dirk_grey

Blacksmith vs. the System 73

“Code red sixteen,” Harold shouted, and the hunters immediately released their arrows before retreating, while all the farmers currently in the garden retreated into the first layer, each grabbing a spear as they climbed the walls.

A few more orders, and the outpost was ready to face a vicious swarm.

A successful drill.

“Very good,” I shouted. “Speedy response, and excellent work. You can return to your jobs.”

Harold gave several orders before he approa...

Blacksmith vs. the System 72

Before I started experimenting, I visited the first floor to show my presence and keep the area secure, again with a cart filled with shells. This time, there were no surprises. The defensive walls were sprouting at an impressive speed that would make a Roman legion proud, while the others were already in place.

Everything was perfect. All I needed was to purchase more crossbows, and the corner of the first floor would belong to my budding guild. I could probably take over all of it, b...

Blacksmith vs. the System 71

When I stepped through the gate to return to the first floor with another cart holding five hundred shells, I met with a welcome sight. The small outpost had progressed far more than I had expected.

The internal fort I envisioned was already completed with solid bricks, perfect enough to suggest the involvement of a specialized class, and the second ring was already half complete. And, that wasn’t even the only change. Nearby, there was a pool that was almost ten times larger than wh...

A little update on schedule

Hi everyone.

Just a few updates about how the future of the updates will continue.

First, Blacksmith vs. the System will continue to be updated with at least the current frequency. I have realized that, focusing on one or two stories rather than splitting my attention into multiple stories, it's smoother to write.

That means, Wild Dragon of Rome will not be updated until I finish Immortal Freeloader, and once that happens, it'll take its place. However, that also means tha...

Blacksmith vs. the System 51-55

— Chapter 51

I had a large smile on my face, flipping and playing around with a coin in hand, using Observe to examine it. There wasn’t anything other than perfectly aligned microstructures inside the metal, surrounded by a complicated enchantment I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

However, this time, my aim wasn’t to solve anything. I just wanted to push Observe to its limit, to get a better understanding of what was going on. It had been easy to empower the spear atta...

Blacksmith vs. the System 46-50

— Chapter 46

“Time to return,” I said to myself serenely, and started walking back.

Of course, I knew it was not true acceptance. However, once the heat from the realization was gone, I was able to put it back into the pile of things I would deal with in the future. It was a big disaster, one that could potentially change the world, but it wasn’t something I could deal with blindly.

And, the first step was to confirm that it was actually the situation. Admittedly, ...

Immortal Freeloader 151

Once the battle was over, I brought the Burning Ice cultivators back to the Misty Mountains, but only to put them in charge when I brought out a much larger team, making sure all of them got some experience against demonic cultivators as I attacked any base I could find.

It was a dangerous move, but I had to. The moment the first group was destroyed, the other hidden groups revealed themselves, hastening their plans.

Luckily, my increased abilities meant that I was able to set u...

Immortal Freeloader 150

Merely ten minutes later, I was on the deck of my flying ship, hidden behind an illusion formation and waiting. Underneath me, lay a city built atop a sharp cliff, easy to defend but hard to reach.

The wilderness at night was eerily quiet, but not enough to alert the guards. While their numbers were high due to the general unrest, their attitude was lax. Maybe it was their martial cultivation that made them courageous. Even the weakest guard was at Skin Refinement, but the majority was...

Immortal Freeloader 149

I retreated back to Markas once the mystic land had collapsed, but it wasn’t an escape. No, it was just a momentary retreat until I could come up with a new strategy.

But, my heart was still beating hard, still trembling at the risk I had taken. It was the most impulsive decision I had ever made. It had been profitable. With hundreds of disciples shouting their biggest secrets to desperately ruin my chances to get the big reward, I had managed to learn everything that covered the bas...

Blacksmith vs. the System 70

Going to the second floor and leaving the operation alone was deliberate. While I wanted to set up a sustainable hunting operation, I didn’t forget the real reason for it. Money was nice, but it was still a side benefit. A space I could freely experiment in was the part I truly valued.

Yes, I could stay there to improve the camp far faster, but the more I stayed with them, the more dependent on my orders they would become. It was another lesson I had learned from my old career as a pr...

