Chronicles Of The Crafting Hero

The marketplace thrummed with activity, a symphony of sounds: the shuffle of feet, the rumble of carriages, the neigh of horses, and the lively chatter of merchants. Tyler, lost in thought, navigated through the bustling crowd until he reached the mineral shop, his destination.

He surveyed the shop's entrance, remembering the girl who'd sold him copper ore before. He sighed inwardly. *Back here again, huh? I thought I wouldn't even need to be back, thanks to the room skill, but it looks like I can't use it everywhere. So, in the end, I have no choice.*

Tyler entered the shop, the polished wooden floor reflecting the sunlight streaming in. Behind the counter stood the girl, her yellow eyes lighting up with excitement at his arrival. She wore a long red dress, a golden necklace adorned with a star-shaped pendant, its design resembling a stylized flower. Unlike last time, her long, slightly curly black hair was unbound, flowing freely down her back.

"Hey, good morning," Tyler greeted her as he approached. He glanced at her name and level, now displayed in a floating blue text box above her head: Anne Style: Level 27.

"Mr... it's been such a long time! Welcome back," Anne said, her voice bright.

"Yeah, I'm here again. I need to buy some..." Tyler began, but was cut off as she exclaimed, "Wow, that is some great armor you're wearing! And your pendant! You're C rank now?!" She gasped, her eyes wide with surprise and admiration.

Tyler chuckled, a low sound. "Yeah, I am. Happened pretty recently, actually." He paused, but was again interrupted.

"Even if it happened recently, you leveled up so fast! What level are you now?"

Before Tyler could answer, she gasped again. "I wonder what kind of skills you have now? You used to be so fast, but then you must be faster, and you had some kind of weird ability that made things disappear... You must have new ones! I was always interested in assassin abilities. You know, I've always wanted to become one, but..."

As she continued to prattle on, Tyler's eyes glazed over, his eyelids growing heavy. *Oh right, I forgot she's so fucking talkative. Which shop is just better customer service, except for Hector's?*

Suddenly, Anne stopped talking. She walked around the counter, her footsteps light on the polished wood, and approached Tyler, looking him directly in the eye. He was taken aback, surprised by her sudden proximity. He took a small step back and asked, "What now?"

Anne said, "Your eyes... they were blue before, but now they're brown."

Tyler blinked, confused. "My eyes? What do you mean by that?" He thought to himself, *How the hell does she remember the color of my eyes? Who even pays attention to that much detail when they meet someone?*

Anne continued, "Yeah. It was pretty rare to see someone with blue eyes around here. They looked pretty, but now they're... brown. Is this some kind of other skill?" she asked, her voice laced with curiosity.

She then gasped again, her eyes widening, and crossed her arms over her breasts. With a hushed whisper, she asked, "Can you see through walls?"

Tyler sighed and facepalmed. "I just want to buy some materials, please."

Anne, with a slight chuckle, said, "Ah, yes... oh, sorry."

"You know, my grandpa always said I talked a lot." Her eyes rolled as she seemed to go deep in thought and said, "He actually threw me out the window once because of it."

Tyler was a bit surprised. He said in a low voice, "Threw you out the window.....?"

Anne looked back at him. "Yeah, you know, as I said, he actually once ran the shop, but something happened. His brother, Christopher Style, was actually a craftsman, and we didn't even live here. We actually lived pretty far..."

Tyler, interrupting gently, said, "Can you take me to the materials, please?"

"All right, sorry, I'm doing it again," she said with a slight chuckle. "Follow me."

As Tyler walked behind her, she thought to herself, *He still didn't answer me about having the skill to see through walls...* She pondered. *I heard there was an assassin ability like that, then again... I have a pretty small body. Grandpa always said I need to eat more to attract men.*

Anne wasn't wrong. She was a little shorter than Tyler, her frame petite and delicate. Her waist was a slender, defined curve, and her chest was small, a modest fullness beneath her red dress. She was also an assassin type, but her grandpa didn't let her become a hunter.

Tyler followed Anne to the storage room, his mind still occupied. *Did my eye color really change? How the hell does that even happen?* He frowned. *I didn't notice anything. Now that I think about it, I didn't even look at myself in the mirror before I came here. But why would my eye color change at all?*

Anne opened the door to the storage area. The large room, filled with metal crates stacked high, was a treasure trove of metal ores.

"Here," Anne said, gesturing into the room, "what do you need?"

Tyler, already passing her and walking into the room, said, "I need to buy a lot of different ores." His gaze swept over the metal ores, assessing their quantities and qualities. *Right, there are small, medium, and large... if I remember right.* He thought to himself. *The big ones cost a lot, but they're what I need at the moment. Plus, she said she'd give me a discount when I buy them.*

Anne watched him, a curious expression on her face. "I wanted to ask you last time, but... why are you buying metal ores? Are you going to take them to a craftsman?"

