Clang! Clang! Clang!
The blacksmith raised his hammer and struck the billet repeatedly. The metal slowly took shape with each blow. Lillian had questions he wanted to ask, but fearing he might interfere with the forging process, he held them back.
Of course, NPC forging was different from player crafting—failure was impossible. Under normal circumstances, players couldn't even commission NPC blacksmiths to forge weapons. They could only buy finished products from shops.
Whoosh—!
After hundreds of strikes, a brilliant flash of light erupted from the billet. Lillian narrowed his eyes and saw a massive sword rapidly forming. Moments later, the light faded, and the greatsword was finally revealed.
"Not bad, not bad. My skills are still top-notch, haha!" the blacksmith bragged as he handed the sword over. "Give it a try."
"Alright."
Lillian took it in hand, and the moment he did, a heavy, solid sensation flowed through him. His eyes lit up instantly. This weight felt far better than the one-handed hammer ever had.
The weapon's appearance also lived up to its name. It was nearly one and a half meters long, about thirty centimeters wide, entirely silver-white, radiating a cold gleam and an imposing presence.
[Refined Steel Greatsword]
[Quality: Good]
[Sharpness: 50]
[Attack Speed: 17]
[Accuracy: 15]
[Weight: 45]
[Durability: 200/200]
[Trait: +10 Poise Break]
---
After looking over the stats, Lillian was very satisfied. As expected of a good-quality weapon. Just the sharpness alone had reached 50 points—34 points higher than his previous one-handed hammer. That was an enormous leap.
Although he didn't currently have any sword-type skills, as long as he used the weapon often enough, proficiency would naturally increase and unlock them. In the early stages, the cost of "switching weapons" was still very low.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Lillian swung the greatsword twice experimentally. Each swing caused the massive blade to tear through the air, producing a deep wind sound that carried tremendous momentum.
"Pretty good, right?" the blacksmith said with a smile. "And a sword this fine shouldn't be left bare. Want to buy a scabbard?"
"..."
Lillian had a faint feeling that he was about to be fleeced—but having a scabbard really was necessary, so he nodded.
"Haha! Come on, take a look—I've got every kind of scabbard you could want!"
As he spoke, several scabbard options appeared before Lillian's eyes. There were indeed many styles, broadly divided into two categories: metal and leather. After a quick look, Lillian chose a brown leather one—more accurately, it was a sword sleeve. When he glanced at the price, his heart ached.
[Price: 1500 col]
Fifteen hundred col for a sword sleeve that did nothing except hold the weapon—no bonuses whatsoever. That was outright robbery. Fortunately, Lillian was currently well-funded and could afford it… and he also had questions he wanted to ask the blacksmith, so he went ahead and bought it.
"Deal!"
After purchasing the sleeve, Lillian equipped it. The greatsword slid neatly into the brown leather casing, leaving only the wide hilt exposed. When he strapped the weapon to his back, an unmistakable aura of a veteran warrior instantly radiated from him.
"Sir, I have a question I'd like to ask."
"Hm? What is it? Want to buy something else?"
"No… I wanted to ask how one becomes a blacksmith. I'd like to take up this profession myself."
"Oh?!" The blacksmith looked at him in surprise. "You want to be a blacksmith, huh? Not bad, not bad—ambitious goals! But your current strength isn't enough yet. Go train some more, then come back to me."
As he finished speaking, a system prompt appeared before Lillian.
[Sub-profession system will unlock at level 10]
So that's how it is—level 10.
Lillian was already level 9. He only needed a bit more grinding to reach it. With this greatsword, his efficiency would increase by at least double.
After thinking for a moment, he asked another question.
"Sir, you can also enhance weapons here, right?"
In SAO, weapons could be enhanced up to +15. Each enhancement allowed the player to choose one attribute to improve from the following: sharpness, attack speed, accuracy, weight, or durability. Because of this, enhancement choices had to be made very carefully.
"Of course!" the blacksmith nodded, glancing at the sword on Lillian's back. "You want to enhance that greatsword?"
"What about the price?"
"That depends on the enhancement level. The first level is cheap—just 1,000 col."
"And level two?"
"Three thousand."
"Level three?"
"Six thousand."
"..."
The blacksmith chuckled. "From level four onward, enhancement requires not just col, but various enhancement materials as well. You'll have to gather those yourself. So—want to enhance it?"
"Hmm…" After checking the slightly over ten thousand col remaining in his inventory, Lillian took out 4,000. "Please enhance it to +2."
"Got it. Enhancement direction?"
"Both levels into sharpness."
He didn't need speed. He didn't need crit rate. The weight was perfect as it was. Durability could always be repaired later. That meant sharpness—raw attack power—was the only sensible choice.
"Understood!"
The blacksmith took the sword and casually tossed it into the furnace. A moment later, when he pulled it back out, the blade was visibly sharper.
Checking the stats, everything else remained unchanged. The name had become [Refined Steel Greatsword +2], and sharpness had changed to:
[Sharpness: 50 (+17)]
Very good. A +17 attack bonus was already excellent—one point higher than his old one-handed hammer's total attack. With this, the sword would easily last through Floors 2 and 3. If he found something better later, he could switch then. The fact that enhancement levels couldn't be inherited was a bit of a pain, but that was just how it was.
Leaving the blacksmith's shop and stepping onto the street, things went exactly as he expected. Players who saw Lillian—more precisely, who saw the massive greatsword on his back—couldn't help but turn their heads in amazement.
To be honest, the weapon was simply too eye-catching. Too exaggerated. Standing it upright on the ground, it might even be taller than some shorter female players. The visual impact was enormous.
For Lillian, this actually wasn't a good thing. It made him far too noticeable—and far too easy to become a target for certain red-name players.
However… the truth was that the reason Lillian chose to carry the sword on his back instead of storing it in his inventory…
…was precisely because of that.
Come rob me, then.
I just happen to be short on col anyway.
If you make the first move, I'll have a perfectly legitimate reason to retaliate—and then I can justifiably demand some "compensation for emotional distress," right?
It did sound somewhat like entrapment, but that was genuinely what Lillian had in mind. He did care about his own interests, but he wasn't an absolute egoist. He also believed in the idea of "when poor, cultivate oneself alone; when prosperous, help the world."
If he could lure out a few ill-intentioned players, that would be even better. Eliminating them would remove potential threats for the other, well-meaning players.
After all, in the original storyline, within just one month of the public launch, over 1,800 people had died. Most of them were killed by monsters, but more than a hundred were murdered by other players. And that trend only worsened over time.
Once red-named guilds appeared, ordinary players would face enormous danger. After all, people with bottom lines are very hard to fight against people who have none. If you defeat someone, your first instinct is to send them to prison. If they defeat you, their first instinct is to kill you. Which side do you think has better odds?
So for Lillian, there was no "prison" option when dealing with enemies. As long as someone tried to kill him, he would return the favor in kind. Only that way could he truly deter those who intended to commit evil.
That was Lillian's way of dealing with the world. After experiencing so much in the world of AOT, his reverence for life had become both lighter and deeper at the same time. It was lighter toward those who committed countless evils—he was no longer willing to give them a chance at redemption, because he believed that would only cause more good people to suffer. Yet toward kind-hearted people, his appreciation grew deeper. He cherished them more and was better at noticing the beauty within them.
That was something he had learned from Historia, because she was someone who could always see the good in others.
---
Putting those thoughts aside, Lillian ignored the gazes around him and headed toward the potion shop. He needed to restock some anti-poison potions before going back to the labyrinth to grind levels. However, just as he reached the shop entrance, he saw a familiar figure coming out.