After two more days of field training, the witcher and his apprentice finally returned to the port city of Anthony. Because his apprentice's swordsmanship talent had exceeded all expectations, the witcher spent the remaining time teaching him in detail about wraith-type monsters and the properties of various alchemical potions.
"When I first started in this trade," the witcher reminisced with a faint smile, "we still followed the old traditions, crafting every potion by hand. It ensured that each witcher was intimately familiar with the ingredients and their effects. The best part was that many potions needed to be taken with dwarven fire-whiskey to act quickly!"
His face softened with nostalgia as he spoke. "But these days, most of us use semi-finished concoctions prepared by master witchers who specialize in alchemy. We just need to mix in a few portable components before use."
"Hmm, it's hard to say which method is better," Aldric replied wisely, deciding not to interrupt his teacher's fond memories of dwarven liquor. After parting with the witcher at the city gate, he made his way to the dwarves' blacksmith workshop, while the witcher headed toward the Temple of Ulfric to bid farewell to his friend, Priest Richard.
The dwarven forge was bustling with activity.
The moment Aldric entered, he was greeted by the sight of busy dwarves working with fiery zeal. Gloin's eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, but his expression was full of excitement. The once-empty forge had come alive again. He shouted at his apprentices not to slack off, calling out from time to time: "Watch the furnace temperature!"
All sorts of common and rare metal ores were piled up nearby, being smelted tirelessly by the apprentices.
Beside the furnace stood a tall, dark-skinned man, slender yet commanding, giving instructions to the blacksmiths — dwarves included — as they worked. He occasionally added unknown powdered substances into the molten metal.
The dwarves hammered rhythmically, each swing full of power and precision. Yet, every so often, the tall man would stop them, lean in to observe closely, and exchange a few words with the dwarf before signaling him to continue.
Judging by their movements, they seemed to be forging nothing more than a dagger. Still, it was peculiar — the normally hot-tempered dwarf didn't lash out at being ordered around. Instead, he obediently continued working as if he were the apprentice. That alone was strange enough.
It wasn't until the tall man looked up and greeted Aldric with a nod that he realized — the man was actually a player.
A moment later, Vittoria entered the forge behind Aldric, greeting the tall man casually before turning to Aldric.
"Look, I picked up a player in town," she said. "This unlucky guy died during his advancement quest. We need one more player to round out our ten-man group, so I brought him along."
The dark-skinned player noticed they were talking about him and smiled sheepishly. He pointed to his ears, gesturing that it was too noisy to hear anything in here.
"He said his name is Angus Carpenter, a materials researcher from the African Commonwealth," Victoria shouted over the ringing of hammers. "I brought him here, and judging by Gloin's reaction, he actually seems to know his stuff."
Just then, one of the apprentices accidentally splashed cooling water during the second tempering phase. The dwarf Gloin instantly snapped back to his usual temper.
"Damn it! Do you have any idea how many connections I had to pull to get that one barrel of holy water from the Temple of Ulfric? You've got the brain of a goblin!"
Finally spotting Aldric, the dwarf's anger melted into cheerfulness.
"My friend, you've returned! And your companion here is truly remarkable — he must be blessed by Grungni, the God of the Forge! How else could he fit so many brilliant ideas in that head of his?"
My companion? Aldric glanced at the female warrior beside him, puzzled.
'He died during his advancement quest,' Victoria explained quickly through a text message. 'The system didn't assign him an identity, so he's basically undocumented. Since you weren't in town, I told the dwarf he was one of the shipwreck survivors who came ashore with you.'
"Ha, yes, that's right," Aldric immediately went along with it. "I thought he seemed extraordinary back on the ship. I bet the two of us will have plenty in common!"
Gloin nodded enthusiastically. "You're absolutely right! Since he arrived, we've already discovered two new alloy formulas. He's practically a messenger sent by Grungni himself! Hey! You idiot — don't touch those materials with your bare hands!" Mid-sentence, the dwarf stormed off to scold another apprentice.
Angus, the dark-skinned player, turned back to them with an apologetic smile.
"Thank you both for helping me out. If not for this… beautiful lady here, I'd probably have been arrested by the city guards. They thought I was some kind of cultist!" he said bitterly. "I was just trying to find a place to eat. Since I entered this game, I haven't had a proper meal!"
From his story, Aldric learned that this player had also spawned somewhere within the Black Forest. With his impressive 18 points of Intelligence, he had received a background-related advancement quest soon after entering the game.
Unfortunately, his luck had been abysmal. The ship he'd boarded was attacked by pirates, and he was sold as a slave to a dark sorcerer who lived in a tower built upon seaside rocks. Yet, thanks to his intellect and scientific training, he quickly distinguished himself and was promoted from a test subject to the sorcerer's assistant. If all had gone well, his background class would have advanced to [Apprentice Mage].
However, the quest was extremely difficult. Within just three days, Mr. Carpenter was killed during an experiment when a sabotaged apparatus, tampered with by another assistant NPC, exploded. He'd only just respawned this morning, randomly appearing in the slums of Port Anthony.
Fortunately, the man wasn't just an academic type in real life. Using his real-world field navigation skills, the three players managed to roughly pinpoint the location of the mage's tower on their map.
"Angus — may I call you that?" Aldric asked, studying the dark-skinned researcher. Over the years, the African Commonwealth had developed rapidly. Since the last New Order War had shattered the old African regimes, the continent was finally unified under a single government with help from Cathay.
"Of course, my friend," Angus replied warmly, shaking his hand. "You must be Mr. Xune — Victoria told me about you. I'd be honored to join your warband! I even attended university in Cathay, it's my second home."
"Well, we haven't actually decided whether to form a warband yet…" Aldric began, only to be cut off.
"We have decided," Victoria said firmly, slapping her palm on the table. "I got some intel from Conrad's people — forming a warband gives you access to warband talents based on its rank. Plus, we can take on warband missions! We're on good terms with the local lord; if we ask him for some quests, would he dare refuse?"
Friendly or not, isn't that taking advantage of him? Aldric thought worriedly, wondering how poor Antoine would survive with Victoria around. Still, she wasn't wrong, opportunities like this shouldn't be wasted. He remembered what the shadow assassin had once said: "Money's easy to make here."
And just like that, the decision was made — rather hastily, perhaps — but made nonetheless: they would prioritize establishing a warband. Aldric found himself agreeing that Victoria's plan was, in fact, a good one.
(End of Chapter)