I awoke in a cold sweat next to the bonfire.
I could still sweat which ant I was human. That's good. I had unwillingly passed out in front of the bonfire and unfortunately, it seems PTSD nightmares don't care about whether you consent to the sleep.
Whatever, it just fueled my desire to never sleep again further.
But now I want to check what the in the funk I got from that nightmare of an ambush where literally every single inhabitant of the undead parish minus Andre ca for a piece of my juicy undead cake.
That better have been worth it or we are going to have problems system.
< You have completed the quest { Surrounded }>
< Requirnts exceeded, adjusting reward... >
< You have acquired: 8 Humanity, 10,000 souls, and the title {Hundred Man Slayer} >
---------------------------
< Hundred Man Slayer >
Description.
Effect: When facing more than 10 enemies at once alone you temporarily gain 5 to all stats.
---------------------------
Eh, I'll take it. It's not like I plan to get myself into situations where I have to face more than 5 enemies at a ti anymore but in case that does happen again, this will be pretty damn useful. And another thing is my soul count.
[43,690 souls]
Nice.
But besides that, I'm fairly certain I shouldn't have that many souls. Even though I had quite a frick ton of hollows in my rampage I should have gotten 30k at most. Whelp, just another question to my box of mysteries I guess.
I guess I'll put that right next to why Logan's hat is so big.
Speaking of mysteries, (which seems to have beco a common trope in my life here) what was the blue aura that saved my life? I was already familiar with it of course but that was not possible, or at least shouldn't be. My tearstone ring had broken.
But my best guess is the censored notification that I suspiciously got imdiately after my ring had broken. I don't know what caused it but you won't see complaining about it.
And regarding my absurd amount of souls, although I could spend them all to level up now I decided against it and instead decided to head downstairs, where the sound of fire and hamr hitting tal could be heard.
And when I descended downstairs (after putting on so proper clothes of course) I was t with an unexpected sight once again. Just as the hollow rchant had all his goods displayed, unlike his ga counterpart. It seed like the sa thing applied to Andre too.
Andre had completely transford this room of the church into a proper smith with tools, a forge, a quenching station, and everything else needed to make proper armor and weapons. To be honest the natural craftsman inside was kinda jealous. When he noticed he stopped hamring his straight sword and spoke.
''Well, you must be a new arrival. I'm Andre of Astora. If you require smithing, speak to .''
Now that I think about it... Instead of just having Andre forge my stuff, why don't I learn from him? After all, with natural craftsman, I am basically a prodigy in anything production-related and that paired with the decades of experience Andre has could be quite a fearso combination.
But first I needed him to fix so of the stuff I own that I did not have the confidence or skill to fix properly without breaking or damaging it beyond repair.
''Uh, yeah I was actually wondering if you could take a look at these.''
*Clank *Clatter* *Clang* *Thunk* *Clank*
I then unceremoniously dropped most of the damaged valuable equipnt I had on the ground. Even the ones I fixed myself as I don't trust that I did a good job. When the small of equipnt hit the ground Andre looked at with a surprised expression.
''Eh? Just where did you keep all this stuff? I don't see any bottomless box on you.''
''Magic.''
''Fair enough. Now you say you want to repair these? I would say it would cost about 8 thousand souls. Anything else?''
''Yes actually, I was wondering if you could teach so smithing.''
''Hmm, you want to learn so smithing from eh? I'd say it's been a few decades since I last took an apprentice. But you certainly look like you have so potential in ya, and I wouldn't mind passing down arts. Fine, I'll try to teach you what I know while fixing your equipnt.''
Hearing his compliance made release a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I was kind of nervous about whether he would refuse or not.
''Thank you, Andre.''
After a bit of preparation, Andre showed around his forge, showing what tools were used for what. The importance of maintaining your tools and forge. While he fixed my equipnt he taught how to hamr properly. I also assisted him with miscellaneous tasks around his smithy while he worked, like a good apprentice.
When my items were fully repaired after several hours of forging, it was ti to learn the thing I wanted to learn the most.
Reinforcing using titanite.
''There are two types of weapon reinforcing. There's reinforcent, and there's ascension. Reinforcent is simple. It strengthens the weapon and nothing more. A simple task for any blacksmith. Hell, you could even do it yourself with a smith box. But ascension is a finer art. It alters a weapon's properties. Ascension is the territory of we blacksmiths; a smithbox just won't do the trick.
