One result of the [Reflect] Enchantment on the Green Tower Shield was that the outer face of the shield became perfectly reflective, in the manner of a mirror. Before, the shield was a dull metal with a hint of a green reflection, but now it was as reflective as the finest polished mirror, and for the first time in nearly a year, James was able to see himself.

He was shocked by how thin his face looked. Dirt caked his face, and judging by the exposed skin, his tan from running around the village all day had faded from long days mining and living in this cavern. He was pale, and dirt caked his wavy blond hair, but his blue eyes looked as bright as ever. Well, other than the greenish tint applied to everything the shield reflected. At least, he couldn't imagine his eyes had really changed color.

Today, he was planning to take a minor risk. He reconfigured his wards, forming one long warded area enclosing both his camp and the exit to the mine. The reason he hadn't done this until now was that, if the ward were somehow broken, the other ward would still remain functional and provide a safe retreat. Now, put together, if the ward were to fail, there would be no safety zone.

The reason for this was that James wanted to return to the old iron mine and collect materials from the first mole monster he had slain. Particularly, its Earth Magic Crystal. He was nervous at the thought of not having spare enchanting material in case he lost or otherwise broke his Earth War Hammer. Similarly, he wanted to collect any colored iron ore remaining in the old iron mine, especially the green iron. He did still have several ingots worth of green iron remaining, and he could recycle any armor pieces that got too damaged, but he didn't want to get caught lacking materials if he needed them.

The aforementioned risk lay more in the tunnel between the cavern and the old iron mine. He couldn't get through it wearing his armor, since he would need to crawl through the small tunnel. He couldn't even drag his tower shield with him, or wear the helmet. He would have to go through unarmored.

Nor did he want to excavate the tunnel and make it more passable. Supposing any of the slavers survived and returned to reopen the old iron mine, he didn't want them to just stroll into the cavern at their leisure. Even a double combat classer would be vulnerable having to crawl through a small tunnel unarmored. The narrow chokepoint was thus important to preserve, in the Smith's mind.

Carefully, James crawled through the tunnel, dragging the magic bag with him. At the end he waited, letting his eyes adjust to the near total darkness. Then, cautiously, he took a shovel and waved it about, trying to lure out an attack.

Nothing.

He carefully crawled out and took his shield and war hammer out of the bag, taking a defensive position against a wall. Again, no response. Bit by bit, he explored the iron mine for the first time in weeks, ensuring it was empty of monsters.

The biggest threat in the old iron mine turned out to be the stench. The mole monster corpse had started to rot, ruining all the materials that could have been taken, save for the Earth Magic Crystal. It pulled free from the rotting heart tissue with a sickening squelch, and after rubbing it down with dirt, James stored it away in the magic bag along with his war hammer and tower shield.

Now, the old iron mine was nearly pitch black. But James still knew it like the back of his hand from long experience. That, and his [Ore Identification] and [Mining] skills, were sufficient for him to clear out the mine of all its colored ore with only a few hours work.

[Smith] Skill [Ore Identification] has reached level 3.

This is, in fact, the origin of the Smith's famous parlor trick: being able to identify metals and even ores without the use of his sight. Using his senses of touch and hearing, he was able to identify the various ores he was after.

After a final circuit, trailing his hand along the wall to feel out any remaining veins of colored iron ore, he stowed his materials and tools in the magic bag and crawled through the tunnel back to the cavern.

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The Smith's caution paid off. When he returned, there was another mole monster sniffing around the cavern where he had slain the last mole monster, and where he had in the end buried the bones and organs for which he couldn't find a use. The monster noticed him almost immediately upon exiting the tunnel, and shuffled over to him on its stubby legs, stopped short only by the wards.

The Smith topped up the ward's supply of magical energy, and returned to his camp, keeping an eye on the mole monster. It shuffled after him.

First, a lunch of porridge. No monster meat this time, he didn't need to fight a stomach ache at the same time as a monster.

Then, the Smith donned his Green Prototype Armor, took his Green Tower Shield and Earth War Hammer in hand, and clomped off to battle.

Time to see how his new work held up in battle.

The war hammer in his hand felt right. The balance was good, and the handle not too long. He had no worries about the hammer breaking in this fight, not if used normally. He was unsure about the enchantment, but couldn't imagine that a basic enchantment would break the solid hammer either.

The tower shield was quickly growing heavy on his arm, but at least he could hold it up in a defensive position as he stepped forward. He kept his eyes on the slowly retreating monster, prepared to thrust it into the ground to anchor it at a moment's notice.

The restricted vision of his Green Bucket Helmet was annoying, but James put up with it. Better to put up with the annoyance and keep his eyes safe from those lethal claws. Rather, the biggest problem were the iron boots. They clamped on over his leather moccasins, held in place by a latch, but they were heavy, and he needed to lift his feet up higher than expected with each step so that he didn't scrape the metal spikes on the soles against the packed earth and rocks of the cavern floor. Each step had to be deliberate, and split his focus between the monster and his footwork.

This time, he caught it. The monster tensed for just a moment rather than continuing its slow shuffle backward, and then charged. He anchored his feet, plunged the shield's spikes into the ground, and even thrust the shield forward in time to meet the monster's tackle. With his dexterity, he met the timing, and with his strength, he met the force.

The impact was much reduced this time. The shield's thrust canceled out much of the monster's momentum, and his firm footing kept the shield from slamming into his armor out of control as it had last time. Finally, his strength and endurance held, and the monster was brought to a halt, pressing on his shield with its body weight, but not yet having brought its claws up to slash at him.

It wouldn't get the chance.

The Smith wasted no time. He swung his Earth War Hammer around the shield horizontally, pouring mana into the hammer's enchantment as he did. [Heavy Blow] activated, and his strike connected with monster's left shoulder, much as it had in his last fight.

[Hammer Strike]

BOOM

"Huh?" James muttered, and then realized the weight of the monster had vanished from his shield. A moment later-

Thud

First, he retreated fully behind his shield again, then turned, scanning around for where the monster had gone. Eventually, after scanning far to the left, he found it. The monster was a mess, caked in blood and dirt, limbs sprawled limply as it lay on its side.

[Smith] Class has reached level 3.

[Smith] Skill [Product Testing] has been acquired.

[Enchanter] Skill [Enchantment Testing] has been acquired.

[Synergy] Skill [Product Testing] has been acquired.

James scanned around once more for enemies before he plodded over to the corpse. As he did, he noticed that his armor felt easier to move in. He wiggled a bit as he walked, testing the range of motion of his joints, feeling how the armor resisted his movements, how it affected his balance as he walked. He swung the hammer idly as he walked, offsetting some of the swaying. The armor also felt lighter, no doubt a result of the increased strength from leveling his Smith class.

He reached the corpse and sure enough, there wasn't even any twitching or spasming, let alone breathing or squealing. The monster had likely died on impact. The monster's left shoulder wasn't just broken, wasn't just caved in, it had nearly been torn off by the force of his hammer strike. The spike on the end of his hammer had plunged into the monster's hide seemingly effortlessly, and the face of the hammer had plunged into the monster's tissue quite a ways before the momentum of the [Heavy Blow] had sent it flying.

James was about to bend down when he heard it.

Click click, skitter skitter, shuffle shuffle

Instantly on alert, he got back into a defensive position with his shield and hammer at the ready. Scanning around through the narrow field of vision allowed by his helmet, there! Another mole monster was emerging from the passageway at the far end of the cavern.

It spotted the Smith and charged.

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