After leaving the church, Gabriel arrived at a shop with the lettering Korran's Smithy.
In Gabriel's grasp was a bottle of special wine which had cost him about $5,000 to buy, but it would be worth it for what he was about to do.
Without a moment of hesitation, Gabriel stepped into the shop. His eyes briefly scanned around, noting the weapons, armors, and tools neatly kept on the shelves.
As Gabriel walked towards the counter, the salesboy smiled politely. "Hello, adventurer. Welcome to Korran's Smithy. How can we assist you today?"
"I'd like to speak with Master Korran," Gabriel said calmly. "I've brought him something… special."
"Huh? Master Korran didn't mention anything. Did he forget again…?" The receptionist frowned. "That old man… that could be it. Please hold on while I go fetch him."
He left, and shortly after, returned with a bulky man through a large metal door—presumably the smithy.
The man had a tall, muscular stature. His skin was dark, and his dreadlocks were neatly packed back with a red bandana.
A look of displeasure flashed through the burly man's eyes as he stared at Gabriel with a stern gaze. "I don't remember ordering a delivery from anyone. Lad, what brought you to my smithy?"
"I'm here to get a weapon," stated Gabriel.
"Tsk." Korran clicked his tongue as he turned around and started heading back to the giant metal door, his voice echoing behind him.
"Because your face is quite new, I'll be lenient with you this once. Garrick will attend to you, and when you get whatever you're looking for, scramble out of my store—"
Gabriel remained calm, not offended at all, as this was Korran's personality. He was grumpy and short-tempered.
As a player, it was very difficult to increase his reputation points. Some players, even those with high status in Realm of Ascendency, were at times kicked out by him if they so much as annoyed him.
Fortunately, Gabriel had just the right thing to appease the blacksmith.
Just as Korran reached the back metal door, he called out, "I brought you wine."
"Wine, you say?" Korran muttered in a barely audible voice as he turned around.
"Heard you like Green StrawBerrie wine, so I thought I'd get you that on my way to see you."
Korran's eyes lit up when he saw the bottle of wine now in Gabriel's grasp.
He handed the wine to Korran, who didn't hesitate to snatch it from his hands, knock the cover off, and began gulping mouthfuls straight from the bottle.
'This reckless bastard… he didn't even check if it was poison.'
Korran gulped down the entire bottle of wine in one go and belched loudly in satisfaction as he set the bottle down.
"Now this is more like it," he chuckled, his expression becoming noticeably softer. "I really needed this."
Gabriel imagined the reputation bar of Korran shooting through the roof if he were a player.
'So it really worked, huh,' he smiled inwardly, recalling the player in his past life who had found out about the weaknesses of the legendary Korran and managed to get into his good books.
"So, kid. How may I help you?" Korran suddenly said, snapping Gabriel out of his daze.
"Right," Gabriel nodded as he retrieved Voidsting and placed it on the counter.
"Oh, you need a new sword," Korran deduced from the cracks on the blade alone.
"Yes, preferably a greatsword—one with destructive power," he replied.
"Well, I can do that," said Korran. "All you need is three level 20+ mantis monster cores and a preferred skill scroll of your choice."
One might wonder why Korran asked for skill scrolls. In most games, blacksmiths only needed monster cores, rare metals, and beast parts.
But Korran wasn't just any blacksmith.
He possessed a unique Talent, which was just as mysterious as that of Scarlett Voss.
Not much information about this Talent was known, but most players guessed that it allowed him to bestow skills onto his weapons.
Only a few players in Gabriel's past life had ever been lucky enough to wield a Korran-crafted weapon.
And even fewer kept it, as many were hunted down, ambushed, and killed for it.
"I won't charge you for this service," Korran said. "You can pay me back with more wine when I'm done with the sword."
"Thank you for your generosity." Gabriel clasped his hands and gave a low bow to Master Korran.
"Free? Hah! That bottle was the payment. Don't forget it," Master Korran added.
Shortly after, Gabriel left the shop to gather the necessary materials for his sword. For the meantime, he still wielded the Voidsting blade—after all, it still had some strikes left in it.
Sometime later, Gabriel left Stellar City and went into the wilderness.
After searching around for a couple of grueling hours, he finally found a mantis-type monster, and his eyes shone with anticipation.
However, the gleam soon dimmed and turned into a frown when he saw that the beast wasn't alone.
It was locked in deadly combat with two other adventurers who were wearing a red serpent emblem armband Gabriel was all too familiar with.
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