Eara wasn't focused much on refining her ore, her attention was on Joshua who was working diligently on his ore. He is quite the hard worker and also possessed some talent in crafting like the dwarf said earlier but Eara noticed something peculiar about him.
Eara who just finished her final refining started to mold the Frost Iron into ingots, it was the easiest part of the job and she quickly found some molds and quickly finished hers.
Joshua who was still starting to mold his was visibly frustrated, he was in a hurry to finish his own ore. Although his quick pace was quite dangerous, no accidents happened and Joshua managed to safely mold his ingot.
Bauer observed the pair and was satisfied at Earas performance, he then passed an identical blueprint to the pair and instructed them to craft said equipment.
An arm guard that can resist flame type attacks whether it's magic or not, it can partially resist flame damage to a certain degree.
The two started hammering, it didn't take long for Eara to start forming her arm guard. Joshua, wasn't as relaxed as Eara, he knew that a single mistake and he's done for, there's no extra ingot for him to use when he makes a mistake.
He stopped taking peeks of Eara's work and started to fully focus on his own, Eara wasn't as focused as Joshua, she was still observing his actions and finally realised something.
She felt a familiar feeling coming from the kid, she didn't know what it is, until now.
Eara saw herself who was intently focused on helping her older sister to the point of exhaustion. Eara saw her determination from the boy in front of her that, the kid wasn't some greedy bastard who was after riches and alike, the kid was working hard for a loved one.
She could tell because she was also doing the same. Eara was confused for a moment, why would a child like him be this determined to the extent of harming himself? Why would a child like him be put on a situation where he was literally almost crying in frustration because he couldn't match her in crafting?
Questions started to fill her head as she watched the kid in question desperately hammering at the anvil. Eara suddenly remembered a story from her elder sister, child labour is quite common in this game.
Usually, large guilds will do anything to obtain manpower, be it doing quests, farming money and items, crafting items, exploring, fighting and more.
Their need for manpower exceeded their moral thinking that they turned a blind eye on children being recruited in their guilds for manpower.
At first it wasn't serious since those childrens were willingly joining for the cash that they offered, but after a while larger guilds started recruiting childrens from poor families, since Eve of Reincarnation was labelled as a game, the guilds easily got away with recruiting children for their manpower.
Eara momentarily paused, she stared at the kid again before resuming her work. If her guess was right then the kid in front of her must be a part of said guild. He looks extremely desperate, this unusual demeanour caught Eara's eyes and concluded that he might be in a similar situation as herself.
Joshua was working not because he wanted to become the dwarf's apprentice, but because if he fails to, then he might fail someone he holds dear to him.
She finally finished her arm guard, she was just about to attach the leather straps on her arm guard when a loud clang pulled her attention back at Joshua.
It turned out that Joshua noticed her progress and was upset, his hands was weakly shaking as he continued to hammer on his arm guard.
Eara finished first and waited patiently for Joshua, he was surprisingly calm and was still intent on completing his arm guard.
Once completed, Bauer inspected their work. A moment of silence ensued as he placed both arm guards down. Clearing his throat before speaking. "i have decided that you Raella have submitted the best arm guard of the two, Raella, you are now my apprentice, unfortunately for you Joshua your work didn't-"
"wait!"
Eara's interruption suprised both Bauer and Joshua, Joshua was already prepared for the results and he knew that he failed to pass the mark, all he had to do was wait for Bauer to kick him off the building.
Eara's sudden interruption silenced the room.
"Didn't you say that I'm a talent that is quite hard to come by?" Eara started.
The dwaf narrowed his eyes and responded. "yes, what do you want to do? do you have some sort of demands?" His voice was somewhat displeased of her actions.
"well since my potential is quite good, i might just graduate earlier than you predicted, and then what happens next?" Eara asked.
"now now let's not get ahead of ourselves, even if you are that talented, that doesn't mean that you could quickly finish my teachings in a few months."
"well i might surprise you, if i somehow finish earlier, won't you have to trouble yourself in finding another apprentice?"
"I can easily find one, with my name as long as i announce that i needed an apprentice, then all of the young blacksmits in the Kingdom will not hesitate to run from their town all the way here!" Bauer realised Eara's intention and started a negotiation, he wanted to test his new apprentice on whether she could persuade him or not.
" And yet you didn't, not only did you asked help from that old beardy from before, you even had to look one on your own, you must have a reason for hiding your presence here." Eara responded.
