Up till now, Barda had a massive advantage in attributes over almost any enemy he encountered. His Speed, Strength, Reaction Time, Agility, Dexterity, and Mental acuity, Barda was miles ahead of anyone else. In this regard, he was so overpowered that him fighting could be considered bullying.
There was one thing that worried him though. Attributes and strength alone were not to be relied on. Like a weapon, they could one day be lost or matched, and in that case, all one had to rely on was themselves to get through it. If their fighting standards were not at per on that moment, they would be hopelessly defeated.
As such, Barda had never thought he could learn anything from fighting, so seeing the notification, it came as a pleasant surprise.
[Basic Spearmanship Skill observed: Learning.]
[Basic Spearmanship Skills learned. A detailed report on the skill analysis has been generated. Integrating the skill to the fighting matrix.]
[Basic Spearmanship Skill is now part of your fighting matrix.]
Mentally clicking on the notification, a memory strand appeared in his head. He had been fighting on that ridge when they had been surrounded. Surprisingly, it was not a skill learned from anyone he fought, probably because he was ending them too fast. Rather, the fighter he was watching was one of Maara's guards.
The man was not even within Barda's field of vision, but Barda had set the scan range to cover the entire battlefield. Using just the scans alone, Barda had been able to detect a pattern in the man's movement, determine the power applied in every step and then give an output with a skill. Even he was impressed. What he wondered was how the AI named the skill.
[Skill level analyzed as basic due to many deficiencies in its casting, please review Appendix IV in the report generated.]
[Skill Naming convention is defined within the AAI's configuration. Feel free to edit configurations.]
[Would you like to edit Basic Skill Spearmanship name?]
On seeing that last notification, Barda dismissed the question he was about to ask as it had been answered. He didn't want to retain stock names, as that would make it hard to remember in the split seconds he would wield the skills learned.
Barda noticed that the fighter was quite talented with the spear, and he fought valiantly until Michelin took him down for good. "Thank you, brother. Rest in Peace." Barda muttered to himself and had a moment of silence to commemorate the nameless spearman.
He was dying to try out this new skill. Only by practice would he integrate it into his consciousness. The machine part of him may have understood and could cast it in an instance with perfection, the human conscious self would take some time before adapting. By this time, he still considered the machine a weapon or some equipment, not a part of who he was.
Morning came quickly, and Barda was in the workshop hammering away. After learning about the new skills he was too excited to relax or remain in bed.
Every adventurer team or just independent adventurers required some logistic work in terms of their weapons and equipment. In recognition of this need, the Adventurers' Association had established logistic rooms in their well-to-do branches. These rooms allow registered members to do their logistic work in privacy and tranquility at a fee.
Barda's first concern was that he was cash poor. He had ended up spending all the cash he had on him and still needed some more. In his short life as an adventurer, he had barely made any money, which was surprising given how eventful his life had been. This was mostly because that was not within his plans, but now he had to get to it.
That being said, renting a small forging room should not have dented his financials like so. With a few more materials to use in the forgery, Barda found he couldn't make all that he wanted with the limited materials he had. He resolved that since everyone was fast asleep at this point, he would make what he could. Once the day was awake, Barda would find a way to make more money.
He had 2 weapons he wanted to make. The first was the spear. Since he learned the basic skills, he wanted to try them out but had received no opportunity to do so. He could just buy some spear or pick one from a fallen enemy, but he felt that one he'd made would suit him best.
Unfortunately, he didn't have enough the necessary skills for it. Spear-making was extremely difficult. He could keep trying it out until he had found a solution, but that would consume so many materials, especially since he didn't know much about spears apart from the basics he'd learned.
The second weapon was the arrows. With a powerful bow, he felt the need for powerful arrows. The common types of arrows that he used were too limiting and would not allow him to express himself the way he wanted. With the new type of arrows, he would make more accurate and more powerful shots from way further.
With enough materials to make one spear or 5 arrows, Barda chose to make the arrows.
Lighting up the forge, Barda got so engrossed with his work that he barely noticed the time. The process was very complex.
First, he had to refine the materials to get the purest form. With the available resources in the forge, Barda could barely refine his acceptable standards. If any other forger was in the room with him, they would be shocked by the attention to detail and the focus Barda adopted. Without modern equipment, the best humans could do in the purification of metal was achieve a 60% purity, Barda needed at least 85%. The AI's precision and
With the refining done, now came the actual forging process. Like any good craftsman, Barda knew not to be too rushed. Any mistake could render the finished product unusable or too brittle. Any impurity added would render all the work he'd been doing useless.
The plus side was that he was nothing but precision. As he was mostly a machine, he wouldn't make mistakes, he wouldn't get tired or slack off, he wouldn't miss something or get distracted. Barda appreciated the beauty of the machinery that he was a part of more and more.
A cloud of steam burst forth, announcing the birth of a bouncing baby arrow. Not that it would grow, but looking at it, Barda couldn't help and marvel at the amazing craftsmanship behind it, despite being the creator. For the most part, it was safe to say he had outdone himself.
One down, 4 more to go. Barda worked with care and precision. Given he wasn't that good at forging, he took it slowly, internalizing every part of the process. Once the first one was produced, the production of the others was more or less assured. With the precision of his instruments (internal) and the memory of a computer, recreating something he'd already done was easy peasy.
As he was working on his 3rd, he noticed movement. By now, forging of the arrows had all but become muscle-memory, and he didn't need to pay too much attention. He still needed to keep a keen eye as he ran the processes for he couldn't afford to be distracted.
"Just a minute," Someone had entered the forging room he was in. With his plethora of sensory inputs, he could observe the new arrivals, and on seeing who it was, Barda was taken aback. He didn't show any reaction though, still engrossed with his work.
Not that he was snubbing them, he was at a point in the forging where he needed to be focused. It was so critical and although he could repair any mistakes, the first time was always critical. Nevertheless, he was able to observe them. He was scared.
Hardly was he ever scared, even when facing down enemies as powerful as gorillas or unsurmountable odds, he could keep his clam. However, facing the 2 women in the forge with him, he'd rather have an army breathing down his neck.
Seeing his concentration, the 2, Lady Ellen, Commander of the Dark Flames Adventurer Team and Her Majesty Lady Maara, the crown princess of the Jewel City of Tristan, waited patiently for the craftsman to finish doing his thing.