Living in this world, there are many things worth paying attention to.
People are always influenced by their environment. A passionate person will eventually have their enthusiasm worn down by monotony, and a numb person will unleash their potential among a striving group. Those lacking willpower simply have to accept external transformation.
Simon doesn't reject the influence of any person or any event on himself. While these things rarely pique his interest, they undoubtedly add to his enjoyment. He doesn't care if his spirit is twisted, or even if his consciousness exists. Life is a simple game; everything can be simple. Do what you want to do, create happiness—or something else, it doesn't matter.
The next time he saw Jonas, the Breton Boy looked much more energetic. It seemed he hadn't stayed up late again, and his steady gait indicated he hadn't slacked off on his training. Each time he saw Jonas's progress, Simon felt a sense of emotion.
In young people, one can see a vitality, an unconstrained energy full of possibilities. If their future is bright, then the collective's endeavors will be secured by their actions.
Simon considered himself a young man too, but having seen too many things, he had less enthusiasm for life. From Jonas, he found solace.
This time, Jonas had prepared more knowledge about alchemy and enchanting for Simon. These books were plentiful and affordable.
The nine hundred ancient gold coins he had given him earlier were almost used up.
The Breton Boy said that money wasn't important. There was a spell called Transmute, which could turn iron ore into silver and gold ore. By then, buying and selling would quickly earn a large sum of money. He gave Simon a copy of this spell, and it was indeed a fairly common Alteration spell. No wonder mages had such an indifferent attitude towards money; they truly weren't short of it.
Simon thought to himself, if he bought iron ore from the miners in the northwestern Tundra mine, how would he deal with the gold ore he obtained? Melt it into gold bricks? That wasn't impossible.
Perhaps mages only use gold coins as a formality. Why they cling to this form is because they don't have another system to completely replace money. What's truly in short supply at the Mage College is the soul stone, which is rare. It can be used as currency for transactions between mages, but mages still need gold coins to buy supplies from the secular world, including soul stones.
Their time together was always short. Jonas also had academic tasks to attend to. Although the Breton Boy was reluctant to leave Simon, he dutifully returned to school.
As usual, Simon saw Jonas to the door, then took his handcart and left Winterhold.
There would be many more days like this, like a simple happiness that would last through childhood, adolescence, and youth, until one day it suddenly disappeared.
Simon could almost foresee how gratifying Jonas's growth would be when that time came.
He put his cart into his Pure Land and happily set off. To his left was the raging Sea of Ghosts. In the thick sea fog of midnight, faint shouts suddenly came, rolling in the unmelting shadows on the sea, expressing extreme terror. Simon stopped and gazed intently towards the source of the sound.
At this time, dark clouds covered the sky, and although the sea wind was strong, the fog was also thick. He could only see the water vapor moving erratically, surging from side to side. The hoarse cries of a hundred or so people drifted from afar, becoming a hazy blur once they left the sea fog, making it impossible to hear clearly, as if their words had been swallowed by some giant sea beast. Slowly, the shouts seemed to soften, but then suddenly there were explosions, the sound of wood splintering, tearing, breaking. The wooden groans were like a dying whale, the sound waves surging, instantly tearing a gap in the heavy, brick-wall-like sea fog. Simon stared intently, only to see the dark shape of a large ship slowly overturning, its mast broken, and its oil lamps flickering like ghost fires. Before he could look more, the fog closed in again.
In the depths of the darkness, people were wailing. At this moment, thunder erupted in the sky. On the surface of the sea illuminated by the strong light, small human figures floated erratically, rising and falling, looking as ridiculous as buoys. Watching this scene, one could almost feel the fear of suffocation seeping into their bones, which must have been colder than the sea water.
Simon gently removed his heavy clothes and put them into his Pure Land. His majestic body was covered in mysterious runes, like an ancient totem pole.
Mysterious runes flickered from his waist, and a blue-green light covered his cheeks, flickering like fish gills.
Magic tattoo - Underwater Breathing.
He leaped into the sea, facing the wind and rain.
The ship was hundreds of miles away. By the time Simon swam near, the ship had completely sunk. The wind and waves on the sea were as fierce as a god pushing waves, one higher than the last, not even half a plank could remain. Most of the crew had also been buried at sea. Simon searched left and right, but could not find a single person. In the end, he could only collect some goods floating on the sea, considering it not a wasted trip.
By the time he returned to shore, it was already daylight. A Troll sat on the rocks by the sea, gasping for breath, his eyes still fixed on the sea - empty.
A shipwreck, both its beginning and end, was too sudden. No one survived.
Simon's breathing evened out, and his body was almost dry. After shaving off his hair, it didn't grow back, so he no longer had to deal with the problem of it being difficult to dry.
He put on his clothes, tidied his wet mane and hair, put on his hood, and continued on his way.
It was evening when he returned to the Wolf Pack Resting Place. As usual, he rested for a while, woke up at midnight, and feeling refreshed, he decided not to sleep anymore and planned to inspect the goods salvaged from the sea.
He had collected a total of three large bundles, all wrapped in cloth and tied with ropes. Upon opening them, each bundle contained ten wooden boxes. The wooden boxes were two feet high, five feet long, and three and a half feet wide. They were all standard cargo boxes, imprinted with a ship's pattern, and were indeed the property of the East Empire Company.
Thirty boxes, containing three types of goods: ten with steel, ten with healing potions, and ten with leather.
Simon had stumbled upon a windfall.
Looking at the enormous number of steel ingots, he remembered an urgent task: he needed to build his own forge. All the tools he would need for future forging should be prepared.
Alchemy, enchanting, and smithing, collectively known as the 'Three Divine Skills,' are very powerful in games, and perhaps also very powerful in reality.
Regardless of whether the Three Divine Skills are effective, being a blacksmith is still very necessary. The skills of the Sword Casting Villa should also be put to use, and furthermore, forging itself is quite interesting.
Simon planned to place the forge in his Pure Land and use a Fire Elemental and a Storm Elemental to create high temperatures. He only needed to build a frame.
The more difficult items were the anvil, hammer, whetstone, and tanning rack, especially the whetstone, which was a rare item and could not be made himself.
There are always more solutions than problems, so Simon started by building the forge.
He fired refractory bricks, but due to limited materials, he used clay bricks.
The forge was built in two layers, with a gap in the middle for fuel, and the ore would be heated in the inner layer.
Thanks to the boost from the Fire Elemental and Storm Elemental, the forge's temperature could reach two thousand degrees, glowing a beautiful blue.
Then the refractory bricks burned out.
He rebuilt the forge.
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