Blacksmith vs. the System

"I think I'm going to take a break," Maria said, looking exhausted after hours of forging.

"It's a very well-deserved rest, you were amazing," I said. Considering she was still my boss — nominally — and someone who could evaporate me with a wave of her hand, any observer would have believed that I was doing it to get in her good graces.

It couldn't be further from the truth. Calling the day productive would have been an understatement. With Maria helping me condense mana, I was able to establish my old production line again. My Mana Forge skill had improved by almost two hundred points, which was an incredible improvement for an Epic skill.

Alone, with my old setup, it would have taken at least a year, maybe longer.

Too bad once we passed the three hundred thresholds, the improvement slowed down once again, even with her help.

[Mana Forge (Epic) - 304 [Advanced Creative Forging, Advanced Mana Control]]

"So, what's the situation?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, it's as we feared," I said. "Once we hit the barrier, the gold alloys don't let me improve rapidly."

"Meaning, we'll have to get some raw platinum. I'll do my best," she said.

I nodded in appreciation even as I looked at the pile of gleaming weapons, mostly spearheads, though there were some swords mixed in. Technically, daggers would have been more time efficient in terms of skill improvement, but considering their relative uselessness on a battlefield, we focused on spears, with a small smattering of swords for elites with the necessary skill.

There was no harm in multitasking, and we had forged enough to supply a small army. Even without proper enchantment, they would be enough to create an elite force that could deal with a small monster horde.

My class might not have been as flashy as hers, but that didn't mean it was useless.

"That's an option," I said as I looked at her, watching the way her face was showing exhaustion. The signs she was showing looked oddly familiar. It was the way I had looked when I had tried to reshape meditation.

Comparatively, using the Perk to manipulate mana, I was nowhere as exhausted.

"And, what is the other option?" she said.

"Let's discuss it as we walk," I said. "You have exhausted yourself, and we better rest. And, I can use the opportunity to work with the farmers again."

"Fine," she said as she stood up. "But, don't deflect. I want to listen to what you have to say."

I nodded as we started walking. "System rewards behaviors that it treats as exceptional," I said. "For warriors, it's killing monsters above their level, and for me, forging material that the System treats as over my level. One way to do that is to find the materials the System treats as higher level, but the other way is…"

"You want to forge something using a denser type of mana," she said. "Aren't you a little too ambitious," she said. "We can't just use my spells and hope that it works."

"Of course not," I said. "But, there's nothing that stops us from theorizing a denser mana structure for Forging and copying that, right?"

"That sounds fanciful," she said, but even with her exhaustion, I could see her eyes alight with interest. "Do you think it's really possible?" she asked.

"If you mean whether it's possible, I'm certain it is. Anything that skills do, it could be replicated without them, only with far more effort … or, the correct techniques. Whether only two of us could achieve it, or whether we could achieve it on a reasonable timeline is a different question. But, it's still worth trying."

"What if we can't?"

"Simple," I said.

"Really?"

"Yes. We get more people involved. No matter the problem, once enough dedicated people start working, it'll be solved eventually."

She paused, a pondering expression on her face. "But, how do we keep it a secret once more people get involved."

I chuckled. "That's the easy part. We don't," I answered.

She looked at me, shocked. "You, mister secrets, want to reveal it.?Then, everyone could just use the same knowledge to get stronger. Where would be your advantage?"

"Of course I want to reveal it," I replied. "I want to keep things a secret because revealing them would get me killed. Once I'm reasonably sure that I won't die to the blade of an assassin, that will change."

"Reasonably sure," she said, looking surprised. "Isn't it a bit of a low bar when your life is concerned?"

I sighed, closing my eyes. "Maybe, but we're living in a dangerous world already. Monsters are everywhere, people are quick to rely on violence, assassination was once again a socially acceptable dispute resolution, and dueling is acceptable for even the smallest slights. I'd rather die for a worthy cause than hide knowledge like a squirrel preparing for winter…"

"That's…" she started, only to pause. "You really believe it."

"Of course. I had never been a big believer in the philosophy of enlightenment, that civilization is something that always progressed toward a greater form, but if there was one thing I loved about it, the information was shared freely. Inefficiently, maybe, with many pointless steps in between to calculate the credit and rewards, but it was still shared freely."

"And, you think it'll make that much of a difference?"

"Of course. The last two centuries of human development skyrocketed because we can share information with ease, and more accurately. Now that every one of us has superpowers, it's absurd that we can't repeat it."

She paused, her eyes tightening. "You are keeping something secret," she said, her tone harsh.

I raised my hands in mock surrender. "I'm not keeping it a secret, but I didn't want to share it before I gathered some data to give it some validity. I'm not even sure about the source. I can tell you, but I have one condition."

"What is it?"

