World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 31 Peaceful Life

"You're back surprisingly early," he greeted me, as I popped into his kingdom of hammers and anvils.

"I've been thinking… Why not learn the n.o.ble path of the blacksmith?" I tried to stay cheerful, but thoughts tossed and turned in my mind. Was he going to refuse? After all, how many people pa.s.sed through this base and thought about becoming his student. Then again, maybe I just didn't know about it.

"Hah," Dmitri's suspicion immediately turned into happiness. "I thought you'd never come. Most peek in and ask to become an apprentice on the second day."

How many events had happened without me even noticing? I had to change that immediately. Being strong wasn't enough; I also had to be aware of what was going on around me. I thought that I was going to be thrown out of the forge, but the conversation took a different turn.

"Catch this," he threw me a piece of ore. "Look at it and tell me what you see."

I fiddled with it, habitually trying to look at it "from within", but failed.

"The system's not showing anything," I told Dmitri, who had become bored after thirty minutes of unsuccessful attempts and was rhythmically knocking with his hammer. "And this, as I far as I understand, is important for crafting?"

"Right," seeing that I had put the stone aside the Redhead happy stopped his work. "For example, picking up any piece of metal or wood I see its structure, impurities, what weapons or armor it can be used for, and whether or not it can enhance any combat skills."

"What if I try it, and then you tell me what I've made?" I decided to try something else.

"You can't do that. Before me, there was Yuri Stepanovich, a hereditary blacksmith, if only you could see what beautiful blades he forged… However, all of them dealt only one damage. When he saw that my first creation, made in haste, could deal ten points in one attack, he simply gave up the craft. And then he left the base."

Yeah, the guy was probably ashamed. To spend years practicing, and to be beaten by some newcomer on the first attempt. And it's not like he had any special talents — it just happened.

"I see," saying goodbye to the Redhead, I left the forge in a good mood despite failing to do what I had intended to. Before I left, Dmitri showed me his masterpiece — a rapier that increased the combo length by one. And if you looked at that piece of iron knowing that reaching the same result would require twenty-five dexterity points, for which an ordinary person would need 13 levels, you would see that our blacksmith showed great results.

Which means that I shouldn't give up either. I didn't manage to extract information from the ore, but surely I could do it with something else, I just needed to find what that something was. Soil, air, water, gra.s.s in the yard — nothing worked, but I refused to despair. On the contrary, I gradually began to feel excited.

Petrovich pa.s.sed by and muttered that there, apparently, wouldn't be any b.l.o.o.d.y sunsets this week. I confused him with a satisfied smile and gained ten points of deception for it. I didn't even want to guess what he might have thought.

"Vasily," Olga and Dasha approached me, ignoring the leader who was trying to get their attention. "Would you mind accompanying us to the woods? Our Archer wants to see if there are any mushrooms or berries. We could use a little more variety in our diet."

An interesting suggestion… It would be nice to check whether or not I could learn anything about some of the unusual plants just by looking at them. After all, I was sure the smith couldn't see information about every stone he took into his hands.

"Let's go." For some reason the girls were glad that I had agreed. They looked tired and shabby in a way; a walk would do them well. "Where can we find them?"

"Aren't you full of yourself?" The Major slipped between me and Olga. Level 15 and some artifact bought from the merchants had significantly boosted his confidence. "You keep disappearing, you do not hunt, you have no intention to level-up, and you never help clean the place. But when it comes to going to the woods with the girls, there you are."

To be honest, I was a little confused. He was right; I should occasionally go hunting or help around the base. Breakfast and dinner didn't just appear out of thin air. But the Major killed any emotional impulse that I might've had, when he hit me in the chest and tried to push me aside. That's right — tried. He definitely had less than 150 strength. Fortress worked, and I did not so much as budge, which surprised the bully and made him retreat immediately.

"I'll go hunting tomorrow," I decided to finish this short conversation since everyone had fallen silent. "Now we are going mushroom and berry hunting. Olga, Dasha, how much time do you need?"

The girls followed me; somewhere behind us, Petrovich was saying something to Mikhail, who threw up his hands in frustration. A couple of words reached my ears.

"Strong", "good for the base", "let him take", "others will come", "new b.l.o.o.d.y dawn will come soon"…