Book Worm's Paradise [Solo/CFT/RSCH]

[Hadrian]

The great thing about Elder Tale was its versatility. Developers, artist, and writers poured blood sweat and tears into the creation of the game all those years ago. No detail was left to chance much to the delight of adventurers. Well within the safe zone of the city’s limits was one such jewel of knowledge. The London Library was only a little less than one mile North West of Westminster Abbey. The path to travel there was nearly identical to what it was in real life. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say in his former life. Really, in this area was a treasure trove of information that Alex could easily get lost in for days. Several museums, libraries, and galleries were all within the city’s safe zone.

Whether the developers created those buildings to be useless piles of ruin or piles of ruin more valuable than all the gold in Solomon’s mines was a different matter entirely. Regardless the best course of action and shortest path towards knowledge was The London Library. Alex spent a good time there doing research back in his former life as an astrophysicist PhD student. What he was particularly excited about was the chance to learn about the lore on the British server. Now that he was a scholar it was entirely possible for him to gain an entirely new understanding of the history of Elder Tale.

Even though Alex had always paid attention to lore whoever available it was different on his former character. This time he had the scholar subclass and would be privy to artifacts of information only available through tedious study. An added benefit of being out of the newbie hunting grounds at the moment while players tried to level their main classes as quickly as possible was certainly something he took joy in. So when he finally arrived at the library it was a sight for sore eyes. He pushed the heavy oak doors open gently to hear the creak of rotted hinges that barely held the door in place.

An echo bounced through empty halls of a building which stood flawless in realty. In this new reality it seemed to fall victim to the enemy of all life, time. Luckily for Alex it seemed as though to vast hallows of knowledge still kindled the lights of knowledge. Tomes upon tomes of treasure littered shelves, floors, and tables alike. It was a dream come true to be able to loose himself in a book. To bring some sense of normalcy to an entirely improbable situation. His first goal was to find a book, scroll, really whatever form of paper that could be of use which detailed the basics of blacksmithing. After an hour or so of wondering through the halls he finally came up to a section that had several books on the subject. Alex grabbed one at random and sat down to enjoy the book at the nearest table.

• WC: 492
  

[Hadrian]

Alex had a friend on the American server who used the scholar class to enhance the crafting class scribe. The guy would research recipes, crafting methods, even macro and micro economics to teach merchants how to have more efficient trade guilds. It was Alex’s hope that the same theory could be applied to his crafting class of Blacksmith. While there was the usual method of grinding through a crafting class, it was also true that beyond a certain level guides were needed on what metals could be shaped certain ways, which materials could be used to weapons versus armor. A decent blacksmith could get to level 90 with enough grind. Alex wanted to truly understand the basics of his craft.

It wasn’t hard to realize that combat had taken an entirely different path now than it did with a keyboard in front of an adventurer. Things like instinct, aptitude, and true skill weighed heavier than ever. He was sure that the crafting classes, heck even the other subclasses had to be treated the same way. Unfortunately, as any good scientist will say, it is not about the answer. The path to true understanding came through rigorous study and testing. First Alex would study to his heart’s content and learn what it truly meant to be a blacksmith. Only then would he go to the forge and put what he learned to good use.

Some small part of it had to do with the fact that his changes purse was a little short on funds. To buy to required number of materials to raise blacksmith levels now didn’t make financial sense. It was too easy to fail and loose materials. This way, at least it was his theory, the chance for failure went down dramatically. “Steel is iron but the process removes impurities such as phosphorous and sulfur… average of one percent carbon…. melting point 1371 degrees Celsius.” Facts such as these were from the world of the non-adventurer. The truth was he had no idea if any of this would matter when it came down to the dirty work. Even if it didn’t Alex found a certain pleasure with the simple turn of every page.

Some part of his former self felt as if it had returned. As he continued to read his mind didn’t wonder off into how he would escape, if his body was destroyed, or how was his pet dog Jasper. Perhaps even better was the knowledge of how to mine and then smelt the metals. Although he had no way to test the atomic structure of the metal for purity, given current technological standards within the game, he hoped his background in looking at starlight to tell its elemental properties would assist in an rapid increase of the creation of metal with fewer impurities than other blacksmiths.

Not that he had any illusions of some sort of monopoly on the craft. Alex knew what human nature could do to people trapped in a game. A race for power through any means necessary in the wrong hands could repeat the mistakes of mankind throughout history. It was a selfish desire at best, not wishing to be inconvenienced by the ambitions of others. Even then it was entirely possible that everyone in Londinium would sing and hold hands in unity. More than any of those possibilities was the good chance his mind had blown everything out of proportion and it was best just to get back to reading.

