong. Be careful inputting that information. If you lie on any of those and someone finds out then your crafting accountability will be questioned by all.”
“That’s good to know,” Liam said. “One last question, does the crafting information automatically update on its own or do I have to do something to update it?”
“Every time you access your card it will automatically update on its own. Since it is tied to you and your mana, your mana takes care of it for you.”
“That’s pretty convenient,” Liam said.
“It is. Also, if you lose your C.I.D. you can just request for a replacement. However, you will need to pay a fee for that,” Lyca said.
“Sounds fair,” Liam nodded.
“Now do you have any other questions about the card?” Lyca added.
Liam shook his head. “Not any at this exact moment. If I come up with any others can I come back and ask?”
“Yes you can. You are always welcome to ask anything you have questions about. That is what this Association is all for,” Lyca smiled. A moment after he finished he slapped his palms together and said with an excited look, “Now that that is all taken care of now comes the fun part.”
Liam raised a brow as he looked at the man. “What’s the fun part?”
“Branding, Touring, maybe some shopping depending on if you are in need of anything, and finally showcasing,” Lyca stated.
