Before leaving the square, Finn slightly waved his hand and opened his status screen, like everyone around him was doing.
Name: Chained_Trickster
Class: None
Level: 1 (0/100)
Skills: None
Attributes: Strength 10, Intelligence 19, Endurance 12, Agility 16
Titles: Loki's blessed, Owner of the black feather
Every player would have their real-life body scanned and be given points in the four main stats.
They could get anywhere between 10 to 20. Finn had 19 in intelligence because his brain had an easier time understanding new information and he had a cunning mind.
He was really smart, but getting 20 was almost impossible, and someone would have to be a born genius to get it, so 19 was still extremely good.
Intelligence-wise, he was looking pretty good, but his strength was a pathetic 10. Finn then remembered how the stats influenced the player.
Strength made the player's body stronger and gave him higher stamina.
Intelligence made one's critical thinking and memory better.
Endurance made the player's skin, muscles, and bones tougher.
Agility enabled better control of one's body, giving one faster reflexes, better movement, and higher body flexibility.
Players could access this information by simply asking the system, but Finn knew all of this from his previous life.
He looked at his status screen and was at first disappointed by his stats, but then he noticed his titles.
Titles were usually very hard to get as they would have some nice effects that would tremendously help the player.
Finn was confused because his titles didn't have any of those benefits, though.
'I'm the benefit the titles give. What else do you need?'
Loki hmphed inside Finn's head.
"Yeah, that's true."
Finn nodded his head because he understood that having Loki in his head was a cheat by itself.
"By the way, the person I saw back there, is that how you look?"
He then asked what he had been wondering about for quite some time now.
'Hahaha, handsome, right? I know, there's no need to say it.'
"…You could have just said yes."
Finn would be lying if he said he wasn't a little envious of how Loki looked, but then he remembered Loki was a god, so it was probably normal for him to look that good.
"Whatever… Anyway, won't the other gods also notice you, just as Themis did?"
'No, your name will blend in with other people's names, and my presence was felt by her only because I allowed her to do so.'
"And the titles. Won't the other gods just read them and instantly find out about you?"
'Also no. While we were talking to Themis, she sent some information into my consciousness, and because of that, I know that the gods aren't able to open the status screens of players who aren't their champions.'
After being satisfied with Loki's answers, Finn started walking to the town's blacksmith.
The village had a lot of houses built out of stone bricks, and it looked extremely peaceful, so if Finn didn't know about it being the rumored "hardest village", he would have never guessed it.
Soon, he arrived near the house where the village blacksmith sold his creations. It was a one-story house that had a red roof and a chimney that kept spewing black smoke.
It was a shop that had different kinds of weapons placed in front of its windows, probably to advertise them.
Ring ring
When Finn opened the door, a small bell above the door rang out to announce a new customer.
There weren't any players in this shop yet, either because the weapons were too expensive for them or because they were still getting used to the VR in the square.
"Welcome!"
As Finn walked in, a short, muscular man with black hair and a messy black beard yelled out.
Finn knew that he was the blacksmith he was looking for as he was holding a hammer and was wearing a smithing apron.
The player, Finn knew in his previous life, triggered the quest by visiting every NPC in this village every day and pestering them.
This went on for months until, finally, one day the blacksmith offered him a quest to save his lost son.
That was the quest Finn was planning to do, but getting close to the blacksmith would take too long, so he had a different plan in mind.
"Hello, sir, I would like to use your smithy to make a sword."
As soon as Finn entered the shop, he walked over to the blacksmith and started talking to him.
"You want to use my smithy to make a sword? Hmm… no way. With those skinny arms, you wouldn't even be able to sharpen a sword, let alone make one."
The blacksmith mockingly laughed at Finn's request.
When Finn played SL in his last life, he played as a non-combat player, and he learned a lot of different skills. Blacksmithing was one of them.
His plan was to surprise the blacksmith with his smithing skill, which would hopefully help him acquire the quest.
"Please give me a chance, sir!"
"Hmmm…"
The blacksmith first brushed his beard while thinking about it, and because Finn looked like he was his son's age, he decided to agree.
"Okay, I like your drive, kid, but you will have to pay for your materials."
Every player started with 50 copper coins. 100 copper coins were 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins were 1 gold coin.
Finn gave the blacksmith 30 copper coins, hoping it would be enough for some cheap materials.
"Thirty coppers are not even enough for a small piece of low-quality iron to make a small dagger, but I'll give you a discount. Follow me, kid."
The blacksmith then began walking to the back of the shop and Finn followed behind him.
