“So, you’re telling me that I was in that chair for three whole nights?” Archie repeated, baffled.

  “Yes, you looked to be in some sort of meditation with some sort of mana sphere that was connected to that… engine,” Aoife confirmed. Her eyes staring at the engine in confusion, not at what it was, but rather what it was made out of. It was unlike anything she’d felt before.

  “Well, surprisingly, that isn’t even a record for me,” Archie muttered under his breath from under his Mana Bike. Forgesmith’s Flame

  , Archie chuckled. Which in this case was pretty useful considering how both he and Aoife were stranded in the middle of a desert, a desert the size of a damn continent if what he saw from above the planet was correct.

  “What did you do in the meantime?” Archie asked, finishing up with the underbelly of his bike and moving toward the Cold Iron sand tires he fashioned from two steel sawblades joined together by fifteen or so Cold Iron plates with angled paddles every so often above the plates.

  “I surveyed the surroundings and killed any who approached the tent,” Aoife replied, her eyes moving from the Mana Bike’s Runic Mana Engine to Archie, who lay atop the sand under his bike, slowly rotating its rear wheels.

  , Archie confirmed as he slid from under his bike, deactivating Gaze of the ForgefatherForgesmith’s Flame

  “You find anything while looking around?” Archie asked, grabbing an outer frame shelling from atop his desk. “Any landmarks or anything of the sort?”

  "I could see smoke columns during the night from that direction," Aoife turned around, pointing toward her three o'clock.

  "I initially thought it could be a group of adventurers, mercenaries or a party of nobles, but from the size of the smoke columns, it is most probably a town."

  "How far do you think it…is?" Archie asked, grunting at the last word as he popped the Mana Bike's midsection's outer shelling in place, pushing down against the bulging cords that peeked from under.

  "I am unsure," Aoife answered, looking to where she had been seeing the smoke columns hours ago. "I assume a day and a half to two's run if we are fortuitous in our journey."

  "If that’s the case, then we should go while it's still light out," Archie said, glancing at the afternoon twin suns above.

  It was weird seeing twin suns above him, even after the four days he stood on guard, watching over Aoife and forging.

  He'd even smacked himself twice when he saw the first sun that rose reach its apex before waiting for its twin to catch up, before continuing, thinking he was hallucinating

  , Archie thought to himself as he walked toward his Explorer's Tent.

  Walking toward its nearest corner, Archie surged his mana around his hands and held on to its peg for a moment before pulling it free from the ground and dropping it atop the sand.

  Repeating the process thrice more, Archie took a step back before surging mana towards his fingers once more and snapping.

  As the resounding snap echoed around them, the tent began to shrivel and collapse onto itself. Both Archie and Aoife watched as the tent started to fold itself; its previous 4 m x 3m size was now small enough to fit in his palm.

  "I'll never get used to how cool magic is," Archie muttered as he picked up the small cube, getting a nod and hum of agreement from Aoife.

  Tossing the cub up and down, Archie made his way towards his deployed Basic Workshop, where, when he arrived at the stone flooring, he sent the Explorer’s Tent back into his spatial storage.

  Similar to the Explorer’s Tent, the Basic Workshop transformed the ground beneath it once deployed, but unlike the Basic Workshop, the Explorer’s Tent only hardened the ground around the pegs while the Basic Workshop transformed the unsuitable ground around it into something more suitable for its type. In his case, the sand shimmered before transmuting into a 4m x 4m stone square.

  Archie remembered when he first deployed the Basic Workshop; it had been a few hours after getting far enough away from the Temple of the Handlers and after he’d set up the Explorer’s Tent.

  After patrolling the area around them a couple of times, he got bored of seeing sand, cacti, and other giant bones and carcasses jutting out of the sand. After the seventieth one or so, it loses its luster, so he decided to take out his Basic Workshop from his spatial storage.

  Upon taking it out, Archie also received an instructions manual along with it. Reading through the first couple of lines, Archie took off his right gauntlet and held the sphere before flooding it with as much mana as he could channel into it.

  Once it had pulsed violet twice, the sphere returned back to its normal grey color, but it had been etched with a small logo of an anvil, hammer, and forge, marking itself as fully bonded with himself and transformed.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Once bonded to him, Archie's Basic Workshop transformed into the Basic Workshop – Blacksmith. When he initially deployed it, he saw level 50 Steel Hammers, Tongs, Anvils, a Forge, and many other tools held up by a Tool Board that was made out of hardened mana that floated opposite to the anvil and right to the forge.

  When he picked up the Steel Hammer given by the Basic Workshop, he received a unique notification.

  Upgrade Found:

  You currently have a level 70 Reinforced Steel Hammer within your spatial storage. Do you consent to merging your level 70 Reinforced Steel Hammer with your Basic Workshop – Blacksmith?

  Remembering what the Basic Workshop’s description was, Archie consented to the merging of his hammer and saw as the level 50 Steel Hammer in his hands suddenly became the one he kept in his spatial storage, down to the mana pathways he etched onto its hilt and head.

  Smiling with curiosity, Archie touched both the level 50 Steel Forge and Heavy-Duty Steel Anvil and received similar yet different notifications.