"Hmph, you know that a person of my calibre doesn't teach for free, my time is quite expensive ya know?" The dwarf smiled proudly.
Eara smiled back. "then how about a mug of this town's finest beer for a fine dwaf such as yourself?"
A moment of awkward silence came about after her last word came out of her lips. Eara stood her ground and kept her smile.
"BAHAHAHAH!"
Bauer was the first person to break the silence by laughing heartily at Eara," it seems im bought!"
Joshua's mouth was wide open, he couldn't keep up with the pair's conversation, all he knew was that sooner or later he was gonna be kicked out of the building, but now because of Eara he was somehow saved!
He stared at Eara who was starting to giggle and laugh with Bauer. He simply watched in amazement at the pair who finally stopped laughing.
"Young lad." Bauer started. "I must apologise for my earlier actions, i was in a hurry to get a talented apprentice that i somehow almost threw away an unpolished gem!"
Joshua stuttered but managed to reply. "n-no sir, I'm sorry that i didn't passed your test."
"Hah! oh you passed my test indeed, it's just that you've been overshadowed by that brat Raella over there, if not for her pointing out my faults, then i would have missed a promising apprentice."
After that, the two officially became Bauer's apprentice. Joshua had alot to learn first so he was tasked in crafting several items while Eara was dragged by Bauer towards the bar where she had pay an expensive fee for Bauer's teaching fee.
While Eara was about to be dragged out of the workshop, she suddenly received a friend request from Joshua. She smiled and accepted his fried request, there the two chatted while Eara was being pulled at the back of her clothes by Bauer.
Joszhel: Thank you, if it wasn't for you i might have been thrown aside and lose my only lead in becoming a competent blacksmith.
Raella: Oh don't worry about it, you deserve a reward for being a hardworker. Besides, you were the first to find Bauer, i just somehow managed to squeezed my way through.
Joszhel: But you have beaten me fair and square, and yet you still helped me up when im about to be thrown away...
Raella: Hey! i didn't save your ass only for you to cry, apologise and thank me!
Joszhel: huh?
Raella: I obviously saved you in order for you to owe me one, in the future i'll definitely ask you to return the favour.
Joszhel: of course! if you ever ask anything then i will try my best to repay you!
Raella: That's the spirit!
Joszhel: Thanks!
At this point, Eara was starting to wonder if Joshua was a member of a guild, she wanted to ask her sister about it later on.
Raella: By the way, are you in a guild yet?
Joszhel: Uhm, well yeah, why did you asked?
Raella: Nothing much, just curious, what's the name?
Joszhel: Its... Uhhh.... Cats for life.... they're a third rate guild that just entered Contesia Kingdom.
Eara wanted to message her sister right away but quickly changed her mind, she didn't want to disturb her sister on her quest so she decided to ask her later when they log off.
The following day, Eara was tasked by Bauer to upgrade the battle dress that her sister gave. The tier 0 mountain elf, young trainee's armor belonged to the mountains elves, the elves are famed for their exceptional magic capabilities, all elves are born with mana already in their bodies.
The mountain elves are somewhat different, they use both physical and magical attacks combined. They empower their bodies with magic buffs and at the same time, enhance their attacks with magic. Their equipments are also imbued with magical enhancements, their trinkets and jewelleries are all magic items.
But that doesn't mean that they're incompetent when ut comes to physical attacks, their physical training are as rigorous and harsh as their magical trainings. They uphold a tradition where all their childrens becomes powerful magic warriors.
This makes the mountain elves fearsome in battle, unlike the famous forest elves that likes to borrow the power of the forest in order to defend themselves. The mountain elves go directly to the front of the battle field and crush their opponents head on.
The trainee's armour isn't the best, true to it's name, the amor is best suited for training and its defensive capabilities does not compare to actual battle armor. The training armor however boasts a significant amount of durability, the armor is also flexible and unlike regular armor, isn't cumbersome.
Eara witnessed how her sister fight, quick and agile, precise and powerful, her sister doesn't like trading blows but instead excelled in a quick paced battle where she would dodge and attack at the same time.
Finally, the armor doesn't really fit her sister, her sister's body is much taller, other than that, the rest would probably fit. But that doesn't sit well with Eara, simply resizing the armor wasn't enough.
She wanted to revamp the armor completely, she wanted the best she could give for her sister. So to the anvil she went.
The main piece of armor was the front plate made with a combination of steel and black steel. The steel can easily be brought at Bauer's shop, the shop was exclusive to the shop's craftsmen but since Eara is an apprentice, she could get easy access to it.