Start out with reinforcent. When you get good enough with it you can try ascending equipnt. Until then you can pay to upgrade, fix and ascend your items as you've noticed, this land is flush with the mad and wicked. You won't make it through the night without employing my services. Hah hah hah!''
I watched him while he worked on the weapon. To see how reinforcing looked like I had given him my morning star. He first got the tal red hot. And after that, he heated up a shard of titanite and then started the process of etching the shard of titanite to reinforce the weapon.
Usually, a higher percentage of titanium ant better tal.
Due to the fact that I may have given him the most pain in the ass weapon to reinforce I took a while but by the end, I was t with a new-looking morning star that was slightly more tougher and dangerous.
...
And so the days went by.
I spent quite a few days soaking up the well of smithing knowledge that was Andre of Astora. By the end, my blacksmithing skill had skyrocketed. And alongside that, when he wasn't teaching smithing I asked him to teach so hand-to-hand combat.
He was quite confused that I knew he knew CQC but relented to teach nonetheless.
And boy let tell you that, that old man can throw hands and then so.
Even with boxing gloves, it felt like his punches were more like morningstars smashing into than actual fists. And this was a friendly spar mind you.
To see what he can do when he is serious you just have to look at the titanite demon right outside, missing a leg and a head. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he did that barehanded.
But now that my skills have improved I had sothing to do.
I brought out my first sword. The thing that brought out of the asylum. The blade that symbolizes my unwillingness to break that led it to still not breaking even after the abuse after abuse it suffered against hundreds of foes. But it was on the verge of shattering
____________________________________
< The Deranged Hollow's blade >
A weapon that while its quality of the material is certainly lacking and its smith is inexperienced. The Deranged Hollow's pure dedication and focus that went into making the weapon make up for his lack of experience and material. It is a diocre straight sword with unusual durability unbefitting of its material yet matching its wielder.
Having bathed in the blood of many infernal beings as well as a lesser dragon alongside having been scorched by the flas of the hellkite drake has given this sword increased fire affinity.
It is on the verge of breaking.
Options:
-Increased Durability(dium)
-Fre Affinity(Minor)
______________________________________
Although it had changed sowhat the blade was still mine. The wrapless handle, stains of blood. Slightly crooked blade. As well as cracks and scorch marks adorned the blade. Even though it was battered it was still alive.
Just like eh?
I brought the tens of shards of titanite that I got from Andre and started working. I heated up the blade until it was red hot alongside the titanite shards. I hamred out the cracks and bends on it while slowly integrating the titanite into the blade alongside so high-quality steel.
The result would be a bigger heavier blade which was what I aid for.
I was concentrated to the fullest, not letting my attention waver even once while remaking my sword.
Remaking myself.
It took 5 grueling hours of non-stop effort but it was over. I had made the blade and sharpened it and even wrapped the handle in drake leather. The result was a scorched black greatsword.
< Your skill {Focus lv.9} has leveled up! >
< {Focus lv.9} -> {Focus lv.10(max)} >
< Your skill {Blacksmithing lv.10(max)} has evolved into
{ (Interdiate) Blacksmithing lv.1 } ! >
Finally, my blade was done.
------------------------
< Deadman's Blade >
The miracle blade of the Deranged Undead made in impossible conditions now reforged by himself into a proper blade fit for the prophesized Chosen Undead. Even reforged the blade still retains its unusual durability now boosted to nigh unbreakable levels. Its potential still remains imnse and untapped.
Options:
-Increased Durability(Major)
-Fire Affinity(Minor)
------------------------
In my hands, the blade felt perfect, its weight and power. It's overall feel. I threw a straight sword into the air and got into stance. And just as the blade was about to hit the ground I lashed out.
{Deadman's Blow: Slash}!
*Schwing!*
The sword was cut in half.
Hearing the commotion Andre ca down from upstairs and seed surprised when he saw the blade in my hands.
''Well, color surprised. You actually managed to ascend a blade without an ember. It seems like there isn't much I can teach you in a short ti fra now. I'm sure you have your duty as a chosen Undead to attend to.''
''Indeed, thank you for your teachings, Andre, I'll be sure to drop by every now and then.''
''Alright, I'll be seeing you then, be careful out there, and don't get yourself killed. Neither of us wants to see you go, Hollow.''
''Hahaha, I'll try.''
Saying that I left through the door and into the titanite demon's arena which was empty because Andre and I have already put the poor thing out of its misery for resources.
And finally, I stepped out into the annoyingly humid and misty outdoors.
''Whelp, Blackroot garden here I co!''
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