“What should we do with him?” asked Tornok.

“He's an outsider. I say we should do what we always do,” shouted an elder from the middle of the group.

“I disagree, he is a friend to the dwarves you all saw the ring. We might hurt our relations with them if we did something like that,” said Gron.

“Since when did we care about what the small dwarves think?” asked another elder.

“Maybe in your old age you have forgotten about what happened a little over ten years ago, but I still remember. If it were not for the help of the dwarves we would not have had enough weapons and armor to properly defend our cities from the invasion of the human kingdoms helped by the demigods. The damage done to our tribe would have been far greater if it were not for their friendship,” said Gron.

Many elders agreed with Gron that It would have been far worse if not for their help.

“But that was in the past this is now. Chief your son has brought someone troublesome. It seems someone powerful wants to capture him. They were willing to kill four young warriors in order to capture him. They will not stop in their mission and they most likely know he is here. They will come for him again,” shouted an elder.

“Where is your honor as an Orc? Would you have us cower and lose allies due to this minor thing?” asked Gron.

“I agree with elder Gron. If we are to have allies when the next war with the humans and demigods starts, it would be best if we do not offend them. Although we have not had much contact or meetings with the werewolf clans I believe it would be better to help the young pup and in doing so we can have a stronger relationship with his and other clans of the werewolves,” said Vold the oldest elder of the tribe.

Vold was greatly respected by all even if they disagreed with him at times.

The debate continued but after Vold spoke, not many spoke out against letting him stay and helping Akira with the enemies following him.

“Alright, I think we have discussed this matter long enough. Everyone has given their thoughts and concerns on the subject. It is now time to vote on whether we will help Akira or not,” said Tornok standing next to the fire pit.

“Raise your hands if you think we should not help him,” said Tornok. He counted the hands quickly.

“Next, raise your hand if we should help him,” the hands were again counted. “Bring Akira and Varbu back I will inform them of our decision.”

Akira and Varbu were sitting on wooden chairs that had been brought by the guards for them to sit in.

“Don't worry everything should be fine,” said Varbu for the hundredth time.

The doors opened and after a few words from the messenger, the guards waved for Akira and Varbu to enter the room again.

They both stood up and walked into the room walking to the opposite side of the fire pit where chief Tornok stood.

“The council of elders has come to a decision on what to do with you,” said chief Tornok pausing for a short moment while looking at Akira.

“We have decided to help you with any group of people that may be hunting you under two condition. First, you must help us with our current problem and secondly when you return to your clan you are to tell them that we want to create an alliance with them. This alliance would be to protect each other against any future threats with the demigods and humans. Do you agree with these terms?”

“I am grateful that you have decided to help me. But won't this hurt your tribe?” asked Akira.

“Yes, a few deaths are to be expected. But we are not a weak race like humans. We Orcs can give birth to many young warriors at a faster pace than humans can. This is nothing new. It is the way it has always been including the last three major wars when we were hunted by demigods,” said Tornok.

“What is it that you need me to do?” asked Akira wary that it might be another trap similar to what the Magic guild tried to pull.

“We have been getting reports recently about goblin raiding parties appearing near our territory. In a few days, we will be sending out a large scouting party to find and destroy them. We have not had a good relationship with the goblins ever since the first time our races met each other hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The reason why the conflict started between our two races has been forgotten long ago. All that remains is the fact that they are our enemies. Even during the last three wars, they decided to attack us thinking we were weak from the damage we received from the demigods and humans and lost. Normally we both keep to our sides of the mountains goblins in the north Orcs in the south. We only ask that you help us in clearing them from our land and send them back to their own villages,” said Tornok.

Ding!

Join the Orcs in hunting the Goblin raiders!

Chief Tornok has asked you to help clear the goblin raiders that are up to no good.

Difficulty: E+

Reward: Unkown

Will you accept?

Yes / No

“I have no problem with that. I can lend you my strength to complete this task,” Akira agreed.

