Alex came back to his room and Alicia was surprised to see him coming back with a new sword.
"Is this?"
"My new sword, and also my first creation. Its name is Star Blaze Sword."
Alicia looked at his sword thoroughly. She noticed the energy coming from it, "Is this a magic weapon?"
"Yes, correct," Alex answered shortly.
"You can make magic weapons?" Alicia was shocked to even guess this.
"Yes, I can," Alex scratched his cheek embarrassedly
"I want it too, will you make one for me?" she muttered in a very low voice. It was barely audible, but Alex could actually hear what she just asked.
"I will make one for the Princess too," Alex smiled.
"No...You don't need to, I was just..." Alicia shook her head shyly.
Alex only smiled at her, he then heard Alicia ask, "What is the rank of this sword?"
"Rank 5," Alex answered.
"When did you start practicing then?"
"Around a month ago, I guess," he wasn't so sure when exactly he started to practice it.
"..." Alicia was frozen in place after hearing what Alex just said. She gave a dumbfounded look to Alex.
"You know Alex...There was a crazy person in the legend," she suddenly said.
Alex was now the one who got surprised because he didn't know what kind of topic she suddenly brought, why she talked about it now?
"That person was a forging master," Alicia continued, "He killed a rank 6 monster when he was only a rank 4."
Alex was shocked to hear it. He never thought that a rank 4 could kill a rank 6 monster, this could be considered as heaven-defying.
"He wasn't a genius or high ranker. He was just a forger. But his forging skill made many people feel ashamed. Do you know what he did to kill a rank 6 when he was only a rank 4?"
Alex shook his head, he was barely able to kill a rank 5 monster. His brain couldn't wrap the idea of it.
"Because he made a rank 7 spear. He killed the monster easily with a higher ranking weapon. His motto was 'If I can't kill my opponent because I am weaker, then I only need to make a stronger weapon that can kill it'. That was what he believed in."
Alex was dumbfounded, he didn't know this kind of logic might work. Alex started pondering about the pros and cons of this. Though he could kill the opponent with his absolute weapon, the difference between his power and his opponent shouldn't be too far. If not, the opponent would skillfully dodge and kill him and get his own weapon instead. Alex might consider this as his last desperate attempt to survive during a battle.
True, during a battle in person when he and his enemy had the same power then the auxiliary thing like a weapon will be the deciding factor. If the power difference was too far, logically, a farmer couldn't kill a rank 4 warrior even if he was equipped with a rank 5 weapon. That farmer might also be targeted because of his weapon.
"The weapon is good, but a weapon that was too good, might become the source of one's downfall," Alex said once he was done with his thorough analysis.
Alicia thought about what he said and after a while, she also nodded. They ended their conversation just like that.
***
Alex kept practicing in forging all the time. He made many other weapons during his practice. Sometimes he failed, sometimes he succeeded. After three months, he managed to make a few rank 5 weapons. Of course, it could happen due to the hard work of Alex and his teacher. The money from selling pills was enough to support him for a while, they sold it at such a high price since the pills were so rare. Especially for skin refining pills and blood and marrow pills that were super famous among nobles.
These two pills were in high demand, especially among women. However, these pills were not marketed as products. That was why the price was so high.
Alex also made rank 5 magic weapons both for Alicia and Firia. He made Ice attribute staff for Alicia and Fire attribute staff for Firia. Since he had a few rank 5 weapons now, after he gave his last sword for Princess Mia, Alex then gave the rest to his teacher to raise a fund again. Though Alex didn't succeed in making a rank 6 weapon because of the difficulty.
Alex almost reached rank 5 prowess in the past few months, even when his status card already showed a rank 5.
Without him realizing it, a dungeon event will be held in a week. The students were given a few days off before going to the dungeon in Maka Town.
"After this week, we will be holding a dungeon event for first graders. The event will be held at the dungeon in Maka Town. You will be given a few days off after this meeting, you may set off immediately to steal the start, or you may rest with your family back home first or you even can choose to not participate in this event. The choice is yours, but remember that your choice will come with its own consequence.
Before I end today's meeting, I will explain the rule first. After you kill a monster, please keep their monster core. We will give you a score depending on the monster cores you brought. The scores given would be the same points as the grade ranking in Night Forest.
Beware, that in this event you can die from fighting a monster. The teachers only supervise you on the surface, not in the dungeon and we won't help you out this time. The event will end by the end of next month. There are already a few teachers in Maka Town if you want to start now, just don't forget to register as a hunter in the hunter guild first. I will end our class now, hope you all become successful in this event. Good luck!" the teacher ended his speech.
"Alex, how about we team up?" Alicia said.
"Yes, that is a good idea," Firia chimed in their conversation.
"Ugh..." Alex hesitated.
"Are you going alone?" Alicia said worriedly.
Alex nodded, "I planned to dive to the lower floor to kill rank 4 or rank 5 monsters only. So..."
"Sigh...Fine, I and Firia will search for another party," Alicia pouted, she became a bit disappointed because she can't dive with Alex. Firia was also disappointed with his decision.
Suddenly someone cut in, "How about Princess Alicia and Miss Firia come with us?"