As soon as Finn entered the backroom of the shop, he was hit by a heatwave.
There was a huge anvil with all the smithing tools placed neatly next to it and on one of the walls was a huge furnace that radiated scorching heat.
It had some red stones inside that were constantly creating fire and heating the furnace up.
The room had no windows, and the only source of light was the fire from the furnace.
The blacksmith grabbed a piece of low-quality iron from one of the barrels in the corner of the room and gave it to Finn.
It was approximately 20cm long and 5 cm wide.
Finn first put a smithing apron on and wore a pair of gloves.
He then grabbed the forging tongs and placed the metal directly above the fire.
The metal first turned red, then orange, and once it started to turn yellow, he pulled it out and placed it on an anvil.
'Hmmm? He even knows about the forging heat. This kid might not be so bad after all.'
The blacksmith thought as he looked at Finn's forging process.
What the blacksmith meant by forging heat was the perfect temperature for a blacksmith to work with. It happens once a metal gains a bright yellow-orange color and thus gains an ideal temperature and workability for shaping.
Finn grabbed the smithing hammer and started pounding the metal into his desired shape.
He was weak, so the smithing process took longer than it would normally take, but he wasn't in a rush.
Whenever the metal cooled down, he placed it above the flames, and once it gained an almost yellow color, he placed it back on the anvil and continued pummeling it.
He wanted to create a small dagger, so he kept hammering until something that resembled a dagger was created.
Finn then went to the whetstone and started the sharpening process.
Once this was done, he finally had the dagger's blade, and he only needed a grip.
Suddenly, a blue piece of leather landed next to him.
"Take it. It's from a Sapphire lizard. It lives close by and is hunted for its tough leather. It's a gift for letting me watch your skills in person."
The blacksmith explained the origin of the blue leather with a smile.
"Thank you, sir."
Finn nodded at the blacksmith and went to use his leatherworking skills from his previous life to make a grip.
His skills weren't perfect, but for a low-level material, they were more than enough, and thus his first creation was made.
It was a thin, 30cm-long grey dagger that had sharp edges and was adorned with a beautiful sapphire-blue grip.
[Please choose a name for your creation.]
Finn didn't want to think too much about its name, so he just named it "First dagger".
[The name First dagger has been chosen, displaying stats…]
Name: First dagger
Rank: F
Ability: None
Description: A dagger made by an experienced blacksmith who had to prolong the smithing process due to his insufficient strength. Its durability is slightly higher than the durability of other F rank daggers.
Finn's eyebrows twitched after he read the first part of the description because he felt like everyone was making fun of his strength today.
"Good job! Even if it's just an F rank, it's not a bad dagger. It's good enough to be sold in my store!"
The blacksmith laughed as he kept inspecting Finn's dagger.
"I'm not planning on selling it, sir."
Finn immediately shot him down as he grabbed the dagger and tied it around his waist with a blue string made from excess leather that he got from making the grip.
"Oh, that's a pity… Well enough about that. Now that I know you are capable, I wanted to ask you for a favor."
'Here it is! I actually triggered it! LET'S GO!'
Finn loudly celebrated in his head as he kept a poker face.
"What favor, sir?"
"It's my son. He went into the forest to find new metals so that he could forge a sword and make our shop famous, but ever since he left, he hasn't come back."
The blacksmith's expression turned into a sad one.
"I just hope he wasn't met with misfortune and is still alive. If you are going into the forest, can you please try to find him? He went south and is looking for metals, so he is probably in some cave."
He then looked at Finn, as his eyes were filled with hope.
"Don't worry, sir, I was planning on heading south, so if I find him, I will be sure to bring him back."
Finn immediately nodded his head.
"Thanks, kid, I really appreciate it. I'm Druhan, by the way."
The blacksmith, Druhan, smiled at Finn while offering him a handshake.
"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Finn."
Finn shook Druhan's hand and then looked at the floating text in front of him.
[You have accepted the quest Searching for the lost son]
Name: Searching for the lost son
Rank: E
Description: The blacksmith's son went missing in the forest and has yet to come back. Go south from the Dragon's Maw Village and look for him.
Reward: Blacksmith Druhan's family heirloom
Finn now had the quest he wanted and a new weapon that he paid 30 copper coins for, which was a steal since he would need at least 1 silver coin for a dagger like that.
After exchanging a few more words with Druhan, he walked out of the blacksmith shop to prepare for his journey into the forest.
But as he was heading to a nearby shop, he suddenly noticed a huge crowd of players surrounding a merchant's cart.