“Then you should wait until the group is fully formed and ready to depart in a few days. Varbu can show you around the city if you are interested. Is there anything else you would like to know?” asked Tornok.

“Does your city have a mine and forge that I can use? My equipment has been damaged a little and I need to repair it and I want to make a few new pieces of armor,” Akira asked.

“Yes, we do. I can allow you to mine a small amount of the ore from the city mine. I'll warn you now mining Its not our specialty, so our mines and forge are not the best if you are used to dwarven mines and such. If that is all you two may leave the council has other matters to discuss,” said Tornok.

Akira copied Varbu by thumping his chest in salute to chief before exiting the room.

Outside Varbu turned to Akira and asked, “Since you want to mine I can take you to the mine now or we can go after the tour of the city.”

“I think it would be better if I don't waste any time and get the ore I need so I can work on the repairs and create the armor before the scouting party leaves,” said Akira.

“You're right, I guess there is no time to play when we'll be leaving soon ™,” said Varbu.

“Oh, so you're going on the mission also?” asked Akira.

“Yes, I will be one of the warrior captains leading it with a few others. All of us are young so I guess this is to give us more experience in commanding our units. I'll show you the way to the mine,” said Varbu.

They quickly walked down the main street leading to the rear of the city where the mountain rose high into the sky.

When they stopped at the entrance of the mine Akira could hear the ringing sound of pickaxes clanging against the walls and minerals inside the mine. The sign above the mine entrance read [Minor Miners Mine 1]

“I don't know much about mining but Digrr the head miner should be on duty today. He can show you the ropes if you need to learn anything. I have other duties I have to take care of so I will be leaving now,” said Varbu.

The entrance was wide open so Akira entered the mine. He could see what the Tornok had said was true the mine looked more like a crude cave then something that was mined and shaped by an Orcs pickaxe. It was a far cry from the smooth and even floors and walls of the dwarven mines.

He continued walking through the crude tunnels. The lamps placed along the path gave off just enough light for him to see where he was going.

Akira followed the sound of the pickaxes hitting the wall the sound led him to a small room where four Orcs were mining ore.

When Akira entered the room the four Orcs inside were greatly shocked to see a human so far inside the main city no less the mine. It took them some time to recover.

“Who are you?” asked the oldest Orc in the room. He was holding onto his pickax ready to use it as a weapon.

“I am Akira. Are you by chance Digrr?” asked Akira.

“How do you know my name? What's an outsider like you doing in our city?” asked Digrr.

“Don't worry I'm not an enemy. The chief Tornok said that I could mine some ore here. I was told by Varbu that you were the person to talk to about it,” said Akira.

“Is that so,” said Digrr looking at Akira suspiciously, “Then where is your pickaxe?”

“I don't have one,” said Akira sheepishly.

“There's a spare pickax near the minecart. You can go mine over there,” said Digrr pointing at the wall farthest away from the four Orcs.

“Thanks,” said Akira.

He walked over the minecart that was already half filled with ore and found the spare pickax leaning against the minecart. Grabbing it he walked over to the area designated as his spot.

Akira spent a few seconds searching the wall until before he found a few nodes of ore. He got into a good stance in order to use his full power before swinging the pickaxe.

Clang!

Upon hitting the wall the pickax bounced and skidded off the wall. The pickax nearly flew out of his hands.

“Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing? Are you trying to break the pickaxe? Do you even know how to use it?” asked Digrr who had been watching Akira from behind.

“It's my first time, but don't worry it's just something simple as swinging the pickaxe. So I can do it,” said Akira.

“Don't treat mining like its a game. It's not something you can do properly without at least knowing the basics. Otherwise, you won't get anywhere and you may end up hurting yourself or one of us,” said one of the younger Orc miners who had also stopped to watch Akira.

“You do it like this. Not like this, otherwise you will end up breaking the pickax instead of the stone,” said Digrr repeatedly showing Akira how to properly hold onto and swing the pickaxe.

