The Second Life of Adam Cosmos

It didn't take long for Karva to get to the entrance that Vetius conjured for Adam nearly 4 weeks ago.

To Adam's pleasant surprise, the ride was relatively comfortable; Karva was well-trained to be an excellent mount. That, or the saddle is somehow designed to make the ride comfortable.

Adam had a sudden appreciation for the Dark Priest's standards when it came to its items and mount.

It's one thing to have legendary items in its possession, but for a Dark Priest to go to great lengths to ensure his mount- that it will only use as a last resort to be also well equipped and properly trained is a testament to the meticulous nature of the Dark Priest back when it was a living being.

"Thank you, Karva," said Adam appreciatively to his undead steed. "You can go now."

At Adam's command, Karva's body dissipated and returned to its Effigy.

'Is Karva conscious in the effigy or does he sleep while inside?' wondered Adam, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

'When there's an opportunity, I'll have to check on this.'

Adam turned his thoughts away from the steed and towards the task at hand: continuing his blacksmithing quest.

He tapped on the wall that was once the exit from Vetius' workshop.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

"Teacher, I have returned!" said Adam in a slightly louder voice.

Either his tap or voice was loud enough for him not to need to do anything else.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

The wall became a pathway.

Upon entering, Adam saw his teacher surrounded by various parchments filled with diagrams and writings. It appears that the Revenant had been busy writing.

"Greetings, teacher. I have the ore needed for the dagger you asked me to craft."

Vetius stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Adam.

"Very... good..."

He did not comment whatsoever on the time it took for Adam to complete the task. Adam couldn't tell if it was supposed to take this long or if as a Revenant, Vetius' perception of the passage of time was skewered.

Without any pleasantries, Adam's quest was updated.

Ding!

[Blacksmithing Chain Quest: Read and Study the writings Vetius prepared]

[An ancient language has been detected: Rosetta Protocol is in effect.]

"Here... read... these..."

Vetius gave him the parchments he had been writing. It is an impressively detailed writing showing how to prepare one's smithy using nothing but clay and various materials that can be found in nature. There are also instructions on how to create basic tools and other equipment helpful in crafting.

Even someone with near-zero knowledge of crafting will be able to create something from scratch with these instructions.

"This is-", Adam began to exclaim.

But before he can say anything else, Vetius spoke once more.

"Focus... on... these..."

"Don't... worry... about... the... dagger..."

"Do... that... when... you... are... more... experienced..."

Ding!

[Blacksmithing Chain Quest Postponed: Recreate Vetius’ Dagger]

Details: Crafting the dagger has been postponed. It will resume once Vetius has deemed your blacksmithing rank of proficient level.

Adam needed a few seconds to process.

First, he received detailed writings on how to start his smithy from basically nothing but raw materials. To the best of his knowledge, there was not a single blacksmith player during his first life that received this kind of instruction. Whether it's an independent player learning on his own, or someone who secured a teacher, the lessons are strictly about blacksmithing.

And yet, Adam received precious lessons on how to build his smithy!

To any player, they may consider this extra task. But Adam appreciates this type of knowledge as it's something that will be very helpful both in the game and in the real world.

Secondly, the task of crafting the dagger has been postponed. Adam reckons that he needs to reach either Intermediate or Adept rank before the quest can resume.

In hindsight, asking a novice blacksmith to craft such a high-quality dagger might have been an unreasonably difficult task.

Regardless of whichever it may be, this means Adam can focus on reading the diagrams that Vetius prepared for him.

"Yes, teacher," Adam responded. "I will study these."

"Very... good..."

"You... can... read... it... there..."

Vetius waved his hand and another room opened. It appears to be a study room as there's no blacksmithing equipment of any kind. Instead, the room seems to be dedicated to reading as there's a lamp, table, chair, and cabinet with various scrolls and books.

Without any further ado, Adam headed straight to the room while Vetius headed back to the smithy to resume working.

Adam set the parchments on the table and took a seat. He began to study the writings.

Since Vetius came from at least a thousand years ago, the written language he used is different. Fortunately, the Rosetta Protocol conveniently translated the words for Adam's convenience.

Time passed very quickly as Adam became immersed in studying the writings.

"These are amazing!"

And indeed, they are. While many of the drawings are things Adam can look up by himself on the internet, having Vetius prepare it for him and ask him to study it had a very profitable effect.

As he was reading the papers, his status window periodically popped up with notifications.

Ding!

[You have learned the basics of blacksmithing.]

[Blacksmithing proficiency has increased.]

Improving one's proficiency does not only come from performing tasks, studying also helps.

Of course, studying only counts if done in-game as researching it in the real world, while still beneficial, will not have a direct impact on one's proficiency growth in-game. Plus, since Adam is under an apprenticeship with Vetius, his proficiency is improving faster due to being under the tutelage of a grandmaster.

