Chương 15: Blueprint Index

"Father, look! Brother summoned a skeleton through his Awakened abilities." Geoffrey, who was examining Coburn's bones, quickly ran and pointed at the skeleton that stood in the middle of the hall. His father, Richard, walked into the hall with a little surprise on a tired face. He looked towards the house and felt a lot of changes about the dress and the dinner that smelled good, and most of all, the skeleton.

"Son, what is that?" he finally asked.

"Father, this is my summon. I brought it forth with my Class ability," Arthur said.

"Didn't you say your Class is based on Utility jobs?" Richard walked towards Coburn as he eyed the skeleton.

"Yes, father. The summon is the one who does Utility jobs. It will do any jobs we order. Specifically, this skeleton, its name is Coburn," Arthur explained fast before his father could think of his own theory. Summoning a skeleton Class would be a bad omen for the family, since a skeleton closely related to death.

"You can summon more?" his father turned at the word 'specifically'.

"Yeah, I can summon more skeletons in the future once I reach different Standards," Arthur said. An Awakener grew with their strength when they evolved their Core layer. So, instead of revealing he could buy skeletons from the Nether Realm, he simply stated a very basic concept of the Awakening. With that explanation, his father did not pry for more details. He simply accepted it, and his demeanor completely changed.

After seeing the Sigil and the fortune he earned last night, similar to his mother, Arthur gave a false story about earning so much wealth. Even though his father did not believe everything, he simply gave fatherly advice about safety and legal earnings. Once the discussion was concluded, the family had a great dinner where, after a long time, his mother bought enough meat and vegetables, quality bread, and other items.

It was a very satisfying dinner to have, and Arthur felt very relieved witnessing his family having a good time. While having dinner, Arthur let them know about his plan to put the skeleton into work and about renting a small workshop for Blacksmithy. At first, both parents were reluctant about starting a business, but Arthur's confident tone reassured them to agree to his plan. His father suggested that he knew a few people who owned old shops, so he told Arthur to let him try to have a talk.

Arthur most welcomed this, so he would not need to search for a place, wasting his time. With that finalized, Arthur went to his room, sat on an old, tattered cot, and pondered. The box of materials lay beside him. Now, it was time to make a contract, and tomorrow, he would start the work without delay. Arthur opened the Marketplace, navigated to Blacksmiths, and selected [Bathory]. He unwrapped the material box and willed the contract.

In the next second, the materials in the box vanished, and a new message appeared on his face. [Contract Payment Successful] [Worker Status] Name: Bathory Designation: Blacksmith Specialist: Double Edged Sword (Forging) Professional Status: Beginner (2500 successful forgings to become Intermediate Status) Monthly Maintenance Cost: 2, 500 Credits. [More Details…] This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Instantly, the transaction was done, and the contract connection was established. Now, he could feel and instinctively summon Coburn and Bathory, as if it were etched on his mind. The details also looked the same as before with a few changes: the skeleton's next advancement in its Professional Status, and More Details. A total of 2500 swords Bathory had to forge to become an Intermediate forger; that was an astronomical amount.

The materials required to complete it were also very high, but it did not matter right now. First, he would establish his new company and do business, then everything else would come after. Next, he focused on the More Details option, and suddenly, new details loaded. [BluePrint Index] Note: Bathory, Specialist in Double Edged Sword Forging, has a 75% Success rate on the following BluePrints. Attempting to forge unlisted or higher tier items will result in a 75% failure rate and material Destruction.

Reading the details about the Blueprint, Arthur felt a joy in his heart. The gnawing feeling about what kind of sword the Blacksmith skeleton would forge, is it like random forging, and if it is random, the materials spent would be astronomical to complete 2500 successes. However, now seeing this Blueprint Index and details about the success rate, he felt much more organized about how the future would play out.

'A 75% success rate on a listed Blueprint Sword is a good percentage. As for a 75% failure rate on an unknown sword, it would be understandable. After all, if the Blacksmith himself did not know what he was doing, it would naturally lead to failure.' However, he did not care about forging unknown swords right now. With that understanding of how his Sword Company's future would be, he scrolled down and checked the different types of sword blueprints.

Available Sword Blueprints [Iron LongSword (Alpha Standard Low)] Material Required: 2. 5 Kg Unrefined Iron Ore, 1 Leather Hilt Wrap. Estimated Crafting Time: 3 Hours. Description: A heavy, no nonsense double edged sword; no elemental affinity but provides solid durability and raw cleaving power for novice Awakeners. [Silver Lined Swift Blade (Alpha Standard Mid)] Material Required: 1. 5 Kg Unrefined Iron Ore, 0. 5 Kg Lean Silver Ore, 1 Leather Hilt Wrap. Estimated Crafting Time: 5 Hours.

Description: A slightly lighter, well balanced double edged sword. The infusion of lean silver along the blade's edge allows for a very minor degree of mana conductivity, slightly increasing its sharpness and effectiveness. [Bone Hilted Broadsword (Alpha Standard Peak)] Materials Required: 6 Kg Unrefined Iron Ore, 2 Alpha Standard bones, 1 vial of Alpha Standard Monster Blood. Estimated Crafting Time: 6 Hours.

Description: Heavy double edged broadsword, with bone hilt melted and integrated into the crossguard and the base of the steel, reinforcing the weapon's structural integrity. The blood quenching process hardens the blade, allowing it to withstand heavy, concussive impacts without shattering. A total of three blueprints were readily available to forge. However, even to forge one single Iron LongSword needed a total of 6500 Credits, since 1 kg of unrefined iron ore cost 2500 Credits.

And 1 leather hilt wrap, let's assume it is 200 Credits, for a total of 6700 Credits. However, the question is how much the sword would sell. Currently, Arthur's capital was around 110, 000 Credits, not adding the Credits given to his family. Arthur did not intend to ask for those; that was solely for his family's expenditure. He had to skillfully invest this amount to start his business.

Arthur sat on the cot for a very long time, thinking whether to buy bulk materials and then forge the sword, or to forge a single batch and check how much the sword would sell and the demand for it. Since there were plenty of Blacksmiths operating even in Lower Sector B, not to even mention the whole Faith City. The big companies who operate weapon businesses own their own forging blacksmiths to produce weapons, so there would be plenty of plain longswords on the market.

So, he may need to check if his longsword would compete with those. Furthermore, he may need to find a client to sell his sword; he didn't think he could directly sell to customers. Starting a business was not child's play, and Arthur intended to go step by step. With that thought, he closed the panel and willed Bathory. Soon, a skeleton figure stood in his room. Surprisingly, he was currently holding a hammer in his right hand.

Which was a big surprise for Arthur; it greatly reduced his cost of buying a new hammer by himself. Bathory was also a tall skeleton, similar to Coburn, with the same demeanor physically. But compared to Coburn, Bathory's bone density was high; it was like every part of the bone looked big and sturdy, not fragile. Arthur inspected for a while. Since Bathory also did not have a communication option, there was not much to do, so he quickly dismissed the skeleton.

As he felt very tired, he directly went to bed and slept instantly; the whole day of stress put his body instantly to sleep.