From Player To Npc

Chapter 16: A day at the shop

He knew exactly what was Garry's plan. He wanted to test Shingi to see if he had any inherited skills. NPCs children had a chance to have some of their parent's skills considered inherited. Those would be easier and faster to get unlocked and reach the rank of which it was when they inherited it. In most cases, those were skills in Base Rank, but there were some rare Master Rank ones.

'I wonder if he did the same with Annoue, although I doubt it would work either way.' [Shingi]

It wasn't like women weren't able to be a blacksmith as there were some famous ones. Still, even if STR of Annoue could help her, she didn't seem to have any suitable skills or natural talent on it.

Garry brought him a tong and pointed at the nearby anvil with a water bucket next to it. However, Shingi wasn't completely sure if what was in there was water. It seemed like it got muddy, which made him think that the whole place was dirtier than it should be.

"Let the iron heat up, and then use the tong to pick it up and hammer it on the anvil. Follow your instincts and when you are done, wake me up." [Garry]

Garry went and sat behind the desk and started taking his nap, the same as the other day.

Shingi made sure that he really was sleeping and then went to work. He cast his MANA HAND, but this time he used Earth mana instead, which made it look like it was made of dirt but kept its shape perfectly. It was also hovering slower than the Light base one. Shingi knew it could handle the heat; otherwise, he would have to feed it with more mana or keep getting weaker and then get dispelled.

And with it, he picked the heated piece of iron, and then with his free hand, he started testing the panel of the mana blower. He had used one in the past, but since he didn't have mana then, he controlled it with the lever.

He used the air and even put some of his Light mana in the produced air and steam and used to clean some of the iron's impurities and even tried to embed his mana in it. Still, he didn't have enough to do something like that.

In the end, this left him with almost no mana, but he was happy with how much he cleaned that piece of iron. He used the MANA HAND to put it over the anvil and start hammering it.

And so he dispelled his MANA HAND, completely disabled the mana blower, and used the tong to keep the metal still as he was ready to use the hammer, which had changed its size to better suit his size and STR

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. He could see why people were crazy over it as it was feeling like an extension of his hand at this point, a tough thing to feel with even a hammer that one had personally created or used for years.

And so he started his hammering, and his movements were a little sloppy at the start but got quickly adjusted. Ha hadn't done much physical activity with this body, so he was still getting used to it, and the hammer also seemed to fix some of his mistakes. And so he started shaping what he wanted, and since he didn't have a lot of material as Garry threw the smaller one, he decided to make a small trinket.

It would be an amulet with the same symbol as the shop's sign. He focused and found how to change the hammer's shape to make it a pick hammer and use it almost like a chisel when needed to carve the symbol.

He also used his FILTH EATER to clear the water in the bucket. When he was finished, he put his final product in there while holding it with a newly casted MANA HAND, this time a Light mana one so that he can use its transparency to see his resulted product.

He kept using his MANA HAND to get more used to it. It would also be possible to hold it in a less 'dangerous' way of changing the heated metal's shape as he could control the force easier. Still, it wasn't that the 'damage' would be that much.

And so as it got in a cool temperature to be held by his hand, he let it a little more in the water and then got it in his hand and put it on the desk and then coughed loudly to get the attention of Garry and started pointing at his trinket.

Garry didn't seem to be heavy sleeping as he woke up easily enough. He looked at Shingi and then at the thing he was pointing.

It seemed like he was completely awake at that point as he quickly picked it up and started investigating it.

"You really made this?!?" [Garry]

Anyone could see the surprise in his eyes.

"That was what you asked, right? Something for me to create from the iron using the hammer. And here is the result." [Shingi]

The hammer was now shaped like when Garry first gave it to him, and Shingi put it on the table and left it there.

Garry hearing that response seemed to make him somewhat happy for a second but then went back to be his usual strict-not caring face.

"Well, I guess you have some talent. Crafting something like that would have unlocked you the SMITHING skill. Am I right?" [Garry]

"Yes. It is at Base Rank currently." [Shingi]

Garry didn't seem surprised to hear that as it made sense from the result and to tell the truth, even Shingi was somewhat expecting it to happen. Unlocking a skill at not Low Rank wasn't something unheard of. He was the son of a blacksmith, and the knowledge cause of his time as a player put him at an advantage that none without the skill would have. Also, he had used a Spirit Hammer during all that, which helped even more.