Blacksmith vs. the System 69

“Not bad,” I called twenty minutes later, examining the tiny orchard we had created, though speaking out loud was mostly for the benefit of the new hires, as they still looked skittish.

After all, the orchard was underwhelming compared to what I had created, there were merely ten trees, and only one of them was as tall as me. Nine of them were smaller. I could have triggered their growth just as easily, but the water we had brought was mostly gone, and the rest was earmarked for th...

Blacksmith vs. the System 68

The rest of the night had gone well. I even had a chance to catch a short nap. One that barely lasted three hours, but it was all I could get sleeping in the dungeon.

Once that was done, I went to the third floor, piled everything into a new cart — which included a small batch of fertilizer mix — and went back to the second floor, then the first floor, deliberately using the gates at the opposite sides. The gate was a good place to camp. It was away from the operations, while it wa...

Blacksmith vs. the System 67

I first stopped by the fourth floor to bring a large cart filled with iron ores. These ores would be used for all the necessary materials, which came in three main categories. Namely, armors, weapons, and various other implements — farming, construction, shell removal, and arrow making.

The function of each category was obvious. However, their design was not straightforward. As long as I had the silver, I could easily forge fifty copies of my armor that would keep them safe from anyt...

Blacksmith vs. the System 66

I stayed with the Farmers while the raffle was being prepared, and watched while the schedule was set. I even made a copy of it in the view of everyone. I had no intention of checking the schedule of eight thousand Farmers, but just having that opportunity would intimidate some with bad intentions.

I didn’t have the time to micromanage them, so such subterfuge was necessary. Then, I left, leaving the task of arranging the operational details to Harold. I needed to rely upon him a lo...

Blacksmith vs. the System 65

The meeting didn’t end after we agreed on the details of my guild. There were still a lot of small details that needed to be determined. They were unrelated to me, and most of it was exhaustingly monotonous like the town layout and patrol schedule, but I stayed.

Having even an unofficial say in the town's development was too important to be ignored. Since I seemed to have been defaulted into the management of the town, I was happy to embrace it.

Once the meeting was done, we s...

Blacksmith vs. the System 64

Eleanor didn’t say anything material until we were once again riding the griffin.

“I didn’t miss the sensation of flying,” I said, grabbing the saddle tightly.

“We can walk if you want,” she offered.

“No. I like being assassinated even less,” I replied.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “It was our mistake. It won’t happen again.”

I nodded. That promise was worth nothing, but I appreciated the intent behind it. “So, how was the recrui...

Blacksmith vs. the System 41-45

— Chapter 41

“What are you doing?” Eleanor asked the moment she entered the forge, her gaze immediately locking on the device in my hand.

“I’m trying to find a way to get the shells off the beasts faster,” I said.

The moment I said that her interest faded. “Already trying to make your guild more profitable,” she said, but I could sense a hint of disdain in her tone. I didn’t exactly blame her. Hunters were production classes just like Blacksmiths, but, un...

Immortal Freeloader 148

What I was doing was certainly heavy-handed, as evidenced by the presence of all six Foundation Establishment cultivators at the entrance, their approach banned by the formation itself. However, I ignored their intimidating presence as I stood against them, giving them a mocking smirk.

However, even as the time ticked, they failed to react, still discussing what to do, so five minutes later, I had let the arena disappear.

The moment the arena disappeared, several disciples attac...

Immortal Freeloader 147

The structure of the mystic land was simple. I had created fifty checkpoints, and ten groups, each group progressively difficult. Each checkpoint could be cleared after practicing one obscure technique. And, one either had to reach Minor Familiarity in all five techniques, or Minor Accomplishment in one to clear a checkpoint.

And, with each checkpoint cleared, there were certain rewards. Mostly talismans I had drawn, occasionally techniques I had written in a hurry.

It wasn’t ...

Blacksmith vs. the System 63

While I knew Maria and Eleanor were on the way, I stayed in the dungeon nevertheless, talking with the guards to learn about the various methods that they had used to explore the dungeon. It started as listening to them about the stories, but soon it turned into a Q&A session as they proved very willing to answer my questions, where I started to ask very pointed questions about the tactics they had used to first explore the dungeon and determine its profitability.

At first, I was s...

