Raphael watched his new master, who was blabbering non-stop, in a detached way.
'For the love of all the pasta in the world, couldn't they have added a function to skip quest nonsense like this? Just get on with it!' he thought with frustration.
"...And then we can get rid of that damned forest and pave a stone way directly to the mines!" Bires exclaimed with joy, having not noticed the thief's lack of enthusiasm. "Well, anyway, those are plans for the future. For now, I'm thankful for restoring my family's honor."
"You're welc–"
"Why, I can still remember as if it was yesterday." Bires interrupted Raphael. "He looked at me straight and the eyes, all full of life and vigor…"
Raphael quickly tuned out the talkative elderly blacksmith. The developers behind Origo had invested years into the proper nurturing of the system of stinted artificial intelligences that were in charge of every NPC. Of course, not all of them were as vivid as Ziah Bires, but it still pained Raphael how realistically NPCs sometimes acted. As the blacksmith chattered on in the background, memories of his deceased grandparents started surfacing.
'They were like that towards the end too. I remember going to visit and how conversations would just get derailed into the weirdest train of thoughts…, damn I miss them.' Raphael thought, opening and closing his fist. It was a tick he had developed in his previous life.
Suddenly, he felt something in his grasp as he clutched his hand. Opening it up, he looked down and saw a small token which featured two crossed hammers. Looking up, he saw that Bires had a disgruntled look on his face.
"What is it, lad, are you not pleased?" he asked, hands crossed in front of his chest.
Looking down at the new item, Raphael felt ecstatic, as he answered, "Of course I'm pleased, Master Bires, how could I not be!"
‖ Forger's Guild Membership Token (Special) ‖
▸ Allows unrestricted access to the Azure Kingdom Forger's Guild. Can not be traded. ◂
+3% chance to successfully craft an item
This was a treasure upon treasures! Membership tokens were something that was not very unique, but one that gave unrestricted access to a guild was definitely something that no player would even consider parting with. Guilds that were started by kingdoms and NPCs were very different from the player-dominated guilds that would soon start appearing.
First of all, NPC guilds, or N-Guilds as they would be called, had their own separate and unique questlines, which were only available to members, while player-created guilds would only get random daily quests from the town where their headquarters was located. This was a great boon, as it often meant that N-Guilds offered more freedom of movement, as their quests were more about the needs of the group, rather than the needs of the region. For instance, a Leatherworker's N-Guild would often require rare ingredients, which players would have to find. This could take them to the other ends of the world, or the nearest market, depending on the situation.
Secondly, there was a clear way to advance in N-Guilds and climb their inner hierarchy. This was very important, because in most cases joining a player-lead guild would lead to needless drama and a lot of infighting, as being ranked higher meant getting more resources. This was one of the reasons why Raphael had never even considered to join a guild in his previous life, but N-Guild were a whole different story.
The old blacksmith snorted, a bit amused at Raphael's silly expression, as he said, "Good, had you said otherwise I would have pummeled you right here and right now. That token right there is the only spare one I've got and it'll let you skip most of the formalities that you'd typically encounter when first joining the Forger's Guild."
"Is this a high-level token?" The thief asked as he turned it around, viewing the workmanship from every angle. The token was akin to a coin, its edge ribbed and the prominent crossed hammers on one side. The other side looked to be clean and polished, but upon closed look Raphael discovered, that there were tiny magical runes written on its surface.
"Yes, it will give you the same perks as those that an Advanced Blacksmith could expect. Don't you dare lose it and whatever happens, never ever try to trade it."
Raphael knew about the restriction, but as he was curious to what Bires thought would happen if he did trade it, he muttered a simple 'Why', looking at his master with curiosity.
"There's a protection curse against trading. The last person who did that was never found again. Well, at least not all of him," Ziah said, shuddering. "I think they did manage to scrape a few fingers off the sidewalk. Nasty business them curses, best to not mess around with 'em."
"Thank you for the cautionary tale." Raphael meekly replied.
"Think nothing of it. Now, since you want to be a blacksmith, you're in for a bit of reading." the old man said, happily unlocking a door and pushing the 'lad' into one of the adjacent rooms within the workshops, before turning around and leaving.
"Don't damage the books, I know where you live!" Ziah said with a creepy chuckle on his way out.
The room was filled with stacks upon stacks of leather-bound books, loose manuscripts and even the odd scroll here and there. Picking up one of the books, Raphael flicked through it. It was called 'The Just and Fair Knights of Ni', and it was a rather whimsical tale of a group of hermit knights that protected an enchanted forest, bending it and its inhabitants to their wills with sacred words passed onto them by their forefathers.
'Ugh, sounds like another one of those Knight in Shining Armor chicklits.' Raphael grimaced and placed the book in one of the room's corners.
The library, if it could be called that, looked as if it had been organized by a hobgoblin, which had been sniffing tree bark the day before. Heaps of books were on the floor and a wide yet narrow table, while only a few were properly arranged on the bookcases.
With a sigh, Raphael made his way to the only window and opened it up slightly, to let some fresh air in. The room smelt of mold and unbrushed teeth.
He crouched down and started rummaging through the books, carefully inspecting each and every one of them, before he started putting them in the one empty corner.
'Romantic novel with harems, romantic novels without harems, a silly story about a troll that fell in love with a rock…, why are these even in Bires' workshop? Is he a blacksmith or an old lady with cats‽ Not that there's anything wrong with cats, they're so cute and fluffy…' Raphael's mind wandered as he started upping his categorization speed.
Crouching down, standing on the solitary chair to get at a single book way up high, running from one end to the other, Raphael was like a gale, sweeping through the room as the books quickly found their way to their own little proper place.
The manuscripts and scrolls turned out to be Bires' own musings, a sort of disconnected diary he had kept on and off for the last year. Raphael had only made sure what they were, before he put them on the table and left them there. He did not consider prying into somebody else's inner thoughts to be a good characteristic.
After a while, everything was in its proper place, and Raphael was sitting on the chair, looking at a few books in particular.
"Well, who would have guessed that being an apprentice offered such perks!"