BXBX NOVEL Chapter 1102: The Second Test Begins!
"Yes, I am considered a Dragon, I am also a Dryad," I nodded. "My initial class was Farmer, well, it still is."
"A Dragon Dryad hybrid?!" wondered Erdragon. "In my long life I had never seen or heard about such a thing! Interesting! And a Farmer, now that\'s a rare job to see."
"I can\'t believe she\'s a farmer, is that true?" wondered the brownie.
"Yes it\'s true!" I nodded. "Naturally, I\'ve Ranked Up many times now, so everything has become different and stronger, but that\'s about it."
"Can farmers learn the techniques you have to begin with?" Horshen wondered. "Somehow I felt yours were very strange… and divine, somehow."
"Hah, that\'s a secret, Horshen, don\'t stick your nose where it doesn\'t belong," Ambil groaned.
"Huh? I was just asking, old man Ambil!" Horshen complained.
I think these two know each other before this meeting, but they haven\'t even addressed that at all. And I think I might be too afraid of asking.
"Oh, and what about you two guys?" Mark wondered.
"Yeah! You\'ve been pretty silent so far," said Acorn. "Come on, join the conversation!"
"Well, you haven\'t talked much yourself, little Acorn," my daughter said.
"E-Eeh? I am a bit nervous…" sighed Acorn.
The two other people Mark and Acorn were referring to be the youngest amongst the participants, the young half-elf boy and the red-haired girl with freckles.
Turns out their names were Blackeye99 and Erika and were both rather talented on their own rights. The NPC girl and the Player boy were quite the surprise in this contest.
"Erm, well, I come from a small village, it\'s called Orange Town because… Haha, b-because we harvest a lot of oranges…" Erika said timidly.
Her origins were so humble she felt ashamed of them after hearing everyone else\'s origins.
"That\'s nice! I would love to go there and taste those oranges," I said. "If a whole town is called after them, I bet they\'re really good, right?"
"A-Ah… y-yes!" she nodded. "They\'re very yummy, actually, I have some here. Do you want some, Lady Planta?"
"Sure!"
She handled me a big orange, it smelled very fresh and as I opened it and tasted it, I felt like I was in heaven. I never thought any fruit raised outside of my farm would ever be delicious to me…
But I was wrong!
"It\'s good… everyone has a taste!" I shared with my family, and everyone loved it.
"So how did you started this whole blacksmith business?" wondered Horshen. "You look like an average farmer girl, but your skills are the real deal."
"My grandpa taught me his skills when I was very young," she said. "A-And I learned them over time. I never thought I would have the talent for it, but I was always passionate about his work! Since he passed away three years ago, I haven\'t stopped working on stuff for my village, fixing tools, repairing houses, and stuff like that!"
She was gaining more confidence as she talked.
"Sounds like good, honest work, your hard work has given you a very good skill, keep sharpening it, little Erika," Erdragon nodded. "You might be a worthy opponent at the end, I will not hold back!"
"I-I won\'t either!" Erika nodded, feeling more motivated.
"And you?" Elena asked the boy.
"I-I…" I think he was worried because he recognized DarkReaper, my daughter, the famous Player Killer was here. "Um, I\'m just a Player… I choose the blacksmith class, that\'s all…"
"Really? Oh well, just like Melisa then," I nodded. "You\'re a hard worker then! There are many players that choose the blacksmith class after all, but even if we are given skills and stats, at the end, each person has their own way of working with that, so there will always be those that are better than the rest.
I noticed your skills were different, you didn\'t let the blacksmith technique skill dictate your movements."
"Ah, yeah… Well, um, I do work on metalwork back home…" he muttered. "So I started by… trying to do the same in the game too! and it worked, without skills..."
"interesting, so real life skills do work in the game, huh?" Mark nodded. "Well-"
"Participants, please come to the arena for the second test! The competition will resume within five minutes, please go back to your areas!" the referee stepped in. "Hm?! What is this delicious smell- Woah! Such a feast!"
"Do you want some for lunch?" I offered him a wooden box with several things to the referee.
"Oh yes! Thank you so much- Ahem! But this won\'t buy you any preference or something, Participant Planta!" he readjusted his sunglasses.
"And that\'s fine, I just gave you some because they were leftovers," I shrugged, walking into the arena.
"Leftovers?! This is delish!" he started eating as we walked into the arena together.
In the way there, Nieve, Acorn, and my daughter\'s group moved back to their seats.
"Good luck mom! Beat them to a pulp out there!" my daughter said.
"You can do it auntie!" Anna said.
"Y-Yes! You\'re already amazing but I know you can do more, auntie!" Monica said.
"She will naturally win anyways, so there\'s nothing to worry about, ohohoho!" Elisa just laughed.
"Good luck Lady Planta!" Acorn said. "I will be cheering for you!"
"My liege, fortune shall bless you this day," Nieve nodded.
"Thank you everyone!"
As they went back to their seats, with Ambil and Mark, we made our way back to our areas. The smithy and everything looked as we left it; it had not been tampered with or anything.
However, there were new things, a blueprint, a new mold, and a new set of materials too! This time, the second test looked a bit more complex than the first.
"For the second test, all participants must craft a small set of armor! It must include shoulder pads, a helmet, and a chest plate! Like before, you only have one hour!"