The black steel however, is exclusive at another continent. Fortunately, her sister taught her how to enter the underground blackmarket at the town.
She easily bought all of the materials necessary to upgrade the battle dress such as the Tyrant garuda leather and mountain elf battle cloth. With the help of a virtous blacksmith, Eara overcame the many restrictions of upgrading an item that she didn't craft.
She also commissioned the help of a senior tailor npc with Bauer's connection, although the pay managed to put a dent on the mountains of golds that she currently possessed.
The final product was something that she was proud of, the appearance of the armor was completely different than before. In order to upgrade its defence, Eara had to sacrifice its amazing durability.
The tradeoff was worth it however, even then the durability of the battle dress is still high compared to a normal plate armor. The defence is also something to be impressed with, considering the flexibility of the battle dress the defence is considered great.
The boots, the gloves and the arm guards was also resized and upgraded, the design somewhat resembled the previous one but the dress looked so much cooler now.
The color was obviously black in order to look cool and to satisfy her sister's chuunibyo status. The pitch black platings didn't shine but looked dull, the leather from the lower part of the armor was slightly lighter but it still didn't brighten the overall appearance off the dress.
Finally the cloth was almost the same color as her sisters dark miasma when the orb of darkness is activated. She kept in mind what her sister looked like when she activated her orb of darkness and her imagination allowed her to design the dress in such a way that blended in the miasma.
The final look of the dress wasn't as impressive as she wanted it to be, but when the miasma started flowing from her sister's body, her over all appearance should look like a phantom, a terrifying dark ghost.
The metal armour starts from her hands up until her elbows, from her feet until her knee. The main point of defence was her chest piece, that's where the thickest part of her armor is located. Her stomach is protected by leather, aswell as her back and her shoulders.
A final touch that she did last was a mask, the matching masks that her sister always insisted didn't look cool enough and would certainly ruin her sister's cool points if she wore it with the battle dress.
A black skull, it took several attempts but she have finally created another unique item that has decent enough attributes that it could be considered a proper defensive equipment.
The final set was completed, she considered this as her latest best work yet, with the assistance of two npcs, her sister's new armour rivals that of her own that was made by Bauer himself.
She caressed the battle dress before placing it in her inventory, she couldn't wait to suprise her sisters with the new equipment.
It took days for her to complete the new armor and she's already curious about the new guild that entered the Contesia Kingdom.
While Yulis and Eara was eating dinner, Eara finally asked her sister about the guild cats for life.
"hmm? cats for life? it doesn't ring a bell to be honest." Yulis tried to recall the names of the third rate guilds that entered the Contesia Kingdom at around the time frame that Cats for Life entered.
"i suspect that they do illegal stuffs, child labour i mean." Eara replied while chewing on a piece of fish.
Yulis raised her head and suddenly recalled something, out of all the guilds who started the illegal labours, the guild pussy for life was the very first one to do so.
"huh." Yulis said under her breath. "so what made you ask such questions?" Yulis stared at her sister. "don't tell me that your associated with that guild." Yulis's voice showed a hint of concern.
"uhm, no why would i?" Eara said while tilting her head.
Yulis sighed a sigh of relief before Eara spoke again." I met this kid who was a great blacksmith, his Name is Joshua, Joszhel in game, i was very worried about him since his situation is almost the same as ours. " Eara said with a sad voice.
Gyaaaaaahhh!! what an angel you are! your sad expression is just way too cute! how can such a cute being like my sister exist in this world!.... No! i mustn't question such stupid things! i must be grateful that my sister exists and is by my side! She must be a blessing! a blessing! a blesssing that only i can keep to myself! Guhehehehe!
Her drooling face was almost spotted by Eara if not for her incredible reaction speed. "erherm." clearing her throat like nothing outrageous transpired in her head.
"Then i guess we could probably scout their guild out after i finish my quest." Yulis spoke while wiping her drool with a napkin while pretending to wipe her mouth after eating.
Eara perked up and smiled. " really? then i must hurry up and finish my quest then! "
While listening to her sister's stories, Yulis thought back about the name that her sister gave. "Joshua huh, isn't he the child prodigy from Pussy for Life who became a master blacksmith under the guidance of a dwarven master blacksmith Bauer Sturmhammer?"
"if i recall correctly, Eternal Heart managed to poach him from them.…. Heh! time make some friends then!"