Following behind Michael, Valyr was swiftly led to another part of the Blacksmith Guild’s building, a part that was far more secluded than the main hall he was in earlier. Entering one of the various rooms lined up against one of the building’s multiple corridors, Valyr was soon greeted by the sight of a decently furnished room containing most amenities one would need to live a comfortable life.
In there was a middle-aged man that seemed to be in his fifties, idly gazing out the large bay window as he sipped on a cup of tea. Hearing people enter his room, the man shifted his attention to those who had appeared before showing an amicable smile.
“This a new member, Michael?” the man asked, to which Michael nodded in response.
“They’re currently undergoing the registering process. Please identify their current class,” Michael said before telling Valyr he was going to take his leave.
Being left alone in a room with a middle-aged man, Valyr could not help but feel a hint of nervousness. Noticing his nervousness, the man let out a light chuckle before standing up and moving closer to Valyr, extending his hand out for a handshake.
“Nice to meet you. The name’s Baltazar. I’m one of the resident class appraisers here in this branch of the Blacksmith Guild.” Hearing the words that came out of the man’s mouth, the nervousness that Valyr felt quickly disappeared as he reciprocated the handshake, smiling back as he opened his mouth soon after.
“Valyr. As you’ve heard from Michael, I’m applying as a member of the Blacksmith Guild.”𝒩𝗈𝗏𝐞𝑙xt.𝑐𝗈𝑚
“And so you should.” Baltazar nodded in agreement after looking at Valyr from head to toe. “Most Rank 1 class holders tend to ignore the fact that it’s necessary for them to join their respective class guilds if they want to go far.”
“Then again, not all people would be willing to listen.” Shrugging his shoulders in nonchalance, Baltazar went ahead and instructed Valyr to take a seat on the chair he was sitting earlier. Following the instruction, Valyr sat on it, waiting for the former to tell him what to do next.
“You just sit there and look pretty. While you do that, I’ll use a skill to check your class. Once I certify that you have a class or subclass related to blacksmithing, you can head to the door on your left and proceed with the final step of the process.” As he said these words, Baltazar pointed at the wooden door to his right, prompting Valyr to look at his left before nodding in response.
“[Greater Analysis].” Without any countdown or warning, Baltazar soon activated a skill, causing a light blue tint to cover his eyes. A few seconds later, this light blue tint gained a second layer, taking on a slightly darker blue color, giving off the feeling that Baltazar was currently wearing glasses of some sort.
With the skill activated, he gazed at Valyr, prompting a screen to appear in front of his field of vision a few seconds later. With that, he dispelled the skill, reading through Valyr’s status screen, only for his eyes to briefly widen in surprise before returning to normal.
“I must say, you’ve got quite the special blacksmith class.” Closing up the status screen in front of him, Baltazar looked at Valyr with a knowing smile, prompting the latter to bitterly smile back.
“It would be great if you could keep my class a secret.” In response to his words, Valyr gave a request to him, only doing so after he was certain that the man before him was truly amicable with him.
Hearing the request, Baltazar wryly smiled before shaking his head. “Unfortunately, I can’t do that. It’s standard protocol for all class appraisers in any class guild to send all of the information they’ve received to the guild. I apologize.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t have much hope anyway.” Wryly smiling after hearing Baltazar’s words, Valyr could not help but let out an inward sigh. Though he knew it was impossible for his class to be hidden during the registration process, he still tried nevertheless, knowing the types of repercussions that might befall on him in the future if people were to find out his current class.
‘Let’s just hope this information doesn’t land under the wrong hands.’ With that thought in mind, Valyr consoled himself as he thanked Baltazar for his time. In response to that, Baltazar apologized once more, telling him that he would make sure that only the higher-ups in the guild would be eligible to find his current information, which made Valyr smile as he thanked the man one more time.
After that, he made his way through the door Baltazar had mentioned earlier, eventually arriving at a room that looked similar to the smithy back at Astarto Village.
Just as he was wondering where the proctor was, a man in his thirties with ash blonde hair appeared before him all of a sudden, prompting him to turn around and take a few steps back in surprise.
Seeing Valyr’s reaction to his move, the man could not help but lightly chuckle. “Sorry, sorry. I just like doing that to all of the people who are registering to the guild.”
“Anyways, let me introduce myself. The name’s Niall. I’m a Rank 2 blacksmith, and I shall be your proctor for today.” The man went ahead and introduced himself, prompting Valyr to do the same soon after.
“Considering that you’ve appeared in this room, I presume my father was the one who appraised your class, no?” Hearing these words, Valyr’s eyes could not help but slightly widen as he took a better look at the man before him, quickly noticing a few similarities between the facial features of the two.
Nodding in response, Niall smiled. “Glad to find that out. Well, let’s not waste any more time. What you have to do is choose a blueprint from the nearby shelf and craft the equipment on the blueprint under my supervision. However, do note that the guild will take your final result once you are done.”
“As for the blueprint you choose, consider that the thing you obtain from the registration fee you paid for.”
After asking Niall a couple more questions, Valyr went ahead and perused through the various blueprints he could choose from on the shelf, eventually settling for a Common grade blueprint of a broadsword. After the information of the blueprint was added to his memory through the help of the system, he went ahead and placed the blueprint back on the shelf before chucking in the metals the blueprint called for into the already roaring hot furnace.
Eventually, once the metals were at the right time for forging, he took them out with a pair of tongs before placing them on the anvil, hammering away at it soon after. Within minutes, he had found a suitable rhythm to work with, heating up the metal he was hammering at in the furnace every once in a while, before returning to shaping the metal into the blade of a broadsword.
As it was just a piece of equipment he had to craft to get registered to the guild and not a piece of equipment he would use, Valyr opted not to use the hyperfocus ability of [Gambler’s Discerning Eyes]. Nevertheless, the final result of his forging still made Niall whistle in slight admiration as he quenched the blade in a barrel of warm oil.
Wiping off the excess oil that dripped off the blade, Valyr then gave it to Niall for inspection. Moving the blade closer to his face, Niall looked at the entire surface of the broadsword blade, eventually placing it down as he nodded at Valyr in satisfaction.
“Attach a handle and a suitable guard on it and you’ve got yourself a well-crafted broadsword,” Niall could not help but say.
“With what you’ve shown me here, you pass the final test. From this day onward, you’re now officially a member of the Blacksmith Guild.”
“Congratulations, Valyr.”