Preparation for Level Up 4

"Ladies and gentlemen of the myriad races I Junndur will be your host for this year's Treasure Hall Auction. The first itemis a slighlty rare dragon bone that still holds a small amount of blood. It is impure however and will only help those in the squire or apprentice mage levels. Starting bid is 5,000.Each additional bid must raise bg 500. We are talking gold so no shenanigans."

I immediately began my bidding. dragon blood is what I needed for the second stage of the Dragon's Forged Body Art. "10,000"

"11,000"

"15,000"

"23,000" I shouted out.

"23,000 going once? Going twice? Sold to Glass room #3."

I didnt bid again until the 15th item. "The next item is considered a common tier three but rare tier four blacksmithing ingredient. It is Purple Iron Ore, in the quantity of 2 tons. if you are lucky there will be one thousand pounds to one thousand five hundred pounds of purified ore ingots after smelting. Your luck will also determine if it is purple iron ore tier 3 or the far more rare purple iron essence tier 4.."

Everyone laughed hearing him say that. while it's true the whole amount could be the tier four version, the odds said maybe 10 pounds would be tier four while the rest would be tier three. There's also decent odds of there only being tier three material. this was actually a popular gimmick for trapping young wealthy masters into buying elemental iron of tier 3 for closer to the tier 4 price.

" Alright the introduction is over. 30,000 is the initial bid. Every additional bid will have to increase the bid by 3,000.

Even if this is only tier three it will be an immense help in equipping my new troops. I decided to call them my Winged Tiger Brigade. They will be led by the Lightning Guard so named because each one will be forced to learn a modified version of my lightning steps that will use boots I forge for them. For some it may not increase their combats capabilities, but it will increase all their response times to danger for the regular troops. Also since this will be a strike force I need it to be able to keep up when I have to run somewhere.

The bidding was fierce and soon reached 160,000 but it had slowed down. it was now at the price it would be if 10% was tier four purple iron essence ore. That would be at least a hundred pound of essence ore and very few believed it would have even a tenth of that. But in the end I need it all. "200,000" I called out my bid. Everyone quited down as no-one would pay so much. Unless 30% or more was essence ore, I would be severely over paying. You could see the auctioneer smiling from every corner of the building as he just doubled what he initially thought he'd get for this elemental iron ore.

The auction drew along and accosionally one of my companions would buy an item same as me but they were small things only valued at a 2-3 thousand apiece. I was already satisfied as I have dragon bone to encrease the strength and weight of my staff, purple iron and maybe purple iron essence for the Lightning attribute. As for the metal attribute in my blade I will use 2 ounces of mystic metal which will absorb whatever manna I use on it and transform up to 100 pounds of metal to the same attributes. I just need to be careful about keeping all three of my battle elements balanced throughout the process. As for my broken gravity element I will use it to compact the metal, bone, and wood into a far smaller size and hopefully merge them perfectly.

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"Hey Tai'Razor, do you have a particular size of shield you want?" I asked my follower.

" I want a 2.5 foot diameter shield imbued with lightning. Also Razor is my name. Tai signifies me as warrior bloodline, Tai means warrior in Raksha, the language most humanoid reptilians speak. Raksha is a simplified version of draconic. " Razor explained.

Since I was curious I asked what other bloodlines and names there were. "The three warrior forms; Tai unbroken vow, Tain vow breaker, UTai the redeemed. Kobold mages can only use one element and so there names become slightly harder so just say their element followed by Zand. For example Lightning Zand'Kar is an elder of the tribe. mages scales all show the element they specialize in. Gold scaled kobolds are the rarest and can guide the tribe based on future visions. They are called Rast. We only have one Rast right now which worries the tribe. The grey scaled are exceptionaly weak and the size of gnomes, but they are just as inventiveas gnomesas well. They just steer more to traps then the other artificer tasks. Grey scales are called Slar. The final group are blue scaled they follow a more spirit based magic called shamanism. They are called Utar. Almost all kobolds are between 5'4" and 5'8". Only Tai who are 7' to 7'4" and Slar who are between 2'11" to 3'5". " Razor explained it all to me.

It was time to forge all our weapons.