In any case, these are things that Adam would have thought to read up on anyway; having been told to do it as a quest is just extra good news for him.

The more he read, the more impressed he was with the comprehensive nature of the writings.

It didn't just cover blacksmithing, but other relevant skills needed to compliment blacksmithing as a whole.

Ding!

[You have learned how to build smithing tools.]

[POTTERY has been added as a sub-skill.]

[WOODCRAFTING has been added as a sub-skill.]

[LEATHERCRAFTING has been added as a sub-skill.]

Since the writings contain information on how to create one's smithy from scratch, it goes without saying that blacksmithing is not the skillset needed. Various skills and knowledge such as using clay to create bricks to prepare the forge, making charcoals, the process of creating coke fuel, smelting, wood chopping, and using animal hides to create bellows are all skills that are essential to smithing but do not technically count as blacksmithing.

This is why the system deemed these as a separate category.

His status window now shows the basic information on how to create bricks, process wood to turn it into charcoal, basic animal hide tanning, smelt, and miscellaneous information that can aid Adam in building his smithy.

It is clear that Vetius, being a self-taught blacksmith, first learned how to build his smithy from scratch.

In comparison, a typical novice blacksmith would only know how to operate a fully functioning smithy. The difference between Adam as a novice blacksmith and other players of the same profession is between night and day.

Thanks to the status window, Adam can now easily reference Vetius' writings even without the parchment. Nevertheless, he still kept the parchment and stored it in his Spatial Ring.

After several hours, he stood up from the chair and went out to speak to Vetius.

"Teacher, I have studied what you have asked me to read," said Adam.

"Very... good..."

Vetius momentarily stopped what he was doing and waved his hand again.

At this point, Adam knows that it's his way of manipulating the walls to open and close them as he sees fit. And as expected, a new room opened- or rather, two rooms.

One is full of various raw materials and tools, while the other is completely vacant.

"Build... your... own... smithy..."

"You... can... use... anything... from... that... room..."

Ding!

[Blacksmithing Quest: Build your smithy]

Description: After learning the essential knowledge of blacksmithing, your next task is to build a smithy. This smithy will serve as your workshop moving forward. Create the following: Forge, Furnace, Smelter, and Bellows. You are free to use whatever material or tools you deem necessary from the room Vetius opened for you.

"Yes, teacher!" responded Adam excitedly.

He is genuinely eager to start this particular quest. It is an unexpectedly valuable opportunity for Adam to learn something that he knows no other blacksmith has had the opportunity to learn.

From the description of the quest, it seems he has to build everything from scratch. Fortunately, it seems that he is at least allowed to use tools and take materials from the other room for anything he needs; at least he won't need to gather the materials anymore.

To create the forge and furnace, he would need bricks. And to create bricks, he would need clay.

However, the clay must first be exposed to intense and steady heat to solidify into a brick. This is because turning clay into brick requires a reliable source of flame. Although he is a pyromancer who can produce fire on his own, it seemed appropriate to properly set up a source of flame as Adam wouldn't be able to sustain a smithy just by using his flame.

And for that, he would need charcoal- a lot of it. In conclusion, the first thing Adam needed to prepare was charcoal.

Not only is charcoal necessary for heating clay to harden it to a brick, but it is also an essential fuel for blacksmithing. Charcoal is preferred in smithing as it's clear and does not contaminate the metal that is being processed.

Fortunately, creating charcoal is fairly simple. Based on the writings Vetius gave him, there are several ways he can go about creating charcoal.

Since the quest allows him to use the materials and tools around him, he took a spade, a sieve, as well as several dozen blocks of wood.

The wood appears to be dried roots of huge trees. Since they are underground, it makes sense that the biggest tree roots in the region will be readily available for someone like Vetius who appears to have the ability to control earth to a certain degree.

First, Adam chopped the wood into several smaller, thinner cuts to pile them into a pyre. Then, he positioned the wood as compact as he could and formed a mound where the smaller chunks of wood were in the middle while the bigger cuts were in the outer layers.

Next, he dug soil and added water to turn it into mud. He then covered the pyre he created with the mud and left only a few small holes- one at the top and six at the bottom.

This is to allow the smoke an exit.

After diligently working on the mound, he ended up creating a 5-foot-tall pyre covered with mud.

Now, all that Adam needs to do is to light the wood on fire. He concentrated his mana in his hands and flames started to erupt- he then lit the smaller pieces of wood on fire and placed them on the top of the mound.

The idea of charcoal-making is to heat the wood at a high temperature to burn off any unnecessary components, such as water and other plant materials while minimizing oxygen exposure to ensure the wood does not turn into ash. This is why the wood pyre has to be covered in mud to ensure there will not be any oxygen exposure once all the wood is burning.

If done successfully, the outcome would be charcoal.

Slowly but surely, the fire started to spread from the top down. During this time, the mound started to emit a huge volume of smoke.