"You are going to listen to me without interruption. Questions to clarify are right, but I don't want to turn it into a debate. At least, not when I'm explaining it for the first time."

"Fine, I promise," she said.

"Have you ever thought about how our culture has changed since the Cataclysm? Suddenly, we have collapsed into a feudal state, with every value we had accepted disappearing," I asked.

"Yes, but isn't it natural? The world changed completely. Technology has disappeared, many people died, and the government is gone. We still don't know if any of the major cities are intact. Such a radical change, isn't it normal for the people to embrace a new direction."

"Yes and no," I answered.

"Very clear, professor, thank you very much," she said.

"No sarcasm in the classroom," I declared, which earned a chuckle. "I'm trying to say that while a significant cultural drift is to be expected, there are two problems. The speed, and the direction."

"I'm guessing there's a lecture incoming," she said as she shuffled, leaning forward.

"A summary, at least. Just enough to convince you that I know what I'm talking about. Cultural change, particularly relating to the aspects relating to power, might be one of the most studied phenomena in history, centuries before sociology had even been studied as a distinct scientific discipline. Countries like Rome had mastered the art of integrating the cultures of others into their own, while philosophers ranging from Plato to Confucius, Ibn Haldun to Hobbes studied the topic to understand the theoretical and ethical basis. And, from their hands, we have surprisingly well-preserved historical records. Similarly, we have countless modern studies on the topic, ranging from banal, small-scale topics like company cultural transformations, to modern immigration."

"And," she said, looking confused.

What followed was a compressed history of cultural transformation across the ages, going in-depth about the various aspects driving such transformations.

"If there was one thing that was common across all those topics, it was that culture, particularly when it came to adults, is one of the hardest things to change," I concluded. "The adaptation happens slowly, with significant friction, people clinging to the older traditions even tighter and turning into extremists just to maintain their identity…"

"Doesn't Charisma explain that?" she interrupted, confident. I wanted to remind her about her promise, but since I had seen her holding back during my lecture several times, I decided to give her a chance to address her concerns. "It's well-known to have long-term effects."

"Is it why using it on someone grounds for a duel," I asked, to which she responded with a nod. I continued "The problem is twofold. First, I had spent more than a year trying to understand how the world has been changing, as a kind of pre-research

"To a degree, it explains the speed," I said.

"To a degree?" she asked.

"Do you remember me mentioning I had been collecting some observational data before a dungeon nearby started to drop Repair spells and ruined my business?" I asked. She nodded. "I seem to remember that there was some data supporting the other direction, but it has been a while, and I don't remember the results well enough," I said. "But, even in the enclaves without people with Charisma, we saw a similar pattern."

"Maybe they just stayed hidden," she said.

"That's certainly a possibility," I admitted. "It's one of the challenges of trying to make conclusions relying on self-reporting. There's always the risk of lying, especially on sensitive topics. But, even if that's the case, it doesn't explain the direction. We suddenly have people in an apocalyptic situation, without contact, and with superpowers that include brainwashing. The world should have been in chaos, with crazy cults and weird religions popping out of every corner. Yet, we have a society that has pretty much homogeneously transformed to a new direction."

"And, you think that's unlikely? Why?" she said, but she was more curious than confrontational.

"Part of it is historical observation. When the opportunity presents itself, there are always ambitious people wanting to leave their mark, and once they succeed, they tend to be … creative. In this case, however, it happens the same way in hundreds of enclaves similar enough to be carbon copies. This level of convergence doesn't make mathematical sense. It's improbable."

"Not exactly a convincing argument, right," she said. "Improbable doesn't mean impossible. Look at the world we live in."

"It's different," I said. "Imagine rolling a dice a hundred times. If all hundred rolls showed the same number, would you just shrug and assume that you're lucky, or suspect that you're playing with the loaded dice."

Her eyes widened. "Do you suspect that we're playing with a loaded dice?"

I snorted. "Suspect is a major understatement. The more I dig, the more convinced I get. The real challenge is to understand where it's coming from. It even makes mathematical sense. Let me model the situation for you. We have ten different groups, with an equilibrium model…"

She stayed silent, no doubt struggling to accept the conclusion. I had a feeling that, if it wasn't for my recent string of successes, she wouldn't have entertained it.

It reminded me of the story of Linus Pauling. He was one of the most authoritative people in the field of science as the only person in history who had received two unshared Nobel awards, turning him into an authority … but, as he got older, he used that authority to support several unsubstantiated claims, which then turned into common public misunderstandings, including Vitamin C being some kind of super cure.

"You gave me a lot to think about," she said once we arrived at the first floor, looking at the keep at the main dungeon entrance. "Are you sure you don't want to rest?"

"We still have too much to do," I said and turned back, ready to have another meeting with the Farmers.