Suddenly it occurred to him that even with the proper foundation in knowledge of what it took to create steel, his blacksmith level was far from being able to do so. Alex turned his attention to the more basic metallurgy of copper. Good old atomic number 29, all important metal to lead humanity into the Bronze Age. This was an important fundamental to have since very few civilizations actually skipped over the Bronze Age directly from stone to iron.

As he continued to read it became rather obvious that just because he knew copper had an s-orbital electron atop a d-electron, it meant absolutely nothing in the face of being able to actually make a bronze pot. On the plus side if he could create copper rods that could withstand the heat generated from a lighting spell, he could revolutionize the way magic classes could cast. Or blow themselves up… truthfully he wasn’t really sure how much the physics of the game differentiated from the physics of the outside world. While everything in the game certainly felt real enough, at the end of the day it was all just zeros and ones. “Melting point 1083 degrees Celsius…”

• WC: 777

[Hadrian]

With the way time worked in the game Alex couldn’t help the desire to know two things. The first was the time in the game, the second was the time back on earth. Time moved faster in the game so it was easy to spend a few ours locked away in the library. Head buried into several books about a subject he knew virtually nothing about. So far he had finished two books. The first was on very simplistic properties, smelting metals, removing the impurities, but did not touch of casting. Casting was an art entirely unto itself. Even if the perfect metal was mined and turned to liquid without a proper cast the entire process meant nothing.

For the most part there were basic molds for just about anything you wanted to make in the game. What concerned Alex was not just the ability to buy a mold but the ability to create molds. Within that possibility lay the key to better equipment. Not only weapons and armor but tools for other subclasses as well. News to him was that sand could also be used for molding, not just metal. It seemed to be a better way to go about molding but sand in this area was something rare to come by. If he could make it to the southern coast then maybe, but at his level there was no way to make it past higher level mobs.

Even then it would be months before any adventurer mad it high enough in levels to go that far. Sand was something to keep in the back of his head but for now he would have to buy or fashion the same molds as other blacksmiths had access to. He hoped that he could fashion molds of quality as long as the math all worked out. Most of the work could be done through the in game menus but the customization would be done through old school calculation, practice, and the use of a steady hand. All things that were well out of Alex’s ability. Luckily for him with the way time moved in game compared to out of game the phrase all the time in the world was closer to the truth.

Even then it took a certain cast to work with different metals due to the vast differences in temperature. What he wanted was copper and simplicity. Plates, utensils, a small dagger here or there. Those seemed the best objects to start off with. Curious as to what his level afforded him through the menu, a rather bleak outlook showed just how long of a journey it would be. Just a few entries showed up on a list that seemed to be endless. Over 99% of the items that he scrolled through were greyed out, something he had assumed would be simple like a bronze jar was well above his level one skills. Even bronze was beyond his capability. Clay, Copper, basic molds, all of it was far simpler than he had hoped for. He continued to jot down notes as needed for the basics so that when the time came he could contrast and compare what was completed through the menu and what the items should be.

• WC: 539

[Hadrian]

A basic theory permeated in his mind. More than one in truth but specifically it seemed to be a basic premise that could be just plausible enough. To be in an academic environment brought out the best in him. The simple smell of old paper that turned easily if not somewhat delicate from the passage of time. Out of the game the library was like a second home for Alex. Based on his count he had been in the library for roughly four hours in game. Five books sat on the table pushed to the side as the sixth had just been started. “Tools of the trade… by some random author” he muttered aloud just to hear the sound of his voice. It was important to maintain some semblance of sanity when buried in research.

The basic tools of his trade were to be the hammer and anvil. At least if he went with the process known as forging. So far he had mostly learned the basics of the process known as casting. Alex wanted to go into the comparison with an open mind however the thought of using a cast seemed to be a better process. If nothing else the use for mass production made more economic sense. However, hand crafted items should not be discounted since a car assembled by hand was thought to be superior. Not that he actually knew, in no way was he the typical car guy. “Improved strength can be attributed to the grain deforming through the continuous shape… what the hell does that even mean?!” Alex did wonder if it had something to do with a Spanish long sword and Japanese katana… one being forged and the other being casted was usually the reason one was said to be stronger structurally than the other.

