Naturally, Lin Yun overslept the next day. By the time he woke up, it was almost one in the afternoon. The dwarf blacksmith had probably stayed up late the night before, so he was still sleeping soundly, and no one had woken Lin Yun. As for his new teammates, they had no idea where he was staying, so they couldn't go looking for him.
Lin Yun was still a little groggy when he got up. For a moment, he even thought he was at home. It wasn't until he looked around and saw that the walls hadn't been painted white that he remembered he'd come to a magical world.
He went downstairs and headed to a well. This might have been a world of magic, but apparently it didn't have magic running water, so Lin Yun had to draw a bucket from the well.
Lin Yun splashed the water straight onto his face. Its chill jolted him awake, and his foggy head finally cleared a little.
He checked his character sheet. Thanks to a long rest, pretty much everything that needed recovering had recovered. Oh, right—since he was a priest, he also had to pray to prepare his spells...
Lin Yun grimaced. Fortunately, the rules here weren't as torturous as those in PF, where praying and preparing spells, like the wizards next door, took a full hour. Otherwise, he'd have gone crazy.
Prayer wasn't just about preparing spells; it was also part of roleplaying. If Lin Yun wasn't devout enough—for example, if he tried praying while walking—he might get penalized.
As a pragmatist who only believed in things when it suited him... Wait a minute. The Eye of Omniscience really did let him learn both Divine Magic and spells. In a way, it was incredibly useful. All right, he'd decided: starting today, he'd worship the Eye of Omniscience.
And so, the fellow cheerfully decided what his true faith would be.
Preparing each level of spells took one minute. Lin Yun only had four Spell Slots available, so he'd need just four minutes. That was fairly convenient. Once he'd finished praying, he hurried to the forge and put on all his gear.
Well, it wasn't that the Black Iron Flexible Breastplate was ready. Lin Yun had simply been too tired the day before, so he'd left his scale armor, helmet, and some clothes there.
But... Lin Yun fell silent as he caught a faint, unpleasant smell coming from his clothes. Come to think of it, he'd been through a huge battle the day before, covered in blood and poison, and then worked up a sweat at the forge. As someone with a mild obsession with cleanliness, he really didn't like the smell. Unfortunately, neither the all-purpose Wizard nor the healing Priest had a spell for cleaning things.
Besides, Lin Yun didn't have any spare clothes, and the dwarf's clothes obviously wouldn't fit him. So... in the end, Lin Yun put them on anyway. He wasn't sure if it was all in his head or if the clothes really were the problem, but his skin felt itchy.
At least, once he put on his helmet, things changed. He hadn't noticed before because he'd been wearing it all the time. He'd taken it off while forging the day before, and now that he'd put it back on, he realized just how strong the smell inside it was...
Lin Yun grimaced, his face full of helplessness, but still headed straight for the Adventurer's Guild. He also brought along his gift.
Well, he'd gotten so many Gold Coins the day before, while they hadn't taken a single coin. He felt a little guilty about it, both as himself and in light of his character sheet. Although Silent's attitude was that what was his belonged to him, he still felt some compassion for ordinary people. Yes, he was a true high-and-mighty noble—and that was before even considering his combat prowess.
So, after getting the Gold Coins the day before, Lin Yun had spent some of them to buy his companions new equipment. He hadn't bought anything for himself. For one thing, he already had pretty much everything he needed, along with backup options. For another, there was what he'd told the dwarf blacksmith the day before: "A blacksmith should use the equipment he forges himself."
In pretty much every game, Lin Yun became obsessed with crafting professions and made his own equipment, living self-sufficiently.
Come to think of it, in theory, Lin Yun had even considered changing his race to a dwarf. Among priests, there was a special class available only to dwarves called Forging Master. Its members worshipped Torag, the Father of Creation, the Forge, Protection, and Tactics.
Dwarves believed that Torag had created the world in his mighty forge, hammering it again and again into the shape he desired. Born of stone and filled with fire, dwarves had come into being amid the rolling rock and flying sparks. Torag often appeared as a powerful, clever dwarf, always busy forging weapons or shields at the forge.
He was a perfect strategist, with a response ready for almost any situation. Nearly half his priests were dwarves, though many humans had also been called to his faith. His followers were usually skilled builders, artisans, and military strategists.
Guards and city watchmen sometimes prayed to the Father of Creation, hoping that he would protect them as they protected others. A priest's formal attire was a heavy, knee-length blacksmith's apron made of worn leather, usually accompanied by a large blacksmith's hammer.
Some priests set rivets, metal plates, or badges into their aprons to commemorate important events, such as getting married, having a child, or completing their first suit of plate armor. His temples were often round buildings constructed around a large, fully equipped central forge. Anvils were placed around it, and the forge was used for ordinary work as well as religious ceremonies, since every act of smelting or forging was considered a prayer to Torag.
His holy book was titled Hammer and Tongs: The Forging of Metal and Other Goods, and it was usually bound in metal. Animals that could dig were sacred to Torag's followers, as were all creatures that lived in caves and mountains. Flying creatures that lived in these places, however, were considered vile and strange—bats in particular were hated by the Church of Torag.
Sometimes, he conveyed messages by making cryptic riddles appear briefly on stone surfaces. Earthquakes were the ultimate expression of his displeasure, but those who survived one were considered blessed by him. Torag's followers especially hated the cult of Lorgag, whose offspring constantly writhed and churned in the dark corners deep beneath the earth.
However, this animosity didn't make Torag's faithful any better at working with the followers of Sarenrae. The main reason was that many dwarves saw forgiveness and devotion to the sun as signs of weakness.
Still, Lin Yun felt some attachment to the idea of being human, and he also harbored a deep resentment toward his own Intelligence score of 9. Besides, he hadn't expected to get a pair of gloves that could practically be called exclusive to Forging Masters right at the start.
They greatly enhanced his forging ability, and the fact that he'd rolled a natural 20 on his very first day made Lin Yun regret his choice a little. Forging Masters got a definite bonus to forging, and could enchant items with ease. And that was without even mentioning Artisan's Blessing, which gave him a +5 to checks. In theory, he could use fairly decent black iron to forge +2-quality equipment without too much trouble.
In fact, given the dwarf blacksmith's reaction to Lin Yun showing up as a human Clan Craftsman, Lin Yun suspected that if he appeared as a Clan Craftsman with a Forging Master template, the dwarf would practically worship him as an ancestor. Forget black iron—he might even bring out more precious metals and let Lin Yun use them for free, just to see something new.
At the Adventurer's Guild, they'd been waiting for Lin Yun since eight in the morning—or, more accurately, everyone except one young warrior had been there since eight. That young warrior had lived up to his unreliable reputation and had still been missing at nine, when the Female Fighter, who knew where he lived, dragged him out...
They were now gathered around a table. The Female Mage was reading a spellbook, while the Female Fighter and the young warrior were practically sprawled across the table, staring into space. As for the Goddess Priestess, she was... well, was she meditating or praying?
When they saw Lin Yun approaching with a huge pile of things on his back, the young warrior hurried over. "Mr. Silent, how could you—" He was about to vent some of his frustration at Lin Yun when...
The Female Fighter punched him on the head and forcibly turned it toward her. "You idiot! Haven't you noticed the smell of blood is even stronger? Mr. Silent must have gone to help someone yesterday. He went through a battle and must be exhausted, which is why he's so late." Well, did this mean the Female Fighter had a particularly keen sense of smell, or did this world need more people to read between the lines and jump to wild conclusions?
Before you continue