Second World

"Yeah? What is it called?" Jack asked.

"Builder," Domon answered.

"… kind of straightforward. What is the effect of that talent?"

"It gives me a 10% increase in Intelligence, 5% increase in success chance for all Artisan Jobs, and any structure that is built by me personally will be more sturdy… I only understand the last part, the rests are gibberish to me."

Jack tried his best to explain, Domon only made a nod once in a while. Jack was not sure if his grandfather understood them all. What he knew for sure, was that these talents were wasted on his grandfather. He was sure that his grandfather would not give it a conscious choice to utilize these talents.

"It has been a fascinating day. Let's take a rest.. Tomorrow you want to take me to this Valley of Temple, is it?" Domon said as he saw Jack had finished upgrading the armors and was handing them back to him.

"Valley of Tempus," Jack corrected.

"That's what I said. All right, let's head in. The hut is a little cramped, never expect any visitor, but it is clean. Just make yourself at home."

"Before that, one last thing. What weapon do you prefer to use?"

Domon looked at his grandson as if he had just asked the stupidest question. "You do remember I am good with any weapon, don't you? Except, of course, for firearms. Those are cowards' weapons."

"I've met a kung-fu fighting cowboy who would have said otherwise. Anyway, if you can only pick one. What weapon will you choose?"

Domon gave the question some pondering. He then said, "if I have to choose, a quarterstaff then."

Jack cringed, he had quite many unpleasant memories with that weapon. He said, "I don't have a quarterstaff, but I have a long weapon that is similar." He then took out a long glaive from his inventory.

Black Iron Glaive, level 20/40 (Rare two-handed polearm)

Physical damage: 99

Attack speed: 1

Durability: 50

Strength +6

20% chance to cause Bleed with every attack

He handed the glaive to his grandfather who twirled and played with it for a while.

"How is it?" Jack asked.

"It's a good weapon. Very balanced. I can get accustomed to it in a jiff. Are you giving it to me?" Domon replied.

"Yes, it should help you level up faster. Now give it back, I will increase its level to the maximum that you can use."

Jack proceed to use the Basic Master Blacksmith hammer and anvil to level up the glaive to level 29. Its physical damage rose to 144. He then gave the glaive back to his grandfather.

Domon played with it again. "Doesn't feel like anything has changed," he said.

"Its damage value has increased… Never mind that, just use that glaive whenever you are fighting a monster. You will see that you can kill monsters easier with that weapon."

Domon nodded and stored it into what he called his magic pocket. Jack told him to go rest first, as he still had his own equipment to level up using these newly-gained rare blacksmith tools. He was glad that he did not need to look for a blacksmith workshop anymore every time he needed to level up his equipment. Domon told him not to stay up too late.

Jack looked at his grandfather as he entered the hut. He was secretly glad that his grandfather ended up a human as well. Still, if his grandpa had become an orc or a dwarf, it would be hilarious. Especially a dwarf, he couldn't imagine how his grandfather would still be able to fight with those short hands and legs.

"You really like to grin for no particular reason, do you?" Peniel said.

"I'm just thinking about something funny, never mind me. Okay, back to work!"

Jack spent almost two hours upgrading his equipment. His equipment was all very high-level already, so there were more failures and thus consumed a longer time. He also almost burnt out his ore reserves for all the upgrades. But in the end, he managed to upgrade all his equipment to level 40, except for Blood Guard Scale Armor and Shadow Bear Tasset which had reached their maximum level at 35. He really hoped he could get super rare armor pieces to replace those two. Otherwise, he had to replace them with other rare grade pieces which could be upgraded to higher levels.

He also upgraded his Rapid Dazing Staff to level 40. Its magical damage increased to 277 points. For his Storm Breaker, he upgraded a random rare longsword to level 40 and then sacrificed it to Storm Breaker, bringing it up to level 40 as well. Its physical damage was now 285 points.

He must say the Transformation Prism had really helped him a lot. He would not have gotten so many copper ores to attempt the equipment upgrading otherwise. Still, he had burnt out his reserves and now needed to stock up again. He could only imagine it became harder to level up equipment in the future.

But if even he who had the Transformation Prism was struggling to have just enough materials for upgrading, the other players would have an even harder time. Even for a guild, unless they piled up their resources for a select few only.

During the night, there had indeed been an occasion where monsters approached. Since he was sleeping inside the hut, Jack didn't use his Camouflage Tent. Peniel woke him up when the monsters arrived outside the hut, but Domon had woken up by himself and rushed outside. Jack went back to sleep again once he saw his grandfather going out. Peniel was helpless with his attitude and puzzled, normally he would rise immediately when she informed him of a monster ambush even if he was very sound asleep.

She then flew out to take a look, only to see the monsters were already in the process of disintegrating when she arrived. When Domon passed by her, he said to her, "this glaive is indeed good!"

In the morning the next day, the three stood outside the tent as they prepared to depart. Jack took out his red whistle and blew. The impressive display of Pandora appearing was performed in front of them. Jack glanced at his grandfather expecting to see his fascinated face, only to be disappointed when Domon maintained his indifferent expression.

Pandora looked at the three and gave a snorting huff before turning her face away.

'Still as aloof as ever, eh?' Jack commented with annoyance in his mind. On the outside, he approached the Nightmare with as friendly a face as he could muster and said with a respectable tone, "Mam, this is my gramps. I will very appreciate it if you allow him to be carried on your back as well."

Pandora turned her head to look at him and Domon, before turning away again after giving another huff.

"She said just tell me where to go," Peniel said.

"We would like to go back to the Valley of Tempus again," Jack informed.

This time Pandora didn't just give him a glance, she turned and stared at him with what Jack imagined would be a serious expression for a horse.

"She asked why go back there? She didn't want to be captured and locked again in that place."

"Don't worry, mam. We won't go near the place where we found you. We are just going to practice inside the valley. The valley is a great environment for us to train."

After some seconds of staring, Pandora turned back again. Since Peniel was silent, Jack asked her, "what did she say?"

"She didn't say anything," Peniel answered. "I guess she didn't like you asking her to go back to that valley, but since she was bound as your steed, she has to still follow your command."

"Okay, let's move then," Jack said. He tried to be cordial with the Nightmare by asking her permission, but it seemed that befriending her would still take a lot of effort.

Jack climbed onto the Nightmare and gave a signal for his grandfather to sit behind him. After Domon did, Jack said, "did you find it weird for me to talk to my steed?"

"It is hard to find anything as weird after coming to this world," Domon replied. "But I must say I feel uncomfortable to ride pillion with my grandson. How about I ride at the front and you at the back?"

"Sorry, don't work that way. She is my steed, you won't be able to command her if you ride at the front. You just have to be content being a passenger. We will move soon, hold tight!"

"You can't expect me to hug you tightly as if we are two lovebirds, can you?" Domon protested.

Peniel who was already holding Jack's shoulder tightly said, "I suggest you do what he said, sir."

Pandora was getting impatient waiting for them to get ready, so she reared up and neighed. Domon was surprised by the sudden move and instinctively grabbed at Jack's waist. Then he felt as if he was getting pulled forward with extreme force. He ended up doing what he said he was reluctant to do, hugging Jack tightly. Pandora was running at her top speed from the get-go.