The trio looked at the one who spoke in. There were three people consisting of two men and one girl. The men were handsome and the girl was beautiful. Alex, Alicia, and Firia recognized them since they were their classmates.
Alex frowned, he tried to recall these three characters in his class. The girl's name was Viola and she was known as a disciplined girl in the class. She was sort of a role model in the class. As for the first guy, his name was Locko and he had such a big muscular body, a typical muscle brain guy. His character was also good, as long as Alex remembered. As for the last guy and the one who spoke just now, his name was Rery and this guy was a bit problematic with his character. Though he was somewhat trouble-maker, other than that he was still friendly and bearable.
Alicia and Firia looked at Alex for confirmation and the guy just sighed a bit while nodding.
"We want to join your party. We will be under your guidance, then," Alicia said.
"Don't worry, I am a bronze rank hunter. I'm already experienced diving in a dungeon," Rery said arrogantly.
"When are you going to Maka Town?" Firia asked.
"We will set off the day after tomorrow. Since the journey takes two days. We can have three days before the start."
Alicia nodded, then turned to Alex, "You will set off with us, right?"
Alex agreed that it might be better to go immediately with them. This was the last thing he could do for them after turning them down.
Alicia smiled and all of them said goodbye. They all went back home to spend the little time left. Alex was going with Alicia since the grand duke's house was the only house he could go to.
For these two days, Alex was put in an awkward position. Since he couldn't go together with Alicia, he didn't know how to act with the others in the house. Grand duke could only sigh with Alex's decision. He understood why the guy wanted to dive in alone. The grand duke told Alex to not worry about it. He was so sure Alicia could make it home alive.
Princess Lea and Mia weren't at home, the grand duke informed Alex and Alicia that the two princesses were stationed on the border of Death Forest. The event for the second year was at the border of Death forest. That was why Mia needed to go there and Lea accompanied her.
Two days later, Alicia and the group met at the west gate and they set off. The journey didn't have any issue and they safely arrived on the second night. They decided to rest at the inn first and register tomorrow.
The next day, the six of them arrived at the hunter guild to register so they went to the register counter. The counter was brimming with students who wanted to register. It seemed that many students wanted to start early instead of wasting time at home.
"You guys can register first, I will wait for all of you," Rery said.
All of them knew that Rery didn't need to register since he was already a hunter. The rest tried to get in the line immediately.
But Alex suddenly asked Alicia and her friends who intended to register, "How about we just register without queuing?"
"We can do that?" all of them were surprised.
"You can't, even silver hunters need to get in line," Rery cut in.
Alex ignored him, he gestured to them to cut the line. Alicia and Firia had absolute trust in him so they followed him immediately. At first, Viola and Locko hesitated a bit, but when they saw the princess even followed him without any doubt, they joined in.
"Oi...You guys can't cut the line, are you going to make trouble at the guild!" Rery shouted.
Because of his loud voice, all the people who wanted to register turned their heads to look at them.
"That's right, how can you cut in?"
"Please get in line!"
Many students were getting angry at Alex. However, Alex just ignored them, he just went to the counter. There were three girls at the counter, one of them seemed like a new employee. As for the other two, Alex already knew them. They were the same girls he met back then. They were Yuna's colleagues.
"Ah...Sir, I'm sorry but you can't cut the line," the older one said to Alex.
"That's right!"
"You can't cut the line,"
The people in line roared at him.
"I am also a registered hunter, can I trouble you to register them?" Alex said with a smile.
"I'm sorry, Sir. But you can't do that. Only rank gold or above has that privilege," she still rejected Alex politely.
"Haha...Do you think you are a gold rank hunter? You are just a student like us."
"If you want to flaunt in front of girls, you need real ability to do that!"
They kept shouting at Alex without mercy.
"Hehe...It's been a few months since the last time I came here, you already forget about me, Miss Tina? Hmm...If I recall the way Miss Yuna called you back then... That's right, Miss Tina isn't it? How is Miss Yuna doing?" Alex asked with a friendly smile.
Tina frowned, she started remembering some memories from a few months ago. She suddenly recalled a young man who came to register with Yuna. Though he was different, his style was similar, like his hair or body build, "Are...Are you Sir Alex?"
Alex only smiled to hear that.
"It..it's really you? I'm so sorry for my mistake, I will register them immediately," she said hurriedly.
"I also apologize for the trouble I'm giving you," Alex said in response.
"No...No, this is my job. I'm only doing what I'm supposed to do," Tina hurriedly prepared the registration forms.
"Hey, you can't do this! If other employees know about this, do you know what the consequences are? Even though you two are an acquaintance, you still can't do this. It's not fair for everyone who has been waiting to register patiently," Rery broke his silence, he was afraid that Alex and his friends had broken the rule of the hunter guild. The hunter guild was given the freedom to enforce the rule from the kingdom.
"This...This person right here is our gold rank hunter," Tina introduced Alex.
"...." Rery immediately tongue-tied.
Alicia and Firia giggled, while Alex turned to Tina and said, "Can you register them? I don't want to make a commotion here any longer."
"I will immediately register them," Tina immediately ran off.