Blacksmith

Alden was on his way to the middle of town. His father had suddenly become very accepting of the idea of him being a ranger and suggested taking him into town to the blacksmith. The blacksmith was a place where Rangers could go to get their weapons. Alden as a puppeteer intended to get himself a good-quality puppet. Although Alden could make simple puppets himself, Alden could get better puppets at the Blacksmith. The puppets he could find would have different abilities or skills and they would be much more complex and effective than normal puppets.

Alden watched his father who was seated next to him, driving the car. He observed his father and realized that his father was growing old. His curly beard and hair were greying and wrinkles could be seen appearing on his brown skin. His father was a hunter and Alden had learned much about being a hunter from him. In the last few years, with Alden being mostly depressed and mentally unstable because of the bullying he had suffered, his father had grown more and more quiet. Alden couldn't help but feel guilt building up inside, guilt from making his parents worry so much.

"Thank you for taking me to town, and offering to buy equipment for me," Alden said, sounding extremely awkward as he spoke.

His father smiled, as he watched his son awkwardly thanking him. He knew that just like him, his son was never great at expressing his gratitude. But that just made his father sure of his sincerity.

"Don't worry about it son, you have to have the best equipment after all, if you want to be a good Ranger," Alden's father replied.

"But you're a good Ranger without having the best equipment," Alden said to his father, narrowing his eyes.

"Are you complimenting me while degrading my equipment?" Alden's father asked with a laugh. "Mercury is one of the best daggers there is."

"Not mercury again," Alden groaned playfully. Like that, they continued their small talk up until they reached the Blacksmith.

Alden followed his father into the shop. His father knew the place well since it was where he got all his equipment, so Alden decided to trust his shop to get him a good puppet. As for some sort of weapon, Alden had decided upon a staff but he decided to wait before purchasing a staff.

As Alden entered the shop, he found a spacious room with almost every single type of equipment. Armor, swords, daggers, staffs, and much, much more.

It was full of amazing weapons and Alden felt awe creeping into every inch of his body. This place was what you called, a Rangers paradise.

"Close your mouth, else you'll swallow a bug," Alden heard his father joke. Alden quickly shut his mouth and rolled his eyes. His father addressed him once more, "Come on let us go meet the owner of the store."

They walked to the back of the store where there was a stone furnace. Standing before it was a man. A green man emanated from the flames where he had his hands in and after a few minutes, he removed something from the fire. In his hands was a black, shiny shield.

"Oh, hello Goodman! Here again today? That your boy?" The blacksmith asked when he turned around. The blacksmith was a short man with a mustache and he appeared to be in his 50s.

"Yes man, I just wanted to get him a puppet," Alden's father said.

The blacksmith nodded before speaking, "Follow me."

Alden and his father followed the blacksmith through the shop and then they reached their destination. Surrounding them, was different puppets, all shapes and sizes. Some were as tall as a giraffe and others as short as a dwarf. Some carried maces and hammers and others carried swords or daggers. Others even seemed like they could shoot energy blasts to attack opponents.

The blacksmith began to explain and speak about every puppet in detail and after about half an hour, Alden had an idea about what puppet he wanted. His choice was a 2-meter tall, 4-armed puppet. 2 arms carried dual swords. The puppet's other two hands had an opening in the palms which released fire-type energy attacks. The puppet had the appearance of a shirtless warrior and its face had no detail.

Alden chose that particular puppet because it seemed to present a lot of attacking options, furthermore, it seemed to be faster than his puppets.

"Creating Rangers equipment must be a pretty interesting skill," Alden thought to himself. "I wish I had it..."

At that moment Alden realized something. He could have it. He had [REPLICATE]. Alden peeked at the blacksmith, he couldn't see the blacksmith's stats but knew he had a skill that allowed him to make equipment.

[REPLICATE (lv 1) ACTIVATED]

[SELECT TARGET]

Alden selected the blacksmith and saw a list of skills he could replicate. He selected the one he wanted and saw a notification pop up.

[BLACKSMITH (lv 3) ACQUIRED]

~~~

After finalizing the proceedings in the store, soon Alden was ready to leave. The puppet was going to be transported to his house later that week. The following week, Alden would be going on his first mission but his father intended to train him up until then. Additionally, Alden still had to train for 3 more days to complete the system mission. He was prepared for all of it though as it was part of the process of growing powerful. It takes a few bay steps for the eagle to soar. That was exactly what Alden intended to do, take a few baby steps before he finally soared to glory.

Alden walked to the car on his own since his father was still speaking. Then before him, his eyes landed on someone familiar. The person's eyes met his and both of them were equally as surprised.

Before him was the fairy queen of his past, and the ghost of his present.

His once beloved girlfriend.