Tyler smiled, a small, knowing curve of his lips. "Nope. I'm going to use them."

"Use them?" Anne asked, perplexed.

"Yeah," Tyler said. "I'm going to craft some things with them. I'm a craftsman."

Anne's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Craftsman... but aren't you an assassin hunter? What do you mean by craftsman?"

Tyler turned back, his gaze returning to the ores. "Don't worry about it. You'll understand soon enough."

Anne asked, "What do you mean?"

Tyler purposefully ignored her question, instead pointing to a crate filled with large iron metal ores in the middle of the room. "How much are these large ones over there?"

"Oh, these big ones?" Anne replied. "They cost two gold each."

"Two gold each?" Tyler said, feigning surprise. "That's a lot, isn't it?"

"Well," Anne explained, "they cost a lot to buy, too, you know. There's a lot of effort in finding them while digging them up, so they charge more."

"Oh, I understand," Tyler said.

"Don't worry about it," Anne said, smiling. "After all, I always give you a discount, remember?"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Tyler said, "Yeah, you said you'd remove a coin each time."

"What? A coin?" Anne asked.

Tyler said, "Yeah, you don't remember? You said something like, 'If something costs copper five coins, you'd remove a coin. If something costs five silver coins, you'd remove one silver coin.' You said these things cost two gold each, so I'm guessing... you're removing one gold coin."

Anne stammered, "But, but that's..." She sighed, interrupting her own speech. "Alright, I'm guessing you're going to have to buy them for one gold coin each then."

Tyler said, "Right, thank you," with a smile on his face.

Anne looked at Tyler and smiled back a bit. "Oh," she gasped, as if she suddenly remembered something. "There's something I really want to show you, now that you're here."

Tyler asked, "What is it?"

Anne said, "No, no, I'll show you once you buy the materials."

Tyler nodded. "Okay." He looked over the crates, his gaze calculating. "Alright, I want to buy eight silver ores, eight copper ores, eight iron ores, and eight steel ores. I want all of them to be large."

Anne replied, "Oh, that is a lot of large ores."

Tyler looked at Anne. "Oh, and I want seven large zinc ores too."

Anne's eyes widened slightly. "That is a lot of gold though. Do you have that much?"

"Of course," Tyler said, a confident smile on his face. He turned to Anne and put his palms together, extending his hands towards her. Suddenly, a collection of gold, silver, and a small amount of copper coins materialized in his hands.

Anne slowly said, "Wow," as she looked at the gleaming gold, the shining silver, and the copper coins. She then said, "Thank you," as she took all of the money from Tyler.

"All the ores are mine now, right? The ones I bought, I mean," Tyler asked.

Anne nodded, her eyes still on the coins in her hands. "Yes."

"All right," Tyler said. He then started gathering the ores. He lifted the iron ores one by one, each ore as big as a football, or even bigger, and quite heavy. He lifted each one, and they disappeared into his inventory. He repeated the process with each type of ore he had purchased.

Once Tyler finished putting all the ores he had bought into his inventory, he turned around to see Anne. She had left the room.

"Where did she go?" Tyler thought. *She suddenly disappeared. Leaving me alone with these ores could be dangerous. Does she trust me that much?*

Anne suddenly entered the room, saying, "Oh, sorry, I went to put back the money onto the counter. Anyways, you've collected all of them, right?"

"Right," Tyler confirmed.

Anne said, "Right, come here, let me show you."

Tyler followed Anne to the spot she was leading him. They exited the storage room. Looking towards the counter, Tyler noticed spaces behind it. Some were filled with pouches. And, tucked away in the far corner, was a wooden crate filled with red iron. Tyler was surprised. He thought to himself, *Wait, isn't that...*

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by Anne, who picked up one of the red iron bricks and said, "Surprise! What do you think?"

Tyler replied, "Oh... I'm a bit surprised. What is it?" Internally, Tyler thought, *I'm just gonna act dumb.*

Anne answered, a bit of excitement in her voice, "This is crimson iron. It's a new kind of iron that people found. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Tyler said, "Yeah, it's.... beautiful." * Did they just give it a name?*

"I'm planning on selling these bars for a lot of gold. I bought them for a lot, you know," Anne said.

"How much did you buy them for?"

Anne put her hand on her chin, considering. "One brick cost about five gold, I think."

Tyler's mouth gaped open. "What? Five gold?"

"Yeah, I'm planning on selling them for about seven gold. Wait, eight. I'm selling them for eight gold! This is a really rare kind of material, you know. It's not just iron."

