The first day after his nth retry, at around noon, Xavier Adams had already finished all his preparations.
He had already acquired every special Job that he could in Blackrock Village.
The remaining ones were quite common and very easy for him to acquire. What's more, even the fifth order derivatives were not as attractive in his eyes… still, he would acquire as many as he could before the ceremony.
Rarity aside, any job with a relevant blessing is worth a lot.
Looking at the sun high up in the sky, Xavier sighed in relief as he made his way to the smithy.
It was about time his mentor Bernard returned from his trip to the mines.
It would be rather troublesome dealing with all sorts of questions.
Plus, Bernard had promised to teach them how to forge a sword.
Infinite Frontier, as the name suggests, has a myriad routes to power.
Leveling can be done through hunting monsters and grinding in the dungeons, but that is just for the players.
The other path is through the refinement of skills and leveling of jobs through sheer experience.
This makes it quite difficult for an NPC to master a myriad of skills to level 10 and level up a job to level max.
Even through all his retries, Xavier had only seen a couple of people have 5 jobs at level max.
However, there are professions that allow for the branching of professions and specializations.
The [Blacksmith] job is one such profession.
Xavier had mastered a total of 15 such branches in some of his retries and [Swordsmith] happened to be one of the more powerful ones.
A swordsmith is as rare as a Dungeon Master and in some cases, they might be more valued than one.
A place like the Altahaugr Empire where legends of demon lords and heroes are widely known can pay good money for a swordsmith to forge a legendary sword.
That said, becoming a Swordsmith isn't easy.
The toughest requirement is that one has to be a master blacksmith who can forge swords consistently.
The quality cannot be too far apart, and the blacksmith must be able to imbue it with intent and traits, creating a magic sword.
This in itself blocks 99% of the populace.
Even Xavier would have a hard time meeting all these conditions before the ceremony.
But that is assuming he takes the conventional path to mastery.
On the other hand, if [Infinite Fabrication] is used, it would only take a few hours to fabricate a perfect legendary sword.
If the [Essence Creation] skill is used afterward, it would not be impossible to create a 'living' sword.
"Heya, Xavier! What's got you thinking so much?"
"Well, Melissa, my dear, I was just thinking what gift I should get you for your 16th birthday. A dress would do nicely, but I was thinking of making some trinket or sorts. What would you want?"
"Hehe, a ring will do. One that fits my ring finger."
"…"
"You can also get a bed while you're at it. I'd prefer using one you choose. Our first night will be…"
Xavier directly blocked every other word thereafter.
Talented as she might be, Melissa tends to be quite unrestrained when it comes to such matters.
But it is understandable.
Going by human logic, she ought to be 80 years, but dwarves are quite long lived and one can still be considered young at the age of 300.
But that does not prevent the interactions with humans and other short-lived races from influencing them.
Someone like Melissa must have had a couple of teenage friends grow old and start families while she remains in her growth period.
It must be frustrating.
Not to mention, her elder sister is already happily married.
All these factors made Melissa rather forward and as the best candidate around, Xavier just had to deal with this kind of thing on the daily.
Thinking about it, it is actually very commendable that they managed to live so long under one roof and still maintain their innocence.
This just goes to show how much influence and deterrence the divine blessing ceremony holds over the people.
Something as simple as your chastity can influence the blessing you can get.
Thank Ophelia he did not have to worry about such trivialities.
Xavier did not idle by and made his way to his master's workspace.
Listening to the hymn of metal to metal made him clear his distracting thoughts.
Smithing is scared.
A clear mind, a clear heart, a clear soul, forge the spirit in song.
Xavier did not disturb Bernard's rhythm, until he was done hammering.
"Oh, Young lad, you came just in time. I just forged a knife for Elizabeth. Care to appraise it?"
"Ah, is this a test? You know my level very well."
"Just say what you can see, what you can feel."
Xavier helplessly took the kitchen knife from Bernard and weighed it in his hands.
Gotta hand it to him, when it comes to the basic wares, Bernard has already accumulated enough experience to be called a master.
Pity that his job is still stuck at the third order and the concept of leveling up skills is vague to most NPCs.
Leaving aside the Character Control Panels brought about by his innate job [Gamer] and [Player], even Xavier would have a hard time leveling up.
NPCs have a rather vague way of leveling up but their power system is strictly defined.
The upside is that they have greater freedom than players. The downside is that it is impossible to get the upper hand without some serious input.
Just the resources required to level up a job from first order to second order limits majority of the NPCs.
If you start working to polish skills, you would need 10-fold the input.
Xavier thought that it was already impressive that Bernard was a third order blacksmith.
That takes some talent and serious dedication.
And all this can be seen on the knife he just forged.
Just the sheer detail to overall balance, shape, fit, materials, edges… would make most peers ashamed.
Xavier could see the hard work it took him just to collect just the right materials and in the right amount.
"A sword at the most simplistic level, is just a bigger knife. It is just that it is not used in the kitchen but on the battlefield.
I made this knife for Elizabeth. This means that right from the size to the handle to the grains, all was made specially for her.
If you are to forge a sword, start by finding the suitable wielder.
At least, that is how it is supposed to work, but if you do that, you might never make enough coin to live off of."