Kale entered the shop, when the door opened the bell hanging near it rang telling about his entry to the shopkeeper, Kale looked around, it was an old but clean place from inside, several blades, daggers, bows were arranged in weapon shelves, the seat behind the counter was empty.
He carefully observed the sword on the shelf nearest to him, after checking the quality of the weapon, Kale was satisfied. It was a blacksmith shop recommended by the guild official whom he submitted his mission, so he wasn't much sure of the quality before.
Kale noticed a rhythmic sound of metal beating coming from the inner part of the shop, he followed the sound and soon found himself at the stairs leading to the basement, he thought for a moment then advanced further, he arrived at the basement.
He saw a forge at the other side of the basement, a muscular man was hammering a sizzling hot blade on the forge.
Kale didn't disturb him and watched from afar.
The macular man had messy hair and a dense beard, the temperature near the forge was very high yet his expression was unmoved, his focus was on the blade, sweat was accumulating on his forehead but he didn't let it fall on the blade.
Kale observed that after each set of 20 hammers, he would take out a pouch from his pocket and scatter some blue sand-like ore on the hot blade, he did it thrice then dipped the blade in water to cool it down.
After finishing his work, the man noticed something then turned to look at the entrance door, he saw a young man with a mask on his face standing there.
"Thanks for waiting," The man said.
"Hmm… It's alight, it's not every day when you get to witness the skills of an expert," Kale said in a praising tone. He wasn't doing flattery, he had observed the tampering technique of the man, his every strike was precise and the strength he used was well balanced, he was no rookie but an expert at blacksmithing.
"Haha… I'm flattered," The man replied with a smile the asked, "What can I do for you?"
Kale took out the «Fallen Sakura» from its sheath and handed it to the man "It needs servicing?"
The man took the knife, his eyes brightened as he observed it "What a splendid work, what is its name?"
As a blacksmith, he was able to judge the worth of the weapon with a single look, he could tell that such equipment is bound to have a name.
"It's «Fallen Sakura»," Kale said.
The man nodded "I can do it, I will be happy to do it, it's not every day when you have a chance to take care of such a high-quality Tier 3 knife, though I would need some extra preparation for this knife, you can take it after two days, until then choose one from the spare ones in the shop," He was slightly perplexed as he said that, as not many would forge a knife of this level.
"Hmm… I also want a mask that can genuinely hide my identity, it would be better if it can transform to not hinder me while eating," Kale said.
"You want a shapeshifting mask with concealing augmentation? Unfortunately, I don't have the core materials required for crafting it, I know the places they can be collected from but you probably won't be able to collect them with your strength as they include the carcass of Nectar Queen Bee, Silver Steel Ore, Black Leaf Silk…" The man revealed the name of a few of the required core materials.
Shapeshifting masks weren't some world-renown treasures, with the right price an expert Apprentice Blacksmith could easily craft them.
While talking Kale arrived back at the main shop with the blacksmith.
"I see," Kale sighed in disappointment, he could not gather those materials with his current strength neither could he buy nor post a mission for them in the guild because it requires money. He was rich enough to live a luxury life as a mortal but when it comes to being a practitioner he wasn't so sure about it.
Riyan's cultivation resources came from GHO for free, so he didn't need to worry about it, money was only a side benefit for him, Kale could ask for money from him but then if he asks the reason what would he say? After all, the Academy use CP as a currency instead of real money.
In the end, he decided to put this task to a halt.
After a brief talk about the payment, Kale gave his introduction with his current address, he also came to know the name of the blacksmith, he was called Hanzo by the residents of the town.
He then checked through the few knives in the shop and casually chose one, Kale was about to leave when his steps halted, he turned to the shelf in the wall and saw a set of needles arranged for display.
They were black needles, in appearance they were similar to acupuncture needles but were slightly longer than usual size, Kale spoke: "You made them?"
Hanzo shook his head "I don't do such delicate work, I once traded with a Physician Martial Artist, he lacked direct cash so he gave me these acupuncture needles instead, they are made using Dark Silver so they are quite precious if I have to say,"
"Give me the whole set," Kale said after a moment of thought.
After leaving the shop, Kale bought a few herbs from the stalls around the market before he went back to the Crescent Moon Inn.
***
Crescent Moon Inn, Kale's room.
After dinner, Kale went into his room, once he was inside, he took out a long conical object wrapped in white cloth from his bag.
It one of the three horns of Tri Horned Rabbit King, it was a poisonous horn.
Kale didn't give his share to the guild, and only used the horn of normal rabbits to complete the mission, unlike Kallus and Vaella, he also saved the monster cores of those rabbits, as a result, his reward was the least but he was satisfied, these things had more meaning to him than the reward itself.
'The horn gives me the same feeling as bones, unlike them, it has poison attribute to itself, so if I absorb it what will happen to my bone frame?' Kale thought, he was feeling a little excited just by thinking about it but then he quickly denied this thought.
Firstly, his body didn't have poison resistance so if absorbing it gave poison attribute to his bone frame but not to his body, which was likely, then he would be just courting death.
Secondly, there was no need to be hasty, this poison attribute horn wasn't the only thing in this world, there are a lot more things that could be more useful to him, if later he found some more precious kind of attribute bones or similar material but realized he could not absorb it safely due to his bone frame gaining poison attribute then he might have to pay a heavy price for his mistakes.