Adam patiently waited for the fire to reach the bottom-most part of the mound. The holes he made at the bottom of the mound served as an exit for the smoke and as a small window to check when the fire had finally reached the base level.

Eventually, the fire can be seen through the hole at the mound's base. He covered all the holes with mud to completely seal the mound as the wood continued to burn inside.

Once completely sealed, Adam let it be and estimated that it would be completed after about 4 hours.

Deciding to utilize the wait time wisely, he proceeded to create a few more mounds to process more charcoal.

As the first mound burned, he created an additional 6 mud-covered pyres. He applied the same procedure with the new pyres.

"This should be good enough," said Adam after the 4-hour mark.

He approached the hot mound and started splashing a controlled volume of water to start cooling it. Then he carefully wiped and spread the water around the mound to ensure the charcoal inside didn't get wet.

Normally, most people would wait for several hours as the mound would still be very hot at this point, but Adam's fire resistance allowed him to touch the scorching-hot mound with relative ease.

He then let the other mound reach its burning point before sealing it, and then splashing it with water a few hours after.

Now, the only thing left is to wait for the mound to cool down before he can crack it open. According to the notes given to him by Vetius, it would take about 12 to 16 hours for the cool-down to be completed.

There is nothing much for Adam to do at the moment so he decided to log out and visit the auction house.

***

At the Mercury Auction House, Adam immediately checked his account for a certain message that he was waiting for.

'Looks like he's been working on his Toxin skills,' mused Adam after finding the message he had been looking for.

It was a message from Dexter explaining that the task to collect poisonous materials is taking longer than expected since his class skill revolves around using poison from said materials.

Adam had previously asked him to collect poisonous herbs, but since his skill requires him to use poisonous herbs as a source of poison, it goes without saying that he's using up the very materials Adam asked him to collect.

However, Adam isn't amazed by this development. At this point, Dexter probably hadn't unlocked most of the more advanced skills of his class so he needs to keep on extracting poison from external sources.

Still, it's good enough that he successfully managed to keep in contact with Dexter; he had previously exchanged auction account details with the trio before separating from them.

Closing his inbox, Adam turned his attention towards the items available for sale.

It's been a few days since he ran out of potions to sell. While his cash income is somewhat supported by selling the various weapons and items he acquired from the Lich boss fight and skirmish with the Hao Wei team, selling potions is still his go-to means of earning money.

Not to mention, crafting potions would also improve his Alchemy proficiency rank.

Fortunately, the player's knowledge of the usage of many materials is still at a low level. Although there are books in the fortress that players can read, the details are not complete as there are many usages of common ingredients that players would only discover years after playing Pangea.

Of course, not all materials would net a huge price so some don't bother putting it up for auction as the fee would just offset any potentially low bid the item would have.

Instead, selling it would be a far better option. Even though the net gain is lower than the gain from the auction, there would be a fixed price and at least there's not much commission fee for the auction house to bill the players with.

First, he checked the items put up for sale- these are items not put up for auction but are just posted to be bought by the first and fastest buyer.

At this moment, the Sanctus Lux Fortress is already populated by many players so those developing their production skills are going to need materials. Many guilds would have set up a grinding territory to provide a steady supply for their guild members.

In other words, it would be difficult for Adam to gather ingredients on his own if he were to rely solely on what he can gather in the Undead Regions.

Fortunately, the independent teams and players would be collecting raw materials out in the wild and then putting them up for sale to earn some quick money.

Since the sale list is open to everyone, Adam just bought anything and everything that he could get his hands on before another party could buy it.

[You have purchased Jealous Dindle x9.]

[You have purchased Spirit Winterberry x6.]

[You have purchased Blessed Bittercrest x10.]

[You have purchased Red Morgel Leaf x24.]

[You have purchased Spirit Winterberry x8.]

[You have purchased DecayingAmbrosia x7.]

[You have purchased Red Morgel Leaf x30.]

[You have purchased Jealous Dindle x12.]

[You have purchased...]

[You have purchased...]

[You have purchased...]

[You have purchased...]

[You have purchased...]

[You have purchased...]

Adam is surprised at the wide variety and decent quantity available for sale; many of the ingredients he was able to purchase can be crafted into various types of potions. Although the materials are sold in small increments at differing prices, he was still able to purchase a decent volume that he can craft into potions both for personal use and for selling.

Aside from buying the on-sale ingredients, he also joined an ongoing auction to buy another set of alchemy tools. Fortunately, the need for alchemy tools isn't as high as expected since many alchemists already have access to proper labs in the fortress. And so, he was able to buy another set of alchemy tools without any trouble. With this, the quantity that he can create in a single brewing can be increased threefold.

After spending quite a bit of money purchasing all sorts of crafting materials, Adam logged out.

He intends to rest for a few hours before resuming his work of building his smithy.