Akira followed the motions that Digrr had shown and instead of scraping and bouncing off the wall there was a loud 'thump!' as the pickax pierced the stone creating a small hole in the wall the size of his pinkie.

Satisfied that Akira would not break the pickax the others returned to their work of gathering ore.

Mining the ore that was hidden inside of the stone walls was an extremely hard task. Sweat was pouring down Akira's face and back. He had long ago taken off his armor and put them in his bag in order not to die from overheating.

With a swing of his pickax, a small chunk of ore fell from the wall landing in a pile of stone bits at his feet.

Ding!

You have learned the skill Mining!

The mining skill is part of the Blacksmith subclass skill tree.

The higher the level of the mining skill is the easier it will be to mine certain ore. Certain levels are required for rare ores.

+1 common Oreium ore!

Akira was happy with the new skill and continued to mine the Oreium ore.

Mining skill has Leveled up!

Mining skill has Leveled up!

Mining skill has Leveled up!

Akira checked the pile of Oreium ore he had mined over the last few hours to see if it was enough for what he needed.

“This should be enough,” muttered Akira after counting the ore.

He looked around the room while wiping the sweat from his face with his shirt. The four Orcs had already left the mine without him noticing.

He bent over and began picking up all the ore and putting it into his bag.

After making sure he had picked up all the ore he walked out of the mine and headed towards the forge that was located a little way down the street from the mine.

The Orcs forge was built into the mountain with the front of it wide open to let the heat generated from the multiple large furnaces escape outside.

Akira counted 10 different furnaces all crudely built along with an equal amount of anvils.

Although the Orcs inside were surprised at Akira entering the forge word had gotten out that there was a werewolf ally in the city. It was probably spread by the miners who had dropped off the ore earlier.

The head blacksmith of the forge walked over to Akira to greet him.

“Hello, my name is Gong. You're here to use one of our furnaces? “ asked Gong.

“Yes, I need it to repair and create some new armor,” said Akira.

“Number six is open so feel free to use it,” said Gong.

Akira thanked him and walked over to the forge marked with a red six.

He placed the Oreium ore on top of the anvil and then began poking and moving the coals around inside the furnace.

Akira grabbed a bucket of coal next to the furnace and poured it on top of the nearly dead flames bring it back to life. Using the bellows he pumped more air into the furnaces coals to further increase the heat.

When he judged the heat was just right he tossed in all the Oreium ore to begin the process of smelting.

An hour passed before he finished processing all of the ore and began heating and hammering into the shape he wanted.

After a long afternoon of hammering and reheating, Akira was finally able to set down his hammer and looked at the two new pieces of armor he had created.

There were multiple message windows that had popped up while working on the armor.

Hard Oreium helmet (common):

Defense: 6

Durability: 25/25

Oreium greaves (common):

Defense: 10

Durability: 30/30

Strength requirement: 60

Blacksmithing level up!

The blueprint for Hard Oreium helmet and Oreium greaves has been added to your list of know blueprints.

Akira realized after experiencing the fire attacks of Glen that he needed to have better protection or he would be forced to experience the same pain again so he had created the helmet and greaves in hopes that they could provide better protection.

It had been a lot harder to create the helmet and grieves without the help of a blueprint manual he had used when creating the Useful Aorium shield.

The helmet he had created looked more like a bowl turned upside down with a nose guard. It was not the nice looking helmet but he was stuck with it due to his lack of knowledge on how to create anything more complex.

The greaves were not anything special either. What was interesting and new about them was, they had a strength requirement in order to be able to use them.

Luckily Akira's strength already met the requirements.

He equipped both pieces of armor. The helmet fit snugly on top of his head, and the greaves were strapped on over his leather armor pants further increasing the defense of his legs and head.

As he was testing out his new armor his name was called from outside the forge.

“Akira where are you?”

“Ah, there you are. Hurry up and finish whatever you were doing we have been summoned to a meeting with the elders,” said Varbu.

Akira put his tools and the remaining refined Oreium ore into his bag before walking over to Varbu and heading off towards the grand meeting hall.