Blacksmith vs. the System 62

For the hammer, I wasn’t exactly designing a ranged attack the same way I did with a sword. I could, but there wasn’t too much of a point. It wouldn’t give me any benefits. Instead, I picked a different direction.

Namely, the quake attack.

For that, I designed a new hammer. Its surface was covered with hexagons, gold and silver conductive patterns etched inside it like wires to not only carry the mana, but also distribute it in the same pattern as the Quake attack.

...

Blacksmith vs. the System 61

As much as I wanted to start forging the sword that could potentially allow me to use better mana attacks by leveraging the new materials and properties I had discovered, I didn’t do so immediately.

Instead, I sat on the ground and started working on a conceptual design and making some rough calculations based on my observations. It wasn’t particularly easy to figure out the necessary design. I tried to do my best to get inspired by electrical system structure. It could have even w...

Blacksmith vs. the System 60

“I need to find a way to contain mana for longer,” I muttered as I returned to the forge, and started working. Which meant that I needed more materials, which in turn required more time spent on mining and operating the blast furnace.

With my Quake Hammer, the actual mining didn’t take too much time. Carrying the ore to the blast furnace and loading it, on the other hand, took much longer. “No, I need to automate things. I continued working on another steam engine.

This ...

Blacksmith vs. the System 59

“Too bad I have to stop,” I complained even as I smashed another giant insect, and started walking back. I had drifted away from it to hunt even more giant monsters, which had been even easier with my new hammer technique … especially since, once I got far away from the base, I stopped bothering to collect the shells.

I hadn’t brought the cart with me, and bringing them back would be an unnecessary chore. However, just because I didn’t bring back the shells didn’t mean that...

Blacksmith vs. the System 58

“Let’s see what’s the difference between the two methods,” I muttered even as I focused, and attempted to activate my newly obtained skill. An imaginary orb once again started rotating, though both the speed of the rotation and the pull were far less than I had expected. I actually had to open the hatch and disperse most of the tainted energy that had been collected to succeed.

[Cleansing Meditation (Uncommon) - 1 -> 7]

“At least it improves faster,” I said, and I ...

Blacksmith vs. the System 57

I decided to hold the first iteration of the next experiment on the fourth floor. While I was afraid that the corrosive effect might ruin the experiment, considering the trial and error process I had to go through, I felt that it was an acceptable compromise.

I could always use the anti-corrosive material on different floors to confirm my conclusion, but the reverse wouldn’t have worked.

Before starting, I mined another huge pile of iron ores, and refilled the blast furnace. I...

Blacksmith vs. the System 36-40

— Chapter 36

The moment I stepped through the gate, I got charged by multiple monsters. I could easily count forty of them around me, making it a challenge. That would have been dangerous enough, but a few of the insect monsters had stopped their charge to spit out some kind of discharge.

Eleanor had mentioned that their attacks only damaged armor, but I wasn’t willing to test it. Instead, I dodged them first before I turned the momentum into a charge, shattering the armor of...

Blacksmith vs. the System 31-35

— Chapter 31

After killing another three hundred monsters — half with their shells ripped, half left intact — I had received three rewards, with ascending importance. I had collected six skill stones. I had reached level thirty-five.

And, I gathered enough data to reinforce the idea that the intact monsters had a higher likelihood of dropping a skill stone. I received two stones from the first group, and four from the second. It could still be a coincidence, but the numbers...

Immortal Freeloader 146

Approaching the mystic land would have been a simple affair if I had been planning to stay hidden all the time to tweak its formation and defenses, but considering I wanted to use it as an opportunity to interact with the other applicants, it was slightly more complicated. I couldn’t simply appear in the middle of the mystic land.

Well, technically I could, but I didn’t need the suspicion it would generate.

I could do that, as, at this point, Kartpa Valley and Entsa Pavilion...

Immortal Freeloader 145

Making my new Burning Blizzard team accumulate Providence proved harder than I had expected.

I started by using a simple method, by trying to let them replicate the gardening process. Unfortunately, it proved completely useless. Low-level spiritual plants proved useless to trigger the effect, and, unlike Forests Dance, their essence wasn’t geared to boost plant growth.

Which meant I needed to be more creative. I decided to pick some volunteers and spread them among the refugees ...