41: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Six

The Hall of the Luminous, Part Six

"What do you want?" Ministress Jia asked as Neve stood across from her. 

"I was wondering if you had any equipment you could lend to me," Neve replied. "I went into the Infested Hall. I can eliminate the monsters, but not with what I currently have. Oh, could you teach me some Spells or Techniques too?" 

"If what we have was enough, do you not believe we could have done so ourselves?" 

"It's worth a shot. Shouldn't it be fine to help me out and hope I succeed?" Neve countered dryly. 

"... Do not forget that you are a guest, *human*. Watch your tone," she said, glaring slightly at the healer. "If you truly do require some equipment to aid you in tackling the Infested Hall's forces, then I suppose we can give you something. Head to the eastern part of the city. You will find a smithy there. There's a forge out in the open. You can't miss it. Tell the blacksmith I sent you. Show him this, for proof," she said, before handing Neve some sort of ticket she had in her drawers. 

"Got it." 

"However," she added, "as far as Spells and Techniques are concerned... How's this?" She asked, crossing her arms, "go back in the Infested Hall a couple more times and come back alive. If you do, then I will tell my people to aid you in that regard as well." 

[What?] Neve asked in her thoughts, raising a brow. [That's so fucking arbitrary, just-]

{Complete 15 waves in the Hall of the Luminous}

{Reward: Rorvan Spells, Rorvan Techniques}

{Current waves completed: 5/15}

"..." 

[Oh. Thanks, System. Fuck you too.] 

Without another word, Neve walked out of the office. 

[Alright, the eastern side of the city. Got it. But... how exactly is this going to work? Am I going to have to *buy* equipment or is it going to be given to me?] 

The fact that Tamira did not answer this question she posed internally did not reassure her. 

The streets of Rorvan felt like they were buzzing a little more, now. Before, as Neve had passed by, the people here gave her some quick, puzzled looks before they moved on. Now, however, Neve could feel the weight of their collective stares on her back.

She arrived at the city's eastern section and quickly found the place Jia had mentioned. As she said, there was a forge out in the open that a man who was far bigger and more muscular than anyone else Neve had seen so far was currently working over. 

[All that muscle even though these people haven't eaten anything in ages?] Neve thought. [So, are their bodies in stasis or something?] 

Setting that aside, as the man stopped and turned to look at her, Neve introduced herself. 

"Hi, my name's Neve." 

"..."

[Was that too casual?] 

"I'm a foreigner," she continued. "I came to deal with the Infested Hall." Neve showed him the ticket Jia had handed her before. "The ministress said you could give me some gear." 

"Hm..." He glanced down at the ticket and then back up at her before turning toward his forge and resuming his work.

The man was slowly hammering away at an anvil. 

There was nothing on the anvil. He was quite literally just slamming his hammer onto it absent-mindedly. 

"How exactly do you plan to deal with the Infested Hall?" He asked.

The skepticism in his voice was so tangible Neve could drown in it, but she pushed through it. 

"By killing the monsters inside."

"Yes, I guessed as much, you smartass," he replied, "how are you going to deal with the fact that they're endless?" 

"That's not a fact," Neve replied. "They aren't endless."

"Bullshit," the grumpy old man replied. "You kill two of them and four more pop up in seconds. I would know. Like a lot of the other fools here, I tried." 

"They can only do that a limited number of times," Neve said. "I know that because -okay, look, can you give me some equipment or not?" 

If she wasn't going to go through the trouble of telling Erin all about the system, she was not going to go through that trouble here talking to this random blacksmith NPC. 

"Sure," he answered, though he scoffed before doing so. "What are you looking for?" 

"Two swords and some upper body armor." 

[Honestly... Erin has a high blacksmithing skill. Couldn't I get her to make her own stuff?] 

It was worth a try. 

Later, though. 

"Fine, I'll make some stuff for you. Got nothing better to do. But I need material to work with," he replied. "Head over to the mining site. The mining team hasn't shown up in a while. See what's up with them." 

"Where's that?'

"West. By the ministress's building. Behind it." 