Tyler thought to himself *Five gold? So you're telling me I can make a lot of money just copying the material from my blade and selling it to them? Should i even craft at this point?.*

"This iron... Old man Ron bought some of it, and he said it's strange. He said it's good for crafting, but..." Anne paused, her voice lowering. "He said it's filled with other elements too. He was actually fascinated about it. So, he bought a lot of them... here. These are the only crimson iron bricks left. You wanna buy some?"

Tyler replied, "No, I don't have any money left."

"Oh," Anne said. "Then I guess I should have shown you these before you bought the materials back then, huh?"

Tyler said, "Nah, I don't think it would make a difference. I really wanted these iron ores specifically, them for a reason. But thanks for showing me these iron bars. When I make some money, who knows, I might actually come and buy them."

Anne said, "I'm afraid it might be too late for that. Some people actually said the same thing, and people are looking for them right now."

Tyler chuckled a little. "Yeah. Anyways, I need to go craft some items now."

"Oh, okay," Anne said. "Well, please drop by once in a while. Don't be a stranger, alright?"

Tyler said, "I will."

"Even if you're not buying anything, you can still drop by and we can talk. You're pretty fun to talk to. You're a good listener," Anne said with a smile.

Tyler thought to himself, *I'm just good at bearing with it... then again, I don't think it would be so bad talking to her if I wasn't here for anything else.* "I'll drop by here from time to time ," Tyler said, a small smile on his face. "All right, bye." He turned and walked away.

Anne said, "Bye," as Tyler left the shop. She sighed, returned the crimson iron brick to the crate, and thought to herself, *He left... I'm just going to get bored again.* She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. *He's really an interesting guy. So many amazing skills... And he's saying he's a craftsman? No, he must have been joking,* she said as she slumped against the counter.

Meanwhile, Tyler walked through the marketplace, already deciding what to craft next. * I've already crafted bashing hammers... and some other things. I have to also craft new items.* He pondered, *But which ones will I craft exactly? I don't think I can put them all here for Hector to sell. That'd be a lot. He has other items he wants to sell too. But not to think bad of it or anything, but I think mine attracted more attention than his.*

Thoughts of crafting and recipes swelled in Tyler's mind as he walked until he got back into the shop. He entered the store, meeting Emily.

Tyler said, "I'm back."

Emily said, "Oh, did you find what you needed?"

Tyler said, "Yeah, I have them. I have enough to craft some more materials." He said as he headed towards the crafting room.

*He probably has them stored away with that ability he has. It's truly an amazing ability. And to think he had it when he was E-Ranked.*

Hector saw Tyler enter and said, " You're back."

Tyler said, "Yeah, I got the items..."

Hector, finishing the sentence, said, "well, that took long?"

Tyler answered, "Yeah. But I have them. I can craft a lot of things now."

Tyler sat back on the bench near the back door, and the system's recipe list appeared before him again. He thought to himself, *I need to craft potions as well, actually. I'm planning on crafting every single thing in my recipes here, as long as I have the ingredients. I have to craft all of it.*

"Okay, let's start," he muttered to himself.

Tyler then started crafting, going through the recipes one by one, crafting most of the materials for which he had the ingredients. He wanted to craft everything before enhancing them. He didn't know how many times they could be enhanced, but he was eager to try.

But as Tyler was crafting, in between his thoughts, the memory of Rebecca surfaced again. He kept refocusing his attention on the crafting, but the feeling left a small ache in his heart.

Tyler then thought of Anne as the system panel was loading in front of him. He smiled a little, remembering their conversation. *Can't believe she was about to sell me my own material... Crimson iron... they even gave it a name already. I wonder how she's going to react when I bring a lot of them and sell them to her.*

Tyler's thoughts were interrupted as the system panel disappeared, immediately replaced by another notification: "Crafting Successful."

Tyler smiled and muttered, "Alright, it's time to enhance them."

Tyler stood up and went to the metal table that Hector sometimes used for his swords. He was surprised to find that Hector was no longer in the room. *"Must have been too focused to even notice that he left."*

Tyler then summoned the Bashing Hammer from his inventory. It materialized right in his hand. It was just as he remembered: its silver head gleamed in the sunlight, and the iron handle was smooth and shiny, bearing the familiar symbol.

Tyler looked at it, and the system panel appeared, hovering above the hammer and reading: "BASHING HAMMER: 67 ATK - Skill: Bash"

Tyler smiled and put it on the metal table. "Let's start with you first," he muttered.

He opened his palm and an enhancement stone materialized on it. It was a blue crystal, its faint glow almost overwhelmed by the sunlight. Tyler put it close to the hammer head and applied some mana to it. He felt the familiar sensation of mana flowing from the center of his chest and spreading, the majority of it directed towards the enhancement stone.