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"I will forge your weapons in the order you joined me. So everyone but James may leave for now. James you can wait in the house right there, it is set up for blacksmiths who need to work on a weapon for multiple days. My apprentice will come get you when it is time." After seeing everyone left to handle their own things I went to the Blacksmith Trade Hall to buy Flame Iron ore. The basic elemental ores were cheaper than the mid tier. The basic elements where: fire, earth, air, water, metal, wood. Lightning was one of the nine mid tier elements, so it's price was ten times as much as the basic elemental ores. I also need to buy some black iron essence for the blade. Black iron was the same tier as elemental iron but had no element. It was often used as a base component with mystic metal for this very reason.

The first thing i do is hand over the void ring that has the purple iron ore so it can be refined. Only when I get the ingots back can I decide what tier of Flame Iron to get.

After waiting three hours my Master, Gronx, is the one who brought me the ingots. "Your luck was exceptional today my boy. You managed to acquire one thousand five hundred and eighty pounds of refined ore ingots." Pausing with a happy smile after telling me that he just waited.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore, "Master Gronx while that is lucky, it is not lucky to the point where you would be excited. What percentage was essence ore? 35%? 40%?" I asked anxiously. This would effect the growth of my new faction and how much of the gap I could bridge between us and the wealthy geniuses who would enroll at the Fire Drake Academy this year with us.

" You had 742 pounds of essence ore" my Master said with a sneaky smile. That was an unbelievable 47%!

"Hahahaha, I cannot believe it. This is awesome, with this I can increase the strength of my faction to one of the highest in the new batch. " I was extremely happy. It was to far fetched as ever twenty to fifty years someone would get this lucky on the elemental iron gamble since the do it twice a year.

"That's not the biggest thing the biggest is that you also got a 4 ounces of purple iron core essence. You should know how rare this is. That fool barbarian gave you the Blue Flame Fruit Tree staff, I will give you 4 ounces of Gold Iron core essence(metal element) and 4 ounces of Flame Iron core essence. With your skill as a tier 3 runesmith, tier 4 blacksmith and tier 3 inscriptionist, you should be able to merge the 3/4 pounds of core essence with the black iron essence and the mystic metal to forge your blade. I would give you more but that is the maximum that your skill can forge, besides even this has made me fill the pinch in my purse." My master said kindly.

I was extremely touched. giving him a hug and thanking him I turn to leave before deciding to ask a question that's been bothering me. "Master, why are there so many people reaching tier 5 in their profession but I don't see many tier 6 professionals? " I am only a 5 year old kid but im already a tier 4, while people live to be thousands of years old here but still can't reach tier 6?

"Ah, I was wondering when you would ask this. It is simple really. Either talent or diligence can take you to peak tier 5, but only enlightenment can allow you to advance through the tiers after that. People theorize that only the most gifted can receive enlightenment, but I disagree. My talent is very low but I already received my second enlightenment and will soon become a tier 7 blacksmith. " My master said with a smile.

"Master when did you receive you 2nd enlightenment ?" I was so excited my Master was getting to advance in the proffesion he loves. "Hahaha, I received it the day you came to register. While your skill was only ok, you embued your heart into the metal as you forged it. Seeing that I was enlightened. And before you ask, the reason I am taking so long to advance is my low talent. My low talent means it takes a long time to absorb the insights I gleaned that day . A better talent would mean a faster level up in the tiers but only if they can receive enlightenment which is random." My master explained it all to me. "Now run along, this ring holds all the materials you need. Begin your forging. Bring me your glaive once you finish it and your followers weapons, as I will give you a gift if you can surprise me. "

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Weeks pass as I forge each weapon for my followers. Every 5 days one of my apprentices will go summon on of my followers to come give me their blood essence so I can make the weapon bond with them. Every tiered blacksmith has at least 2 master mortal blacksmiths as their apprentice. They agree to this because the pay is better and if they please their tiered master he might train their child to be a practitioner and a tiered blacksmith as well. If their master does this for them their child would be known as a disciple rather than an apprentice. For example I am Master Gronx's disciple not his apprentice as I am a practitioner not a mortal.

After finishing the weopons I forged 12 pairs of boots with the lightning steps imprinted in them. Passing 5 pairs to my followers I explain to them, " Each pair has the simple rune auto-fit, they also have my Lightning Steps imprinted in them. You will be the commanders of my troops, and shall be called my Lightning Guard. These boots will allow you to quickly arrive to help save the troops under you if they need it. The faction will be called the Winged Tiger Brigade. Now I am going to be unavailable for a long time as I try to forge my glaive. As you know I am an eldritch knight and this weapon will be the foundation for the rest of my life. "