Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 76: Blacksmith Guild

"Are you done talking to yourself?!"

August asked when he noticed Kieran’s attention finally back on him again.

"You were all over the place, easy to read. You basically gave yourself away."

"Are you sure you’ve been practicing the technique you got?"

’Or did I make a mistake?’

August completed the sentence within him before dismissing that thought.

He had also practiced the technique and he knew how hard it was to make the slightest progress and how much benefit that progress could bring in the long run.

Although he had to admit it, he had high hopes for Kieran and that might have made him increase his expectations to an unreasonable level.

"While the effects of the technique are unique to each practitioner depending on the way we comprehend it, the basics and idea behind each of them is still the same."

"The first step is still about you getting to understand your body, down to the final detail. Understand it and listen to it."

"Notice that when you were in a state of extreme awareness, you barely thought before your body moved. You just flowed."

"That there, is what you are trying to achieve on a more deep and concentrated level. But, you tend to fight it when you are still conscious. Thinking and plotting what move to make next."

"You have to be able to feel where your body wants you to go, what it wants you to do, and you have to trust that feeling."

August explained sitting in front of Kieran who had recovered enough strength to sit upright facing him.

"And to do that, you also have to know all the stupid things you do in battle, your habitual actions whenever you go for an attack, whenever you want to fake one, your muscle movements and so on"

"If you don’t get that right soon, I’ll have no choice but to knock into you, kid," August said with a look that promised more pain.

"Don’t make me enjoy this too much."

A sigh escaped Kieran’s mouth at his words. There was no way he would willingly get his ass whooped all day. He wasn’t that crazy. Besides, he couldn’t bear the look of glee on the instructor’s face whenever he landed an attack on him.

He would rather go through the stress of cracking his head on how to apply August’s corrections.

Talking of corrections, what August had just said reminded him of the words of the creature he had met in the swamp. The creature had asked him why he was fighting against himself. He hadn’t understood its words then and he still didn’t understand its words now either.

"That’s all for today. Come back tomorrow for a spar with Derrick, then we will discuss how to go about your group missions. They’ve been waiting for you."

August said, picking up the cane and going to place it back on the weapon rack.

The sound of Kieran’s feet and the rustle of his clothes could be heard behind him as he prepared to take his leave.

"The list will be out soon. You can test your hand with the lower ranks, but don’t go too far. That’s not an advice. It’s an order!"

"Yes sir!" Kieran saluted upon receiving his instructors order.

"I won’t be surprised of you lost against the bottom rankers either!"

August added in a slightly sour tone as the sound of Kieran’s steps became extremely faint before disappearing altogether.

Kieran on his way to his dorm, pondered about the instructor’s words. Ever since he had gotten the manual, ’Lost Origins’, this had been his usual routine outside the kitchen after he had spoken with the head chef who gladly agreed to reduce his workload and time.

He barely even visited the library, but he still made a conscious effort to check in on Leora, who was rather surprised to say the least when she saw the text from him saying that he just wanted to check up in her and nothing else.

The notion of going to her only when he needed something felt uncomfortable to him. Like he kept on being in her debt whenever she answered him readily without asking directly anything in response.

While the talk hadn’t solved the nagging feeling of being in her debt, it eased his mind a little. His feet were carrying him to his dorm, but halfway there, he stopped, his eyes narrowing.

"The scythe," he muttered, turning around and heading for the weapon storage where they usually kept all their personal weapons and picked up his scythe from the locker bearing his name. Opening up the locker with his name on it, he pulled out the weapon.

The scythe was marred with the dried blood of several beasts, and his, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. It was a small crack across the blade of the weapon.

Inspecting the weapon which gleamed dully under the storage room’s light, Kieran felt his stomach clench as he noticed a several other cracks along the body and blade of the scythe, each of them spidering out like a silent threat, he weight of every reckless swing flashing through his mind.

He had really put it through a lot of stress, going after opponents which were stronger than him. There were times where he relied on the sharpness and durability of the weapon to attack rather than his strength and technique. Now, the effects had begun to catch up.

’I need to get this fixed’

Kieran thought, shutting the locker in front of him.

Now that he had become an official second year, he had the right to sanction weapon from the artisans or blacksmith guild as they liked to call themselves.

They were an independent organization which were responsible for crafting weapons and delicate machine parts throughout the vast majority of planets owned by humans.

They were by far, the biggest artisan organization in humanity and even the military had made a deal with them to open their branches in their camp.

All the weapons they used in the camp had been forged by the members of the branch in this camp.

While the military also had its own department in charge of crafts like this, they were still several levels behind the blacksmith guild in terms of skill.

The basic weapons they had been given as first years like the scythe in his hands had also been forged by the blacksmiths, but these types of weapons were considered by them to be of the lowest quality, mass produces by the apprentices.

They were artisans, not factory workers. The real masters in there, regardless of their level all preferred to make custom weapons, but not only were those extremely expensive, the client was also required to deliver all the materials needed to the blacksmith.

But it was considered worth it as the end result always plastered a smile on the customers faces.

Unfortunately, Kieran didn’t think that sanctioning a weapon right now was the best choice. Not only did he have better things he was saving his CP for. As a new, low ranked year two recruit, he could only sanction a up to a level 3 weapon which wasn’t much better than the level 2 one in his hands.

It wasn’t worth it to him currently, the best option he had now was to take it to their store and hope that he could get it fixed without being forced to get a new one.

"Sigh!"

Kieran let out a deep sigh, thinking about all these things.

He had seen the weapon Ruby wielded earlier and he was pretty sure that it was above level 3. Either she was already above him in levels or that was one of the rules the camp had let the Noble families set in place to favor their heritage, making things hard for people like him.

"Hmm?"

Kieran was removed from his thoughts when his eyes caught a faint blue shadow that had just passed his side.

Turning around, he noticed the fading figure of someone with shirt blue hair. The figure felt familiar, but he wasn’t sure if he had seen someone with short blue hair around. He was about to conclude that it was one of the other second years had had been here for longer when he noticed the male who was accompanying her.

’Hmm? I know him! Then that should be...Sabrina?’

’What happened to her?’

Kieran wondered what could’ve turned the vibrant noble who had always stood out to him into that. He almost didn’t recognize her with her short hair.

"Hmm"

And with that, Kieran had forgotten about what he had just seen. He had a place where he was supposed to be. He couldn’t be bothered if a single person in this camp had gone through a personality change, he always thought she was taking the whole thing as a joke despite being as competent as she was.

"Hello?!"

Kieran called out when he arrived at the open counter of the shop.

Just like most of the buildings in the camp, it was built into the walls of the camp, making one unable to guess its size from outside.

There was a cut out, the size of a wide window, and a slab of stone was extending out from the wall, serving as a counter.

At the top of the opening, was a wooden board which carried an intricate carving that wrote "Blacksmith guild".

Unfortunately for Kieran, there was no one on the other side of the counter, even after calling out for a few minutes.

Kieran sighed, stepping back from the counter, ready to try again later. But just as he turned to leave, a faint clatter echoed from within, followed by some shuffled footsteps and faint muttering. Someone was there.