“It doesn’t even say how to measure that. If I assume that grains are crystals then how did pre-modern cultures even figure this out?” The more Alex read the more impressed he was that blacksmiths could create such masterpieces without the knowledge of molecular structure than modern science afforded. While most had a process passed down through the generations it seemed to be as much of an art as a science. Something a blacksmith had to feel. This put Alex at a serious disadvantage. He was a scientist by trade; the idea to feel through a trade was an impossible act. Test, modify, document, and test again, those were the way he was used to working through a process.

He had no idea how to feel his way through something. Yet somehow people who lived hundreds of years before modernity managed to understand that the deformation of crystallites made an object stronger without even knowing what a crystallite was. “Maybe a cast would be the better option to start off with” he thought as it seemed to be more akin to his thought process. There was little chance he could feel his way through a forge without first the experience that came with working metal in the first place. Eventually he would leave the library and do so but there was still so much left to read.

Most players probably went to work right away on their craft; Alex would have probably done the same thing if not for the experience of combat. Currently to make a clay spoon one would go through the menu and find the skills associated with each item. Ensure that the components needed were in the inventory and then some time later you would have a spoon. It was the way crafting worked before so players who had previous experience knew exactly what needed to be done. This basic premise was what Alex had taken with him into battle. What surprised him was that actually being in the game meant combat took an entirely different role. It was impossible to use skills through the interface.

Combat had to be done without the menu if an adventurer wanted to be successful. Alex’s basic theory was that crafting might follow a similar model. One could craft based on the properties of the menu but what if an adventurer did so according to the new laws of combat? This was a question that no doubt others had already figured out to ask. It would be far too presumptuous of him to think that he was the sole person to realize that question. Regardless of being the first or not the simple fact remained he had to continue to learn about the basics before it could be tested properly. A few hours had already passed and several hours of study were sure to be ahead.

WC: 777

[Hadrian]

A curious noise echoed through the halls of the relatively empty library. Be it a fallen book, collapsed shelf, birds, or maybe an adventurer, whatever the noise was it caused his once heavy eyelids to slowly lift. A bit of drool could be felt along the left side of his cheek as his head slowly moved away from the arm that had been used as a pillow. A large yawn followed with the somewhat slight disappointment that he was still in the game. Alex had a good dream, one that most people wouldn’t have wanted to wake up from. His parents had come to London to spend time with him. His father had been in the kitchen to make some steak which he could practically still taste. They laughed over old stories from his childhood, pried into his rather non-existent love life, and continually mentioned how proud they were of him.

To wake up after such a good dream was a thing of sadness. It was a wonder how long those sorts of dreams would last. The kind that continually brought up happy memories of a life that seemed to be lost. When would the memories of Elder Tale begin to occupy his dreams? It seemed as if the reality he once knew would only ever be visited during his dreams. He hoped that adventurers smarter than him were in the game on any of the servers and would figure out how to get them out of the game. “I wonder where I left off…” he mumbled as tired eyes looked to the book which had been left open with the imprint of his hand and drool.

“Ah right… this book…” his eyes darted to the side in a somewhat annoyed state. All of the reading done for black smithing had led him a bit numb in the brain. Alex had wondered through the library in search of a random book which might keep his attention and refreshing his resolve. The book which sat barely read in front of him was about a rather boring detective that found true love. That much he gathered from the books first few pages. On the plus side it did have the effect of a good few hours of sleep. “Now where did I leave off” he wondered as he shuffled through the pile of books on the desk. “ah right, yet another bit about a craft I have no clue about.”

The truth of the matter was no matter how much he read at some point he would need to leave the library and actually put writing to practice. Now seemed like a perfectly good time to do so. At this point he lost count of how many hours he had done nothing but read about the basic concepts of a class he may not even need to have known. If all he needed to do was click on the menu rather than actually practice by hand then much of the time may have been wasted. Though his feeling was that no knowledge was truly wasted. The end goal was to make truly impressive steel. Not just bronze jars, iron shovels, but true steel and even then it may be possible to move beyond and create composite metals. The possibility of carbon fiber armor... a pipe dream for sure since the methods for creating carbon fiber didn’t exist in the game but something to dream about at least.

Alex put all of the books he had gathered on the table over the past few hours back to the shelves he had found them on. Even if the library was a ruin of its former self it was still to be respected. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge, a truly honorable goal that this library held the key to. The notes he had meticulously taken were gathered and placed into his small satchel. “Shouldn’t I be hungry by now… I wonder where I could get a good steak” he thought well in the hope that there was no way steak could taste as bland as everything he had tried so far had.

WC: 688