As Althorn started to bandage his wounds he checked on his stats and the skill he had gained during the battle, looking at it a bitter smile appeared on his face, “something’s never change” he muttered…

  In most cases a player when receiving such a negative aspect to a skill would instantly delete it, nonetheless Althorn still chose to keep it as, he had no idea how long it would take for him to make it to the small town that used to be around. So the positives conveyed by the aura far outweighed the negatives. More than that, he had never seen a passive aura and one that had no cost. Finished with the bandaging Althorn took stock of situation.

  Well, I won the fight against the dire wolf and acquired a damaged pelt and a wolf fang. Defeating a far stronger mob enemy, but I almost died and I lost my chest piece and really the only way I won was through earth strike. But my gamble did pay off, Althorn as a spellsword had a mix of combat and magical abilities, however the Ai of a dire wolf once realizing its foe had magical ability may have called for help, and more importantly the ability Earth Strike required all his mana, but as was proved by the battle prove to be his trump card.

  Combat casting and ability only granted to a Spellsword… this had saved him from death. Usually when a mage chanted a spell they would be unable to move. As such chants required great concentration to create and even more to direct accurately.

  Althorn could remember that where he was it was about an hour’s travel from town, which in most cases would not be very dangerous, however judging by the level of monster he faced he had to avoid combat whenever possible. Getting his bearings he began the long and dangerous trek back to town.

  Althorn had thought that even without the stealth skill, he would be able to make it back to town with minimal spotting or conflicts, however that was not to be. It had stared well, by climbing trees; he had managed to avoid the attention of a group of goblins below, and was making his way towards the town, however lady luck had predictably recognized Althorn and so. Perhaps unsurprisingly a pack of Dire wolves had scented him, and he was sure they were tracking him through the forest. In his life Althorn had been experienced being hunted by two legged beasts, and felt a similar sensation of eyes on him, and he knew that the wolves would be on him soon enough.

  Therefore he considered his smartest move to be head onto the ground before they could trap him in the tree. Althorn committed to this course of action as he had already travelled for at least hour and he was sure that the town was close by. Heading to the ground the braying of the wolves sounded closer and he knew he had made the right decision

  Althorn began running towards the town, black hair whipping around behind him, as the wolves howled all the louder, at the sight of their prey. Running through long tall grass he could hear bushes crashing behind him. Running forward, sweat began pouring as, he climed the large hill that borded the town hunting grounds. But as Althorn reached the crest of the hill, a disconcerting sight appeared.

  The Town was being consumed by nature, it appeared undamaged, if all the residents had just left it to die, slowly being rotted away. Distracted from his observation, by the ever increasing sound of the wolves approach, Althorn knew that if he stayed out in the open the wolves would just pick him off so he ran, and the dire wolves got ever closer. Althorns heart began to pump louder and louder, breath coming out is deep rasps and the predators approached. The gates of the town swung open unattended. Then something, that even Althorn could feel uneasy about happened. The moment that he entered the town the wolves stopped at the edge, growling and pawing at the town gates. some invisible force keeping them out.

  In most MMO this would have been expected, but in a game like Archon online which boasted 99% realism, it could not be merely explained away by game design, something was going on in this town… but whatever it was Althorn owed his continual survival to it.

  Entering to town Althorn got his bearings his memory told him that he had entered through dawns gate which put him on the left side of town, the closet entrance to the blacksmith, which was Althorns destination, he had seen on his brief pause at the hill, that by day at least the town was completely uninhabited but, Althorn had a sneaking suspicion that by night it would be a whole different story.

  Entering the blacksmith Althorn noticed the general stat of dilapidation with some regret, I remember when this town was full and lively, and Yon was always hammering away, a cheerful grin on his face as he patiently trained Althorn in basic blacksmithing, shaking the odd recollection away he began looking at the iron ware that still remained in the store

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Judging by the general disrepair and damaged equipment this town must have been destroyed fairly on during the war, shame there’s not much salvageable here, but I suppose this is the perfect opportunity to practice my blacksmithing Althorn mused thoughtfully. Before he began Althorn had carefully thought about abilities and skills he would need to be able to survive on his own he knew that leveling his blacksmithing and repair skill would be a must.

  Althorn carefully made his way to the back of the smithy, past the long abandoned front desk, and through a cobwebbed interior, hand carefully warding his face from the thick webs. Entering the forge room, he surveyed the room, noting the large smile of scrap metal and still surprisingly intact tools.

  Stretching out he began to sort the room out and prepared it for a long session of smithing, while also taking the opportunity to observe, Yon’s tools in greater detail

  Somewhat please by the results of his cleaning, began to carefully work the forge, heating it to the appropriate temperature for smelting down he alternated between repairing various rusted weaponry, and sending fireballs into the forge. Rather than using the bellows Althorn had instead opted to increase the heat through repetition of fireballs now that his mana pool had recovered, cleverly increasing both his fireball and repair skills. After several hours of uninterrupted labor both his skills had received quite a bit of experience, with repair becoming beginner lvl 6 going up by two, and fireball at beginner lvl 8 increasing by a level and gaining a few odd points of experience.Then he began to craft simple swords and amours practicing his blacksmithing and smelting until he reached beginner lvl 5 in blacksmithing.

  After this was accomplished Althorn began to work on a project that he had been envisioning ever since the wolf had destroyed his chest piece. Taking out a simple leather tunic he carefully began to draw places where he would attach armor. Then he began to feed Steel weaponry into the smelter, carefully he teased out impurities within the steel then poured it into the various molds he would need.

  Althorn spent hours hammering and working away on the steel and leather tunic. sweat pouring from his bare bandaged chest as he focused entirely onto this piece, he had no intention to have to begin this work again, until at long last he cooled the last plate and attached it to the tunic a satisfied smirk appearing on his face as

  “Fang bastion”

  Then with the left over materials and the dire wolf fur he had received earlier Althorn constructed a simple scarf

  With that Althorn slumped back, with a slight smile on his face as he surveyed his to new armor pieces, staring out at the rapidly darkening sky, he grabbed some rations from his inventory and made his way wearily to the blacksmiths bedroom before slumping down asleep.

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  OK here it is the 4th chapter, this won't happen often,i just found some free time and felt a little guilty over the smaller chapter, struggling with stat table may resort to other method i devised in my first ff, please provide opinions and what not especially about stats (when they appear) and also my skills and items shown, trying to make this realistic

  oh and i saw someone mention about revenge on Mia and Trace, but what you have to remember that Blake was fighting for survival essentially and he had no time to harbor thoughts of revenge, and furthermore, Blakes cold very cold, but there is a fire...

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