Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

If Adam wanted to have really good members in his guild, there were two ways. He either had to recruit from other guilds and steal their talented members, or he would have to take a place for himself, such as a city, and train youths there.

And that was valid for both the real world and the gaming world. A Super Guild couldn't just rise in a year or two, each one would take at least a decade of development, if started from scratch. The only shortcut to become a Super Guild was to merge several guilds together, but then the loyalty of the members would never be 100% sure.

That was also why Adam had told his brother that even if he was 16, he would get to play the game, and he would probably be considered of the early generation on the game.

After all, this game was really like a second world, just reaching the max level and rank would take years. And even if one reached the maximum rank, there would still be a lot of things to do. There had even been rumors recently of players starting relationships with NPCs.

All in all, even though there had already been a lot of games in the past, Epoch was really unique for its realism that pushed beyond every barrier, and it was effectively changing today's world.

But no matter how big this game's life would be, if Adam wanted to matter in it and to be someone of importance, he needed to always keep getting stronger and stronger, and today that was exactly what he wanted to do.

Although he liked his set equipment, they were only Level 20, and he was Level 28. The gap of attributes between those two levels wasn't that big, but Adam had the Godslayer's Heart first skill unlocked, which allowed him to ignore ten levels on an equipment.

That meant he could get himself Level 38 Equipment, and the difference was to big not to be cared about. The Level 38 Uncommon Equipment were already stronger than his equipments in terms of attributes, and the only reason he kept his set was because of the skills.

However, if he had found a Level 38 Uncommon set then he would have clearly swapped. That's why, it was clearly time for him to change. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to change his sword.

So from today onward, Adam decided he would hunt for better pieces of equipment. He didn't aim for a set, it was too hard to find those, but he wanted to find equipment that was at least of the Rare quality, and possibly Extraordinary.

Moreover, he would search for Level 40 equipment, first because it was a round number and it felt better, but more importantly because he clearly wouldn't be able to find the perfect match of equipments in a single day, so he would probably level up once or twice before he gathered everything.

To find his new equipment, Adam decided not to leave it to chance, but to actually ask a forger to forge the equipments for him. He had already decided he wouldn't ask a player, because they weren't high leveled enough to make something satisfactory for him, so he would have to ask NPCs.

That's why, in the past few days he had asked his NPCs friends and subordinates everything there had to be known about forgers, so that he would find the right one.

And he was glad he did, or he would have regretted it. In the game, not every blacksmiths were the same, there were different styles of smiths that would create different kind of equipments.

There were four styles, and each of them could be described as such.

Cloud Style: Armors made with furs and plants that focus on Intelligence or Agility.

Moon Style: Armors made with thin and flexible metals that focus on Agility.

Sun Style: Armors made with thick and flexible metals that focus on Strength.

Rock Style: Armors made with thick and hard metals that focus on Endurance.

The style would change the attributes and aesthetics of the equipments, but there also could be equipments that mixed different styles, but those were special cases.

But the style wasn't the only factor that mattered for the attributes of an equipment, the type also mattered. The primary attribute of a Sun Style armor would always be Strength, but the secondary would depend on which type of armor it was.

For example, boots would offer Agility as a secondary attribute, while gauntlets would strengthen the Strength bonus. But through special forging techniques, even the type could be ignored, so that's why finding the good blacksmith was important.

The best equipments in the world were made in Alorge Mountains, but it didn't mean the other Racial Powers didn't have any competent blacksmiths, which was why one didn't necessarily have to go to Alorge Mountains to ask a blacksmith for equipment.

Different races mastered different styles. For example, the best Moon Style blacksmith in the world wasn't actually a member of Alorge Mountain, but actually a Light Elf in Aldeneid.

However, not just everyone could ask this blacksmith for help, because there weren't many blacksmiths of such level in Aldeneid. However, if one went to Alorge Mountains, although one wouldn't be able to send a commission to the world's best, the chances of hiring a high rank blacksmith was more likely.

What Adam wanted was a Helmet, Gauntlets, Chestplate and Boots of the Extraordinary Grade, and if possible he wanted equipment that could level up from Level 40 to Level 50. Even though those were low levels equipments, making a level 40 Extraordinary equipment was harder than making a Level 100 Extraordinary equipment, and adding the growing attribute to the equipments would be very hard.

That's why, although several races mastered the Sun Style, he had to go to the power that had the most chances to be able to accept his demand.

The races that mastered the Sun Style were: Northmen, Orcs and Dwarves. This means he either had to go to Alorge Mountains, Buwog or stay in the Coldlands.

Adam had asked the dwarves from the dwarven village he helped if one of them could make him such an equipment, but as expected it was too difficult for them. Their strongest blacksmiths were Level 50, so it was way too difficult for them.

Adam had also made a trip to Fjora and searched for the greatest smiths he could ask for, which was actually a whole lot of them because of his importance to the Empire. Heck, if he wanted he could probably ask the equipment to the best blacksmith in the whole Empire since he had accepted that task from the Emperor to hide his child's talent.

However, he didn't have the money to ask the right blacksmiths for his equipment. Every blacksmith capable of granting him his request were renown and respected blacksmiths, and so their price was too high for him to afford.

Even if Adam went to gather the ingredients himself, which he intended to do either way, just the commission was too much for him because they all were vastly overqualified for the task as they were mostly around level 200.

That's why, Adam had to find a blacksmith that wasn't too high leveled, preferably under level 100, who could make him his armor and not charge him too much for it.

Adam had quite the budget, since he didn't need to convert his Gold into credits anymore. Arin from Night Wolves, who had made that deal with him for the Level 50 equipment, had asked him if he wanted to switch the payment from credits to Gold after he heard of his real identity and that the problem with his brother was solved.

Adam had refused, because they had already made a deal, but he didn't forget they were ready to switch, and so he now classed them as friendly, and if they needed help in the future, he would help.

But back to his money, since he didn't need it in real life anymore, all the money he got in the game was either for his guild or for his equipment.

Right now, after coming back from his brother's hospital, Adam had 120 Gold Coins. This was far from enough to buy his armor, because if he had to get an armor, it would be the best.

Another advantage from asking for an armor to be specially made for himself, was that he could get the perfect dimensions for the armor, and thus gain the [Perfect Fit] bonus that would enhance the effects of the armor by 20%. This bonus would only be in effect on him, but it would make it even more expensive.

If Adam wanted this armor to be made for him, then he would have to pay in the hundreds of Golds. Thankfully, he had the mine.