XXX System (has been republished)

"Come on boy, add some effort to it!" Darwin shouted, monitoring Kyle clanging at a scorching hot sword. After Kyle and Darwin's little bonding, the duo then proceeded to the next stage which was forging an equipment.

"To forge an equipment requires different processes, but let's discuss the basics first." Darwin said, picking up a slate of the thick metal piled together. To craft a weapon, you must have a quality steel. that is not just any quality steel, but the one made from titanium.

Darwin said, placing the metal slate on the wooden table.

"But isn't titanium hard to find?" Kyle asked. Back on earth, titanium was considered a rare metal hard to find. The only people that had access to it were high valued individuals, and most government organizations. Few of the previous private Corps had, but they were usually few and mainly rich to afford it.

Titanium was a high quality metal, used to create different items such as safes, doors, and even military weapons and equipments. It was usually mostly rare reachers came across titanium mining sites, as humanity was still at it's early technological state.

Staring at him weirdly for a while, Darwin burst out in laughter making Kyle frown a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Haha! W-what fucking planet did you come out from boy?" Darwin stuttered, clutching his guts a bit unable to hold in his laughter. "Titanium is a common material found here. It's sold everywhere across the market, and it's easy to find. Hell! It doesn't even cost much, though you commoners could afford it over many years works." Darwin chipped in, making Kyle's eye widen a bit at this revelation. He'd totally forgotten he was in a different planet, and things worked much more differently here in Lumia kingdom.

"If you don't mind, could you rank the various metals one could find. Teacher." Kyle said in a polite tone, trying his best to act as humble as he could. Looking at him Darwin was lost for words, with a blank expression.

"Did I hit him too hard?" Darwin thought staring at his fist. He feared he might've hit Kyle too hard on the head, as it looked like the latter might be suffering from memory loss.

"Anyways.. since you asked nicely I guess I could." Darwin proudly spoke to which Kyle cursed internally, maintaing a poker face.

"There are currently ten metals found across planets." Darwin calmly said, gently stroking his beard. Kyle had wanted to get information about this world as much as he could, and he would do anything to achieve this even if it meant being a 'good student'.

He'd thought titanium could only be found vastly in this planet, but judging from Darwin's words. It looked like it was really a common metal, found in different planets.

"The last is berch, found everywhere and of very low quality. Ninth is callcoil, silver in nature also low quality. Eighth being titanium, found everywhere and of basic quality. Seventh is scarch, red in colour and can be found in planets with high volcanic, properties, it's medium quality. Sixth golfer, can be found in planets rich in gold, medium quality. Fifth Griffith, ash in colour, can be found in planets rich in earth, also medium quality. Darwin paused, seeing Kyle had his hand on his chin pondering about something.

"Don't tell me you're lost boy." Darwin frowned, darting a murderous glare at Kyle. "Am not going back-"

"Am not lost." Kyle spoke, making Darwin scoff a bit suspiciously staring at him before continuing.

"Fourth is allium, hard to find but of high quality. Third is ethereal, found in very little planets, bloody expensive, and very scarce to locate, also high quality. Second is frost, found in planets with extreme cold weathers, where temperature reaches 0 on a good day and -degree on a bad day." Darwin chuckled, nudging Kyle's shoulders a bit.

"And finally last on the list is ellum." Kyle saw Darwin paused a bit, and he could sense the tension. "It is found only on one planet, ellysium, which is at a distinct far corner across the galaxy. It is extremely high in quality, but no one knows it color."

"And why is that?" Kyle asked with a neutral expression, a little excited. He was hoping to ascertain it's colour, if maybe he encountered it someday in future.

"Because no one has ever found it, nor know of ellysium's whereabouts." Darwin softly said, causing Kyle's eye to twitch a bit, his former excitement plummeted.

"I-if no one has ever found it, then how do you know of it and it's planet?" Kyle found it strange how according to Darwin, no one knew of ellum and ellysium's whereabouts but there existence?

"Simple.. it's a myth. At least for now, anyways.. but between you and I, it's real." Darwin whispered, making Kyle's interest more piqued. Anyways, there are various other metals still undiscovered, so I won't dwell much on it. Darwin said to which Kyle nodded.

[+5 intelligence]

'huh? now that's sudden.' Kyle inwardly said, staring at the system notification which popped up. He didn't expect to gain five more additional intelligence point, but he'd guessed it was because of his knowledge of metals across planets expanded.

"Next process is the heating step." Darwin said, grabbing the edges of the titanium slate with a pair of tongs. He then proceeded to the furnace, placing the metal in it and heating for some minutes after which he bought it out.

Kyle could see the slate was now a bright yellow, as Darwin placed it on an anvil. He then proceeded to shape the corner of the slate, into a sword with his hammer. Making sure to tamper both sides of the steel evenly.

Bevelling the edges of the steel with his hammer, to create a cutting edge on one side, he hammered away. After a while Darwin then stopped, flipping the sword on the anvil, hammering the other side until both were even.

'This dwarf.. just how much strength does he have?' Kyle wondered, staring at Darwin sweating buckets of water. The force he used when clanging the sword, was equivalent to when Kyle punched a hole through the wall. Even the clanging noises were louder than a gunshot, the sound revibrating through the whole room. Sparks of flames flying everywhere, as the hammer collided with the sword.

"Now that we have the shape, we're gonna reheat it a couple of times to normalize the steel." Darwin said, placing the sword to the furnace again, allowing it to heat for about ten minutes. Bringing it out to cool, so the red died off then repeating the process again.

Using a sand belter he sanded the sword, reheating it and quickly quenching it in oil. "Quenching it in oil hardenes the steel. If you're too slow the sword blade won't harden properly, so don't be." Darwin said, observing Kyle was paying full attention to what he was doing.

'Hm-hmm.. maybe I might just get my first student.' Darwin chuckled a bit, slightly shaking his head. Carrying the sword, he then went to the furnace, adjusting the heat by twisting a circular device by the side.

"This will relax the brittleness and stress induced by the quenching process." Darwin calmly said, leaving the sword to heat for a while, bringing it out and placing it on the table. Leaving it to cool naturally.

Kyle could tell this was the finishing step, as Darwin brought out an already made dark hilt strapping it to the cooled sword.

"That's all for forging a normal sword boy.. any questions?" Darwin asked, flashing the sword before Kyle's eye.

"What do you mean by that's all for forging a normal sword. Is there another type of sword?" Kyle asked, pretending to be confused. Looking at him, Darwin was hesitant a bit seemingly thinking about something.

"You know what mana crystals are right?" He softly asked to which Kyle nodded.

"What about beast crystals?" Darwin asked again, this time it was Kyle who paused. He didn't know if he should lie to Darwin, or just come out true.

"I've heard about them, but I've never really seen one. but I heard they're gotten from dead beasts, by adventurers who kills them." Kyle honestly said not breaking eye contact.

"You heard right boy. Beast crystals can be considered the life source of a beast, which it develops from birth. It can be used for various things, such as a source of energy for powering up things, or crafting equipments." Darwin said to which Kyle widened his eyes, acting surprised playing the dumb card.

"There are three types of equipments." Darwin continued, stroking his beard. "First is normal equipments, made from basic common components easily found everywhere. Second is mana equipments, made from mana crystals sold at a high price. And last is beast equipments, made from beast cores like swords, spears, shields.."

"The rarity is very scarce, and it takes a lot of luck to find one." Darwin said shaking his head.

"Now it's your turn boy." Darwin said to which Kyle just nodded, walking over to the wooden table picking a slate and placing it on the table.

'You can do this Kyle..'