The enhancement stone pulsed with a faint blue light, which steadily grew brighter. The air near the hammer seemed to shimmer, as if heated. Within a fraction of a second, the crystal shattered, exploding into a cloud of azure dust. The dust immediately swirled and then seemed to be absorbed by the hammer, vanishing as if the metal was drinking it. The system then flashed to life, displaying: "Enhancement Successful."

Tyler smiled, a sense of satisfaction washing over him. *It worked!*

The system panel re-emerged, displaying the updated stats: "BASHING HAMMER: 134 ATK - Skill: Bash - MC: 30."

He examined the numbers. The attack power had clearly increased, and the mana consumption had also risen. He tapped his chin, considering the effects. *"I think Bash increased my attack power by 30% every time I activated it,"* Tyler thought, "*So... now it's 60%, right?"*

"That would mean..." Tyler murmured, trying to do the math in his head. He quickly gave up, a rueful expression on his face. "Ah, that's a lot of work. Why was I so bad at math? Should have listened to my teacher... Then again, nobody in class listened to our teacher."

He opened his palm, and another enhancement stone materialized. He turned back to the Bashing Hammer, its surface now gleaming. He focused his attention on it. He channeled his mana, and carefully placed the stone near the hammer. The crystal then began to glow, growing brighter. And then, with a bright flash, it broke. The dust scattered into the air as if the hammer was drawing it in. The system then read:

"Enhancement Successful."

Tyler's eyes widened. *Another success?* A thrill shot through him.

Tyler was curious to see what had changed in the Bashing Hammer. The system then materialized above it, displaying: "BASHING HAMMER: 268 ATK - Skill: Bash - MC: 60."

Tyler was even more surprised. He muttered to himself, "So, it still doubles the effect that has been doubled." He paused. "The Bashing Hammer now has an attack that's similar to my Terror Dagger... I can't believe this."

He continued, "The mana consumption is now 60... Wait, does that mean that the Bash skill gives a 120% boost to your attack?"

Tyler then wondered if the Bash skill had been affected by the enhancement process. The system suddenly answered his curiosity, as if anticipating his question. A blue text box appeared, reading: "The Bash skill boosts the user's attack by 120% per strike when activated."

*It even affected the skill just like how it affected my armor's. So that would mean I can enhance my armor again... but what would happen...*

*The system already said something like, 'I broke the sound barrier,'* he thought, *how fast would I be?*

Tyler considered it, then shook his head. "Nah... this is a bad choice. I can't upgrade it again, and try to use Charge again, who knows, I might actually die this time. I really need to increase my stamina if I want to do that again. Right now, the speed is fine. Even though I can still decrease my speed while running. There's a certain limit to how I can decrease it, I realized. When I was hunting with Rebecca..."

Tyler opened his palm, and another enhancement stone materialized. He put it close to the Bashing Hammer and applied his mana. The enhancement stone started to glow, getting brighter and brighter until it shattered. The dust was absorbed by the hammer. The system panel then abruptly appeared before his eyes, written in red: "This item can only be enhanced twice (2/2)."

Tyler read the message and thought, *Oh, so the items have a limit to how many times they can be enhanced, that tracks.* He continued thinking, *If they didn't, I would just use one item to go to different monster zones... Yellow, red, and orange...*

Tyler remembered the system message. *But it said 'this', which means it's only talking about this item.* He thought, *Who knows? Maybe some of them can only be enhanced once... maybe thrice.*

The Bashing Hammer then disappeared back into Tyler's inventory.

Tyler muttered, "But my enhancement stone is gone though."

As he spoke, the Copper Daggers materialized in his hands. They gleamed in the sunlight as he placed them on the metal table. He took the enhancement stone from his inventory, and it appeared in his hand.

Tyler managed to enhance the Copper Daggers thrice in a row, a feat which actually surprised him the third time. But then, the system alerted Tyler that this item can only be enhanced thrice. He looked at the Copper Daggers' current stats, now displayed: "ATK: 352 + 56% speed."

Tyler muttered, "Holy... this is... this is insane! This *useless* thing became the most powerful item I have right now! And the speed... it's now 56%, and it's always active when a person uses the dagger! This is actually becoming a bit dangerous, if it allowed me to enhance it the fourth time..."

Tyler continued to stare at the daggers on the table, a growing sense of unease settling over him. *This is actually getting scary. All these useless items might become the most powerful items I have... What even happens if I enhance my Terror Dagger?*

The Terror Dagger then materialized in Tyler's hands. Its red, smooth surface reflected the sunlight. He thought, *How many times can this be enhanced?*