"Okay." 

Neve turned and was just about to leave, but she stopped. Out of curiosity, she turned back around and asked:

"Hey... What are you doing right now?" 

"Hm?" He looked back at her and then looked down at the anvil. "I..." His brows furrowed. "Dunno." 

And he went right back to crashing his hammer on the anvil. 

[... Okay then.] 

---

Neve reached the mining section shortly afterward. A cave stretched out before her, that hosted around twenty men and women swinging pickaxes at rocks. 

Neve didn't really know how mining worked, but because of what she'd seen just before arriving here, she wondered whether they were actually doing anything or not. 

A second question also appeared in her mind. One Tamira could answer. 

[Tamira?]

"Yeees?" 

[Is there any difference between someone crafting an item themselves or having a blacksmith do it for you?] 

"Indeed there is," Tamira quickly replied. "First, allow me to remind you that there are 6 categories of items. Those are, Lesser, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary, and Unique. It is worth noting that just because an item is classified as Unique does not mean it is actually good or better than anything you have right now. All it means is that there is no copy of that item in existence. Anyway, the difference between having a blacksmith craft something for you or, in your case, having Erin do so, is that the items that a blacksmith can make are fixed at a certain tier, based on that blacksmith's skill level. That means, for example, one blacksmith might only be able to make Uncommon gear, while another may only be able to make Rare gear. Whereas user-crafting, what you would have Erin do, carries an element of luck to it." 

"What does that mean?" 

"It means that unlike with a blacksmith, the quality of the items Erin will craft for you can vary based on, well, luck in part, but also based on her motivation, her excitement, and... well, her feelings." 

Tamira was often quite blunt. She'd been that way ever since Neve and the other 99 players arrived at the Final Challenge. If she was implying something, she was going to let you know. 

This was one of those moments.  1

Neve caught her meaning almost instantly. 

[Ah... I get it.]

She'd been wondering about how she should treat Erin, whether she should treat her as a real person or a summon. 

What Tamira was saying was that treating her as a person would yield tangible benefits. 

As well as provide the Forces That Be with some entertainment, if Neve understood Tamira and her superiors as well as she thought she did. 

[Well, fuck. Fine,] she thought. [I was going to talk to her anyway. It's alright.] 

"Do try your best to lift her spirits," Tamira said, before fading away. 

Neve then walked into the cave and looked for the materials the blacksmith mentioned. None of the workers there did so much as look at her. Entranced by the rocks they were bashing their pickaxes into, they ignored her as she found something at the back of the area. 

What looked like a simple pile of rocks had a white outline around it, as though the System was calling attention to it. 

[Crafting materials, Silicium, Unique,] she noted. [I wonder what kind of quality Uriel's staff was made with.] 

Taking three packs of materials and placing them in her inventory, she walked out without saying a word. 

Quickly, she made her way back to the blacksmith, and took one pack of the materials out of her inventory, placing them on a counter in front of him. 

She wanted to save the other two for Erin. 

"My thanks," he muttered. "Now, what did you want again?" 

"Two swords and some armor," she replied. "Is this enough?" 

"For the two swords. Not for the armor, though." 

"Ah, then I'll just take the swords." 

[I can try having Erin make her own armor later... If it ends up being of a higher quality than what I could have gotten here, the extra protection will be nice. If not then, oh well. Is what it is.] 

A bar then appeared over the man's head.

His motions didn't change. He continued absent-mindedly crashing his hammer onto the anvil in front of them, but now, there was that progress bar hovering above him. It filled up slowly. 

Neve stood there, watching on as it did. Before long, it was done, and the man turned toward her. 

"Here you go," he said, stretching a hand toward her. The swords suddenly appeared in his hands. The man did not react at all. 

"Uh, thanks." 

As she picked them up, she checked their quality. 

[Twin Silicium Short Swords. Uncommon. Hm. So, the material is Unique, but the weapons aren't. Okay then. Anyway, nice, I have some weapons to work with. Now,] she turned away, [let's see what Erin thinks about all this.] 

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