Kale placed it back, he took out the soft white bones he brought with him from the Imperial City and started munching on them as he checked his phone.
He realized that even with GHO's VPN network, his phone's signal strength was at its lowest.
'The laws of this world is so different, if the satellites here were the same as the earth that circles around the whole planet then it would be better compared to this,' Kale sighed.
This world also had the concept of the satellite but the logic behind orbits was different.
Starting from the first to seventh atmospheric layer here, they were all named based on the seven colours of the rainbow due to their resemblance.
All the layers have their speciality and are completely different from the ones on Earth. It won't even be strange to find clouds strong enough to sit on them and even build houses, in the second layer.
The safest layer was the first layer, Red Layer, it is the place where the satellites could be used.
At the top of the first layer, the effect of the gravity decreases, while the fixed wind currents work as mini orbits, they move in circular or oval paths covering large distances, they can be smaller than a kilometre while can also be bigger enough to surround the area of a whole kingdom.
But not a single wind current of them was big enough to cover the whole world, the masses know of them as Wind Orbits, the main satellites used by the Blazing Sun Kingdom uses fixed large Wind Orbits to cover most of the area of the kingdom, though they can do nothing about the places where the signals are restricted.
GHO's network is given priority over other networks due to their investment and contribution to the whole kingdom, this is why Kale's phone signals will be higher compared to others.
The atmospheric layers above Red Layer only become more dangerous with each layer, if someone wants to launch a satellite in the space beyond these seven layers then even a satellite made of Mithril won't survive till the end.
The first layer is safest and the Wind Orbits are plenty for most of them.
If someone wants to achieve something bigger than this, then they need to be at least above Tier 5, meaning being above the realm of mortals. But due to certain reasons, doing something like that was only a waste of time and efforts as someone who have reached this stage won't need to rely on things like that in the first place.
Kale browsed through the content, there were a few messages in Indox, most of them were from Layla, they included her pictures with various kinds of beast cubs around her. Some looked like Panther cubs while others resemble foxes having multiple tails.
The pictures only made his conjecture about her being from a Beast Tamer family more certain, the remaining messages were from Arlo, his roommate from the Academy, the messages were about the Rookie Competition held by the Academy, he was asking if he should register with his name, Kale denied it, he wasn't interested in such competition because it would require him to go back which wasn't feasible.
He then put the phone aside and took out all the herbs he gained from the dungeon, it was time to check his gains.
'Let's see which poison can be crafted with these…' Kale pondered as he finished chewing on the bone in his hand and picked up another one.
Kale was an expert on poisons made through herbs and insect venoms, it was exactly why he chose to ‹Demonic Poison Body› even when he had better options, ‹Demonic Poison Body› was like a natural blessing to Poison Cultivators.
***
Time passed quickly, days, weeks then it became a month, it was almost one and a half month.
During this time, Kale adapted to his town life, keeping a low profile while also researching and increasing his knowledge about the flora and fauna of The Poison Crypt.
The missions he completed during this time were all related to The Poison Crypt, some were about gathering while others came in the hunting category.
Because of his perfect results every time, Kale got the attention of some adventurers in the guild, there were even some who invited him to join their team but Kale rejected them all, as a result, he was labelled as Solo White Mask in the conversation of adventurers.
***
Outskirt of Carran Town, an abandoned beast cave.
It was a small cave hidden in the boonies, the entrance of the cave was pitch dark, only a small candle was lit at its core area.
Under the glow of the candlelight, the silhouette of a young boy was visible, he had a strong body and broad shoulders, his face defined his young age but his body was firm as a mountain, he was sitting bare-chested, his snow-white hair was tied behind his back, his chest was moving slowly as he inhaled and exhaled in a rhythm.
On a careful inspection, one would realize his body was going through an unnatural phenomenon.
His skin was getting dry, it looked lifeless, a slimy liquid with a pungent smell was covering most of his body, the most strange thing was the bulge forming all around his muscles occasionally, they looked like insects were crawling beneath his flesh, an observer could only imagine what type of pain it would case but the expression of the boy remained unmoved throughout the process.
Suddenly, light sounds of bone crackling came from his body, then cracks started to form on his rough and dry skin, once the cracks covered all the skin throughout his body, the dried skin curled upwards and began to fall off his body.
The situation looked similar to when a snake sheds its old skin to give way to its newborn skin, but here, it was happening to a human.
When the old and dry skin fell off his body, the soft and tender baby-like skin of the boy became visible. Kale slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the pieces of skin falling off his body.
At this moment, he had completed ‹Snake King Body Toning Art› reaching Ethereal mastery level.
From the time he had joined the Academy, his body had grown at an astonishing speed, his height had increased by a few centimetres in less than two months, although «Body Nurturing Juice» played a crucial role, it only worked as a supplement and ‹Snake King Body Toning Art› showed an immediate effect.
Kale glanced at the formation on the cave wall that had mostly faded then observed the changes in his body.
His eyes then landed on the flame of the candle, thinking of something, he extended his hand and touched the flame.
Kale didn't use Qi or any other type of energy to protect his skin, he let the flame affect it.
1 second, 2 seconds… It was only after 10 seconds that Kale retraced his hand, he saw that his skin on his hand had become slightly red but there was no serious injury.
'Not bad,' Kale thought 'It should be enough for my next plan,'
He erased his traces and buried the pieces of shedded skin under the ground, he then packed up his bag and walked out of the cave.