Published at 20th of November 2020 09:13:19 PM
Chapter 148: 148
Evan D . Sherden, Ending a Long Year (2)
“…You’re in good shape, Evan . ” Horta Benus, the blacksmith, had been worrying about Evan’s body lately for some reason . That said, Evan’s condition was serious .
“It’s alright, I’m receiving healing . It’s just been a little hard lately . ” Evan replied with an exhausted look as he mentally cursed Shine . It was difficult enough to handle Leo, but then Shine led the charge with the rest of the dungeon knights, saying they would somehow beat the leader . They weren’t opponents who could overpower him with force yet, but a surprise attack was annoying to deal with it . Moreover, Shine and Arisha’s skills made it particularly troublesome .
‘It’s a good thing that Lua didn’t step up too . ’ Belois was already an expert in intermediate magic . If she hit Evan with that, he wouldn’t be safe . She had participated in the final course of the daily training (the now official Great Brawl), but she didn’t dare touch Evan, fortunately .
“If it’s difficult, can’t we just reduce it a bit? It’s no good to keep heating iron, too . Once you’ve tapped on it, you have to cool it down . ”
“Thanks for the great advice, Horta…but I think I can manage it . ” Needless to say, if he wanted to stop their surprise attack, he just had to use his authority as the knight commander . In fact, Shine had originally been prepared for Evan to punish him . But, Evan had realized that this way of training was considerably better than he thought . Not just for him, but for everyone .
‘Mental exhaustion is unavoidable, though…’ Not only did the guys attacking Evan improve their abilities, but it also developed Evan’s senses as he had to prepare for such an attack . When he grew up, and the beginning of the main story of Yo-ma Great War 3 began, unexpected crises would begin in earnest . If he developed those senses now, he would be able to respond quickly to those situations .
‘Speaking of which, I’m mastering how to deal with surprise attacks now . It’ll be a benefit to me in the future . ’
“I heard that the dungeon knights training has begun in earnest . The expectations are great…so I’m worried . As you know, if expectations are too high, the disappointment will be as well . ” Horta Benus was an upright individual who had trouble speaking subtly . Usually, such a line of conversation wouldn’t be possible with a knight commander . However, Evan only laughed .
“No need to worry, Horta . No matter how much others expect, they’ll see more than that . ”
“If you say so, then it’s fine . ” Evan was the person who had helped him create a natural artifact in a few months, after all . Horta had a similar mindset about him, as Raihan did .
“By the way, why did you come find me today? Is there something wrong with the artifact we created?”
“No way . Besides, it’s Arisha’s responsibility now . If it dulls one day, I may ask you to repair it, but there’s no problem with it . ”
“If so, then a new artifact?” Evan smiled in response to the elderly man who had a twinkle in his eyes .
“It’s not so easy to create one, especially not to ask for one every day…no, I’m thinking of making them one by one, but not yet . Let’s move away from artifacts . ”
“Then what is it? I agreed to help you create artifacts . ” Horta now seemed only to have thoughts of artifacts in his head after he managed to create one . Evan shrugged, knowing that this was the likely outcome .
“I wanted to talk to you about your growth as a blacksmith . ”
“Well…as I succeeded in creating that thing, I felt that my limits were expanding . I’m convinced now that my path wasn’t wrong . ”
“Of course . Creating natural artifacts is the most important experience needed for developing your blacksmith skills . ”
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“Skills? Experience?” Oops, he had forgotten that Horta didn’t know those game terms . Evan gave him a rough idea of what he meant .
“I understand . Skills grow when you master them in a variety of ways, it makes sense . ” He didn’t know the terminology, but he had lived in this world . He had experience with the moments his skills grew .
“Then, shouldn’t we focus on making artifacts?”
“Sorry, Horta, but your skill level right now is still slightly too low to make them stably . The artifact you created this time was born mostly of luck, right?” Producing more wouldn’t be feasible if they left it to chance, especially given the cost of materials . No matter how wealthy Evan was, it wouldn’t be sustainable .
“Well, it was normally impossible to create them in the first place…”
“No, you have to aim at creating them consistently . You will become such a great blacksmith . ”
“…” Evan’s firm voice filled Horta with a desire to live up to his expectations .
“So, in order to do that, let’s develop your skills . You must become a blacksmith that can stably create artifacts . ”
“But how? I don’t know any training method other than making new ones…if it’s just forging, I’ve been doing that up until this point . ”
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“I told you before, right? I came here to tell you about it . ” Evan shrugged and searched through his memories on how to train the blacksmith skill from the official skill guide for the Yo-Ma Great War 3 game . The training method best suited for Horta was famous, but it wasn’t easy to practice as the skill grew .
“It’s failure . ”
“Yes?”
“If you fail to make a weapon, your skill will grow . ”
“…Yes?” It was commonly referred to as failure training . Rather than successfully expressing a skill, it was a system that granted experience for failure . It was useful in growing skills to a higher level, but many users resented it .
‘Although it was possible to deliberately fail in a skill . ’ In other games famous for failure training, there was no system for deliberately failing in skill, so they often required players to buy equipment that deliberately lowered their stats .
“Are you telling me to deliberately ruin armaments?”
“Ruining it just before completion is the most efficient . ”
“I can’t understand . How can you grow anything but a bad habit that way?”
“I don’t really know either . ” But didn’t they say failure is the mother of success? It must be something similar . Well, who was the father of success? Horta became quiet as Evan fell alone into his deep thoughts .
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“Okay, let’s do it . ”
“Oh, yes . I’ll try it . ” Horta wouldn’t deny his words . If Evan said to try it, he would . He had his doubts, but it was worth at least one attempt .
“I’ll start working on one . ”
“It will probably rise tremendously . Oh, but only failure training won’t work, so mix it appropriately . ”
“I’m not sure what you mean, but okay . ” Horta nodded resolutely, and Evan nodded in satisfaction before leaving him . Now alone, Horta ignited the furnace .
‘This is taking me back to my apprenticeship . ’ Now, if he focused, failure was impossible . Forging was engraved into his very bones, but now he had to break it deliberately?
‘Funny how failure is harder than succeeding . ’ It was interesting, at least . He had to focus on each and every movement that was once muscle memory . He felt strange like he was going back to when he first learned how to blacksmith . Finally, he shrugged .
“… Let’s do it . ” He had to confirm it . He picked up a suitable piece of iron and started to smelt it .
“Let’s try a greatsword . ” A small smile was drawn on his face as he whispered, raising his hammer up .
On that day, Horta Benus created a natural artifact by himself .