"It seems like you really are our child." [Garry]

Shingi found this phrase a little weird but didn't put much thought into it.

"Well, you better not let it make you cocky cause you have much to learn. So are you ready for your next task?" [Garry]

Shingi nodded right away without a second thought as he was looking forward to crafting some more as he hadn't done it for some time and have somewhat missed the feeling.

"Clean the rest of the place while I will go to speak with a few people. I will meet you back home, but you better make a good work or no dinner for a week." [Garry]

And at that point, Garry's face was stricter than ever. He was giving a commanding aura that would work on someone other than Shingi, who was someone who had fought a Dragon and didn't get afraid for even a moment. But he made himself looked like he got somewhat affected and agreed on the task.

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QUEST: CLEANING BLACKSMITH SHOP

Description: Garry the Blacksmith has given you the task to clean his shop. He should check it tomorrow.

Reward: Increase of Local Blacksmith Garry's reputation

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Seeing that Shingi was confused. He hadn't heard of normal NPCs taking quests, but could he be considered a normal NPC? Also, even if the reward wasn't something big, that was for now. Even if Garry isn't at his best now, things could change, and Shingi could tell that he was hiding something.

And so Garry left the building heading to who knows where and Shingi for a moment was tempted to follow him but kept himself from doing it.

And so Shingi, instead of starting cleaning up, went into his meditate state after sitting somewhere at the area around the forge that he had already cleaned. That way, he could focus on making his Mana Pool gather mana quicker and replenish his mana faster, and at the same time, starting slowly strengthening his Mana Pool. It took him less than 2 minutes to fill his Mana Pool since he didn't have much mana.

And so he went back to use his combination of MANA HAND to pick up small objects and move them around. His FILTH EATER to destroy dust and such and at the same time decided to grind his MANA SENSE. And this made him notice something that he wouldn't notice otherwise. Some of the dust had some amount of mana in it.

Even if gathered in a big amount, things like dust wouldn't have any mana unless of one situation. It wasn't normal created dust, but mana created one.

And then he noticed that this dust there was around only one place and one place only. Around the chair behind the desk, the same one that Garry was sleeping on.

'Could he somehow create it? But I am sure he doesn't have a Mana Pool, and even with the mana blower, he used the lever instead of the panel.' [Shingi]

He thought it over, and it wasn't making any sense to him. His senses may not be perfect, but he was confident to notice if someone is supposed to have a Mana Pool or not, and no matter how he thought of it, Garry shouldn't. Also didn't seem like the type to have the skills to manipulate mana without having a Mana Pool, but you should never judge a book from its cover.

'Maybe he used the lever to demonstrate how it works since I shouldn't know how and he couldn't know I could use mana. If that is the case, he may be hiding more secrets than I thought.' [Shingi]

Shingi starting thinking that things were getting interesting, although others would consider them troublesome or confusing. But he liked these kinds of mysteries.

But for now, he went back on focusing on cleaning up the place, filling his mana, and repeat. He had to do it a few times as even if the FILTH EATER were using close to no mana if one keeps casting it again and again, it would be like casting a Low-Grade spell.

He also tried to cast two MANA HANDS and control one with each hand. Still, it took him a little time as some slip on his focus now and then led to one of them getting dispelled, and it was hard at the start to send different commands at each.

But after hours of testing and as it got close to dinner time, he finally finished his task. Of course, the Quest wasn't completed since Garry had to look at the shop's current state for this to happen.

Shingi was happy with today's result as his MANA SENSE, and MANA HAND's proficiency has definitely increased but not enough for the system to consider them enough to Rank Up or create an evolved spell. But he found the time to Rank Up to base one of his Skills finally.

His IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON skill. He actually used some of the bottles to hit some spiders and rats as targets and also made some throws with one of his MANA HANDS, which made the skill Rank Up to Base Rank quite fast.

His VISUALIZATION skill was the only one at Low Rank, but he didn't mind it to keep it like that for now.

And so after making sure that everything was fine and put everything that was garbage, like bottles and the corpses of rats he targeted, at big sacks and put them at the back of the shop then he started making his way back home to get some dinner and rest for the night which he was sure to have earned them today.