  Upgrade Found:

  You currently have an Inchoate Titansteel Forge within your spatial storage. Do you consent to merging your Inchoate Titansteel Forge with your Basic Workshop – Blacksmith?

  Upgrade Found:

  You currently have an Obsidiansteel Anvil within your spatial storage. Do you consent to merging your Obsidiansteel Anvil with your Basic Workshop – Blacksmith?

  For some reason, the levels of both the Inchoate Titansteel Forge and the Obsidiansteel Anvil never showed, but they were considered to be an upgrade of their level 50 Steel counterparts. Not that he had any doubt that they weren’t, he was just confused as to why they did not have a level requirement.

  After consenting to the upgrades, Archie’s eyebrows rose as he saw the two level 50 Steel Anvils, the Heavy-Duty and Precision, vanish, and in their place was a large, onyx black Heavy-Duty Anvil that stood four feet high.

  ? Archie wondered before suddenly the Obsidiansteel Anvil rippled, as though it were liquid, seamlessly transforming into a Precision Anvil version.

  Archie chuckled as he thought of it shifting back into a Heavy-Duty Anvil to which it did.

  Turning to face the Inchoate Titansteel Forge, Archie was met with a sleek red and white forge with a large rectangular opening, large enough to fit his bike through.

  Narrowing his eyes at the top right corner of the forge, Archie noticed a silverish light reflecting off the twin suns above.

  Creating a few small mana platforms, Archie hopped atop them before his eyes widened in shock. All across the back of the forge were large scar-like gouges that crisscrossed and intersected with one another.

  Archie wondered as he stared at the large scar-like gouges in shock, wondering who could have created them and how the forge could still be considered in Excellent condition.

  Shaking his head from the memory, Archie took a couple steps back from the Basic Workshop – Blacksmith’s 4m x 4m stone flooring and surged mana into his hands before clapping twice and muttering, “Forging Complete.”

  Unlike the Explorer’s Tent, which shriveled and collapsed in on itself, the floor of the workshop rippled. In an instant, the entire Basic Workshop – Blacksmith transformed into a large gray egg-shaped sphere, enveloping everything inside before it began to shrink.

  After a few seconds of waiting, Archie wrapped a mana string around the small floating grey sphere and pulled it into his outstretched palm, rolling it in his palms before sending it away into his spatial storage.

  Glancing at the notifications he’d forgotten about, Archie blinked in surprise.

  *Your Profession has reached Lv 80 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*

  *Your Profession has reached Lv 81 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*

  *Your Race has reached Lv 83 – Points allocated, +3 Free Points*

  *Novice Forgesmith profession skills available. Choose one of the options*

  , Archie thought to himself in surprise. for, it makes sense.

  “Do you mind if I go over my skill options before we head out?” Archie asked, looking at Aoife, every time he received one of these, he’d always end up spending between ten to thirty minutes just debating which skill would be useful.

  “Take your time,” Aoife replied before retracting her lance and resuming her training.

  Looking back at his options, Archie’s eyes roamed over the five options presented to him and only found two that caught his attention.

  Runic Mending (Uncommon):

  With this skill, you can repair a rune without replacing it altogether. By channeling mana into the rune’s structure, you can restore its power and effectiveness, making sure that even heavily used items maintain their magical properties over time. Runic Mending is a vital skill for keeping runic gear in top condition over the sands of time.

  Runic Mending

  It mended runes, plain and simple.

  Runic Cloaking (Uncommon):

  With this skill, you gain the knowledge of how to hide the presence of the runes on an item, making them undetectable to most observers.

  , Archie mused. It seemed like a great skill to have when he eventually resumed taking commissions—most likely after creating a teleporter.

  But until then, Runic Cloaking

  “I just finished, thanks for waiting,” Archie said after selecting Runic Mending

  Nodding in confirmation, Aoife silently followed him to his Mana Bike, hopping on after he had.

  Nature-Attuned Mana-Bike MK II (Rare):

  A fully functional vehicle made from the corpse of an E-Grade Igneous Golem, Magmasteel, Reinforced Steel, and Starforge Steel. Forged by Archie Gracefield, an E-Grade Novice Forgesmith. This vehicle was designed in the likeness of a motorcycle from the 72nd cycle, heavily modified and empowered by the runic scripts etched alongside the internal components of the Mana-Bike. The previous sawblade wheels, made for traversal atop lush forests and jungles, have been modified to become sand wheels, allowing for seamless traversal across deserts. The Starforge Steel, salvaged from the husk of an idol, though deteriorated from time and sudden strenuous use, has been fashioned into a Nature-Attuned Runic Mana Engine. However, due to the Starforge Steel’s deterioration, it has lost much of its Mana Retention capabilities. Currently powered by a Nature-Attuned Power Core. Effects: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair, Physical Reinforcement & Kinetic Enhancement. Status: Excellent. Requirements: Lv 80+, Nature Affinity & Humanoid Race.

  Archie smiled as he once more read the description of his Mana Bike, “Hold on tight,” Archie said, smirking over his shoulder to Aoife before fully twisting the throttle and releasing the clutch entirely.

  Aoife chortled a yelp as they shot toward the direction of where Aoife saw the smoke columns, going faster than what Aoife had ever experienced before.

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