There was a huge difference between inscribing a Rune on a broad metal plate and inscribing it on a tiny white fang. Samar quickly learned this fact after wasting four perfectly good sets of materials.
Learning from his mistakes, he stoked the golden flames of the furnace in preparation for his fifth attempt.
First, he put the Condensed Metal Alloy in a mold and placed it at the center of the furnace to let it melt. As soon as the mold was in position, he began to inscribe the Wind Rune on the Strengthened White Fang.
Bowsmith Sangma had taken his sweet time before he started inscribing, but Samar was not as proficient as him. He had to be extra careful when inscribing the rune on the fang.
Minutes passed by as Samar carved every line with extreme precision. After a quarter of an hour, he completed the rune and was ready for the easiest part, the invocation.
It only took him a few seconds to finish chanting the First hymn of the Wind Rune. A bright cyan light flashed on the rune, and he received a notification.
[Invocation successful with 97% effectiveness. You have received 50 Exp.]
[Invoker Class Proficiency +2.]
The Exp gain surprised him as he had not received any during the test. He gladly accepted it and moved on to the next stage.
While he finished invocation, the Condensed Metal Alloy had completely melted. He tossed the Strengthened White Fang into the metal lava and watched as the bubbles formed and burst on its surface.
Half an hour later, the arrowhead was sharpened and polished, ready to be affixed to the shaft. This was the moment of truth.
Whether Samar's Arrow Crafting Technique could evolve to Rune Arrow Forging Technique depended on the successful completion of this arrow.
"Bless my arrow, wind gods…" Samar subconsciously muttered as he dipped the arrow shaft in the Meltree Sap and attached the arrowhead to it.
A few moments later, when the Meltree Sap had dried, the arrow glowed with a white light with streaks of green mixed in it.
As soon as he saw the white glow, he knew he had succeeded! He had created a White-Wood Grade Rune-Forged Arrow!
[Congratulations! You have created a White-Wood Grade Wind Rune Arrow.]
[You have met the upgrade conditions for Arrow Crafting Technique. Would you like to upgrade it to Rune Arrow Forging Technique (Lv2)?]
"YES!" Samar exclaimed the reply he had been preparing for since a long time.
[Congratulations! Your 'Arrow Crafting Technique' has been replaced by 'Rune Arrow Forging Technique'.]
[You are the first Deathless to craft a White-Wood Grade weapon in the Dreamverse.]
[You have unlocked the Craftsman Ranking. Would you like to register your name?]
"No."
Guilds used these types of announcements for publicizing their superiority over the others, but Samar had no such interests.
Had he been a permanent member of the Grandeur Guild, he would've been required to publish his name by enforceable contract, but he was not a member yet.
Hence, he chose to hide his name.
{System Announcement: An Unknown Player has created a White-Wood Grade arrow, Wind Rune Arrow, cementing their place as the Forerunner of the Crafters. They are awarded +50 Faction Reputation!}
This announcement sounded not just for him but for every player across the Dreamverse. Most ordinary players chose to ignore it, but the Guilds were in an uproar, especially those in the Elven Faction.
Elves valued their arrows a lot. Most of the Players joining Elven Faction joined because of how powerful and versatile the Ranger Class was.
However, the arrow expenses of the Ranger Class could break a Guild's bank. Hence every Elven Guild wanted the person who could create the White-Wood Grade arrows.
"White-Wood Grade Arrows? It must be a Forger! Find out who it is and bring him under our Guild."
"Bastard! What are those Forgers in our Guild doing? Halve their salary for the month if they cannot produce Black-Stone Grade equipment before the end of the month!"
"Find that person to collaborate with us! If he refuses, use any means to find how he was able to produce the Arrows!"
Doors were slammed open, desks were slapped with authority and subordinates were cursed at in various guilds when they heard the news of the arrows. Professional Gaming Guilds, Corporate Guilds, and Merchant Guilds - all jumped into action, wanting a piece of the pie for themselves.
However, their machinations had nothing to do with Samar. They would never discover who was the creator unless he took the initiative to reveal himself, and he did not have any plans to do so.
He only focused on his current goal of crafting as many Rune-Forged Arrows as possible before the sun went down.
So engrossed was he in his work that seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. He only stopped for a break when he ran out of arrow shafts.
Samar picked up the latest arrow he had created and examined its stats.
—-
Wind Rune Arrow
Grade: White-Wood
Attack: 7-7
+5% Boost to Wind attribute.
—-
There were subtle differences between the Elemental Arrows and Rune-Forged Arrows.
While the Elemental Arrows only boosted the magic damage, Rune-Forged Arrows were effective on both - magic damage and the skills of the related attribute.
For example, the skill 'Wind Piercing Shot' had the Armor Break effect due to its wind attribute. The Elemental Arrows would not enhance the Armor Break effect of this skill, as it was not Magic Damage, but the Rune-Forged Arrows would boost it as it was an attribute boost.
This was another reason why Rune-Forged Arrows were more in demand than the Elemental Arrows among Rangers.
Looking at the pile of 72 Wind Rune Arrows, Samar felt fulfilled.
The market price of a quiver full of Rune-Forged Arrows made from Lv5 materials was 5 Silvers. As for the cost of materials used to make 12 Arrows, including failures, was a mere 10 Coppers.
There was a huge profit margin of 4 silvers and 90 coppers!
The only thing that prevented him from emptying the Silvers in every Elf's pockets was his limited time and resources.
Things would change when his Rune Arrow Forging Technique would level up to Lv3 and Automated Crafting would support the production of White-Wood Grade Arrows.
Until then, he had to make every Rune-Forged Arrow manually. Shaking his head, he packed up his leftover materials and walked into the nearby Auction House.
All sorts of incredible items and equipment were on display inside the entrance lobby.
They would make the eyes of any player go wide and cause them to drool, but their prices were also quite steep.
He even spotted a Bronze-Copper Grade Bow for sale, but the price of 10 Gold coins made him flinch. Samar pointedly ignored all the other items from then on and went to the consignment panel.
Setting the arrows to sell in batches of twelve, he confirmed the price of each batch at 4 Silvers. Then he logged out, unaware of the waves that he had caused in the upper echelons of Panjal City.