Recently, a rumor had been passing through all of Miracle City. It was about a peculiar blacksmith that made his appearance at the blacksmith department. He didn’t do any forging tasks. All he did was to fix magic weapons that were supposed to be well beyond repair.
A lot of the people didn’t get to see that person. After fixing fifteen magic weapons in a very short period of time, he had never shown up at the blacksmith department again. It was not like people could track his whereabouts, either. The only lead they had was that he was a wizard that was wearing a mask, and there were just too many people that fit these criteria.
When it was the middle of August, Abel had reached his one month limit for his mission. While bringing the fifteen repaired weapons with him, he began to make way for the weapon warehouse.
It was the same elder that was greeting. When he noticed that it was him, a disappointed look appeared on his face.
“You! K3516, if I’m not mistaken. Why are you so late to bring back the weapons? I told you that if the mission is too hard for you, it’s best if you give up right away!”
That’s what he said before Abel even said anything. He did have a point, though. In this mission, all the weapons that were easy to fix had already been fixed. About a third of the ones Abel were handed to were all classified as “completely destroyed.” When he decided to give Abel these, he was already implying that he should just give up immediately.
Abel might’ve not said it, but he appreciated the elder’s advice, “Um, I’ve already fixed all fifteen of them. Here, have a look yourself.”
The elder was very straightforward, “What did you just say? It’s not a good thing to lie, young man! What….”
Without waiting for the elder to finish his sentence, Abel already took out a magic weapon from his portal bag. It was a magic knight’s big sword, and it was fixed from top to bottom.
“What… So you’re the one that people are gossiping about?”
One, two, three… fifteen. All fifteen weapons were here. Oddly enough, none of the damages could be seen from them. Also, despite the amount of time he’s been given, the elder didn’t think that Abel just replaced old pieces with new ones he’s made.
The elder said with shock, “You’ve done an excellent job there, K3516”
A notification popped up from Abel’s military tag, “K1516, you have completed your weapon forging task! You will receive 10 points of war glory for your effort. You now have a total of 33.4 points. Do you wish to continue your weapon forging mission?”
If it wasn’t for the fact that the weapon forging task could only be accepted once a month, Abel would’ve taken twenty of it in one go. Still, doing it once a month wasn’t so bad, either. If he was to combine the points he got with the ones he got from the rune-making mission, that was a total of 20 points of war glory that he’d be getting. Even if he wasn’t taking any other mission, He would still be able to leave in less than ten months.
“Yeah, I’ll take another weapon forging mission,” Abel said to his military tag.
“K3516, you have successfully accepted a new weapon forging task.”
Abel said to the elder in front of him, “I’ve taken my mission for next month. If you will, please give me another fifteen damaged magic weapons.”
After nodding his head, the elder walked to the room behind him. Soon, he came back with a trolley full of damaged magic weapons.
Next up, it was time for Abel to make a stop at the Wizard’s Encampment.
“K3516!” a surprised voice came over distance. It was K3515, a fellow wizard who had been with Abel when he was doing his apprenticeship.
Abel gave him a warm welcome, “You’ve passed the test as well! It’s good to see you, K3515!”
K3515 said, “Well, I don’t think it could be done without you. After you’ve killed Vice Instructor Layard, the miracle spirit appointed Instructor Kauper as the new supervisor for our test. Apart from two unlucky men, all of us managed to pass the test.”
“Great! That’s great!” Abel said with a smile.
K3515 laughed, “Ha ha, yeah! We’ve been trying to find you since then, but we’ve never seen you at the Wizard’s Encampment.”
“Here, I’ll add your contact. I’m quite busy lately, but if you give me a call, I can reply most of the time.”
Truth be told, Abel was really busy lately. He’s been stuck inside the Miracle City wall for the first month. Ever since he got out, he had been spending a lot of time helping K3305 kill spiritual beasts. His recent jobs weren’t as tiring as before, but he still wasn’t all that free.
K3515 had the same issue as well, “Thanks for adding me. Man, the missions here are just so tough, aren’t they? I’ve spent a whole month guarding the gate, and all I get is 10 points of war glory.”
Abel spoke his mind, “The term is 200 points within 3 years. I think the system is designed so that we’re encouraged to fight on the frontline.”
K3513 nodded, “True, but it’s hard for us wizards to find missions that’ll get us out of the walls. Nobody wants to team up with us! It’s not like I mind being in action, but there’s just no opportunity for it.”
Unlike Abel, K3513 didn’t get a high enough score when he first came to this place. Naturally, the Miracle City wouldn’t want to let him die on the battlefield too quickly, and that was why he wasn’t allowed to join a lot of the combat-related missions.
Abel advised him, “You know, it’s probably better if you stay at the Miracle City walls to do patrols. You don’t get a lot of points for it, but you do get a good chance to strengthen your power of the Will.”
K3515 said hesitantly, “Oh, I don’t know. From what I’ve been hearing, that mission’s pretty difficult to do.”
Abel shook his head and decided not to push any further. A wizard’s path was his own, so he didn’t bother doing too much advising.
After parting ways with K3515, he went on to collect his reward for completing his rune-making mission. After that, he took the same mission that he was supposed to finish by the end of next month. He received a total of 43.4 in total.